Sunset McMinnville OR 6/8/08
Chicken Little
All it takes are gray skies and a little more rain than usual and the wine press panics. Taking the Chicken Little approach to winegrowing, the sky-is-falling stories soon start to appear. Perhaps this is understandable as bad news sells better than good. Thankfully, the winegrowers themselves have much cooler heads. Cooler heads like Adelsheim’s excellent winemaker David Paige in the article below:
Wines & Vines - News Headlines - Northwest Vineyards Off to a Cool Start
David Paige notes, “We’re not at the point where anybody should be declaring disaster,” he said. “If we do our jobs, we are going to be absolutely fine. And if we get all the wrong weather, we’ll probably still be fine—as long as we’re on top of it.”
The wine press seems to still operate with a 70’s mentality, which is the last time a major wine region suffered vintages that produced commercially unsalable wine like Barolo and Bordeaux in 1972. The fact is that enology and viticulture have advanced so far since those days that vintages like that will not occur again. Every year producers can make at the minimum good wines. The only question vintage offers any more is how hard they’ll have to work and how good the wines will be.
For great reds today, the only rating necessary is if they’re ready to drink young or not. It’s quite nice of Mother Nature to mix vintages that need aging with those ready to drink young.
Bet You 10 Bucks
I’ll bet you ten bucks you’ll love these two wines. They both cost ten bucks each on top of it.
Now that I think it about I should reconsider. I could be out the $10 and I’d prefer to have a another bottle of either of these two simply beautiful wines.
- Sauvignon, Marigny-Neuf, Vin de Pays du Val de Loire, 2007 - A bone jarring, slap in the face refreshing style of sauvignon blanc. Lovers of New Zealand sauvignon will love the ample “cat pee” punch, but there is more here with a bracing slate and mineral component. This is better than brushing your teeth as your mouth will never feel cleaner than it does after a gulp of this tart beauty. A baby Sancerre that longs for goat cheese or oysters.
- Bardolino, Le Fontane, Corte Gardoni, 2006 - Light, almost delicate with a pure, simple clean fresh cherry nose and a lifting freshness on the palate driven by acidity and perhaps a bit of CO2. Lithe and quick from beginning to end, the mouthwatering finish makes you grab for your fork. Don’t think: eat, drink, talk and enjoy - preferably a bit chilled with your best homemade pizza. (Buy Online)
So I’m taking back my $10 bet as these wines are both too light and too acid driven for most consumers. Yet these are the types of wines I like for everyday drinking. They are not only moderate in alcohol, but so refreshing and uplifting with a meal that Wednesday night leftovers become a cause for celebration.
Worth Reading: Jeremy Parzen Learns How to Love Barrique
Slovenia Day 1: Movia (my barrique epiphany) « Do Bianchi
The ever eloquent Jeremy Parzen at Do Bianchi discovers that barrique are not evil just because the people that use them can be.
The ever eloquent Jeremy Parzen at Do Bianchi discovers that barrique are not evil just because the people that use them can be.
Trading Down On Wine
"You'll see people who on a regular basis have been drinking Kendall-Jackson at $13 and all of a sudden Blackstone is fine at $10," said Dale Stratton, vice president of strategic insights for Constellation Wines U.S., which owns Blackstone, the popular merlot brand. "Loyalty is very low in our category."
Is moving down to Blackstone from Kendall Jackson really trading down? It seems to me that wines like this are indistinguishable from each other. The real question would be why in the world would anyone pay $3 more for the Kendall Jackson in the first place? Mr. Stratton's comment, "Loyalty is very low in our category" is true for one reason: there is no real difference between California wines in this price range. Considering the fact that they know this fact, I can't imagine that the marketing directors and sales managers of these companies sleep very well at night.
A marketing plan that values conformity and fears personality creates this kind of nightmare for those that practice it. Consumers are loyal to wines with distinctive character, which is something any producer should be able to deliver when a wine is over $10 a bottle. These wines don't.
America's greatest wines are stunning examples of the winemaker's art that rival any wine in the world. Why can't we make a good $10 merlot?
Flogging Fino
We beat the crap out of it: ship it badly, store it badly, serve it badly. I wonder why sales are not great for Sherry? While the more robust Oloroso and Sweet Sherry wines can somewhat stand up to this abuse, the delicate flower that is Fino cannot.
For practical purposes there are really only two types of Sherry, Fino and Oloroso, and everything else is a riff off of those two themes. What divides these two wines is the Flor, a film of yeast cells that is allowed to develop in the partially filled barrels. When the Flor is very thick the wine becomes Fino, while those where the Flor hardly develops at all become Oloroso. Under the thick coating of Flor the Fino is protected from oxidation, while Oloroso becomes dark brown as it is very oxidized. Fino and Oloroso are two different wines to be served in different ways. The Oloroso wines are usually thought of as meditation wines, something to sip on while reading a book and munching on almonds in front of the fire. While Fino is thought of as, well, a wine. Fino should be consumed just as you’d drink a chardonnay or sauvignon blanc with the same food and in the same situations. By the way, my glass of choice for Fino is a Champagne flute.
For a more in-depth article and a look at all the Sherry types click on this link.
Fino Sherry should be served as young as possible and cold, not cool. The fact that expensive and elegant restaurants across the country, many of them with sommeliers, continue to have open bottles of warm Fino Sherry on their back bar is just incredible. I can think of no other of the world’s great wines that is so routinely mistreated by those that should know better.
Freshness is the key to enjoying Fino at its best and that means that not only do you have to look for a top producer, but for an importer willing to manage their inventory in such a way that only the freshest wine is available in the market. One company excels at this, Steve Metzler’s Classical Wines of Spain imports the great Bodegas Hidalgo Manzanilla La Gitana and goes to great lengths to insure that La Gitana is always in pristine condition. Manzanilla is a Fino Sherry from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the wines develop a unique lightness and freshness. Along with Lustau, these are my favorite generally available Sherry wines of all types available in the United States. You are unlikely to get a Fino/Manzanilla Sherry in the United States in better condition than La Gitana. This, combined with the fact that no better example of this type of wine exists, means that if you want to understand why these are great wines this is the wine to try. If available, buy Fino/Manzanilla in half-bottles because these wines do not keep well once the bottle is opened.
Fino/Manzanilla wines are more like great dry wines than fortified wines when they are fresh. They are crisp, bright and fruity and match beautifully with seafood, sushi and savory appetizers, like the ones you see in the tapas bars of Spain. Always avoid Fino with an alcohol higher than 15.5%, which some producers do to give the wine more shelf-life, destroying the wine in the process.
This post was inspired by my Twitter (drdebs) and blogging buddy (Good Wine Under $20), who is making us jealous with her Twits as she drinks and eats her way through Spain. Her recent comment about drinking a glass of fresh Fino out of a frosted glass at a tapas bar reminded me of how great this wine can be. Drink an extra glass for me tonight Dr. Debs! I’m off to find a bottle of La Gitana. (Buy La Gitana online)
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Bargains
Sometimes it’s embarrassing as an American to taste the incredible range of bargains available for under $15 from Europe and compare them to American wines at the same prices. The boring standardization of the American wine industry in this range is numbing. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different labels, but in the bottle you find only dozens of styles. As you stare at shelf-after-shelf of American cabernet, merlot or chardonnay in your local grocery store you can reliably just pick the one that’s on sale as they are all more-or-less the same wine. However, with just a little more work you can find an entire world of wine bargains that offer far more character than these homogenized industrial wines. It’s important to remember that these bargain reds should be served cool, 65°F or so, to bring out their freshness.
The red wines listed below are all under $15 and many of them are under $10. All of them were purchased in grocery stores, not fine wine shops, so it is possible to find them. Each has character, if not complexity, and best of all, they are great with food. Inexpensive American wines have become the elevator music of the wine world, wines like these are the original tunes.
- Château Bouissel, Fronton, Classic, 2003 - Southern French estates offer some of best bargains out of France. This wine is substantial without being heavy and with the structure coming from the negrette will improve for a year or two. Rich and warm with a dark color from the malbec the tannins in the finish make this perfect for rich stews. Cassoulet anyone? 50% negrette, 20% syrah, 20% cabernet franc, 10% cot (malbec) Imported by Normandie Imports
- Covey Run, Syrah, Columbia Valley, 2004 - What we have here is an American Côtes du Rhône and that’s a great idea. Ripe and juicy with a soft fruitiness that should please any merlot drinker. Don’t think, just drink and you’ll love it. At $6.99 a great bargain. Drink up fast and cool. (Buy online)
- Fattoria Laila, Rosso Piceno, 2005 - Marche wines continue to be ignored Italian treasures in America, but that keeps prices down. This blend of montepulciano and sangiovese is a classic Italian red with a firm acid backbone and warm earthy flavors over the bright black cherry fruit. This matched with my penne with lamb sausage ragù perfectly. Imported by North Berkeley Imports and Zancanella Importing. (Buy online)
- La Ferme de Gicon, Côtes du Rhône, Vignerons de Chusclan, 2006 - This is just an amazingly easy wine to gulp. Rich, zesty, fruity and alive this is a wine all about honest simple pleasure that is happy to leave complexity to the big boys. This is a buy by the case wine at under $10 that will match with any summer meal. A half-hour in the refrigerator is mandatory and during the dog days of summer I’d serve it out-and-out chilled. Imported by Cellar Door Selections (Buy online)
- Villa Pigna Briccaio, Marche IGT, 2003 - Briccaio - Here is a step up on the complexity meter as it not only offers easy drink-ability, but some real character. Showing the breed of montepulciano, from which it is entirely made, this wine combines classic Italian backbone with a generous personality. A great match for your best grilled steaks. Imported by Zancanella Imports (Buy online)
- Quinta da Espiga, Casa Santos Lima, Estremadura, 2006 - Portugal continues to pump out great wine bargains. This is a big, robust, deeply fruity wine and is a real mouthful. Those that like bigger wines will love this $8 steal. These dry Portuguese reds almost remind me a bit of what Port would taste like without the sugar.
- Bodegas Luzon, Jumilla, 2006 - 65% monastrell (mourvèdre) 35% syrah - A big lush, ripe modern-style Spanish wine that will seduce many a merlot lover with its soft richness. Another wine for steaks or chops at your next cookout. A Jorge Ordoñez Selection Imported by The Henry Wine Group
- Regaleali, Tasca d”Almerita, IGT Sicilia, Nero d’Avola, 2006 - I have always found the big players in the Sicilian wine scene, Regaleali and Corvo great values. They offered personality and typicity at a fair price. While these wines have modernized a bit over the years they have not gone down the road of becoming more like Australian wines than Italian wines taken by so many Sicilian producers. This wine has great backbone, good varietal character and, most wonderful of all, tastes like it comes from Sicily. Imported by Winebow (Buy online)
- Clos Roche Blanche, Cuvée Pif, Touraine, 2004 - I first tasted the 2004 back in September of 2006 and it keeps getting better and better. It’s hard to imagine a wine more lifting and filled with personality at this price. This wine is for those looking for grace and elegance in a wine. Originally I recommended drinking this cot (malbec) cabernet franc blend early, but obviously there was no hurry. Imported by Louis/Dressner (Buy Online)
- Protocolo, Vino de la Tierra de Castilla, 2005 - Usually Ordoñez selections tend towards the modern school of Spanish winemaking, but here is one with a more traditional style. Very fragrant and flashing a touch of spicy/sweet American oak its ripe red fruit flavors are held taught with just a touch of tannin. With a more classic European style and balance this is a great match for gilled lamb chops or sausages. A Jorge Ordoñez Selection Imported by The Henry Wine Group (Buy online)
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Wright On! Power to the Pinot!
It was more cocktail party than wine tasting, but the line-up on the table was incredible. It’s always a rare opportunity to taste such a broad selection of outstanding wines. Instinctively I went into power tasting mode, moving down the table methodically, focusing on the wines while the other guests focused on the conversation. It was very clear who the geek in the room was. I’m not a big fan of tasting wines in such conditions, but you do what you have to do.
While these were big name labels, more often than not the wines were less than big time. This always seems to be the case these days: the more famous the wines the more so-so they are. Just as my palate was about to be lulled to sleep from all the oak and alcohol something happened. I put my nose in the next glass and suddenly I was jolted into focus. The brightness of the wine in my glass stood out among technically well-made, but dead wines surrounding it. I tasted it again and then again to be sure. Indeed this was a special wine.
The wine was the 2006 Ken Wright, Pinot Noir, Abbott Claim Vineyard, Yamhill-Carlton AVA (buy online) and the first sniff tells you you’ve found something special. The nose lightly lifts out of the glass with a lively wild blackberry essence laced with a warm truffled earthiness. The first sip greets your tongue with a little acid love bite followed by a complexity that dances across your palate. All to often heavy handed overripe fruit dominates wine today, but not here as the gracefully ripe fruit lifts the wine more than weighs it down. The finish is long and firm and still a bit closed as this is a wine that needs two or three more years to revel its complete character.
Few winemakers have given us more fine pinot noir over than years than Oregon’s Ken Wright and with this wine he once again proves that powerful pinot is not powerful, but a wine that gains its power from complexity.
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Quote for the Day
"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."
- Kurt Vonnegut
A Top Ten List to Avoid
I’ve written before about Steve Plotnicki’s outstanding restaurant guide for serious foodies only, Opinionated About. Now he’s taken another step in listing the top ten most overrated restaurants in New York, the USA and Europe. This is an extremely useful list as these restaurants are expensive, and when I mean expensive I mean expensive. These are restaurants that have main courses that cost as much as filling up your SUV so pay attention. I’ve eaten at a few of these restaurants, especially in Vegas, America’s most overrated dining destination, and I concur with these reviews. Have you been less than impressed with any of these restaurants?
A Little Sad
It was a little sad. Our host pulled out a bottle of 1992 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon and poured it around the table and we all immediately raised our glasses to the memory of Robert Mondavi, who recently passed away. The wine was lovely, everything a mature cabernet should be with a firm elegant character, a wonderful cigar box nose and that long, linear, intellectual finish that defines the variety at its best.
The sad part was not the passing of Mr. Mondavi, who lived a full and meaningful life into his nineties. It's hard to think of someone who lived a fuller life and no one left a bigger imprint on the American wine industry. The sad part was a wine blog post I read earlier in the day that grumped away about all the coverage of his death, wondered what the big deal was all about and why he should care. Writing a wine blog and not knowing about Robert Mondavi is like writing a blog about American history without knowing who George Washington was. How can a wine writer that doesn't understand the immense impact of Robert Mondavi provide meaningful commentary on the American wine industry? They can't and that's a little sad.
Understanding the sublime art that great wine can become is more than pulling the cork and giving it points. In every bottle of California wine that achieves greatness there will always be a bit of Robert Mondavi. To not understand that is to not fully know or appreciate that wine. It is the human spirit that raises wine from a beverage to an emotion.
We can be assured that there have been thousands of corks pulled from treasured old bottles of Robert Mondavi's wines in the last week and tens of thousands of glasses raised in his honor and memory. I can't think of a better tribute.
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Strictly Commercial
Now back to talking about wine.
Tony Rynders Rolls On
Natural Spoofulation
The passionate Alice Feiring and her new book, The Battle for Wine and Love, have fanned the flames of the natural winemaking debate. In particular she has bruised the feelings of the California wine industry, to which she has not been very complimentary. This has resulted in some lively back and forth on the side of the Californians in The Los Angeles Times, hardly a surprising forum for the pro-California view. I applaud Alice’s spirited attack on industrial wines and support of wines with personality and a sense of place. Her intensity has helped keep the debate a debate.
Extreme positions help sell books and it looks like Alice has done a good job in riling up the Californians and keeping her book in the headlines. I’m sure if the truth came out Alice, like me, has a long list of California wines she loves.
It’s becoming the spoofulators vs. the natural movement and the main spoofulators seem to be in California. Yet this raises the question of what’s really natural or not and at what point the line is crossed from one to the other. It’s not as clear as it may seem. At some point it is just as bad to do too little to the wine as it is to do too much. Bad wine is bad wine, natural or not.
Let’s take a look at the revered (I agree) wines of Josko Gravner in northeastern Italy on the border with Slovenia. Gravner ferments and ages his white wines on the skins and seeds for six or seven months in terra cotta amphorae coated with beeswax. This has a somewhat dramatic (to say the least) impact on the flavor and color of his wines. Is this natural winemaking or a kind of natural spoofulation? The wines of Gravner are extreme wines manipulated to that style by the hand of the winemaker. Are the techniques of Clark Smith more intrusive than this? I’m not sure this is a question that has been answered.
There are a few buzzwords out there that seem to define the natural wine forces: biodynamic, indigenous yeasts, little or no sulfur and never, never any machines. Yet there are a whole array of interventions other than these that winemakers impose on their wines either because they dream of crafting great art like Gravner or because they are commercial winemakers that must put out a good tasting stable wine year-after-year to keep their jobs. It seems a bit preposterous to return to primitive methods of winemaking that more-often-than-not have the potential to produce faulted wines. Not all progress is inherently bad and any good winemaker will do everything needed to improve their wines. Many winemakers resolve this conflict between their desire to be part of the natural movement and the realities of putting better wine in the bottle by forgetting to talk about certain things when they talk to the press.
Great wines are made, they don’t just happen. That’s why they call them winemakers. There is an incredible array of tools and knowledge available to today’s winemakers. To not make use of any of these tools and techniques does not make any sense. However, what you do with these many new tools is all important. You can’t make wine without manipulation, but without a doubt you can’t make great wine with with over-manipulation. I believe in terroir. I have tasted it in wines way to often to have any doubt. As long as a winemakers manipulations are designed to enhance that terroir I don’t have any problems with them.
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Pair of Fives
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2005 Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie, Imported by Louis/Dressner Every time I’ve served this wine each person at their first sip is taken back for a second as they ponder what has crossed their palate. Each knows that they have experienced something special. This is an extraordinary wine is that is is just so alive that it makes you take more pleasure in living. Concentrated elegance and finesse. (Buy online)
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2005 Bourgogne, Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Joseph Voillot. Imported by Vintage ‘59 Imports – Anybody who thinks there are no great values coming out of Burgundy be prepared to be proven wrong. This racy, bright pinot noir also comes packed with loads of flavor and complexity on its rather electric acid frame. Here’s a pinot that can both sing and dance. A short stint in your cellar of two or three years will give you quite a bottle of pinot. (Buy online)
Brilliance is a word that can mean many things: luminosity, intelligence, perfectly executed and, when it comes to flavor, lively and electric. All of those things come together in these two seductive, brilliant wines that are great values to boot coming in at under $25.
A pair of 5’s may seem a long shot to those that think a lot of chips are required to get great wine, but sometimes a pair is all you need. These days it’s hard to imagine such a winning hand at this price range from anywhere other than France.
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Your Government is Protecting you: First Al-Qaeda and now Brunello
You can feel safer in your bed tonight knowing that the United States government is protecting you from another danger. That new evil is, of course, Brunello di Montalcino that might have a bit of cabernet or merlot adulterating the sangiovese grosso. These are the same consumer protectors that brought you the 75% rule for American varietal wines, which requires that the stated variety make up at least three quarters of the named wine. So while it’s fine for an American producer of pinot noir to blend in 25% syrah or anything else the missteps of a few producers in Brunello will bring down the wrath of the TTB on all producers.
It’s great to know that our government is always on the watch.
US threatens to block all Brunello imports - decanter.com
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Beaux Vin
Oregon’s Beaux Frères is not only making some of America’s finest pinot noirs, but is also that most rare of things: a winery with courage. Vintage after vintage winemaker Michael Etzel shows the courage of his convictions and produces dramatically distinctive wines with a personality all their own. Some dismiss the success of Beaux Frères as mostly due to the fame of Etzel’s brother-in-law and partner, famed wine critic and publisher of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker, but considering the stunning quality of these wines I can’t help but believe they would still be sought out by collectors everywhere with or without Parker’s impact.
While a bevy of authors have pilloried Robert Parker for dragging the wine industry down the road of standardized, jammy wines, his own winery is the polar opposite. The Beaux Frères Pinot Noirs are tight, structured wines with a decided spritz from natural CO2 when young. That’s right they’re a little fizzy. These are truly natural wines and the little spritz is a result of the natural, cool slow malolatic fermentation practiced by Etzel. None of their wines are manipulated to make them ready to drink young and even the precocious 2006 vintage produced wines that need a minimum of several years of bottle age to unfurl their now tightly wound personality. These are wines that do not try to mimic Burgundy, but that set their own unique style, both as Oregonian and an expression of Etzel’s winemaking art.
The current release of 2006 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir, The Beaux Frères Vineyard, Ribbon Ridge is nothing short of exciting. In his notes Etzel describes this wine as, “a beauty and can be drunk young.” However, he must mean in relation to his wines from previous vintages as compared to other 2006 Oregon pinots this wine far from being ready to drink. The nose is already exotic with layers of black truffle, porcini and dense, black wild forest fruits, but it is not yet resolved and you can just sense the greatness that is to come as the components intertwine and integrate. The wine hits your tongue with a thousand tiny little bites from the firm acidity and the slight spritz of the CO2, but then quickly expands dramatically into the voluptuous textures you would expect from this forward vintage. What strikes you as you taste and smell this wine is the endless swirling of exotic characteristics that make the wine change from second-to-second as you savor each sip. If you must drink this wine now, please give it at least an hour in a decanter before serving. However, at $80 a bottle you may want to give it the respect it deserves and wait at least five years before releasing the treasure inside.
Beaux Frères produces wines of great integrity and character because they are made by a winemaker with the same attributes. Mike Etzel makes what he believes. These are wines that must be on anyone’s list of the best American pinot noirs. (Buy online)
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