Paso Robles and Four Vines Rock!

Biker Anarchy!


I misbehaved. I freely admit it. I have no excuse.

But I do have an explanation. It’s an explanation predicated on greed. And the damage done to courtesy and boundaries when alcohol intake reaches a certain level.

Greed and drunkenness. Not terribly original reasons for misbehaving, I’ll grant you. Still, I’d have held the reins of restraint more firmly had the wine reps from Paso Robles not been overrun by thirsty wine drinkers eager to sample the wares of the tasting room. The reps had a dozen wines on the back table, and a wave of people poured into the room, and the reps got caught up, and new arrivals didn’t know what to do, and so I acted as Honorary Wine Rep and poured a wee dram for a few of them and oh heck, from there it was an easy step to helping my own self.

Yes, that is my sin: I helped myself to a second pour of The Biker. The end of the tasting was at hand, and we were debating whether the Anarchy or The Biker was better, so I thought I’d better re-sample my two favorites of the evening. At least I observed protocol by ASKING for a second taste of Anarchy. I also got a disapproving look, but I decided I could live with that. Especially after a second sip of Anarchy.

What a pity more Rhone blends don’t emulate Anarchy! I typically prefer Bordeaux blends, but Andie has been digging the Rhones, so I’m trying. I don’t have to try with the Anarchy. How could anyone NOT like it? It’s the Barack Obama/Ron Paul blend, nodding to tradition while standing it on its head. You don’t want to try it, that’s your problem. And it leaves more for ME.

“Temperance, like Chastity, is its own punishment.” (from the Four Vines website)

The winemaker at Four Vines, Christian Tietje, proudly proclaims his hedonism on the entertaining website for the Paso Robles winery, http://www.fourvines.com/ A hedonist. No WONDER he’s a lover of Zin! With Anarchy, instead of the usual GSM, he’s kept the Mourvedre but booted the Grenache in favor of Zinfandel.

Anarchy is, essentially, an SMZ, a Syrah-based blend that is a luscious mouthful of rich black fruit and spice. Lisa picked it as her favorite of the evening, although she also was very taken with the upper-end 2006 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc from the Tablas Creek Vineyard. (Which was a much more . . . reserved . . . tasting in the front room of the Rat.) Me, I can’t bring myself to pay upwards of $40 for a white wine. Not this night, anyway. Because The Biker, a kickass Zin with the same wonderful blackberry, spice and vanilla as the flagship Old Vine Cuvee, gets a little something extra from Tietje’s “splash of Mourvedre.”

Mind you, I didn’t get anything extra from The Biker bottle, as my companion happily took possession of my stolen pour. So much for greed.

We met the loveliest couple at this tasting, but, probably due yet again to my happily tipsy state, I neglected to ask their names. He was a wine snob – I say this approvingly – and he was firm about his favorite of the tasting: The Heretic. I can’t in good faith disagree with him. The Heretic is lovely, big and lush, an old vine Petite Sirah that is intense and impressive, deeply purple as PS’s are, silky and structured. Whoa Mama! Christian Tietje again, with the Freak Show line from Four Vines.

We absolutely loved the female half of this couple, She – a willowy, pretty brunette with a killer smile – likes the same wines and the same restaurants as we do. What’s not to like? They were, in fact, en route to our favorite eatery, having snagged the primo 7:45 reservation while WE were lucky to get penciled in for 8:30. It was fun, seeing them again!

But hey, Mr. Wine Snob (you know who you are), how can you go from big Zins and Petite Sirahs to the. . . ahem. . . understated “charms” of a Pinot Noir? HOW??? And at Pot Pie, which offers both the Seghesio Zinfandel and Guenoc Petite Sirah? How could a Pinot Noir tempt you???

More to the point, how could you even TASTE it, after the massive, peppery, dark-berried voluptuousness of the Four Vines offerings?? Harrumph. Anyway, thanks for the ZAP tip, and we do hope to run into you again. BOTH of you.

A Three-bottle Cleaning

What does it take for an easily distracted, housework-averse-yet-responsible homeowner to tackle some deep spring-cleaning? A fit, hard-driving sister and some good wine, to judge from a wee, recent sampling. Also free airline travel.

I do not mean to imply that we tanked up on vino before or while mounting chairs and stairs to clean the tops of doorways. No, we saved the wine for AFTER we were thoroughly filthy from scrubbing away countless smears of grime and hair from floorboards, windows and every other grungy, taunting surface on the first and second floors. Eesh, those Herman Munster blinds.

I was fibbing a bit about the airline travel. It was free, monetarily speaking, for my cleaning assistant, whose husband is a pilot for American Airlines – but there’s nothing truly free about having to travel from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City. No non-stops on AA. So it was laying over in Chicago or Dallas for my big sister Karen, whose day job is doing something-or-other as a colonel in the Air Force.

Yep. I had a high-ranking military officer as my cleaning lackey.

Actually, I was the lackey. It was not I issuing instructions, advice and dressing-downs.(Dressings down? Remonstrations? Scoldings, for sure. Hey, have you seen my house?) No, I was the one taking orders, hopping to, fetching rags and cleaning supplies, and rags and more rags. It was a rag-and-Simple-Green battle plan, for the most part. It began efficiently, one room at a time, top to bottom, but by the third day of our invasion we had become a ragtag force of two straggling from room to room haphazardly. Age, fatigue, a natural lack of focus? Hard to say why our approach deteriorated steadily.

We kept the objective firmly in sight, however; so limited success was ours. Each day the house shone brighter, and each evening the wine beckoned the weary troops as we transitioned to reward time.

First up: From a trio of promising bottles, Karen selected the Thorn-Clark Shotfire Ridge 2004 Barossa Cuvee to accompany our jambalaya. I thought I had pulled the Shiraz, but it turned out just fine: The Cuvee doesn’t rank quite as high, but it was an Aussie send up of a Bordeaux: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. I just love that blend of grapes. We three killed the bottle.

Grilling allowed us to crack the 2004 Amavi Cabernet the next night. It was Hump Day, and boy did we bust our humps cleaning. I can’t count the times Karen headed outside to the driveway to dump her bucket of Simple Formerly Green. Good think it’s a blacktop (the driveway, I mean). The blackened salmon was topped with berries, blue and red, and it was yummy. I don’t much like salmon, so that tells you how edible it was.

We also had blackened (inadvertently) potatoes and grilled asparagus, a vegetable that is just not good with red wine. But we soldiered on. And killed the bottle. I reviewed the Amavi Cab recently; it’s a terrific wine, but this time the first sips were underwhelming. I blame it on the brushing I had given my teeth – idiot, Kim! Toothpaste before wine! – and the fact that the Amavi needed to breathe. My second glass was delicious. Karen and I savored our last sips with the Very Berry Sundae we brought home from Costco.

Our final day of cleaning culminated with a blessed washing up for the cleaning crew and a lovely dinner out at Pot Pie. We tried to order everything – “Oh, and the goat cheese salad! And the brie and spinach tart! And could you fetch us a chicken pot pie to share?” -- and ate off each other’s plates. Karen, your scallops were quite tasty. The blue cheese topping on the risotto? Genius. Caloric genius.

Naturally, we ordered up a bottle of the 2006 Seghesio bluecap Zinfandel to accompany our varied dishes. The 2006 gets 91 WS points, and it’s chockfull of blackberry jam and black cherries and spice. It’s still a bit rough around the edges, although I don’t mind that. This wine will only get better over the next few years, so I hope Lisa buys a case and stores it.

Yes, we killed the bottle. So Andie finished off with a glass of Gougenheim Malbec – not as good as the Zin, but a great wine for the price, plummy and full and round. I forgot to ask Andie how it tasted with the bread pudding and crème anglaise that closed out the evening.

The house is still sparkling, thanks for asking. I’ve only had to clean up about half a dozen assorted feline horks and whizzes, and about a quarter-bale of hair. It’s not easy being mommy to the world. But good wine helps. Good wine and good help. Thanks, sis.