Stay Rad

As far as wine bars go, you’ve got to know that Bubbles in Morgan Hill is one of my favorites.

If you don’t belive me, just click here.

This past Thursday, they became my most favoritest.

If you don’t believe that “favoritest” is a word, just click here.

Here’s why…

"Where have you been all my life?"

Once a month, for $10, Bubbles offers a wine and food tasting.

Kara and I had been planning on going to one of these events for a while.  Since we had last week off, and our ol’ friend John Terra Savia was in town, we all met up to get our taste on.

This tasting included six wines, and tons of food…

Tons of food: Prosciutto Wrapped Prawns w/ Spicy Chili Oil, White Bean Stew, and BBQ Pork Sliders w/ Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

To start, we walked over to the Beauregard Vineyards table…

Beauregard 2009 Metalique Chardonnay and Beauregard 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

Beauregard 2009 Metalique Chardonnay:

This is Beauregard’s version of the unoaked Chardonnay.  Admittedly, I’m starting to get kind of bored with that style (That gives me an idea for a post!).  There is nothing boring, however, about the 2009 Metalique.  Crisp, lemon acidity, stone minerality, and smoke… Lots of smoke!  It’s an odd finish.  Then again, I’m a little odd too.  It gives me character.  It does the same to the wine.  Give it an 87+.

In talking to John, we began to speculate as to how an unoaked Chardonnay could get that smokey.

My guess was that it was rouge bacteria.

John just kept saying, “It tastes like smoke taint to me… Like there must have been a wildfire that year.”

Sure enough, the next day John sent me a link to an article about another Chardonnay from 2009  (Pelican Ranch) that was grown in the same area (Bonny Doon) and had also been affected by a wildfire.  Check it out!

Beauregard 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay:

This Chardonnay is more my style.  Crisp, lemon acidity (like before), but with the addition of vanilla bean from the oak and malolactic fermentation.  I tried the spicy prawns with this wine, and the heat really went well with the creaminess of the Chardonnay.  88+

Next, we tried out Tank House…

Tank House 2009 Syrah and Tank House 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

Tank House 2009 Syrah:

On the nose, this Syrah was loaded full of tomato.  The palate, conversely, gives flavors of caramel and cranberries.  This was an awkward, but interesting little wine.  The white bean stew did a good job of marrying the flavors.  86+

Tank House 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon:

Tomato (again) and smoke on the nose, with a touch of tea leaf.  On the palate, this cab brings a good balance of clove spice, plum fruit, Earthy black tea flavors, and nice acidity.  This one also went well with the white bean stew, but it can definitely stand on its own.  89

The last stop on our tasting journey was Alderese Vineyards (Note: I’d provide a link to their website if they had one.  Let me know if you can find it.  I had no luck)…

Alderese Vineyards 2009 Westside Zinfandel and Alderese Vineyards 2008 Late Harvest Zinfandel

Alderese Vineyards 2009 Westside Zinfandel:

This is a new winery in Amador county specializing in Zinfandels.  The 09 Westside Zin has a touch of Petite Sirah in it.  The flavor of this wine is quite candied.  Fruit-forward plums and dark raisin flavors dominate the palate.  Though I give it an 86, this was the perfect wine to go with the pork sliders.  The pork brought out a nice, green pepper flavor.

Alderese Vineyards 2008 Late Harvest Zinfandel:

The gentleman pouring the wine told us that 2008 was the first Zinfandel vintage for Alderese.  I asked him if they did a regular Zinfandel that year too.  He said they did not.  John and I both speculated that they probably messed up harvesting the first year.  This wine was super candied and sugarfied.  Hella concentrated raisins for days.  Another 86 that still went very well with the pork.

We had a great time at Bubbles, as we always do.

I’m looking forward to going to more of their tasting events in the future.

Stay Rad,

Jeff