WTN: Cali Chard and the oldest wine I've ever tasted!

Dinner tonight at Ella Restaurant in downtown Sacramento. Outstanding service, great wine list with some decent prices, great steak, duck, and pasta. Good time was had by all, with the following wines:

2006 Stags Leap Wine Cellars Chardonnay. From the wine list at about $15 above the winery retail price. Very nice California Chardonnay. Lovely light color. Has been through Malo and oak treatment, so it is definitely not "chablis-style" but the fruit is lovely citrus and apple? with outstanding acidity. Very elegant and balanaced, a lovely sipping wine. Not as rich and fruit forward as the Alpha Omega last month, but nice in a very Burgundian way. 91 points+

1987 Vina Tondonia Rioja Gran Reserva. Brought forward from the cold storage by the manager ( a very elegant woman dressed all in black) at JV Wines in Napa after I expressed my disappointance at missing a chance to buy the 1982 Bosconia

Light ruby in color with some orange-bricking? notes. Still a very lively wine after 21 years, with plentiful acidity. Soft structure with tannins pretty well resolved. That delicious sour cherry flavor profile that some find controversial but really hits the spot for me. I like this wine's style, which I find very refreshing and lively. Only caution is the American oak is still noticeable. Spanish wine experts-did even an old school Rioja house use more oak in the late 80s? The 1998 does not seem quite as heavy. Still..if any wine works well with American oak, I would have to say Rioja is the trick! 92 points. My oldest wine ever!

I had the 1987 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva at the winery tasting room in Rioja about 2 months ago. I, too, was impressed with this wine and I like your take on the oak treatment. Since you liked this, you should seek out the 1987 Heredia Bosconia GR which is another fine example of the traditionally-crafted wines from this producer. This one, to me, had more of the orange color on the rim, Even then, I think that these wines, when properly stored, will provide pleasurable drinking over several more years.

Ramon

Brian -

Any further details on Ella? We haven't been there yet but hope to get over there soon.

Mike:

Outstanding service with a somelier who had actually drunk older rioja! Very warm waitress.

Menu emphasizes small plates along with entrees. Somewhat pricey, of course, but not out of line. The entrees have better qpr. Ignore the Yelp.com comments on small portions. The complainers must dine at Cattlemen's Club and were disappointed that there are no 24 ounce ribeyes and 4 pound bakers!

Highlights: Good bread and butter. Excellent tiny oysters-very fresh and sweet. The pasta with egg and pancetta was not salty at all (ignore yelp.com) and as much as I enjoyed my steak, I almost could have the pasta as my entree instead. My New York Steak was sliced and served with "veal jus" that was much more delicious than it sounds-and excellent frites. Really good duck dish as well. My only disappointment is the house made ice cream was only ok.

The wine list is quite extensive and can be reasonably priced. Mostly California, but a range including some older vintages. The stated corkage policy is rather firmly oriented toward pushing you towards their list, with $20 first bottle and steeply graduated after that. On the other had, we ordered a lot of food and there were seven of us and they comped us the corkage on my Rioja (the Chardonnay was off their list).

Other warning: use their valet parking. I self-parked in the garage at the end of the block (K and 13th) and it cost me $14! After already spending way too much, that was not a fine end to the evening. I will walk from a few blocks away next time-it won't hurt me!!

Sounds good, Brian. I like the cooking they do at The Kitchen, so I figured Ella would be good as well.

Can't wait to give it a try.