2001 Castle Rock Winery, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

This cabernet is produced by a California negociant, and is a mighty good $12 cabernet. As evidence of its quality, this cabernet and the Castle Rock Chardonnay have been chosen as Ruth's Chris Steak House's "House wine by the glass," which is a pretty impressive accomplishment. (Sure, there's a marketing component thrown in to that deal, too, but a restaurant of the calibre of Ruth's Chris Steak House isn't going to pick up a crummy wine as their house wine.)

Young, bright ruby-red color. Strong bursts of dark red fruit in the flavor - black cherry and plums - with hints of darker undertones of leather and pepper. Aroma not as intense as I'd expected from the flavor, though. Medium body, not as rich and layered as a $30 cabernet, but nowhere as expensive, either. Young tannins, although not a lot of them. Probably needs another year, or at most two, to mellow out the tannins and make this wine as velvety smooth as it could become. Initially fairly closed, this wine had opened up tremendously when I finished off the last half of the bottle two days after I'd opened it.

Not as full-bodied as a big cabernet, this would go well with red meats and probably okay or better with grilled red meats, but I'd want something a little more substantial for a charcoal-grilled pepper-crusted steak.

Westpark Wine & Beer, Richmond, $11.99.

Wine gimmick of the week.

Here's a new way to separate you from that pesky $49.95 you've got jingling in your pocket: The Wine Clip. It's a magnet (Oooo! A rare earth magnet!) that you clip onto the neck of a wine bottle, and as you pour the wine out, the magnetic field sets up an electrical charge (wine being an electrical conductor, and all, passing through the field) which breaks large molecules into smaller ones. Thus, it breaks up large tannin molecules into small tannin molecules, which makes the wine smoother - or so they claim. They do say that it works equally well with a $10 bottle of merlot and a $300 bottle of cabernet sauvignon, which I can well believe.

It's great fun watching the video of a taste test with this magnet, one of four they supposedly did: "Which of these two glasses of wine we just poured from the same bottle - one with the Wine Clip on the neck of the bottle and one without - tastes better?" and then they turn over the corresponding card. Six of the seven "picked" the glass identified as having been poured through the Clip. The best part is trying to decide whether the individual testers were in on the secret from the beginning, or both glasses had "poured through the Wine Clip" cards so whichever they chose would be the right answer, or this was the only one of the tests they ran where a majority picked the glass poured through the Clip.

Probably the most interesting part of this silly product is that the Strategic Advisor to the Wine Clip is none other than John Sculley, late of Apple and Pepsi.

Why, yes, I do think the Emperor's new clothes are very nice, indeed.

Update (Dec. 11, 2003): Just to be clear, I have not - yet - tried The Wine Clip or done blind taste tests with it. If and when I do, I'll report on what I find - and if I have to eat my words, I'll have better-tasting wine to wash them down with.

2002 House of Nobilo Icon, Marlborough Pinot Noir.

I was a bit disappointed with this New Zealand pinot noir, and I'm not really sure why. It seemed to be missing something, probably some combination of body, complexity, and earthiness.

Bright cherry color, with strawberry and red cherry in the aroma. Strong fruit flavors of red cherry and strawberry, with crisp, almost lemony, acidity. Tannins are present, but a bit overpowered by the fruit and acidity. light- to medium-weight body; not much mouthfeel to it. Medium length finish.

Probably wouldn't want to match this with anything more strongly flavored than fish, chicken, or pasta in a white sauce. By itself would be fine, too.

Private Stock, Richmond, $17.99.

1999 Rosenblum Cellars Russian River Valley Zinfandel, Alegria Vineyard.

Had a nice, rich, fruit-forward zinfandel out at dinner tonight.

Dark red, plummy aroma, rich and intense red-fruit flavors - black cherry, plum jam, touch of smokiness. Decent tannins, enough to stand up to the fruit. Long finish. Very nice. Went well with our steaks.

Buckhead's, Richmond. $52. (Okay, the 2000 vintage is $18 at the winery. What are you going to do? Well, that answer is easier if the person you're out to dinner with is on an expense account.)

Favorite wine shops.

It's a sign of something, I suppose, that I have "favorite" wine shops all over the place. Two or three here in Richmond where I currently live, one or two in Raleigh, NC (discovered when I lived in Durham for a couple of years), one in Charlottesville (where I lived for many, many years, and I even worked part-time at that wine shop), and a couple in Arlington (where I haven't lived since the Carter Administration).

A number of factors need to align before a wine shop makes it onto my Favorites list: a friendly, helpful, approachable staff, who is neither condescending nor obsequious; reasonable prices; frequent tastings (how else to find out whether you might like a wine you've not tried before?), especially ones led by winemakers; a broad selection of wines. And if I'm just browsing, they'll let me wander around to my heart's content.

And speaking of champagne.

Nice long article in Wednesday's NY Times on champagne, especially the small grower-producers, whose wine rarely makes it to the U.S. The article talks about these champagnes as being very food-friendly, unlike those made by the big producers, and gives some food matches, from scallops to rabbit to fried chicken. It also talks about the art of blending the constituent wines from different vintages, to enhance the final product, not to cover up for weaknesses. And the article even has a more in-depth sidebar on a tasting of 25 small-producer champagnes.

Chandon NV California Blanc de Noirs.

One of the things I admire about Australians and their wine-drinking is that they understand that you don't need to wait for a special occasion to have champagne: Any day that ends with a Y is special enough.

This sparkling wine, made in the methode traditionnelle, is made from pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay, grown in Napa and made by Domaine Chandon. The color was a very light toast, perhaps with a slight tinge of pink. But not much or either color, really. Tiny bubbles of carbonation. Crisp nose, with touches of lemon and strawberry. Crisp flavor, touches of unripe apple and strawberry, easing into a long, creamy finish.

A nice, simple champagne, enjoyable by itself, or with something spicy. Or even with a pasta with a light cream sauce, on a Tuesday night.

$14.99, Richmond, World Market.

Tempest in a wineglass.

Michael Franz has an interesting wine column in the Washington Post today, encouraging people to stop their boycott of French wines. He suggests, reasonably, that the only real effect that the boycott has on the French is on the French farmer who grows the grapes, and that farmer is a poor choice to be hurt by this broad response to actions by the French government. And he notes that an awful lot of Americans are hurt by the mis-aimed boycott: importers, distributors, and merchants. So he recommends a number of French wines for Thanksgiving (among them, burgundy, riesling, and pinot blanc). (He'll also recommend some American wines for Thanksgiving in his next column, in two weeks.)

Not surprisingly, his online wine chat today had a lot of discussion on the topic, from surprise that there are still people boycotting French wines to complaining that he spent too much of his "wine" column as an "op-ed" piece. (I don't think it was inappropriate of him to run this column, as it helps the reader have a better understanding of the boycott's potential impact on the wine industry, and Franz has the background to seriously discuss the history and ramifications of the boycott, as he's a political science professor in real life.)

I wonder whether this column is too late, in the sense that most of those who actually boycotted French wines have ended their boycott, or not especially relevant, as the boycott may not have had much lasting impact. It had an impact at the time, to be sure: I recall distributors talking about not selling a single case of French wine to retailers anywhere in the state over a period of a month. But sales appear to have picked back up, and in the 2002-03 sales year (August 1 to July 31, I think), the volume of Bordeaux wine sales to the U.S. rose 20 percent while the value of Bordeaux sales rose by 77 percent and Americans overtook Germans to become the largest purchasers of Bordeaux wines. While a lot of this was due to the increased demand for the 2000 vintage, it would seem to indicate that the boycott isn't having a whole lot of effect.