This was a ton of fun to write, and I hope you check it out! Every time I contribute to MR I'm like, "Damn girl, u the luckiest." Not only is it one of my favorite sites ran by some of the dopest women I've ever met, but these amazing illustrations by Autumn Kimball? I mean, get out.
I will be out of the blog until August 24th exploring the wilderness and a case of wine.
If this is an urgent matter that requires my assistance: the answer is gamay.
Follow me on Instagram for possible updates/make sure I have not gotten munched by a bear.
I hadn't really thought about that... Hm. Okay, well, if in the extremely rare case this is my last published work--
Stay cool.
Cheers, and God speed.
❤️ MAR
Q: "What's up with all the California wine?!"
A: Research for an upcoming project, can't wait to share it!
Italy! Grapes! Hangovers! Wine Lips! A wine I cannot remember the name of until the very end! Enough "um"s and "like"s for my father to hang me in the town square! All in this episode of Ask A Wino!
Ask me questions about wine, life, love, poms, cats, Mexican food or Mac DeMarco on Twitter @MarissaARoss with #AskAWino or email me at LeisureEnthusiast@gmail.com.
Ouled Thaleb Syrah
Region: Zenata, Morocco
Year: 2011
Price: $16
Retailer: Silverlake Wine
I can't believe it's already August 11th, especially because I spent most of today believing it was the 10th. This summer has flown by, and is exemplified on the porch this evening as the sun begins to melt into the Pacific an hour earlier than it did just a month ago.
But it's like I've always said, "Summer only ends if you let it."
And this wine will be perfect for summer time feels all year round.
It is a very light and smoky syrah that tastes like I need a cheeseburger or twelve and a lake house with a balcony to stare at the sunset over. It's brisk, like you need a lightweight sweater or some baggy jeans to cozy up in before retiring to the fire with your friends. It feels like that smell. That BBQ smell that soaks up into your clothes and the salt that bakes into your skin and crunchy hair and you play Apples to Apples for hours before falling asleep in a bed that is not yours, but feels as though it could be. It is something so unfamiliar and so familiar all at once that there is no way to not feel at home with it all.
And that is this syrah: classic but exciting. Like claiming a top bunk in a new cabin.
Tasting Notes: Fermented in concrete and aged in French Oak, this is everything I love about big reds in flavor but lighter in body. It's like ribs that fall off the bone: delicious and easy to eat. Smells like Molton Brown black pepper body wash and cherries. Tastes not like body wash. The palate is bright berries perfectly balanced with plush tannins and a warm, soft, long-lingering finish.
Ross Test: A little bitter but still good.
Agnanum Falanghina
Region: Campania, Italy
Year: 2013
Price: $15.99
Retailer: DomaineLA
Another varietal I'd never tried before so I was like, "Yeah I'm gonna try this varietal!" because for the adventurous and brave spirit I lack in activities such as riding on motorcycles or jumping off top bunks, I make up for in my daring wine drinking.
So I'm drinking this Falanghina in mens underwear and shirt, which is my official s/s 2015 look, and just catching up on The Rock's Instagram, which is currently my favorite. I had never really given Dwayne Johnson much thought and I don't follow many celebrities on Instagram, but after drunkenly following him on Instagram in an airport bar two months ago, I've fallen in love with him. He's just so fucking likable! He's like Sofia Vergara with tons of muscles.
It's hot and I opened this white hoping for something bright and refreshing. I'm not disappointed in the wine, but this is not bright and refreshing. Upon first taste, this wine reminds me of scotch on both its bouquet and palate. Super smokey, but light enough to still be drinkable and not actually taste like scotch (thank god).
As it opens up, it tastes just like camping, and that briskness you feel as the breeze whips by when you first sit around the fire passing a flask of bourbon. Crackling fumes with a bit of heaviness, the kind of heaviness you need in the wilderness to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Such an interesting flavor profile, and one I didn't expect from an organic white wine. Usually they are so tart, and although this still has a tarty tinge, it is mostly grounded in classical elements. There are few wines I've tasted that have embodied earth, wind and fire so well and so balanced. It's gritty and smoky but airy.
Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but the more I drink the more I feel like I've been drinking whiskey. The intoxication is warm and fuzzy and a bit volatile. Like I could get into a bit of trouble, for better or for worse.
Or pass out in a sleeping bag.
Tasting Notes: The nose is pineapple on the grill and black licorice. The palate is very similar the with tropical and smoky notes, but with hints of fuzzy peach and salted caramel.
Ross Test: Surprisingly good!
Domaine Bordenave Juraçon Sec 'Terres de Memoire'
Varietal: Gros Manseng
Region: Sud-Ouest, France
Year: 2013
Price: $19.99
Retailer: DomaineLA
Even when I go into a wine shop with an idea of what wine I want to buy, I am always looking for what I didn't know I would buy. I've never had a gros manseng before now, and god damn is this one delicious. There is a chance I would have never had it had I not asked Dylan at Domaine, "What's new? What should I drink?"
And that's why you need to buy wine at wine shops and not grocery stores, and that's why you should never be afraid of not knowing what the hell you're doing. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it is the crux of drinking wine.
So now we're drinking gros manseng. What the fuck is gros manseng? Well, it's a white grape from Southern France. And the way that Domaine Bordenave is using it, well, it tastes like what I imagine it would taste like licking Brigitte Bardot's thigh after she climbs out of the Côte d'Azur. Blonde, salty, sticky, and totally sexy.
It's "Moi Je Joue" even though I've poured through my entire collection of Bardot trying to find a less cliche reference, but hey, sometimes hits are hits for a reason.
Exciting, enticing, and delightfully impish while still maintaining a firm grasp of rounded restraint. Even though this is a pop song, it is not sung by a young scampy Swift type. It has a certain weight to it, the kind of discipline only a woman knows.
Or perhaps that is simply Bardot's vocal range.
Whatever; it's beautiful and playful and buxom and powerful and DELICIOUS. I would, and DAMN WELL WILL, play cheek to cheek with this acerbic lover all night. Tart, medium bodied, great chilled but also delicious a touch warm. LIKE I SAID, IT'S BARDOT'S SALTY THIGH. COLD AND WET, OR MAYBE A LITTLE WARM AFTER LOUNGING ON A DECK. WITH A WAFT OF HER PERFECT 60'S POUF THAT IS ALSO SALTY AND PERFECT. YOU KNOW SHE IS ONE OF THOSE BITCHES WHOSE HAIR SOMEHOW LOOKS AMAZING AFTER DIVING OFF A YACHT. UGH.
Excuse me, I mean... LE SIGH.
"Moi Je Joue" to "La Madrague" real quick. I'm off to romantic dreaming now... which should tell you what kind of drunk this is... just, lovely.
Tasting Notes: Pissy color and smells like alcoholic pistachios. Sour, with lots of pineapple and lime notes. A light but lasting finish that may or not have a hint of acid reflex. Despite possible health indications, I will be drinking this whole bottle because it's so god damn good.
Ross Test: Great if you love chugging Sour Patch kids (which I do).
Rabasco Vino Rosso "Cancelli"
Varietal: Montepulciano
Region: Abruzzo, Italy
Year: 2014
Price: $29.99
Retailer: DomaineLA
I can't think of anything in the world I want more than to go back to Italy. I think about it every day. If I could pick up my life as I have it now and move it anywhere, I'd take it to Rome in a heartbeat. To stroll through Trastevere hand in hand, jasmine wafting on the wind, humming Nino Rota, stopping for a quick Spritz before dinner at Osteria Barberini. Walking through Villa Borhese at dusk, and cocktails at Harry's. Ugh. I just threw my head back in agony just thinking about it.
I've never lived anywhere but Southern California. IE, OC, LA. All over, and yet, nowhere. And life has been good. I can't complain, but sometimes I wonder if my California anchor is what makes me who I am, or if it is holding me back. Some days, I would really like to just move away and start over. I'd love to be someone no one knows, in a place I truly need to explore. I've never had either of those things. I know it's not too late, but as things stand now, it would be a really stupid decision.
But, this longing to leave and be an adventurer for once aches in my bones.
Maybe one day. After I have a bit of money and before I have children. Maybe then.
Until then, I will listen to Nino Rota in men's underwear with a fan on my face in Silverlake and Vini Rabasco "Cancelli" in my glass, sighing along with each orchestrated crescendo.
This wine reminds me so much of Italy. Its vibrance pulsating through me like a crazed taxi navigating traffic around the Seven Hills of Rome and its unmarked roundabouts, while maintaining such a calm and casual elegance. Have you noticed that about Italians? They're relatively unexcitable and very sophisticated. A cantankerous tank of a woman running the register at a market in Italy talking shit about me she doesn't realize I understand still has more poise than I do on my best night in Los Angeles.
That's not to say they aren't passionate though. Lord knows Italians have unbridled passion for basically everything, myself included. And that's what makes them even better. How can they be so restrained and so god damned wild all at once?
I'm not entirely sure. But what I do know is that this red blend of Vini Rabasco's embodies all that. The "Cancelli" is a rampant Fellini character: archetypal yet complex, simple yet so god damn sensual. It's Sylvia in the Trevi fountain, asking Marcello to come to her. She is in a beautiful gown, in a god damn fountain. THE TREVI FUCKING FOUNTAIN. IT IS SO CLASSIC AND ANCIENT AND REVERED AND THEN, HERE IS SOME BUXOM BLONDE CELEBRITY JUST JUMPING IN. JESUS CHRIST IS IT JUXTAPOSED BEAUTY AT ITS FINEST. ELGANT AND SO DAMN WILD.
I want to live in Fellini's Rome, but living in LA with this Rabasco will suit me just fine until then.
Tasting Notes: In the glass, bright ruby. On the nose, blackberries, cherries, wet Raven's Revenge sour candy from the 90's. On the palate, it is so lively cranberry and tart black fruits and a beautiful mineral linchpin. I could just die. So smooth yet mysteriously gripping. The finish is sybaritic, tipping on downright sexual. Nope, JK, I would straight up fuck this wine.
Ross Test: Better in a glass but still good. HEY, EVERYTHING IN ITALY IS GOOD.
Amplify Viognier
Price: $22.99
Region: Santa Ynez, California
Year: 2014
Retailer: DomaineLA
I first had Amplify wines while at Cliff's Edge, a restaurant I've been frequenting since I moved to Los Angels mostly for its Jungle Cruise-esque patio, California-savory menu and for impressing out of town family, but now mostly for its wine (and its patio). My friend Roni Ginach took over as wine director there this past spring, making it a oenophile's paradise. Roni is one of my favorite and most trusted people to just be like, "BRING ME WHATEVER YOU THINK IS DELICIOUS!" and then like a magical wine wizard, she does just that.
It was Roni who turned me onto Amplify's carignane at Cliff's Edge one night, and subsequently made me a full-on fan girl. I've been crushing bottles of the carignane like no tomorrow because when you chill it, it tastes just like cranberry juice (which I love). Also, I love their wine making practices. This small winery is ran by Cameron and Marlen Porter and they are "not fans of dogma", which basically means they may not be following every word that Rudolph Steiner put out, but they do care about their product and their land. They use native yeasts and neutral fermentations, farm for nurturing their ecosystem, and the only additive is sulfur (which is necessary to create wines that can age).
I was pretty much over the moon when I found out they had a viognier. Viognier is a cheeky white varietal that loves playing with misdirection. On the surface, it doesn't seem like a wine I would like very much. Everything about it from its color (faded 80's gold) to its bouquet (old 80's Dior perfume) scream "Ahhhh probably semi-sweet!" Which is not a risk I like taking. But I took it once and was glad I did. The palate is actually dry and drinkable despite being robustly floral and fruity.
Amplify's viognier is even more of a treat than your normal California viognier. I've had many from California that are a little thick and a little too rich, but Amplify does a stupendous job of balancing that richness with its tart, au naturale attributes. It is so complex and full of flavor, but is just so god damn citrus-ly carefree with such a lively finish I want to put on my bikini and run through some sprinklers (god damn am I bummed I can't do it the first summer I FINALLY have a backyard as an adult).
AHHH IT TASTES LIKE A COLD THICK BREEZE OF SOUR APPLES AND TROPICAL FRUITS THAT I WISH I WAS OUTSIDE DRINKING RIGHT NOWWW... but can't because a group of grey hawk bros have nested in my neighbor's tree and swoop at my pomeranians and it gives me great anxiety because I don't want my dogs to get taloned by FLYING BEASTS (that happen to be beautiful, but fuck them for trying to pick up my dogs for dinner WHICH ISN'T EVEN POSSIBLE THEY ARE SO DELUSIONAL, but still beautiful).
This wine tastes like summer, which I know I say a lot, but I'll never stop saying it. A California girl at heart, I'll never stop comparing the wines I love to bodies of water, fresh cut grass, hot concrete and sand, and unadult-erated freedom.
I'm so sad it's almost August. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to savor July, but remember when summer lasted forever? Bums me out when I think about how our perception of time is relative to how much time we have experienced and how time will only be shorter the longer we live it.
But then again, there are moments that last forever. Small tiny moments. Pressing your fingertips into crispy, dry sand on the dunes. Your feet stretching into unknown, cold areas inside your sheets. Showering after swim practice. The golden light as it fell across the California coast and across your grandmother's bedroom. All these things are so fleeting and yet, here they are. Fresher than tomorrow's farmer's market offerings, here those feelings are.
The Amplify viognier captures that for me. Those tiny moments. The perfect balance between brisk & fun, and whole-hearted & overwhelming.
Tasting notes: Hard floral on the nose, but citrus and tropical and nectarines on the palate. Long finish, like you swallowed a mouthful of the Pacific. <3
Yes, that's a <3
Ross Test: A little too floral! Stick to the glass.
UPDATE: NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE HERE!
These are the only things I know about Allloy Wine Works' grenache rosé:
1. It showed up this morning in a box from Field Recordings
2. It is handpicked
3. It is cellared & packaged by Field Recordings
WHO CARES
5. IT'S DELICIOUS
I haven't had a chance to cover Field Recordings on the blog because I tend to drink all the wine with my fiancé before I can sit down and write about it, but Field Recordings is one of my favorite California wines. It's hard for me to have a dinner without a cab franc or chenin blanc of theirs. They also make Fiction canned wine, which is the first canned red wine I've ever fully endorsed. Basically, I trust winemaker Andrew Jones' with my gut and soul.
When I first opened it, I wasn't quite sure, but after getting it to optimal temperature, I am extremely happy with this wine.
Do you remember the first Tennis album? Cape Dory? That's what this wine tastes like. Like pink dreamy clouds languidly drifting upon a cornflower blue horizon, white sails lightly billowing in the breeze while sandy feet dance drunkenly off-beat on a wet deck. It's so fun, and gritty. Like you're gross. You're a disgusting human covered in sweat, humidity and sunscreen. And it's the best. The boat may never leave the dock but it doesn't matter, because your dirty little feet are moving and the only thing you can think about is looking into your dance partner's eyes for all of eternity. Does he even know how to sail? WHO CARES. I HOPE HE DOESN'T AND IT'S AN ADVENTURE FOREVER!
It's so youthfully romantic that you don't even realize you've had sand in your bikini bottoms for the last eight hours. Then you drunkenly make your way to the head and discover a load in your pants and you laugh even more. And you spend all night laughing about the load in your pants over tall-boys OF WINE.
That is what this tastes like. It tastes like the springtime-of-my-life's ideals colliding with my adult-ass palate. It throws caution to the wind, but also takes great care of its flavors.
SOME REALNESS: They have the best tasting notes on the can I'VE EVER SEEN. AND THE ONLY ONE I'VE EVER BEEN LIKE, "DAMN! YEAH! YOU'RE RIGHT! THIS IS STRAWBERRY AND GRAPEFRUIT AND GUAVA AND MINT AND SOUR PATCH KIDS AND ROSE PETALS! DAMN! ALLOY GETS ITSELF/ME!"
I would just add "salt water sentimentality" and "MARISSA A. ROSS' SAP", but other than that, perfection.
I'm Marissa A. Ross.
I write and drink wine.
I have no qualifications to write about drinking wine,
aside from the fact that
I do it all the time.
“Can I just be Marissa, please? I want to be hilarious and sexy and smart and insanely knowledgeable about wine.”
—Mindy Kaling, New York Times bestselling author of Why Not Me?
“Funny as hell … Wine. All The Time. breaks down one of the most exclusive-seeming concepts and industries of our time, making it more approachable and inviting in anyone who cares to participate.”
—Leandra Medine, founder of Man Repeller
“For ‘beginners,’ [Wine. All the Time. is] a fun start to the insanely beautiful and rewarding world of natural wine. For ‘mediums’ (like me) it's a great refresher and enlightener. For ‘experts’ it will remind you about what wine should be: freaking fun times! No boring bourgeois sleeper chapters … super funny and inspiring and very important to the impending food and wine revolution!”
—Eric Wareheim, actor, comedian and creator of Tim & Eric Awesome Show
“Well written, engaging, and crazy funny.”
—Michael Cruse, Cruse Wine Co. and SF Chronicle's Winemaker of the Year 2016
Not all drunk emails are from your ex! You can get them from me too!
