[wine] Aussie at Muffies

Greetings, Happy New Year, Bah-Mitzvah! Had some truly fantastic food at Alma. The three course, $39, prix fixe was the order of the day for most of us. Alma tasting option is unusually flexible. Diner's are able to pick "one form each column". That is any starter, any primi/pasta and any entree. Local pheasant and the risoto were very good. This week, we've been invited to Muffuletta. Muffuletta Cafe 2260 Como St. Paul, 55108 St. Anthony Park 651-644-9116 Style du jour is "Australian". Yes Warren/Ruth Betsy Bob Russ Jim/Louise Guess: Lori Nicolai Karin Directions: Take Hwy 280 to Como, go east up the hill and then to the second light (Carter). Alt: Take Snelling to Como, West to Carter. Cheers, Jim ----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> ----- Authentication-Results: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu from=wine(a)wineloverspage.com; sender-id=neutral; spf=neutral Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 13:47:43 -0500 (EST) To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor: Que Syrah, Sirah From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Sender: <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.6 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu [128.101.142.227]); Wed, 04 Jan 2006 12:44:14 -0600 (CST) X-Spam-Score: -2.599 () BAYES_00 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.54 on 128.101.142.227 THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR * CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB Send New Year's Cheer! http://www.cawineclub.com?Partner_ID=winelovers ________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE * QUE SYRAH, SIRAH Our interactive wine-education forum, Wine Tasting 101, reprises one of last year's most popular topics. * HAYMAN & HILL 2002 MONTEREY COUNTY "RESERVE SELECTION" SHIRAZ-VIOGNIER ($11.99) A whack of oak dominates the nose, but bright and sunny Syrah fruit comes through in this robust California wine's flavor. * LAST WEEK'S WINE ADVISOR INDEX The Wine Advisor archives. * ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ QUE SYRAH, SIRAH Syrah, Shiraz, Sirah ... what's the difference? Historically, it's been simple enough, if a bit confusing, to sort out these similar grape names: * SYRAH is the great French red-wine variety of the Rhone Valley, a grape that legend traces to the Crusaders but that in reality goes even farther back, probably brought to Gaul by the Romans some 2,000 years ago. * SHIRAZ is the name that the Australians gave Syrah, perhaps inspired by that same Crusader legend, which holds - romantically if inaccurately - that the French knight Gaspard de Sterimberg brought the first vines home to his Hermitage vineyard in the Rhone from Shiraz in Persia. * SIRAH-with-an-I - Petite Sirah - is a California grape most likely named by 19th century marketers to evoke the real Syrah. Known in France as Durif and long thought to be unrelated to Syrah, it's now known to be a direct descendant of Syrah, a cross between true Syrah and another little-known French variety, Peloursin. This lineage is further complicated by the fact that some old California "field-blend" vineyards of mixed vines have traditionally been misidentified as Petite Sirah. All three sound-alike grapes can make similar wines, peppery and robust, but those wines span a considerable spectrum from soft, fruity and slightly sweet to big, tannic and ageworthy. Australia's Shiraz often pushes the limits of fruit-forward, jammy and powerful, while the most memorable Syrahs of the Northern Rhone - Hermitage, Cote-Rotie and Cornas in particular - although big wines also, tend more toward the structured and tannic, astringent but muscular, requiring cellar time. Grown in warm New World climates (or unusually hot European summers), Syrah shows a boldly fruity red-berry nature and may well be vinified with the free-handed use of oak; look for a signature fragrant black- pepper character and plenty of astringent tannin in cooler-climate Syrah. California Syrahs can go either way, and in an intriguing complication, an increasing minority of the Golden State's Syrahs - including the Hayman & Hill featured in today's tasting report - are labeled "Shiraz" these days, perhaps as a marketing ploy aimed at capturing some of the critical buzz that surrounds the version from Down Under. Petite Sirah, meanwhile, has won a loyal corps of fans, even if some Syrah aficionadoes diss it as second-rate. At its best, "P.S." makes a hearty, ageworthy wine that earns its reputation the old-fashioned way. This month in our Wine Tasting 101 forum, we reprise one of last year's most popular topics, "Que Syrah, Sirah," sorting out the differences among these familiar names. You're encouraged to taste the Syrahs, Shirazes and Petite Sirahs of your choice, then drop in to WT101 http://community.netscape.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&folderId=4&… to share your tasting reports, ask questions and talk about your impressions. ________________________________________________________________________ TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE If you'd like to ask a question or comment on today's topic (or any other wine-related subject), you'll find a round-table online discussion in our interactive WineLovers Community, where you're always welcome to join in the conversations about wine. http://community.netscape.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&tsn=1&t… If you prefer to comment privately, feel free to send me E-mail at wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit. ________________________________________________________________________ PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE Here's a simply formatted copy of today's Wine Advisor, designed to be printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or other wireless device. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor1/print060104.html ________________________________________________________________________ Why "Shiraz"? Perhaps because the Hayman half of the partnership is an Australian. Hayman & Hill is a venture between two principals of California's Blackstone Winery, Hayman (senior vice president of operations of giant Constellation Brands' Pacific Wine Partners, which owns Blackstone and other properties), and Dennis Hill, Blackstone's chief winemaker. HAYMAN & HILL 2002 MONTEREY COUNTY "RESERVE SELECTION" SHIRAZ-VIOGNIER ($11.99) Spanning three continents in its marketing if not its style, this California wine adopts the Australian name "Shiraz," while emulating the practice of the French Northern Rhone by using a splash (7 percent) of white Viognier to "lift" the hearty red with the white grape's aromatic flavors. The result, sadly, is a bit spoiled by a whack of new oak that brings to the nose an unfortunate impression of freshly sanded wooden floors. Inky blackish-purple with a day-glo violet edge, the wine's woody, almost resinous oak aromas are less than appealing, but the flavor redeems the wine with bright and forward red-berry flavors and crisp acidity, with oak present only as a spice. (Jan. 3, 2006) FOOD MATCH: A rare pan-seared flatiron steak helps bring the wine around, showcasing its fruit while diminishing that markedly oaky aroma. VALUE: Apart from its excessive reliance on wood, it's a full-bodied, robust wine with recognizable Shiraz-style Syrah character, and it's reasonably priced against the competition at just over $10. WHEN TO DRINK: Its heft and forward fruit should hold it for a year or two on the wine rack, but I don't see it as a wine for longer-term cellaring. WEB LINK: A page about Hayman & Hill appears to have been removed from the Pacific Wine Partners' Website, which has its home page here: http://www.pacwine.com/ FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: Find vendors and compare prices for Hayman & Hill on Wine-Searcher.com: http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Hayman%2bHill/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP ________________________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: * WineLoversPage.com RSS Feed (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/rss/ * 30 Second Wine Advisor, daily or weekly (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/index.shtml * Wine Advisor FoodLetter, Thursdays (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/foodletter.shtml * Wine Advisor Premium Edition, alternate Tuesdays ($24/year) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/premium.phtml ARCHIVES: For all past editions: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor1/thelist.shtml CONTACT US E-mail: wine(a)wineloverspage.com SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: For information, E-mail wine(a)wineloverspage.com ________________________________________________________________________ ADMINISTRIVIA To subscribe or unsubscribe from The 30 Second Wine Advisor, change your E-mail address, switch from weekly to daily distribution, or for any other administrative matters, click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/admin.php?id=20970&cs=7d1109b668af1f87d36… We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry. Wednesday, January 4, 2006 Copyright 2006 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *