Mikhailoh:

Thanks for your suggestions on cognac and that very interesting article. I am going to follow up on that!

Is that Yalumba wine from Australia? The name sounds like it might be.

Here are a couple I liked a lot recently. Got them cheap (6-7 bucks each) because the store (Warehouse W & L, Manhattan) discounts heavily, so they're probably higher.

Actually a 2002 Shiraz-Cab, unlike this label. Frankland River, Australia.

2001 Chateau des Lanes (Corbieres). Very nice.

Real, yes, Yalumbas are Aussies.

I just tried a very reasonably priced and very nice cognac.. Frapin VSOP.. $45 in Chicago. Lovely. Also the AE Dor line is very fine.

2002 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir

A beautiful Pinot Noir better half and I had recently (May) while doing the Alaska Inside Passage cruise. An Oregon Winery - Sokol Blosser Winery, Dundee. Unfortunately, not available as far as I can tell outside the USA.

Yar, it's been a while since I've posted a review here. I've had a number of wines to post about, but I've been a tad remiss in reporting them here. I shall endeavor to do better....

Sometimes serendipity tosses you a curve ball that you really weren't expecting. Such is the case with a wine that I picked up yesterday purely on impulse. My favorite wine shop stocks an impressive, if somewhat cryptic, selection of Italian wines. I would be lying if I claimed much knowledge of Italian wine, so I tend to shy away from the lesser-known of the DOC's. (A DOC is a geographical wine designation in Italy.) I have no problems with, say, Barbera or Montepulciano, but going further afield lands me in alien territory.

What I picked out, more or less on a whim, was a 2000 Librandi 'Duca Sanfelice' Rosso Riserva Cirò. Not knowing what to expect from this wine, I opened it at the last minute, just as I removed my locally infamous four cheese and sweet Italian sausage lasagna from the oven. I tasted a bit of it before serving, and I knew immediately that this was going to be a memorable pairing of food and wine.

The Cirò DOC is centered around Cirò Marina in Italy's Calabria region (the toe of the boot of Italy). This wine is made of 100% Gaglioppo grapes, a variety that is said to be derived from the stocks brought by the Phoenicians and Ionians in pre-Roman days.

What immediately struck me about this wine was an intense herbal aroma, with parsley and perhaps basil, and the distinct scent of fig. Upon tasting, the first note is fruity, with wild cherry predominating, closely followed by fig and a bit of something earthier, like leather. The finish draws out the herbal overtones noted in the nose, but adds a spicy bit of black pepper that lingers on the palate for quite some time.

This is a medium-bodied wine, similar to a number of Burgundies, and not at all a hefty or chewy wine to accompany a grilled slab of red meat. But, as an accompaniment for a moderately spiced dish like the lasagna, it was absolute perfection. Because of the pronounced fig aromas and flavors, I would also think this a wonderful accompaniment to an antipasto plate.

For $15, this was an amazingly delicious and surprising bit of serendipity.

JIBE Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand.

Really nice.

jf

The Greeks, it is claimed, learned winemaking from the Georgians, who tamed the wild vines that grew in their homeland on the far shores of the Black Sea. Eventually, the Greeks cultured their own wild grapevines, ending the Georgian monopoly on supplying Greece and Asia Minor with commercial quantities of wine.

With centuries of winemaking to their credit, the wines that Greece produces today seem fairly lackluster. Perhaps it's just Greece's climate or the grape varieties that flourish there that result in pleasant but somewhat bland wines. Or, maybe they keep all the good stuff for themselves!

But, I'm always willing to let a Greek winemaker show me that my overall perceptions are rash generalization with a fine wine with character and a bit of panache. With that thought in mind, I picked up a bottle of Haggipavlu Aghiorgitiko produced in the Nemea area of Greece's Peloponnese.

The Nemea area is one of Greece's most famous viticultural environs, and the Aghiorgitiko (AKA St. George) grape is one of the most refined of the native Greek grapes. I figured this should be a good representative of a fine Greek wine.

I won't say that I was disappointed, nor was I impressed. This was a gentle, pleasant red wine of low acidity. A medium bodied wine, it displays a coloration that belies its time spent in oak barrels, a ruddy medium red, not at all purplish. On sniffing and tasting, one senses a lingering depth of aromatic smells and flavors, but they remain too subtle, as if veiled by some other sensation. Yet, there is nothing masking or inhibiting the aromas and tastes. They are just quite unassertive. The tannins were well controlled compared with many sandpaper-like Greek wines I've "enjoyed" in the past. But, the low acidity and little residual sugar make wines like this hard to pair with strongly flavored foods (and Greek food is hardly bland), so I'd relegate this one to serving with appetizers, or maybe even well after dessert. At $11, it's not a bad buy, but I can think of more inexpensive wines that are more worth your money.

Over the past few months, I have been slowly learning to enjoy the delights of a very reasonably priced California red wine. To be honest, I would never have even given this bottle the time of day if hadn't been for it being offered at one of my wineseller's tasting events. I mean, honestly, California winemaking has more or less polarized into barely drinkable plonk in jugs and boxes compared with extremely sophisticated varietals that challenge the palate and the pocketbook. The middle ground seems lightly populated and highly variable.

One winemaker that has proven itself a successful player in the varietal game is Fess Parker Winery, founded by the erstwhile television actor who portrayed Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone for a generation of viewers. But, instead of focusing on a varietal for this review, I'd like to extol the virtues of their "value" wine, Frontier Red.

This is actually a non-vintage wine, and is comprised of a blend of all sorts of Rhône-typical varieties: syrah, grenache, petite sirah, cinsault, mourvèdre and carignane. Where a typical Rhône wine might consist of one or two of these varieties, this blend nicely balances the fruitiness of the syrah, the aggressiveness of grenache, the deep, dark depths of petite sirah, the herbal notes of the cinsault, the complexity of the mourvèdre and the buoyancy of the carignane. This is truly a Gestalt of a wine, where the sum product is infinitely more complex and interesting than the components considered individually. The flavors of red and black fruits are ingeniously supported by both a depth of color and richness and a surprisingly complex range of smells and tastes.

Oddly, this wine sells for about $8 per bottle, and represents a great value in California wines. Although they aim to sell this stuff as an unpretentious everyday wine, I would have no compunctions with serving this wine to the most discerning of wine enthusiasts.

I even bought an entire case of it, that's how great a deal I think it is.

A friend of mine just recommended that I try the new "un-oaked" Chardonnays... is that just market-speak for stainless steel? Anyone out there try any of these and have one to try?

So, if any of you have been paying the least bit of attention, you've probably noticed that I tend almost exclusively towards dry, red wines. Yes, they're my favorite by a wide margin. But, don't for a minute think that I'm somehow prejudiced against white wines. While I find them less interesting than reds, I indulge in the occasional white wine as a capable foil to so many dishes.

One of my favorite dinner recipes calls for a good amount of dry, white wine. Since cooking wine shouldn't be of any lesser quality than something you'd drink, I tend to buy a bottle whose price range indicates a decent quality. But, since I'm using a lot of it for the recipe, I'm not looking at the $30+ bottles of Sancerre or Montrachet! And, since I'm going to be drinking the remainder, I want it to be something that I enjoy. So, while I don't actually detest California chardonnays, I tend to avoid them as overblown and predictable.

So, as I was assembling the ingredients for tonight's dinner at the grocery store, I stopped in the wine aisle. Generally speaking, this isn't the place to find the finest of the world's wines. Nevertheless, they will occasionally stock something new and interesting. Today, they were offering a special on something I'd never seen carried there before. So, being the adventurous sort, I snatched up a bottle...

Let's face it, South Africa doesn't have much of an international reputation of long standing for producing great wines. In so many ways, the embargoes that much of the world placed on South African products during the days of apartheid prevented SA winemakers from bothering to bring their products up to world standards. But, the region of the Cape of Good Hope is so nearly perfectly suited to viticulture that, almost without even trying, the resulting wines from grapes grown there are remarkably well-balanced.

The sauvignon blanc grape is a fairly recent introduction to South Africa's Cape province. But, it appears the winemakers there have learned a few things from their New Zealander brethren in vinifying it. While the end results differ considerably, it is obvious that the desire to express fully the local characteristics of the grape's terroir is quickly becoming foremost. Today's selection, a 2006 Sebeka sauvignon blanc is a case in point.

So, where the New Zealand sauvignon blancs highlight the herbal grassiness of their point of origin, this South African cousin wears its flinty minerality on its sleeve. But, while this could pose a problem with a grape variety that lacks sauvignon blanc's assertiveness, here the acidity and citrus notes provide a perfect complement.

The 2006 Sebeka's mineral background provides a bracing counterpoint to what could easily become just another nondescript melon-grapefruit sauvignon blanc. But I really enjoyed the balance it provided; the bright fruitiness was evident every bit as much as the austere, almost clay-like, finish that was, thankfully, nearly devoid of the somewhat unpleasant bitterness that so many sauvignon blancs tend to show.

So, now that we've polished off the remainder of the bottle, it's time to start dinner....

quote:

Originally posted by rontuner:
A friend of mine just recommended that I try the new "un-oaked" Chardonnays... is that just market-speak for stainless steel? Anyone out there try any of these and have one to try?

I think this question bears repeating. I tell anyone who asks that I'm "ABC: Anything But Chardonnay".

quote:

Originally posted by OperaTenor:

quote:

Originally posted by rontuner:
A friend of mine just recommended that I try the new "un-oaked" Chardonnays... is that just market-speak for stainless steel? Anyone out there try any of these and have one to try?

I think this question bears repeating. I tell anyone who asks that I'm "ABC: Anything But Chardonnay".

I haven't tried any myself, but, from what I've heard and read, it sounds like the results are vaguely reminiscent of Loire whites like Vouvray (made from chenin blanc grapes). I understand the flavor palette, though, tends to be along the same lines (although higher acidity) as Viogniers.

I'd take either of those over traditional Chardonnay.

Well, the overblown California chards are not exactly 'traditional' when compared to, say, the white Burgundies made from chardonnay grapes. The California style is to treat it like a red wine. A second (malo-lactic) fermentation is initiated that converts the malic acid to lactic acid, which reduces the overall sharpness of the acid taste and introduces diacetyl that gives it that cloying butteriness. Then, the wine is aged in oak casks which impart the characteristic vanilla flavors.

It makes for a smooth, easy-drinking wine that many like. I don't care for it myself, as the buttery taste is just too much for me. I think the end result totally diminishes the grape's character and masks what otherwise might be serious imperfections in the original grapes.

You got me there - I was thinking precisely of California Chards.

Nevertheless, when it comes to whites, I prefer a good demi-sec or even a good German wine.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt G.:
Let's face it, South Africa doesn't have much of an international reputation of long standing for producing great wines

I'm not sure I agree with you there, Matt. I was brought up to think of SA wines as being wonderful but forbidden. Then, after apartheid was dismantled, I tried some for the first time and have been a convert ever since. Maybe perceptions are different in different parts of the globe; I'm pretty sure they have always been well-thought-of here.