20
Jul
2011
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The incisive, irreverent Mr. T

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Just as this preposterous heat wave appears ready to break, so will this blog’s dry spell, induced by the passing of the world’s best mother-in-law and then some kind of wicked virus at this site. [Should the people who find it amusing to infect innocuous websites elude the death penalty? I say no.] Anyway, I have a lot of stuff to post to catch up, starting with this account from an event almost a month ago.

I’ve been to several Terry Theise events now, and each time, I find myself more likely to laugh or nod in agreement than to take notes. But on his most recent visit, I did jot down a few bits of info and wisdom in between the importer’s trademark bon mots, a la how the 2009 Spreitzer Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Kabinett “made me its bitch. 

On Germany’s most recent recent vintages: “2009 is like one of those cars that’s not sexy to drive but operates really well, a Toyota Camry, maybe — lovely, unfussy, classic vintage, will never disappoint but perhaps will not curl your toenails like some other vintages. The 2010s are freakishly romantic. They show dark flavors, whereas the ’09s show polite flavors. 

On wine reviews: “You see critics write about gooseberry. Brits have eaten gooseberries since they were kids, but Americans are like “˜what the heck is a gooseberry?’ ”

On his own preferences: “Sometimes you don’t want your block busted. For me the mark of a great wine is what I call a “˜persistent whisper.’ Wine can be beautiful in a lot of different ways, just as music can be beautiful in a lot of different ways. 

On what to do with old wine that tastes tired: “Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of Chambord.”

10
Jul
2011
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Wines of the Week: July 4-10

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Everyday: In recent years, a wonderful array of Italian whites (Non-Pinot Grigio Division) has hit the market, but often at prices that push the envelope in the value vein. Not so the Vesevo Beneventano Falanghina 2010, which is way worth its $16 tariff. A muti-faceted nose leads to a spot-on balance of minerality and fruit, and the texture moves seamlessly from lean to lush and back again, with a nifty dry finish. Creamier foods such as crab and corn join lighter fish or fowl dishes as pairing possibilities; it certainly was delicious with Ina Garten’s tequila-lime chicken last night.

Occasion: It’s always a bit of a crapshoot to taste young red Burgundies, especially very young ones, but the Joseph Drouhin Pommard 2009 ($45) is an absolute delight. The cherry-berry flavors are bright and lively, with sharp focus and persistence, plus just enough grip and silkiness. It’s not a profound wine (yet), but very tasty and a nice harbinger of the vintage in that wondrous, and often frustrating, region. Whether because of improved techniques in the winery or the move toward biodynamic farming — or some of both — Drouhin has become a consistently reliable label at this price point. Bring on the roast chicken, summer soup or grilled zucchini and onions.

3
Jul
2011
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Wines of the Week: June 27-July 3

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Everyday: Four Vines makes some swell single-vineyard zins in the $25-$40 range, but the Four Vines California Old Vine Cuvee Zinfandel ($14) is just about as tasty and wallet-friendly to boot. It boasts the classic zin flavors, cherry/berry and spice, and a lushness that indicates the grapes were picked at perfect ripeness, no mean feat in the zin world. There’s more backbone and depth than one would have any right to expect at this price point, and that spice and some toasty smokiness make it the perfect wine for anything being served at a July 4th picnic: burgers, brats and ribs or chicken with a piquant barbecue sauce.

Occasion: I am loath to use the word “Burgundian” to describe any California wine, but year in and year out, the Mount Eden Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay ($55) tests that resolve mightily. Lush but vibrant, this beauty perennially has layers of pure, concentrated flavors, and the structure to age splendidly. (We recently had an ’05 that was right in the zone.) The fruit/mineral/acidity balance continues through a near-endless finish. Almost certainly California’s best under-$60 chard, this wine is rich enough to pair well with crab and lobster, yet lean enough to fit in with a lemony fish or chicken dish or grilled veggies.

26
Jun
2011
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Wines of the Week: June 20-26

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Everyday: I’m not even remotely a Luddite about the notion of tipicity, partly because if I were, wines such as the Domäne Wachau Terrassen Federspiel Gruner Veltliner 2010 ($15) would be easy to dismiss. Yes, there’s the stony vibrancy and purity one rightfully expects from Austria’s signature white grape, but the fruit is decidedly, shockingly tropical, with nary a citrus note (OK, maybe a teeny-tiny bit of Meyer lemon). Frankly, this is a dangerous wine, seriously juicy and fresh and, with only 12-percent alcohol, eminently gluggable. But it also would be delicious with moderately spicy Thai or Indian dishes, or some of the blackened fish recipes that seem to have plummeted out of favor in recent years.

Occasion: In my post about senior winemaker Ian Hongell, I didn’t delve deeply into descriptions of the Peter Lehmann 8 Songs Shiraz 2004 ($40) even though it might have been the best value in the bunch. It’s got the chocolate and plum notes that one often finds in Barossa shiraz but is infused with an underlying earthiness that really resonates. Most of all, it just plain tastes great. The layered flavors and textures probably come from using several different sites, but also make this deep, dark red a great match for peppery slabs o’ beef, Korean short ribs or lavender-laced lamb chops.

25
Jun
2011
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Wine Country travel tips: New Zealand

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(This is one in a series of travel guides to wine regions by people whom I trust mightily. Brian has a great palate and appreciation for the good things in life.)

By Brian Tockman
Wine tasting in New Zealand is a pursuit in the truer sense of the world. You’ve got to really want it. A flight from somewhere in the U.S. to California and then a long flight from the Golden State to Auckland finds you exiting the airport onto a verdent and strangely familiar (to anyone who’s spent time in the UK) island a world away. At least for this author, the allure of New Zealand yielded a second trip — and I’m itching to go back.

There’s so much more than wine. The physical beauty, relatively sparse population, ease of travel (via rented car or camper van) and peace and quiet are worth the long-haul plane ride.

The good news from a wine standpoint is that vineyards are literally everywhere in New Zealand. While some regions such as Marlborough are a bit isolated, there is great wine to be found near Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown.

Some general recommendations

1) If you’re going to go to New Zealand, then GO! I’d plan two weeks since there’s such a diversity of fantastic things to do (fjords, hiking, kayaking, Maori culture, cities, skiing and, oh yeah, wine). Leverage that airfare; you won’t regret it!

2) Be mobile: Rent some wheels, particularly on the South Island, as the good stuff is well outside of a taxi or bus route.

3) Go slow: There are not many places as pastoral as New Zealand. Find time to hike and breathe.

4) Several wineries have excellent restaurants on site; plan your lunches around these, you will not be disappointed.

5) Call ahead: The wine business in NZ is more Sonoma than Napa. These are smaller producers, at least on the world scale, and particularly for the more highly regarded producers, I would recommend expressing your interest in meeting them. They’re generally flattered that someone from the States is taking the trouble to get all the way down there. We had one-on-one tours and tastings at several stops.

6) Bringing wine back isn’t really an option, and shipping direct comes with Customs difficulty and high costs. So, focus on tasting while you’re there and buy a few bottles to pop while camping. A crisp Sauvignon Blanc with local seafood eaten at sunset in Abel Tasman National Park (left) — try and beat that ambience at McCormick & Schmick’s.

Now, about those wineries “¦ For my tastes and interests (sauvignon blanc and pinot noir), the South Island was the draw, specifically getting up to Malborough and down to Central Otago. Doing both in the same trip means a good amount of travel time, and the winery visits were nice changes of pace and destinations mixed in among more outdoorsy days.
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25
Jun
2011
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The wizardly elegance of Oz

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Hongell“People don’t associate elegance with Australia” might sound like a truism, but Ian Hongell is doing his best to make it not so.

Rather than prattle on about the subject, Hongell (left) made that simple statement and then had me sample his wines from Peter Lehmann of the Barossa.

I had tried, and thoroughly enjoyed, many of them from previous vintages, and the current releases were just as refreshing, expressive and well delineated as I had remembered. They had vitality and firmness and, in the cases of the 8 Songs and Stonewell shirazes, as much elegance as any Rhone syrahs I’ve experienced.

As Lehmann’s senior winemaker (second in charge), Hongell is part of a team that works with 150 (!) growers, almost entirely in the Barossa region. “It’s a huge commitment to spend time with every grower,” he said. “We tell them when to pick, and we’re managing that process on an hourly basis. We have to catch these things before they get too cooked. Anyone can boil a pot of water. 

That reference to the overly jammy, “cooked” style that was a prime reason Aussie wines’ popularity plummeted — “We’re running as far away from that category as we can,” he said ““ is part of a storyline that we’re hearing a lot from Down Under. “We like to play into the savory element rather than something that smacks you in the face,” Hongell added.

They do that by, well, geeking out a bit. “We spend a lot of time on the tasting bench with all these tubes and cylinders, doing a nutty professor kind of thing. 

That helps them produce delicious blends such as the “Layers” white, in which muscat, semillon (which Hongell calls the “great white grape of Barossa”), chardonnay, pinot gris, gewürtztraminer and muscat all peek through at various stages. They also make a tasty botrytis semillon, which Hongell talks about here.

Another increasingly familiar Aussie talking point ““ and a seriously legitimate one ““ is a focus on regional traits. Hongell would dearly love for U.S. consumers to understand that there’s a big difference between the “richness and generosity without being powerful” nature of Barossa shiraz vs. generic Southeast Australia shiraz (a la Napa cab vs. California cab).

“Most Americans think Australia is a small island,'” he said, “but it takes as long to fly across the country as it does here. And you wouldn’t expect wine from the Finger Lakes to taste like wine from Paso Robles ““ and that’s before you even start on soils, climates, etc. 

Makes sense to me.

19
Jun
2011
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Wines of the Week: June 13-19

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Everyday: “This smells like the best pear ever,” I said last night after sniffing the Saracco Moscato d’Asti 2010 ($18). “Actually, it smells better than the best pear ever,” someone chimed in. True that, and it tastes pretty fantabulous as well. Seriously fresh, perfectly sweet and enticingly fizzy, this is a signature rendition of this grape. We had it with a lemon tart, and the match was stunning, but this gem should work with most any fruit dessert. And at 6-percent alcohol, it makes a spectacular late-afternoon outdoor quaffer.

Occasion: Used to be, Barolos required a buttload of cellar time before showing well. That’s still often the case, but the 2006 Vietti Castiglione Barolo ($45) is drinking beautifully right about now. The firm tannins indicate that it will age just fine, but the nose — redolent of the kind of violets one usually gets more from Tuscan than Piemontese reds — followed by cherry-berry fruit, dust amd minerality, a mix that yields backbone and balance. The finish is formidable and pleasurable. Try this firm, focused nebbiolo with grilled meat (white or red) or pizza.

18
Jun
2011
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When the going gets weird …

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It is the best of times for wine, the wackiest of times for weather.

The West Coast wine regions have been chilly and none too sunny. First, California’s Central Coast region lost a lot of grapes-to-be. More recently and further north, pollination has been a problem. The National Weather Service says this could be the state’s rainiest June since 1884. Oregon and Washington growers are wondering if it will ever warm up.

But in Champagne, they’re talking about picking in mid-August because it has been absurdly sunny early and often. Some wine operations have even canceled August vacations for their workers. Mon dieu!

Same with Champagne’s neighbor to the south, where it’s been unseasonably warm. As someone from California’s acclaimed pinot producer Rhys Vineyard tweeted recently, “Did we trade climates with Burgundy?”

Then there’s this dispatch from former Twin Cities wine-monger Bill Hooper, now working in German vineyards.

What does it all mean? Well, for one thing it’s good to be living in an era in which overall knowledge abounds on how to deal with difficult weather, both in the vineyard and the winery.

Last year my friend Joe and I were in Napa from May 20 to 22, and everyone was lamenting the cold spring. One morning the mountains were covered with snow — but the vintage appears to have turned out just fine.

Something St. Innocent winemaker Mark Vlossak said earlier this week at an amazing seminar (more to come on that) made a lot of sense to me:

“There is global warming, but more than that there is global weirdness. … Vintage variation doesn’t mean suck-ass vintages and great ones. It’s about style.”

And making the most of what Mother Nature hands you.

12
Jun
2011
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Wines of the Week: June 7-13

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Everyday: For nigh onto a decade, the Hogue Fumé Blanc was our go-to crisp weeknight white. Well, Mike Hogue has moved on and started another winery, and the Mercer Estate Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($14) has that signature liveliness and value. Very floral — but not with that grapefruit/grass/gooseberry thing that is overwhelming New Zealand sauv blancs — this is spicy, fruity (but not too) and seriously tasty. Some lemon-herb grilled chicken or sauteed fish is calling its name, along with most salads.

Occasion: I’ve had some amazing chardonnays from Burgundy recently, but the region’s other white grape provided a wonderful experience, and a revelation to boot. The A&P De Villaine Bouzeron Aligote 2008 ($27) boasts some stimulating stone-fruit flavors, laced with a touch of tropical spice, and spot-on acidity. Not to mention extraordinary length for a white (although it is, after all, from Burgundy). Almost any seafood dish, even the richest ones, and summery, sweet/savory Mediterranean concoctions — tapenade, caponata and peperonata — would sing with this bold offering.

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