Wine around the world

File this under, "what won't they think of next?" The world of wine marketing has taken some pretty strange twists and turns over the years: wine in a box (good idea!); critters on the label (who would have guessed?); wine just for women (lame!); integrated plastic cups for drinking (huh?).

Now the latest from the drunk staffers at some marketing agency somewhere in France: open a bottle, get laid get a date.

Apparently the scheme works like this. Several different types of wine are sold under the moniker of "Soif du Coeur" (Thirsty Heart). You buy a pink bottle if you're a girl. You buy a blue bottle if you're a boy. You open it up and drink it. Then after you've emptied the bottle and are feeling lonely (not a bad bet) you can see a code that you enter on a web site to be matched up with presumably some other lonely wine lover who wanted a mate bad enough to drain a bottle.

Because, you know: if you drink the same crappy wine, you MUST be compatible.

Well, I suppose the good news is that the wine only costs three Euros, so it will be a pretty cheap date.

Read the full story.

Even though it has only been open for a couple of years in its current location, the Winestar wine bar has quite a history in San Francisco. This combination wine bar and retail shop was recently reborn from the California Wine Merchant, which, when it closed in 2005, was literally a San Francisco institution. Tucked into a cozy (if a bit dark) little shop half a block off of Chestnut Street in the Marina district, the California Wine Merchant first opened in 1974, and for thirty years it sold wines to local residents.

Perhaps the weight of so much wine and time was too much for the floorboards, or real estate prices finally got too high, but in any case a few years ago the building that housed the store was scheduled for demolition. Owner Greg O'Flynn, seeing crisis as opportunity, decided to reinvent the store as a wine bar and wine shop combo, found a failing watering hole just around the corner from the original shop, and never looked back.

Now a couple of years later, the Winestar bar is a popular after-work stop for Marina denizens, and an easy place to pick up a decent bottle for dinner, unless it's happy hour, in which case it's not an easy place to buy either a bottle or a glass of wine, unless you happen to be one of the lucky souls that has a seat at the bar. Winestar is a narrow space, with a bar that seats about 16 people, plus a front window table that can squeeze three or four into it. After that it's standing room only, and it seems that most nights, that room is surprisingly full. I swung by a few weeks ago on a Monday night and was hardly even able to get in the door.

Winestar is an unpretentious place to grab a glass of wine -- it looks and feels like a bar, and attracts a bar scene. It can get pretty loud, and people stack up 2 deep sometimes with glasses in hand, while the bartenders race back and forth filling pours and trying their best to answer patrons' questions about the wine. When the owners or managers are behind the bar, those questions are answered expertly and with a lot of knowledge about the wines, but some other staff are less than knowledgeable.

With a name like California Wine Merchant, there's little doubt about the focus of the wine list, which offers 15-20 whites and the same number of reds by the glass or by the 2.5 ounce taste. In addition to their regular list (which they claim changes daily, but in reality seems to have lots of "standards" and a few new wines each week) the bar also offers something they have named "Last Call" which is a list of roughly ten single bottles that are opened each night and poured (again, by the glass or the taste) until they runs out. These wines seem to be completely different each time I stop in, and often include very nice wines that normally retail in the $30 to $50 range.

The wines on offer range from somewhat pedestrian, mass produced wines, to small producers that are much less common and are far more interesting. Not exclusively Californian, the list also includes an occasionally New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, an Australian Shiraz, or a German Riesling. I'm always pleased when they stray off the beaten path, which they do every once in a while. On a recent visit they were pouring a sparking wine from New Mexico, for instance. Additionally, they also seem to make an effort to put a few higher end wines on the list that will run $20 or so per glass, instead of the usual $8 - $11. For those not interested in wine there are a couple of beers on offer as well.

Because it's a wine store, it's also possible to order a bottle, though they'll charge you an additional $15 above retail to open it in the bar -- a steal compared with markups in restaurants, but sort of funny considering there's no food to drink it with, really. OK, I lied, there is SOME food, though that consists only of a cheese plate (with one type of cheese and bread and olives and nuts) or some chocolates.

In general, I find Winestar a bit cramped, and a bit too much like a bar for my taste, but I suppose if I were twenty-two and single, I'd be perched at one of their stools quite often, especially since the last few times I was in there the female to male ratio was about three to one.

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WINESTAR California Wine Merchant
2113 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-567-0646

Open 10:00 AM to Midnight Monday through Wednesday, and until 1:30 AM, Thursday through Saturday. Open Sundays from 11:00 AM until 11:00 PM.

No reservations taken or needed, though on Friday night you'll wish you could make one. Dress is casual and parking, as usual in the Marina, is hard to come by.

Time marches on inexorably, and before I know it, the opportunity to drink wine with bloggers around the world slips by. I completely missed Wine Blogging Wednesday last month. The 33rd incarnation of the Web's original virtual wine tasting event was focused on value priced wines from the Languedoc, and looks to have been well "attended" by all, and a nice learning experience about a significantly underrated wine region.

This month's event, which will take place on June 13th, is also focused on a somewhat underrated wine region, albeit closer to home: Washington State. Hosted appropriately by Catie, who is the Wild Wine Woman at Through The Walla Walla Grape Vine, WBW#34 will have us all drinking Cabernet from Washington, a prospect to which I look forward with relish.

I've been corresponding with one of my readers recently about Merlot and whether Napa was a good site for Merlot. I happen to think it is, and might arguably be the best producer of single varietal Merlot in the world. The only place that I can think of that actually gives it a run for its money is Washington state, and I can easily foresee a time when Washington might actually assume pre-eminence for this varietal. Of course, in addition to Merlot, Washington is home to some absolutely stellar Cabernet which I have enjoyed immensely over the years. For my participation in the event I think I'll be seeking out a good producer from the Red Mountain area, which is producing some stellar Bordeaux-style wines.

So join us wine bloggers on June 13th by drinking Washington Cabernet and writing about it somewhere online.

At its best, like the finest wines of the world, sake provides a window into another world. While a great vintage of wine from a top producer may offer a glimpse through the lens of time into a particular patch of soil and a given harvest, a great sake offers a view of something more ethereal, more insubstantial. With sake there is no real expression of terra firma, instead there is an expression of what might best be described as atmosphere -- a quality of light, of air, of history. Sometimes when I'm drinking great sake, I imagine that in the dead of winter (when sake is usually made) I've stumbled upon an ancient temple in the soundless snow, and heaving open the massive wood and stone door, I am greeted by air that has been locked away for centuries, but which still carries the faint aromas of the plum blossoms in spring.

Or perhaps I am dipping my cup in a mountain spring, bubbling up from deep within the earth and carrying with it sweet aromas of seasons gone by and ancient forests that no longer exist. It may be merely romantic projection on my part, but something about sake always seems so much more timeless than wine, no matter what the vintage.

Of course, this sense (or mere fantasy) of timelessness is easily reinforced b the fact that some of the best sake breweries in the world have been around for centuries longer than most wine producers. Tsukasa Botan, for instance, is one of the oldest and most prestigious breweries in the Kochi prefecture on the south coast of Shikoku, Japan. It began operations in 1603, which essentially puts it at the beginning of sake making in the region. Operating virtually uninterrupted (apart from some pauses during the World Wars) for four centuries, the business was formally incorporated in its modern form in 1918.

Tosa, the original name for the region where Tsukasabotan makes its home, despite its long history, is not widely acclaimed as a sake producing region, but its people do have a claim to fame when it comes to sake -- they are some of the heaviest consumers of the stuff in all of Japan. The people of Tosa love their sake, despite having only a couple of dozen producers in the region.

Tosa has recently become a much more visible name in the sake world for what turned out to be a rather successful science experiment cum publicity stunt -- the production of sake made from yeast that had been to space. Tosa Space Sake is now a common novelty gift in sake circles both in Japan and abroad. Unfortunately, it's not fantastic, as my tasting last year revealed.

Tsukasabotan participated in the project and made their own version of space sake. Lucky for us, they also make some vastly superior sake, such as this one, which is their top-of the line export. Named King of the Peonies, this is a junmai daiginjo sake, which means it is made from rice grains (in this case Yamada Nishiki rice) that have been polished down to at least 50% of their original mass, and no additional alcohol has been added during the fermentation process (most often done to improve the aroma and lighten the texture). Additionally I believe this sake to be made using the shizuku method, which means that it is the wine equivalent of "free run juice" -- only made from sake that has dripped from the mash under the force of gravity in near freezing conditions -- no pressing involved. This method yields extremely small, precious quantities of high quality sake.

Tasting Notes:
Colorless in the glass, this sake has an appealing nose of subtle orange rind and white flower aromas. In the mouth it is satiny and weighty with a touch of sweetness and a hint of wood flavor as it winds its way across the palate. Perfectly balanced, with excellent acidity, the flavors unroll with floral notes, hints of tropical fruits and rainwater-like minerality as it heads for a finish that offers a bit of spiciness as it lingers with length. Fantastic and classic in its construction -- a great example of why I love junmai daiginjo sake.

Food Pairing:
This is a classic sashimi sake -- delicate and floral and seemingly destined to complement the subtle flavors of raw fish. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay is to say I'd love to drink it with a classically prepared serving of hirame (fluke), cut paper thin by a master sushi chef.

Overall Score: 9.5

How Much?: $60 per 720 ml

This sake is available for purchase on the internet.