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Laissez Vous le Bon Temps Roulez: Loom Wine Long Yarn Sparkling Shiraz 2005 and Pom Cosmo Made with Home-Infused Vanilla Tito's Vodka

Pimenter votre vie. Laissez vous le bon temps roulez. Or, as they say at Pat O'Brien's, Have Fun! Sparkling Shiraz is something not everyone is acquainted with. And not everyone is sure they want to be. Therefore, I pronounce it "the wine that care forgot". Only those who are up for a pleasure trip, with no strings attached, need apply.

For those who might be a wine snob, palate closed to such things as chilled bubbly red wines, then I say, "Momma told you not to come". This is a place you don't need to go. The rest of us don't want to hear about how this type of wine lacks either the substantivity of a true still Shiraz or the elegance and grace of a bottle of Champagne.

But for the few who find the idea arousing, here's a hint: Gumbo. Or, you could say, any "cajun" cuisine. A sparkling shiraz - such as Loom Wine Long Yarn 2005 - is going to elevate gumbo to its highest level. It could be crawfish etoufée, blackened fish, red beans and rice with sausage, but Shrimp and Andouille Gumbo is the pinnacle, and the perfect foil to sparkling shiraz on a cool November night in the northern hemisphere.

The secret to making a fine pot of gumbo lies in making the concoction known as "the roux". Equal parts of oil and flour must first be heated and stirred carefully until they become rusty brown. You're well advised to start out with a blend of canola and olive oil and finely ground soft wheat flour made for sauces (aka "Wondra"). To this "culinary napalm - don't splash any on your skin!" you add the "trinity" of southern Louisiana, finely chopped sweet pepper, celery and onion, as well as spice blend that includes oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper, white pepper (if you have it), a dash of Old Bay, and a judicious amount of salt. Timing is everything when it comes to creating this concoction. You want it to mature and fuse together, but never burn, and certainly impatience will not be rewarded.

That's the hard part. Now, pour yourself a drink. I recommend the cocktail described later - the Pom Cosmo. With the Roux and Vegetable paste at a point of readiness, have a pot of stock coming to a boil. If you're concerned about too much sodium in your diet, go with low sodium stock, without MSG, preferably as high quality as you can get. You can make your own, but that's too much trouble and time commitment for most of us. If you buy it, a mixture of 50+% chicken stock and 50-% beef stock will give the desired flavor and color. With the stock at a rolling boil, add large spoonfuls of the roux paste to the stock and as soon as each spoonful is dissolved, add the next one. Once all the roux is in the stock, add sliced andouille sausage (Niman Ranch makes a stellar and readily available version), and USA wild-caught shrimp. A few minutes in the pot and you're ready to serve it. Take a bowl, mound up a big scoop of rice in the middle, like a castle, and ladle the gumbo around it like a moat.

As for proportions, 3/8 cup of flour, 3/8 cup of combined oils, 2-1/2 to 3 cups of stock, 3/8 to 1/2 cup of each of the "trinity" vegetables, 6 ounces of Andouille sausage and a dozen and a half medium shrimp will make 4 servings. As for the seasonings, for 4 servings, a tablespoon of the mixture will do the trick.

The cool fruity and levitating nature of the sparkling shiraz is the perfect foil for the spicy medium-hot flavor of the gumbo.

Loom Wine Long Yarn Sparkling Shiraz 2005 has pomegranate, cherry and spice aromas and a bubbly personality that make a great first impression. The fruit flavors carry right through to the finish, lively, backed by soft tannins, sweet tasting on the front tip of the tongue, but dry around the sides. This isn't the kind of wine to take too seriously, but seriously, this is a very good glass of wine - when the occasion avails itself for it.

Price: $16 (Nashville). Alcohol content: 13.5%.

Lagniappe: Pom Cosmo Made with Home-Infused Vanilla Tito's Vodka
Being a fan of PomWonderful's Pom juices, I've made Pom-tinis in the past. But this is something a bit more involved, yet well worth the trouble. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but Tito's Vodka is the vodka of choice in my household. I don't claim to be the expert on vodka, but my other half does. He won't drink anything else unless there's no Tito's around. If you just climbed out from under a rock, Tito's is made in Austin, Texas, an effort founded by one Tito Beverage - that's his name.

You're going to need a long Madagascar Vanilla bean and a couple of weeks to do this. Take the vanilla bean, and slice it in half lengthwise as though you're going to infuse some sugar or scrape out the seeds. But in this case, just cut it in half. Drop the two halves into a liter of Tito's Vodka and wait 2 weeks. The vodka will take on a light amber color and a rich vanilla aroma and smoother vanilla flavor. This is unlike any "vanilla vodka" on the market, really!

To make the cocktail, fill a rocks glass with crushed ice, fill halfway with the vanilla vodka, add 1/4 shot of Cointreau, add PomWonderful Pomegranate-Cherry juice until there is just enough room left to add a splash of limeade. That's it! You can make this drink in a cocktail shaker and strain it into a martini glass. The color is a beautiful jewel tone, but the taste is even more brilliant.

This is my drink of choice when the roux is ready and the gumbo is imminent.

A Likable Label and Wine for the Holidays: Spanish Quarter Chardonnay Albariño 2007

Like so many wines making the scene these days, The Spanish Quarter Chardonnay Albariño 2007 debuts as a new concept wine, invented by Spanish wine giant Codorniu. Looking to be easily understood by a youthful "millennial" audience, coming of age and curious about the flavors of Spain, Codorniu dispensed with the Bodegas and DO's (Denominaciones de Origens) typically displayed on a Spanish wine label. Instead, they went with a fun, festive Spanish world view illustrated by New York artist Grady McFerrin. The varietal blend is shown right up front, like you would expect on a wine from California.

The label reminds me of Red Guitar, one of US wine giant Constellation Brands' very successful imports from Spain. There is always a risk of missing the mark with highly conceptual illustrative wine labels, but success can be had if done right. Spanish Quarter's label is attractive enough to encourage trial, and as it turns out, this inaugural vintage of Chardonnay Albariño is very likable wine.

In the spirit of the Niña, Pinta, and the Santa María, as opposed to the Mayflower, you might consider serving this white blend with your Thanksgiving turkey, turducken, or tofurkey and the trimmings. Being very likable as it is, and also versatile, this would make a splash as a holiday season house white.

The blend is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Albariño, but don't expect Chardonnay. Expect a lively lemon apricot head space. The first thing that came to mind was lemon icing, then apricots and then a mineral note. There's no smoke or oak here, yet roundness is achieved without it. The flavor is all peach and apricots, with lemon tartness, no sweetness as some people might be thinking, and a crisp dry finish. Many crowd-pleasing wines are not that well-made, and many well-made wines aren't crowd-pleasing, but this one achieves both. That's a hypothesis I plan to test this holiday season, and when the summer returns.

Codorniu doesn't make a big deal out of the origin of this wine - Costers del Segre. That's in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain. We think of Albariño coming from Rías Baixas, in northwest Spain, but it also flourishes near the east coast.

Price: $12 (Nashville). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 12.9%.

Rated XXX: Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvée XXX Zinfandel

This year, 2008, marks the 30th anniversary of Kent Rosenblum's foray into professional wine making under the Rosenblum Cellars label, hence XXX marks the vintage. The reference to adult cinema cannot be missed and is mentioned on the label: "Vintner's Cuvée XXX is not X-rated, but it is a spicy, overt and fruit-forward wine, filled with bright raspberry and cherry flavors."

This year the 60-something Rosenblum sold his label to Diageo, the international drinks giant, known for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Crown Royal, José Cuervo, Smirnoff, Bailey's, and many more. Their wine portfolio is one of the U.S. top 10 in sales. Not looking to get out of the business, Rosenblum agreed to stay on to oversee wine making and promote the brand.

This is certainly the trend of 2008: the big wine "houses" are getting bigger, and the small and medium houses have to mount a successful contra-marketing campaign to get noticed outside their tasting rooms. This parallels a trend towards more retail markets opening up wine sales to grocery stores and mass merchandisers, something currently being discussed hotly in Tennessee, my backyard.

Like it or not, gone are the days when oenological ideology and a small nest egg was enough to launch a competitive wine business. But like any trend, this one may reverse itself one day, the same way brewery consolidation eventually led to a rebirth of microbreweries.

Meantime, Rosenblum's Vintner's Cuvée Zinfandel is easy to recommend, and always has been for me, because the quality is consistently excellent for the money. Expect lots of dark berry cherry fruit plus overtones of spice and vanilla, all very well displayed to the senses, smoothly textured, on a youthfully muscular frame and finish. Let's hope Kent Rosenblum really hangs around for Cuvées to come.

In reference to this being Cuvée XXX, let me quote the venerable Poet Laureate Billy Collins from his book, Ballistics, his poem titled Pornography. Collins isn't describing a bottle of wine, but this poem immediately came to my mind for Vintner's Cuvée XXX.

"This is all I need to inject me with desire,
to fill me with the urge to lie down with you,
or someone very much like you,

on a cool marble floor or any fairly flat surface
as clouds go flying by
and the rustle of tall leafy trees

mixes with the notes of birdsong -
so clearly does the work speak of vanishing time,
obsolete musical instruments,

passing fancies, and the corpse
of the largely forgotten painter moldering
somewhere beneath the surface of present-day France."

In summary, I disagree with the label. This wine is definitely X-rated, which means I very much recommend it.

Price: $12 (Nashville). Closure: Noma/Neocork. Alcohol content: 14.6%.

Alfredo Roca Mendoza Pinot Noir 2007

You might have to walk past this one a few times before you pick it up. The small black and white vineyard scene on the label depicts terroir, but it does so in a quiet way. You eventually pick up the bottle. After all, it's an affordable Pinot Noir, and you're curious about its roots in Argentina. Flipping to the back label, you read the description and discover this is one of Dan Kravitz' Hand Picked Selections. That closes the sale on the first of many bottles.

At any given time, if you find an importer that you can trust, that's great. If that importer is finding real bargains, you have a personal shopper. There are so many labels and so much good wine out there, a solid importer like Dan Kravitz can help you cut through a lot of clutter.

Alfredo Roca Mendoza Pinot Noir 2007 is a versatile red with nothing to hide. Though terroir is a difficult term to define, this wine embodies it. Beneath the bright garnet color, you begin to pick up some rocky overtones in addition to the prevailing black cherry, vanilla and roasted aromas that conspire to stimulate your appetite. Then plum and red currant preserves, herbal and earthy flavor notes carry through to a warm and rustic dry finish. There's a nice complexity here and not an overwhelming sense of oak or alcohol in the way of the fruit of the vines.

Good as a starter, you can pair this Pinot Noir with a wide variety of dishes. We can vouch for roast chicken, pork tenderloin medallions in a savory gravy, and pan grilled wild salmon. This sort of versatility makes it a candidate for the holiday table.

Price: $12 (Nashville). Closure: Nomacork. Alcohol content: 13%.

California Chardonnay Never Gets Old: Geode Santa Barbara 2006 and William Hill Napa 2005

Leave it to a baby boomer to latch onto this millennial wine label concept. Forgive me; the label goes with the new table we just bought from Pier 1 Imports, that place where the millennial generation now shops. The proverbial "we" refers to the writer, namely me, and my civil union partner of nearly 20 years, or whatever is allowed to be said given we do not fall into the category of "one man and one woman".

Geode is a wine concept. It is a design. It is targeted marketing. This is its first vintage. It over-delivers. That's a good thing. Quick, before they sell it off to a larger company keen on watering it down and milking the label as a cash cow, buy it and drink up.

If they are going to wing these concepts out at us, then we need to know when to buy and when to pass. We need to be as fickle about our preferences as they are about their focus group results. My experience is this type of concept is best when it starts out. They can evolve into something even better, but rarely. Again I say, buy now and drink up. Just don't get married to it. Play the field. Be gay with California wine - don't get married.

White Rocket Wine Company has done a great job with Geode Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2006. Chardonnay is the proverbial "dead horse" in many ways these days, so it takes a strong concept, product and price to make hay. True to form as a Santa Barbara County Chardonnay, this newbie takes on hints of Puligny-Montrachet, a remarkable feat for a sub-$15 wine, Geode is packed with oodles of honeyed botrytis overtones and delicious tropical fruit flavors. The honey is in the head space and the pineapple, mango and lemon-lime grace the palate in a sophisticated way. The performance is very well rounded, creamy on the palate, yet the finish is crisp dry.

Veteran wine maker Melissa Bates is credited with this stellar value laden effort. She reportedly gave this wine an average of 8 months in oak, 3/4 French, 1/4 new.

Price: $14 (Nashville). Closure: real cork. Alcohol content: 13.5%.

They maybe should start calling Napa Chardonnay simply, "a glass of white Napa". Chardonnay seems so generic, especially in the days of now, when "mom-and-pop" wineries are a romantic thing of the almost-past. Last year William Hill Estate changed hands, leaving the portfolio of Jim Beam's peeps and joining the ranks of E&J Gallo's decendents' peeps. But this is Napa juice, so I say, call it "a glass of white Napa". It sounds more distinguished than, say, a glass of Gallo's William Hill Napa Chardonnay.

By the way, do you know how to tell right away if that winery you're researching is owned by one of the large "wine umbrella portfolio management groups", without googling it? Here's a hint: If they ask you when you're born, before you check out their homepage, tell them you're born on January 1st 1901. And rest assured, you're under a big umbrella.

Okay, now that we've established that Gallo bought a Napa property with lots of history and genuine character, let's give them credit for injecting the house with efficiency without sacrificing quality. Under Gallo's umbrella, William Hill can compete better in the reality known as wine 2.0, the modern wine marketing landscape. As part of an entire "aisle" of offerings, this label can wield more muscle than it could stand-alone. We get better deals as a result. When they don't water it down, we stand to benefit by such an arrangement.

Reportedly, the fruit for William Hill Napa Chardonnay 2005 is from Carneros and Atlas Peak. Malolactic fermentation and oak aging inject the wine with richness, layered atop the lean acidic structure begotten from the cool climate vineyards. The oak influence is noticeable, reinforcing the tropical mango and perfumed lemon aromas and flavors. Here is a successful baby Chassagne-Montrachet, if you dare call it that. I call it a darn good glass of "white Napa".

Price: $13 (Nashville, on sale). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13.9%.

Beautifully conceptual these wines, both of them. This is what Chardonnay is all about, and it's amazing how affordable they are.

Ale To The Chief: Obama Defeats McCain!

Based on Winewaves' internal analysis of final tracking polls, exit polls and ongoing monitoring of election results, we declare that Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. Let's here it for President Obama: Ale To The Chief. (Posted 7:41 p.m. CST).

While others have a lot to lose on making such a projection, we have nothing to lose. Will anyone stop clicking through from a Google search for an obscure wine because they heard Winewaves goofed on an early election projection? Then, there's the fact that Winewaves' founder Jerry Hall studied statistics in graduate school. Not just a pretty face, but Jerry also knows when the chips are up or down. The chips are not up enough for John McCain to pull out a miracle.

While some may want me to remain unbiased, I'm not. Barack Obama is my choice and I'm glad he won tonight. He ran the better campaign and he is unquestionably the more intelligent and in touch candidate.

So, I suggest you have a glass of Avery Brewing Company's special edition "Ale To The Chief" to celebrate. This is a fantastic brew that combines over the top hops with a fullness of fruit flavors that makes for a big beer, a big noise, but very well balanced between the low and high notes.

The appearance of any brew is important, and this one delivers greatness. The color is beautiful, deep amber, copper-orange, with a slight turbidity that suggests it was just brewed. The nose is hoppy, fruity, along the lines of citrus peel, especially orange, and even tilting towards fruit cake. If you're like me, you think fruit cake smells better than it tastes. On the tongue, you get a nice complex interaction between bitter hops and also fruit and caramel. Fruit flavors carry through with the hops all the way to a crisp dry finish.

Price: $7.99 (Nashville, 22 ounce). Alcohol content: 8.75%.

Pour a glass and celebrate! Obama Defeats McCain!