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A pril/May 2021
MARVELING AT A RARE COLLECTION Our Favorites Wines From the Rare Room
DOWN TO EARTH California Wines “Down to Earth Month” in April Celebrates Sustainable Winegrowing
WINE TRENDS YOU WILL SEE EVERYWHERE IN 2021 Winter Rosé, Portuguese Tinto, and Sparkling Wine from England Included
THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS
The wine contest that changed it all
MAX MCCALMAN Maître Fromager, The Wine Room Kitchen & Bar
SPECIAL EVENTS
Wine Pairing Events at The Wine Room Kitchen & Bar
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Welcome to The Brix Layer, the monthly newsletter by The Wine Room Kitchen & Bar in Delray Beach, Florida. We will share with our readers and guests our passion for wine, classic and modern culinary trends and the most sought after artisan cheeses from around the world. In our monthly publication you will learn about our weekly events, tasting dinners, wine and cheese pairing events, emerging brands and timeless luxury wines, both new and old world. We look for the pulse in lifestyle and stories that reflect our market trends, the facts and relevant programs. Our mission is simple; to inspire our team members to guide our guests through a memorable experience with wine one taste at a time. Cheers! The Wine Room Kitchen & Bar
Marveling at a
RARE
Collection
A look inside the rare room at The Wine Room Kitchen & Bar
2002 Heitz “Martha’s Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon 9 Bottles 92 Points - Robert Parker Tightly knit and backward, the 2002 Martha’s Vineyard offers hints of black cherries, black currants, earth, new saddle leather and spice box. Full-bodied, dense and concentrated as well as high in tannin, this youthful effort no longer reveals this cuvee’s famous eucalyptus aroma, but it does not lack for power, richness or aging potential.
Martha’s Vineyard/Photo courtesy Heitz Cellars
ZD Cellars Abacus 7th Bottling 3 Bottles Tight and focused, with complex earthy currant, black cherry, anise, herb and leathery notes, firming on the finish, picking up a chocolate note. A curious and expensive foray into non-vintage “solera-style” Cabernet, it’s a multiple vintage blend of every ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ever produced.
1997 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 9 Bottles 95 Points - Robert Parker Full-bodied, with explosive sweetness and fruit on the attack, this gloriously pure, superbly well-delineated wine should be drinkable young, and last for 3 decades. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2025.
2005 Amon-Ra Shiraz 13 Bottles 98 Points- Robert Parker A saturated purple color is followed by scents of creme de cassis, incense, licorice, black raspberries, graphite, and sweet wood. It unfolds beautifully on the palate to reveal terrific richness, full-bodied power, great definition, and lovely elegance. This exquisite Shiraz is still young, but it possesses a degree of accessibility. It should age for two decades. It is a superb example of cutting edge wine making being utilized on ancient Shiraz vines in the Barossa.
2004 Levy & McClellan Cabernet Sauvignon 2 Bottles 99 Points - Robert Parker The exquisite 2004 Proprietary Red Wine offers up notes of lead pencil shavings, licorice, Asian plum sauce, black currants and a hint of underlying minerality. Full-bodied yet beautifully silky and seductive, it has shed most of its tannins, resulting in a complex, singular red wine of majestic proportions.
2011 Catena Zapata “White Stones”Chardonnay 5 Bottles 96 Points-Wine Advocate The wine is picked and fermented in successive tries. It feels mineral, a little reduced at first, with some flinty aromas and echoes of gunpowder that is all about the soil and not about the fruit. The palate is austere and sharp like a Chablis and also has high minerality and superb acidity. This should develop magnificently in bottle. Likely the best White Stones to date. Gobsmacking! 1,200 bottles produced.
THE SPOTLIGHT 1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tache 1 Bottle
97 Points - Wine Advocate This blockbuster wine possesses a profound nose. It exhibits awesomely ripe red and black fruits, raw meat, and Asian spices, all of which are encased in sweet toasty oak. This full-bodied, wide, focused, harmonious, and intense wine releases amazingly powerful layers of candied black cherries and blackberries. It is structured, totally precise, pure, and possesses an exceptionally long finish loaded with abundant sweet tannins.
1992 Dominus Proprietor’s Red - Magnum 7 Bottles 97 Points - Robert Parker A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc, 22% Merlot, and the remainder Petit Verdot, is an opulent, opaquely concentrated wine with great ripeness of fruit, and a huge nose of earth, black-cherries, mocha, and herbs. Full-bodied, with a layered, multidimensional personality,
1990 Gruaud Larose, St Julien 6 Bottles 94 Points - Robert Parker Meaty, smoky, sweet berry and black currant characteristics intertwined with roasted herb, charcoal, new saddle leather, and bloody steak juice-like notes are found in this lush, full-bodied, opulent wine.
Chateau Gruaud Larose St. Julien Bordeaux
1994 Cos d’Estournel, St Estephe 24 Bottles 91 Points - Robert Parker A fabulously sweet nose of black fruits, licorice, pain grillee, and Asian spices. Full-bodied, with sweet, opulent fruit that reveals none of the vintage’s tough tannin, this remarkably rich, well-balanced, classic wine will prove to be uncommonly long-lived. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2025.
Down to
EARTH
Month
Celebrating Sustainable Winegrowing in April
Eco-Focused Virtual Events, Activities & Wine Tastings Highlight Practices that Protect and Enhance the Land, Communities and Livelihoods
April kicks off California Wines Down to Earth Month Wineries across the state will highlight their sustainable farming, winemaking and business practices through a variety of digital events and socially distanced, in-person activities, from virtual wine tastings and cooking demonstrations to behind-the-scenes sustainability tours.
Following are the latest Down to Earth Month winery events at DiscoverCaliforniaWines.com/events
March 20-April 20 Down-to-(Mother)-Earth Gift Offer In celebration of Mother Earth and all moms (just in time for Mother’s Day) Antica Napa Valley is offering a trio of sustainably produced wines, available only at the winery.
April 14 Napa Valley Sessions Sustainability Session 1 (virtual) Virtual zoom sessions featuring Trefethen Vineyards, Mumm Napa Valley and Chateau Boswell.
April 15
Why Is There a Chicken in the Vineyard? (virtual) Join Napa Valley sommelier Amanda McCrossin of SommVivant and Aida Mollenkamp, of Salt & Wind Travel on Facebook Live to learn how animals are helping California vintners with their sustainable farming efforts. The event includes a virtual tasting of sustainable wines.
April 17 Start Your Own Garden This hands-on workshop at Ramona Ranch Vineyard & Winery in Ramona includes instruction, seeds and supplies for starting 20 veggie and flower plants.
April 17 Sustainably Produced Wine & Coffee Experience a wine and/or coffee tasting at Ramona Ranch Vineyard & Winery in Ramona. The event is a collaboration between the certified-sustainable winery and Ramona Roasters.
April 22 J. Lohr: Growing Sustainability Conservation in the Winery (virtual) Meet Paso Robles-based J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines on Instagram Live for a behind-the-scenes look at the vineyard technologies and practices that protect and conserve our natural resources.
April 28 Napa Valley Sessions (virtual) Napa Valley Vintners hosts a Zoom session with ZD Wines, The Hess Collection Winery, and Raymond Vineyards to showcase how the wineries put their bold sustainability words into action.
April 30 Talking Dirt at Flying Goat Join two OGs (old goats) Winemaker Norm Yost, and his partner/wife Kate Griffith for a Zoom talk about sustainability at Flying Goat Cellars in Lompoc.
Wine Trends You’ll Be Seeing Everywhere in 2021, According to a Master Sommelier By Betty Gold, Real Simple Magazine
For the best insight into what wines will be most popular this year, we went straight to the source: Ian Cauble, SommSelect founder and one of only 269 Master Sommeliers in the world (yes, he was featured in the Netflix documentary Somm). Here’s what wines you can expect to explore in 2021.
Winter Rosé 1 “To put it simply, rosé has exploded in popularity in the last few years, but it also has a lot more versatility and seasonal range than most people realize,” explains Cauble. We already know about the delicious, quaffable examples that are perfectly designed for poolside sipping in the summer. But according to Cauble, there are also some highly complex, more intense examples of rosé that are ideal for drinking in the winter. FYI, rosés like this should be served closer to “cellar temp” (about 50-55°F), as opposed to the ice-cold poolside rosé many of us associate with summer.
You Should Try:
Scalabrone DOC Rosato Bolgheri, Italy
Three grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a touch of Syrah, produce a rosé with decisive and intense aromas that reflect the characteristics of Bolgheri’s territory. The wine and vineyard take their name from a bandit named Scalabrone who roamed this area in the 18th century. Vineyards thrive on clay-loam based soils, mainly of alluvial origin, with rocky deposits.
Flowers Rosé
Sonoma Coast, California
Elegant and distinct, with aromas of peach, strawberry and subtle hints of rose petal. Bursts of fresh citrus colorfully drive the palate and are balanced with flavors of nectarine and stone fruit. A silky entrance coupled with fresh and uplifting acidity leaves you with our signature coastal expressions.
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South African Wine
Most people know of Bordeaux in France as the most famous Cabernet Sauvignongrowing region in the world, rivaled in recent decades by the Napa Valley in California. “However, it’s very clear that South Africa is now competing with these lauded appellations and is creating some of the best Bordeaux-style blends the market has ever seen,” Cauble says. “South African wines are in such high demand right now that we have a hard time keeping them in stock.”
You Should Try: The Chocolate Block Franschhoek, South Africa
The nose is dark, intense and brooding with aromas of black cherries, cardamom, sweet tobacco, espresso and subtle whiffs of perfume. The dark fruit character of the nose follows through onto an exceptionally complex, juicy palate with gentle nuances of ripe plums, violets, black olives, cloves, and liquorice. The mid-palate is focused, lithe and elegant with very fine, cocoa powdery tannins.
The Game Reserve Chenin Blanc Franschhoek, South Africa Delightful aromas of sweet juicy melon, pear drop and fragrant grapefruit. On the palate, expect rich rewarding flavors of ripe tropical fruit and luscious citrus. Aromatic, fruity and well rounded – an elegant wine with a soft silky texture and vibrant, fresh finish.
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Alternative Sparklers
“We’ve probably all heard Champagne can only be called ‘Champagne’ if it is from the Champagne region in France, but there is a whole other world out there of amazing sparkling wines that deserve our attention,” Cauble says.
You Should Try:
Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut Sonoma County, California
Produced exclusively with hand-picked grapes, this Cuvée was put on the American market for the first time in 1985. It is prepared according to the traditional method. Its bouquet with pear aroma distinguishes it from other sparkling wines and the fruity aroma lends it an initial effervescence which culminates in a lingering, creamy effect. 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay
J Cuvee 20 Sparkling Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast
This sparkling wine opens with nuanced aromas of toasted almond, followed by notes of Braeburn apple, dried cranberry and ginger snap. A delicate dance of bubbles leads to a soft palate with flavors of lemon meringue pie, as the wine’s creaminess is whisked away by a lively finish. Pair this versatile sparkler with Dungeness crab cake or lobster roll, fresh popped white cheddar popcorn or goat cheese rolled with herbes d’provence.
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The Rise of Portugal Beyond Port
Portugal is famous the world over for being the home of Port wine (as it should be), but it also makes some of the most wonderful unfortified red and white wines. “There has been a recent movement toward making dry, red wines in the Douro Valley, the exact same region where the best Port in the world is made,” explains Cauble. “But the main difference is that the wine is not fortified— meaning a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has not been added to it, as it is with Port.”
You Should Try: Pomares Red wine Duoro Region, Portugal
This blend shows an intense red colour and an aroma of ripe red fruit. Also revealed is a discreet presence of vanilla and toasted barrel of American and French oak. The result is a wine with a velvety personality and a persistent finish.
The Judgement of
Paris
May 24, 1976 The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the “Judgment of Paris,” was a wine competition organized in Paris on May 24th 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant and his colleague, Patricia Gallagher, in which French judges carried out two blind wine tastings: one of topquality chardonnays and another of red wines, Bordeaux wines and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California.
A Californian wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world’s best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win, however felt the wines were good enough to compete. The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 had a revolutionary impact on expanding the production and prestige of wine in the New World.
Although Spurrier had invited many reporters to the original 1976 tasting, the only reporter to attend was George M. Taber from Time Magazine, who promptly revealed the results to the world. The impact from the competition was felt all over the globe. This year marks the 45th Anniversary of this historic event. Sadly, Steven Spurrier passed away on March 9, 2021 from cancer at his home in the Bride Valley English Wine Estate, in Litton Cheney, Dorset. He was 79.
Max McCalman became America’s first critically acclaimed restaurant based Fromager.
In 1995 he went on to become a spokesman for artisan cheese production around the world. He is the author of four books on cheese. ‘The Cheese Plate, Cheese; a Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best;’ ‘Mastering Cheese; Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager; and Max McCalman’s Swatchbook of Wine & Cheese Pairings. The Cheese Plate was nominated by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and the James Beard Foundation. Cheese; a Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best won a James Beard award. Mastering Cheese won best cheese book in the world at the Gourmand Cookbook Awards To learn more, visit Max-McCalman.com
Wine & Cheese Tasting NAPA VALLEY’S TIMELESS CLASSICS
Hosted by Maître Fromager, Max McCalman and Alex Valdes, WSET II, Regional Manager, Huneeus Vintners
Saturday, April 24th, 2021 2:00-4:00pm $75 Per Person Tasting Selection Paired with fromager-select artisanal cheeses
Illumination Sauvignon Blanc Flowers Chardonnay Flowers Pinot Noir Faust Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Quintessa
RSVP (561) 243-9463