My Picks: Vintages Release -- October 2

This week's release is all about Oz and Italian Reds; well, that's the theme anyway.  And yes, there are some that are worth picking up.  And lots more besides.  Just 2 organic wines in the Release this week; neither one made the cut.

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

PETER LEHMANN RIESLING 2008, Eden Valley (Australia); #186361; Price: $14.95; 11.0% ABV
Eden Valley Rieslings are some of the most underappreciated wines in the world. Cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks. No oak. You can drink it now or put it away for a few more years. I don’t often buy multiple bottles of a wine, but this is an exception.

TRIMBACH PINOT GRIS RÉSERVE 2006, AC Alsace (France); #971762; Price: $18.95; 13.5% ABV
OK, all you Pinot Grigio fans, time to step up to the real thing. Fermented in stainless steel. No oak. Look for good acidity and a creamy mouthfeel with peaches and pears and some smokiness on the nose and, yes, some nuts on the finish, Kyle. Perfect with the Thanksgiving bird.

INAMA VIN SOAVE CLASSICO 2008, DOC Soave Classico (Veneto, Italy); #949768; Price: $17.95; 13.5% ABV
100% Garganega, grown in the “classic” demarcation of Soave. Juice kept on the skin for 4 hours. Fermentation in stainless steel vats, followed by Malolactic fermentation. Aged in stainless steel for 8 months. No oak…can you spot the trend here? Should be great with whitefish.

BURGÁNS ALBARIÑO 2009, DO Rias Baixas (Spain); #945063; Price: $16.95; 12.0% ABV
100% Albarino from Galicia, that's the northwest corner of Spain, just north of Portugal, right next to the Atlantic. From Martin Codax, a specialist in Albarino. In this version, look for tree fruit and floral aromas, white flowers, and the sensation of residual sweetness.

Reds

The most interesting wines coming out of Australia these days are the ones from cool Maritime climates (Margaret River, Yarra Valley, Tasmania). Here are picks from each of the first 2 of those regions:

COLDSTREAM HILLS PINOT NOIR 2008, Yarra Valley (Australia); #472613; Price: $29.95; 14.0% ABV
The Yarra Valley is a bit east of Melbourne, with a cool Maritime climate that’s perfect for Pinot Noir. Handpicked. Different batches fermented using different techniques, including carbonic maceration. Aged separately for nine months in a mixture of new (27%) and seasoned French oak, then blended. Look for typical PN fruits (cherry and raspberry) with some earthy gaminess and spice from the oak.

XANADU CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2008, Margaret River (Australia); #59956; Price: $19.95; 14.0% ABV
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.
I haven’t been to Margaret River yet, but if this is what it’s like, book me a trip now, Danno. The winemakers at Xanadu say, “Our philosophy is strongly held, but extremely simple: grow great fruit, pick it at the right time and guide it through to the bottle without too much intervention. Which sounds easy, but actually requires a profound depth of knowledge, years of experience, and nerves of steel.” Ah, exactly right. Small batch fermentation for 7 days, followed by partial extended maceration and Malolactic fermentation. Aged 14 months in French oak (40% new) before the blending. Egg white fining, so not for vegans.

COLIO CEV PINOT NOIR 2007, VQA Ontario; #500454; Price: $19.95; 12.5% ABV
Here’s a local candidate for the Thanksgiving turkey. Fermented 10 days followed by 14 months aging in European oak. From the wonderful 2007 vintage. Pinot Noir, a cool climate variety that makes sense for Ontario.

EL ARTE DE VIVIR 2007, DOC Ribera Del Duero (Spain); # 137679; Price: $13.95; 14.0% ABV
100% old vine Tempranillo from Ribera Del Duero, southwest from Rioja. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Aged 6 months in 70% French and 30% American oak. Ah, Spanish Tempranillo…that’s the art of living!

MEDRANO IRAZU GRAN RESERVA 2001, DOCa Rioja (Spain); #182493; Price: $27.95; 13.5% ABV
100% old vine Tempranillo, this time from Rioja Baja, where Tempranillo is king. Fermented for a week, with continued maceration for another 15 days. Aged in 70% French oak and 30% American oak barrel for 24 months. Riojan wine-producers supposedly make Gran Reservas only in outstanding vintages, which 2001 was in Rioja. Look for typical aromas of dried fruit and leather.

LOUIS JADOT CHÂTEAU DES JACQUES 2006, AC Moulin-À-Vent (Beaujolais, France), #700187; Price: $27.95; 13.5% ABV
Moulin-à-Vent is the King of Beaujolais and if you haven’t tried a “Cru Beaujolais” yet, this is a good place to start. It’s something different from easy drinking, fruity Beaujolais and sometimes compared to a Burgundy wine, although it’s Gamay, not Pinot Noir. Carbonic maceration, followed by aging in oak for 6 months.

GLORIA RESERVA 2004, DOC Douro (Portugal); #146522; Price: $16.95; 13.3% ABV
A 50-50 blend of Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo) and Touriga Nacional from a new winemaker in Douro. Aged in oak for 12 months.

Sparkling

ANDRÉ ET MICHEL DRAPPIER BRUT NATURE ZERO DOSAGE, AC Champagne (France); #179275; Price: $42.95; 12.0% ABV
OK, this is interesting. I’ve been on the lookout for a “zero dosage” sparkling for a while now…and this release has 2! What’s dosage? It’s a sugared liqueur that producers add to a Champagne just before corking to increase its sweetness. Zero Dosage means just that; there’s no dosage added. It’s rare. 100% Pinot Noir. A splurge for a special occasion.

If you’d like to try a zero dosage sparkling that’s more affordable, check out
FREIXENET BRUT NATURE VINTAGE RESERVA CAVA 2007, Spain; #180844; Price: $16.95; 12.0% ABV

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Recommended Reading: Tastebuds and Molecules

Today marks the launch of Tastebuds and Molecules, the English language version of François Chartier's Papilles et Molécules, which I reviewed in March.

It's easily the most innovative book that I've read in the past 20 years on the subject of matching wine with food.  A must have for every sommelier! 

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Dinner with a Biodynamic Winemaker: Cefalicchio of Puglia

Fabrizio Rossi is not a typical winemaker. (In fact, he doesn’t call himself a winemaker at all.) For a start, he’s an agronomist, with a background broader than viticulture. Fabrizio is also a soft-spoken man, a rarity among winemakers. Like most people who talk little, it’s worth paying close attention when he does talk because he has something interesting to say. And in Fabrizio’s case, he breaks the winemaker mould again in being much blunter about his wines than most winemakers I’ve met, as ready to talk about what didn’t go well as what did.

All this made for an interesting dinner for Michèle and I the other night with Fabrizio Rossi at the restaurant La Roma, featuring the wines of Cefalicchio from northern Puglia. The dinner was part of the Wines of Puglia week, organized by Antonio Mauriello and his DiVino Wine Studio.

Cefalicchio has been the Rossi Family’s estate for more than a hundred years and includes Biodynamic-certified production of wine and olive oil, as well as a hotel and restaurant, spa, and seminars on food and wine. But it’s only since 2003 that they have produced their own wines. (Before that, they turned their grapes over to a local cooperative for winemaking.) Perhaps Fabrizio’s blunt talk about their wines comes easy to him because he understands that experience in winemaking comes slowly over decades and generations, so expecting perfection after 7 years is unrealistic.

Our wine tasting started with the Vigne Alta 2007, IGT Puglia Rosso.  13.0% ABV. Made from 100% Montepulciano and aged in stainless steel. Aromas of sour black cherry, blackberry, dried herbs, and earthiness (mushrooms and wet leaves). With high tannins, the mouthfeel is quite drying and even a bit harsh on the finish. Fabrizio Rossi said that they left the juice on the skins too long during fermentation, which drove the tannin levels higher than they should be. The Vigne Alta was matched with Breaded Mussels baked with basil and lemon. I’m used to eating mussels with white wine but matching these mussels with red wine is typical in Puglia and it works surprisingly well. And the wine was better with the mussels.

Next was Canosa 2007, DOC Rosso Canosa.  13.5% ABV.  Made from Nero di Troia (65%) and Montepulciano (35%). Aged in stainless steel. Aromas of red and black fruits (mostly cherry), dried herbs and minerality. Medium acidity and certainly softer tannins than the first wine and better balanced. Some heat was evident on the nose. Matched with Orecchiette tossed in a tomato sauce with Ricotta cheese (and, I think, some chili peppers). Whatever the hot spice in the pasta dish was, it worked against the wine, pushing the heat up unpleasantly even though the alcohol level was still reasonable at 13.5%.

We moved on to Romanico Reserva 2005, DOC Rosso Canosa.  13.5% ABV. Made from 100% Nero di Troia. Aged in oak for 12 months. It’s wines like this that are turning me into a big fan of Nero di Troia, a variety that is native to Puglia. Nero di Troia was almost lost as a wine-producing grape (it’s difficult to ripen properly and tends to over-produce its foliage) but the Pugliese recently re-established it. Unfortunately, according to Fabrizio, the winemaking methods for Nero di Troia have been lost so it’s back to the starting point in understanding how to make a good wine from these grapes. But Pugliese winemakers are convinced of its potential to produce wines suitable for aging. I found aromas of raspberries at first, yielding to prunes and cooked plums, some floral notes, with hints of orange zest, liquorice, and spices. Good acidity and soft tannins, this wine is well balanced. Matched very well with a generous Braised Lamb Shank with seasonal vegetables, including rapini.

Our final wine was Totila 2005, IGT Puglia.  13% ABV. Made from Nero di Troia (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (50%). Aged 6 months in oak. This is what I think of as a “halfway house” wine, made for folks who aren’t quite ready for a Nero di Troia varietal, so they throw in some Cabernet Sauvignon with the Troia for the international market.  Fabrizio tells us that the blend for this wine is the top subject for rainy days at Cefalicchio.  (They have rainy days in Puglia?!)  What's the right proportion of Nero di Troia and Cabernet Sauvignon?  His own opinion is that they should reduce the Cabernet Sauvignon to 30 percent.  Aromas of red cherries and cooked fruits at first from the Troia, then the cassis and fresh herbal notes come in from the Cabernet Sauvignon, with vanilla and cinnamon from the oak. Right down the middle with suede tannins and medium acidity. Very good wine, but I prefer my Nero di Troia uncut. Matched with two cheeses – tangy pecorino and baked ricotta slices – and refreshing iced grapes.

A fun evening with unusual wines and delicious food. The 2005s are better than the 2007s but for a winery that’s less than a decade into producing its own wines, the potential is obvious. Buona Fortuna, Fabrizio e Grazie, Antonio!

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What a Heel!

It’s quite a week for the Wines of Puglia here in Ottawa (plus Toronto and Montreal). And it’s not over yet.

Events have been cascading since the Kick-Off Seminar on Tuesday afternoon with workshops and dinners featuring individual winemakers from Puglia. And the wines and food of Puglia are the focus at many of the restaurants that are celebrating Ottawa’s La Vendemmia, the harvest festival. It’s all been organized by Antonio Mauriello and the hard-working folks at his DiVino Wine Studio.

What’s Puglia? The heel of the Italian boot, it has a wonderful climate that generates high yields for almost any crop they choose to plant. Not surprisingly, with those high yields, Puglia’s wine reputation, for a long time, was for rather ordinary bulk wines. Locals often shipped these wines elsewhere for blending into wines from other regions to add some weight (alcohol). But in the last few years, attention has shifted from quantity to quality, as it has for other southern European wine regions. Good news for us!

Even better news, the winemakers in Puglia focus more and more on native grapes like Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Nero di Troia (although Cabernet and Chardonnay do have a foothold).

In addition to a primer on the history, geography, and food of Puglia …it’s the capital of Italian organic produce…it leads in Italian olive oil production…Tuesday’s Kick-Off Seminar featured a tasting of wines from 11 different producers, led by Ian D’Agata. (Wine Out Loud has a great description of the seminar.) Besides being a man who obviously knows his wines, Ian is just one more example of how the wine universe pulls people into its orbit, as he’s also holds a degree in medicine and is a paediatric gastroenterologist.

Of the 11 wines tasted at the seminar (1 white...made from Bombino Bianco, 1 rosé, 10 reds), I came away most impressed with the wines made from Nero di Troia and Negroamaro. These wines offered more in the flavour profile than just fruit, showing some intriguing herbal and spice notes, often with an attractive bitterness on the aftertaste. Great food-matching wines.

There are still some events to take in this weekend, so if you’re at loose ends, get out and enjoy some Wines of Puglia on Preston Street.

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Recommended Reading: Adventures on the Wine Route

Kermit Lynch is a legend. Deservedly so.

Based out of his wine shop in Berkeley, Lynch sells wine that he imports from France and Italy (only!) and that he now distributes throughout the US. He also has branched out into winemaking, as a part owner of Domaine Les Pallières in Gigondas (Southern Rhone).

Part of Kermit’s status comes from a book that he wrote back in the mid-1980s: Adventures on the Wine Route…A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France. It’s been on my reading list for a long time but I never got around to reading it until now. I guess as the years went by, I thought the book would become less and less relevant. I was wrong.

Taking us through the major wine regions of France – Alsace is inexplicably missing and the Languedoc section is badly outdated – Lynch introduces us to vignerons, characters all, and he highlights places to go and things to see. (His description of driving in Marseille is still bang on.) It’s all set in the French wine regions in the mid-1980s, which for me resonates strongly: it’s when I first started visiting those same wine regions. Undoubtedly, some of these wine producers have passed from the scene, but that doesn’t make the stories any less interesting.

Throughout the book, Lynch shares his own philosophy of winemaking and wine drinking; he’s enthusiastic about what he likes and despairs when he finds things he doesn’t like.

In this book (remember, written in the 1980s) Kermit Lynch sounds the warning about many of the trends in winemaking with which we’ve become all too familiar today. High-alcohol, oaky, fruit bombs? Kermit rails against them. Wines that all taste the same? Long before Mondovino, Kermit was there. Sulphur-dioxide-sterilized and filtered wines that lose all typicity of their terroir? Long before Alice Feiring, Kermit was there. Machine harvesting and portable bottling plants that ruin a wine? Kermit warns about that.

Government regulation and bureaucracy, the idiocy of excise taxes on a product (wine) with proven health benefits, he goes after those too.

Lynch doesn't spare consumers either. Buying your wine based on some critic’s numerical score? Shame on you. Taste for yourself and develop your own palate, your own preferences. Drink what you enjoy, with food, not what someone tells you that you should enjoy. 

For Lynch, "great wine is about nuance, surprise, subtlety, expression, qualities that keep you coming back for yet another taste.  Rejecting a wine because it is not big enough [in fruit and alcohol] is like rejecting a book because it is not long enough, or a piece of music because it is not loud enough…But, after all, the consumer has to decide:  does wine smell good and taste good, or does it simply pack a wallop?  When the public taste changes away from size to aroma and flavour as the most important criteria, we will all be drinking finer wine.”

But Kermit Lynch is by no means all-condemning. When he finds a winemaker that nurtures wine in its terroir, making a wine that is classically typical of the region, he’s unsparing in his enthusiasm.

 

He celebrates good wines from anywhere in France, promoting the “rare gems” from southern Burgundy (Mâconnais-Chalonnais) and from the outlying areas of the Cote D’Or, like Savigny-Les Beaune. Lynch compares the different Burgundian wines to music. Is a grand cru better than a wine without cru status? “Is a Wagner opera better than a Mozart divertimento? Better for what?” What’s the occasion, he asks, what food will you serve? Every good wine has a role to play.

Unfortunately, Kermit Lynch has never followed up with a sequel, although he published selections from his monthly brochure, Inspiring Thirst, in 2004.  If you want to see the man himself, Gary Vaynerchuk (HELLO EVERYBODY!) did a three-part interview with Kermit Lynch earlier this year (although you have to put up with GV's constant interruptions).

I loved this book. (Ever come across a book at just the right time? Reading it 5 years ago would have been too early? 5 years from now might be too late? For me, this is a book like that. It’s reinforced my own opinions about good wine, many of which have changed significantly in the past few years.)

If you want to meet interesting characters, learn more about what it takes to make (or ruin) good wine, and go beyond the tasting blurbs to the pleasure of wine, it’s a must read. Just don’t wait 22 more years.

(Available at the Ottawa Public Library.)

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Winning By A Nose!

After 4 weeks of laryngitis, a cold, blocked sinuses, bronchitis, antibiotics...I can smell again!  What a treat...it's like discovering wine anew!

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Go SouthWest Young Man

I’m fascinated by lesser-known wine regions: areas that produce good, (maybe not great) wines using native grapes that are usually unknown anywhere else. The big international (OK, noble if you prefer) varieties are not for them. They stay true to their traditional varieties and make wines that match up well with local cuisine.

One of those regions is South West France, just south and east of Bordeaux. Sure, there are many Bordeaux varieties grown in the area closest to Bordeaux. But, moving east and south from Bordeaux into Béarn, Pays Basque and Gascony, it’s the home of some improving appellations using lesser-known varieties. These wines can be hard to find at Vintages, but two of them are available in the September 18 release. (Yeah, I know, neither are included in yesterday's My Picks...think of them as a bonus!)  For my friends in Québec, you’ll find these SouthWest wines more frequently at the SAQ.

• Jurançon is within the larger Béarn region and gives its name to both a dry white and sweet white wine, both of which were once some of the most famous wines in Europe. The winemakers use the Gros Manseng grape to make the spicy and floral Jurançon Sec. We don’t see much Jurançon Sec at Vintages, but there’s one in the September 18 release, so seize the day. SAQ has a better selection.
• Béarn is more famous for its sauce. If you can find them, their reds, made from Tannat, go well with a steak accompanied by a certain sauce. (Surprise!)
• Irouléguy is in Basque country, close to the Spanish border. It’s a wine region brought back from the dead. They make lighter-bodied reds from Tannat and whites from Petit Courbu, Gros Manseng, and Petit Manseng. SAQ has a couple of choices.
• In Gascony, Madiran winemakers make red wine, using the Tannat grape. As the name suggests, it’s high in tannins, even astringent, but it’s the perfect match to cut the fattiness of duck confit. It's one of the very best examples of a regional wine and food match. Madiran shows up from time to time at Vintages and there’s one available in the September 18 release. Regularly available at SAQ.
• Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh is the same geographic area as Madiran but is the name of the white wine made here, using Petit Courbu, Petit Manseng, Arrufiac, Gros Manseng, and a foreigner, Sauvignon Blanc. But the Sauvignon Blanc cannot be more than 10 %. Rarely seen here in Vintages but SAQ does carry them.
• Also in Gascony, Cotes de St-Mont makes mostly red wines from Tannat and Fer grapes, while they make their whites from Arrufiac and Petit Courbu. St-Mont is one of the few VDQS wines remaining in France and the 2010 vintage is the last one in which the VDQS designation may be used. Word is that the quality of St-Mont wines improves every year, so chances are that Appellation Contrôlée status is just around the corner. Vintages carried a St-Mont white in 2009, so keep your eye out for more wines from St-Mont. Seen more often at SAQ.

It’s a cooperative (Plaimont) in Cotes de St-Mont that makes most of their wines and is credited with the improved quality. Even better news is that their Conservatory rescues “lost” local grape varieties, such as Ahumat and Morenoa, and makes experimental wines from these varieties.

More diversity in wine, I’m all for it!

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My Picks: Vintages Release -- September 18

This week’s release features “Ontario’s Signature Styles” as the main event, with wines from Douro (Portugal) as the undercard. But (it pains me to say this) it’s the Douro wines that are the more interesting, with only one of the Ontario wines worth your consideration in this release.


Coincidentally, nothing over 14% ABV.

 Organic

AGRIVERDE NATUM 2008, DOC Montepulciano D'Abruzzo (Abruzzo, Italy); #180224; Price: $ 12.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Montepulciano; it’s in Abruzzo where this varietal variety is most widely planted. (And not to be confused with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany; they make that one mostly from Sangiovese.) Fermented in steel and aged 24 months in the bottle before release. A great match for pasta with a tomato-based sauce.

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

CAVE SPRING CSV CAVE SPRING VINEYARD RIESLING 2008, VQA Beamsville Bench (Ontario); #566026; Price: $29.95; 11.0% ABV
Top of the line from Cave Springs, as the price shows. Made from low-yielding old vines (old for Niagara, that is). Fermented in stainless steel for 4 weeks with cultured yeasts; then aged for 3 months on the spent yeast. Can be drunk now or aged for 10 years. Refreshingly light-bodied. Regular readers know that I prefer very dry Rieslings. Rated Medium Dry on the International Riesling Foundation’s scale, but it’s a worthy exception.

TBILVINO TSINANDALI DRY WHITE, Kakheti (Georgia); #26658; Price: $12.95; 13.0% ABV
A blend of the Georgian varietals varieties, Rkatsiteli and Kakhetian Mtsvane. Widely planted across Eastern Europe, winemakers use Rkatsiteli for its spicy and floral aromas and its acidity. Mtsvane brings the fruit aromas. Formerly one of the key producers in the Soviet Union, the winery lost its biggest market in 2006 with the Russian embargo and turned to other markets (like ours). Far, far off the beaten track. At this price, worth a try.

ROBERT OATLEY SAUVIGNON BLANC 2009, Pemberton (Western Australia); #186106; Price: $17.95; 12.2% ABV
Western Australia has a cool Maritime climate, perfect conditions for growing Sauvignon Blanc down under. Cool fermentation, no oak.

KAMANTERENA XYNISTERI 2008, Paphos (Cyprus); #179911; Price: $11.95; 12.4% ABV
100% Xynisteri, native to Cyprus. Look for citrus and green apple flavours. Drink ASAP. Produced by a cooperative formed in 1947, uniting 10,000 family producers from 144 villages!

FONTANAFREDDA GAVI DEL COMUNE DI GAVI 2009, DOCG Gavi (Piedmont, Italy); #75440; Price: $15.95; 12.5% ABV
100% Cortese, native to northwest Italy. Gavi makes the best wines from Cortese. Cool fermentation, aged 4 months in stainless steel. Look for citrus and floral aromas. Drink now.

Reds

Two selections from the Douro wines, followed by a good choice from the other side of Iberia:

QUINTA DO CRASTO OLD VINES RESERVA 2007, DOC Douro (Portugal); #990572; Price: $34.95; 13.4% ABV
A blend of 25 different varietals varieties (!) all from vines that are over 70 years old. Hand picked. Aged 16 months in 85% French oak and 15% American oak.

QUINTA DOS ACIPRESTES RESERVA 2007, DOC Douro (Portugal); #167627; Price: $21.95; 14.0% ABV
A blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa, both varietals varieties used traditionally in making Port (also from the Douro region). 14 months of aging in French, American and Eastern European oak.

DESCENDIENTES DE J. PALACIOS PÉTALOS 2008, DO Bierzo (Spain); #675207; Price: $21.95; 13.5% ABV
From a region (Beirzo in northwest Spain) and a varietal variety (Mencia) that have come out of nowhere in the last few years. Palacios is a top producer. Get it.

FROGMORE CREEK PINOT NOIR 2006, Tasmania (Australia); #182972; Price: $26.95; 14.0% ABV
We don’t see too many wines from Tasmania; a shame because it’s a great cool climate wine region, perfect for Pinot Noir. Handpicked. 48-hour cold soak on skins, followed by fermentation in stainless steel, Malolactic fermentation in oak, then aging 10 months in 30% new and 70% seasoned French oak. Frogmore Creek’s winemaker is from the Loire Valley and trained at Dijon University.

PIETRO RINALDI MADONNA DI COMO 2008; DOC Dolcetto D'Alba (Piedmont, Italy); #182261; Price: $16.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Dolcetto (little sweet one). Alba is home to the best producers. Fermented in stainless steel, followed by Malolactic fermentation, then aged in stainless steel for six months. Known for high acidity and soft tannins, red and black fruit aromas. Meant to be drunk young.

Sparkling

L. VITTEAUT-ALBERTI BLANC DE BLANCS BRUT, AC CREMANT DE BOURGOGNE (France); #180018; Price: $18.95; 12.0% ABV
A blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Aligote, made in the traditional method, as in Champagne. Great bargain.

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13.5 Is The New 12.5

In our sommelier courses, they taught us that 12.5% Alcohol by Volume (ABV) is the mid-range for table wines. (12.5% is also known as Bordeaux weight, as Bordeaux wines traditionally came in at that level of alcohol.) Moreover, our Profs consider a wine at 12.5% ABV to be medium-bodied. (Body is the perception of weight in a wine.  Alcohol contributes more to that perception than any other element in the wine. More alcohol means fuller-bodied.) At or below 11% is light-bodied and a wine at or above 14% is full-bodied. (Like my Profs, I’m drawing these boundaries somewhat arbitrarily.)
But that’s not true anymore. Over the past 20 years, alcohol levels have gradually increased to higher and higher levels. Why? One factor is the slavish consumer following devoted to some wine critics whose personal preference is for deep purple, big fruit, oaky, full-bodied (high alcohol) wines. Climate change is another factor, as grapes consistently reach full ripeness with higher sugar levels, which converts to alcohol through fermentation. In fact, these days many wines go through alcohol reduction to get under the legal limit for table wines in various jurisdictions.

So, in today’s wine universe, 13.5% is the new 12.5%, the new midpoint. And when I look at most of the selections rolling through Vintages these days, 13.5% is certainly the mid-point. Might be even higher.

Why am I going on about alcohol levels? Thanks to my horrific summer cold that just won’t go away, I’m still without my sense of smell. (Jeez, this better be temporary!) But as I said last week, without the ability to get aromas and flavours in wine, my focus goes to other factors, like body and the sensation of alcohol.

In almost all of the fuller-bodied wines (above 14%) that I’ve tasted in the last 3 weeks, the sensation of heat from alcohol prevails. Sometimes it’s even a burning sensation. Why didn't I notice this before? I think that the (usually) powerful aromas and flavours in full-bodied wines tend to mask that sensation of alcohol. Take those aromas and flavours away and the hot punch of too high (?) alcohol is obvious. (I’ll admit that the aromas and flavours would not divert a more discerning taster than me.)

For me, I’m going to pay more attention to the presence of that hot alcoholic sensation in full-bodied wines (>14.5%) from now on. And I’m going to look for wines that keep those alcohol levels down. I don’t want to feel the burn anymore.

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My Picks: Vintages On-Line Exclusives -- Trawling for Treasures

It’s been a month since the last new release from Vintages Online Exclusives. (Usually, a new release comes out every 2 weeks, alternating with the store releases.)  Not sure what’s going on. I’ve asked Vintages and if I find out, I’ll let you know.  [UPDATE September 10:  Vintages says, "We would suggest checking the web site periodically for new releases..."  Hmmm, something's up.]

In the meantime, I’ve gone trawling for bargains from the existing inventory of 460 wines already available from Vintages online. Here are nine wines, all worth your consideration and all $25 or less. Regular readers won’t be surprised that Spain and Italy, two regions with unusual varietals, are well-represented.

None of them are organic or Biodynamic.

Let’s start close to home:

SUMAC RIDGE BLACK SAGE VINEYARD WHITE MERITAGE 2007, VQA Okanagan Valley (British Columbia); #434977; 14% ABV; $24
A Bordeaux-style blend of Sauvignon Blanc (80%) and Semillon (20%). Aged in French and American oak for 8 months. North American vintners use “Meritage” for wines that they make exclusively from Bordeaux varietals but that (often deliberately) don’t meet the standard required to designate the wine by its varietals.

Now to the Old World, first stop is Spain, with a white and 2 reds:

TRASCAMPANAS VERDEJO 2007, DO Rueda (Spain); #143693; 13% ABV; $19
100% Verdejo, the signature grape of Rueda, located just a bit east of the Portuguese border. Known for its herbal aromas with citrus notes; try it instead of Sauvignon Blanc. From Bodegas Jesus de la Hoz Monsalve. WWJD? Verdejo!

RENTAS DE FINCAS RESERVA 2002; DOCa Rioja (Spain); #157800; 13% ABV; $22
A blend of Tempranillo (80%), Garnacha (10%), and Mazuelo (10%). 20 days maceration in stainless steel, Malolactic fermentation, aged in American and French oak for 12 months. A great example of Riojana wine.

GEMINA CUVÉE SELECCIÓN 2004, DO Jumilla (Spain); #132423; 14% ABV; $25
100% old vine Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre in France) from Jumilla, down in the hot southeast part of Spain. Aged four months in American and French oak. Usually grippy tannins, ideal with a grilled bavette.

And now 3 whites from Italy:

ST. MICHAEL-EPPAN PINOT GRIGIO 2008, DOC Südtirol-Alto Adige (Italy); #163030; 13% ABV; $22
I know what you’re thinking…$22 for a Pinot Grigio?! Ah, but here in the Southern Tyrol, they make some fine Pinot Grigio with tree fruit aromas and crisp minerality. Fermented in stainless steel.

CANTINA TERLANO WINKL SAUVIGNON BLANC 2007, DOC Terlano (Trentino – Alto Adige); #124008; 13% ABV; $24
OK, so you don’t like Pinot Grigio? How about a Sauvignon Blanc from the same region? Fermented in stainless steel vats; aged on lees (spent yeast) for 6 months. More fruit than herbal, so it’s somewhat closer to Loire than New Zealand in style. Just the same, it has its own style.

PODERE CASTORANI AMORINO 2007; IGT Colline Pescaresi (Abruzzo, Italy); #111708; 13% ABV; $25
100% Pecorino, a specialty of the Adriatic coast of Italy. Known for its minerality. Why not try it with some cheese, Pecorino perhaps?

Of course, Languedoc also shows up on my list:

L'OSTAL CAZES ESTIBALS 2007; AC Minervois (Languedoc, France); #161869; 14% ABV; $25
A blend of Grenache (35%), Carignan (35%) and Syrah (30%). Aged 12 months in French oak. If you’re still wondering whether Languedoc can produce great wines, Jean-Michel Cazes isn’t. Owner of Chateau Lynch-Bages, a Fifth Growth in Pauillac, Cazes bought 50 hectares of AC Minervois vineyards in 2002. See what happens when Bordeaux expertise meets Languedoc’s natural gifts. And it’s from the amazing 2007 vintage.

Finally, an unusual New World blend from down-under:

WYNDHAM ESTATE GEORGE WYNDHAM FOUNDER'S RESERVE SHIRAZ/TEMPRANILLO 2007, Adelaide Hills/Barossa (Australia); #159830; 14% ABV; $23
A blend of Shiraz (70%) and Tempranillo (30%), two of my favourites. Leave it to the Aussies to bring them together. Fermented for 10 days. Some Malolactic fermentation. Aged 12 months, some in new French oak, and some in older barrels.

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Losing By A Nose

Wine is a spectacular sensory experience. Sight, smell, taste, touch…it’s all there except for sound. (I’m not counting hallucinations.)

But there’s one sense that’s pre-eminent for wine appreciation: smell. Without aromas and flavours (and we smell flavours, we don’t taste them), wine is stripped of much sensory pleasure.

The dread of losing that sense of smell, even temporarily because of illness, was the cause of nightmares for many students in our sommelier program, where blind tastings were part of every examination, and examinations seem to come around every 2 weeks.

That dread has come back to me over the past few days as I impatiently fight my way through a nasty end-of-summer cold, with a complete loss of the sense of smell.

The cliché seems to be true, though: loss of one sense heightens the others. (Yes, I’m still drinking wine during the cold; it’s habit-forming.) So without a sense of smell, appreciation of wine changes its focus to other characteristics:

• Appearance: What colour is it?  How deep is the colour?  Is it crystal clear or cloudy?
• Structure: Is it dry? sweet? Is the acidity high or low?  What about the tannins?
• Texture (with your tongue): Weight...is it light-bodied or full-bodied? Mouthfeel?  What sensations do you get?  Smooth or grippy?  Crisp or flabby?   

For me, aromas and flavours usually overwhelm these other significant elements of wine appreciation. But without the ability to smell, they all become surprisingly easy to pick out accurately. And you’re not misled by preconceptions from tasting other wines with a similar aroma profile (for example, citrus = light-bodied...often true, but not always).

It’s been an interesting lesson. But I want my nose back! Speaking of which, time to blow it….







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My Picks: Vintages Release -- September 4 2010

This week’s release features Southern Rhone wines (16 reds, 1 white) from the incredible 2007 vintage. It's hard to go wrong buying wines from a great vintage, so if you like the blended big red wines from Southern Rhone, dominated by the Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Carignan varietals, with aromas of black fruit, spices, dried herbs, and game, then there's lots to choose from with prices from $13 to $37. 

And 6 more wines from the Okanagan!  If you want a small sample of what's happening there, here's your chance.

Organic

NATURA SAUVIGNON BLANC 2009, DO Casablanca Valley (Chile); #93914; Price: $15.95; 13.0% ABV
100% Sauvignon Blanc, aged 5 months in stainless steel. Casablanca Valley is right by the Pacific coast and the cooling Maritime effect of the Humboldt Current, yielding a crisp Sauvignon Blanc. Look for the classic aromas of citrus and fresh herbs.  From Emiliana, the leading producer of organic wines in Chile.

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

7 whites this week, counting the organic SB listed above.  Let's start off with an unusual white from BC:

SANDHILL SMALL LOTS VIOGNIER 2009, VQA Okanagan Valley; #126862; Price: $24.95; 14.9% ABV
Sandhill says they’re experimenting with Rhone varietals in small lots at their Osprey Ridge location, just east of Oliver in southern Okanagan. Here’s an example: Viognier. Hot, dry summer boosted the alcohol levels to almost 15%! Fermented and aged in stainless steel. No oak.

Let's not forget Niagara:

MALIVOIRE GUILTY MEN SAUVIGNON BLANC 2009, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #186254; Price: $19.95; 12.5% ABV
Billed as a limited edition wine from Malivoire, I like a rarity. Fermented in stainless steel. Whatever these men are guilty of, sentence suspended!

Here are two more Sauvignon Blancs, one Old World and one New World...sometimes it just works out that way:

F. TINEL-BLONDELET L'ARRET BUFFATTE 2008; AC Pouilly-Fumé; #169730; Price: $21.95; 12.5% ABV
100% Sauvignon Blanc from the eastern edge of the Loire Valley, fermented and aged in stainless steel. Grown in Kimmeridgian marls, the same soil in which the chardonnay that produces Chablis is grown, and often exhibiting the same gunflint aroma, along with citrus, flowers, and peach. Some think the gunflint aroma is where the “fumé” gets its name. More likely, it’s from the fine powder that collects on the SB grape and is then scattered during harvest, creating a smoky haze.

O. FOURNIER B CRUX SAUVIGNON BLANC 2008, Uco Valley (Mendoza, Argentina); #177949; Price: $19.95; 12.5% ABV
100% Sauvignon Blanc, grown at altitude. Fermented for 10 days in stainless steel tanks. No oak. Look for the cool tastes of citrus, mint, and minerality.

CARABELLA DIJON 76 CLONE CHARDONNAY 2006, AVA Chehalem Mountains (Oregon); #180133; Price: $24.95; 14.5% ABV
A Chardonnay? Yes, when it comes from a region we don’t see very often: Oregon. Made in a "Burgundian style", so likely they’ve throttled back on the oak. The vineyard is dry-farmed, using no herbicides. Carabella’s winemaker, a geologist, says producing wine is all about the vineyard; they sound like terroir-ists to me. My kind of wine producer!

NICOLAS MAILLET 2008, AC Mâcon-Verzé (Burgundy); #702605; Price: $19.95; 13.0% ABV
Another Chardonnay? Well, when its good value from the less-respected (and less pricy) southern Burgundy, sure. Nicolas Maillet uses no chemical herbicides. Harvested by hand, fermented for nine months (brrr), followed by Malolactic fermentation. Drink Macon wines while they’re young.


Rosé

DOMAINE LE MALAVEN ROSÉ 2009, AC Tavel (France); #184101; Price: $15.95; 13.2% ABV
According to the winemaker, it’s a [co-fermented] blend of Grenache noir (50%), Cinsault (20%), Mourvèdre (10%), Syrah (10%), and the remaining 10% are the white varietals of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, and Picpoul.

Hey Vintages, why no rosés from Lirac, next door to Tavel?  They're usually just as tasty and less expensive.

Reds

My pick of the 3 reds from BC:

CEDARCREEK ESTATE CABERNET/MERLOT 2007, VQA Okanagan Valley; #175604; Price: $23.95; 13.9% ABV
A very precise blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (46.9%), Merlot (28.4%), Cabernet Franc (22.1%), Pinot Noir (1.4%), Malbec (0.5%), Syrah (0.4%) and Petit Verdot (0.3%), selected from eight different vineyards in Kelowna, Naramata and Osoyoos. Fermented in stainless steel, then aged in 95% French oak and 5% American oak. With this blend, why not try it with a mixed grill?

You can't go too far wrong with the 2007 Rhone reds in this release.  Here's my choice:

PIERRE AMADIEU ROMANE MACHOTTE 2007, AC Gigondas (France); #17400; Price: $22.95; 13.5% ABV
A blend of Grenache and Syrah. Handpicked. Maceration of 30 days. Aged partly in two year-old barrels and partly in larger casks over 12 months.

And, for contrast, here's a Grenache wine from down under: 

YALUMBA BUSH VINE GRENACHE 2008, Barossa (Australia); #531228; Price: $19.95; 14.5% ABV
Grenache is a Mediterranean – mostly France and Spain – varietal with a second home in Oz (along with Shiraz and Mourvèdre). Hand harvested. Fermentation started with natural yeasts, but they add cultured yeasts to keep it going. Matured for 6 months in older French oak. Look for lots of ripe red fruit. They say it's suitable for vegans, which means no animal by-products used in fining.

Something from a long-time favourite producer:

TORRES CELESTE 2006, DOC Ribera del Duero (Spain); #672691; Price: $19.95; 13.5% ABV
100% Tinto Fino (what Ribera del Duero calls Tempranillo). Torres' home is in Penedes but here’s something from another Spanish region. Grown at 900 metres. 20 days of maceration with a week of fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Aged in French and American oak for 12 months.  You can't go wrong.

Finally, for my peers from the Algonquin Sommelier compressed program, here’s an extra pick from Moldova that should bring back stemmy memories…

FIREBIRD LEGEND PINOT GRIGIO 2009, Vulcanesti (Moldova); #189936; Price: $12.95; 13.0% ABV

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