Two Score And A Dozen Weeks Ago…

Notes From The Cellar is now one year old.

365 days ago, I wrote a brief description of a trip to Regusci Winery with my wife and my parents, thus officially becoming a “wine blogger” (yes, really, that’s all it takes).

Since then, I have written 127 reviews, and in them have reviewed 129 wines. 205 posts have welcomed 824 comments, although a lot of them have been my own.

I was nominated for an award. I went to a conference. I met Gary Vaynerchuk, Randall Grahm, Steve Heimoff, and some of the coolest wine-related persona grata you’d ever hope to come across. Folks like Paul Mabray, Hardy Wallace, Josh Wade, Ben Simons, Chris Oggenfuss, Ward Kadel, Jason Mancebo, Thea Dwelle, Barbara Drady, and many, many others.

People stopped by my little neck of the woods 12,441 times over the preceding twelve months. That’s still peanuts compared to most wine blogs. Certainly any that someone would consider “successful,” but it’s what I’ve got.

While I still consider the main thing that I do here to be reviewing wine that I have the good fortune of coming into contact with, the fact is that of the top five most-viewed posts all year long, just one was a review. Here are those articles, from fifth-to-most read:

5) A Creamy, Buttery Chardonnay — Apparently, people like searching for “creamy buttery chardonnay,” because this middling B+ review of a Livermore Valley chard that isn’t really my style is the fifth most-read post of my first year, and the most-read review (449 pageviews). I have to blame SEO on this one, because for me this was just another review I wrote, right in the middle of my breakneck five-reviews-a-week pace.

4) 8 Rules For Visiting Tasting Rooms — A step just up the ladder at 451 pageviews, this post was also one of the most-commented-on through the year. A hit with those who actually work at or run tasting rooms, I’ve been told this is now hanging up in more than one such establishment. Honored.

3) Top 10 Movie Quotes About Wine — This was a fun one to write. I love wine, and I love movies. At 476 pageviews, this post is only marginally more popular than the tasting room rules post, but apparently, people love lists.

2) Stephen Tanzer WAS A Jackass — With 41 comments, the most controversial of my posts from Notes‘ first year. I’ve never met Stephen Tanzer, I do not know Stephen Tanzer, but last spring the bloggers-vs-traditional-wine-writers “feud” was in full swing, and this was my contribution to the ig/noble effort (depending on your viewpoint, of course). Significantly more people saw this post (776 pageviews) than either of the two previous.

1) Pairing Wine With 1980s Action TV Shows: Magnum, P.I. — By FAR the most popular post this year (1,294 pageviews), and the reason why the #2 search term that led people to Notes all year long has been “magnum pi.” I’ve started this project of pairing wine—with more than a hint of sarcasm—with TV shows, and it isn’t going anywhere. This was the first one. People, it would seem, dig Selleck and his ‘stache.

Thanks for tagging along for my first year. I don’t know what is in store in the year to come, but hopefully it will be interesting, read-worthy, and wine-related. I leave you with this:

The Top Ten Wines Of My First Year

  1. 2003 Château d’Yquem Sauternes
  2. 2005 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino
  3. 2008 The Prisoner
  4. 2007 Leviathan
  5. 2005 Renato Corino Barolo
  6. Yalumba Museum Reserve 21 Years Old Antique Tawny
  7. 2006 B Legacy Reserve Merlot
  8. 2006 Steven Kent Merrillie Chardonnay
  9. 2007 Canihan Family Cellars “Exuberance” Pinot Noir
  10. 2008 Trefethen Dry Riesling

2008 Sebella Chardonnay

Sonoma County Chard Leaves Me Dreaming Of Chablis

I am a Chablis fan. Something about the chalky minerality, the incredibly light touch of oak, the focus around creamy custardy flavors just does it for me.

I have a few friends who are much more into the “standard” California-style chardonnay. Butter, oak, lots of it. A color that looks almost like burnt almond or like 14k gold jewelry. Not me. That’s not my style.

This, this is my style.

Classique des Classiques

The 2008 Sebella Chardonnay from Sonoma Valley’s Hanzell Vineyards is a very true-to-Chablis chardonnay. The intention of the winemaker of “following old world Grand Cru Domaine and First Growth Chateau classification philosophies”1 truly shines through, as this wine sidesteps most of the problems I usually have with California chardonnay.

The wine is a light straw-yellow in the glass, though it fades to clarity at the edges. It’s darker than, and without the green tint of, sauvignon blanc, but much lighter than the “classic” California chard look.

On the nose are a touch of grapefruit, apple, lemon pudding or custard, and granite. Wet stone. The minerality is my favorite part of Chablis, so when I noticed it here, unabashed, on the nose, I was quite excited.

And the wine did not let me down.

The 2008 Sebella Chardonnay is medium-bodied, with a long, lingering finish. Chalk and granite minerality play here, especially on the back of the palate and on the finish. In the meantime, grapefruit, lemon zest, lemon custard, and the bite-you-back of Granny Smith apple peel play around on the front and mid-palate.

This is incredibly drinkable. Very classic. True to Burgundy.

In other words, exactly what chardonnay should be.

Verdict: A-

2008 Sebella Chardonnay

2008 Sebella Chardonnay

Footnotes

  1. Reference ↩

Pairing Wine With 1980s Action TV Shows: Airwolf

Airwolf

The cast of Airwolf

The cast of Airwolf

My mom will tell you, this one was one of my favorites.

That helicopter was so. bad. ASS. Airwolf was a secret military helicopter that could break the speed of sound (even going as fast as Mach 2!) thanks to its jet thrusters. Its cabin could be pressurized, allowing for a maximum ceiling of 100,000 feet, and it was equipped with enough guns, bombs, missiles, and defensive measures to bring down al-Qaeda on its own (oh, wherefore hast thou forsaken us, Airwolf?!).

It also cost a billion dollars. In 1984. It would be twice as much now.

But the guy who flew it played the cello and was named Stringfellow. Yeah, sure, his last name was an appropriately-badass Hawke, and his boss had an eyepatch permanently attached to his eyeglasses, and there was the girl who loved to hate him and hated to love him and vice-versa, AND he had a fat, wise, and wisecracking sidekick in Dominic, played by the inimitable Ernest Borgnine.

But still. Stringfellow? The cello?

Nostalgia break:

So what wine goes with Airwolf? The secret lies in the dichotomy of our intrepid hero, Stringfellow Hawke. The show, its namesake flying machine, and its protagonist were all simultaneously a bit dark, a bit refined, and a whole lotta badass.

Just like Barolo.

Barolo, the nebbiolo-based red wine from northern Italy’s Piedmont, is a personal favorite. Always extremely dark in the glass, and always able to kick a little ass, the refinement and elegance of the best Barolos cannot be questioned. The Barolo was one of the first wines to truly pique my interest in Italy as a whole, and Airwolf was one of the first shows to really grab my imagination as a kid. I still love action and sci-fi films and TV, and I attribute that love, in many ways, to Airwolf.1

Airwolf might not be Italian, but Stringfellow Hawke had a love of opera and Ernest Borgnine is the son of Italian immigrants. Good enough on that note.

But it’s the dark, elegant, and yet totally kick-ass shared nature of Barolo and Airwolf that makes the pairing for me.

Some Barolos I can recommend:

Footnotes

  1. To be fair, The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., and Dukes of Hazzard are also pretty responsible ↩