Weber Q Barbeque

Ya' know, I had a Weber grill, the big tub kind that takes charcoal, for 25 years. Everything but the tub wore out. The handles, grates, little leaf thingies inside to scrape the ashes out, the hubs, wheels, and handles. It had a good life. A long and joyful life. A life that saw everything from the 1982 Hilltop Hot Tub and Champagne extravaganza, to the Beef Rib Bonanza in '83. I've cooked a lot of ribs, steaks and who knows what else on that baby. But when my next door neighbor had a dumpster brought in to clean his garage into, well the black beauty had finally seen the end.

I had a terrible time after that, trying to decide weather to buy a new tubby, or go gas this time. Mind you, I'm single. I come home from work with only about three hours in which to clean, feed the cat, clean the cat box, make dinner, drink wine, pass out, etc. So I have found the usefulness of the whole charcoal scene a bit difficult recently. It takes too long to heat, too long to clean, and is much too big for my one little steak. Now mind you, if making Baby Back ribs that take three hours to finish on the grill is your thing, (I decided it's easier to buy them already made) or a turkey at Thanksgiving, well there is nothing like a Weber to do it. (No that oil turkey thing is for professionals or morons. Trust me!)

So down to my local Orchard Supply Hardware to look at the offerings. Three times. So many choices. I don't have space for the big stainless jobs so that helped a bit, but the whole gas/charcoal thing was driving me a bit bonkers, if you know what I mean.

Finally, on what would become my final voyage, er... visit, the store manager stopped by and asked if he could help. (Apparently the salespeople were tired of me.) He asked how often I liked to Barbeque, what kind of room I have, how much time, etc. He said without hesitation, "Get the Weber Q!" Heats fast, easy to clean, hot iron grill surface for those oh-so-nice grill marks, and cools down and stores away in a few minutes due to the use of aluminum for the container.

Sold!

I just bought my second tank full of propane for $12.75 after more than 6 months of almost continuous use. Well, at least three times a week. It's fast, easy, hot (!), makes incredible salmon, and I don't have to worry about forest fires or the deck catching either. Don't bother with the little tanks. There are three 14 ounce tanks for the same price of five gallons in the big tank. You do the numbers.

I even went back to the store and thanked the manager.

My only regret is finding the new models on the Weber website for this article and seeing all the features that I thought were missing, now included. (Anyone want a used one?)

Also note that they have (knowledgeable) support people available 24 hours a day. Yes you read right. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All year. An 800 number too! (1-800-446-1071) And get this, they speak English. Well. I even think the support center is in this country!

Yes the Weber Q is pricier than the Long's Drugs charcoal portable grill with folding legs and charcoal included. But like all Weber grills these babies are American born and raised. They last. They have parts. They have people. They have the best grills made. And when I move to a bigger place, I'm getting a brand new Performer to make ribs on. Someday. When I retire. Soon I hope. Maybe. We all gotta' have dreams, right?

I've gotta' go fill my glass....

Weber and Weber Q are registered trademarks of the Weber-Stephen Products Co. Palatine, IL - The conversation with the store manager was a reenactment and may not accurately represent the facts. It was a long time ago...

Screw Kappa Napa Zinfandel 2003

It being Saturday, what to me is "shopping day", I headed on out to Safeway for the usual weekly groceries. I noticed while looking at the Zinfandel section, that the "Three Loose Screws" as Don Sebastiani apparently likes to call his company for SKN wine, makes a Zin. So I asked myself, "self, why not make it a Screw Kappa Napa trifecta?" And here I am! So I've tried the Cab, the Chardonnay, and now, to the Zinfandel.

Ah the familiar bottle is present. Including the screw cap top which is near and dear to heart... Mostly because it is so easy to open. Cork screws? Bah!

According to the winemaker, Richard Bruno, (handsome young man, eh?) the wine is "Medium cranberry color with smoky, black pepper spice and rich French oak notes. The palate is very ripe with robust cherry and blackberry flavors. From old vines, the finish is spicy and layered with cranberry and supple white pepper and huckleberry." Let's see, shall we?

(sniff sniff slurp) This is a classic Napa Zin. Cranberry, blackberry nose, tart and young as a baby's bum. Nice, but young and in need of some food to go with and take the edge off. If you have the time and space I'd say throw this down in the cellar and wait about two years to try this again.

I've had better drinking in a young zin. In the price range I'd look for a Lodi or Paso Robles wine, which due to the heat in the areas, the fruit frequently becomes fuller and rounder, and often makes for a more dense juice. Given time however to round out the tannins in this SKN, I'd say that all the classic Napa qualities that... well make wine from Napa unique, are present in this 2003 Zinfandel.

I'll be giving it a try with Sirloin burgers and beans tonight. Should go quite nicely, I'll bet.

If you are looking for something a bit more upscale in a Zinfandel from the Napa area, try the Brown Estate or D-Cubed Cellars' zins. These are some of the best examples of area Zinfandel and are worth the experience to be able to at least make comparisons.

While both can frequently be found at better wine stores, they are also available direct. I've got mine. Do you?

I'd tell you my favorite Zin maker, but he didn't even have enough wine for me in his recent offering. So he shall remain nameless. (His initials are M.O.) And his wine no longer needs the fame and fortune when written about in this column. Bah humbug...

Screw Kappa Napa Chardonnay 2004

After the pleasant experience with the SKN Cabernet and seeing a review in the Chronicle's web site, SFGate.COM, I thought I'd give the SKN Chardonnay a shot. Safeway carries this at about $10, a discount from the MSRP of $14.95.

I'm not a big Chard fan in general, but I've already said that if the need arises, I go with the flow. And last night's supper of linguine with prawns in a wine and butter sauce, dictated that I open a bottle of some sort of white wine. I can't add red wine to that sauce, now can I?

So out came the SKN. Several things about this wine struck me immediately. Almost no oak, and nice smells. The winemaker's note says "light toast of vanilla from French oak". He must have used primarily old barrels (which is cheaper since they have been used once before). Fruity and full without the big butter one finds in Chardonnay that is housed in vats with big chunks of burnt oak. I'd even go so far as to guess that with 20,500 cases made, (that's about a quarter million bottles!) it probably was made in steel vats with oak chunks also. Just less of them for better balance.

It did have a fairly acidic feel to the palate and at a ph of 3.62 this was in the mid acid range. The acidity was mitigated by the butter in the sauce so for me it was not a problem. It just stood out. Fatty foods pair well with acidic wines.

SFGate.com gave this wine 2 stars, and on their scale I would have to agree. As inexpensive Chardonnay goes, this was fine to drink and fine to incorporate in the sauce.

Archeo Nero d'Avola 2003

The Nero d'Avola is Sicily's "most popular red grape" according to the Best of Sicily Magazine, and I for one am happy they grow so much of this stuff. Without its ease of growing and the Italian experience in making wine out of this grape, it would not be so easy to find such inexpensive, no cheap, good red wine as the Archeo version of this wine from 2003. Available from Trader Joes currently at the ridiculous price of just $3.99, this is one of the most drinkable wines in the price range ($2 - $10) I have ever tasted.

Now let's not all run down to Trader Joes for sixteen cases right now. Ok? I haven't been back to buy mine. And the problem at TJ's is that after tasting some really good value, by the time I can get back there, you bums have ransacked the place and all that's left is a few empty boxes. Not this time! I'm going to get some of this for myself.

Even on the second day of an open bottle, this wine says, "Value". And yes, that's a capital "V".

And for all you $2 buck chuck aficionados, if you could find your way to spending... I don't know, $4, you might actually get something usefull for drinking instead of paint removal.

This wine is smooth and rich, with a toasty nose of jammy berries, similar to a nice Sonoma Zinfandel. I'll bet this is just dandy with everything from veal parmesan to baby back ribs.

But don't take my word for it. Get on down to TJ's for some of your own. Just wait for me to get my case first. Ok?

Thanks. Now get outa' here!

Since I couldn't find a picture of this wine label, here is a webcam capture from this evening. Sorry.... Oh be quiet!

Alban Vineyards Lorraine Estate Syrah 2000

After a week of drinking the usual juice I have become accustomed to drinking, it becomes necessary to cleanse the palate, drop into the cellar and find something that may once again give me hope that the world is not all oak, acid, and some kind of generic fruit, combined into a drinkable liquid suitable for the masses, that does nothing more than cause people to say, "I don't drink wine. It gives me headaches." You know what I'm talking about. Don't you? All that $5 stuff is fine after a hard days work, when you find it is all but mandatory that you drink something to forget your boss, coworkers, the ass**les on the freeway, and your life in general.

Last night was that night. Friday night. End of the week. Time to relax, cook some food, and settle into a fine bottle of wine. A bottle of Alban Vineyards Lorraine Edna Valley Syrah. A jewel of a bottle of wine masterfully created by Joh Alban, owner, winemaker, magician. A man who can creat with grapes, a place in the mind and on the tongue that Christians call Heaven, and Moslems call Paradise.

A wine and year for Alban that Wine Spectator says, "Even with all the excitement generated by the 2000s, it was a mind-blowing year for Alban, as this champion of Rhône-style wines, red and white, really put it all together. Alban's 2000 Syrahs -- Lorraine (94, $56), Reva (94, $44) and Seymour's Vineyard (96, $85) -- and his 2000 Grenache (94, $44) are unlike any wines I've tasted in 30 years of drinking California wines. I call them espresso-style because of their dense textures, range of coffee, spice, leather, meat and berry flavors, and plush, rich, mouthcoating finishes."

"...unlike any wines I've tasted in 30 years of drinking California wines." Got it? If not, too bad. This wine was marvelous. Lush, smooth, flavorful, spicy, with a finish that lasted until morning. If you have some, it is time to drink it. Now. I wish I had more. I wish I had more. I wish I ... You get the point.

Alban, Ojai, Copain, Pax, and others are the newest generation of wineries making what is the best of the best in Syrah from California today.
And guess what. It will cost. An arm, or leg, or in the case of Pax, maybe both. You don't really need two of each do you?

I'm in heaven. I wish I had more.....

Penfolds BIN 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2000

MMMMMMMM Boy! Now this is a nice wine. I've had a number of Penfolds wines, (don't forget to invite me to the Grange tasting) and for the most part they are affordable an have value that is hard to find in a California wine. Particularly at the low end of the spectrum, which is what most of us buy. (Well you, really.) This wine sells currently (2002) at Bevmo for $24.95, and garnered an 89 points from Wine Spectator. Bev mo describes it as: "Bright and juicy, the '02 Penfolds Bin 389 is a claret-style blend of Cabernet and Shiraz that lets its blackberry and currant flavors glow on a supple core, velvety finish." I would have to agree!

Penfolds' website says: "Created by the legendary Max Schubert - creator of Penfolds Grange - Bin 389 is often referred to as 'poor man's Grange' ('baby Grange' in the U.S.) because components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous year's Grange.

First made in 1960, this was the wine that built Penfolds' solid reputation with red wine drinkers. Combining the structure of Cabernet with the richness of Shiraz, Bin 389 also exemplifies Penfolds' skill in balancing fruit and oak. A classic Australian style with a clear Penfolds identity."

If this is an shadow of Grange, well, I'm a shadow of ... I'll let you know.

This wine is full bodied, semi-dry, smokey oak flavors, and tastes like what it is. 52% Cabernet and 48% Syrah. A wonderful wine. If you're not used to spending $25 on a wine, this is one to go out on a limb for. See what they're drinking Down Under.

Primavera Beira Litoral Red 2002

From the Beira region of Portugal, comes this nice, little, rustic red wine. The link above takes you to the Bevmo site which may or may not have the wine any longer, (and the site showed the '01 when the '02 was what was available) at a remarkably good price of just $6.99. It's impossible to tell what is in the wine since, like France, Portugal apparently uses regional designations rather than grape varietal on the label. Their website does nothing to clear up the mystery, as it would appear to be just a home page with the pointless wording "Recomended Internet Explorer 4 or better" (sic) in both English and what I suppose is Portuguese. (Looks like Spanish, tastes like...)

The flavor would appear to be similar to Grenache with Syrah overtones. A nice full bodied, semi-dry red at an affordable price. While we do not see many wines from Portugal, they have been making wine there for centuries. (Millennia?)

The label seems to be made from a paper thin piece of cork. Unique. They must have more cork trees than paper making trees. Not that the extra cork adds to the price or flaver.

Screw Kappa Napa Cabernet 2002

27,700 cases! This is not a limited production wine! Produced by Don Sebastiani & Sons, makers of mass market wines like Smoking Loon, and Pepperwood Grove, Don Sebastiani is the from The Sebastiani Family, but out on his own since 2001. The releasing division is called "3 Loose Screws". (What money and time can only produce...) And the website is worth a visit to see what money can buy!

The SKN (Screw Kappa Napa) Cabernet 2002, ($9.98 sale priced at Safeway) is one of the few wines currently in release that eschews the cork for a screw cap. (But you knew that, right?) The best I can say is that the website has all the accessories. Flash, PDFs, PodCasts, and humor. And since the fruit is from the Napa Valley, it must be good. Right. At $10 what we have is the juice of fruit the big boys won't use. In fact the company came into being with the grape glut of 2000. Extra fruit, weak in constitution, cast off by others hoping to produce some decent high priced wine. This was the year 2000. Surprisingly some of those high end 2000 Cabernet wines did turn out very nice. It took five years to come around, but some did. But we won't go down that road. If I was writing about $100 wine, you most likely wouldn't care.

So how is it? Cheap. No wait. Let me figure out how to open this crazy cap.... Nothing like learning on Ripple.

While the bottle just came out of the wine cooler, it still provides some strong cab notes of cherry, cranberry and light oak. The smell is definate Napa Valley. The website says, St. Helena AVA, and I believe it. The terroir appears closely related to the area near the Whitehall Lane property. (If you get a chance it's worth the price of admission to taste the WL juice.) And if you have the pockets, buy some and set it aside for a few years. Let me know if you find a 1995 Reserve cheap. The quintessential Napa Cabernet!

But enough reminiscing. As the SKN warms in the glass the American oak becomes more noticable and provides that nice counterpoint to The Valley fruit. This is a good value. I have got to get me some more!

Super Bowl Sunday. Gotta Go! Have a great week, and stay outa' my cellar!

Reds Lodi Red Wine 2003

Reds is a Laurel Glen Winery product that has apparently been around since 1993. This wine is a good example of what can be done by blending good grapes in the right proportion to provide both taste and aroma with out going to extreme oak lengths to do it. The wine is a "blend of 60% 80 years old zinfandel , 30% carignane of a whopping 117 years, and 10% younger petite sirah". From the Lodi area, you get fruit that can turn to raisins in the heat if not careful, but can also provide lush flavor and body when picked at the right time. This wine shows good timing. The addition of carignane and petite syrah provide added flavor and color to make this wine pleasing to all the senses.
Go out and get some. It's available at Vintage Wine & Spirits ($8.99) or direct from the winery for $9.00. This should be available other places as well. (I suspect about a bazillion cases were made.)

They also make some high priced wines which I have never seen in a store, so if you have tried some, let me know what you thought in the Blog comments!

Shkoll

Ravenswood Old Vine Zin Medocino County 2002

The Ravenswood Mendocino Zinfandel ($8.99 BevMo) is a nice little Zin from a location not formally known for Zinfandel. While the Sonoma and Napa areas still grow the best Zin grapes in my opinion, Mendocino County must have been growing them for a while for the "Old Vine" designation. However there is no formal length of time to make a vine "Old" so we never really know what is actually meant. The website states "Just above the Sonoma County line, California's fabled Redwood Empire has been a source of old-vine Zinfandel for almost as long." Hmmmm. Since this is the first sentence in the paragraph, it is kind of tough to fingure out what they are saying. Almost as long as what? The redwoods? MMMMM. Caveman Red!

In any event, the wine is a nice example of California Zinfandel with nice berry notes and a modest but notable nose that is usually absent in low end Zin. Decent body and viscosity make this a good value. To get there, Ravenswood winemakers added 12% Carignane, and 7% mixed blacks fruit. Don't ask me about the "mixed blacks". I've never heard the expression.

While it is rated at over 14% alcohol, it was not particularly noticable.

Enjoy!