Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places

I’m trying. I keep buying. It’s just not happening.

The harder I try to love Zind Humbrecht, the more frustrated I get. My latest ZinDebacle was the 2003 Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl: a wine without a place or purpose other than to prove how much extract you can concentrate into a dry (kind-of) white wine.

The 56 bucks I shelled out for this wine may be the greatest white wine bargain of all time if you consider the flavor delivered per Dollar. Here is that “bang-for-the-buck” we keep hearing about, for there may be plenty of bang here if you expose this wine to open flame. Clocking in at 16% alcohol (and I would not be surprised if it was higher) you risk an explosion if you drink this Pinot Gris while smoking – although it would match a good cigar better than a good meal. Seemingly inspired by the wretched excesses of a Fellini movie, this wine is to food what Roma is to movies.

What do you do with a 16% alcohol dry white wine? The answer is; you got me. I tried and tried to love this wine, which I consumed over a two week period with every type of meal and cheese you can imagine. It did not go with anything: including itself. That big burn in my throat would never go away and I had to force myself to go beyond a quarter of a glass. In fact, the better part of my last three glasses of this wine were tossed into the grass. Yes, I find it that undrinkable.

I poured the last quarter of the bottle down the drain tonight. I give up – Zind Humbrecht is beyond me and the food I eat. What is the point of a wine that does not compliment a meal?

Barolo Bussia Dardi La Rose, Poderi Colla, Monforte d'Alba, 1999

Bright scarlet/ruby with hints of garnet. Translucent. Smoky, smoky, dried porcini aromas slowly open into tart raspberry fruit. Closed and intense on the palate with layers of flavors: mushrooms, leather, cherry, raspberry. The finish is concentrated long and very tannic. Truly an outstanding classic Barolo destined for long-term greatness. One of the wines of the vintage.

Barolo , Cavallotto Bricco Boschis, Castiglione Falletto, 1996

Bright, translucent ruby with just a touch of orange at the edge. Explosive, earthy smoky aromas with a touch of underlying caramelized rasaspberries and a hint of Graham’s 20 year-old Tawny Port. Exceptionally complex. On the palate it is at first lean and tannic, but this is a façade as the wine soon broadens into layer upon layer of complexity. Bitter chocolate and bitter cherry flavors lead into a long warm earthy finish. Try to keep this one at least until its tenth birthday. If you must drink it now decant it for at least three hours before serving. Traditionally made Barolo wines have a unique blend of aromas and flavors they make them among the most interesting wines in the world. No simple black fruit references here, but all sorts of one-of-a-kind sensations. Dried roses and leather are the classic ones and they are certainly there, but add to this mushrooms, truffles and a certain wildness.

Barolo, Einaudi, 1978

I thought this wine would never come around. I was right. Brilliant light scarlet with orange overtones, translucent. Funky, earthy-mushroom-leather-rose aromas. Hint of varnish when first opened but it mostly blows off. It even smells tannic. Hard and lean on the palate but the flavors are expansive but decidedly not fruity. Almost a tawny port like fruit - 10 year old Graham’s without the sugar. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. What can I say - I enjoyed it. Drinking this wine is like touching a piece of history.

Barolo, Fontanafredda, La Rosa, Serralunga d'Alba, 1999

Bright ruby/scarlet with just the lightest hint of orange. The aromas are an exotic mix of ripe dark fruits and leather and dried porcini mushrooms. Smoky ripe plums show in the nose and on the palate with layers of dusty burnt cherries and bitter oranges followed by firm, hard tannins that are somehow surprisingly round in their intensity. The finish is restrained by its intense tannins, but the powerful complex fruit flavors are already starting to show through. Tasted over a four day period and the wine was still fresh and showing now oxidation on the forth day. Definitely a wine for long-term cellaring.

Barbaresco Bric Balin, Moccagatta, 1999

Bright deep scarlet. Very oaky first impressions on the nose, underlying smoky plumy fruit. Oak also apparent throughout the palate. Firm, somewhat astringent fruit is made more astringent by wood tannins. Under the fruit and wood tannins ripe plumy fruit struggle to keep up. Not a good first impression. I would prefer to see less oaky astringency overlying the already tannic nebbiolo from a fine vintage. Still overall a first class serious effort at the modern style. Not recommended for barrique haters.

Barbaresco Palazzina, Montaribaldi, 2000

Amazingly generous for such a young wine. Bright ruby with garnet hints. Round and ripe in the nose. Deep plums, with and underlying bitter wild cherry and a hint of orange. Underneath is a clear earthy nebbiolo varietal note. Rich and lean at the same time. Start out big and sweet then implodes into tannin. The finish is long and complex and although this wine is not nearly ready paired with intensely flavor foods like fatty, charred American steak it can be consumed now with pleasure

Barbaresco Roncoglie, Poderi Colla, 2000

Ruby with garnet hints. Translucent. Quite ripe even a hint overripe. Sweet plum, spicy with earthy hints. Floral with violet hints. Round and ripe on the palate with quite a tinge of very ripe fruit. Dark canned cherries and raspberries followed by very apparent but well integrated tannins. Should mature somewhat more quickly than usual.

Prunotto Nebbiolo d'Alba, Occhetti, 2001

Brilliant ruby, quite translucent with just a hint of garnet at the edge. Lively smoky plum with bittersweet cherry aromas open into light porcini and tar. Floral, open and expansive with a bite. Firm, but very drinkable now with good complexity and balance. Spiced burnt oranges with sweet cherry fruit flavors carry the firm, but well integrated tannins. Delicious and ready to drink now.

Pinot Nero, Campo Romano, Pinot Nero, 2002

Bright scarlet/ruby with just a touch of garnet. Layered complex nose. Ripe spiced plums and strawberry aromas broaden into dark plum notes. Racy and complex on the palate with wave after wave of flavor. Ripe cherry, wild strawberry expand into complex tar, porcini and oak flavors. Still a bit lean and closed on the mouth and nose but very promising. The finish is long and spicy with apparent but well integrated tannins. A fine effort that reminds me of Pousse d’Or Volnay in years past.

Nebbiolo d'Alba, Poderi Colla, 2001

Bright ruby/scarlet with garnet hints. Just translucent. Closed at first but opens into floral, rose dust, firm ripe plum aromas. Firm on the palate the tight flavors slowly grow to a delicious layered intensity. Tarry, bitter cherry flavors grow into warm ripe raspberries on the palate. The finish is extremely long, tarry bitter cherry flavors fade into firm but well rounded tannin. Perfect for drinking now and over the next several years.

Nebbiolo d'Alba, PIra, Bricco dell'Asino, 2001

Brilliant scarlet, hints of ruby and a touch of garnet. Just translucent. Spicy ripe plums with layered sweet vanilla oak. Smoky, charcoal aromas add complexity. Firm and structured on the palate. Loaded with ripe plums and cherries with a distinctive tang of chewing tobacco. Starts out medium bodied, but then expands magically in the mouth into an explosion of tannins, tobacco and wild dark fruit flavors. A really exciting wine to drink. With short term aging - 1 or 2 years - you will have a great bottle.

Le Colline Gattinara, 1978

Brilliant translucent scarlet with just a touch of orange at the edge. The aromas are explosive and delicate at the same time, full of the smell of fresh leather and dark wild cherries. The combination of silky and astringent flavors in the mouth are amazing. The delicious round, warm dark bitter cherry and cassis fruit flavors are mixed with a strong backbone of rich tannin. The complexity of this wine in the nose and on the palate is wonderful. The long finish sums up all the complexities of the aromas and flavors and lasts almost forever.

Actually Alsace

It doesn’t seem like so many years ago that I thought of Trimbach as a sort of boring producer. With all the other action they seemed to be left behind. Just a few decades or so later, to me, Trimbach is making some of Alsace’s best and most authentic wines. They did not change, my palate just grew up. Today other producers are making wines full of residual sugar, boytritis and no varietal or Alsatian character. Now it is Trimbach who is making clean, bright varietally correct wines that actually remind you more of Alsace than California when you drink them. They always did.

Give me these real wines from Trimbach any day over the bizarre wines coming from the likes of Zind-Humbrechet. If you want to actually drink Alsatian wine with a meal, I’m sure you'll agree with me if you really think about the food and wine on your table. The basic Trimbach Gewurztraminer is a charming wine with no pretension to greatness, only balance and real Gewurztraminer character. We enjoyed this great value with some fantastic goat cheese from Monteillet Fromagerie in Dayton Washington – a cheese producer worthy of a post of its own – and you cannot imagine a better cheese and wine match.

One of the saddest stories of the modern wine world has been the destruction of the great white wines of Alsace. A few decades ago, Alsace was the home of some of the most interesting wines on the planet, but today it has become the poster-child of over-manipulation in the vineyard and winery and the resulting sweet, out-of-balance wines should just be avoided.

The Best Wine I Ever Tasted...1995 Muscadet

I could not resist the bottle. A 1995 Muscadet for sale today. It was one of the best wine choices I have ever made as this bottle is one of the finest white wines I have ever tasted - and it cost $15.99.

• 1995 Muscadet, Cuvee Vieilles Vignes, Chateau de l’Aiguillette, eleve sur lie

A wine name that deserves a line to itself to contemplate the incredible achievement of producers Patrice and Vincent Gregorie. This is an extraordinary bottle that will be intensely ignored by the wine media because it does not cut the profile they are looking for, but this wine is everything I look for in a white wine. Unbelievably fresh for an eleven-year-old wine, this is a wine at the peak of perfection. It is worth noting that most of the white wines getting big points today will fall apart by their fifth birthday.

Only a faint hint of older gold shines in the brilliant fresh straw yellow color. On the nose it is expansive yet firm, showing dense mineral highlights over fresh honeysuckle and red apples with cinnamon. Rich, yet zesty and alive on the palate with a finish that evolves into layer after layer of complexity for those paying attention.

No, its not the best wine I ever tasted, but it is almost perfect and is certainly the best dry white wine I have tasted in the last several years. Congratulations to Portland Oregon’s Casa Bruno for having the courage to import such a gem.