The Wine: ’11 Owen Roe Ex Umbris Syrah, Columbia Valley

Tasting the mature 2003 Owen Roe Dubrul Cabernet reminds me of just how fabulous and overlooked our American Syrah is. Generally more approachable and complex, with slightly softer tannins than their Cabernet rivals, these wines can be the best bang for the buck in rich domestic wines.

The nose on the 2011 Ex Umbris is pure intrigue. You can sit and inhale this for hours. In typical Owen Roe fashion it serves up loads of berries with vanilla cream, pie crust made with hints of cinnamon, brown sugar and spice, subtle wood notes, and dry powdered cocoa on the finish. Think of putting your nose over a big helping of crème brulee, caramelized and topped with juicy dark berries, and inhaling deeply. When you roll it around your mouth, it’s silky and sloshy and shows everything you expected plus more subtle pie spice notes, and that extra dark Scharffenberger chocolate finish. This is just great wine for the price. Fill your glass, and grab a piece of cheddar cheese, or roast a chicken with a little olive oil, lemon and oregano, and you are set.

“Ex Umbris et imaginibus in veritatem” (From shadows and symbols goes the truth). David named this wine inspired by the juxtaposition of the burnt fire-blackened Yakima Valley and the lush Syrah vines bordering that stark fire-damaged land. Years after the fire, the grapes still show that hint of smokiness.

All Syrah grapes for the Ex Umbris are sourced from the Columbia Valley:

77% from the Columbia Valley AVA
Including: 15% from the Lewis Vineyard, 24% from the Six Prong Vineyard, and 38% from the Erickson Vineyard

17.5% from the Yakima Valley AVA
Including: 11.5% from Red Willow Vineyard, and 6% from Outlook Vineyard

and 5.5% from Walla Walla AVA’s St Isidore Vineyard (The Source for Owen Roe’s Lady Rosa Syrah)

Find It:
2011 : $27.75 from Northwest-wine.com
2010 : $25.99 Wades Wines in Westlake Village, $28.99 from Total Wine on Camelback in Phoenix

The Wine: 2012 Bodegas Muga Rosado

Summer Rose should be crisp, interesting yet subtle, well balanced, with just the right amount of acid and tannin to show off food, and it should be affordable, while feeling fabulously exclusive, and reminding you of time with friends or expensive flings along the Med (or our own Coast!).

Enter Bodegas Muga. Their big reds can get into the stratospheric price range, but their Rose is a fabulous buy, if you can find it. Like the better known French rose, the grapes are grown specifically for this wine.

The 2012 Muga is fresh and very well-balanced with crisp grapefruit and nectarines, lovely strawberry and hints of peach, apricot, and woody bramble. This is an elegant Rioja rose with fabulous minerality, and subtlety, and an almost universal appeal for Rose lovers.

I encourage you to seek it out, and buy it by the multiple case lot. You will drink through it quickly this summer!

$10.99 Shopper’s Vineyard – Clifton, NJ
$14.99 Wally’s Wine & Spirits- LA

Casa Escobar : Westlake Village – A Mexican Companion for Big Reds

2809 Agoura Rd
Westlake Village
CA 91361
805-777-7747

It’s not on the menu, but order “Russel’s Nachos”, the owner’s namesake dish that the servers and kitchen know by heart. It is the perfect foil for a big, powerful red, made with grilled filet mignon, that is perfectly caramelized, with almost raw sweet onions and a mix of cheeses. Exactly what that big red demands. If you bring your own red, they have a reasonable corkage and good glasses. If you want one of Russel’s red stash, they have some key bargain buys in a big red, including the BV Tapestry Meritage or Hess Allomi Cabernet.