Thirsty Thursday Two

So we had an opportunity to participate at home in another cool bout of “Thirsty Thursday,” the live Webcast winetasting from the gang at Naked Wines.

Broadcast from Naked HQ situated in beautiful downtown Napa, ThirsThurs features a predetermined lineup of vinous offerings shipped out to prospective participants nationwide, and then invites said sippers to imbibe along with staff and special guests, all the while typing in real-time questions, tasting notes and general roundtable silliness from all concerned.

Last week’s edition was decidedly Syrah/Shiraz-centric, and spotlighted a pair of diverse Central Coast Cali blends from that original Rhône Ranger, Randall Grahm; a Western Aussie Shiraz from Fletcher Wines; as well as a Mendocino County Syrah from venerable vintner Jim Olsen, a seasoned wine pro who, in a previous lifetime, tended the juice at La Crema, among other oaky haunts.

Jim was the onscreen special guest for this Naked Wines Thirsty Thursday Thanksgiving Special beginning with a sort of “happy hour”: his California Chardonnay hailing, too, from Mendo. It’s a tremendously elegant Chard, exhibiting Jim’s light but firm hand on the oak.

And then, sometime between the instructions for everyone to pour, taste and discuss the delicious Jim Olsen Syrah 2011, and then the very tasty 2010 Fletcher Western Aussie offering, things got downright giddy.

First, we watched as the first course of a full Thanksgiving meal was served to our on-camera hosts and guest in a sort of reverse 3-D: a disembodied hand delivering a steam tray of victuals from behind the camera to those in front of it.

Great: I get to watch them eat a catered dinner while trying to juggle the Riedel.

But the back-and-forth Instant Message repartée between us salivating coast-to-coast TT participants was a wonderfully raucous mélange of intelligent wine questions, perceptive tasting notes and good-natured round-robin smack talk. Some of Kathy’s wine pals from Naked Wine’s various online boards were logged on for TT, and, in a cool way, I found myself marveling at this community; it felt like Old Home Wine Week.

I still find myself marveling, again, in a good way, the inclusion of Randall Grahm in the Naked Wines family. NW’s portfolio usually consists of the results of very talented winemakers, some with decades of experience making wine for “Da Man,” finally getting the resources to do it their way.

But Randall Grahm has done it his way for years, through good times and bad; he’s the very winemaking cat who puts the “icon” in “iconoclast.” With his 2011 Syrah-Viognier sporting a full 26% of the latter, we had to wonder if the juice was varietally co-fermented (usually a co-ferment job on these two limits the Viognier to a few percent, if that).

And his Central Coast 2011 “Close But No Cigare,” a blend of 76% Mourvèdre and 12 each Syrah and Grenache, is a lip-smacking second-label riff on his own “Le Cigare Volant.”

It’s nice to have both of these efforts, with which we regretfully toasted the conclusion of another Thirsty Thursday, in the Naked Wines fold.

But I still hope that Jim Olsen got the last piece of pumpkin pie.