My wife is somewhat at the mercy of her mad scientist cook husband, as was evident last Tuesday night.  Bringing home most of the ingredients for this meal from my favorite grocery store on earth – Dorothy Lane Market – I was bent on preparing rockfish on the grill, marinating it in the Naked® Mango Orange fruit juice, along with slow-cooked white beans with cilantro, and roasted eggplant and peppers.

I don’t profess to be some undiscovered world-renowned chef in the making or anything like that, but I am not too daft around the pots and pans (just a bit messy).  I spent a lot of time in restaurants, though mostly in the front of the house, so I would hope that at least a few things rubbed off on me (insert various self-gratification euphemisms in here at your leisure).

Anyway, I had three wines to get to (review-wise), though only one was appropriate for dinner, so I thought, let’s kill two birds with one stone (or three bottles I guess):

Schlossgut Diel Riesling QbA Dorsheim 2006.  Grade=Amazing.  Gorgeous, light-to-medium-bodied Riesling, loaded with mineral/petrol notes, gushing with white peach, apricot and golden cherries.  Shows off hints of mint, green apple skin, allspice and shaved ginger.

Cameron Hughes Malbec Mendoza Lot #258 2010.  Grade=Very Good.  Lots of juicy, ripe blue fruits, touches of mesquite, cigar box, cocoa and chicory.  Finishes smoothly.

Vina Robles Red⁴ Huerhuero Paso Robles 2008.  Grade=Outstanding.  A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Mourvedre, this dark, smoky red Rhone blend displays remarkable tannin structure, chewy notes of red currants, wild cherries, blueberries, red pepper flakes, saffron, rhubarb and sassafrass.  Only slight spicy, it finishes with robust yet creamy red fruits.

Driving up to visit my mom for Mother’s Day was a bit surreal.  Driving up the cocaine highway (I-75) from my house in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, to my mom’s house in Kettering, Ohio is a short trip – about an hour if traffic doesn’t suck, and despite the rain, it really didn’t suck.  Taking in the sites, like the Solid Rock Church up in Monroe (home to the late Big Butter Jesus, which burned down due to a lightning strike – by God I am most certain) and the Hustler superstore, it sometimes weirds me out to think I used to live in Dayton.  I always chuckle when I hear Bad Company’s “Sweet L’il Sister” with the line, “Dayton, Ohio ain’t got nothin’ on this.”  Or whenever I see the Patrick Swayze movie, ROAD HOUSE, when Sam Elliott reminds Pat about the club they used to work in Dayton… the birthplace of flight and funk (Wright Bros., Roger and Zapp)… it always feels like I am travelling back in time when I go home.

I always summize that the neighborhoods around my mom’s house are so much cleaner than where I am, which is funny because I live in a pretty nice area.  And despite the grey skies and pissing rain, I still felt welcomed with open arms, back to the Gem City.

After a nice visit with Mom, I stopped by my favorite grocery store, Dorothy Lane Market, and weirdly enough, found myself buying wine, which given my profession, is something I don’t necessarily need to do anymore (except for the really nice stuff).  Hitting their fish department, I gathered up fixings for a nice meal for the wife and I, with a bottle of Schlossgut Diel Riesling QbA Dorsheim 2006 to go along with it.  My mom works there (obviously she was off for Mom’s Day), which I love, because I know how much DLM’s staff means to the family who owns it.  A lot of people there have been there for decades.  It, like Dayton in general, is a warm place called home.

Wine Reviewed: 33.

Wine of the Week: MARQUES DE GELIDA PINOT NOIR ROSE CAVA 2008.

Good news in the wine biz: Rudy Kurniawan gets his just desserts.

Bad news in the wine biz:  Annette Alvarez-Peters is still ruminating over the taste of her shoes.

Disturbing news in the wine biz: Just a quick disclaimer:  I am in no way knocking this guy!  I noticed a press release for David Sandri, announcing his attainment of his Certified Wine Specialist certificate from the Society of Wine Educators.  It isn’t an easy thing, believe me, I know (I passed mine – barely – in 2009).  But I didn’t take out a press release for my CSW.  I know many people who got theirs, and I don’t remember seeing their press releases either.  Again, not knocking the guy, but just not comprehending a press release for something so rudimentary.

On the homefront: Wife has sustained 2 more concussions, falling once out of bed and once trying to clean up after creamer fell out of the fridge and hit the kitchen floor.  If my wife was an NFL quarterback, she would have had to retire twice already.  (Thank God she isn’t, right Gregg Williams?)

What is on my playlist?: Iron and Wine, Iron Maiden, Iron Butterfly… I feel iron deficient. (Groan.)

What wine(s) is (are) impressing me right now at the store?: Honig Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley 2011.

Recommended reads, blog or otherwise:  I picked up Walt Whitman’s LEAVES OF GRASS the other night; I have it on my night stand with St. Augustine’s CITY OF GOD and Kerouac’s SOME OF THE DHARMA.

What’s on tap for this week?: More homework, those Cameron Hughes wines I didn’t get to last week, some primers on Spain, and more pandemonium in the Studio.  Oh, and this week we nickname the new rep, Diane from Martin & Company.

Sunday was Mother’s Day.  (File this post under the NO SHIT category.)  I wanted to share a bit of my relationship with my mom, because most of the time, my mom doesn’t think she’s worth much.  In retrospect, my mom got a bit of a raw deal out of life.  I am not saying that she’s had it harder than anyone else; we’ve all had problems in our lives at one point or another.

Yet my mom didn’t have the answers she feels she should have had when it came to her education, her marriage, her employment, her kids, her life.  Barbara Jean Keith – my mom – was born February 17^th, 1942.  At 70 years old, she has been married twice and still works 30+ hours a week, currently at Dorothy Lane Market in Centerville, Ohio.  Her first husband, my dad, passed away April 29^th, 1987, at the age of 46, from cardiac arrest due to a diabetic coma.  They were just months away from moving to Dothan, Alabama, where my father was one of only a handful of over 400+ employees of Globe Motors who was asked to relocate.  They were actually quite excited to move and start a new life.  My sister was finishing her senior year of high school before they moved, and I had just left for the U.S. Navy.  Unfortunately, Dad died, and our lives changed forever.

My mom’s second husband, a schmuck named Daryl, who had everyone fooled into believing he had my mother’s happiness first in his heart and mind, dumped her in Las Vegas and left her forever set against having another man in her life.

Throughout our family life, my mother, sister and I grew up watching my father suffer from his illness, and none of us knew how to deal with it.  My mother was struggling with her own personal demons, such as severe low-self-esteem and clinical depression, and a lot of the decisions she made when it concerned her kids weren’t always the right ones.  My sister and I have grown to contend with those decisions later in life in much different fashions, yet my mother, an enormously caring and giving person, still fends off the “darkness” each and every day, like millions of people around the world.

My mom is an amazing woman, and whether she realizes it or not, is in some ways responsible for where I am in my life now, with regards to my writing and my career in wine.  It started beneath a gnarled, ancient-looking “tree” that bore the biggest, juiciest grapes I have ever seen, ingredients for the world’s greatest grape jelly and hours and days of summer daydreaming, beneath that grape “tree.”

In my youth, my mom had a lot to contend with regarding her kids.  With me, I was a basket case, dealing with what I could only refer to now as a raging, directionless libido and duplicate inferiority complex.  I spent most of my junior high and high school years trying to find a girlfriend using all the seduction tactics you could find on “As The World Turns” and “The Guiding Light” – soap operas that were on TV while Mom got ready for work.  It’s no wonder I was overtly melodramatic with the opposite sex all the time (my most profuse apologies to all the girls I crushed on, dated, or however else pursued during those years, particularly my first serious girlfriend – you know who you are).

Even after moving away, I tried hard to keep close to my mom.  I still remember working at this blues and jazz club in Myrtle Beach (Night Moods RIP), and Mom calling me in tears from Las Vegas at around 1 a.m. my time, telling me that Daryl left her.  I couldn’t go to the airport and fly to Vegas to bring her home; I was broke and going through my own divorce.  All I could do was listen to her, and try to tell her things would be okay.

Despite all she was going through, she managed to drive down to Myrtle Beach with my sister and rescue me from my own dark melancholy, and bring me back to Ohio, where I inevitably put my life back together, found my current wife of 12 years, Jenifer, and realized the career I had wanted ever since those days beneath that grape tree.  Without my mother, I wouldn’t have the work ethic, the tenacity, the wherewithal to get through the day.

She has become something of a mother figure to her more youthful co-workers at DLM, and she has touched a lot of lives over the years.  She has made the best out of some bad situations.  She is much stronger than she realizes.  And that many people love and care about her, as I do.  She’s not a politician, a doctor, an actress or a business magnate.  She is just a simple lady, a hard-working woman who has made her own way, takes care of herself, loves animals, her neighbors, her friends, family and her kids.  She is strong, honest, and generous to the core.

But most importantly, she’s my mom.

Cheers to mothers around the world!  Without you, we’d be nothing.

Brother Lou rounded out the Thursday sessions in the studio with three sparklers:

Louis Bouillot Rosé Brut Cremant du Bourgogne Perle d’Aurore NV.  Grade=Outstanding.  Stunning sparkling wine made from Pinot Noir and Gamay.  Creamy strawberry and cherry mousse, with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and slight mineral undertones.

Berlucchi Cuvee 61 Brut Rosé Metodo Classico NV.  Grade=Outstanding+.  Essentially, this stunning, de-classified Franciocorta sparkling from Italy is 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, displaying gorgeous strawberry and wild raspberry notes, creamy vanilla mousse and hints of red apple skins.

Berlucchi Cuvee 61 Brut Metodo Classico NV.  Grade=Outstanding.  75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir, this delicious sparkling wine from one of the pioneers of Franciocorta is light, floral and full of vibrant stone fruit, vanilla mousse and brioche.

My Favorite Martin dropped in on the Whino’s studio with his newest recruit, Diane Knueven, with some new Italian wines:

Ilauri Pinot Grigio delle Venezie “Tavo” 2011.  Grade=Very Good.  Nice bit of stone fruit tempering solid minerality.  Clean, refreshing, not a bad wine given my predisposition to disliking PG.

Talamonti Trebi Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2011.  Grade=Very Good.  Apples and peaches with a bit of dusty mineral and ginger shavings.  Light-bodied, clean and refreshing.

Talamonti Rosé Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo 2011.  Grade=Very Good.  100% Montepulciano, this tasty rosé shines with wild raspberry and pomegranate notes, finishing with cherries, mineral and dried herbs.

Talamonti Moda Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2010.  Grade=Very Good.  Juicy, fruit-driven red with black cherries, light spices, and toasted oak.

DJ Jazzy Jeff dropped in Thursday with a brand new line of Chilean wines from our good friends at Palm Bay Imports:

Epica Chardonnay Valle Central 2011.  Grade=Good.  A soft, fruity, light-bodied white wine with hints of tropical fruits

Epica Sauvignon Blanc Valle Central 2011.  Grade=Very Good.  Bright, crisp, tart green apple skin, lime zest, guava, quince and grapefruit with loads of sharp minerality.  Finishes clean and refreshing.

Epica Cabernet Sauvignon Valle Central 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Jammy, juicy red with smooth, medium tannins, red and black currant fruit, spices and a round, supple finish.

Epica Red Valle Central 2010.  Grade=Very Good.  Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah combine to give you a solid, fruit-driven red wine, with soft tannins and approachable red and blue fruit flavors.

Part Two of Dr. Gonzo’s floor show with special guest jefe H.G. Money took us to Germany, where H.G. showed off a duo of Rheingau Rieslings:

Schloss Vollrads Riesling QbA Rheingau 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Semi-dry white with lots of beautiful minerality, notes of apricots, peaches and mint nuances.

Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett Rheingau 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Honeyed apricots and white peaches blend with fresh mint, mineral and golden cherries.  Undertones of yellow plums, lime zest and passion fruit make things very interesting.

Thursday’s wine saturation continued as Dr. Gonzo, along with his jefe, HG Money, dropped in for a bit of international flare, with Gonzo up first, swaying back-and-forth between Sonoma’s B.R. Cohn and Chile’s Veramonte:

Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Casablanca Valley La Gloria 2010.  Grade=Very Good.  Bright, crisp lime and lemon notes, hints of white grapefruit, quince, guava and lemongrass.

Veramonte Chardonnay Casablanca Valley 2008.  Grade=Good.  I really thought this was going to suck being 3 years old.  Not the case, as it still gave up yellow apples, nectarines and banana cream.  Not bad really, given its age.

B.R. Cohn Chardonnay North Coast “Silver Label” 2010.  Grade=Very Good.  Clean, tropical fruit aromas and flavors show off this lighter-style of California Chardonnay.

Veramonte Pinot Noir Casablanca Valley 2009.  Grade=Very Good.  Fruit-driven with bright red and black cherry notes, hints of red plum, pomegranate, cinnamon, toasted walnuts and black truffle shavings.  Great value.

Veramonte Merlot Casablanca Valley 2009.  Grade=Very Good.  Juicy blue and red fruits, mint, cedar, sage and light cocoa.  Medium-bodied.

Veramonte Cabernet Sauvignon Casablanca Valley 2008.  Grade=Good.  Green vegetal notes, muddied with hints of blackberry jam, toasty cedar, red bell pepper, and a touch of carmelized onions.  A bit on the weird side.

B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon North Coast “Silver Label” 2009.  Grade=Outstanding.  Medium-to-full-bodied, fruit-forward Cab with black and red fruits, spices, cedar, and chocolate.  Tannins are firm and the finish is smooth.

B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Valley “Olive Hill” 2008.  Grade=Outstanding.  Dense, full-bodied Cab accentuated by bold tannins, chocolatey blue fruit, black currants, spices, coffee, tar, mint and hickory smoke.  Finishes up with vanilla oak.

Mistress Lauren, back from her trip to Spain (accompanied by Princess Shannon), was excited to tell me about the machinations of the enigma that is Jorge Ordonez.  With a reputation as a bit of a micromanager/taskmaster, it was cool to hear her set the record straight with regards to all the recent changes within his portfolio.

Jorge is demanding, true enough.  But he is a visionary who wants only the best performance, the best product coming to the U.S., and those who have chosen the path of wretched excess (forsaking quality to quantity) have been jettisoned from Jorge’s machine.  New brands are on the horizon, and retooled versions of several popular brands are also on the way, like the transformation of Jorge’s Rueda project (formerly Shaya, soon to be known as Nisia) or his new Montsant project called Zerran.

Likewise, on the New Products front, our good friends at Vine Connections – an importer of wines from Argentina and sakés from Japan – has some new producers in their stable as well, bringing some of the great Salta producers to our shores:

Coquena Torrontes Salta 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Really intense, with hints of white pepper, dragon fruit, chayote and mineral, following with lime zest, brine and apricot skin.  An extreme Torrontes.

Finca Les Nubes Torrontes Salta 2011.  Grade=Outstanding+.  Softer, fruitier than the Coquena, with subtle orange blossom, apricot and honeyed peach.  Well-balanced acidity shines through the finish.

Bodegas Molina Hermanos Malbec/Tannat Salta 2010.  Grade=Outstanding+.  Bold, medium-to-full-bodied red with loads of black fruits, dark spices, peat, tobacco and smoky plum.

Bodegas Molina Hermanos Cabernet/Malbec Salta 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Bright red fruits prop up this medium-bodied red, with resonating notes of wild cherries, plums, mocha, red pepper and dusty spices.

Coquena Malbec Salta 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  Lauren commented that many sommeliers say this is what Malbec used to taste like, before its Parkerization.  It definitely has an affinity for the old world with its rustic display of black and blue fruits, cedar smoke, tobacco leaf, yet there is an unique savory character of umami and nori.  This would be an out-of-the-box pairing with eel or bluefin tuna sushi.

Then Lauren broke out a trio of Ordonez wines, a remarkable sparkling wine from Penedes, an incredible Toro red and an old vine Garnacha I hadn’t had in nearly 10 years:

Marques de Gelida Pinot Noir Rosé Penedes 2008.  Grade=Outstanding+.  All Pinot Noir, this gorgeous, creamy cava gives you cherry cream mousse, cinnamon, clove and wild strawberries.  Fleshy, yet its bright effervescence adds balance.

Teso La Monja Almirez Toro 2007.  Grade=Outstanding+.  Dark, smoldering full-bodied red, showcasing blackberries, black currants, spices, cocoa, espresso and smoky oak.  Smoothed out tannins accentuate a creamy, dreamy dark-fruited monster that still has great presence from start-to-finish.

Bodegas Nekeas El Chaparral Old Vines Garnacha Navarra DO 2009.  Grade=Outstanding.  I hadn’t had this wine in almost a decade, and was knocked out by its power and complexity.  For the money, this is an artfully-crafted red, approaching the Syrah-like character of the Northern Rhone in contrast to its (Rhone) counterpart to the South.  Different from other Spanish Garnachas, this sexy beast is a real value.

I haven’t posted anything in a few days.  Trying to sort a lot of stuff out in my head.  With regards to UTGT, I am trying to figure out what I need to do to make things more interesting.  I mean, let’s face it, I am one mouse of a voice in a sea of rodents and insects, that being the thousands of other wine bloggers out there in cyberspace.  To stand out, it is not enough to be loud, obnoxious, or just stand around naked with a clown nose and worn-out Chuck Taylor’s on – you gotta come original, as the 311 song goes.

So for now, I may or may not inject a bit more prose into the mix, depending on my mood and/or time limitations.  Like here, earlier in the week, the Wonder Twins of Vanguard Wine – Zan (aka Michael Schiaparelli) and Jayna (aka Audrey Wood) – dropped in with some great Italian wines, idyllic for summertime drinking.

Fattori Runcaris Soave Classico 2010.  Grade=Outstanding.  100% Garganega, this light, clean white wine highlights bright white peaches, mineral and lemongrass.  Finishes up with polished acidity.

D’Orsaria Pinot Grigio Friuli 2010.  Grade=Good.  Better-than-average PG, with light hints of lime, green apple skin, cucumber and chayote.  Finishes simple but decent.

Ca’Rossa Birbet Piedmonte 2011.  Grade=Outstanding.  100% Brachetto, this takes on more red-than-pink in the glass, with slight effervescence, and touches of sweet raspberry, rose petal, vanilla cream, and wild strawberry.  Finishes with a crispness that lends balance and gives it an airy presence on the palate.