Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah 2008

Served With: Shish Kabobs

Five Things: inky, dusty, dark berries, spice, mossy evergreens and cedar

COO: North Coast, Lake County, California

Notes: A journey through a dark old temperate deciduous forest pays off with a juicy and spicy petite sirah that played off the smoked paprika on all of the kabobs elements quite nicely. This would be great for your next late night grilling session.

Website: Shannon Ridge

Rating: Very Good

Tags: Shannon Ridge, Petite Sirah, 2008, North Coast, Lake County, California

Hess Select Chardonnay Monterey 2008

Served With: Fava Bean Fettuccine

Five Things: pale gold, grapefruit, granny smith apple, low acidity, rounded

COO: Monterey, California

Notes: This started with a classic chard nose, moved onto a nice rounded mouthfeel, but the low acidity left the fruit a little short on the landing. Paired well with the fava beans and pasta however, so it wasn't a total loss.

Website: Hess Collection

Rating: Good

Tags: Hess, Chardonnay, Monterey, California, 2008

Stama Syrah Ma-Sa-Ga 2007

Served With: White Beans & Rosemary

Five Things: vegetal, green pepper, blackberry, bramble, tight

COO: Sierra Foothills, Calaveras County, California

Notes: With supposedly only 200 cases produced, this one is a bit of a mystery. Picked it up at my local Heinen's grocery store, but there doesn't seem to be much any info on the interwebs about it, or on Stama's website. It needed time to open up, as it was a little tight at first, became more rounded with the pairing of the smokey white beans and rosemary.

Rating: Good

Tags: Stama, Syrah, 2007, california, calaveras, sierra foothills

Coturri Albarello 2001

Served With: Pasta with Red Sauce

Five Things: intense, dusty, chocolate, deep, terroir

COO: Sonoma County, California

Notes: San Marzano tomatoes from Italy have an almost mythical wine-like terroir status in the culinary world due to the volcanic soil in the region. Tony Coturri's wines have that same ability to transport you to a specific place and time, in this instance, Sonoma Valley, California, 2001.

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Very Good

Tags: coturri, albarello, 2001, sonoma, california

Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah 2007

Served With: Stir-fry

Five Things: inky, earthy, juicy, berry, tannins on finish

COO: Clarksburg, California

Notes: This inky juicy wine picked up the Hoisin-based sauce in the stir-fry quite nicely and complimented the dish with a good texture and broad tannins on the finish.

Website: Vinum Cellars

Rating: Very Good

Tags: vinum cellars, petite sirah, california, 2007

Spellbound Petite Sirah 2007

Served With: Torta

Five Things: loamy soil, plum, inky, cocoa, thin

COO: California

Notes: A disappointing wine, with great promise on the nose, but a very thin finish, like it fell off a cliff. Better in the glass than out of it.

Website: Spellbound

Rating: meh.

Tags: petite sirah, california, 2007, spellbound

Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Served With: Pot Pie

Five Things: inky, milk chocolate, rose petals, smooth, long finish

COO: Napa Valley, California

Notes: Two amazing Napa Valley cabs in one night -- and on a Thursday, no less -- is some kind of personal record. This is an all-star wine: balanced acidity/tannins with a finish you could time using a sun-dial. As with the Sinskey, it was paired with the homemade pot pie and really offered a contrasting perspective -- sort of like dark chocolate vs. milk chocolate. (tasted for #calicabs)

Website: Chateau Montelena

Rating: Delicious

Tags: napa valley, california, Cabernet Sauvignon, chateau montelena, 2006

Robert Sinskey Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon RSV Vineyard SLD Estate 2000

Served With: Pot Pie

Five Things: dark, chocolate, cherry, integrated tannins, brawny

COO: Stag's Leap District, Napa Valley, California

Notes: Wow. This one needed some decanting and some time for the funk to blow off, but once it did, it revealed a wine with a wonderful combination of brawn and balance (tannins). Paired with a homemade pot pie loaded with root veggies and a hearty gravy, this wine came alive. (tasted for #calicabs)

Website: Robert Sinskey

Rating: Delicious

Tags: stag's leap district, napa valley, california, sinskey, Cabernet Sauvignon

Coturri Chardonnay 2007

Served With: Picatta

Five Things: deep golden color, meyer lemon, balanced acidity, sandalwood incense, unfiltered

COO: Sonoma Mountain, California

Notes: This unfiltered wine is not your typical California Chard, and I mean that in the best possible way. So pairing it with a dish full of lemons and capers -- which can be treacherous to lesser wines -- could have been a problem. But, it was one of the most synergistic pairings I've ever had, each bite and sip in harmony. That doesn't happen very often...

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Delicious

Tags: coturri, chardonnay, 2007, california, sonoma

Alexander Valley Vineyards "Sin Zin" Zinfandel 1997

Served With: BBQ

Five Things (before): bricked, TCA, blocked, oaky, musty

Five Things (after): balanced, juicy, integrated tannins, tobacco, long finish

COO: Alexander Valley, CA

Notes: Another "lost" wine that I found when re-organizing the cellar last month, I figured the Super Bowl (and BBQ) would be an ideal time to see if the wine had any mojo left. I had a feeling that this one was going to have some problems, and indeed, it did. A crumbling cork, musty, TCA, bricking -- all very bad signs. I had anticipated this by opening it 24 hours in advance to see where the wine was at -- it's better to find out ahead of time and get a substitute bottle ready just in case. After straining for loose cork bits and decanting, I decided to stuff three big wads of plastic wrap into the decanter in hopes that the TCA would be neutralized/absorbed -- I've done it in the past to bottles that I thought were hopeless and had salvaged most of them in this manner. However, this time it far exceeded my hopes, and brought the wine back to life completely. I was stunned at just how good the wine tasted afterward -- the balanced structure, tannins, the long supple finish -- and paired with the BBQ, it was a touchdown with a two-point conversion. ;)

Website: Alexander Vally Vineyards

Rating: Delecious

Tags: Alexander Valley, california, zinfandel, 1997, bbq

Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel 2003

Served With: Pasta with Broccoli Rabe & Sausage

Five Things: bramble, black fruit, pepper, medium tannins, long finish

COO: Sonoma County, California

Notes: Sometimes a wine makes you work a little bit for a payoff, and this one did just that. It had the faintest bit of must upon opening (which disappeared), and took a good half hour to open up, and but we were ultimately rewarded once it did. This blend of zinfandel, petite sirah, carignane had well structured tannins and a long finish with a good balance of fruit which played off the mild heat from the sausage and slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe quite well. The moral of the story? Good things come to those who wait ;)

Website: Ridge Vineyards

Rating: Very Good

Tags: sonoma, california, zinfandel, carignane, petite sirah, ridge, dry creek valley

Coturri Founder's Series Zinfandel 2005

Served With: BBQ with a Calimyrna Fig & Balsamic Reduction Sauce

Five Things: deep purple (the color and the band), earth, white pepper, long finish, intense berry

COO: Sonoma, California

Notes: Pulled this one from the cellar for this match-up, and was not disappointed the result. Coturri wines are in a completely different universe, so the unusual fig barbecue-style sauce on the grill made perfect sense with this powerful unfiltered, unfined Zin.

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Very Good

Tags: coturri, sonoma, california, zinfandel, 2005

Seven Artisians Meritage 2006

Served With: Barbecue

Five Things: magenta, smoke, damask rose, black cherry, solid tannins

COO: Suisun Valley, California

Notes: A blend of 89.5% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 0.25% Malbec, and 0.25% Petite Verdot, this wine has some solid structure behind it and enough acidity to cut through the smokey slabs of barbecue.

Website: Seven Artisians

Rating: Very Good

Tags: Suisun Valley, California, Mertiage, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petite Verdot, 2006