Archives for October, 2006
Black is Beautiful: Domaine Alfred, Chamisal Vineyard, Estate Syrah, 2003 (A)
Black Beauty, Black as Night, Black and Proud, Black is Beautiful, Black Like Me, Back in Black, Black is Back, The Black Album, The Black Grape. Syrah. According to a rather un-P.C. aphorism, once you go black, you never go back. Count me in. Maybe it’s just the black Irish in me but there is no single varietal that woos me as successfully as Syrah. Holding this one up to the light reveals almost nothing except a thin ring of aubergine (eggplant purple) around the perimeter — the wine’s black water shore against the glass.
Particulars: made in a Northern Rhone style, aged in new and young French Oak, unfiltered, unfined, 790 cases made in Edna Valley, San Luis Obispo, southern California.
Also known as Shiraz (usually in Australia but also sometimes in South Africa and California), one characteristic of Syrah is longevity and this will surely age well but it is exquisite in it’s youth. The best Syrah’s, like this one, have a wide palette of impressions in the nose and on the tongue from berry, to spice, to wood, to musk, to tar. This one is young enough that the berry is strong and the darker, earthier sensations are mellow and soft.
Drink with big, bold dishes: barbecue, grilled or smoked red meat, suasage, lamb, venison. I drank it with one of my standard pizza’s (chicken, spinach, red onion, kalamata olives, garlic) but I had them add mushrooms so I could justify washing it down with this wine. It also stands alone very well. I finished the bottle as a night cap when I realized I was out of brandy.
Grillo
I opened up a Grillo from Sicily the other night to try it out with some Thai coconut/shrimp soup we were having. I made this wine from a Wine Expert kit in March 2006. This kit was from their best product line, the limited edition series.
I have never had this grape on its own as it is usually a mixing grape, so comparing is beyond this write-up. The grape dates back 2500 years and traces its roots to Sicily. It is most often known as one of the grapes used to make Marsala.
The wine turned out to be around 13 to 13.5% alcohol, which with the 8 month aging has mellowed with the acidity somewhat. This was my first bottle since trying one right after production. The wine is very floral to the nose and presents itself the same on the pallet. The acid seems rather high, so it is probably better to consume with food. The acid and a citrusy flavor combined well with each other. It also went well with the moderately spicy coconut based seafood soup. Its viscosity was closer to Sauvignon Blanc, but dept of flavor was closer to a steel tank fermented Chard. The wine was very clear with a pleasing light straw color.
Cost of production was about $4. I would say this is a $12-14 bottle equivalent, but yet I have nothing to compare it too. I have 26 bottles left, and I think I will start to work on depleting them with the help of my lovely assistant, Boomchick.
Kitchen Chick: WBW #27: Icy Desserts
I haven’t participated in WBW the last few months mostly due to minor conflicts in my availability and the timing of the event. WBW #26, hosted by Beau of Basic Juice, was done as a kind of blind tasting contest but as I type the guesses haven’t been posted yet. I hope he keeps the guesses and answers separate from the original list ’cause I’d still like to make some guesses if I get a few spare minutes.
The theme for November, as chosen by Kitchen Chick is Icy Desserts (Icewine) which means if I’m going to participate I guess I’m gonna have to fire up the wood stove. It’s freakin’ cold already (38F this morning) and we haven’t started using our heat yet. You may think 38 is cold enough to activate the furnace but we’re getting ready for peak oil by learning to be a little more conservative in our energy usage (and it still warms up to the 60’s during the afternoon).
I’d rather drink Icewine, if I drink it at all, in summer but I’ll still give this one a whirl. It’s not served as cold as it’s name implies but, still, as the outside temperature goes down, the temperature of my wines goes up and I’m starting to stock up on beefy reds. Icewine is usually too treacly sweet for my tastes and even if I find a good one I’ll only drink a tiny glass so I’ll have to call the gang of fools in for this one. Stay tuned…
Two From Liguria
[This is another note from our trip to Italy a few weeks ago.]
We tried two Lupi wines — a Rosesse and a Pigato, both native to Liguria and not afforded much respect outside of it. They each posess piney, minerally, almost rough flavors yet were decidely enjoyed. Pigato is white and Rosesse is red. The Rosesse in particular tastes like Monterosso smells: scrub pine, sandy soil, salt water and some kind of herb. It’s very light, almost rosé colored, gamey, earthy, funky and only a little fruity (berry mostly). As someone who loves variety and difference I am thrilled to discover these two varietals just because they’re so unusual. I don’t know if there’s an Italian word or phrase that complements the French ‘terroir’ but these are wines of this very specific place.
Bogle, Phantom, 2003 (B+)
Particulars: 59% Petite Sirah, 39% Old Vine Zinfandel, 2% Old Vine Mourvèdre; 14.6% alcohol; 20 months in American oak.
A chocolate cranberry candy bar. Noticeable but not overpowering tannins. Full bodied, balanced, drinkable now and will remain so, I think, for a few years.
It’s got a lovely, black, minimalistic label, with an ethereal image of shilouetted vines atop a simple yet dramatic typeface. I admit, I am influenced by book covers but I’ve had pleasurable experiences with Bogle wines before so this was an easy pick at $16.
On a scale of Ick to Love it! this easily falls into I’d do it again without hesitation.
Tasting Notes Won’t Die
I’ve posted a few times about my ambivalence about posting tasting notes. My dilemma is that I don’t feel remotely qualified to review wine from anything remotely resembling an objective perspective and therefore think any tasting notes I write are largely meaningless to anyone that doesn’t know me and my sensibilities and tastes but I also feel compelled to record my responses to or impressions of the wines I drink if for no other reason than to be able to track what I’m drinking for the purpose of deciding whether or not I want to drink that wine again and, if so, under what circumstances.
I am compelled to therefore continue posting tasting notes, however supercilious they may appear to be. I just wish I could think of something else to call them other than “tasting notes.” Some category labels I’ve considered are, “Tasting Bunkum,” “assurdità dell’assaggio,” “absurdités de vin,” “silliness del vino,” or various other ridiculous things. The goal was to find something that sounded pretentious but at the same time acknowledged the absurdity of my pretending to be any kind of authority on wine.
Alas, my wit escapes me and I cannot think of anything other than “tatsing notes.” Any ideas?
Old World (pseudo) New World Face Off
We did a comparison tasting tonight — a Brunello di Montalcino against an Amarone. Two wines that are not at all alike. We did it because we got to talking with John Luigi (more about hiim later) about new world style versus old world style and he thought these were too good examples with the Brunello being old world and the Amarone new. While everybody in our group likes many different wines and styles there does seem to be a propensity for new world wines (big, jammy, spicy zinfandel, petite sirah, rhone blends, big cabs, etc.). Most of us had tasted Brunello at least a few times but Amarone was new for some. We tasted them with an assortment of bread, olio, olives and parma ham (prosciutto). They both needed a little time to breath and had been stored in the fridge so we decanted them about thirty minutes before tasting. They continued to open up as we tasted and it was an hour before they seemed to even out. More than a couple of people claimed the bold quality and richness of the Amarone required slower sipping but they still managed to finish that bottle well before the Brunello. Our intention wasn’t to rate the wines or choose one as better or worse than the other - we just wanted to get a sense of the differences.
My take is that the Amarone wants to party and the Brunello is more interested in a slow candlelight dinner. If they were breakfast cereals the Amarone is Raisin Bran and the Brunello Grape Nuts, if breads, cinammon toast with butter to fresh baked barely toasted dry whole wheat. I won’t commit to liking one more than the other but clearly they are for different occasions.
I should point out that these are completely different wines and nobody in their right mind would actually compare them. Amarone is mainly Corvina (grape) and is made in a “ripasso” style while Brunello is Sangiovese and crafted in a more traditional manner but aged at least five years before release (the differences are more profound than that). These wines couldn’t be more different but since each, to my mind, is an expression of an artisanal winemaking process I thought it would be educational to taste them together.
Incidental Note from L’Uccelliera
[Reminder, I’m posting after the fact. The following note is from Monday, Sep. 25 in Monterosso, Liguria, Italia.]
Sgra. Dink and Sgra. O-S-M scored a mini tour of Renato’s (our landkeeper, maintenance guy, or something like that, more about him to come) small wine-making cellar and they tasted a couple of immature wines, one that was very young and cloudy and the other a year old and finer. With the language difficulty (none of us speak Italian, Renato not a word of English) they have no idea what they tasted but were excited to have been invited in for a peek. We’re going to be here through the end of the week so I’m hoping to get a chance to check it out for myself.
It’s extremely frustrating not to have easy internet access. I also didn’t bring my favorite Wines of Italy book because it was bulky so I have very little reference material. It’s amazing how dependent I’ve become on the ‘net for collecting information. I enjoy the process of attempting to communicate with the locals and we get along pretty well with the basics but I’m not able to get specific or detailed information about any of the house wines we’ve been drinking. The whites have been a little easier to figure out because they’re usually Cinque Terre but the reds have been tricky. Today at lunch I had a marvelous effervescent red that was served cool. It was medium dark in color but light bodied and nothing like the rosesse from last night. I’m wondering if it might have been a ciliegiolo which is a cherry-scented grape used in light reds or rosé but it may as well have been a sangiovese or blend of the two.
The local market has much better prices but the entoteca’s have a lot more wines to choose from. I saw a handful of the Cinque Terre, Vermentino and local red wines selling for 3-5 Euros less at the market than the enotecas’s which are where most of the tourists shop.
Preston, Roussanne, 2005 (B)
A sweet yet mildly acidic, creamy, smooth, aromatic herb tinged delight. Luscious and full, it overpowered my chicken fajitas. Lovely but not what I had in mind. Let’s try again sometime.
Meeker, Cabernet Franc, 2004 (B+)
Meeker ain’t saying if this is 100% or a blend but we know it’s at least 75% cabernet franc from Alexander Valley. It’s the first Cabernet Franc to emerge from Meeker’s teepee and I hope they keep on keepin’ on with it. The initial aroma is a chocolate covered black cherry ice pick but this wine is the reason I trim my nose hairs. Letting my beak linger in the glass reveals more chocolate and fruit, especially dark, over-ripe strawberry and raisin. The taste is only a shade less dramatic falling just short of celebrity but, given a little time in the woodshed, this wine is destined for greatness. It’s a precociously young wine whose tannins whisper at you that it’s ready to be deliciously consumed but if you wait a couple more years it’ll ravish instead of please.
Ciak!
We had a great dinner ar Ristorante Ciak (tchak!) Sunday night. Earlier in the day, while walking around old downtown, we saw this guy with a short grizzled beard sitting at a sidewalk cafe who reminded us of Popeye with his small white sailor cap and blue bandana tied around his neck over a plain white t-shirt. Turns out he was the chef at this restaurant and when we asked our server what ‘Ciak’ meant he pointed to the chef and said, “he is Ciak.” Later, we noticed a Ciak cafe and a some other kind of shop with his name on it. We presumed Ciak was quite the successful businessman who ran several small local shops and ristorantes but then this morning we started seeing several more ‘Ciak’ shops and stores. We can’t find the word in our dictionary so I’ll have to wait until I get internet acess to figure out what it really means — maybe chef?
Dinner was simply fabulous and fabulously simple insalata mista et pasta alla marinara, which seems to be one of the signature dishes of the area. The ristorante only offers a handful of local wines — less than a dozen — and we tried two of the three reds they offered. I’m gonna have to check the spelling later ’cause I’m having a hard time reading my hastily scribbled notes. They were both Colli di Luni Rosso DOC, one a Calvet(?) 2005 and the other a LVNAE 2003 (I don’t know if that’s a stylized ‘U’ or really a ‘v’). Colli di Luni Rosso is a red blend consisting of 60-70% sangiovese, at least 15% canaiolo nero and/or ciliegolo and no more than 25% other red grapes (but not more than 10% cabernet savignon). Both were well received by the group with the LVNAE more popular because it was fuller and bolder. This group has a strong bias for new world style wines but I’m determinedely trying to sway us towards the more traditionally crafted old world style. These two wines are a step in the right direction — although the LVNAE was bold, fruity and full, it still is a very traditional old world blend.
update - We later found out that Ciak actually is quite the successful businessman and he really does own all those places adorned with his name. By coincidence, he’s the brother of Maria, who is our local contact for the house we’re renting. More about her to come…
A Taste of Cinque Terre
During the forty-three hours after we left Atlanta we couldn’t have slept more than five or six hours and much of that was in ten and twenty minute increments. We disembarked in Monterosso Saturday morning at 9:40 am but our house wasn’t available until 4:00 pm so we spent most of the day taking our luggage on a tour of the town until we were ready to drop. None of our amica/o’s had arrived yet. Thankfully, we were at least finally able to get our vacation on by sampling some of the local wines. I typed this in an apparantely nameless wine bar, based on the visible evidence — the signs say simply, Enoteca, Bar, Cafeteria, Wine Bar & Food. We ordered by the glass and the single waitrette was so busy we coulldn’t possibly attempt a conversation to find out anything more than the wine name as listed on the menu. We had one glass of pigato, one Cinque Terre “Sassarini” and two vermentinos.
I had been led to believe that average Liguria wines were not going to be very good but such generalizations are meaningless. Wine is wine and each one has it’s own unique characteristics and every person has to be their own ‘decider’ about what’s good for them or not. Wine critics and ’serious oenophiles’ may tell us that there are objective standards that determine a wine’s quality but for the average wine drinker taste is simply and easily determined (not adressing the issue of spoiled or tainted wine here): I like the sensation I get when I drink this wine or I don’t: I like this one better in the summer, that one in winter, this one before dinner, that one during and this one first thing in the morning with a piece of leftover cold pizza. Anyone who appreciates subtlety, nuance, craft, or artistry can take it a lot further than that, especially if they posess the patience, discipline and wherewithal to explore the innumerable combinations of appelation and varietal that are out there but most people just want to be able to pick something out with a reasonable probability of liking it. For years I was perfectly happy selecting from a handful of the most popular varietals (cabernet, merlot, sauvignon blanc and almost any inexpensive French (Vin de Pays) or Italian (Vino de Tavola”) red table wine until my lifestyle evolved to the point where I could afford to spend a little more time and money exploring other options. Now, the question isn’t usually, “do I like it or not” but instead, “what do I like about it and under what circumstances will I appreciate this one most.”
Of the three local wines tasted, all are enjoyable as light, slightly floral, summer beach sippers. The Cinque Terre “Sassini” and Vermentino, were similarly light and floral. Cinque Terre wines are typically a blend of three grapes: bosco, albarola and vermentino. Vermentino wines must be at least 90% vermentino — a ratio which I presume applies to Pigato as well. Signora Dink didn’t like the rougher taste of the Pigato we had but I did - it was more minerally and less smooth then the others — maybe a little piney but it was a small glass and I would like to have had more time with it. Given that we hadn’t slept or eaten much in the previous forty-eight hours we didn’t so much savor the wine as chug it.
L’Uccelliera
I have posted the first small batch of photos from the trip. These are of the house we rented in Monterosso del Mare.
Rental Information and more photos.
So, What About The Wine in Liguria?
Internet access was so difficult where we were that I just gave up on trying. I’ve got plenty of notes, though, and providing I can still read them I’ll be posting them piecemeal over the next week or two.
I Can’t Tell You If We Got Home Until You Read This Post Because It Would Ruin The Suspense.
Waiting to get on the plane home was even more wracking then trying to get there. The plane was oversold again and if we didn’t get on it there was only one more flight to the states that day (to NYC) which was also oversold. Flying standby requires waiting until the literal last minute when it can finally be determined if there are any seats left. The assignment of the empty seats is determined by a priority assigned to each standby passenger based on the status of their ticket. I peaked over the counter and saw that there were a total of 5 names on the list with me being in position number 3 and Mrs. Dink being in position 5. That meant if there were 5 empty seats we’d all get one but if there were 4 or less Mrs. Dink would be left behind. When they called me to the counter I was told they had 3 seats left and I would be the last person allowed on board. Hoping to score some points from the missus that I could cash in on when we got home I asked if she could go in my place. Alas, no, if I declined the seat had to go to person in postion number 4. Fool that I am I declined. The Italian gate attendants were much friendlier then the pissy Atlanta people and they promised that they would help us try to get on the NYC plane if we hung out until they could get this one off the ground.
Resigned and dismayed we sat down and watched the last few people getting on board. Fucking lousy shit-ass, motherfucking, worthless Nobuddy Pass. Never again.
The attendant returned with new information. Turns out that number 4 declined the seat because she was also part of a couple and didn’t want to separate. In addition, there was one more empty seat. We were now told that there were two empty seats but because of the priority system they could only offer one to us and one to the other couple if we were willing to split up. We agreed that Mrs. Dink would board and I would stay. She gave me her last few Euro’s and I started heading for the wine bar — earlier I saw a Brunello being offered there for $50 a bottle and this seemed like a fine time to get drunk.
Alas, I had to forego the Brunello… the other couple, who looked no older than 18, still couldn’t bring themselves to split up. Young love is stupid love. They gave me her seat and rushed us on the plane. It gets better. We were in rows 1 and 3 — First Class!
There was another momentary scare when Mrs. Dink discovered her seat was broken but they gave her a glass of Prosecco and assured her they would keep her on board even if she had to sit in one of the attendants seats. They fixed the chair but it wasn’t until we were aloft that either of us could relax.
I passed on the Prosecco and instead had a Casal De Gorchs, Carménere Riserva, 2005 (Rapel, Chile). It was no Brunello but it couldn’t have been a better alternative for the occasion. It was soothingly silky and lush and went down like a warm cup of licorice laced coffee. Everything about it was black: black cherry, black raspberry, black pepper, black leather, black earth.
At lunch, I had to order salmon ’cause they were out of beef. I momentarily considered switching to a white because there were no lighter reds available but they only had a choice of chardonnay’s and I wasn’t going there after more than a week of A.B.C. I was pleasantly surprised when the salmon came covered in a brown porcini sauce that paired perfectly with the Casal De Gorchs.
We arrived home and on time but we’ll still never use a Nobuddy Pass for a major trip like this again.
Access and Italian Keyboards Suck
Internet access is still pretty much in the dark ages in Montorosso and Milan — at least in the neighborhoods I’m staying in. My mouse doesn’t move left until Ià ve smacked it hard three times in a row, it took me a few minutes just to figure out how to make an @ symbol, the keys are too small, and many are in different locations that I’m accustomed to. On top of that Iìm being charged by the minute. I’m just going to have to wait until I’m stateside to post more about the trip.
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