Perhaps our favorite restaurant due to both its location, which is so close to our house, as well as the great food and wine selections is Terra Terroir, which is also well-known in this area for hosting cool wine events.  One of our annual favorites is the Pinot Ultimate when Fred Gunton, owner of A Nose for Wine wine tours, comes over from Oregon to share some top notch Pinots from that region.  This year’s event is being held on May 3rd pitting Oregon vs. California in this battle of the grape.  However, last week’s event brought in Rodney Strong Vineyardswho are touring the southeast with tenured winemaker, Rick Sayre, and renowned Sonoma Chefs Jeff Mall of Zin Restaurant & Wine Bar in Healdsburg and Josh Silvers of Syrah Bistro in Santa Rosa.  Part of this roadshow is to promote their new book, “Down Home: Downtown,” a collaborative effort between the winery and the two chefs.

On our recent vacation to Sonoma, we had the pleasure of dining at Zin Restaurant and enjoyed everything about it.  The atmosphere was very laid back, the service was excellent, and the food was simply phenomenal.  The book is focused strictly on all that defines Sonoma, building upon the longevity and success of the well-established Rodney Strong, which boasts being the 13th bonded winery in the county, as well as the friendship developed between two competitive area chefs whose styles differ, but with some similar components, much like the grapes of their business namsakes.  Jeff brings more Southern and Southwestern inspiration to Zin Restaurant while Josh applies a more elegant European influence to Syrah Bistro.  Both utilize the abundant local produce and meats whenever possible and in their 10 years of being in business, have become leaders in the wine and food scene in Sonoma.

Not to be outdone or overshadowed at this event, the winemaker, Rick Sayre, brings a barrel-full of history, success and great stories with him that shows he is very comfortable in a crowd and enjoys sharing his lifelong passion of winemaking with others.  Another understudy to André Tchelistcheff, along with Rob Davis of Jordan, Rick got his start at Simi Winery in 1970 and then joined Rodney Strong in 1979.  Since then he has practically mastered a Russian-English accent he uses when telling riveting stories about André back in the early years.  It seems André was fond of using elegant references of women when talking about wine.

On this night, my favorite dish on the menu comes as no surprise.  I love duck.  Practically anytime I see it on the menu, the choice is already made before the napkin hits my lap.  The downhome version by Jeff presented duck breast in a “pepper steak” style accompanied by grits and greens with apples and bacon.  I am certain the local folk here in Atlanta can easily relate with this southern approach.  But, equally as awesome was Josh’s pan-roasted version with polenta and blackberry gastrique.  I admit it, I had to look that word up, but it was the best accompaniment on the plate and helped the dish pair nicely with the 2006 Symmetry, a meritage that displayed eucalyptus, mint, spice and chocolate on the nose with blackberries and spice on the palate.  This was my favorite wine of the night.

The 2006 Rockaway Cabernet was being touted as the main event on the dining card, as well it should due to its single vineyard pedigree.  The Rockaway was much more about spice and power, and if I was sitting down with a medium-rare steak, I could really see this wine living up to its name.  Rockaway is a single vineyard site in the Alexander Valley, and this wine was given 94 points by the Wine Spectator and 89-91 by Robert Parker.  With its significant tannic structure, this wine will certainly round out at time goes on, but for me at least, I think its a little early for this wine yet and probably why the Symmetry was more appealing at this time.

Thanks to Rodney Strong and particularly Robert Larsen, PR Director, for a wonderful evening and for being such great hosts.  I also thank Jeff Mall and Josh Silver for the awesome cuisine and for signing my book.  I promised Josh that I will visit Syrah Bistro the next time I am in Santa Rosa.  I must also thank my Atlanta blogger brethren who attended as well for helping to keep this event a little loco, which is just the way we like it, as well as Gil Kulers, whom I got to meet for the first time.

Jimmy, Broderick and Joe keeping it real

Say that three times fast.  Quick review of the 2007 Marof Zeleni Silvanec as inspired by Dirty.  Pretty darn good for the price at only $7 at Sherlock’s here in Brookhaven.

Terra Terroir in Brookhaven is on of our favorite restaurants in the ATL… and not just because it is literally 1 mile from our house, but the owner has taken a very serious liking to Oregon Pinot Noir.  We noticed this right away 3 years ago when we moved here from the ‘burbs and the menu is just as fantastic.  Each of the last two years we have attended their “Pinot Ultimate” tasting where they invite heralded Oregon Pinot expert: Fred Gunton (of A Nose for Wine Tours)– a look alike to Rollie Fingers of San Diego Padres fame back in the 70′s with his curly/brisly mustache, but not much of a curve ball.  He is a straight shooter when it comes to his passion about the finicky fruit from the Northwest.  Here is our rundown of the wines presented:

Beaux Freres – 2007 The Upper Terrace - right off the bat (tired of the baseball?) our favorite.  We visited Beaux Freres and new what we were in for, but this comparison sealed the deal.  The color was very light ruby and we could read the menu right through it.  Nose had some earthiness, slight cinnamon but was tight at first and revealed itself after 15 minutes or so.   Finally the taste had a lot of black fruit, with some spice on the end and wonderful lingering finish

Lachini – 2006 Pinot Noir Cuvee Giselle -medium in hue, a little darker than the Beaux, but the nose had a lot of oak and a slight hint of alcohol.  The taste was of tart cherry, light spice, with huge mouthfeel…and a long finish

Ponzi – 2005 Pinot Noir Reserve -we had this with the crab cakes that had some spicy sauce with horseradish, but it paired well.  The nose was tight early one, but opened with some cherries eventually.  The taste was nice and tart with black fruit with a bang… a lot of fruit.

Quailhurst – 2006 Tiaraella Reserve Pinot Noir- this also was on the table paired with the crab cakes and got a lot of hot cinnamon candy on the nose that really popped after a taste of the cakes.  The spice though seemed to overbear any fruit that may have been there, but I still liked it!  I might compare this to the Cinnabon in the mall and some tart black fruit to taste with a decent mouthfeel.

Ribbon Ridge – 2006 Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir - this was probably our 2nd favorite as the nose lit up feelings of licorice, violet, cinnamon and spiced oatmeal cake.  Probably the most “complex” noses of the night.  Tasting revealed black fruit, big spice that really popped with the meat loaf it was paired with.

Terra Vina – 2006 La Famiglia Reserve Pinot Noir - I got some bitter chocolate on the nose, maybe a hint of licorice and lilac.  The taste was a bit plain for me with some tart, black cherries

If you haven’t figured it out we are big fans of Pinot and should probably change this site’s name to Pinot Tonite!  But, seriously, if you haven’t gotten out of your California coma, you really need to work your way north to try some of the best fruit in the land.

Friends and Neighbors in Hotlanta (or those visiting): just want to drop a note with the list of tastings in February and March down at our friendly neighborhood Sherlock’s Brookhaven. Maggie, the resident taste pourer and previous “Deltoid” (30 year veteran of Delta attendant service) is magnificent and charming. So please stop by, say “hi” and have some free wine:

Feb 7 – South of the Border
Feb 14 – Wines for Romance
Feb 21 – Fireside Reds
Feb 28 – Staff Favorites
Mar 7 – Spanish Holiday
Mar 14 – Under the Radar Wines
Mar 21 – Brown Bag Blind
Mar 28 – Viva La France

Last week, Maggie turned us on to a nice Malbec from Argentina: 2007 Doña Paula, which she let us taste along with the 2007 Altos Las Hormigas, in addition to the normal tasting lineup.  The Altos Las Hormigas ($8-10) was recently touted as Very Good/Delicious by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher of WSJ fame in a recent Malbec-focused article.  However, my wife and I preferred the Doña Paula ($15) after tasting both side-by-side and took a bottle home for the evening.

Every Saturday afternoon, the Sherlock’s down the street (literally, within walking distance of our house – not a bad deal, huh?) hosts a wine tasting of about 3-4 wines, normally from a specific region or style.  This past weekend they focused on wines from Spain.  They offered the 2006 Martin Codax Albarino, 2005 Bodega Maurodos Prima Toro, 2006 Martin Codax Rioja, and 2003 los 800 Priorat.

Our favorite was the Prima Toro and is made mostly from the Tempranillo varietal, yet is named for the town in northern Spain from where it was made.  The wine lady was telling us that the tannins would get bigger and more prounounced as we went down the list, which was also in order from West to East across northern Spain.  However, I believed the Prima Toro was more tannic than the Rioja.  Of course, my wife disagreed, though we liked both wines.  Unfortunately, the Toro was the most expensive on the list at $18.99, which was most likely due to the recent 90 point rating it received from Wine Spectator.  However, on the web I have seen it discounted as low as $15. 

Color:  Dark and inky

Nose: Immediately attacked by cedar, but in a good way.  There was a graphite rock note from my perspective, though Sherlock’s tasting notes called this “pencil lead”.  Either way, the aromatics were very appealing and not overbearing at all.  It really set my expectations and drew me in for the taste

Taste:  Definitely got some plummyness in there, which was refreshing to get and some blackberries/currant as well.  The tannins completely filled the mouth and finished strong and long with black pepper at the end

I’d recommend any of these wines, but the Prima Toro (~ “Premium Bull”) just edged the others on this day.

Salud!