Global Wine Tastes at Cav Wine Bar

Cav Wine Bar and Kitchen is one of the original neighborhood wine bars that popped up before the current wave of new wine bars started to grab hold. I’ve talked about the food before, but one of the fun things about this San Francisco spot is the wine events.

Last night, my friend Ken (who’s on Cav’s mailing list) told me about a free wine-tasting so I met up with him and checked out what was being served.

The tasting was limited to the first 50 people who showed up, which was a good idea because I never realized how small the space is. The wine pourers were set up in one corner in the middle of the restaurant and it was crowded and I don’t even think there were 25 people there yet.

Despite the crowds (I don’t know why people don’t move to the side after they get their pour of wine?) and the humidity inside, we were able to taste four wines. This is what I thought:

1. La Tunella Biancosesto, 2007 – This is a white wine from Italy made from ribolla gialla and tocai friuliano grapes. It was perfect for the weather and I appreciated how it was chilled just perfectly. It was light with a melon flavor that really awakens one’s palate.
2. Tinto Figero Tempranilla, 4 Mesa Red, 2006 – A Spanish wine called a ribera, this had the rich flavor of plum but was quite tannic. This was Ken’s favorite though.
3. Henry’s Drive, Dead Letter Office, 2006 – A shiraz from Southern Australia, this was also very tart and quite light in body. I’m not a big fan of Australian wine, and this didn’t do me any favors. And what a weird name, huh?
4. Paternoster Synthesi, Aglianico del Vulture, 2005 – Another Italian red from Basilicata. This was supposed to be the heaviest wine akin to cabernet sauvignon but when I tasted it I thought it was lighter in body than the shiraz. This also had a lot of tannins.

Of the wine we tried, I have to say only the white from Italy really surprised me. The three reds were very similar and not very pleasing to drink.

After the wine, Ken went to meet someone for dinner and I stayed behind because I peeked at the menu and saw an appetizer of braised octopus that I had to try.

The braised octopus ($13) was served with roasted heirloom tomatoes and fried garbanzo beans. The octopus was soooo tender that it was a pleasure to eat, but I felt it was oddly supported by the tomatoes with thinly sliced basil. The perfume of the basil seemed to overpower the octopus. And another odd thing about the plate were the fried beans because they really tasted and even looked like frozen peas. Still, I couldn’t fault the overall dish because the octopus was cooked so well.

If you want to check out a future Cav wine event, go to its Web site to join its mailing list or follow them on twitter at twitter.com/cavwinebar.

Cav Wine Bar and Kitchen, 1666 Market St., San Francisco (between Gough and Franklin). PH: 415.437.1770.

Related posts:
Cav Wine Bar: “A Delightful Overture to Any Night Out”
Cade Winery: White, Red and Green
Art with the Pour at Artesa Vineyards & Winery

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Cade Winery: White, Red and Green

ANGWIN, Calif.
In Napa Valley, many wineries line Highway 29 offering public tastings of their latest releases. But some in the know find the best tastings to be at smaller, boutique wineries where you need an appointment to visit.

One new kid on the block is definitely off the beaten track.

Cade Winery is the latest production from the PlumpJack Group, whose partners include San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and billionaire Gordon Getty. It recently opened its 21-acre vineyard and winery (built from the ground up) to the public via appointments. I made an appointment last week, visiting on Cade’s official first day.

The winery is atop Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain appellation east of St. Helena. The drive up there is breathtaking with sights of towering trees along the road and sweeping views of the valley below.

The winery sits on a hillside overlooking the 21 acres of planted grapes, mostly cabernet. The building’s design is modern and minimalist. Designer Juan Carlos Fernandez made it a point that the shape and colors blended in with the winery’s natural surroundings.

With tastings by appointments, the group is more intimate. During my appointment, there were only two other guys who joined me for the tour and tasting. We were greeted by DJ Nielsen, who’s in charge of hospitality at Cade, and we began with a tour of the winery building.

Along with the minimal design, the new Cade winery and vineyard are green, meaning it was developed to be environmentally friendly. Cade is currently seeking approval for LEED certification, which stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” Apparently, there are different levels of certification and Cade is hoping for “gold.” Nielsen says the winery can’t be considered for the higher “platinum” certification because the facility is not open to public transportation.

Still, Cade goes a long way to be a good friend of the environment. It's powered by solar panels on the roof and was built using a variety of recycled components. The building is surrounded by native wildflowers and Manzanita trees, which is also the inspiration for the Cade logo.

We saw workers finishing up the bottling process of Cade’s sauvignon blanc, and toured the man-made cave used to store the barrels of wine. The cave, which ironically wasn’t underground, included a huge table made of scrap metal from furnace tops.

The tour was pretty straightforward, so let’s focus more on the fun part — the tasting.

We walked over to a smaller building nearby known as the lounge. There you’re greeted by a water fountain and a spectacular view of the valley. There’s also a contemporary space where Cade plans to start offering food and wine tastings twice a day. Since I was there on its first day, we only had the wine tasting.

There were plush chairs and sofas setup facing the view, and that’s where we did the tasting, starting with the 2007 Cade Sauvignon Blanc ($26 per bottle). The wine was more full bodied than most sauvignon blanc I’ve tried, with a slight melon finish. Cade’s goal is to use organic grapes to make their wine.

I found most of the wine to be very drinkable, even when so young, because the lead winemaker, Anthony Biagi, does the trick of blending the varietal with other grapes to round out the tastes. For example, the Sauvignon Blanc was finished with semillion grapes.

The two reds we tried were the 2006 Cade Napa Cuvée ($60) and the 2005 Cade Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ($64). Both were also very drinkable and smooth, with the Howell Mountain Cab a bit more earthy than the Cuvée, which is primarily cabernet grapes but with a few others mixed in for good measure.

I was there for an hour an a half just tasting the wine and talking food with the two other guests and Nielsen, who used to run a cooking school in Napa Valley and whose husband is in charge of the food program at Cade. It didn’t hurt that it was a beautiful spring day, making the view beyond the water fountain even more spectacular and soothing.

Some of you might wonder if wine tastings by appointment means more pressure to buy a case of wine to go. I had the same feelings, but others I talked to say you shouldn’t feel pressured to buy the wine if you’re not into it. I actually enjoyed all the wine, and left with a bottle of the Howell Mountain Cabernet. The two other guys bought a bottle of each wine we tried. (Some Cade wine is available at the PlumpJack winery and store, but the vintages we tried were sold only at the winery.)

There is a $10 fee for the wine tastings, and if you’re interested in the food-and-wine pairings, those will be available at $30 by appointment.

It’s nice to visit a winery that strives to be environmentally responsible, and you can’t beat the combination of good wine and view.

Cade Winery, 360 Howell Mountain Road, Napa Valley. (By appointment only.) PH: 707.965.2746. www.cadewinery.com

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Art With The Pour at Artesa Vineyards & Winery

NAPA, Calif.
In the final part of My Excellent Holiday Adventure to Napa with my friends Stella and Mariusz, we arrived at the primary destination of our day—the Artesa Winery for some wine tasting and sightseeing.

Stella had suggested the winery because it’s one of the newer spots along the Napa Valley stops. It’s not along the traditional Hwy. 29 route but a bit west toward Sonoma in the Carneros appellation. Artesa (it’s pronounced ar-TUSS-ah, and not Artesia like how I had it in my mind the whole time I was there) started in 1991 as a sparkling wine producer. But in 1997, they hired a winemaker and began producing wine two years later.

One of the distinguishing factors about Artesa isn’t the wine but the scenery and art displayed throughout the winery. For example, the above sculptures (which makes me think of “Stonehedge on a Diet”) decorate a water fountain at the front of the winery’s estate near the parking area.

All of the artwork at the winery is by Napa artist Gordon Huether, who for the sculptures outside seemed to like to play with light and the natural Napa scenes. This multi-color-tinted sculpture in the center of the stairways leading to the entrance reminded me of the plastic sculptures my dad used to create for his job at a plastic sign shop. He would have loved this sculpture. Totally something right up his alley.

Here’s the entrance of the winery. It really looked like we were heading into a bunker or something. But according to the Web site, the architectural design was trying to blend the winery into the natural landscape of Napa Valley. So instead of driving up and seeing a big mansion ala Falcon Crest, you get this bunker.

The three of us signed up for the four-wine flight ($10 per person) and started off with a couple of white wines. The people at Artesa are pretty casual about the wine-tasting, so they encourage you to take your glasses and wander around the winery checking out the artwork or the scenery.

It was such a beautiful day (albeit a bit chilly) that sitting outside enjoying your wine was a very popular choice.

We’re already into the reds. This is the final red of the day, a Cabernet Sauvignon. I have to say, I wasn’t very impressed by what the winery offered for its tasting. The two whites were weak and the first red (a pinot noir) was just so-so. Only the Cab at the end had any body and complexity that was enjoyable. (Also, the guy pouring the wine wasn’t very chatty about the wine. I tried to ask him a few questions about the wine and he seemed thrown by my questions.)

There’s artwork all over the place, in an area that really reminds me of a SFMOMA gallery or something. This was one of my favorites. I love the color and simplicity.

We finished up our red wine in the “club room.” There’s Mariusz, who’s busy surfing the Web on his iPhone.

Along with the “club room” for special wine events, the winery offers tours and this mini museum of viticultural artifacts.

Of all the fancy artworks and average wine for tasting, probably the best offering by Artesa is this beautiful view of the vineyards. The viewing deck faces west, perfect to capture that Napa sunset.

Artesa Vineyards & Winery, 1345 Henry Road, Napa. PH: 707.224.1668. Web site.

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Online Wine in a Berkeley Brick and Mortar Home

This weekend I was shopping in the Fourth Street shopping district in Berkeley, and I made it a point to check out a new store I had read about. This wasn't another upscale, boutique store in this high-end shopping neighborhood, but it was a warehouse-type place for wine.

Wine.com, one of the largest online retailers for wine, apparently decided that the Internet isn't enough for selling wine and maybe customers want to hold a bottle of wine in their hands and get a sense of what they're about to drink. So wine.com opened its first retail store on the West Coast just a few weeks ago south of the Fourth Street shopping area between Bancroft Avenue and Allston Way. (They have another retail location in Connecticut.)

First off, I have to let you know that there was a sign outside the door before you walk in alerting buyers that you're about to be filmed and security cameras are everywhere. So despite my efforts to be the super sleuth shopper, I was only able to sneak in a few shaky camera shots. But really, when you walk in, it's not a very big retail shop. It's like the size of a corner wine shop.

In the front retail area, there are about four short aisles of wine organized by varietal, of course. But because wine.com is an online retailer, you can sit at a desk near the back and surf wine.com's site to buy wine. I know, you're thinking you can do that at home. But the selling point is that if you find a wine you like, you can ask them to retrieve that bottle from its Berkeley warehouse in the back and that way you avoid shipping and handling. (BTW, if you're at home now and you find a wine on wine.com that you want, you can also order it online and then click the option to pick it up at Berkeley, again avoiding shipping and handling costs. This is so cool for us in the Bay Area!) Having access to the online inventory means you can choose from more than 2,500 wine choices! Now that's way more that can fit in that front retail area.

Here's one of the wine sections at the Berkeley store. You're probably wondering what all those tags are on the neck of the bottles. Each bottle comes with an individual tag that has the name of the wine and some notes that you can take when you're at home after you've purchased this wine. I thought this was a neat idea because there's been many times I've drank a bottle of wine and thought I'd buy it again but forgot the name after dumping the bottle. This way you have a way to remember the wine after its gone. But it does make the display look like a sewing center, doesn't it?
This is a wide view of the retail area as I'm standing in the warehouse section. You can go to the warehouse section to check out some bargains, but there weren't anything that caught my eye. Most of the wine at wine.com's store average about $20 with some of the better wines selling for more than $80. I didn't think their prices were necessarily cheap like a discount wine shop and I didn't feel they offered anything rare and boutique like. I saw a lot of the same names I see at places like BevMo.

The one section that I did like was one called "90 under $20." This section included wine that were rated 90 points or above (based on Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate magazines) but cost less than $20 per bottle. It was at this section that I found an interesting bottle of Pinot Noir from Argentina. It's called Punto Final and cost me only $13.79. I know, this is probably more than what you spend at Trader Joe's, but I opened the bottle for dinner and it was oh so fine. It's a 2006 vintage with a lot of body, vibrancy and berry undertones. It was perfect to warm me up during this chilly weekend.Here's my bottle of Punto Final from Argentina and a close up of that neck tag that's on all the bottle. So you can note any special occasion you're drinking the wine and what you liked about it and what you think it'll go well with. My Punto Final will go well with anything, whether it's a heavy fish like salmon, a roasted chicken or some lamb. It had the complexity to match well with many dishes. So if I'm filling out this card, I'm checking "yes" under "order again."

Wine.com, 2220 Fourth St., Berkeley. PH: 510.704.8007

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Berkeley's Corner Gourmet

Living in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, I never really feel like I'm far from good food, especially with the many restaurants within walking distance of my Rockridge condo. This weekend, I stayed close to home but did venture north toward Berkeley, and I have to admit, I accidentally discovered a bit of history.

I found myself at the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Cedar Street. Just in this tiny corner on the industrial-looking San Pablo Avenue is a triad of foodie heaven with the cluster of Acme Bread Co., Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant and Cafe Fanny.

I can't believe that I've never been to this spot of Berkeley's food standard bearers. I've heard of Gourmet Ghetto a few miles east of this spot closer to downtown Berkeley. But this non-descript spot, just a few blocks east of the upscale Fourth Street shopping area, is a casual nod to fine foods. Here's a tour of the three anchor tenants:

Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant was actually the main reason that brought me to this Gourmet Corner of San Pablo and Cedar. I had recently read about Kermit Lynch Wine in Jay McInerney's book "A Hedonist in the Cellar." The book is an entertaining, novice's look at the wine drinking experience in America and I was surprised to see this New Yorker mention a Berkeley importer as one of the country's best. So I had to check out this place that was opened by Kermit Lynch in 1972 and named Wine Professional of the Year by the James Beard Foundation.

The significant, distinguishing factor about Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant is that nearly 90 percent of its wine for sale come from France. The rest come from Italy. The store does not stock any California wines. The story goes that Lynch felt that if he stocked a California wine from a winery whom he probably knew, he felt he couldn't fairly tell the winery that the wine didn't taste that great. So to remove those potential conflicts with his friends in the California wine scene, he decided to focus primarily on French and Italian wine.

Walking around, you see a wide variety of wine. I felt really lost, though, because none of the wine had notes on them to explain what was inside the bottle. So you really have to know your French wineries and varieties in order to make an educated guess about whether that bottle in front of you will work. Fortunately, you can also rest on the reputation of Kermit Lynch, who imports all the wine himself, so he's created relationships with all the European wineries he buys from. I basically placed myself in the hands of the store's able clerks who will listen to your preferences and give you recommendations on which bottles will most likely match your needs.

Based on the expert discussion I had with one particular clerk, I ended up buying two bottles: 1) a 1999 Barbera Del Monferrato (barbera grape) from Cantine Valpane in Italy and 2) a 2004 Cairanne from Domaine Catherine Le Goeuil in France. I can't wait to cook up some red meat to try these nice bottles of reds.

After making my wine purchase, it was on to bread and Acme Bread Co. This outlet is actually the very first spot where Steve Sullivan, a former busboy at Chez Panisse, decided to start his bakery with his wife. The spot is so small that only a few people can stand inside to order their breads, so a line typically snakes outside.

The bread inside with workers busy making fresh bread in the background.

On the wall were all these interesting historic posters and photos. It was very 70s. Off to the side (and not pictured) were these risque, PG-13 photos from when the bakery opened with some of the workers dressed only in aprons bringing some hot bread out of the oven. Oh, it was sooo Berkeley. The photo showed their behinds to the camera, and I just figured out as I'm writing this that someone probably thought it was fun to show the workers' buns as they brought out the buns. LOL, they're so cheeky!

Right next door to Acme, is Cafe Fanny, which is the small, casual cafe opened by Alice Waters herself. Story is Waters wanted a spot to get away from the formal hectic-ness of Chez Panisse. (More likely it was her little way of escaping the kitchen politics of the restaurant.) It's supposedly named after the heroine of filmmaker Marcel Pagnol's 1930 movies, but also the name of Waters' daughter.

Much of the cafe happenings occur outside in this large deck area. To the right is the entrance to Kermit Lynch Wine. This is a fantastic place to hangout in the afternoon on a beautiful sunny day.

The cafe inside is really tiny, but cleanly and stylishly presented. The menu is a casual, simple basic cafe food like breakfast, pastries, sandwiches and salads. Of course, it's all fresh, seasonal, local ingredients. There's a marble counter where you can eat and watch the people behind the counter, but that's the only place to eat inside, which is probably why the outdoor seating is so crowded.

Here are some of the pastries and baked goods behind the counter. Everything was very quaint and yummy looking.

I kept it simple and just got a cranberry scone with marmalade and a pot of Earl Grey tea (which was made from loose leaves, a very nice touch). The scone, actually, didn't have much taste although I loved the texture. So the marmalade, which was just the right sweetness, came in handy. It was just a relaxing experience to sit outside, in the midst of such Berkeley food history, sipping my tea and eating my scone. I didn't think of San Francisco once during my afternoon jaunt to this East Bay gourmet corner.

SPEND A DAY IN PROVENCE: If you like the idea of Provencal cooking, then save the date of Saturday, Sept. 29. That's when the parking outside these three food landmarks in Berkeley will be closed off so they can present "Provence in Berkeley." This event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and French cooking will be served for a fixed price. The food will be prepared by Cafe Fanny and chef Chris Lee from the restaurant Eccolo. Be sure to make your way to this event for some French style foodie fun in the East Bay.

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Liquor Up!

I know I'll probably be slammed by some of you, but I have to say Beverages & More! is my favorite place to go shopping for wine. There's no other store like it that I can think of. Aisles after aisle of fine wine from all over the country in clean surroundings and space to browse and think about your meal and what to pair it with.

Some may say the best places to shop for wines are to visit the wineries at Napa or to find the small, local wine vendor at the neighborhoods. I definitely support the local businessman, but you have to admit that sometimes those stores just don't have the space to carry a wide selection. At BevMo (that's what they call themselves online), you have long aisles of just cabernet, and just chardonnay, and so on.

What's cool also is that you get well-written descriptions of the wine that really helps you visualize the taste and then make you think about how those flavors will complement what you're eating. In fact, they usually recommend what food works best with that particular wine. They also give points for each wine, and I usually shop for any wine over 89 points and I'm always guaranteed a winner!

Many people buy their wines at Trader Joe's, but I have to say that despite the perception of lower prices at Trader Joe's (especially after all the news about the $2 Charles Shaw), I don't think many of their wines are of the highest quality. The couple of bottles I've bought there in the past have been marginal. At BevMo, you can find many good wines and sometimes at very special prices. Because of its size, BevMo can negotiate deep discounts with suppliers and passes that on to its customers.

So this weekend, go out and buy yourself some wine. As a single guy, I used to worry about having a wine bottle open for too long, but I've found that if you have it out for no more than four days, it should be fine. So don't be afraid to drink alone! :)

QUICK TIPS ON BUYING WINE: The general strength of white wine goes from the light Sauvignon Blanc to the oakey Chardonnay. For reds, you can start with a Pinot Noir and get heavy with meats with your Cabernet. But always feel free to ask a salesperson for recommendations.

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