2004 "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" Cabernet (20%) Syrah (20%) Monastrell (60%) (a/k/a Bodegas y Vinedos Murcia Jumilla) (Spain)

Some marketing "whiz" obviously gave this wine a made-up name, used the now-popular-in-America Aussie synonym for Syrah (Shiraz), and then listed the Cabernet and "Shiraz" grapes before the "Monastrell" grape (even though the Monastrell component is 60%) on the label, thinking that us "Muricans" wouldn't buy a Spanish wine labeled Jumilla or Monastrell. Thanks for your high regard of our wine savvy.

Apart from the condescending label, this is a large-bodied lunk of a wine. Not real complex, but darn mouthfilling. Deep ruby color. Sweet, ripe nose of sweet cream, ripe blackberries, prunes, and sweet pipe tobacco smoke. Rich, port-like fruit in the mouth -- dense and full. Some perceptible residual sugar in the mid-palate and finish. With its lack of complexity and very slight residual sugar, it wasn't very enjoyable on its own before dinner, but it actually went very well with the whole wheat pasta and sauteed peppers and bacon dish (recipe below) I made for dinner. I could see this going well with lots of different pasta dishes. 85. $10.99 at Whole Foods on Bellaire.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Peppers and Bacon

1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

1/2 bunch green onions, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 pound good quality bacon (or pancetta, if you don't want the smoky flavor), sliced into 1/4 inch strips

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 pound good quality whole wheat (or regular) pasta

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

1/4 cup chopped parsley

freshly-ground sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Get a big pot of salted water boiling. While it's getting there, fry up the bacon in a 12" saute pan until crisp or chewy, whatever you like. Remove bacon, pour off all but about 1 or 2 tablespoons of bacon fat and reserve it. Add the olive oil to the remaining bacon fat, then add the sliced peppers, the green onions, and the clove of garlic, and saute over medium high heat until the peppers start to soften a bit. Add back in the bacon, pour in the white wine, turn up heat and boil off for a minute or so, then add sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. When the pasta is done, drain, pour into a big dish, add the sauteed pepper sauce (sans the garlic clove), chopped parsley, and toss. To add some richness, you can listen to the bad angel on your left shoulder and drizzle in a little of the bacon drippings you poured off earlier. A bit of freshly grated parmesan is a nice addition at the end.

Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon 2004 MACON (White Burgundy)

This wine is amazing for its lowly "Macon" pedigree. A light straw-gold with a slight greenish glint. This wine has a nose more like a good Meursault or Chassagne-Montrachet than a Maconnais wine: aromas of hazelnut, straw, ripe pears and grapes, undergirded with a terrific stony/earthy foundation. Rich, earthy, pear, orange peel, and marzipan flavors attack the palate. Texture is unctuous and buttery for a Macon, and the finish is pretty darn long. One of the best Macons I've ever had. 90. Was about $16 (I think, since I lost the receipt) at Richard's on Shepherd.

2002 Hazyblur Adelaide Plains GRENACHE (Australia)

I just love what the Aussies can do with Grenache. This is a rich, intense, and voluptuous wine. Dark ruby color. Gorgeously perfumed nose of incense, raspberry liqueur, gingerbready spice, and iodine. Rich, fleshy, exotic mouthfeel, with salty, dense, lingering flavors of raspberry liqueur and minerals. Lengthy finish, but with no discernable tannin left. Drink now for a real treat. 91. Got this a little over a year ago at Richard's on San Felipe, so I'm not sure it's still there, but I think it was around $23.

2004 Domaine Pichot VOUVRAY "Domaine le Peu de la Moriette" (Loire Valley, France)

A great value, very prototypical Chenin Blanc. Bright, light straw color. Nose musty at first, then with air, gorgeous pear/melon fruit and sea shell scents emerged. Crisp but ripe apple and honeydew melon fruit, together with flowers and chalky mineral flavors. Slightly sweet in style (as traditionally are many Vouvrays), but with crisp acidity to keep everything in harmony. Very nice summertime white. 87. About $10 per bottle at most Spec's stores.

2004 Rioja "Cortijo III"

Another Spanish wine with a minimalist, pumpkiny colored label. Hmm.

This wine was very much like a Spanish version of a well-made, but straightforward, DeBouef Beaujolais, although it is 100% Tempranillo. Medium garnet ruby color. Bright cherry, strawberry fruit on the nose. Soft, lush fruit flavors with wet stone, minerally elements in the background. No tannin at all -- for drinking this summer, perhaps even with a little chill on it, just as with Beaujolais. 87. Was $7 at Spec's on Smith.

1997 Antonio Vallana "Colline Novaresi" SPANNA

Antonio Vallana was one of my favorite Italian producers back in the 80s, and I recently found and reviewed two older vintages of his Boca D.O.C. wines here and here. They weren't quite up to the old standards, and neither is this one.

1997 was a highly touted vintage in Northern Italy, so I was expecting a wine of substantial concentration and still a bit on the youthful side. But this wine showed significant browning at the edges. It was also quite fragrant, but definitely showed up the funky/earthy side of the Spanna (Nebbiolo) grape, with chokecherry and barnyardy, earthy scents competing for attention. Earthy, evolved flavors with cherries again, with noticeable acidity. I would drink this up, as any more aging will only play up the earthiness and acidity. 84.

2005 (yes, 2005) Cartlidge & Browne California PINOT NOIR

This reminded me of a nicely done entry level Bourgogne -- in other words, it was more French in style than Californian. Light ruby color. Nose somewhat stemmy at first, but with air it brightened up with lots of lively cherry, mineral, and cola scents. Light-bodied cherry and mineral flavors. Texturally not as fleshy as many basic California Pinot Noirs. 86. Was a very good value for a PN at under $10 at Spec's on Richmond.

2002 Columbia Crest Columbia Valley CABERNET SAUVIGNON "Grand Estates" (Washington State)

This is a characterful, food-friendly, great value of a Cab. I'm usually not much of a Cabernet fan, since I believe it matches well with few dishes, but this one would go well with a broad range of foods. Inky, fully saturated black ruby color. Really nice nose of chocolate powder, minerals, overripe cherries, cassis, and gravel. Rich, full-bodied, and intense flavors attack the palate with smokey, cherry cough syrup, and mineral components. Very soft, yet packed with flavor--a real mouthful of wine with lots of character. 89. Would go GREAT with grilled lamb chops, pasta with meat sauce, lots of stuff. Was $8.50 at Spec's on Richmond, though I suspect it's available in all Spec's locations and lots of other stores.

Toronto Trip

Just got back from the annual International Trademark Association (INTA) spring conference, which this year was in Toronto. Apart from official stuff, I was able to sneak in two very good meals with my Connecticut buddy Frank Duffin. We walked a good 45 minutes from the Convention Center at lunch time to a section of Toronto called "Portugal Village." Not knowing anything about where the good restaurants were, we stopped into a small Portuguese shop, and asked the woman proprietress, who obviously was from Portugal, where we could get good Portuguese food. She directed us to a place called "First Choice Restaurant," located at 1102 Dundas St. W, (416-588-3851), where I had a bowl of "caldo verde" -- potato and kale soup -- and we split a huge order of Pork Alentejana -- pork and clams. Sounds weird, but it was really good. We were the only non-Portuguese speaking customers in the place.

For dinner, we had our traditional Tuesday night steakhouse trek. Each year, Frank and I "stake" out, as best we can determine, the best steakhouse in whatever city the INTA conference is in, and this year our research led us to Barberian's Steak House, 7 Elm Street, (416) 597-0335. While wicked expensive, the steaks were excellent. The wine list had pages upon pages of great wines from everywhere, but the prices were outrageous -- which I think has to do with the Ontario government-run distribution system. It was hard to find anything first rate that was under $100. Although these were Canadian dollars, the poor exchange rate meant that we were only getting $1.05 Canadian dollars for each U.S. dollar.

Anyway, we settled on the 2000 Dessilani Fara "Lochera," a full-bodied Nebbiolo-based wine from the Novara region west of Milan (the most famous wine from this region is Gattinara; Fara is less well-known but can be just as good, in my view). This wine was deep in color, very fragrant of cherry liqueur, leather, and earth, with lots of body and concentration. It had some tannin, but they were ripe and smooth. This wine will improve over the next five years. For dessert, we tried two glasses of 2004 Henry of Pelham Winery Ontario Peninsula Riesling Icewine. My expectations were not that high -- Canadian Riesling Icewine??? -- but this wine was amazing. Intense, rich, honeyed peachy nose, with bracing acidity to balance the intense richness. Absolutely classic Icewine, which I would happily compare to the Germans'. It was so good I made sure to find a state wine shop (the "LLBO") before I left so I could buy a half bottle ($54!) to bring back. State-run wine distribution, with its attendant high wine prices, have got to be the single biggest negative about living in Toronto, which really otherwise impressed me as a sophisticated, diverse, HUGE, and very interesting city.

In a wood so dark...*

Years ago I had the experience of being aboard the U.S.S. Boulder (LST-1190) in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yes, the same place that is now the Caribbean respite from the rigors of Jihad (Thank you, Rush!). The only reason we were there was to go through "REFTRA" - "refresher training." It was a custom in the fleet to take a ship that had been in the yards for overhaul down there to prepare her for reentering active duty. One of the more rigorous and life-like exercises involved taking care of a series of casualties that had occurred due to a direct "hit." The staff in Gitmo was very good at their simulations! It was there that I learned the true meaning of "triage." I was a young Ensign and rounding a corner near an athwartship passageway filled with smoke, I was confronted with one of the young men in my division who had lost his hand. "Blood" was spurting everywhere and for some stupid reason, I started looking for the lost limb (Dear reader, this was all simulated with EXCELLENT plastic make-up that would make Hollywood proud). "FOR GOD'S SAKE STOP THE BLEEDING!" a crusty Chief yelled at me.

Now with all the political talk in Washington and immigrants marching in the streets, I feel like that Chief. Could we first stop the bleeding, please?!! Before we discuss the nuances of amnesty and deportation, argue over whether its 3 million or 18 million illegals, let's shut the border and sort this thing out. In 406AD, the Vandals along with a large number of other Germanic tribes crossed the frozen Rhine River. It was the beginning of the end for Rome. She could no longer protect the western frontier, had to give up England and slowly withdraw out of Europe. We are not Rome, but the parallels of the Rhine to the Rio Grande are eerie. So, in the words of Tolstoy, "what then must we do?" Herewith, a rational plan to end the madness.

1. Shut the border down by mobilizing the National Guard. I know there are Constitutional issues at stake, and as a retired Navy man, I bridle at the notion of the military doing police work. But this IS military work: we are being invaded! Deploy the military with all the technological toys that they have. No, it won't stop the flood, but it will be a start.

2. Stop citizenship by birth. At least one of the parents of a newborn child must be a U.S. Citizen.

3. Eliminate benefits for non-citizens. Humanitarian life and safety needs must be tended to, but it is insanity to provide educational, welfare and health benefits to non-citizens.

4. PUNISH the firms that hire illegal aliens. Hey, I am deeply affected by the construction business, but I can no longer look the other way. There's a better way...I'll get to that anon.

OK, so there's your Draconian four-step process to the first step: stopping the bleeding. I am braced for the name calling: bigot! Hispanophobe! etc. etc. Let's look at some of the arguments for those advocating pure, open borders:

"If we stop the immigration, Mexico will implode...we have no idea what we'll end up with there!"

We cannot solve Mexico's problems of low productivity and corrupt government and economy. We ARE providing a safety valve that allows the system to continue in perpetuity. You want to change it? Force the change by taking away the safety valve. I have seen the poverty that illegal laborers live in...I know that many of them are sending the majority of their wages back home...and that our minimum wage is far above the imagination of most workers south of the border. We will never end that disparity under the status quo.

"These people come here just like the Irish, the Poles and all others before...they only want a better life."

Hmmm, the Irish didn't swim across the Atlantic...and there was this little place called Ellis Island. And yes, the Irish lived in squallid slums as they worked their way up... but this model has been repeated throughout our history: the Germans, the Italians, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Cubans....on and on it goes. I am not saying eliminate the opportunity for Mexicans or others from south and central America to immigrate...let's just get it under control.

"These people do jobs Americans won't do!"

Oh, so I'm the bigot? Let's let them in so they can clean our toilets? Americans would do the jobs for the right pay...industries need to adjust to that. That, my Republican friends, is the true free market. The open border policy espoused by free-trade elites falsifies the economics of the labor markets. Believe me, if we couldn't find an American to hang drywall, I guarantee you, we would find a way to do it with a machine and save money!

The sick, cynical reality of these people that spout these arguments is that they are either a) benefitting from the low wages of illegal immigrants or b) they are advancing a cause to enfranchise these people and gain a new voting bloc or c) they are in the Reconquista camp who believe that Texas, California and New Mexico still belong to Mexico.

Once the bleeding is stopped, let's re-examine the patient and see what needs to be done. I am in favor of a liberal, open immigration policy that allows those that wish to come here the opportunity to do so. Come and enrich us with your cultural traditions, skills and knowledge...but in so doing, assimilate into ours. The United States is a big hearted and open-minded place...we adopt customs and traditions from all who enter but we have to be allowed to keep our core. What follows flies in the face of my minimalist government approach, but there is a time and place for everything! Here we go:

1. Establish a guest worker program. Businesses that need basic manual labor would submit their needs on a annual basis. An interview and selection process would be set up south of the border to pre-screen applicants. Workers would be brought here along with their families and be provided all the benefits of employment. With this method, we would be providing opportunity and helping our labor intensive businesses. Let's bring them here in a controlled, dignified manner!

2. Set up immigration quotas based on our needs. The quotas would be established to ensure people from all corners of the globe have the opportunity to come here...just not all at once! This one is pretty self explanatory, and no doubt, inflamatory...but I'm on a roll!

3. Require assimilation. English is our national language and should be kept so. Accomodation for all these other languages is costly and counter-productive. The image of America as a melting pot has given away to an image of a cafeteria lunch line complete with the fruit in the jello! A requirement for citizenship must be that you learn our native tongue...I would even be in favor of having some English background (courses?) to move one up the line in the aforementioned quota system.

Amnesty? Deportation? First off, anyone who has raised a child will tell you that amnesty is a bad idea. If you want a behavior to stop, you don't reward it. Deportation has been given such an awful connotation. The reality is if you follow steps 1 and 4 that your humble scribbler has offered above, you will see Darwinian selection in the labor market. In the near term, the economic impact could be grave; in the long term, there is no other option except complete unconditional surrender to the invaders.

Open borders and multi-culturalism have become the frozen Rhine of our time and we find ourselves wandering in the dark wood* on the way to the Inferno. Adult leadership and firmness will help us find our way back. While this has been turned into a political volleyball match on both sides, this is a matter of national security in the near term and a matter of national identity in the long.

2002 Capcanes "Mas Donis Barrica" (Montsant, Spain)

This's wines evolution once I uncorked it was just bizarre. When I first opened it, I thought it was heat damaged. The color showed some brownish at the rim, and the nose was of stewed fruit and warm raw meat. Not very appealing. So I put it away and opened up a bottle of something else. Hours later, I tried another small glass, just out of curiosity, and the color and nose were better. The brown was gone, and cassis fruit and smokey, gravelly scents (almost Bordeaux-like) emerged. Medium-bodied cassis and minerally flavors. Somewhat tightly wound but good. Two days later (under the Vacu-Vin seal) it was even better. This wine seemed to go from its deathbed to the flower of youth the more air time it got. 87? Hard to say. Was about $12 at Spec's on Smith.

2004 "Carril de Cotos" (Tierra de Castilla, Spain)

This is Spain's version of great Beaujolais. Deep purpley-ruby color. 100% Tempranillo, this wine's nose is pure ripe fruit -- disarmingly fruity, in fact. Fresh-crushed plums and ripe berries jump out. Soft, medium-full bodied, and concentrated, with plenty of soft, ripe tannin in the finish. Oodles of fruit in the mid-palate. A terrifically fun and very food-flexible wine for cookouts, pasta, sipping, whatever. 88. Was a great buy at $7.99 at Central Market.

2002 Sausal Alexander Valley Zinfandel "Old Vines"

An evil wine! A really good wine! Dense black ruby color. Fabulous nose of spicy, minerally raspberries and sweet brambleberries. Some toasty oak in the background too. Powerful, and full-bodied, with excellent concentration and fruit, with some well-integrated tannin in the finish. 89. Was $18.99 at Houston Wine Merchant.

I said evil at the beginning. After half a bottle the first night, I was totally zonked. As it was a Friday night, I chalked it up to a hard week. Two days later, finishing the remaining half of the bottle, I was zonked again! The label says only 14.3% alcohol, which is middlin' for good zin, so I don't know what's going on here, but, in any event, C. Everett Koop's warning about not operating heavy machinery applies to this one.

Central Market (near Highland Village Shopping Center) -- I surrender . . . . I liked it.

Well, despite my general dislike for what I perceive as "hoidy-toidy" (sp.?) stores, I went to visit Central Market (the hoidiest of the toidiest) for the first time in over a year on Monday evening. I didn't wind my way through the whole store, but focused on the wines and the produce, my two favorite subjects. As to wines, I have to admit that Central Market has a very interesting -- even eclectic -- selection. That's a big plus with me. I like stores that put some serious thought into their wine selection. And they clearly do. Lots of my favorite regions were well-represented, including the Rhone and southwestern France, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese wines. Prices weren't as good as Spec's, but they weren't bad either. I picked up a cheap, interesting Tempranillo to try.

Their produce selection is amazing, and very fresh-looking too. All manner of greens (I picked up some broccoli rabe for pasta). Prices a bit high (like Whole Foods, but seemed even a tad higher). But probably worth it for the selection and the freshness.

And, on a Monday after work, it wasn't that jammed with the high-fallutin', moneyed crowd that usually gives me the willies. (That's why I usually avoid formal wine tastings these days -- I really need to talk to a therapist about this "issue.") So, the bottom line is: I'll be back.

2003 Brigaldara Valpolicella Classico (Veneto, Italy)

Yet another wine displaying the problems with the historic heat of 2003 in central Europe. Color good -- dense black ruby color, with purple highlights. But nose not as "friendly" as Valpolicellas should be: angular, with scorched earth and crunchy cherry, almond and chalky spice scents. Full-bodied, but somewhat angular in the mouth too, with sharp flavors of scorched earth and cherries. Sharp tannin and some astringency in the finish. (Gee, I used the term "sharp" a lot. Guess this was a sharp wine.) 82. Was $15.53 at Spec's on Smith. Not nearly as good as the 2001 edition, which I reviewed here.