Bouchon in Santa Barbara: good food and a great wine-by-the-glass service

On our way to L.A., we stayed overnight in Santa Barbara. This was a nice break: the town has pretty beaches, downtown shopping is great and dining options are plentiful. Looking for a good restaurant, our internet query listed Bouchon on Victoria Street, a block away from State, the old town's main artery. Although a dressy attire seemed to be recommended on the Yelp website, we decided to have a look at the place anyway.

We found out that the restaurant had in fact a lovely and inviting patio and the atmosphere seemed pretty casual. The food was wine country cooking and the wine list offered an extensive choice of wines from Santa Barbara County. So we decided to stay.

We had a great dinner there but what was most remarkable about the restaurant was the special attention given to the wine-by-the-glass service. Each bottle was brought to the table so that we could look at the label (and take a picture of it!), and taste the wine before generous pours were served into large glasses.

The wines we tasted:

• 2007 Ojai Viognier Icewine Roll Ranch: according to the winery's website, ripe viognier grapes are taken from the Roll Ranch vineyard to a commercial freezer in Oxnard, and when they are solidly frozen they are transported back to the winery and pressed immediately. The first juice that is pressed out is fermented in older barrels, stopping the fermentation before the alcohol level gets too high. The wine was extremely sweet with some good acidity and aromas of apricot and muscat. A good match with the Pan-Seared Foie Gras althought slightly too sweet for our taste.

• 2006 Consilience Roussanne Santa Barbara County: Consilience is a small Santa Barbara County producer loosely focused around typical Rhone varietals. In the northern Rhone Valley, Roussanne is usually blended with Marsanne but here, Roussanne is bottled by itself. The wine had a deep golden color and a nose of cane sugar juice. It was rather dry and tight on the palate but opened up nicely as I was enjoying my Flatbread with Roasted Tomatoes, Artichoke Hearts & Fresh Mozzarella.

• 2007 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Santa Rita Hills: sourced from the estate vineyards of Melville Winery in the Santa Rita Hills appellation. The wine had a herbal nose of menthol and eucalyptus with aromas of dark cherries and caramel. Good accompaniment to the Bourbon & Maple-Glazed California Duck Breast.

• 2006 Tercero Cuvee Christie: Tercero is a small boutique label produced by Larry Schaeffer, assistant winemaker at Fess Parker, and his wife Christie. The wine is a blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and 10% Mourvèdre from Santa Barbara County. Each component was fermented and aged separately, and the final blend was combined about a month before bottling. The nose showed aromas of figs cooked with spices. On the palate, it had a rich and velvety texture. Delicious with the Venison Loin.

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Will Sell Husband for Wine!

Guess what? My husband bought me this new tee-shirt the other day. It has a big quote that says: “Will Sell Husband for Wine!” But the best part is the tiny note just below it:

“If wine is REALLY good will throw in kids with husband. If wine is REALLY good and huge QUANTITIES are involved, will throw in House and Cat with Husband and Kids. No substitutions. No exchanges. Very Limited warranty on husbands.”

Hilarious, even if you don't have a cat!

The tee-shirt itself is wine dyed: “Straight from the vine come our shirts dyed in rich red wine. ” says the website. And there are many other Gourmet Dyes available depending on your taste, including Kona Coffee, Beer, Chocolate, and Key Limes. Too bad they just smell like plain cotton!

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An apéritif of Gougères and Bourgueil Rosé

Gougères are a specialty of the Burgundy region. These small cheese puffs are usually served as apéritif with a glass of Kir. They are delicious and easy to make, basically a cream puff dough (pâte à choux) with grated Gruyère cheese added to the dough before baking.



There was no Kir with our gougères, but instead, a light Rosé from the Loire Vallée, the 2008 Bourgueil Rosé Domaine de la Petite Mairie. Bourgueil is one of the major red wine appellations in the Loire Vallée. Wines are red or rosé and made from Cabernet Franc, locally called Breton. The story is that Cabernet Franc was introduced to the Loire Vallée by Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century and planted at the Abbey of St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil under the care of an abbot named Breton.

The wine had a bright salmon color and floral notes and citrus aromas on the nose. On the palate, it was dry, juicy, fruity, and very refreshing. If you're looking for something light, fresh, and tasty for the summer, this is exactly what you need, and don't forget the gougères!

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How to taste like a Pro

I don't think it is too hard for anybody to follow the ABC of Wine Tasting, which involves 5 basic steps also known as the 5 Ss: See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, and Savor. But if you want to drink wine like an expert, things become significantly more complicated. This article lists the ten most important attributes that one should look for in a wine, according to winemaker Aaron Pott

The first two, Typicity and Sense of Place, are I think the hardest to perceive. How to identify the unique properties that identify a grape varietal, or the land, the terroir from which the grapes are grown? These two are also tightly related: “A wine with a sense of place has typicity and wine that shows typicity shows a sense of place,” says Pott.

As I looks at the next seven attributes listed, Complexity, Integration, Elegance, Length, Balance, Power, and Texture, I think Integration, Balance, and Elegance are the ones I personally care the most. They're also related: “Elegant wines don't necessarily need to be complex but most certainly are integrated,” says Pott. Moreover, elegant wines don't require power and length, but they do need balance.

Now, the last attribute is for me the most important of all: Pleasure. “In the end,” concludes Pott, “the only question is, Do I like this?”

The whole article is here.

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Yes, wine can work beautifully with vegetarian fare

Roughly a year ago, my daughter convinced us to go vegetarian one day a week. There's plenty of good reasons to do so. It saves natural resources, decreases waste, reduces your contribution to global warming, and it's good for your health. The other fun part is to discover new vegetarian recipes and experiment with all sorts of ways to accomodate tofu, vegetables, legumes, and spices.

So last Thursday (that's our vegetarian day of the week), I decided to make pasta with goat cheese, lemon, and asparagus, a recipe that looked fresh and seasonal. As for the wine that could go well with the dish, I really got inspired to choose the 2002 Vouvray Sec Domaine de la Fontainerie Cuvée C, which was slowly aging in the cellar.


Pasta With Goat Cheese, Lemon, And Asparagus

Domaine de la Fontainerie has five hectares in production in the Vouvray appellation where the family has been growing Chenin Blanc since 1712. Catherine Dhoye-Deruet, who is now in charge of the family estate, would typically vinify her Vouvray dry and make off-dry and sweet Vouvray in exceptional vintages only. She believes in minimal intervention in the vineyard and harvests her grapes manually.

The wine had a deep golden color and a nose of ripe apple and pear. On the palate, it was dry, quite tight, with some acidity and a distinctive mineral character that was intensified by the creaminess of the goat cheese, the tanginess of the lemon, and the assertive flavor of the asparagus. I don't think anything fishy or meaty would have been any better with the wine.

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Wine and Cheese party at GC's Tasting Cafe in Menlo Park

GC's Tasting Cafe is a casual and friendly place downtown Menlo Park, offering a good variety of sandwiches and small plates based on cheese and charcuterie. Thanks to Gérard, co-owner and Maître Fromager, the cheese selection is particularly expansive. The place is also a tasting room where you can purchase your own wine or taste by the glass. The wine selection includes well chosen wines from local wineries as well as from California, Europe, and the Southern Hemisphere.

For the party, I was asked to choose some of the French wines sold at the cafe that would go well with the cheese, and so here is what we tasted:

• 2006 Sancerre Les Monts Damnés Domaine Roger Moreux: Sancerre, located in the eastern part of the Loire Valley, is regarded as the spiritual home of Sauvignon Blanc, producing wines of great minerality and elegance. Les Monts Damnés or Damned Mountains is a terroir of chalky purity with an abundance of crushed oyster shells and wet stones. Domaine Roger Moreux has been making wine since the 16th century. It is located in Chavignol, a small village within the Sancerre appellation, also known for France's most famous goat cheese, the Crottin de Chavignol. The wine had an attractive, floral nose. The palate was crisp, with notes of grapefruit, and a persistent stony finish. And of course, it was delicious with the goat cheese.

• 2006 Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume Domaine Séguinot-Bordet: Chablis is located at the north of the Burgundy region, along the 48th parallel north which places Chablis at the northern extremes of viable viticulture. The soil is a mix of Kimmeridge clay from the Jurassic age, with the same chalk layer that is found in Sancerre and up to the cliffs of Dover. The appellation produces white wines only, all made from the Chardonnay grape. Thanks to the region's cool climate, the wines have more acidity and less fruit than Chardonnay wines made in warmer climates. Domaine Séguinot-Bordet is a 16 hectare family estate that has been growing vines since 1590. For young winemaker Jean-François Bordet, the main emphasis is to get the best fruit possible through careful pruning, debudding and harvesting. The wine had a focused nose of stone fruit, and a complex, mineral backbone on the palate. It was much less fruity than the Sancerre but nonetheless not less intense.

• 2005 Chorey-Lès-Beaune Vieilles Vignes Dominique Laurent: Chorey-Lès-Beaune is the Burgundy village appellation closest to Beaune. The appellation has no grand or premier crus, but the village wines have gained reputation of being among the best value on the Côte de Beaune. The total area under production is 136 hectares, the vast majority of this being Pinot Noir. Dominique Laurent is a renowned grower-producer in Burgundy. He owns only tiny parcels of vineyards and buys grapes or new wine from various growers, focussing on old vines, low yields and minimal intervention winemaking. The wine had a pleasant earthy nose of red cherry. The palate was tart, light-to-medium bodied, firm, but rather unbalanced in terms of acidity.

• 2005 Côtes du Rhône Domaine du Pesquier: Guy Boutière from Domaine Pesquier farms around 30 hectares of vines spread among Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône vineyards. The Côtes du Rhône is a classic Rhône blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan. It had a nose of sweet berry fruits and spices. The palate was full-bodied, quite robust, and richly flavored. A stronger wine, perfect with the salami.

• 2005 Château Charmail: Château Charmail is a Cru Bourgeois in the Haut-Médoc appellation, bordering Saint-Estèphe. It is produced by the Sèze family who also owns Château Mayne-Vieil in Fronsac. Planting is 48% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, an unusually high proportion of Merlot for the Médoc. I think this was the best red wine of the evening. It had a nose of black fruit with some notes of licorice. On the palate, it was medium-bodied, still young and tannic but very well balanced, tasty, and excellent with Petit Basque.

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Tour of the Marin County Tasting Rooms

Earlier this month, on a cool and rainy Saturday morning, we drove north towards Marin County for some wine tasting. Deciding which wineries to visit was easy: only two wineries in Marin County have tasting rooms opened to the public.

Our first stop was for a hearty lunch at the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station. Then after driving about 2 more miles north on Highway 1, we found the entrance to Point Reyes Vineyards.


Estate vines behind the tasting room at Point Reyes Vineyards

The family owned and operated winery, the first in Marin County since prohibition, is in a peaceful pastoral setting with beautiful views of the West Marin rolling hills. Six acres of grapes are grown just behind the winery that are used to produce a sparkling wine, unfortunately sold out and unavailable for tasting that day. Overall, we didn't enjoy the selection of wines offered in the tasting room, some we found too oxydized, others too high in alcohol, and left disappointed.

The Ross Valley Winery is the other Marin winery with a tasting room. It is situated downtown San Anselmo, about 20 miles north of San Francisco. The place really feels like a neighborhood wine bar with the winemaking facility located in the storefront's back room. Owner and Winemaker Paul Kreider is a jovial man with a laid-back attitude and a minimal intervention philosophy towards winemaking. His wines are seldom fined or filtered and only minimum amounts of sulfites are used. He makes the wines he likes, fruity and accessible instead of hard and tannic.


Owner and winemaker Paul Kreider at The Ross Valley Winery

This time, we enjoyed the wines we tasted as well as the company of our friendly host, even exchanging a few words with some customers passing by. Here are the wines we liked the best:

2006 The Ross Valley Winery Chardonnay Grebennikoff Vineyard Sonoma Valley: light yellow color, no oak, unfiltered, apple and pear on the nose, fresh and crisp on the palate.

2005 The Ross Valley Winery Merlot Oller Vineyard Sonoma Valley: medium red color, black cherry and crushed peppercorns on the nose, juicy with some tannins, slightly oaky on the finish.

2004 The Ross Valley Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Leoni Vineyard Sonoma Valley: medium color, red berries on the nose and notes of vanilla, supple with spices and good acidity on the palate.

Related post:
•  A discovery: Riesling from Marin County

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