Dare to be "Geeky"Time for Some REALLY Strange Grapes

Last blog I talked about Tannat, the grape found in Madiran wines. The blog before I talked about white varietals beginning with “V.” Today I sat down with Mike, one of my favorite distributors, to taste “Geeky” wines. This is a term we use for wines from obscure grapes that are often unusual. Sometimes it's impossible to decide if they are wonderful or just strange. In today's case, they were both.

First up was Burja Zelen 2010 from Slovenia. Zelen is a rare grape grown only in the Primorje region of Slovenia. It is not grown much because of low yields, but recently the grape has made a comeback. It is remotely related to the Italian grape Verduzzo. The wine is a golden yellow with a pretty bouquet of tropical fruit and spice. Its palate is rich with peach and apricot against an unusual background reminiscent of green tea. A nice acidity balances out the flavor.  Unfortunately, you will probably never see this grape. This particular producer makes the most of anyone in the world…135 cases.

Next up was Valdibella Munir Catarratto. Catarratto is one of the most ancient varietals in Sicily and was one of the original grapes used in the production of Marsala. The wine is incredibly aromatic with intense citrus notes. The fruit is nicely balanced with ample acidity and structure. This is a great everyday wine.

Last was the Valdibella Acamante Perricone 2010. Perricone is another ancient indigenous Sicilian grape. Only 340 hectares in all of Sicily--and the world--are devoted to its growth. The wine has a fragrant nose of fruits and spice, and I expected it to be full bodied. Instead, it is medium bodied with beautiful red berries, clove, and pepper, and surprisingly obvious tannins. This is a great summertime red. Of note, this varietal has an extremely high level of antioxidants that are so important in heart health. As a side note, you'll be glad to know that Valdibella's wines are certified non-mafia as indicated on the label.

I also want to mention one more wine I tasted recently, although not with Mike. St. Mont Les Bastions from the Basque influenced area of Southwestern France is a pretty little wine fashioned from local varietals--Arrufiac, Petit Courbu, and Mensang--found only in the immediate area. The wine has a very complex, fresh, fruity, floral and slightly herbal nose and palate. It is very refreshing and appealing. This is a great match for summertime fare or sipping alone on the deck.

Literally thousands of grapes are used in making wine. While Cabernet, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Merlot, and Malbec, as well as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc are well known for good reason, trying new, different, and sometimes obscure wines adds to your palate and you never know...you may find a gem among them.

DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH...LITERALLYMadiran—No Spoonful of Sugar Required for this Medicine to go Down

Madiran is a small village in Basque-influenced southwest France just north of the Pyrenees. It is also an appellation, and it gained worldwide attention when Roger Corder published his 2007 book The Red Wine Diet and recommended Madiran wines as the most heart healthy in the world.

Corder’s research revealed that red wines contain procyanidin, an antioxidant that prevents heart disease. The Tannat grape, the basis of red Madiran wines, has more procyanidin than any other grape. Coincidentally, the lifespan of men in the Madiran district is among the highest in the world.

The Tannat grape produces tannic, complex wines with rich dark fruit and raspberry flavors and aromas of spice, coffee and vanilla. These wines have had a reputation of being fiercely tannic, requiring years of aging before being drinkable. Now, Tannat is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Cabernet Franc which softens the tannin and results in a much more approachable wine.

Another way to soften tannins is a process called micro-oxygenation, introduced in 1991 specifically for Tannat grapes. Oxygen is introduced into fermenting wine in a controlled manner. This results in polymerization of the tannins into larger molecules which are perceived as softer.

1907 Madiran (Producteurs Plainmont and Cave Crousilles) is a spectacular example of the level of flavor, structure, and complexity these wines can reach at a $15.00 price tag. It is a blend of 70% Tannat, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc.

The nose of spice, coffee, and cocoa is followed by a blast of dark fruits and raspberries layered against a background of tannin, licorice, minerals, and a beautiful acidity. The result is a remarkably complex wine for the price. Its unusual combination of power and freshness makes it a spectacular match for grilled steaks or barbecued ribs on the back deck.

The 1907 is named for the year the appellation was first defined. It is produced by independent growers jointly with two cooperatives.

Basques immigrating to South America brought Tannat there, and it is now widely grown and has, in fact, become the national grape of Uruguay. The wines there are much fruitier and less tannic, and  although good, are very different than the beautiful Tannats from Madiran, especially the 1907.

1907 Madiran is a must have wine. Find it and buy it—lots of it. As good as it now, it’ll probably be even better next year.

To your health!

Are you an ABC? Try a V!

When summer’s warm weather comes, even die hard red drinkers turn to white wine. However, if you're sick of the over-oaked, buttery Chardonnays that flood the marketplace, even to the point of being an ABC (anything but Chardonnay) person, consider a different letter—V.

Viognier, a grape known for its floral aromatics and fruit-forward flavor profile, is grown in Condrieu and the Languedoc in France, and more recently in California and Australia. It is fairly low in acid and is often used as a blending grape to soften Shiraz in Australia. Great food wine, especially with Thai food. An excellent example is Triennes Sainte Fleur from southern France.

Verdicchio is grown primarily in the Marche region of Italy. It has a fairly marked acidity and a lemony citrus flavor profile with a definite almondy background. This wine can age and become more complex and layered. It is wonderful with seafood, chicken, or even pork. San Lorenzo Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Vigneto di Gino is one of my all-time favorite white wines. Aged on the lees for nine months, it is more medium-bodied and complex than most Verdicchios. Fantastic with bacon wrapped scallops.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano is from the area surrounding the town of San Gimignano in Tuscany. This wine is crisp and clean with good acidity and citrus fruit flavors. It's great with sushi. Cantine Gini is an excellent example. The palate is crisp and elegant with a hint of almond on the nose.

Vermentino is the major white grape of Sardinia. It produces wines of good acidity (despite the very hot growing conditions) and noticeable minerality without the citrus zing of many white wines.  Argiolas Costamolino is wonderful, with lots of fruit balanced with a beautiful minerality. It’s a beautiful match with fish and shellfish.

Verdejo is grown primarily in the Rueda region of Spain, although it originated in North Africa. It is also being grown successfully in Australia. This grape has aromas of tropical fruit with flavors of lime and green apple. An interesting example is Molly Dooker The Violinist. Molly Dooker means left-handed in Australia and this wine is typical of this estate…immense fruit extraction, huge flavor of tropical and citrus fruit.

The letter V rules in the summer. All of these wines are wonderful by themselves and with summertime fare at lunch and dinner. So get adventurous, forget the Chardonnay and the Pinot Grigio, and try some of these. You’ll be glad you did.

Memorable Memorial Day Wines

Today’s high is going to 94 degrees here in Denver. With Memorial Day Weekend approaching, I’ve got barbeque on my mind. Although beer is a great beverage choice, don’t overlook the many excellent wines that go beautifully with the bounty of the day. Lighter wines are perfect for sitting on the deck before dinner. Vinho Verde, the subject of my previous blog, is a great choice. The freshness of the fruit, the acidity, and the pétillance of the wine make it delightfully refreshing.

In my quest to write as little new material as possible, I’ll mention another good choice — Rosé, the subject of my blog prior to the one on Vinho Verde. The strawberry and melon flavors in a dry, light-bodied wine also perfectly complement many of the foods served, such as chicken, burgers, and salads.

For the red drinker, lighter style reds make more sense before food is served. Pinot Noir, Beaujolais (from the Gamay grape), and Schiava (an indigenous varietal from northern Italy) are all wonderful. I also suggest an extraordinary wine from Pic St Loup in the south of France — Le Loup Dans la Bergerie (literally, The Fox in the Sheep Pen). This is a medium bodied wine with awesome fruit and spice. It combines Grenache, Syrah and Merlot, is fairly easy to find, is inexpensive, and offers amazing depth of flavor.

While some white drinkers like oaky, buttery California Chardonnays, other varietals work better on a hot, sunny day. The citrusy zip of Pinot Grigio works well (Tieffenbruner is my favorite), as do the Spanish Albrinos (try Burgans). White Bordeaux from France and Soaves from Italy round out my favorites.

As the food arrives, there are myriad wines to choose from. Argentinian Malbec works great, no surprise since Argentinian barbeques are legendary. Renacer Punto Final and Durigutti are two of the best. California Zinfandel, such as Cosentino’s The Zin, are superb, as are Southern Italy’s Negroamaros (e.g. Menhir’s N Zero) and Nero D’Avolas. If you are doing steaks or burgers with blue cheese, try a nice easy going Cabernet like Rickshaw. If lamb is on the menu, the earthiness of the southern Cotes du Rhones makes these the perfect wines. Great examples are Domain Boisson Cairanne and Chapoutier Belleruche.

Whatever you drink, enjoy the holiday and drink responsibly (or let someone else drive home). Remember, great wines that make great food even better don’t have to break the bank. Cheers!

Word of the Day…Pétillant

Warm weather has arrived and it’s time—even for us devout red wine lovers—to look in different directions for great summertime wines, and also to see just how sharp your local wine merchant is. Go into the shop and tell him or her that you want a pétillant wine made from Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso, Azal, or Alvarinho grapes. If you get the correct answer, you can reassure yourself he knows what he is doing, and you’ll also have a fun, refreshing wine—Vinho Verde.

Vinho Verde is from the Minho region in the far northwestern part of Portugal. It can be red, rosé, or white, although most are white. The name literally means “green wine” but translates as “young wine,” and is meant to be drunk young, preferably within a year of bottling. So if you find a 1999 Vinho Verde tucked away in a forgotten corner somewhere, it’s more like finding a 1999 Bud Light than a white Burgundy.

These wines are fresh and have fruity aromas and flavors. They are injected with carbonation much like a soft drink. So while not sparkling, they are “fizzy.” The official term is the French word pétillant (pay tee ya[n]), or slightly sparkling. Although the bubbles die fairly quickly, the nice acid zing keeps the wine refreshing.

Vinho Verde is great by itself on the back deck or by the pool, and is absolutely wonderful with shellfish. It’s also great with spicy food because it is low in alcohol (8-12%). Alcohol enhances the effects of hot spices, which is why a nice juicy Zinfandel from Lodi causes spicy to become painful, and why beer is the beverage of choice with Indian food. The final reason to buy lots of this wine is that it is ridiculously cheap, often in the $7.00 or $8.00 range. Low alcohol plus inexpensive means buy several bottles.

Thousands of producers of this wine exist, and often a dozen or so can be found in a single store. Here are a few that are particularly good:

Gazela is pale straw color with hints of brassy green and simple white fruit flavors with a hint of melon. The carbonation adds a bit of pizzazz to the crisp dry flavor. A great match for shellfish and great by itself.

 

Casal Garcia is one of the more fruity examples with peaches and citrus on both the nose and palate. It is particularly good with carnitas and guacamole.

Twin Vines has an interesting twist on the nose and palate—fresh nectarines and lime. Great especially on its own on the deck.

Don’t try to seriously contemplate these wines. They are just easy, fun wines to drink in the summer. If you haven’t tried them, now’s the time.

You Can Drink Rosé and Still Be a Bad Ass

All you macho types keep in mind these words coming from Charles and Charles (a joint project between Charles Smith and Charles Bieler). It’s spring...the beginning of Rosé season.

Rosé wines are made from red grapes. The grape skins have very limited contact with the juice which gives the wines a pink color. The shorter the contact, the lighter the color. While Rosé can be sweet, off dry, or bone dry, today I'm talking about the beautiful decidedly dry type.  The flavors of Rosé wines tend to be subtle versions of their red varietal counterparts—strawberry, cherry, watermelon, citrus, and raspberry.

These wines are perfect for spring and summer, as they are served chilled and are probably the most food friendly and food versatile wines on the planet. The light body and delicate flavors make them ideal picnic wines that go well with roast beef, chicken or ham sandwiches, egg or potato salad, and even chips and dip. They are great for backyard barbeques, easily handling burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and even steaks. And nothing is better than Rosé to drink with nothing at all on a bright summer day. They are also great values, most being in the 10 to 20 dollar range.

Rosés got a bad rap after the winemaker at Sutter Home invented White Zinfandel completely by accident (an arrested fermentation).  This started the flood of sweet wine cooler-like blush wines from California. Consequently, in the past I've had people run from the tasting bar when I did a Rosé tasting. Dry Rosé, though, is a wonderful wine, and sales are going up. People are finding pleasant surprises at store tastings even if all the wines are pink.

There are hundreds of Rosés on the market. I'm going to mention three that are reasonably priced, fairly easy to find, and outstanding.

Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Rosé 2011 screams “Loire Valley” with its strong minerality and beautiful acidity. It is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Gamay. The nose and palate are full of rose petals, strawberries, bell pepper, and a bit of peaty earth. The finish is lingering and perfectly balanced.

Bieler Pere et Fils Rosé 2011 is from Provence, a renowned area of Rosé production. This deeply colored Rosé is Syrah driven (50%), blended with 30% Grenache and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is cranberry red in color with a nose of raspberry, cherry, and wild strawberry. It is crisp and flavorful on the palate with a medium body and notes of red berries, cherries, and spice.  The finish is long and refreshing.

Feudi di San Gregorio Ros’aura Rosato 2011 is made from 100% Aglianico which is known for making very powerful tannic wines. The wine is a brilliant ruby color with a huge nose of freshly crushed strawberries and cherries. Medium bodied and intensely fruit driven with a palate of strawberry preserves, cherries, and a hint of green herbs, it has a lingering but crisp finish. This is a powerful Rosé, and has always been one of my favorites.

These wines are coming into stores in large numbers this time of year and can be found at great prices.  So all you guys, if your football coach invites you to dinner, be brave and grab a bottle of dry pink wine. He’ll be impressed with your wine savvy.

The Amazing Lady Winemakers of Italy

Women are making their mark in all walks of life, including the wine industry. While America has its Helen Turley, nowhere are women making a greater impact on winemaking than in Italy, where three women are rapidly joining the ranks of the truly elite.

Elisabetta Foradori has become one of Italy's "superstar" winemakers and without a doubt is Italy's finest producer of wines made from Teraldego, one of Italy's oldest and finest endogenous grapes. All of her vineyards are in the Campo Rotaliano region of Trentino, where this grape (genetically related to Syrah) reaches its zenith. From these biodynamically farmed vineyards she is quietly making some of Italy's most complex, deep and compelling wines.

The style of Foradori's Teraldego is stunning and unique. The bouquet is of sweet black fruit, orange, chocolate, herbs and soil. On the palate the wines are graceful, focused and beautifully balanced, somehow refining a robust somewhat Syrah-like flavor profile of black fruit, cherry and plum, with a hint of chocolate. The tannins and acidity are perfectly integrated. She has single-handedly renewed interest in a previously little known varietal and her wines are in restaurants all over Italy.

Foradori's entry level wine is called simply Foradori (about $25) and is wonderful. Her flagship wine is called Granato, comes from her finest selection of grapes and is aged 12-15 months in used oak. It is spectacular, worth the $60 price tag. She also makes two single vineyard wines which are now just arriving in the U.S. I can't wait.

Nicoletta Bocca founded her winery in 1992. Since then she has raised the stakes for production of Dolcetto and there's simply no stopping her. She has amassed 16 acres of old vines (40-60 years old) nestled in the hills of Dogliani, an area gifted for long-lived wines with strong tannins that have a higher aptitude for aging and the ability to maintain freshness despite the evolution of flavors and complexity. She stresses the characteristics that come naturally from extraction during fermentation and aging in wood instead of the fruitiness and easy drinkability that this grapes has been known for....until now.

Her wines, beginning with her stunning entry level Valdiba ($16) and ending with her fabulous Dogliani ($27) are hugely intense with beautiful fruit (black cherry, plum blackberry) and floral notes. There is a very noticeable background of stone and mineral that marks her wines with a unique identity. I recently tasted a vertical of the Dogliani beginning with the 2003 and they were by far the best Dolcettos I've ever drunk.

While only in her twenties, the immensely talented and precocious Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti has charmed the world with her organically grown local varietals, namely Grillo, Frappato, and Nero D'Avola. She has taken the natural wine movement to dizzying new heights and there is as much fanfare about her unwavering dedication to producing terroir driven wines as there is the enjoyment of the resulting wines' grace and beauty. She has rapidly become Sicily's "rockstar" winemaker.

Occhipinti's entry level wines are called TAMI ($12-18), a joint project between her and some friends including her boyfriend, owner of Tami Wine Bar in nearby Siracusa. The TAMI IGT Grillo is one of the most aromatic wines imaginable with tangerine, jasmine tea, chalky minerals and figs leaping from the glass. On the palate there is ample fruit balanced by perfect acidity and brilliant minerality. Smelling the TAMI IGT Frappato is like walking in a ripe strawberry field. Beaujolais-like in body, there is sweet black cherry, blackberry and chocolate on the palate with a lively fresh acidity. It is a beautiful summertime red. The TAMI IGT Nero D'Avola is a soft, elegant expression of a varietal that can be bold and fruit forward. The nose is very aromatic with delicate notes of violets, sage and strawberries. The palate is extraordinarily elegant with layers of boysenberry, espresso and and licorice. There is amazing complexity for a medium-bodied wine. Finally, there is her Occhipinti SP68 IGT Rosso ($26), a blend of Frappato and Nero D'Avola. It is named for the road that goes by her estate. The wine combines the spiciness of Zinfandel with the earthiness of a Chianti, and possesses a zippy acidity that gives it an eccentric twist. This is an amazing wine, not to be missed if you can find it.

If you can find any of these wines, buy them while you can. They are going to get harder to find and more expensive as the reputations of these ladies continue to grow.