TN: Leslie Sbrocco's Wine Author & 150 Wines In a Day

Yesterday Kristen and I were fortunate to be invited over to Leslie Sbrocco's house in Petaluma for a huge tasting in preparation for Leslie's upcoming new book which will hit the shelves next fall. Leslie is a credited wine writer having created and written for the NYTimes online wine review, columnist for the SF Chronicle, author of Wine For Women, she has a PBS series on television where she paired wine with food for each episode, judges wine competitions across the country and overseas, and is an all around incredible women.

A few years back in NYC when my girlfriend Kristen was working at Harper Collins in their publicity department, she brought home the coming seasons preview of books that would be publishing. In the past, Kristen had worked with mostly novelists and entertainment authors such as Hue Hefner, Tyra Banks, John Edwards, John Madden, Sonny Barger, & Dennis Lehane. While we thumbed through the Harper Collins catalog of future releases I saw the book - Wine For Women. I dog eared the page, showed Kristen and as we both loved wine thought it would fantastic if she could work on that book. Although the book fell under another department (cook books) she was given the chance to publicize it. Kristen & Leslie struck up an immediate friendship. Leslie was the first author to really drive home Wine and Women (which we have all read about in the last year). Her last book dealt with what women really want to know about wine including shopping guides with hundreds of recommended wines, quick ideas for wine-friendly meals, and creative tips for sharing wine with family and friends. Kristen ended up doing a KILLER job promoting Leslie on TV, radio, rags, papers, conventions, etc. At one point of Leslie's book tour she came to NYC and I had the pleasure of meet her for the first time at a hole in the wall irish bar with Kristen. We got deep into wine geek talk over a few beers and I almost lost it as we discussed Pavie and what Gérard Perse was doing in Bordeaux Leslie shouted out, "SHOTS - Lets do shots of Tequila..."

Currently Leslie is working on her second book. The topic? Of course, Wine, food, pairings, and social events - & when to pair them together. For this type of fun errr I mean work one needs a lot of wine and Leslie sure does have lots of it - Her garage is full of wine and its not uncommon for her to receive a few cases a day. Yesterday we opened 200+ bottles to taste with different foods (I know, tough job). Leslie started by pairing wines with snack food like chips & salsa, potatoe chips, chicken wings, & cheese's. After that, we paired other wines with hamburgers, Lamb shank, turkey burgers, potatoes, baby lamb chops, veal, steak, Cajun shrimp, and shish kabobs. And at the end of the day we paired nearly 40 dessert wines paired with cakes, cheese's, pies, cookies, etc.. I tasted 2003 port cask samples, Madeiras, ice wines, tawneys, etc etc. At the end, they nearly had to roll us out of Leslie's kitchen. Talk about pigging out. All the food was incredible fresh and all the preparations were done by an amazing chef.

The amount of wines was insane. I started immediately off with Burgundy of course as I knew my palate wouldn't be able to go the distance today. Leslie was on a mission and her focus was intense. Kristen enjoyed herself and was busy working on the snack foods with wines early on in the day. There where wines all over the place.

Below are the notes I took in the begining of the day. After an hour though I threw in the towl and just wanted to enjoy myself.

Thanks Leslie - great time...

BURGUNDY’S

• 2003 Thibault Liger-Belair Vougeot Clos Vougeot - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vougeot (8/7/2005)
  Medium dark fruit. Very lush and concentrated with fantastic tannins. Slightly drying in the mouth the tannins will carry this very ripe wine for a long time. Great fruit hiding underneath. (93 pts.)
  
  
• 2003 Jean Boillot Volnay Carelle sous la Chapelle 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay (8/7/2005)
  Fabulous fruit forward again. Totally lush and the nose is intoxicating. On the palate is raspberry galore. Red fruit and some lightly hinted spice. 13% alc.
  
  
• 2003 - $44 Lavigny Les Beaune Aux Grands Liards, Limon Bize & Fils
  Slight tang slight chemical almost rotten egg notes. Ripe cherry and high acidity. Bubblegum 12.5% alc.
  
  
• 2003 - $54 Lavigny Les Beaune 1er Cru Les Fournaux, Limon Bize & Fils
  Delicious again ripe dark cheery fruit. Mouth coating long finish and very evident tannins. 12.5% alc.
  
  
• 2003 - $48 Domaine Thierry et Pascale Matrot Blagny La Pièce Sous Le Bois
  Great perfume nose with very light red fruit. Ready to drink tonight. Good balance between acid and fruit. Tannins well integrated and just pop out a touch. Easy drinker, clean. 13% alc.
  
  
• 2003 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges Les Chaines Carteaux 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges (8/7/2005)
  Medium fruit hidden under some deep tannin. Fruit is darker and hard to taste as the tannins just keep the flavors hidden underneath. Very dark in color. 13% alc.
  
  
• 2003 Bruno Clair Chambolle-Musigny Les Véroilles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny (8/7/2005)
  Very beautiful lush nose and palate. Amazing perfume nose. Very intoxicating. Palate has red fruit. Good clean finish. Overall very enjoyable. 13% alc. (92 pts.)
  
  

• 2004 Morgan Chardonnay Metallico - USA, California, Monterey County (8/7/2005)
  No oak. Lots of minerality. Chablis in style. This wine is absolutely fantastic for 20 bucks. Totally outside the norm for California Chardonnay. I will most certainly purchase a few of these for a casual night. (90 pts.)
  
  
• 2002 Hanzell Chardonnay - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley (8/7/2005)
  Great acid light feather fruit with light oak. Creamy notes not buttery though. Wonderful ager.
  
  
• 2003 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay Estate Grown - USA, California, Monterey County, Chalone (8/7/2005)
  Good fruit up front more medium style. Had slight similarities to the Hanzell. Nice balance and medium toast.
  
  
• 2003 Kumeu River Chardonnay - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu (8/7/2005)
  Sulfur and some toast coupled with some crisp high acidity.
  
  
• 2001 - $13 Villa Mt. Eden Signature Santa Maria Valley
  Very big in style, bigger toast, blahh.
  
  
• 2003 Beringer Vineyards Chardonnay Private Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley (8/7/2005)
  Huge nasty oak. Smells like walking into a wood workers shop. Splinters on the palate. Blahh.
  
  

• 2003 Fess Parker Pinot Noir Ashley's Vineyard - USA, California, Santa Barbara County (8/7/2005)
  Huge. Monster bruiser hanging at 16.3. Black cherry, blueberry smokey toast and a slighly hot finish. (Tasted at room temp). Long lingering finish. Definitely fun.
  
  
• 2001 Hanzell Pinot Noir - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain (8/7/2005)
  Wonderful mouth coating great balanced Pinot. Roy Hersh pounds the table on how Hanzell will age and after tasting, its easy to see why he is so right. Great mouth feel. 14.6% alc.
  
  
• 2002 Row Eleven Pinot Noir - USA, California, Sonoma / San Luis Obispo (8/7/2005)
  Light cherry great berry aromas. 15.3% San Luis Obispo / 84.7% Mendocini County. Light style red fruit, elegant and lightly bitter finish. 14.3% alc.
  
  
• 2003 Stoneleigh Pinot Noir - New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough (8/7/2005)
  Very light style crisp great acidity. Fragrant bouquet of red berry and a slight spice note. Velvety tannins make this very enjoyable.
  
  
• 2003 Olssens Pinot Noir Jackson berry - New Zealand, Central Otago (8/7/2005)
  Here it is... Possible the wine of the night. Fantastic. Strawberry and raspberry fills the glass - the palate is lush, velvet, cashmere. Awesome balance. Red light Fruit ridded. Just awesome. 14.5% acl. (94 pts.)
  
  
• 2003 Villa Maria Pinot Noir Cellar Selection - New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough (8/7/2005)
  Some spritz, binge cherry high acidity. 13.5% alc.
  
  
• 2002 Calera Pinot Noir - USA, California, Central Coast (8/7/2005)
  Great grip. Medium to Darker fruit with nice tannins. Slightly drying in the mouth and finish.
  
  
• 2003 Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir Estate Chalone - USA, California, Monterey County, Chalone (8/7/2005)
  Gripping again. Strong tannins. Not as lush as others. Slightly bitter on the end.