In case you were asleep, or decided you didn’t want to look at the Internet or peruse most social media sites on Thursday…It was Officially Cabernet Day to anyone and everyone that loves wine!

Cabernet…considered the King of Grapes, is one grape that adds flare to any meal, conversation or party.  He is bold, strong, robust and at times, filthy.  Some of my favorite Cabernet smells are dark red berry, violet, gravel and raw meat.  Cabernet, depending on his region (yes, he’s officially, a HE) can range from smells of red berry, dark berry, chocolate, mineral, meat and pencil shaving.  Hints of eucalyptus, mint, green bell pepper, jalapeno and more can and do apply as well.

For instance….a Blind Tasting Component for me of Chilean Cab is ’sliced jalapenos dipped in chocolate’ and of the region of Napa, fat rich dark berry fruit, sometimes of a briar bush but distinctly of dark cocoa as well.  Remember, Cabernet has a group of grapes he hangs with.  Specifically, his Queen:  Ms. Merlot.  Juicy and dripping with soul and voluptuous character, she’s a gem seated at the King’s right hand.  Others in his group include:  Cabernet Franc (meant for aromatics and acid), Petite Verdot (added to a blend for color), and Malbec (added for color along with flavor and spice).  Once these are together, we have what’s called:  A Bordeaux Blend.  Officially, the grapes of Bordeaux.  See?  Not that hard, right?

Most ‘Cabernets’ are a blend of one or some or all of the above however, there are a few gems out there that do ride 100% the varietal – all Cabernet.  In my opinion, the most interesting of sorts.  100% the varietal means, you really get to see what this baby’s soil tastes like.

Let’s pick apart the wines I had for the nite on Cabernet Day! (I want to preface this by saying, I shared with friends.  I didn’t drink them all myself!!)

2009 Hendry Rosé:  One of my favorite Napa producers.  George Hendry’s Rosé sometimes consists of a saignée blend (a bleed of) of the Bordeaux varietals, the 2009 that we enjoyed of Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Primitivo (Italian Zin).  We enjoyed this juicy, meaty rosé with a plate of cheeses to start.

2003 Almaviva Cab:  A French Philippe de Rothschild and Concha y Toro venture out of Chile.  This sucker was loaded with candied fruit, but perfectly balanced with a hint of dry gravel dirt and minerals.  So fab with our fresh farmer’s market eggplant.  Dipped in panko crumbs and fried to perfection, the wine picked up the sweet parts of our eggplant.  Awesome pairing!

2001 Pine Ridge ‘Andrus Reserve’ Cabernet:  This, a blend of Bordeaux varietals was aged, almost perfectly.  For a 9 year old wine, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I keep drinking through my late ‘Gary Andrus’ Wines, and some are ready and some, past their prime.  This~ with dirty red fruit, meaty with raw tones to it, and lingered for days.  Really, really good and incidentally, GREAT with our heirloom tomato caprese salad.  The tomatoes were uber ripe and delicious with this wine!

2003 Villa Cafaggio ‘Cortaccio’:  A 100% Cabernet from Tuscany and always one of my favorite wineries from Tuscany.  This wine reeked of leather, dried herbs, red tomatoes and made me crave an Italian Meat Ragu.  Mouth-watering and really so wonderful with our main course ~ A grilled peppered tenderloin and fresh green beans sauteed with shallots.  Like candy, if you like dirty candy!  Truly, an Old World Gem.

Last on the table, but certainly NOT least:  2004 Cayuse ‘The Widowmaker’ Cabernet from Walla Walla.  From the works of my friend, Christophe Baron, this wine has sat in my cellar begging to be opened.  And with a Walla Walla, WA background – weirdly flinty, chocolaty, porky and full of blackberries, marionberries and blueberries – this wine was perfect with the molten lava chocolate cakes I made topped with candied bacon! Yum!

Overall, one of my new favorite holidays~ Cabernet Day! Perfectly paired with fabulous friends and delicious home-grown garden food, I’ll take a Grape Day over any day of the week… So, When do we celebrate Pinot Noir Day?

With a mantra that’s based on ‘value driven’ wines, I’m going the distance to leave this “BUCK-4-BUCK” decision up to you by…

Reviewing a Napa Monster, The 2001 Opus One.

With a collection of Opus One in my cellar, bought at one point for collection purposes, I’m wondering…Where is my 01 Opus in its progression?  Peaked yet?

See where this wine is, how much time does it have + what was the 01 vintage like?  Along with a Perfect Pairing to go with it!

I think at one point I even reveal why I consider myself:  ‘A DIRTY Girl’! (When it comes to wine!)  In HD

**Funny thing about this wine- I reviewed it on video only on its first nite – the second nite, the profile softened and I enjoyed it with a Dulano’s Pizza.

Oh yeah, slummin’ it on a Wednesday nite with Opus One and Pizza.

You decide after watching this…Lucky?  And, is this 2001 Opus One worth the $$$ Bling Bling $$$?

Looking for a cool wine to pull off the shelf…because of its looks?
Check this out – A Review of the 2004 Super Hero InZinerator – with, what looks like a strange Perfect Pairing!

I have to say, at one point in my life I may have been a bigger basketball fan than most guys I knew.  For those of you who don’t know, I’ve played basketball pretty much my whole life.  I was always THE biggest nerd about playing.  Playing any time of day, for as long as I wanted and whereever and whenever anyone had a ball, I was there.  Whether I was travelling to Europe as youngster, or living in NYC for my short stint, I was always hanging around someone’s bball court.  Hooping it up with the best of them.  From Central Park to the courts I grew up on in Wisconsin, basketball was ‘my time’.  My time to play, let it all out and show those boys what I had.  I wasn’t afraid of anyone taller, faster or stronger than I was because I knew I had a wicked outside shot.

But today, after one back surgery later, knees that sound like crunched glass when I bend, and a career that keeps me working from morning to night – my days of hooping are limited to shooting a bucket when someone’s kids are around with a basketball in hand.  And my love for everything ‘basketball’ is a little less, let’s say, ‘obsessive’ than it was 10+ years ago.  I still love to watch the athleticism, ability and talent of the youngsters entering the league and support my fellow female ballers from college to the pro leagues, but there’s a little something that’s changed about ‘how’ and ‘why’ we watch basketball today.  It’s not as much about the fundamental talents of these athletes anymore, it seems to be more so about the ’show boatin’ personalities that come with the paycheck now more than ever. 

I remember, in fact, the day that LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony both signed their contracts out of high school.  It was such a big deal…Wow! kids out of high school straight into the NBA.  It was a big deal, along with the day on Michigan Ave in Chicago when they BOTH showed up at the Nike store signing their own shoes for the public.  I remember it being a huge deal, because I was there.  But it was then that I remember thinking, ‘Wow, which one of the boys will be the most successful?’ and ‘Where will these two guys go from here?”.   Funny thinking back, because now we know.  When an entire night of television is devoted to ONE guy’s decision as to where he’ll play ball, I now think – what is wrong with our priorities!  Not to mention, here we go again.  Could this have been any more BRETT FAVRE to anyone else besides me?  And P.S. – Does the decision have to come with 47 Mineral Water Commercials, or an actual ‘count-down’ box on my screen to tell me when LeBron was to announce his decision?!  But guess what, we were sucked in.  Just as everyone else in the sports world was, we too sat (shamelessly) in front of our television awaiting the facts.  And today we’re right back to where we thought we’d be, knowing that King James will suit up in a Miami Heat uni this fall. 

While basketball certainly wasn’t my first priority last nite, it seemed to take up a good chunk of my evening (thanks honey!).  So to add a bit more excitement to the night, I thought about today’s blog and its inevitable title:   What Wine Would Be Fit for a King?  King James that is… 

Rustling through the cellar, searching for just the right wine to hold court against the LeBron hype, I stumbled across a self labeled 2007 Korta Katarina Plavac Mali.  Nika, the winemaker for Korta Katarina, slipped me the bottle upon my visit to Croatia in March.  And since, have been holding on to it for the perfect time to drink it.  How could this have not been any more perfect?  With a 2006 Korta Katarina Plavac Mali already open, I thought…what a perfect chance for a side by side comparison tasting. 

Here’s what I found and I’m not really sure I should say more than this (but I will):  LOOK OUT SPECTATOR! 

A wine that could totally and single-handedly put Croatian wine on the map.  While most of you know that I am already a huge fan of Korta Katarina Winery and their current 06 Plavac Mali – this, my friends is true testament as to what our Eastern European friends are up to. 

My notes:  The wine is deep with back notes of depthy dirt, minerality, smoked cedar, licorice, dried prunes and dried herbs.  The fruit is not as overt as the 2006, even as the alcohol levels exceed its previous vintage.  The alcohol is masked by this intense dried herbal element, mashed in with supple pruned fruit, delicious dirt and earth smells along with amazing lifted notes of vanilla.  And the palate, just like you were drinking the stars…sorry Dom, Croatian Stars that is.  Lush on the palate, yet dry and perfectly balanced with silky interwoven tannins, supple fruit as was on the nose and mouth-watering goodness.  Oh my.  Could be one of my favorite wines this summer.

And as I sat savoring, oohhing and ahhhing over my new love – alas King James’s announcement came… 

And I thought, finally a wine… perfectly fit for a King, even a King James (that is).  Yum.   Can’t wait for you all to try it (next vintage)!

It is the million dollar question almost every night of the week that I work.            “Have you had Minnesota Wine?”

Only to be followed up with…

What do you think about Minnesota Wine?

What Minnesota Wine would I recommend?

Do you think Minnesota Wine is as good as California Wine?

Night after night, I hear the same questions, and my answers surround the facts that encompass Minnesota Grapes as a specie.  Mostly with the fact that the Vitis Vinifera Grapes that we are used to, are not the same as the grapes that we are drinking from Minnesota.

What is Vitis Vinifera?  It is the ‘common grape’ specie that is native to mostly Old World Countries.  These grape vines, which have been spread around the globe at this point, are not generally of the grapes that we find cultivated here in Minnesota.  For instance, the the viticulture department of the University of Minnesota has become rock stars at breeding grapes that are hardy to our climate of extreme temperatures, mostly our cold winters.  While there are grapes that are native to the region, like the Concord wine that my grandmother used to make  in the basement, the U of M is cultivating grapes that are of different varieties.  Are these grapes the same that we know of in other parts of the world like:  Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc?   No, due to the fact that the grapes of this Vitis Vinifera stature would not survive here amongst our climate.  Does that mean that the wines that are made from these Minnesota Grapes are bad?  No way. 

To Understand Them is To Drink Them.  (That’s pretty much my motto with almost every wine!)  By drinking through them, you will then find that you can enjoy them in their own arena.  So why are so many dogging out these wines?  Because they are comparing them to their California Cabernets, or their Oregon Pinot Noirs.  To be honest, you are not comparing oranges to oranges here.  Put them into their own category as you drink them.

While many of these Minnesota Wineries are filling in their wines with juice they’ve purchased from California, like the Zinfandels or Cabernets Grapes that you know, remember that by many standards of (this state’s) wine law permit you to only use a percentage to ‘fill in’ with the native grapes that you originally started with.  So even though they may have a % of grapes that you’re familiar with, they will not necessarily ‘taste’ like the wines that you’re familiar with. 

I must say, it is a huge ‘to do’ on my list for the summer because I, as a sommelier, cannot say that I’ve been to enough wineries between Minnesota and Wisconsin to come up with my own analysis, but I have had a few in the cities that I’ve tried.  While Alexis Bailly Vineyards is one that I find to be ‘the most talked about’,  I did drive south a couple of weekends ago and right by one winery that I’ve had quite a few of, St Croix Vineyards.  The whites that I’ve had are really quite decent and found them to pair with a couple of nice artisanal cheeses for pairing. 

I suppose I come to this point, because I was hired for a wine tasting event a week or so back with a group of gals for a bachelorette party.  These tastings are so much fun.  You know why?  Because everyone comes unbiased, open for anything and ready to have fun.  The International shmattering of wines that I brought, along with a plate of artisanal cheese and handmade chocolates were fabulous, yet I could see that I had one attendee itching to show me her favorite wine.  Before we were through with the final wine in the tasting, she jumped up and said, ‘Have you ever had Minnesota Wine?  What do you think about it?!’ and so on and so forth (pretty much with the same questions that I started this blog with). 

Then she said, ‘I’d take Minnesota Wine over any wine any day, and here’s my favorite!’ 

She held up the Cannon River Winery ‘Go Go Red’  ~ the Grapes: Minnesota Sabrevois, Marquette, & Foch.  Recognize any those?  Probably not, but if you live in Minnesota, then you’ve probably tried them.

My take on the wine… Juicy, approachable, full of rich raspberry, cherry and blackberry.  Supple and might be really nice with a piece of berry cobbler or a fat slice of blue cheese.  Certainly on the ’sweet’ side, but great for those who are looking to sip something easy going.  I thought it was just fine.  Really.  And for $13, it might be kind of fun to slip into your own ‘wine tasting’ at home with friends!

Now, can I compare it to the grapes that I know that produce more acid and more body like Pinot Noir or Zinfandel?  No, but the wine has to be put into its own category.  And you know what – people love it here in Minnesota.  And apparently across the country, because it has won several awards in categories with wines of its comparison. 

I hear so many ‘doggin’ out Minnesota Wine, and it’s not a fair assessment.  Those folks are just not putting these wines in the right category in their minds as they drink them.  Whether they are made of these funky Minnesota Grapes that we’re not familiar with or of real fruit like raspberry, cherry and blackberry – they still live here and are made in YOUR community.  And what should we do with businesses of our own communities, support them.  So here’s to those Minnesotans out there bustin’ their butts to make wine.  I think we should all take another look at what’s out there and visit these wineries that are of our home state, including me!

If you’ve had any Minnesota Wines that you’ve found you like, fill me in.  I’d love some more recommendations!

Review of Another Super Sexy Merlot

This week while drinking through a great assortment of Super Sexy Merlots, my husband and I stumbled across this one…Pine Ridge’s 2003 Crimson Creek Merlot. With a cellar chucked full of Pine Ridge’s wines from my days of working with the winery, I rarely look towards some of the older vintages in my cellar, thinking that I should hold onto some of the more rare bottles I have.  Though the Crimson Creek is not a rare bottle, this vintage of 2003 is not something that I had a lot of with this particular wine.

Speaking truthfully, 2003 was not my favorite vintage for many wineries in the U.S.  With the hotter temps of the vintage came hedonistic, fruit driven, over-ripe wines.  And really, I remember tasting the 2003 Crimson Creek then – I hated it.  I remember now being very hard on the wine calling it ~over-blown, saturated and sticky.  But now…my tune has changed.

This settled down version, only seven years later, is one with complexity, dirt, tobacco, supple yet dry fruit and also rich with cocoa, dried herbs and velvety tannins.
My husband has been craving Merlot recently, but has also asked for something to really blow him away.  After having it over the weekend, he can’t stop talking about it.
Of course, the vintage is no longer available but at the time when it was, the cost was about $30-$35.  And in my opinion, unbelievably worth every single cent.  If I would have known it was going to turn into this, I would have bought a pallet!
Just goes to show you, never judge a book by its cover, in other words…take another drink maybe a couple of years later – especially with some of these beastly hot vintages. In my case, I was more pleasantly surprised with a mouth-full of delicious dirt rather than all that over-ripe fruit that I tasted from it a few years back.
Cheers and here’s to Ms. Stacy Clark, Pine Ridge’s former Winemaker of over 25 years, for making such a delicious Merlot!

Last week at a popular series of Twin Cities Wine Classes that myself and pal, Anissa Gurstel of Pairings Wine Market, teach at one of Minneapolis’s newest hot wine retail spots – Pairings Food & Wine Market, named GIRLS GONE WINE – a brand new wine and a brand new winery from Croatia was unveiled.  The GIRLS GONE WINE Series is a pretty fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Tuesday nite in the dead of winter when you have two enthusiastic chicas like Leslee + Anissa, to drink wine with.  Why?  Because who needs pretentious, snotty, “I only drink very expensive wines” kind of peeps, when you have two fun gals loaded with passion, experience, and laughs?!   My take:  Drink What Tastes Good to You, Learn a Little Along the Way, and always…Try New Things!

The theme for this month’s setting:  Red, White and Drunk All Over.  Anissa’s take…wine drunk from all over the globe and Leslee’s…a red, a white and possibly a wine with a little “drunk” (more alcohol)!?#   Go figure?

The tasting started out with two very interesting white wines:  Insolia from Sicily (a fresh, fun, zippy, sort of lemon rind scented white grape) and a brand new white wine from Croatia.  The grape: POSIP (pronounced  “POSHIP”).  The Posip, when first opened was perfumey like a Viognier, rich and sort of oily.  After letting it sit for a few minutes, turned full and round like an ‘unoaked’ Chardonnay.  So fabulous!!  And, both…made me crave raw oysters…  Aha! Moment:  What Grows Together Goes Together!

The others in the line-up were: the MAN Cabernet from South Africa  $7.99!(see my blog post: More Wines for Under $10 – for this review), the Guardian Peak Cab, Merlot, Shiraz, another South African for $12.99! (see my blog post: The Best of Twin Cities Food and Wine Pairings Class Strikes Again!  – for my review) and a FAT, DRUNK, Syrupy, Port-like Zinfandel from Californian Winery, Rombauer – $30 (great with chocolate cake). 

But my favorite for the nite, The Croatian Winery, Korta Katarina, Posip.  So unexpected and layered with seashell nuances, fresh floral scents, yet upfront with some fullness that kept changing and unveiling.  And, on the shelf for $22.  A great value for everything that you get from this wine.

Here’s the amazing part… PAIRINGS WINE MARKET of Minnetonka, MN is the very first to carry it on a retail level in ALL of the U.S.!  Seriously, who says that Minneapolis is not on the cutting edge?  This is the first placement of this wine in the entire country.  The winery: Korta Katarina, a MN family owned establishment, is boutiquey, unique and produces wines well worth every penny you pay for them.  The Red Wine produced from the winery is their Plavac Mali (the name of the grape) – on the shelf for $37.99 and again, so worth the dollar! 

See my YOUTUBE Video for a complete review on the Korta Katarina Plavac Mali and some others in its region~
Minneapolis Sommelier Reviews Croatia’s Top Wines

A great way to spend your buck wisely…

While many are looking for those wines that $10 are under, here is a fabulous answer to a gorgeous Chardonnay.

Yum!  Fabulous as a mid winter treat and a great way to start Valentine’s Day early!

Happy New Year ALL- with a new season upon us and a whole slew of new ‘wine homework’ to begin – I thought I’d start this year’s blog off with an excellent email from a great client/friend of mine…

Here’s his dilemma… 

Happy New Year Leslee,
I need some (wine) advice from you.    I opened a bottle of wine the other evening that I bought on the recommendation of a friend.   This California wine is from an established vineyard and I really want to like this wine.   However, both (my wife) and I agreed that the wine had no real taste or flavor to it.  And yes, it was wine and not vinegar.  It was not that the wine was bad, or that I did not like its flavors.  But, I had a difficult time trying to find the individual tastes or to enjoy drinking it.  I looked it up on the producers web site and what they indicated it should have, I struggled to find those flavors.   I want to like this wine and, in the future, try this producers other choices.   Should I buy another bottle of the same vintage and try it?    I know my limitations on wines, but I think I am missing something here with this wine.  What do you do when you want to like a wine, but it does nothing for you to make it memorable or to have a good feeling about it?

Signed,  Anonymous…(Disappointed Drinker)

My response…

Dear Disappointed Drinker,

Such a bummer that is when you go and search out the wines of a recommendation all to find that it wasn’t all that it was cracked up, by your friend to be, right?  I too, get very excited when someone recommends a wine to me, I go to get it and open it up to find…maybe it’s not everything that it had been talked up to be.

However, there are some key points that we all must remember.

1.  We don’t all ‘taste’ the same.  (I wish I tasted like chocolate!  Ha, JK.)  Something that is appealing to your friend, may not be as appealing to yourself.  For instance, maybe your friend is a big fan of warmer climated wines (IE: a Napa Valley Cabernet) does that mean that you’re going to love it too?  Not really.  What if you’re into drinking cooler climated Cabernets from Italy and France and he’s into Napa Cabernet- your style of wine drinking is not necessarily the same.  What turns someone else on when it comes to smells and flavors, could be the complete opposite of what you like.  Maybe he likes all that big, jammy rich fruit and you’d prefer the smell of a pile of dirt or cow patty?  Not the same, right?

2.  If you went to the wine’s website and found a collection of tasting notes from the Winemaker, yes- those are some very individual smells and tastes that, most likely, will come from the wine – but sometimes finding those ‘trained tasting notes and smells’ may take you just drinking MORE wine to get into some of those intricate flavors to understand.  However, if the Winemaker is talking about something you’ve never smelled or tasted (IE: Corinthian Leather?#!) how the heck would you ever know what he/she is talking about unless you’ve had the opportunity to smell or taste the same things?

3.  If the wine was THAT subdued and without smell or flavor and everyone else who had had the wine before got so much more from it then… YES, I would pick up a bottle and try another from the same vintage. 

Here’s a tip:  the wine you picked up could be ‘corked’.  Corked is a term that refers to a bottle that has been contaminated with TCA, a bacteria that infects a wine, making it sometimes smell like wet cardboard.  However, TCA can affect a wine in other ways too – instead of that overt cardboard smell, and if not trained to pick up on that smell – the wine can come off tasting or smelling dull.  Flat on the palate and even lifeless in the nose.  So…your bottle could run that risk of actually, being ‘corked’.  Such a bummer that most people end of thinking that they don’t LIKE the wine when it is this lifeless and never try it again.  When in fact, the wine could have been corked. 

Most retailers will take your bottle back for store credit or exchange it for another bottle of the same, if you think that your bottle qualifies itself in this category.  My advice: ask your retailer what they think?  They should know the wine well.

4.  Lastly, drink what you like!  If your buddies tell you that ‘this’ or ‘that’ is the greatest wine ever, then that is their preference- not yours.  Could it end up being the bomb- definitely!- but does it have to be your bomb-diggity, nope.  Not even the great and majical Mr. Robert Parker could convince ME that I’m supposed to like a wine- no matter how many points he gave it.  Trust your own palate, Mr. Disappointed Drinker.  I know your palate pretty well by now, and I know that you are a great judge of character…you’ve turned me on to some very good wines!  We can all like different wines, but maybe some are better suited for others, maybe this is one of those wines.

Good luck and Keep Drinking!

(P.S. Readers: If you send me your questions, I’ll post them and answer them via THE CRUSHPAD.)

Tune in this Saturday, November 21st – starting at 8 a.m. for some great tips on ~ Pairing and Choosing the Right Wines for Your Holiday Season!

Local Sommelier, Leslee Miller, owner of Amusée – a full service wine consulting firm, will appear on the local news channel Kare 11 www.kare11.com to share with you some of the easiest tips for bringing home some fun + original Pairing Ideas when it comes to vino this holiday season.

Amusée friend and Kare 11 host, Belinda Jensen, along with the station’s very own Erik Perkins “Perk” introduce Leslee in the Cooking Exhibition Segment of the show.  Along with wine and lots of fun eats, the group is sure to give you more than you bargained for sharing truly unique tips on how to set the perfect table for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. 

With a selection of ‘great wine finds’ for categories both Wines: $15 and under and $25 and under, Leslee shares some of her favorite inside finds and also where to find them locally!

*To find out what she chose:

http://www.kare11.com/life/recipes/recipes_article.aspx?storyid=828724&catid=59

It’s a great Saturday morning show to enjoy your cup of coffee with and really does cover so many areas of interest from gardening, cooking, libation, to local news happs – this is the spot to be this and every Saturday morning!