My weekend in Indianapolis, summed up in wine:

Friday night started at Bazbeaux's with an Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Fresh Basil pizza served with a bottle of Pinot noir from Francis Ford Coppola. A fruity wine with hints of plum and cherry. A good start to the evening.

Next we went to Nicky Blaine's where we split a cheese and fruit tray and shared a bottle of Cosentino's Cigarzin. A fruity, aromatic wine with a taste of cream and cherries. The Cigarzin was followed up with a bottle of Billi Billi Shiraz. This wine was spicy, with a hint of blackberry and very smooth. A good way to the end the evening.

I was a little disappointed my friend and I tried two wine bars, Scholar's Inn on Friday and The Corner Wine Bar on Saturday and both were closed by 10:30.

Saturday details to follow...

Wine: 2000 Clos Margalaine Bordeaux



Review: When I first glanced at it this bottle looked strikingly familiar. A little research into the wine showed that it is the 2nd growth of the Marojallia estate. A Marojallia for less than 1/2 price? I had to try it.

The wine is 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Merlot, which is not a true Bordeaux blend and the lack of complexity hurts it. It has a very pleasing aroma, with the scent of cherries and cranberry. The taste was slightly tannic, but it smoothed out over the evening, making it an enjoyable, though not spectacular wine.

Price: $35

Grade: 85

Perhaps I am just getting old (okay, I am old ;)), but I really don't see the point in this. First of all, Tannins are not what cause "wine" headaches. I drink mostly reds and have never gotten a headache. But, more fundamentally, if there are Tannins in the wine, it is because the winemaker wanted them there. Winemakers hold the wine until they are ready to release it, some wines are more tannic than others by design.

Pat sent me a link to this post about the Virginia Wine license plate finally coming to fruition. You can order it from the Virginia Winery Association.

While I am plugging other blogs, check out John's Anything Wine

I am going to Indiana to visit my friend Becky next weekend. While I am out there we are going to visit a couple of Indiana wineries. i thought as an exchange I would bring her a couple of Virginia wines. The first choice that springs to mind is a Cabernet Franc, but which one?

You all know I have been disappointed in the 2005 crop of Cabernet Francs. Fortunately for me, Horton's current release, which is amazing, is their 2000 vintage making it an easy choice.

In addition to a representative varietal I also want a bottle that shows off the talent of Virginia winemakers. For the second bottle I was thinking of Pearmund's Meritage or Tarara's Wild River Red.

Any other suggestions?

I went back on Sunday for a second day of wine tasting at the DC Wine Festival, I went with a friend and was supposed to meet up with Leah but missed her due to a cell phone mishap.

Sunday was less crowded, but still pretty bad, they did a better job of keeping the meager foodstuffs filled, which was nice. We also stopped by igourmet first thing and picked up a tray of cheese. I was a little disappointed that they vendors pretty much shut down by 18:00 (an hour before the Festival was supposed to end), but we were pretty much done by then so it was not a huge deal.

Some highlights:

Grover Wines, the first wine I have ever had from India. The wines were okay, but unremarkable, except for their Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Blanc had a crisp, light taste with hints of fruit and honey.

Montesquieu International Wine Brokerage is kind of a neat idea: They track down wines from all over the world and provide only the best for their clients (presumably only the best, it may also be the wineries that give them the biggest bribe ;)). According to the representative, their service is designed for everyone, not just the rich. I am going to contact them and see about getting more details.

3 Blind Moose had a great series of wines, including a really good Merlot.

Finally, Four Vines Winery home of the "Zin Bitch" shirt and some very good Syrahs.

The DC Wine and Food Festival is over and my review is mixed. First, anyone who went and assumed that the word "Food" implied there would be plenty of food to sample was severely disappointed. There were crackers and bread, though the tables that had them were often empty, and there was not even a cheese table. Fortunately, Cabot iGourmet were both there with some really good cheeses.

I was also dissapointed that the Champagne table ran out about halfway through the first day and did not appear at all during the second.

I went with the wine club the first day, and it was definately more packed than Sunday. It was difficult to move around in some areas, though I am finding that is par for the course at most large wine festivals. Too many people just love wine :).

Cotes du Rhone was out in force, they had an excellent selection of Rhone wines, and they had three, for lack of a better term, Jagermeister girls, on the floor passing out pins and encouraging people to visit their booth.

There was an interesting wine from South Korea called Pomegranate Wine, made from Pomegranates and Apples. It was very sweet and an interesting combination -- I could not find a website for them, but it is distributed by IN Trading Inc.

Robert Wale had some great wines from Austrailia and New Zealand including their Hell Raiser Cabernet Merlot blend, which had a lot of taste for a $10 bottle of wine.

Bully Hill, a New York winery, had a good Cabernet Franc, it was dry without being too tannic.

Hunt Cellars had a good California Meritage, it was smoot and had aged very well.

Craftsman Wine, from Hungary had a very good selection, including a 2003 Cabernet Franc. The Cab Franc was a little bland, but still enough peppery taste to tell that it is a Cabernet Franc.

From Argentina, mil piedras had a variety of reds, but their Sangiovese and Tempranillo were excellent.

Back to California, the Jan Kris Winery had some unique blends, including Picaro which is a blend of 50% Zinfandel, 25% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and their Crossfire which is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Syrah and 25% Merlot.

After the show on Saturday, I went to Matchbox with some people from the wine club including Leah and TravelGirl. The pizza and the burgers were excellent! A great place to go to fill up after a day spent drinking.

More on Sunday's visit later.

I had a post written up about this past weekend's wine club visit to Linden Vineyards but Leah's description is much better. Also, I agree with Leah about the Cabernet Franc. I have been somewhat disappointed in the crop of 2005 Cabernet Francs, i have a couple of bottles that I am aging, hoping they get better (if any VA wineries have an excellent '05 Cabernet Franc that they would like to send me to prove me wrong I am happy to accept ;)).

I will post my review of the Claret:

Wine: 2003 Linden Vineyards Claret



Review: This is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc and 12% Petit Verdot. It is a dark wine with aromas of blackberries and mint. It had a slightly tannic taste, but is has mellowed well with age and it was a great pairing with the cheese and sausage served on the patio.

Price: $23

Grade: 90