Wineshark Recipe Card - Russian Borscht

Ingredients:

• Stock - 2 lb 8 oz
• Celery - 2 oz
• Carrot - 2 oz
• Onion - 2 oz
• White cabbage - 2 oz
• Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
• Green pepper - 1/2 oz
• Red chili - small amount
• Beet root - 2 oz
• Bay leaf - 1
• Garlic finely - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato - 2 oz
• Tomato paste - 2 oz
• Maggi sauce - dashes
• Tomato juice - 4 oz
• Tabasco - dashes
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• White thickening - 1 oz

Procedures:

1. Wash the vegetables and cut into thin stripes.
2. Use cooking oil to stir fry the vegetable till soften.
3. Add other ingredients and stock to cook for one hour.
4. Season and then add white thickening with water.

Rubicon Estate

Rubicon Estate is the modern incarnation of the celebrated Inglenook Estate in Rutherford. The history started when Gustave Niebaum, a Finnish sea captain, fur trader and businessman, came to Napa Valley in 1879 and brought a large fortune with him.

He acquired a 40 hectare farm from WC Watson, who originally named the Inglenook Estate. Niebaum took the property seriously and modeled it on the top estates in Europe. The winery was built in 1886, with the unusual practice of estate-bottled during that time.

Niebaum died in 1908, and his widow handed the management to her niece’s husband John Daniel. Inglenook lost some renown during the first decades of the 20^th century, with the Prohibition dealing a further blow. After the repeal, John Danile Jr revived the property after inheriting from his father, with winemaker George Deuer from Germany.

Deuer introduced rudimentary temperature control by having cold water tubes hugging the fermentation tanks, with the wines aged in large German casks. Inglenook was best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, with strict quality control and total production no more than 5000 cases.

In 1964 Daniel sold the winery to United Vintners, part of the Allied Grape Growers cooperative, and two years later sold to Heublein, with John staying on as consultant. By 1970s Heublein was releasing 4 million cases a year, and trashing the name of the estate.

Heublein had a change of heart in 1979 and replanted the vineyard, restoring the winery but the estate was already in decline, and in 1993 it was sold. Film director Francis Coppola was already installed on the property, having bought the Niebaum homestead in 1975 as well as some vineyards.

In 1994 he was able to buy the winery in addition. He was making wines under the Niebaum-Coppola label since 1978, retaining the service of Rafael Rodriguez, who had been in the vineyard since 1952. The vineyard has well-drained gravel soils and shaded from the afternoon sun by the location, allowing the vines to ripen slowly and evenly.

When Coppola bought the winery in 1994 he also bought another 24 hectare parcel, and in 2003 a further 22 hectare from the Cohn family, thus reuniting most of the Inglenook property. A rare Cabernet clone, known as Clone 29, was identified in 2002 and is believed to come from Bordeaux in the 1880s.

The winery is now a tourist destination, with a museum devoted to both wines and Coppola’s film career. The top wine is Rubicon, a Bordeaux blend, made in extracted style and aged for about two years in mostly new French oak. The second wine is Cask Cabernet, introduced in 1995, made mostly from younger vines in a more accessible style, aged for 28 months in American oak barrels. The other major estate wine is Blancaneaux, first made in 1999, and now dominated by Roussanne, aged now in steel on lees.

I have recently tasted the 2006 Rubicon and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with legs.

Nose

Clean, with pronounced intensity aromas showing black fruit of blackcurrant, blackberry and bilberry, oak notes of cedar and caramel, kernel notes of mocha, sweet spice of cloves, pungent spice of licorice, dairy notes of cream, maturity notes of forest floor and savory. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is ripe, very silky and smooth. Medium (+) in alcohol and a bit warming, the wine is of full body, with medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit of cassis, blackberry and dark plum, oak notes of cedar, kernel notes of milk chocolate. The wine has a long finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality California wine with phenomenal concentration on the nose, showing highly complex characters, the wine is equally impressive on the palate, with the ripe tannin silky and totally dissolved into the wine, with a roundness and smoothness that is exceptional. The flavors are of good intensity and also having a very long finish. The only thing I feel a bit annoying is the high alcohol and warming sensation, but that may be a price to pay for the ripeness of the fruit. Ready to drink now, it can benefit from further ageing of another 8-10 years.

St-Emilion

The ancient and beautiful town of St-Emilion is one of Bordeaux’s most seismic wine region, on the escarpment above the Dordogne. It lies on the sand and gravel plateau, flows steadily into Pomerol, and sloping down on limestone slopes to the plain.

It is much visited and makes rich red wines, that are much less austere than the Medoc ones, with the best made in ripe and sunny seasons almost sweet as they mature.

The grapes are mainly Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with Cabernet Sauvignon having problems to ripen in the climate and the damp, cooler soils. The wine takes less time to mature, a little longer than Pomerol with four years of a poor vintage, and eight upwards for a good one.

The classification is much more rigorously followed, with every 10 years the rankings are revised. In the 2012 classification, there are 4 Premier Class A, 14 Premier Class B, and 64 Grand Cru Classe, with Pavie and Angelus just promoted to Premier Class A.

Other St-Emilion can be named Grand Cru without Classe, so careful inspection on the label is required to distinguish. There are increasingly some wines that operate outside the classification but still highly sought after, however.

These include the likes of Tertre Roteboeuf, with the trend of producing more concentrated, smoother and less rustic wines. Another new wave began in the early 1990s with the emergence of Chateau Valandraud.

The unfiltered, concentrated wine from a few tiny parcels is the first of St-Emilion’s garage wines, quickly spawning a large army, a few definitely established reputation but many came and went without much recognition.

The formula is to produce extremely obvious wines in minute quantities of generally less than 1000 cases to create demand. There are also some new investors coming into the field, including Michel Rolland, Stephane Derenoncourt and Piscal Chatonnet, with some of the wines made in modern style similar with California’s Napa Valley.

There are two distinct districts of St-Emilion, one on the border of Pomerol, on the western edge of St-Emilion’s sandy and gravelly plateau, with the most famous estate being Cheval Blanc, predominantly Cabernet Franc blend. The neighbor is the big Chateau Figeac who is closest to the quality level, a very fragrant wine from even more gravelly soil with more Cabernet Sauvignon.

The other group, the Cotes St-Emilion, occupies the escarpment around and to the east of the town, towards St-Laurent-des-Combes. It is a south-facing slope from Tertre Daugay via the Pavies to Tertre Roteboeuf.

Here resided Chateau Ausone, the jewel of the Cotes, one of the finest estate overlooking the Dordogne, with the cellar under the vineyards. The Cotes may not be quite fruity as the ‘Graves’ wines from the plateau but at its best they are perfumed and generous, typically more alcoholic than Medoc.

In a relatively short time St-Emilion has transformed to a hotbed of ambition new labels, but there are still wide number of moderate fame and consistent wines at relatively affordable prices.

I have tasted the following wines from St-Emilion:

Aromes de Pavie	2009
Chateau Balestard La Tonnelle	1997
Chateau Barde-Haut	2006
Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot	2007
Chateau Berliquet	2001
Chateau Cap de Mourlin	1994
Chateau Clos de l'Oratoire	2007
Chateau Clos de Sarpe	2006
Chateau Corbin Michotte	2001
Chateau Cote de Baleau	2000
Chateau Fombrauge	2005
Chateau Fonroque	2005
Chateau Grand Corbin-Despagne	2004
Chateau Grand-Pontet	2005
Chateau Haut-Corbin	2000
Chateau La Fleur Morange	2000
Chateau La Gaffeliere	2003
Chateau la Serre	2006
Chateau la Serre	2006
Chateau La Tour Figeac	2006
Chateau Larmande	2005
Chateau Le Prieure	2002
Chateau Magdelaine	1998
Chateau Monbosquet	2002
Chateau Moulin du Cadet	2005
Chateau Pavie	2002
Chateau Rol Valentin	1995
Chateau Soutard	2006
Chateau St-Georges Cote Pavie	2004
Chateau Valandraud	2003
Chateau Villemaurine	2004
Clos des Jacobins	2005
Couvent des Jacobins	1998
Tertre Roteboeuf	1999

Wineshark Recipe Card - Saute Mussels with Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

• Half shell mussels - 16
• Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
• Onion finely - 4 oz
• Garlic finely - 1 tsp
• Ginger finely - 1/2 tsp
• Red bell pepper - 4 oz
• Green bell pepper - 4 oz
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ground cumin - 1 tsp
• Coconut milk - 6 oz
• Water - 4 oz
• Black pepper finely - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Procedures:

1. Prepare the half shell mussels and clean.
2. Heat the cooking oil to sautee onion finely.
3. Add garlic and ginger finely.
4. Then add the chopped red and green bell pepper.
5. Add tumeric powder, ground cumin and water.
6. Put the mussels into the mix, season and add coconut milk.
7. Put coriander leaves on top.

Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot

Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot was once part of a much larger and grander Beausejour estate, with a long history. The origins lay in the Middle Ages when the land was owned by the monks of St Martin. During the 17^th century the monks relinquished control of the vineyards, and a lieu-dit named Peycoucou was acquired by the Geres family.

Jeanne de Geres later married to Francois de Carles de Figeac, a local nobleman, and the estate was thus came into the hands of the de Carles family. Their son General Jacques de Carles renamed the property Beausejour in 1787. Jacques died in 1803 and passed the estate to his cousin Andre de Carle-Trajet, who sold it after two decades to a local pharmacist, who passed on to Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe.

In 1869 he divided the estate between his children, half of the vineyards plus the chateau to his daughter, who through marriage take the name Duffau-Lagarrosse. His son took the remaining half, which was the current Beau-Sejour Becot. The estate changed hands in 1924, to Dr. Jean Fagouet who expanded the vineyard to 10.5 hectares.

In 1969 it was acquired by Michel Becot, thus appending his name to the chateau. The Becot family still own the domaine, but Michel has passed to his two sons Gerard and Dominique, and assisted by Gerard’s daughter Juliette. The vineyards lie to the west of St-Emilion, on the edge of St Martin de Mazerat plateau.

The soil is limestone and chalk peppered with fossilized starfish, with a topsoil of clay and limestone. The total area is 16.5 hectares, with 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, with average age in excess of 35 years. Planting density is 6200 vines per hectare, with grass planted between rows to increase competition.

Leaf-thinning is done twice a year, with a green harvest in the summer to help control yields, typically at 30-35 hl/ha. Aggressive sorting and selection of fruit is practiced at the time of picking and in chai, with the fruit fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel vats.

The wine is then bled off into oak barrels, between 80%-100% new oak in each vintage for 16-18 months. Before bottling it is neither fined nor filtered, with the grand vin Beau-Sejour Becot usually more Merlot, coupled with an infrequently produced second wine Tournelle de Beau-Sejour Becot, total production is around 5500 cases.

The estate was downgraded from Premier Grand Cru Classe in 1985 because of the expansion and acquisition of the neighboring vineyards of La Carte and Trois Moulins, which INAO regarded as incompatible terroir. But the Becot brothers worked hard and got the estate promoted back in 1996, showing the quality of the wine. The wine remained a Premier Grand Cru Classe in the 2012 classification.

I have recently tasted the 2007 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with thin garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium intensity aromas showing black fruit of blackberry, plum and bilberry, oak notes of cedar, maturity notes of savory, mineral notes of earth, pungent spice of licorice. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is ripe but still a bit grippy. Medium in alcohol and of medium body, with medium intensity flavors of black fruit of plum, blackberry and ripe dark cherries, oak notes of cedar, herbal notes of black tea. The wine has a medium (+) finish.  

Conclusion

Good quality St-Emilion with typical ripe black fruit characters, showing good ripeness despite coming from the difficult vintage. The nose is reasonably concentrated with good complexity, while on the palate the tannin is notably high with still a tight grip. Nevertheless the flavors are of good intensity with a fairly long finish. It is ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.

Chateau Chasse-Spleen

Chateau Chasse-Spleen is the leading estate of Moulis, a small and easily overlooked commune on the left bank of the Gironde. During the 1855 classification the estate did not exist as an independent entity. Currently a Cru Bourgeois, with a brief fame of Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel but that ranking was annulled in 2003.

There were records on vines planted back to 1560, under the landlord by the name of Grenier, whose name over the years had evolved into Gressier. The family remained in control of the estate, known as Grand-Poujeaux, until the division in 1822 because of the inheritance law. Half the vineyards were under the name Chateau Gressier-Grand-Poujeaux which the wine is still being sold today.

The other half is the current Chateau Chasse-Spleen, under the Castaing family who also owned Chateau Maucaillou and Poujeaux-Theil. By 1860s Chateau Chasse-Spleen began to operate as an independent entity, and around the turn of the century the estate was already a well-established one. The property was later sold to the German firm Seigneitz, surviving World War I but suffering many damages.

In 1922 the property was auctioned to Frank Lahary, who passed to his daughter and her husband. Surviving through the difficult period, the estate was later sold to Jacques Merlaut. The Merlaut family also owned properties including Gruaud-Larose, Ferriere, La Gurgue, Citran and Haut-Bages-Liberal. In 1976 Jacques Merlaut handed control to Bernadette Villars and her husband.

Bernadette had contributed a lot to the improvement of quality of the wine, but unfortunately both she and her husband died in a mountaineering accident, leaving behind her daughter Claire to run the property.

The vineyards are heavily parcellated, with mostly Garonne gravel and some chalky clay mixture. Total area is 80 hectares, with vine averaging 30 years old. Cabernet Sauvignon dominates at 73%, with 20% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. The soils are ploughed, and manual harvesting is adopted, the wine is aged between 12-14 months in oak of 40% new.

The wine is fined with egg white before bottling, with the grand vin Chateau-Spleen production at about 28000 cases. Two second wines are made: L’Ermitage Chasse-Spleen and l’Oratoire de Chasse-Spleen of about 14000 cases.

I have recently tasted the 1995 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance
Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with wide garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium intensity aromas showing black fruit of dark cherries and plum, floral notes of violet, sweet spice of cloves, oak notes of cedar, maturity notes of damp earth and forest floor. The wine is fully developed.

Palate

Dry with medium (+) acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is integrated and velvety. Medium in alcohol and of medium (+) body, with medium intensity flavors of black fruit of plum and dark cherries, dried fruit of prune, sweet spice of cloves, oak notes of cedar, hints of tobacco. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Acceptable quality Moulis red with reasonable concentration and complexity, the wine is a bit over its peak, but the acidity is still holding strong on the palate to provide the structure. Not having any special feature to make this wine interesting, nevertheless it has a reasonable length. The fruit is fast receding and this wine should be consumed immediately and not intend for further ageing.

Chateau Doisy Daene

The three Doisy vineyards of Barsac, Doisy-Vedrines, Doisy-Dubroca and Doisy-Daene all stem from one single estate. The earliest record showed that from the 18^th century there was a mention of a property south of Chateau Coutet owned by the Vedrines family. Jean Vedrines and Marie Raymond settled in the little village named La Pinesse and established an estate, as well as planting vines.

In the same century the family had expanded the property by acquiring a small portion of the Coutet vineyard. By the early 19^th century it was recognized as one of the leading vineyards of Barsac, along with Coutet and Climens. It was not clear when the vineyard was divided, with the largest portion becoming Doisy-Vedrines, with the original owners.

The two smaller portions, with the first acquired by the Faux family, becomes today Doisy-Dubroca. The remaining portion was purchased by Jean Jacques Emmanuel Daene, believed to derive from the English name Deane, becoming Doisy-Daene. It remained in the hands of the Daene family when it was ranked a deuxieme cru in the 1855 classification and was later inherited by Jean’s sons.

Subsequently it was sold to Jean Paul Billot, and later changed hands a few times more, first to Billot’s daughter Pauline who married to a local negociant Jean Lodois Juhel-Renoy in 1884. She later sold it to Jules Debans and his brother in 1889, after which it was sold to Georges Dubourdieu in 1924, whose descendants continue to manage the property till today.

From Georges it came first to his son Pierre, who improved the estate by expanding from 4 hectares to more than 15 hectares, as well as an ambitious replanting programme. After retiring in 2000, he passed to his son Denis Dubourdieu, the famous Professor of Oenology at Bordeaux University. Now the running of the estate is handed to his sons Fabrice and Jean-Jacques.

The vineyards largely lay to the south and east of the buildings and cellars, with typical Barsac soil of red sand and clay on top of limestone bedrock with fossilized shellfish. The vines are mature after the replanting in the 1950s and 1960s, averaging more than 40 years old. The size of the estate now is 18 hectares, with the majority of the vineyards sandwiched between Climens to the west and Coutet to the north and east.

Planting density is 7000 vines per hectare, with 87% Semillon, 12% Sauvignon Blanc and 1% Muscadelle. Minimal treatment is adopted, with no herbicide used, and maintaining regular ploughing. For many years the wine made is dry instead of sweet, which is not the case today but there is still a dry cuvee produced. In better vintages there is a super-cuvee made.

The caring is done by hands, such as pruning, training and leaf-stripping, manual harvest with at least three but often up to six tries. Pierre’s approach was unusual and experimental, with plots of Riesling and Chardonnay in the vineyard. The grand vin is Chateau Doisy-Daene with about 3300 cases per annum, typically a blend of 85-90% Semillon and 10-15% Sauvignon Blanc.

The fruit is pressed and then fermented in barrel, with one-third of the wood renewed each year, followed by elevage for 12 months in barrels and another 6 months in stainless steel vats. The two notable cuvees include a dry white made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc, fermented and aged in oak barrels of which one-third is new, with typically 2500 cases per annum.

The rare L’Extravagant de Doisy-Daene is the super-cuvee first produced in 1990, only made in selected successful vintages. Four or five bunches are left on each vine, delaying the harvest until November, with botrytis and passerillage had done the best to dehydrate the berries. The concentration of the sugar is exceptionally high at 230 g/l at the minimum, way above the typical Sauternes of 120-140 g/l. Quantities are very limited, with as little as 100 cases depending on vintage.

I have recently tasted the 2006 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has medium gold color, with long legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas showing stone fruit of apricot, maturity notes of honey, citrus fruit of lemon, bitter orange and orange peel, oak notes of cedar and toast, dried fruit of sultana, kernel notes of almond. The wine is developing.

Palate

Sweet with medium (+) acidity, this wine has medium (+) in alcohol and is of full body, with medium intensity flavors of stone fruit of peach, citrus fruit of lemon and orange marmalade, oak notes of honey, dried fruit of sultana. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Good quality Barsac with a refreshing acidity balancing well the sweetness, the wine has a good intense nose showing complex characters, on the palate it demonstrates robust structure and freshness, though overall the concentration is a bit weak than one would expect. Highlighting similar flavor profile, the finish of the wine is also a bit shorter than desired. Ready to drink now, the wine can benefit from further ageing of another 4-6 years.