Remembering wine experiences in a time of stress

It’s easy to get consumed by the misery of a pandemic. Even if you are among the lucky ones with no infections in your family, the mental stress of waiting for something to happen is difficult. Although there is risk associated with turning to alcohol for comfort, it is probably safer than going shopping.

Since the pandemic broke and my wife and I have been self-quarantined with no signs of infection, the highlight of the day has been dinner. We’re eating well — as if there is no tomorrow, in fact. Today is lobster; tomorrow is steak. I’m dipping into my cellar for wines that may not be at their peak maturity — but wines I’m not waiting around the to enjoy. There are several Bordeaux wines from the 2003, 2004 and 2005 vintages, for instance.

I am choosing wines that bring back memories from better times. This week I opened a 2005 Beau-Sejour Becot. I was in St. Emilion about that time and met with Juliette Becot, daughter of current owner Gerald Becot. The father was running Beau Sejour Becot, but had just bought Juliette a vineyard and gave her a pair of boots to show him what she could do. He didn’t think she was ready to make wine for him.

I brought back a couple of bottles of Joanin Becot (I think it was her grandmother’s name) and enjoyed them. Now, Juliette is working with her brother on all of the wines, now under one roof. I guess the boots were used and Juliette earned her father’s confidence. Juliette confessed to me then that her brother helped her make the Joanin wine but she was fighting to earn respect from the men in the family.

As I enjoyed the 2005 Beau-Sejour Becot, I remembered my afternoon with her. It was a great memory to have as my wife and I sipped a perfect wine.

Just as the virus hit our country, I was at a wine store and my eyes landed on a Condrieu. Again, a flood of memories came back. The Rhone Valley village of Condrieu was an unexpected highlight during our first visit to France in the 1980s. We stayed at a delightful Relaix et Chateau and sipped a Guigal Condrieu white on our balcony. It was my first experience with a good Condrieu. The viognier grown here on steep hillsides creates intense, powerful wines.

So, of course, I bought the Faury Condrieu and gulped at its $75 price. But, I opened it the other day and remembered our first visit to France. Priceless, as they say.

We were with Pat Darr and his wife just as the crisis hit our shores. Pat writes the weekly wine column with me. We have so many memories of the column since it debuted more than 30 years ago. To recapture those times, I opened a 2005 Mastraberandino Radici Taurasi (we tasted with its winemaker many years ago) and a 1982 Chateau Gruaud Larose (we each bought this wine as futures).

Do you have a wine in your cellar that evokes a good memory? Don’t wait any longer. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Roses have arisen

I've never tasted so many rosés before this year. Thanks to its growing popularity, there are more rosés on the market as the segment continues to expand. But with this growth comes growing pains. Not all of it is good, much of it is a producer's after-thought, and some of it is being made with odd grape varieties, such as pinot gris.

Lorenza wine producers Michele Ouellet and her mother Melinda Kearney.

Perhaps that is why we like Lorenza, a California rosé being made by mother/daughter team Melinda Kearney and Michele Ouellet. Ten years ago they fell in love with rosé and decided to form a company that made nothing but rosé. And, they use the grape varieties traditionally used by the French who have perfected rosé: grenache, syrah, cinsault and mourvedre.

I enjoy wine made with these varieties, but I also found several good ones made with pinot noir. 

From France, I liked the many rosés made by Michel Chapoutier, Whispering Angel, Minuity, and Guigal. From the West Coast, my favorites were those rosés made by Inman, Ponzi, Lorenza and Cline. 

I'll have a full report in my column next week.

My advice for starting a cellar

A friend of mine had asked me to put together a list of wines he should buy for his new wine cooler. An avid wine drinker, he stuck to the same wines year after year, content to rely on a name rather than risk money on alternatives.

He wanted to buy 10 cases and take my list to local retailers who would then bid for his business. That's an interesting concept, but one doomed to fail. Not every store will carry all of the wines I would recommend. Any wine the retailer special ordered would have to be purchased by the case because retailers just don't want to put wines on their shelves they don't particularly want. Ideally, he would buy a half-case of each and thus diversify his collection.

But he was determined, so I put together the order. We agreed that 5 cases would be priced $25-$35 and 5 cases would range from $35 to $75. The first batch would be for current drinking -- within, say, 3 years -- and the second, more expensive batch would be for long-term cellaring.

I didn't choose wines that I thought were really special, simply because they would be too hard to find and unlikely would be carried by the retailers he was going to visit. So here's the list of wines of good value -- they surpass similar wines of the same price.

MERLOT: Duckhorn Napa Valley $54; Markham Merlot ($25) 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON (Calif): Chateau Montelena ($58); Robert Mondavi ($30)                   

PINOT NOIR: Domaine Serene Evanstad ($70); Ponzi Tavola ($27)                 

ZINFANDEL: Ridge Pagani Vineyard  ($35); Seghesio Sonoma County  ($18)                                

BLENDS: Franciscan Magnificat ($55); Marietta Old Vine Red ($16) 

ITALIAN VARIETALS: Gabbiano Chianti ($30); Altare Barolo ($50)                                               

SPANISH VARIETALS: Can Blau ($17); Artadi ($18)

FRANCE: Sociando-Mallet Bordeaux ($40); Guigal Cotes du Rhone ($16)