East Hill Bottle Shop 10 May

“We’re sold out.” That was the response I got when I went to get a picture for this post of Klinker Brick Vineyards’ Old Vine Zinfandel from 2019.

The human nature of stereotyping is very strong. So when people hear Zinfandel from Lodi they often think of a wine akin to a jar of jam. Those Zinfandels do exist, but so do Lodi Zins that are balanced, deep, and smooth.

It is too easy to say; “All of those wines from xxx taste like xxxx.” Don’t lump wines together, even when one winery is across from the other. The wines can be, and often are, very different.

I had the great opportunity to visit Klinker Brick Vineyards back in February. Check out that post here… Amazing folks, and the only reason that I didn’t buy their Old Vine Zin while I was there was because I could find it here, back home.

So it was no surprise that they sold out! The wine is just plain good, a great drinking wine, and an even better wine to take to a party! It goes great with the random variety of foods that seem to collect at the neighbors’ weekend party.

And never forget the two most important rules in Wine: Never serve hot wine and always bring a wine that you like! Can’t go wrong with this one.

“Sunsets on Main”

Downtown Pensacola has some amazing spots to eat and drink! One of the original downtown wine tastings recently returned to our calendar. “Sunsets on Main” by So Gourmet (the upstairs of Bodacious Brew & Olive) offers 4-5 wines, Free, on Wednesday evenings.This week’s tasting featured a wine easy to overlook yet so unique; Mettler Vineyards Estate grown Albariño, from Lodi California.Lodi still does not have the name recognition that the likes of Napa, Sonoma, or even Paso Robles have, especially for a WHITE WINE! Yet to the wine enthusiast Lodi is never over looked!The Albariño grape is native to northern Portugal and Spain, where some magical expressions of the wine can be found. That area is extremely rocky, mountainous, and has large temperature variations. Lodi could not be more different; flat, segmentary soil, and lacking big temperature swings but with very hot summers. This is why Lodi is known for world class BIG Zinfandels.So what happens when you bring this northern Iberian grape down to the Central Valley of California? A basket of crisp apple, ripe pear, and melon, with hints of citrus and a touch of mineral acid.What a surprise! A great wine for our quickly approaching summer and pairs great with my Red Snapper tacos. Unique, all of the tasters liked it, can be had alone or with dinner; that equals a Wine of Note!

Extremely Friendly! Klinker Brick Winery

When you taste wine with people who are enthusiastic about wine, who are true wine lovers, that sentiment can actually come through in the taste of the wine itself. The “vibe” that you get visiting wineries and how that “vibe” can, and does, translate into how that wine tastes is uncanny. It should probably be a research topic. People who are enthusiastic about the process and product have better wine.

Klinker Brick Winery was the epitome of this. The staff in the tasting room was extremely nice and went out of their way to answer semi obscure wine questions. They were excited to tell the story about the winery, the buildings, and of course, the vines. This came through in the old vine Syrah that I tasted and then purchased. Some wineries make you feel like a bother. When you ask questions you get questions back, like “are you part of our wine club?” I won’t be with that attitude. What does your wine club have to do with the age of the vines or how much oak aging does that wine get? I didn’t get any of that at Klinker Brick, and the enthusiasm of the staff made for great tasting wine! I shall definitely return!

Welcome to Lodi! Bokisch Vineyards

Welcome to Lodi California! An AVA (American Viticultural Area) that produces more wine by volume than all of the other AVAs in California. Yup. An area that is often, either, looked down upon when compared to Napa or Paso Robles, and/or misunderstood. What do you think when you see Lodi on the bottle?Before my first visit it was my go to area for wines made from Old Vine Zinfandel, and it still is. Yet now it is also a place where I can seek out exceptional wines made from the best grape varieties of the Iberian Peninsula; Tempranillo and Touriga National being the top two. Yes, grapes from Spain and Portugal have been at home here for more than 30, some more than 40, years!The first stop on my list is Bokisch Vineyards. About a twelve or so minute drive east of Lodi, Bokisch sits where the hills of the Sierra Nevada begin. They specialize in several Spanish varieties. For me that means Tempranillo. Their style of Tempranillo is a little bit of Rioja and Toro but of course not either one. It is recognizable but different in a good way. I recommend the same amount of aging in the bottle as any of the best from Rioja and Toro, a minimum of 7 years from the bottle date. I can’t wait to drink my Bokisch Tempranillo with some of my friends from Spain; see if they can tell the difference. On to my next Lodi Winery!

Alice’s Restaurant new Wednesday Wine Tasting!

There are two lines that I keep telling folks that I meet at our local area wine tastings. First; the Pensacola-Perdido-Navarre area has a unique wine culture. Second; there is a reason that Total Wine has just opened a store in Pensacola, and not in Mobile or Destin. So it is a pleasure to have one of our higher-end restaurants enter into the local wine tasting arena.Alice’s has been “quietly” building up to a weekly tasting at the restaurant. Anna’s Wines & Craft Beer (attached to the back of Joe Patti’s Seafood) is under the wing of Alice’s, who has also been catering the food and Anna’s monthly wine tastings. There are several advantages to having a tasting at a restaurant. The best is being able to offer wines that are usually only offered to restaurants by distributors as “only by the glass” wines. Access to these “only by the glass” wines opens up an entirely new selection to the taster. The second advantage is access to great appetizers, which were half off during the first hour of the tasting.And the tasting did not disappoint. The selection included six wines for only $10. And these were not average wines! The average market price per bottle was around $35. Even with such a good overall selection we had a stand out. The evenings Wine of Note was a 2019 Organic Petite Sirah from Mettler in Lodi California. This was what I call a both wine; you can drink it alone and/or have it with food. It was deep purple, smooth and velvety over the tongue with enough tannin to pair with many dishes. Tight but balanced, it was good! Definitely looking forward to next week!