Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Oz Clarke Triumphs Over Jetlag

When I invited Oz Clarke, the prolific and genial British wine writer, to my house to taste some wines from the Eastern United States, I didn't want to overdo it. He was coming fresh from the airport after a flight from London after all, and the man would be tired.

I needn't have worried. After more than 30 wines, lots of local cheese and homemade bread, a lengthy meal and a few ballads, I was the one waving the white napkin of surrender. Clarke is not only a laserlike palate - he's a raconteur who has never forgotten his professional training in theater. That helps him write entertaining and engaging books about wine, and it gives him amazing stamina at the dinner table. Excerpts of our discussion about wines near and far are in my column in Wednesday's Washington Post Food section. And don't forget my monthly list of Recession Buster wine recommendations.

Black Ankle Goes to Bethesda

Fans of the Bethesda Central Farm Market will have a chance to taste some local wine with all that local produce this Sunday, Sept. 13, from 9 am to 1 pm, when Black Ankle Vineyards will be pouring and selling their new Leaf Stone Syrah. According to market organizer Mitch Berliner, it is the first time a winery has been allowed to participate in a farm market in Maryland.

That may seem strange, considering a vineyard is nothing if not a farm. But of course, we’re talking alcoholic beverage here, so the laws and politics are different.

Berliner said he wanted wineries to participate in his market because wine should be part of the “eat local” movement. He picked a good winery to feature – Black Ankle just won the Maryland Governor’s Cup for the second year in a row with its 2007 Crumbling Rock, a Bordeaux-styled blend. Not bad for a winery that just opened its doors in 2007. The 2006 Crumbling Rock won the Governor’s Cup last year.

The 2007 Leaf Stone Syrah is no wallflower – it took “Best of Category” as best syrah in the recent Atlantic Seaboard WIne Competition, and created quite a buzz among the judges, including me. (“Leaf Stone” is another way of saying “Crumbling Rock,” and is emblematic of the soil at the Black Ankle vineyards, near Mt. Airy.)

As I wrote about Black Ankle a year ago in The Washington Post: “This is not your father’s Maryland wine.”

Don’t miss this chance to taste the wine, because you won’t see Ed Boyce and Sarah O’Herron, the husband-and-wife team behind the winery, at the farm market on a regular basis. Maryland law only allows a winery three special permits per county per year, and this is using up one of Black Ankle’s, Boyce said.

Berliner hopes to change that when the Maryland legislature convenes in January. It could be an exciting year for Maryland wine lovers, with hopes high that the legislature will also ease restrictions on having wine shipped directly to consumers’ homes.

For now, though, taste the Leaf Stone Syrah on Sunday. If it catches your fancy, there will also be a Farm Market dinner on Monday, Sept. 14, at Redwood restaurant in Bethesda Row, featuring Black Ankle wines. Cost is $75 per person.

For more info: http://www.bethesdacentralfarmmarket.com/ and http://www.blackankle.com/

Breakfast Wine for the Morning After …

Forget “hair of the dog.” The best breakfast wine can be the same one you finished with the night before. At least, that is, if you washed down dessert with Brachetto d’Acqui or other frothy Italian reds that are ideal with chocolate desserts.

These unassuming wines won’t win philosophical debates or score huge Parker Points. But they score high on my Fun Meter. And they are excellent with chocolate cake, cookies, brownies, ‘Smores, anything that includes a fruit component or sauce.

Here are some of the best, in my February 11 column in The Washington Post.

Happy Valentine’s Day! (Now, it’s up to you to arrange the flowers, the barbershop quartet, or the limo to the restaurant … )

Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui - a Great Chocolate Wine

No, not a chocolate-flavored wine, but a great wine to pair with chocolate, especially cake and cookies and other confections. ‘Smores, perhaps? No need for stuffy gourmandise when the wine is as fun as a Brachetto d’Acqui.

If you’ve only seen one Brachetto d’Acqui, it was probably Rosa Regale, produced and imported by Banfi. It has the advantage of being made in relatively large quantities and being backed by a powerful and effective marketing empire. It’s also delicious, featuring bright cherry and strawberry flavors and enticing aromas of rose petals. It typically sells for about $18 - $20.

Brachetto has some other advantages as a dessert wine for your Valentine’s dinner – it’s bright red color suggests romance, as do the bubbles of its light mousse. It’s also low in alcohol – Rosa Regale chimes in at 7 %, which is actually a tad high for Brachetto. That means it won’t knock you out of contention for any post-dinner activities.

And oh yes – any leftover Brachetto will do just nicely with breakfast the next morning.

I’ll have more recommendations for Brachetto and other frothy sweet Italian reds throughout the week, and in this Wednesday’s column in The Washington Post.

Are You Drinking Your LBVs?

Port brings to mind stuffy old geezers in smoking jackets who "repair to the library" after dinner to puff on cigars, discuss affairs of state (in speech rife with "I say!" and "Hear, hear!"), toast Baron James Forrester and share dim, slightly fictional memories of vintages long past.

Which is to say, port isn't hip.

Well, it should be. Port, the fortified sweet wine from the Douro Valley of northern Portugal, comes in nearly as many styles and variations as Manolo Blahnik shoes, and it is just as versatile in matching outfits -- or in this case, desserts. With Valentine's Day approaching, it's time to move port from the dusty library to the racy boudoir because of its special affinity for that most romantic of foods, chocolate.

You can read more about Port – especially Late Bottled Vintage Ports and the fantastic 2003 vintage now available – in my wine column in today’s Washington Post.

Real Men DO Drink Pink, Nigella!

Last Tuesday, June 24, British cookbook author Nigella Lawson (left) was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition about stylish summer fare for al fresco dining that would be a cut above burgers and dogs but not so intimidating that we Americans would shy away from it. (Here's the story.) At the end of the interview, host Renee Montagne asked the Domestic Goddess about her favorite summer wine, and the two seemed almost apologetic to recommend rosé - a wine they said was usually "sneered at."

As soon as I got to my computer I fired off a note to the show's producers - which, as I did it through the NPR Web site, I don't have anymore - chiding them that rosé - dry rosé, at least - has long been championed by wine writers as the ideal warm weather fare, as I did five years ago in WineLine 32. Rosé, I argued, is well past its snob effect. To bolster my point, I mentioned that rosé is made by more and more wineries across the country, from Bonny Doon's consistently delicious Vin Gris de Cigare to a juicy, delightful Rosato di Sangiovese from Ingleside Vineyards in Virginia. Both of these wines in the 2007 vintage are available now and worthy antidotes to the summer doldrums.

I don't know if my letter was read on the air, but if people keep believing that rosé is for sissies, well, I guess that means there's more for me!