Review: Badger Mountain Syrah

Wine: Badger Mountain Syrah
Vintage: 2006
Organic, no Sulfites
Purchased: Whole Foods, $8.99
Grown: Washington State


I have to admit, like any good Seattle girl, I like my local foods. I try and go to the local farmers market on Thursday and I am more likely to pay a bit more for something made by a local artisan.

Badger Mountain Syrah was a wine that I was drawn to for two reasons. One, it was local- said "Washington State" right there on the label. Secondly, it said, also on the label, "No Sulfites Added". After reading the Alice Feiring book, I was in the mood to try wines that were a little more "authentic" and natural.

Well, I could have skipped this wine. The thing was, I wanted wine, not a margarita. The first couple of sips and smells, I couldn't put my finger on the familiar smell. I kept at it, and in a minute or two I had it. I ran into the kitchen...

"Smell this!"
(The Husband) "Why?"
"Smell it!" I shoved it under his nose.
"Grapes, I smell grapes...jam...and grapes."
"Tequila!"
"What?"
"It smells like tequila! Like a strawberry margarita!" I laughed "I feel like we should have some nachos!"
"Yeah, I smell it now! You're right."


My Notes:
Very fruit forward, a little harsh but with a tequila aftertaste and after a few drinks smells (and tastes) like a strawberry margarita. Might go well with nachos.


It's cheap and local. I guess it isn't that bad since it is also organic and uses no added sulfites. The website does allude to modern methods ("At Badger Mountain we balance tradition and technology to produce a wide array of classic varietal wines...") of making wine so I do wonder about what they do add to the wine. Buy a bottle to go with your next fiesta.

Review: Bonterra 2006 Sauvigon Blanc

Wine: Bonterra Sauvigon Blanc (Organic)
Vintage: 2006
Origin: California, 52% Lake County 48% Mendocino County
Purchased: Whole Foods, $10.99 on sale

First things first, I just finished Alice Feiring's book, The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, and I will be reviewing it soon. And although the woman thinks she is the Femme Fatal of France, she is arrogant as hell and more than a little irritating. That doesn't mean that I didn't learn a lot from reading her book. Quite the contrary. One of her main complaints is that wine is being globalized and that there is a vast conspiracy of ignorance in the world of wine (instigated by *dun dun duuuuuum* the evil Robert Parker ). She calls for organic farming, going back the the "authentic" ways of doing things, and for all additives to be listed on wine bottles. In many ways, I agree with her thoughts, in others, I think she needs to get a grip.
More on that later, but I have become interested in trying some organic wines as of late. And although Alice and I have our differences (uggg...stop bitching and start drinking!) I am frustrated by wines that say they are one thing, such as organic, and don't tell you exactly HOW they are making their wine and what additives and methods might be used.

On the the wine at hand. While at Whole Foods the other night, I decided to pick up a couple organic wines and see if I could find anything I might like. I can't say that I have ever been a huge fan of white wine. I usually prefer reds but I am trying to expand my tastes...and, well, it was on sale.
Bonterra has a beautiful website, you can check it out here. And if you have flash player, they have so very crappy piano "musak" over some pictures and quotes about how wonderful it is to grow and use organic grapes. Well wonderful for you, but what about how the wine is actually made? Are you adding things to it? Are you using new fangled methods? Or could you label your wine as just organic grapes, and little else? I really love that vineyards have free range chickens roaming around, and birfeeders that attract birds in order to keep down bug populations- all great things to tout and be proud of.
Of course all that means little if it tastes great right? Well this one fell a little short of great for me. On a hot day, outdoors, with some friends and some music, it would go well- not perfect, but drinkable. It would be easy to drink too much if the party were really hopping so beware.

My notes:
Green apple, bright and sour but with an over-sugared finish. Almost a "fizzy" mouth feel.

Also, I wanted to point out that it has a screw top which is perfectly fine with me, but I wonder how ol' Alice feels about that?

About Me: i.e. Why Would You Trust Me To Choose A Wine

In 2005, my husband, my 7 month old daughter and I drove from Michigan to Seattle. We took the long way, stopping in Phoenix and then on to California. I had never been to California even though my family had traveled extensively when I was a child. I have been to something like 40 of the 50 states. California was just too far as a child of two teachers from Indiana, so it escaped our travels. The summer of 2005 was my first ahh-ha moment with wine. Our first stop in California was Santa Barbra and I will forever hold a place in my heart for that beautiful town. It was ridiculously romantic, my beautiful husband, by baby that I was totally in love with, our tiny little family was on our first adventure.
The hotel in Santa Barbra had a special "Sideways" package. We had seen the movie and of course, loved it. You didn't have to be a wine lover to like the movie, you just had to love Paul Giamati and how could you not love him? He was fascinating in and enthralling as a man on the edge, who was, of course, reeled back into reality by the perfect woman. With our "Sideways package" we got a map to the wineries in the area. We took off in the morning with a vague idea of where we were going and ran into a ton of beautiful wineries. It was eye opening. It was nirvana. It was the beginning.
The bucolic experience, the purity of the day, having my fledgling family there...it all added up to one of the best days of my life, one that could never be recreated or touched.

Zaca Mesa winery was one of our stops that day and it was the first time a wine made me sit up and take notice. It was an epiphany from which I would happily never recover. A year later we called Zaca Mesa to have some wine shipped to us. On our painfully small stipend (My husband was a grad. student and I was busy raising our daughter)we still begged them for the last two bottles of the wine that we loved. Shockingly, they couldn't ship it to us in Michigan (it was illegal at the time) so we had to have it shipped to my in laws in Chicago.
Since that summer and that particular drive across the country, I have been in love with wine. In lust might be a better description. Wine is a beautiful thing and I have enjoyed learning as much about it as I can. I have traveled to taste it, I have read books about it, I try and drink it as much as I can (of course- it's all in the name of research yes?).

So now what? I have found that one of the best ways for me to find out more about a subject is to experience it, but not only that, to read and write about it only enhances my learning. So here I go, you are welcome to join me. I know virtually nothing but I will be learning along the way and I will share what I find out.
So why should you trust me? You shouldn't really. I already told you I know pretty much next to nothing, but I will be learning and I might have something interesting to say along the way. So join me, and we'll drink, and do what we can to learn together.

-Laura
7/3/04