Wannabe Wino

*Disclaimer: I received this wine from Michel Schlumberger as a sample to participate in the BinEndsWine Twitter Taste Line.

As you all probably know, I had the pleasure of co-hosting the most recent Twitter Taste Live with Michel Schlumberger and BinEndsWine in September. We had a great line up of wines for the evening, with the first being the 2006 Michel Schlumberger La Brume Chardonnay.

In just 2 short days, I will be co-hosting the 3rd edition of the Bin Ends Wine Twitter Tasting Live. This month, we are tasting wines from one of my favorite wineries, Michel Schlumberger. I just had the chance to stop by Michel Schlumberger on Thursday (more about that later) to pick up the wines for the tasting, and to taste through them, of course, and everything is drinking wonderfully. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the wines!

Bin Ends has set up a host site to archive all the tasting notes and questions that we ask of Michel Schlumberger. You can join here, at Twitter Taste Live. If you type "#ttl" without the quotes, your tweets will show up on the live feed! You can also see all the profiles of everyone participating and click on our Twitter IDs to follow us live on Thursday, 7pm est.

I hope to see you all on Twitter this Thursday! There's still time to pick up the wines at one of your local wine shops, we'd love to have you join even if you can only find one of the bottles!

Matt and I love Michel Schlumberger. So on our most recent CA adventure it was a no brainer to stop by for a 2nd attempt at a tasting when we were out and about with Russ (who I will be hiking with on Wednesday!) and Patrick (who hopefully can join me for lunch on Thursday, haven't talked to him yet...) in Sonoma. I will also be heading back to Michel Schlumberger this coming week for another tasting! I promised you yesterday that I'd take a look and dig up my notes from the latest tasting as a preview for the upcoming Bin Ends Wine live Twitter tasting!

We tasted through the current line up, and some barrel samples, though I know since the tasting, the 2006 Chardonnay has come out, as well as the 2007 Pinot Blanc (which you can get through the tasting pack I created for Domaine547.)

2006 Pinot Blanc: Crisp, citrus, melon, tropical, one of my favorite CA white wines that I've had the pleasure of tasting.

2005 La Brume Chardonnay (the 2006 will be part of the Bin Ends Wine tasting): apple butter, lemon, pinepple, very tasty.

2004 Pinot Noir: Estate grown, cherry cola, cherries, raspberries, tannic, I bought two bottles to bring home with us.

2005 Syrah (part of the Bin Ends Tasting): chocolate, tannic, dark fruit, dark berries. I have a bottle from a club shipment. You can find my full tasting notes from the post I wrote on this wine here.

2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Deux Terres: minty, herbal, strawberry, tannic, needs some time, very nice though

2003 Cabernet (the 2004 will be part of the Bin Ends Wine tasting): sweet currants, cherry, very fruity, tasty. I have the 2004 from a club shipment.

2005 Deux Terres Cabernet Sauvignon: Barrel Sample. Dark chocolate, herbs, slight berry, licorice, dark fruit, tannic. I expect this one to be excellent on bottling.

So there you have it. I don't have any notes for the Merlot we will be tasting, though I did have the 2002 Merlot in 2007 and thought it was good. I hope you will all join us on September 18, 7pm est for the live Twitter tasting!

More details area available for the upcoming (September 18, 7pm est) live Twitter tasting hosted by Bin Ends Wine and co-hosted by moi!

The line up for the wines, all from Michel Schlumberger, is:

• Chardonnay "La Brume" 2006:
• Syrah 2005
• Merlot 2004
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Now, I have the Chardonnay and Cabernet in my basement already and I have an 05 Merlot...but I'll be picking up the correct Merlot and the Syrah from Bin Ends!

Bin Ends is selling all 4 bottles as a tasting pack, including shipping, for $110. That's a pretty sweet deal in my opinion as I believe that Cabernet alone usually retails for about $45!!

If you have yet to taste Michel Schlumberger's wines, now is the time to pick up the tasting pack, follow us on twitter, and get to taste live and ask questions live of the winemaker!! How cool is that?

All the details, and the link to the tasting pack are available here. I hope you will join us for the live tasting, last month was a blast!

I have some brief notes from my latest visit to Michel Schlumberger and I will try to find those today and give you a slight introduction to some of the wines we will be tasting!

And Bin Ends Wine is at it again! The next Bin Ends Wine live Twitter Tasting will be held on September 18th and, and as I mentioned on Wine Biz Radio, co-hosted by yours truly!

We will be featuring one of my favorite wineries, and one I write about frequently since their wines grace many of the shelves of my cellar, Michel Schlumberger!

If you missed out last time, you missed out on lots of fun and good wine, so head on over to Bin Ends and see the details on when the tasting pack will be available. Then, join us at 7pm EST to taste through what promises to be an excellent, featuring, as a teaser...at least the current Syrah and Chardonnay releases! Plus more to come as the list becomes finalized.

Last time we had over 20 people tasting live and sharing their thoughts, let's top it this time.

So, sign up for Twitter. Follow me, Bin Ends, and Michel Schlumbger, and get ready to taste!

I will share more details as they become available.

The wine for the evening was the 2007 Michel Schlumberger Pinot Blanc. The bottle came in a club shipment, but it retails for about $21. The wine had a real cork closure and clocked in at 12.8% alcohol by volume. Pizza and white wine probably represent one of my least elegant wine and food pairings, however, I wanted homemade pizza and I REALLY wanted to drink this wine, so there you go. I first became acquainted with Michel Schlumberger after reading about the winery on Fork and Bottle before our 2007 trip to CA. We stopped by to visit and immediately joined the club as we were so impressed with the quality of the wines. Since then, we have visited again, and I chose this wine as part of my Summer Sippers pack for Domaine547.

I easily recommended the 2007 vintage of this wine based on past experiences with it, but here is my review of the vintage included in my Domaine547 Blogger Pack. On the nose I found pear, lime, green apple, pineapple, and honeysuckle. The wine smelled crisp and I could almost taste the acidity before I even got it in my mouth. With the heat we've been having I was salivating over the wine before I even took the first sip. And I was not to be disappointed. My first note for the taste of this wine was "woah tart!" In the mouth I found pear, lemon, lime, tart apple, a vein of minerality, and honey. The wine was cool, refreshing, and perfect for the weather. This is an easy one for me to recommend, though I'd suggest not pairing it with pizza :)

Into the blogging pool that is. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to the newest winery blog, coming from one of my favorite Sonoma area wineries, Michel Schlumberger. They just started blogging 4 days ago, so they are new to the scene. A big congrats for taking the leap into the blogging world. You can check out their new blog, Benchland Blog, which I've also added to my winery blogroll.

To me, it's a great thing for wineries to blog. Personal communication, on a routine basis, allows me to feel like I'm a part of what is going on at that winery, even when I'm 3000 miles away. Reading about events, and what's happening to the grapes, and all the jazz makes me feel connected to the process and more vested in that winery's products. I'm happy to see more wineries joining the blogging community. (Especially a winery I really enjoy!)

Welcome Michel Schlumberger!

PS-If you are attending the Wine Bloggers' Conference this fall, Michel Schlumberger is one of the options on Zephyr Adventures' vineyard hikes. I'd suggest joining that one if you haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting Michel Schlumberger and tasting the wines. You can also pick up the 2007 Pinot Blanc as it's included in the bloggerpack I created for Domaine547!

PPS-Picture taken on my visit to Michel Schlumberger in April 2007. I returned for another taste of their wines this past March.

I gather from the wine label that Petanque is a game of sorts, perhaps slightly bocce like. The wine was a 2007 Michel Schlumberger Viognier. It came in my last club shipment, and since Michel Schlumberger keeps their wine club shipment to $50 no matter what wine is in there, I have no idea what this bottle would retail for. Otherwise, it had a real cork closure and clocked in at 13.4% alcohol by volume.

I've never had a Viognier from Michel Schlumberger before, but boy have I been missing out because this one was a fabulous example of all that can be right about this grape.

On the nose I found pear, honey, peach, honeysuckle, flowers, and lemon. The nose was delightful, very aromatic, making my think of walking by the honeysuckle that used to grow at the top of the road I grew up on.

The mouth was like biting into a fresh, sweet, juicy, just ready to eat pear. Have you had the pears from Harry and David? The flavors were reminiscent of those pears, which to me are the best pears I've ever eaten. I also found some melon, honey, and citrus.

The wine was crisp, but had a nice rounded finish. I don't think this juice saw any oak, which really let the flavors of the grape shine through. I could see how this would be a great wine to sip while playing an outdoor summer game, even if I don't know what that game is!

As I discovered last year, I love pairing Pinot Noir with salmon on the grill. I look forward to many such pairings as fresh salmon season starts up again this year. Sadly, on the night in question we were only eating a mish mosh of leftovers with our Pinot Noir. Oh well, nothing wrong with clean out the fridge night!

The wine was a 2004 Michel Schlumberger Pinot Noir. I purchased the wine for around $26 at the winery on our latest trip out West, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.3% alcohol by volume.

On the nose I found strawberry, cherry, leather, earth, spice, violets, clove, and pepper. The wine had a smoky note, but I would also describe it as very perfumed. In the mouth, I got flavors of tart cherries and strawberries, raspberry, cherry coke, and earth. Overall the fruit was quite fresh.

For $26, this was more than an excellent value, it was a great CA Pinot Noir. I have one more bottle in the basement that I look forward to opening, though I think I'll let it live down there for another year or so and see how it develops.

The wine of the evening was a 2005 Michel Schlumberger Syrah from Dry Creek Valley. It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14.9% alcohol by volume, and cost us $25 in a club shipment. It doesn't appear to be available on their website yet, so I have no idea what it would cost on its own.

On the nose I found berries, cherries, jam, vanilla, spices, earth, and pepper!! The nose was very very fruity. In the mouth, the flavors were of berries, cherries, black currants, and pepper. The wine was smooth and incredibly fruity, much more so than I expect from a Syrah.

Overall, the wine was slightly tannic on the back of the palate when we first started drinking but by the second glass, that was gone. The flavors really came out in the second glass, and the wine seems smooth and ready to drink. I wouldn't hang onto this one much longer if you have it in stock.

Now, Pinot Noir is not a varietal you see a lot of over here at Wannabe Wino. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it normally falls way outside the price range I like to spend on a bottle of wine. However, our club membership to Michel Schlumberger sends us two bottle of wine every other month for a fixed cost, no matter what's in the box. One month we got a bottle that retails for around $100! So with that in mind, club shipments are about the only way Pinot Noir lands on my doorstep.

The bottle was a 2005 Michel Schlumberger Dry Creek Valley Pinot Noir. It clocked in at 14.3% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and can be purchased from the winery for $32. My first bit of advice is to let this one breathe, it had a lot of alcohol on the nose and needed to air out. It took until after dinner for the wine to be ready to drink.

On the nose I found cedar, raspberry, roses, and cherry. After the alcohol dissipated, it was a very pretty nose. In the mouth I got flavors of cherry, raspberry, and flowers. I took a note that said the wine had a nice bite, a bit tangy on the palate. A good bottle of wine after it aired, and next time I'd pair it with some cedar planked salmon after letting it air for a while.

We got this bottle of 2006 Michel Schlumberger Pinot Blanc on our recent trip to the Sonoma area. It was a perfect wine for the night we drank it, the thermometer was hovering around 92 degrees, but thankfully the humidity had not yet descended upon us.

The wine had a real cork closure, cost $21, and was 12.5% alcohol by volume.

On the nose the wine displayed pineapple, limes, lemons and tangerines, a veritable fruit salad of scents. It actually reminded me of a tropical drink and I could picture myself sipping it poolside....if we had a pool. A very aromatic bottle of wine.

In the mouth, the wine was citrusy, showing lemons and grapefruit, very crisp and clean flavors. I noted the excellent acidity and structure of the wine and additionally the very clean and pleasant finish. I served the wine with parmesean encrusted baked tilapia, white corn and parmesean cous cous. It went perfectly with the fish.

I wish I had another bottle for the hot days that are approaching!

What could be better when your favorite food is cheese and your favorite drink is wine? Not much in my humble opinion. Especially when those cheese are local artisan cheeses and the wines are delicious and pair very well with the cheeses.

Prior to heading to CA, I found a link to Michel-Schlumberger on Fork and Bottle and decided to check it out. On poking around the website, I found that they offer tasting by appointment only and also have a special wine and cheese pairing by appointment. I was sold.

We were a few minutes earlier so we had a chance to wander around the beautiful courtyard of the winery and sit by the fountain as we waited for the other people to arrive. Our tasting mates turned out to be a very nice couple from North Carolina whom we ran into latter at Passalacqua.

Eventually we were moved to a large kitchen where our cheese plates and wine glasses were set at individual tasting stations around the kitchen island. The pairing event is $26 per person.

First up was the 2005 La Brume Chardonnay for $20 with an Aged Acapella cheese. The wine showed pear and lemon flavors with a slight hint of oak. It seemed slightly crisp, but drinking it with the cheese turned it into a nice light, creamy wine. Yum, this cheese was AMAZING!

Next was a 2002 Merlot, which cost $30 and our attendant said should age for 8-10 years. The wine was paired with Carmody Farmstead Cheese. The wine showed alochol, raspberries, spice and cherries. I could see that it needed time to age. Once I took a bite of the cheese however, the fruit came jumping out of the glass with gobs of black cherries and raspberries. Delicious wine with the cheese!

Third was a 2003 Pinot Noir for $32. It was paired with blue cheese. I described the wine before cheese as clean, with strawberries and quite earthy. After the cheese, I found mushrooms along with the other flavors. I loved this match.

Fourth was a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon for $38 that our attendant said to age for 10 or more years. It was paired with St. George cheese. The wine showed black currants and was very reserved, but after the cheese the wine opened up in the mouth.

Next we had a Late Harvest Semillon Dessert wine called "Silk Purse." It was floral with apple, pear and honey notes. We tried it with the leftover blue cheese and the flavors jumped out of the glass. This was Matt's favorite pairing.

Finally we tried a 2006 Pinot Blanc for $21. It is aged for 6 months in stainless steel. No cheese match for this one, but the attendant suggested buttery cheeses. The wine had a sweet aromatic nose, with lemon and pineapple. It was very light and would make a great summer sipper. We took a bottle home.

Overall, a great experience and it was really fun to taste in such a small group over an extended hour. I would certainly recommend this to anyone heading out that way.