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Way Down Cellar
Author By: Tim Protzman
This year will be remembered as the one without spring. A brutal winter gave way to a monsoon season and weeks on end of gray dreariness. Then, suddenly, summer pounced like a tiger. Everyone's thoughts turned to escaping the heat and humidity. I found myself eagerly awaiting the opportunity to help a friend clean her parents' cellar, just to escape the temperature. Well, not just to escape the heat--the promise of unique, little tucked away treasures lured me. My cut was fascinating; a half bottle 1985 Dry Creek Chenin Blanc and a Robert Mondavi cookbook titled "Bottles and Bins." First the wine. I was a bit suspicious of an 18-year-old half-bottle of Chenin Blanc, a variety with a bad reputation. Think Gallo in the screw-top gallon jug. And the half-bottle size made me skeptical. Experts say the magnum--double the size of a standard bottle--ages the best. Would this wine turn out to be an oxidized mess, rusty looking, and tasting of mold and dirt? No, this was a truly great wine. It spoke of pineapple and butterscotch. Deeply interesting and totally satisfying, it wasn't quite a dessert wine, but not an aperitif either, and totally devoid of tannins. The Pirates of the Caribbean couldn't have unearthed such a treasure. The Mondavi cookbook from 1965 was similar to something a church would publish. Individual contributors sent in the neat little recipes, everything from Coq au Vin to rabbit in Madeira sauce. Paging through it reminded me of an old Bewitched episode. Tidying the basement was an interesting time and a good way to keep cool. The success of eBay should give more people impetus to delve into their storage spaces in search of marketable commodities. When another friend's father died, he asked me to take a look at a couple of bottles of wine his father had saved. I was astounded to see two bottles of 1974 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon! That was the turning point year, in which California achieved its full glory as a wine producer, and the Inglenook was a signature product. We sold one bottle to a local collector and opened the other. It was superb. Not Bordeaux-like in structure, but grapes that had been naturally coaxed to their finest. Deep ruby in color with fruit tastes of cherry; plum and elderberry mixed with grassy flavored tones and aromas. This 27-year-old beauty was quite a treat from the late Carmine's basement. Now, at the request of yet another friend, I'm suggesting organic wines. Organic viticulture is defined as "farming which uses no synthetic chemical products." This means no insecticides or herbicides, so if you're sensitive to sulfites, don't think that just because a wine is organic it's sulfite-free. Sulfites have been used since Roman times to preserve wine. Organic wines are available locally, but have a shorter shelf life so if you see one you want, buy it and drink it. The following wines were sampled at an organic wine tasting last summer. Orleans Hill Winery 2000 Zinfandel - California. Spicy and deep with plum flavors. $10.99 Frey Vineyards 1999 Syrah - California. A little thin, but highly drinkable with cherry fruit and a slightly tannic finish. $12.49 Badger Mountain Vineyard 2000 Merlot - Washington State. A great drinking Merlot with hints of cassis and elderberries. $14.79 Powers Winery 1999 Pinot Gris - Washington State. Light, with a satisfying acidity that makes it a good cocktail wine. Nice with cheese and pepperoni. $11.99 Also try Organic Wine Works Chardonnay and any Lolonis Vineyards products.
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