9
May
2011
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The good doctor

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A Ph.D in agricultural economics from the Universty of Minnesota can be used in a lot of ways. In Aldo Biondolillo’s case, the end result was the best malbec I’ve ever tasted, by far.

Biondolillo, whose family emigrated from Palermo, Sicily to Argentina a century ago, got his doctorate here 43 years ago. So it’s not surprising that he used a very academic approach to craft his Tempus Alba “Vero” Malbec.

Realizing that Argentina is “at risk of commoditization with malbec [and doesn’t] want to repeat the Australian experience with shiraz,” he embarked upon an elavorate clonal-selection program.

“We started with 8,000 malbec plants over 25 hectares,” he said over lunch in Minneapolis last week, “and with very strict screening got down to 589 plants, and then down to 16. We are now doing DNA testing for those 16.”

Along the way, Biondolillo & Co. (three sons and a nephew help with the winemaking) selected 10 very promising clones for the “Vero” wine. And thus did 5-year-old vines produce a profound red that stunned a group of fellow cork dorks a couple of weeks back. We drank it blind, and even the non-malbec fans in the group were knocked out by the wine’s depth and structure.

Biondilillo and his fellow scientists are far from done. Besides sharing the promising clones with other Argentinian wineries — “we want a very huge expression of malbec with the same genetics but different terroirs” — the Tempus Alba white-coated brigade is experimenting with micro-oxygenation.

The winery is also doing more whole-cluster fermentation to offset malbec’s low-tannin predilection and using mostly French oak, and judiciously at that.

*Our wine style is to give high priority to the fruit and use oak just to express the fruit,” he said. “It’s a mixture of New World intensity and concentration but keeping the elegance of the Old World.”

Mission accomplished.

7
May
2011
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Wines of the Week: May 2-8

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Everyday: I used to love the fresh grassy aromas of New Zealand sauvignon blancs, until a seeming conspiracy turned most of them into monolithic grapefruit bombs with the occasional cat-pee notes. The Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Blanc 2009 ($16) has that freshly cut, nettle-some nose, and some gorgeous fruit to boot. This is a splendidly balanced white that pairs splendidly with always-challenging vinaigrettes (especially if the salad includes some goat cheese) and light chicken or fish dishes. A friend once asked me to recommend a really good Sancerre for under $20. I couldn’t — not sure anyone can — but this wine from just down the road will do quite nicely.

Occasion: Year in and year out, no one in Napa makes more delicious zinfandel than Brown Estate. Located in the relatively remote but emerging Chiles Valley region, this winery sources fruit from all over the county for the Brown Estate Napa Zinfandel 2009 ($36). Rustic and lusty, this wine has a lovely balance of jamminess and earthiness, plus a seriously silky mouthfeel and outsized finish. Good luck finding a better wine for pizza, burgers or baby back ribs. It’s the world’s first hashtagged wine (#brownzin) and comes from some longtime pioneers: The Browns are from Jamaica and were Napa’s first winery with black owners. The best place to find this and other tasty Brown wines might be the winery’s website.

1
May
2011
0

Wit, whimsy and wiseacre-ness

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Time for some sophomoric humor. In my case, that means it’s a day that ends in “y. 

These video clips are not new, but are pretty timeless. The oldest features Vincent Price and Peter Lorre in a cinematic smackdown/taste-off in “Tales of Terror.” They truly do not make movie scenes like this anymore, for better or worse.

Some would say that they don’t make “Saturday Night Live” skits like this anymore. Most of the folks taking that stance have been doing so for decades now, conveniently forgetting that many of their treasured moments were, like this one, extended riffs that amused us with naughtiness as much as clever wit.

If “SNL” is indeed not as consistently hilarious as in the past, a big reason is that writing talent is infinitely more spread out, to venues that include an entire comedy network, which spawned this bit of silliness featuring John C. Reilly.

Reilly’s Dr. Steve Brule character actually knows even less about wine than Borat, whose viniferous primer has its moments.

And that’s not even taking into account the amateur humorists posting material throughout the endless realm of social media. Every wine sales rep with whom I have shared this animated gem has confirmed that the spiel is not taking any liberties with the truth.

That, after all, is where they say the best writing comes from: life its ownself.

1
May
2011
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Moms? Maybe

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Cliché alert: The following is a gift guide for Mother’s Day.

Caveat alert: These suggestions fit only if the recipient is actually interested in and enjoys wine. It is written under the assumption that the giver has moved beyond the phase of thinking a baseball mitt or Justin Bieber CD is a great Mother’s Day present.

Of course, a gift can be a good-for-all proposition. Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page’s fabulous book “What to Drink With What You Eat” should delight the mother who loves to cook and those who get to enjoy the fruits of those labors (and of the vine). I wholeheartedly agree with Karl Rigelman, beverage manager at Minneapolis’ Minikahda Club, who calls it “a wonderful resource that provides all the basic information for experimenting with different food and wine possibilities.”

Another potentially mutual-benefit gift is an experience: a visit to a winery or three, perhaps locally or a bit farther afield (Oregon’s Willamette Valley or California’s Russian River Valley, via fabulous gateways Portland and San Francisco, respectively).

Then there’s a “non-experience”: Give the Mom in your life a break from a drudgery-laden routine by promising to be the one who cleans the Riedels or keeps the wine-storage area tidy for the next year (OK, maybe six months is more realistic).

And of course there’s “¦ wine. Just be sure that it’s really in her wheelhouse and beyond the amount she’d be willing to spend on herself. Among the great options: a grower Champagne (Pierre Gimmonet, Aubry, Bruno Paillard) or something seriously sweet (Inniskillin Icewine, Dow’s 10- or 20-Year-Old Tawny Port, Baumard Quarts de Charme).

With these delicious delights, though, do not be disappointed if the maternal instinct for sharing suddenly goes missing.

28
Apr
2011
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Wines of the Week: April 25-May 1

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If I were a stickler for “tipicity” — the cork-dork dictum that a wine must exemplify or typify the grape and/or region — I might have a hard time with the Cline Sonoma Coast Viognier 2010 ($16). It’s not nearly as perfumy or as exotic as most viogniers, especially those from Condrieu. You’ll just have to settle for vibrant, smooth and seriously tasty with this one. The floral aromas are lovely, if not as voluminous as viognier often gives off, and there are vivid stone-fruit flavors through the clean finish. That makes it a nice match for Asian dishes or any main course featuring a fruit salsa.

I loves me some chenin blanc — dry, sweet or just about anywhere in between. And while efforts on these shores and in South Africa to vinify the grape are improving, the nexus for chenin remains the Loire region of France. The Damien Laureau Les Genets Savennieres 2007 ($38) is everything an off-dry chenin blanc should be: lush and energetic, with perfectly ripe fruit, spot-on minerality and a delightful honeyed edge. It lingers on the palate for a full minute — if you can wait that long before taking another sip. Ham, creamy soups, barbecue and other sweet/spicy dishes are the perfect accompaniments.

25
Apr
2011
0

100 or bust

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So some friends and I were gathered the other night, drinking seriously tasty wine and eating an astonishing stew prepared by the estimable Ken Goff, when the talk turned to the 100-point wine-rating system and the ridiculousness thereof.

The one point of agreement was that there are 100-point wines. But being cork dorks of the highest order (somewhat literally at this point of the night), we differed on the parameters.

We yammered on about the importance of context, where and with whom the wine was consumed, and especially about the manner and degree to which the wine stirred our minds and souls. Someone regaled us with the tale of a well-known Minneapolitan shuffling across this very floor on his knees to rub his head against the thighs of a man who had shared a 1971 La Tâche. (They did not, by all accounts, go home together.)

The general consensus was that perfect scores should be reserved for wines that evoke that kind of response, although the cheek-thigh thing is presumably optional. Basically, a wine can be profound, but unless its effect is also profound, it can aspire only to a 99.

Balderdash, I said (or maybe it was another word that began with “b”). I compared it to art, another area in which “perfection” is subjective even if we can agree on greatness.

I used my first trip to Paris’ Musee d’Orsay as an example. We toured the lower floor, gawking at amazing sculptures, frescoes, friezes and paintings. We headed to the second floor of the chronologically arranged museum, gawked some more and chuckled upon finding “Whistler’s Mother” among the collection.

And then we walked into the Van Gogh room.

Startled by it all, I took a few halting steps to the center of the room for a full perspective. I soon realized that I was shaking, surrounded and utterly enveloped by these widely varying works of surpassing beauty. Tears welled up, and receded, and returned.

I am not a religious person, but I was certain that something not of this Earth was at work here, that Van Gogh had been a conduit for an otherworldly force.

These were, not to put too fine a point on it, a buttload of 100-point paintings in this room.

The day before, I had seen Monet’s glorious water lilies at the Orangerie. And even though those works did not move me as mightily or cosmically as the Van Goghs, I feel pretty secure in calling them 100-pointers, too.

Just sayin’.

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