Paul and I tasted this wine at the Spring Polaner Selections tasting held at the Puck Building. Now anyone familiar with these large trade tastings understands the amount of wines and quality of wines that are available. The Vinas de Gain was one of the most impressive wines of the tasting for me. It has class and elegance along with lovely fruit and oak characters that did not mask the wines finesse or its sense of place. That means, yes it did taste like a Rioja.
The wine is produced exclusively from Tempranillo that is grown in the the Rioja Alevesa sub-region. This region produces some of my favorite Rioja as the climate is a bit cooler and has more chalk in the soils, therefore the wines offer brighter and more perfumed aromatics. Tempranillo is the most important grape of the seven allowed in Rioja (3 are whites), but many producers blend both Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo to flesh out the wines and give them increased depth, structure and ageability. However if Tempranillo is a grown in the right 'terroir' and tended to carefully with low yields, those other grapes are not needed. Just consider the wines of Ribera del Duero for an example of this.
The Vinas de Gain 2005 is excellent and shows just how good the vintage is in Rioja for those producers committed to quality. The wine is fine now, but has the potential to evolve for another 20 years.
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( 3 / 390 )I need to write two articles in the next couple of weeks or so and I thought I would put my thoughts down here first, then use parts of this blog posting to weave together for the articles. This is my first attempt at using this spot as an editor for future articles...so let me know - give me feedback...etc.
As I may have mentioned a few times, wine is one of those passionate subjects and products for me and I can still remember that first taste of wine that made an impact on me. Not the producer specifically the the wine and the region. In 1977 I spent a year learning German and going to Gymnasium (the equivalent of our Highschool), my parents took across the border into France to visit the Alsace region. There I had my first amazing culinary experience and drank the local Riesling - it was crisp, refreshing with fresh sweet fruit...my mouth is watering now thinking of it. Anyhow, 15 years later or so I had that first Pinot Experience that made me go - oh my, what's this!! The bottle was a 1979 Corton Rouge from Bonneau du Martray, now this is not a great producer for red Corton (but their whites are incredible), nor is 1979 especially renowned as a Burgundy vintage. An early lesson for me about the philosophy of Burgundy versus Bordeaux. In Burgundy, it's the producer that is most important, while in Bordeaux it's the vintage that is most important. So for those of you that know and love red Burgundy, you know that once you have that special, wow bottle, you search and search till you find it again. Burgundy is tough, cause it is expensive and elusive. Meaning to find that 'nirvana' Pinot Noir again, you need to taste and buy a hell of a lot of bad, mediocre, decent, good and even very good to find a couple of great wines. But for some (include me in that) it's similar to a drug...if you are among those that are addicted to Pinot, I hope you have deep pockets and plenty of patience. If not then consider taking a Sommelier course and get a job as one.
Now Paul (my associate here and with HamptonsWineShoppe.com) feels I should be PC on the blog concerning the other critics of note and especially Robert Parker Jr. But when talking about Burgundy that is tough. If you love red Burgundy with elegance, finesse and that sexiness that they can achieve, I am not so confident that Robert Parker Jr. should be the goto critic... look I know I am not terribly strong when it comes to Zinfandel so I leave it to someone who is (in this case either Paul or other wine professionals).
Now for decades other wine regions around the world have been trying to replicate Burgundies success with both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And while Chardonnay from other regions (Sonoma, Napa, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa to name few) have shown the ability to come close and in some cases even surpass white Burgundies it has taken much longer for other regions to match the Pinot Noirs of Burgundy - some might even argue that it's impossible. I however have been amazed by the progress of Pinot Noir in other regions. Thanks to my editor at Dan's Papers I was included in an impressive blind tasting of Pinot Noirs from around the world and even brought a couple of my own to include. We got to taste Pinot Noirs from Long Island, Upstate New York, California, Oregon, Chile, New Zealand, Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune. The wines were very impressive and the experience was very valuable. Usually Burgundy vintages of note come and go with only a bit of fanfare, but I believe the 2005 vintage will get more attention than past vintages. This is due to both the market and the vintage. 2005 from my knowledge of it is spectacular and due to all the new interest in Pinot Noir, it has come at the right time. I have been sent into the Burgundy trenches to taste this new vintage and have come away with some very impressive notes and shocking price quotes.
The 2005 vintage in Burgundy could become a benchmark vintage, a vintage like 1982 in Bordeaux, a vintage that brings mass recognition to these wines. The big question will be if the wine prices will be too much or not, cause they are high. The two key points of this vintage and greatness is the full, rich style of the vintage and the fact that the market has fallen in love with Pinot Noir since that movie (Sideways). So far I have tasted about 100 wines from the vintage, and I will be tasting another bunch Thursday and next Tuesday. For now my reaction to the vintage is that the reds are some of the finest seen in decades. But the red wines are easier to understand and richer than any Burgundy vintages I have seen, most of the wines I have tasted so far taste above there appellation. Meaning regional wines taste like they could be village wines, village like Premier Cru and Premier Cru like Grand Cru. This may give some Burgundy watchers a sense that the regional wines will offer great value, well from my research so far, that is not really the case. For instance, I really loved the Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine Sylvain Cathiard, but the wine will retail at between $38 and $40 a bottle. Which for my money is right along the lines of a Village or even lesser Premier Cru from a normal vintage such as 2002 or even the hot 2003. The historic problem with Burgundy is the tiny production of many of the producers and finest sites, with 2005, this is compounded by demand, smaller yields for the vintage and excitement about a really great vintage.
I have been talking to producers about this vintage since last February and the directors for Jadot, Bouchard, Drouhin, and Champy all were very excited about the vintage then. They all mentioned the absolutely clean, perfectly ripe fruit that came into the wineries and talked about the sending the sorters home as there was no need to pay them to look at perfect fruit on the sorting tables.
So far my favorite producers from the vintage are Nicolas Potel and his wines are actually pretty reasonable for the vintage. I tasted 26 of his wines and found the Volnay 'Vieilles Vignes' (~$42), Cote de Nuits-Villages 'Vieilles Vignes' (~$32), Pommard 'Les Vignots' (~$45), Vosne-Romanee 'Vieilles Vignes' (~$54), Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 'Aux Exhanges' (~$81) and the Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru 'Malconsorts' (~$100) to be the best and even some of the best of the entire tasting. And those are pre-sell prices! Now the others that were special from the tasting were the Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru 'Les Chaume' for a mere $155-$165 a bottle or the Meo Nuits-St-Gorges 1er Cru 'Perrieres' for a bit more - oh around $160 to $170 a bottle. Were they worth it? Depends on your disposable income I guess, certainly they were spectacular wines that I'd love to taste in another 8-10 years, then taste every-other year till the wines peak in say another 30? Other wines of note include the great Armand Rousseau Chambertins, with Gevery-Chambertin and Chambertin itself being the best of the lot, prices, I have no idea - well you know, if you have to ask.
Keep an eye on the Nuits-St-Georges from Domaine Pedrix, the whole line from Sylvian Cathaird and the Chambertins from Domaine Pierre Damoy. The Cathairds adn Damoys will require a second mortgage.
So I advertised this as Pinots of the World, well as mentioned above I have really been impressed with the Pinot Noirs from regions outside of the great Cote d'Or and I watch with great interest as these regions evolve. Up in Willamette Valley of Oregon are some great Pinot Noir areas, I have found the wines of Lachini quite noteworthy and fairly affordable for great Burgundy, $40 may seem a bit pricey but not when thought of in terms of 1er Cru Burgundy, which this wine certainly achieves. Also worth seeking out would be the highend Pinot Noir from Domaine Drouhin and Hamacher, both are in the norther part of Willamette near the Red Hills of Dundee.
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( 3 / 426 )Late last year we had troubles filling some orders for a couple of Italian wines, it seems that the distributor that supplied the wines went out of business and the wines were never picked up by another distributor. Paul and I did some investigation and found the importer who then asked us to help him with some small distribution issues here in the US. With this he has sent us several wines to sample and comment on (and he hopes we find good enough to bring into the market).
Last month we tasted a group of wines that included an Amarone (wasn't up to snuff for us so no note is available), Primitivo, Nero d'Avola, Negramaro, Rosso di Montepulciano, Rosso di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and a Brunello di Montalcino. We are just now re-visiting these tasting notes to determine what wines we would like to endorse for the coming months.
Feudo di San Nicola Primitivo 2004 had notes of brambly berries with a big dose of earth and white pepper, maybe even a touch of black pepper - spicy anyway. The second whiff included blueberry and plum notes, in the palate there were both sweet and dried fruit characters. Medium weight, but well balanced with a lingering finish that brings back the brambly berry and spice...the wine seems to evolve very nicely with time and exposure to air and gets more complex with each sniff. Lots of Zinfandel character and a good value at what we think with be the final price (depending on exchange rates etc.), about $15 a bottle.
Terre di Sole Nero d'Avola 'Apolos' 2004
Spicy noes, southern rhone-like, big and lush, medium acidity. Not the value of above and a similar price. We'll keep looking for something in this category.
Crociani Rosso di Montepulciano 2003
This is considered to be baby Vino Nobile, but with less aging requirements and less intensity, produced from mostly the Prugnol Gentile clone of Sangiovese.
Dried cherry aromas, old oak, astringent tannins, rustic palate with baked olive notes and very tannic. The fruits are bit too dried and roasted for me. About $19.
Le Gode Rosso di Montalcino (forgot to write the vintage down)
Baby Brunello with less aging requirements but produced from 100% Sangiovese Grosso, the Brunello clone.
Deep, dark, brooding cherries and tobacco, cocoa notes and a touch of asphalt. Good balance, medium bodied and fine tannins, oh and a pretty long finish...overall a pretty lovely wine that will cost about $34.
Crociani Vino Nbile di Montepulciano Riserva 2001
Black cherries, red cherries, tobacco, chalk are all found in the first sniff, later there is candied cherries. The palate is lush and classy with great balance, the wine is very approachable at this stage yet has plenty of stuffing. This is really quite impressive at any price less than $100 a bottle. We are still working out how much Nicola plans on charging us for it but for sure it will be less than $60. Yum.
Le Gode Brunello di Montalcino 2000
Dried leaves, brown cherries, red berry, plum, herbs, tar and other dark deep even brooding fruits. The palate is lush, long and big with fine, softening tannins and a classy long finish. Real Brunello breed here. Real good value for fine Brunello, I know $68 a bottle does not seem like a deal, but compare it to other Brunello prices.
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( 3 / 426 )by Chris Miller
Over the past several years I have given at least 300 wine seminars, but last Saturday was the first one I have given that was more of a party atmosphere. First the seminar was given at someones house, whom I am friends with and of the 13 attendees four were friends. So this was a bit different than giving a seminar to either wine professionals or at a corporate event. So with this tasting/seminar we were not terribly serious, which for me is actually a relief.
Tina and Bryan (the hosts) have a passion for things Italian and they decided that the wines of Northern Italy would be the region to focus on. Lucky me, I love the area and have traveled there several times and even worked not far away in the Swiss Alps at one stage of my life. So for me the region has some emotional strings attached.
Italy is divided into 20 large regions or states, seven of these I consider to be northern. They are Valle d'Aosta (not much wine here but some great skiing), Piemonte (lots of wine and world class reds), Liguiria (not much wine, but home to Christopher Columbus and some great restaurants), Lombardia (plenty of wine but very little is marketed in the US unfortunately), Alto-Adige/Trentino (some really great whites but I think there is great potential for both Cabernet and Pinots), Veneto (home to Valpolicella and Soave along with Prosecco) and finally the Tre Venezia or Friuli-Venezia-Giulia (another great white region with some reds and home to the wonderful Tocai-Friuliano). OK so there's a long-winded introduction of Northern Italian regions, now I want to elaborate on the regions and the wines we tasted, some ecstatically enjoyed, some choked down begrudgingly and others spat out in disgust (well not really, but wouldn't that be unusual to see at a tasting).
The first wine is one of Tina's favorites, Prosecco. There are a few regions in the world where the name of the wine, the name of the region and the name of the grape are all the same and this is one of them. Prosecco is thought to come from the name of a village across the border in Slovenia (just what I've read as I've never been there). Prosecco is a sparkling wine from northeastern Veneto (hop on your Vespa in Venice and head northwest for about a hundred miles or so), it is produced in the less expensive way so we can enjoy it a bit more often than we do Champagne. Sparkling wines are fermented twice, once to change the sugar into alcohol and a second time to make the bubbles (the bubbles get the alcohol through our bloodstream faster, making us more...interesting). With the more (much) expensive Champagne, the second fermentation happens in the bottle and is aged for quite awhile. The second fermentation for Prosecco happens in tank and the wine is then carefully bottled under pressure...so less expensive to produce and less in the restaurant or store.
The Prosecco we used is Zardetto from the Conegliano area of Prosecco. The wine is fresh and pretty with sweet citrus aromas and a hint of toasty character. The body is light and refreshing so its easy to guzzle.
The first still wine we had was Tramin Pinot Grigio DOC, now the reason it is DOC is because it is from the region of Alto-Adige one of the best areas for Pinot Grigio in Italy (the other would be Friuli). Tramin is named for the town in the area and is actually a co-op, but up in this part of Italy co-ops are actually quite fine and this one has been in existence for several hundred years. Pinot Grigio can often be a bit boring, which is unfortunate as the grape has amazing pedigree. Pinot Grigio is closely related to both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and in the right climate and soils the balance and crispness can be lovely and let the minerality of the soils sing through. That for me is what happens with this Pinot Grigio and others from the steep, cool and sunny vineyards of Alto-Adige. The Alto-Adige is hard in the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains, just south of Austria. It is a stunningly beautiful place, but all the vineyards must be tended to manually due to the tough site locations, this means the wines aren't cheap, but what's the point of cheap Pinot Grigio anyway? Especially when ones like this can be found for about $15 to $17 and we are supposed to be drinking less but better according to the State Troopers anyhow.
The Tramin has a light refreshing palate and bright aromas of lemon, lime and some floral notes reminiscent of white spicy flowers or maybe honeysuckle. The finish is crisp and clean with hints of minerals and quite long. I would drink this on a nice warm spring evening with a spread of cured meats and fresh mozarella. Or even at the mountain cafe in Gstaad or Davos while listening to the Presidents and Prime Ministers talk about world economics.
We followed that wine with a Soave, but first I'd like to talk about the blind wine I challanged the group with. And you know what, even without much experience in this, most could recognize the grape and that I feel is a great sign for a wine. The wine was another Tramin from the Alto-Adige, this time however it was a Sauvignon. And yes some thought it was a Sauvignon Blanc and were thinking it might be New Zealand or Loire, which makes plenty of sense as both areas are quite cool and Alto-Adige shares the intense sun of NZ. This wine is one of my favorites, I love cool climate Sauvignon Blanc and the ones from here and in the areas of Friuli produce really high quality wines. Look for all the bright citrus notes along with grapefruit or grassy notes, but the wine is not a lightweight, the palate is moderately full and the finish is quite long with lovely balance and crispness. This is an easy wine to drink several glasses of which was demonstrated after my little seminar was over.
The Soave was a Classico (from the original, hilly area that is best for the these wines) from Inama. Soave has done some serious damage to it's reputation over the years due to the plonk produced by the rivers of low quality high volume vines planted throughout the lesser areas of Soave. There are two main grapes allowed plus some small percentage of Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco. The main grapes are the indigenous Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave. Now Trebbiano di Soave can make some decent wines, but the lesser clone, Trebbiano di Toscano is basically dreck and can easily yeild as much as 12 tons of fruit per acre - only about 4 times what a respectable vineyard would yeild in Sonoma, Burgundy or Loire. The Inama Soave Classico is produced entirely from Garganega, what I (and many quality Soave producers) consider to be Soave's best grape. The wine has aromas of ripe lemon, camomile, wild flowers and a round lush and full palate with a hint of the typical almond character in the finish and back of the palate.
The Soave was a bit controversial, as some people liked it, while some hated it... I am not sure if it was choked down begrudgingly or subtly spat out in disgust? I didn't notice the anyone spitting it out in disgust but it could of happened behind my back. Anyhow the wine had more weight and more obvious alcohol than the other whites so it was a bit more intense and some might think clumsy, but that is in comparison to the others and is a bit of the old apples vs. oranges debate.
The Reds will have to wait for another posting.
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( 3 / 367 )by Chris Miller
Every Saturday, I do a plan a tasting/seminar for the staff at a store I consult for.
Big reds was the theme this week - yikes. Purple mouth disease is on the run. The tasting included Jax Cabernet Sauvignon from Calistoga, Chateau Montelena Cabernet Franc, Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill Cabernet Sauvignon and Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon.
Like I said, yikes. A collective of over $600 worth of big Napa Cabs. The Jax is a newish project from Calistoga in which 2003 was the first wine bottled under the Jax label, it is very limited in quantity and almost impossible to get. Is it worth it, well the price is right, but nothing to search frantically for as wines such as Judds Hill and the regular Montelena are just as fine if not better. The wine has big rich aromas of vanilla, black raspberry, rosemary and mint, the palate is rich and full but well balanced by decent acidity even with the touch of heat in the lingering finish. After about twenty minutes in the glass the amount of very sweet black cherry jumping out of the glass was amazing. Good wine for the about $42 you might find it for. We'll keep our eyes out for it next vintage though.
The Chateau Montelena Cabernet Franc is an odd ball, first it's not available but at my clients place in the city (gotta contact me to find out where - fees may apply), second they never make this wine, just use Cab Franc as a blender in their Cabernet Sauvignons, and they tried this with Merlot in a previous vintage and I was not impressed at all, maybe even a touch depressed as Montelena is one of my favorites from California. Anyhow the wine had notes of Provencal, cassis, rosemary, blackberry and was very Bordeaux in character - it was at least as good if not better for me than the Jax. Probably due to the Bordelais character.
Far Niente has never been one of those wines I feel a need to have, it is always a very good example of big ripe, lush Napa Cabernet - but I look for more minerality and complexity in my wines than what I find in this and similar wines. It is actually funny because while tasting this a discussion broke out about Parkers palate for such wines and how this is pretty indicative of the 'Parker' style, yet he never gives the wine very good marks. I think this has to due with his not tasting such wines blind. The wine has all the hallmarks of a Napa Cab, lush, big, ripe, sweet, sweet fruits, vanilla, black berry, black currant. Just all around ripe and sweet with a lushness to it and a bit of glycerin in both the palate and finish. A real crowd pleaser, no sense of terrior except the fact that it has that Napa Valley floor character. For about the same money (~$110/btl) I'd rather have the Chateau Montelena Estate Cab.
The Montelena Estate Cab has cassis, tobacco, licorice, cherry, raspberry and cedar - the note that really makes me love this wine is the all important Pencil lead character mingling with the cedar that reminds me of a top wine from Pauillac. The length and complexity evolves with air and keeps you guessing what aromas you'll run into each time you reach for the glass. I personally have to be careful with such wines as I often forget to drink the wine and just continually smell it...this is alright when drinking such a wine with one other person, but when sharing it with a group, I'll end up with a glass of the wine while everyone else has a second. Sometimes it's a mistake to stop and smell the roses, especially if someone else is picking them while you just stand there and smell.
The Diamond Creeks represented other problems, first the tiny production makes them both quite expensive and rare. The vineyard sites are tiny and in a great location, plus the vines were propagated (maybe nicked) from two of the four Bordeaux Premier Crus. Four you say, yes in 1966 there were only four Premier Crus, so my guess would be the vines originated in Haut-Brion and Latour. Mouton was not a 1st Growth at the time, Lafite is far to elegant to be related to wines made from Diamond Creek vines and Margaux was having a bit of a slump and was not really of 1st Growth quality back then.
On the really fine web-site you can find pictures of the vineyards and a neat little map of them too. With that and some of my own memory of the wines I deemed that the Gravelly Meadow would be gentler and more elegant of the two - oops I was wrong, doesn't make sense but the Volcanic Hill is the less massive wine of these two giants. They remind me of Randy Dunns Howell Mountains. The Volcanic Hill was very concentrated, big yet balanced with an absolute ton of cassis and black berry/cherry aromas (this made me think of it being Latour cuttings). There were notes of ripe blueberry, gravelly minerals, dust and just a hint of lead (just lead no pencil - still counts though), a touch of cedar popped up in the finish along a some saber rattling tannins in a long complex and evolving finish. A truly amazing wine but not something I could handle for more than a glass, while compared to the Montelena Estate which I could drink several of.
The Gravelly Meadow was a giant with Syrah like darkness to the appearance. The aromas also had the similar cassis but this time it was very sweet cassis also with a touch of lead, but the oak was more obvious and the palate was very rich with very sweet fruits including sweet raspberry, cherry and giant tannins. The finish was again very long but slightly puckering due to the tannins (they need some time) and a bit of heat. Quite the wine but if the Volcanic was too much than this is off the charts.
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