Tapiz Extra Brut Malbec Rose

We've gotten a lot of tips on great wines though the years from customers and vendors alike but never before have we gotten a good tip from a truck driver.  The fellow had just dropped off my order when in the middle of some small talk he drops a bomb - Tapiz Sparkling Rose was selling like hotcakes.  His truck was loaded with the stuff.  Everyone was ordering it.  So while this wasn't an actual product endorsement, it struck me as something worth pursuing.

Tapiz Malbec and Cabernet have been staples here for at least twenty years.  They are as good as any in the twenty dollar range but until now we didn't know about the sparkler.  After consulting with the salesman we added that one to the set on the next order.

Tapiz means tapestry (of terroir & innovation.)  The winery is a modern state of the art operation located in the celebrated Uco Valley in central Mendoza, Argentina.  The vineyards are amongst the highest in the world at 4,600 feet altitude.  The winemaking team is led by Jean Claude Berrouet who for forty-four years made the wines at Chateau Petrus, the most expensive wine in the world.

Tapiz Extra Brut Malbec Rose is a 100% varietal methode champenoise sparkler.  The wine color is bright pink; the aromas and flavors feature fresh and fruity cherry and strawberry.  Uco Valley vineyards are known for their diurnal temperature swing that creates berries that are both ripe yet balanced between sugar and acidity.  This wine is fermented in stainless steel at a low temperature followed by eight to ten months aging on the lees.  The finished product is "full bodied and concentrated yet elegant and balanced."  

Angelini Veneto Pinot Noir

Angelini was recommended to us as an example of type that surpasses in quality what we have come to expect in everyday priced pinot, which isn't saying much since these things are pretty disappointing as a category.  As an Italian IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) wine, the juice is sourced from an expanded region and made in the international style but still, according to our research, maintains Veneto appellation characteristics.  This begs the question - What are the typical characteristics of Veneto Pinot Noir?  Try as we might we couldn't find them.  Which probably means they are just playing off the prestige of the Veneto appellation name.  

Veneto, in northeast Italy, has been called "the engine of the Italian wine industry."  As tastes have become more sophisticated in the modern era, it has grown in importance.  Not only is it home to Soave, Prosecco, Valpolicella and Amarone; it has also assumed a heightened role in the production of what California might call "fighting varietals," those everyday wines that are a step above bulk quality.  And that is what we think we have in Angelini...except that's not really fair to our most reliable vendor who, when he says something is good, it just IS.

There may be more to recommend this wine if we consider the long winemaking history of the region.  As we have said here many times, the pinot family of grapes has an unstable genome resulting in a history of vineyard mutations across Europe.  Currently there are fifty clones of Pinot Noir in Europe.  While origins for the grape geographically are uncertain, most ampelographers would put it around the middle of the continent.  Evidence shows this grape to have been around for a couple thousand years which probably means it found its way to Veneto a very long time ago.  Who would doubt the abilities of Italian winemakers with that kind of time to find the right clone and get the winemaking right?  

Pinot Noir is the great red grape of the world if you have an extra hundred dollars or so for that kind of quality.  Descriptors for any European Pinot Noir worth its salt should include finesse, elegance and complexity.  We believe Angelini may have those qualities.  Give it a try!

The Paradigm Shift

The question we pose today is this: When did the historic "nose-taste-finish" model for wine structure morph into the now common fruit forward style of today.  Relatedly, with the ancillary jamminess that so often attends to this style; when did that supercede finesse and sculpture in the body of a wine.  Am I too deep in the weeds?  Let's clear out some underbrush.

The historic model for most wine appreciators starts with the nose, the aroma of the wine.  So much of tasting is done at the beginning, before even getting the stuff into your mouth.  It's a foretelling of the entire experience.  Tasting the wine then reveals a fuller breadth of flavors you anticipated in the nose.  And just like even lighter wines must have some body, even simpler wines must show some breadth of flavors and they must be complementary.  Are you with me so far?  Those flavors that so enticed you at the beginning should unfold into something greater in the mouth and then continue into an extended pleasant finish.

That is the historic model.

To our understanding, two things happened to accelerate the change to the California forward fruit style.  In the mid 1980's Kendall-Jackson emerged as a major player in the industry with their off-dry style Chardonnay.  Before that there was White Zinfandel, of course.  We have a sweet tooth in this country and with KJ's success, wines in general became more forward and a little less dry.  

The other factor goes back much further in history.  We're talking about jug wines.  For most of American wine industry history it was jugs of off-dry muddy red and white plonk that was the norm for what wine was in America.  The better quality wine industry was always there, but always only in the background.  In the 1960's estate producers of better wines began to get a toehold and continued to grow in popularity but, in all honesty, it was probably around 1990 before the jug business waned.  But the style persisted, less structure and more fruity flavors.  

Now here's a factor number three: The old model was European in origin.  This is America.  European-style sauces, stews and soups require a wininess of longer flavors that wrap around the complexity of the sauces.  We're a hamburger and steak culture and we consume a lower fat diet in general than the Europeans do.  So in that light it makes sense that we want a fatter wine. 

Thermal Amplitude

We've written about thermal amplitude in the past.  It's basically the same thing as the diurnal shift, the difference in temperature between daytime and nighttime.  The greater the temperature difference, the better the fruit.  Today's post was prompted by seeing the thermal amplitude wording on the back label of Puramun's Co-Fermented Malbec/Petite Verdot blend.  

Puramun is a prestigious label from Pepe Gallante of the Valle de Uco of Mendoza, Argentina.  For this wine the two grape types are hand harvested and then fermented together, a process they think brings out more of the great Malbec character.  The wine then sees twelve months in oak.

Valle de Uco is a special place within the larger special place of Mendoza, one of the truly great wine venues of the world.  Mendoza is the huge plateau in the middle of Argentina that has received financial investment from many of the greatest international wine companies.  It is a high altitude, sandy soil environment that has never seen the phylloxera problem other wine regions have been plagued with because of those conditions.  Apparently the plant louse behind the problem doesn't care for high altitude sandy soils.

The subject of thermal amplitude was clearly explained in a blogpost by APU Winery: Daytime photosynthesis creates energy and stores carbohydrates (glucose) while at the same time plant respiration converts nutrients from the soil into energy for internal cellular activities.  At nighttime when less energy is needed respiration slows with the colder temperatures.  The leftover energy from the daytime activities is then directed to the fruit which develops rich intense flavors, color and acidity.  If the daytime heat is sufficient, the grapes ripen faster, developing darker fruit flavors and thicker skins for desirable tannins. 

And there you have it.

Diatom Chardonnay

"Diatomaceous earth," she says when I introduce her to the wine, clearly something that stuck with her from prior reading.  She followed with, "It has to do with soil that was previously part of a seabed."  And that is essentially correct.  More specifically it involves all kinds of dead fossilized algae (diatoms) of all shapes and sizes that have been accumulating in certain locations worldwide over the course of a hundred fifty million years.  That onset, if you're keeping score, was in the Jurassic Period.  Prior to that there was some kind of bacteria that didn't require light to exist.  It was effectively killed off by the algae leaving really no trace of what it might have been.

Algae was a gamechanger in the history of the planet because, if you recall your high school science classes, algae is a plant and what do plants do?  Photosynthesis.  They convert light energy into chemical energy.  And how much photosynthesis can a little algae do?  Living algae, which may account for half of all organic matter in the oceans, actually do twenty-five to fifty percent of all photosynthesis in the world.  To state the obvious, this is huge.

The layer of dead algae on the bottom of the oceans may be a half mile thick.  Because of the currents at work around the world, those dead diatoms work themselves up to our soils in certain locations around the world, one of them being in Santa Barbara, California where Diatom Vineyards exists.  The Santa Barbara diatomaceous earth is a siliceous sedimentary rock that crumbles into a powder that has proven useful in winemaking.  It is an abrasive, like pumice, with tiny pores that both filter and polish a wine that is poured through it.

Diatom is the best California Chardonnay we have tasted in quite a while.  It is unoaked with no malolactic fermentation yet tastes rich.  Winemaker Greg Brewer uses low yield, perfectly ripe fruit from Santa Maria Valley to make this wine.  The nose features "fresh melon, key lime, and celery (!)"; the palate has "herbs and zesty citrus fruit."  Most critics scores Diatom Chardonnay in the mid-nineties.

A Couple of Noteworthy Italians

From the Val di Noto in southeast Sicily comes the Morellito Cala Ianco (white grapes), a 90% Grillo/10% Catarotto blend that may be too good for its salad and seafood intentions.  This organic wonder follows its zesty/nutty nose with nuances of apricot, herbs, salinity, lemon and tangerine on the palate.  The management of this property says there is freshness and tension in this chalky textured, acid-driven effort.  Again from the winery owner comes this chestnut: "It's like diving into the ocean on a hot day."

Fonterenza's Pettirosso contrasts with Cala Ianco in every way.  Obviously, it's red wine.  It also has a pedigree, being from the Mt. Amiata neighborhood of Tuscany, although you wouldn't know it from the sparse bottle label.  The grapes here are Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo, again, if not great types, certainly more highly regarded than Sicillian Grillo.  And the marketing effort for this one is different.  Much more text is devoted to the making of this organic effort than to any colorful adjectives for the finished product.

Pettirosso is Sangiovese-based so it marries well with typical Italian pasta dishes.  Reviews available to us say "black cherries, brown spice, balsam herbs and cocoa."  Someone else said "wild berries with violet florals."  We like that.  It says the wine is complex and the sum of all the company winemaking analytics tells us this is a serious example of its type. 

Sicily

This reminds me of the time we intended to compare and contrast Zinfandel wines made from grapes grown at different latitudes.  In our mind's eye we assumed northern California was a higher latitude than southern Italy.  It isn't.  They are pretty much the same latitude so our tasting of examples from both places morphed into a contrast of wine cultures.  Based on wine styles our conclusion was: California makes cocktail wines; Europe makes drier dinner wines.

Sicily is an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea so to our way of thinking, it must be small.  Islands are small, right?  Wrong again.  This island contains twenty-three DOCs (wine appellations) and one DOCG, a guaranteed highest quality level appellation.  The island itself is a DOC, making it Italy's largest wine appellation. 

Six thousand years ago Greek traders introduced the first vines to Sicilian soil.  Three thousand years ago they brought their winemaking skills and technology to the island and the Sicilian wine industry was born.  As "the Crossroads of the Mediterranean," that industry flourished.

So not only is Sicily huge with a very long winemaking history, it is also very diverse in its winemaking culture.  Twenty-four percent of Sicily is mountainous allowing for Sicily to reflect the same gamut of climates the mainland has.  The Val Demone in the northeast side of Sicily is home to the finest wines of Sicily.  That is where Mount Etna reigns as the highest peak in Italy with vineyards inhabiting elevations up to 4,000 feet.  The red wines made from the Nero Mascalese grape are comparable to Barolo.  The Bianco from the Caricante grape has a Riesling-like character.

The most well known wine of Sicily is Marsala and it is sourced from the Val di Mazara on the west side of the island.  The Val di Noto is on the southeast side and it provides our store shelves with Sicily's most popular red, Nero d'Avola.  Catarratto is the most widely planted white grape but most of it is destined for Marsala.  Grillo and Inzolia are the most popular white table wine grapes.  In all, Sicily offers sixty-five native grape varieties.

Now you know what an incredible place Sicily is in the wine industry.  We have to stop this too-large undertaking at some point but not before this last tidbit: Being an arid island, Sicilian vineyards benefit from breezes that cool vineyards and prevent mildew and rot from getting started so there is a disproportionately large amount of organic farming going on there.

Girasole

Do we need pesticides in our vineyards?  It's a good question.  What if our regular glass of wine contains some small percentage of bad stuff and that little bit could lead to health problems later in life?  Girasole (geer-uh-so-lay) Vineyards believes we should be concerned.

Girasole is a Mendocino County family-owned and operated certified organic estate winery established by Charlie Barra in 1955.  Once again an Italian-American leads a family winery into generational success.  Only this time the achievement is more impressive because of the organics emphasis.

To attain the CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) label means accepting annual audits, regular verification paperwork and additional labor requirements.  It also means accepting risks, pests being the worst of them.  

To be labeled organic a wine must limit sulphur to less than 99ppm.  Non-organics are allowed up to 350ppm.  Barra organic wines test at half of what's allowed.  While regular yeasts show a small petrochemical content, Barra's organic yeasts have none.  For sixty years, way before others got on the bandwagon, Barra has farmed the organic way while concurrently being a board member of the California North Coast Grape Growers Association.

Girasole (Italian for sunflower) is a three hundred acre estate in the Redwood Valley, the headwaters of the Russian River.  All of the grapes are estate grown and handharvested, making this operation all the more impressive.

The Happiest Wine on Earth

Credit for this post title goes to wine writer Jan Bonne for calling Bugey-Cerdon what it is, a niche wine anomaly if we ever heard of one.  Patrick Bottex, the best known Bugey-Cerdon producer, says his wine is "lively and playful, has a deep pink color with a fine (sparkling) bead, ambrosial fragrances of strawberry and roses and finishes crisply."  Winesearcher says, "floral, somewhat sweet with fresh minerality."  Eater says it's "a touch sweet," adding nuances of rhubarb and wildberries.  The Bugey importer, Kermit Lynch, gets into it with "watermelon."  It's also light, low-alcohol and when you consider it's SUMMER, you get the idea: this stuff is a charming borderline fruit bomb and with that, we think Jan Bonne got it right.

Bugey-Cerdon is one of ten subappellations of Bugey and the only one to receive AOC certification (2009).  For fifty years before that it was a VDQS wine, one step above vin de table, and we're betting you really had to be a wine geek to even stumble upon the stuff.  The Bugey-Cerdon locale is on the western edge of the Alps between Jura and Savoie.  Historically the region was loosely considered to be a part of Burgundy, which it wasn't, but the locals thought of it that way.  It's actually twenty miles or so from both Burgundy to the west and Savoie to the east.  Maybe thirty miles or so to Geneva, Switzerland.

Bugey-Cerdon is typically made with a blend of Gamay and Poulsard grapes.  It may legally be made with 100% Gamay grapes.  It is made into bubbly using the pre-Champagne, Methode Ancestrale process that uses no second yeast application leaving the wine off-dry and somewhat grapey.  Alcohol is 7-8.5%; residual sugar is 22-80g per liter (off-dry to sweet). 

The village of Cerdon is in the southern Jura mountains.  The vineyards surround the village on steep southeastern mountainside slopes.  The soils are rocky, so free draining; the climate is cool.

There is more to the Burgundy connection: In the pre-wine appellation middle ages, the Bugey region was considered to be Burgundy.  And while the sparkling roses of Bugey-Cerdon are what the region is known for today, there are some serious pinots made in the other subappellations of Bugey.

Food affinities for Bugey-Cerdon?  Try breakfast pastries.  If it's a sweeter version, maybe some desserts.

The Emily

The Emily is a South African Chardonnay that curiously includes two percent Pinot Noir.  Two percent.  Why?  Who knows?  We would say just for the slightly pink color, except the two percent pinot also beefs up the body and enhances the flavor.  So like we always say, there's no reason to blend grapes unless you improve the end result, and the proprietor, Longridge, has made The Emily a very worthwhile quaff.

The Emily commemorated in the wine name is Emily Hobhouse, a humanitarian who exposed the cruelty of Anglo-Boer war concentration camps at the turn of the last century.  They say as much on the back label.  They also hint at the reason for the two percent Pinot Noir.  They say it is for the color.  "Oeil de Perdrix" (eye of the partridge) is a historic very blush color which wine makers seemingly aspire to recreate.

The wine is sourced from Stellenbosch, the oldest and finest wine appellation in South Africa.  Their claim to fame is Cabernet Sauvignon and those grapes, of course, get the choice hillside vineyards with their rocky soils.  The white wine grapes typically are sourced from clayey Stellenbosch valley vineyards closer to the maritime influencing False Bay.  The vineyards used for this wine are biodynamically farmed and the fruit is hand harvested.

(FYI - Geologists claim South African soils to be the oldest vineyard soils in the world.)

The Emily is unoaked Chardonnay but the wine is left on the lees for nine months before blending in the two percent oaked pinot.  That would also account for some of its richness.  Depending on which review you look at, the wine may have aromas and flavors of guava, kiwi, citrus, kumquat, peach, melon or green apple.  We think this wine would go with chicken, turkey or maybe...partridge.

Humbolt Fog

Humbolt Fog is a soft-ripening goat cheese with a layer of edible vegetarian ash in the middle.  It is made by Cypress Grove Chevre of Arcata, California in Humbolt County.

Humbolt Fog's natural mould rind allows for ripening from outside of the cheese while at the same time keeping the middle soft and runny.  Flavors include buttermilk and fresh cream with floral notes and herbaceous overtones. The cheese has a clean citrusy finish.

The Humbolt Fog cheesemaker suggests serving the cheese with prosciutto, tart apple, Marcona Almonds or with drizzled honey.  Wine pairings include light roses and Blanc de Blancs Champagne and white wines that are not more acidic than the cheese, so probably something off-dry.

Nals Margreid

It's always nice to get a wine tip from someone further up the distribution chain.  That tip is usually more informed and objective and leads to some positive retail outcomes.  This time we learned that "for the first time ever the Nals Margreid Italian wines were now available in this country," to which we more or less shrugged our shoulders.  Who the hell is Nals Margreid anyway?  Here's what we learned.

Nals Margreid is a cooperative venture of up to 140 grape growers in Alto Adige in the northeast corner of Italy.  That region produces some of the country's finest white wines.  Alto Adige vineyards are typically 300-400 meters above sea level with a southeastern exposure and sheltered to the north by the Alps.  The climate is Mediterranean; the soils are rocky with evidence of ancient alluvial fans.

My supplier is usually reliable so I turned him loose and told him to send me a case of what he thought was the best Nals Margreid wine.  He sent me the Sauvignon Blanc.  It is a full-bodied white with straw yellow color with greenish hues.  The nose is complex with aromatic herbs, citrus, berry and lychee nuts.  The wine is crisp and tangy with grapefruit, gooseberry, cantaloup and sage.  The memorable finish is long and balanced.

As good as it sounds the Nals Margreid Sauvignon Blanc in the store is from their entry level tier.  It is 100% Sauv Blanc, hand harvested from the Alto Adige DOC, aged on the lees for five months in stainless steel, all of which accounts for its full-bodied racy character.  

Gambero Rosso is the bible of Italian wines.  They say Nals Margreid practices "severe selection" in grape harvesting, which must indicate quality.  Moreover the winemaker is a young rising star in the business and blends from many of their select vineyards.  Since this one is so fine we can only imagine how fine their higher tier wines are.

Try this one with spicy (perhaps Asian) white meats and seafood.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is the most popular red wine on the planet.  We're not going to pretend we can do it justice here in one post, so what follows will be a condensed and contextualized summary of our recent Saturday afternoon Cabernet class.  

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape is one of the younger vinifera wine grapes.  It emerged from a vineyard mutation in 1700's western France, perhaps in Bordeaux.  That mutation was caused by an accidental crossing of a Sauvignon Blanc vine with a Cabernet Franc vine.

As it turns out, that crossing may have been the best thing to happen in the wine industry in centuries.  Not only is Cabernet wine as popular as it is but viticulturalists love the ease with which it grows.  Sauvignon is French for "savage" meaning "wildness," and the term refers to the vine's adaptability to different environs.  Nutritionally poor soil is not a problem for Cabernet vines.  And while most grapes are locked into one climate or another, Cabernet does okay in a spectrum of climates, although the warmer the climate, the more pyrazines (bell pepper flavors) become apparent.  Well draining soils are still optimal for Cabernet viticulture but you get the idea - growers love this grape.

The finest Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Bordeaux.  Napa is second best.  Maipo, Chile is third and Tuscany is fourth.  At least that is the opinion of one expert we consulted.  As we've said here many times - Good wine is where you find it and since this grape does so well in so many places, there are probably new great venues yet to be discovered.

California Cabernet is, of course, the toast of the town in this country.  Common characteristics include a high acidity, leathery tannins and flavors of black cherry, pepper and, courtesy of oak barrel ageing, vanilla.  Oak also tends to lighten tannins and accentuate the more complementary flavors in wine.  When blended, and most Cabernet-labeled wines are actually blends, expect more dark berry flavors.

And finally, Cabernet Sauvignon is quintessential red meat wine; be it steak, hamburgers or really, anything else on the grill.  Knowing what we know about how well this grape does everywhere, if you're in the neighborhood wine shop looking for something to have with dinner, hedge your bets and pick up a cab!

Maddalena Cabernet Sauvignon

Maddalena is both a wine brand name and that brand's namesake.  Born in Piedmont, Italy, Maddalena would marry into the Riboli wine-making family of Los Angeles and then became instrumental in their San Antonio Winery.  The winery had been established in 1917 concurrently with the family's ongoing wholesale food business.  If you follow their timeline, things at San Antonio really started taking off when Maddalena became involved in the 1940's.

Today the Riboli family has vineyard holdings in Monterey, Paso Robles and Napa and markets wines under thirteen labels.  The Maddalena label was started in 1983 and today uses fruit from their estate in the El Pomar American Viticultural Area (AVA) within the larger Paso Robles AVA.

Back on April 15th we blogged about the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA and the strong winds from the Monterey Bay that cooled the area sufficiently enough to grow some pretty good Pinot Noir.  El Pomar gets those same breezes further south through the Templeton Gap.  Central to the whole of Paso Robles, the AVA is a higher elevation than most of Paso and has soils that reflect its marine past with alluvial fans and dry river and creek beds.  Drainage is no problem with these kinds of soils so root systems can flourish.

The winds mentioned earlier serve to modulate the temperatures often providing a twenty to thirty-five degree shift daily, essential for creating lush ripe flavorful fruit.  The 2021 Maddalena Cabernet Sauvignon in the store right now is bold and structured with a rich round body, silky texture and soft tannins.  Flavors may include ripe dark plum, spicy cherry, vanilla, carmel and oak.  It is the best we have under twenty dollars.

Montepulciano and Montepulciano

Leave it to Italy to legislate two different wines with the same name.  If you like muddy water, Italy can muddy the waters like no one else in this business.

So the greater of the two Montepulcianos is the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano which comes from the area around the village of Montepulciano in Tuscany.  Like Chianti, Vino Nobile can be 100% Sangiovese but most versions are blends.  By law that blend must be at least 70% Sangiovese but the remainder may include a number of local varieties or international types like Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is a larger trend throughout Tuscany but what sets Vino Nobile apart is the care with which clones of Sangiovese are selected.  Tuscany is full of the lesser clones that serve a purpose in quantifying production but Vino Nobile seems to have selected wisely and a lot of Chianti makers are now following their lead.

Over in Abuzzo on the other side of the penninsula the Montepulciano grape variety holds court.  Always a value-driven wine from a less auspicious part of the country, Montepulciano d'Abuzzo too is upgrading its game.  Hillside vineyards throughout the appellation are now producing better wines with ground zero for the upgrade being the town of Teramo where in 2003 its hillside vineyards were awarded a DOCG quality grade for their Montepulciano d'Abuzzo Colline Teramane.

Why this post now?  Because Montepulciano d'Abruzzo was the subject Lettie Teague chose for a recent WSJ wine article.  Teague is our favorite wine writer and her recommmendation of the Tiberio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo prompted us to add it to our inventory.  Of the wine, she said, "...structured with dark fruit, spice and a firm mineral core."  

We wrote about the Vino Nobile as an admission of our own confusion about Montepulcianos.

Zinfandel

Lets suspend reality for a minute and imagine 1850's California and the gold rush that was beckoning immigrants from around the world.  They all wanted to get rich and they believed in their abilities to earn a slice of what in today's money would be a twenty-six billion dollar fortune.  For the Italians among them, many tucked something special from the homeland into their backpacks, a grapevine packed in Italian soil.  Primitivo, Italian Zinfandel, would have been the preferred type in most of those packs.

We know now that most of the gold rush bootie ended up in the coffers of the already affluent and the corporations they owned while most of the free agent miners probably got little for their efforts.  But they did start an industry with their vines.  For the next one 150 years Zinfandel would be crowned king in California, the most widely planted wine grape in the state.  As recently as twenty years ago Zinfandel still held that status.  Today it is ranked third behind, Cabernet and Chardonnay.

Why such popularity for such a humble vine?  Simple - its vines produce a lot of berries.  The nascent wine industry needed a workhorse to fill all those jugs that were the order of the day.  Secondly - malleability.  We think of big soft lucious red wine but Zinfandel can be light, full, sweet, dry, fortified, rose and lest we forget - white!  White Zinfandel still makes up ten percent of the sales today. 

Personally, we fondly remember the red field blends of fifty years ago that were probably mostly Zinfandel along with some combination of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Carignan, Grenache or really anything, such as field blends are.  As long as the grapes weren't sourced from the Central Valley of California the wines were fine.  Yeah, they were a little rough but they weren't aspiring to be Bordeaux.  And they were better than the most celebrated Zinfandel of the time, Gallo's Hearty Burgundy.

And why are we writing about Zinfandel now?  Because we just did a tasting of two types; one from the heel of the boot of Italy, the other from Napa Valley.  Cooler climate Zin shows more red fruit while warmer climate Zin shows more black fruit according to the experts.  So the Napa wine should've been raspberry and the Italian should've been blackberry, right?  Well, not exactly.  It turns out both venues are about the same latitude!  So we just judged the wines on their attributes.  They were both very good in their own way!

Quadrum

Quadrum is the brand name for a Spanish red and white imported by Jorge Ordonez, one of the best at what he does.  If the Ordonez name is on the label just go ahead and buy it.  It'll be good.  The Quadrum red is a blend of 80% Cencibel, a clone of Tempranillo, and 20% Garnacha (Grenache).  Both are more than servicable types.  The white is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo.  The percentages of each aren't given for this one but while the Sauv Blanc is listed first and is better known, don't discount the Verdejo.  It's one of the best whites of Spain.

The winemaking backstory for both wines is remarkable similar.  They are sourced from the La Mancha D.O., the huge plateau in the middle of the country where the soil consists of a layer of red clay above sand and limestone.  The climate is continental with strong cold winds that work to deter pests so the vines can be organically farmed.

The grapes for these wines are hand harvested then cold soaked before maceration and fermentation.  The red gets a five to six day maceration; the white gets eight hours.  In keeping with the organic template, the fermentation yeast is non-GMO and after filtering, a fining is done with potato protein.  Bottling is done in quick order to preserve freshness.  The wine is labeled as suitable for a Vegan diet.

So this sounds like a pretty good product, eh?  Can I get a "Hell Yeah!"?  Here's the real selling point - Quadrum is a 3 Liter box of wine bringing your cost down to about half of what you would expect to pay for this kind of quality.  Oh, Hell Yeah!

Gundlach Bundshu

Gundlach Bundshu is one of the half dozen California wineries that claim to be the oldest.  This claim depends on the metrics you choose.  GunBun's claim in short: For 160 years and six generations the Bundshu family has continuously owned and operated their commercial winery making them the only such winery to do so.  A sticking point: They turned to cattle for forty years beginning with Prohibition before returning to winemaking full-time in 1970.

Jacob Gundlach and Charles Bundshuh were both German immigrants who formed their wine company in 1868. Gundlach had purchased 400 acres and planted his Rhinefarm Vineyards ten years earlier.  Bundschu was a businessman who married into the family and would go on to be instrumental in the company's rise into an international fortified wine powerhouse.  That stature would unfortunately be shortlived.  Aside from the vineyards, the business was entirely located in San Francisco and the 1906 earthquake destroyed them.  

Situated 35 miles north of San Francisco and just barely within the Sonoma Coast wine appellation, the 320 acre Gundlach Bundshu vineyards lie very close to Napa and Carneros. They include both valley floor plantings and Mayacamas foothill vineyards.  The mineral rich, marine sediment vineyards in the valley are planted in Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay.  The shallow rocky volanic foothills are planted in the Bordeaux varietals along with Zinfandel and Syrah.

And this is where this post ends because gunbun.com says it so much better than we can.  It is the best winery website we have ever seen.  Check it out for whatever else you might want to know about the operation.

Raclette

Raclette cheese has been a hot item here at the store ever since we got behind Gruyere as our favorite cheese.  We won't get into the many reasons for Gruyere being our best, but Raclette emerged in tandem with Gruyere because we thought of it as Gruyere-lite.  Make no mistake, Gruyere is our bestest but it's also expensive.  Raclette shares the similarly pleasant aeromatics of Gruyere at roughly half the price of the great one.  So hell yeah, we'll recommend it!

Like Gruyere, Raclette is made on both sides of the French-Swiss border.  But unlike the contentious Gruyere rivalry that ended in a turn of the century courtroom verdict, we haven't heard of anything like that with Raclette.  All is copacetic.  Both venues are set in Alpine meadows but stylistically there is a difference.  The French version is softer, smoother and creamier.  The Swiss is harder, nuttier and slightly more acidic.  While either would work just fine with our glass of dry red wine, if we had to choose, we'd opt for the Swiss.

The name Raclette is French and comes from racier meaning "to scrape" and therein lies the story.  For at least a thousand years Swiss cowherders have carried their cheese and bread lunch into the fields with their herds before ending the day with the same in a campfire meal.  They would place their cheese close to the fire to heat it and then scrape the melting cheese onto their bread.  This is the process that lives on today in the Swiss dish of the same name featuring the melted cheese over small potatos, cornichons, onions and perhaps, dried meats.  Some version of that peasant dish is served up everywhere today from family homes to urban street food vendors even in fine dining establishments where the cooking may take place right on the diner's table.

Carmenere

This post is about Carmenere, the finest wine grape of Chile.  We've written about it several times in the past, alway recounting its fascinating backstory about how it became what it is today.  Now it's time to move on.  Stop by the store if you want to hear the story. 

Carmenere finds its best expression in the Central Valley of Chile.  The Central Valley is huge with several microclimates going both north to south and east to west.  North and South in the southern hemisphere would, of course, reverse what we know about climate in the Central Coast of California.  The east-west business has no obvious parallel elsewhere.  The Andes Mountain foothills offer much desired elevation for fine wine vineyards while the flatlands closer to the ocean offer a venue for bulk wine production. All within a hundred miles or so!

So, is Carmenere one of the great wine grapes of the world?  Probably not.  Although the usual disclaimer applies here like everywhere else - If you get the right grape planted in the ideal location the wine can potentially be world class.  The Apalta vineyards of the Colchagua Valley are just that and if you want proof, scroll down to our February 16th post.

Today there are just a few hundred acres of Carmenere left in all of Europe.  A limited amount is still found in its birthplace, Bordeaux, where it retains its original name, Grand Vidure. The grape has a legacy there, having parented most of the better known Bordeaux varieties.  Most European Carmenere today can be found in northeastern Italy where it wears the moniker Carmenero.  The name Carmenere, of course, comes from the dark red-purplish color, carmine.

So we said earlier that Carmenere was probably not one of the top tier wine grapes.  It is however one helluva blender and that is what its role was in Bordeaux.  It is most similar to Petit Verdot.  In Chile it is an essential component of the greatest wines of the country.  It adds soft structured tannins and aromas of red fruit (berries) and spices.  On the palate it offers dark chocolate, tobacco and leather.  If yields are restricted, the herbaceousness that puts some of us off, is limited.  

When bottled as a single varietal, Carmenere makes a fine glass of dry red wine.  But when it's in a blend with Syrah, Cabernet and/or the other usual components, Carmenere shows its full potential.  Chile, like California, only requires 75% of a varietally labeled wine to be composed of that grape.  So if you get into a bottle of varietal Carmenere, knowing what we know about its usage, it is probably a 25% mixture of Cabernet, Syrah or any of the usual blenders.  Usually a darker color in the glass shows it's a blend and that is what you want.

Mistral Winds & Matthew Fritz

Mistral (Masterly) Winds are strong cold northwesterly winds that greatly affect the French viticulture in Provence and the Languedoc region as a whole.  Languedoc is where a third of the wines of France come from and Provence is the worldwide model for Rose.  Depending on location, the winds can either be beneficial or harmful to vineyards.  They range from 40 mph to 115 mph and can last for a day or two to more than a week.

Camargue is a natural region south of the city of Arles encompassing the Rhone River delta at the Mediterranean Sea.  It's sizable expanse includes many lakes and marshes providing habitat for its unique flora and fauna.  This region, which has been protected since 1970, faces the brunt of the strongest Mistral Winds.

While the winds don't start in the Rhone Valley it is there that their speed accelerates and their temperatures drop.  Coming from Chicago we are familiar with wind tunnels through highrise buildings.  The Rhone does that but it also channels in the colder air dropping downward from the mountains, further driving the force of the winds. 

Just like the river delta, the winds fan out at land's end with the stronger ones seeming to head eastward toward Provence while the French Basque region gets relatively mild breezes.  While the winds can happen at any time of the year, the winter and spring seasons have the strongest, most dangerous winds.

So why are we writing about the winds of France?  Because similar winds have helped to create one of the finest Pinot Noir venues of California.  Santa Lucia Highlands is an eighteen mile long ribbon of land carved out of the Central Coast wine appellation in 1991.   It lies thirty-five minutes southeast of Monterey Bay in a diagonal groove between the Santa Lucia Mountains to the west and the Gavilan Mountains to the east.  The appellation, of course, is so named because it's on the Santa Lucia side of the groove with eastern facing vineyards.

Matthew Fritz is a wine company formed by the collaboration of Matthew Bonanno and Fritz Stuhlmuller, two gentlemen whose last names are synonymous with high quality California wines.  The Bonanno and Stuhlmuller family wineries lie respectively in Napa and Alexander Valleys, two of the finest venues in the state. 

Pinot Noir, being a cool weather grape, prefers northern latitudes.  In this case, however, it's the Mistral-like winds from the bay that brought Matthew Fritz to Santa Lucia Highlands for their fine pinot.

Red Wine and Seafood, Part 2

Last time we wanted to convey an understanding that while anyone can opt for any pairing they would like, there are some whites that are intended to be served with seafood.  We concluded with the pitch for considering Rose wine because it really does go with anything.

Lets dissect this issue a little further.  Seafood isn't uniform.  There are many types and they can be prepared a lot of different ways.  Skipping to the chase, if you're broiling a lean white fish you really need a light wine, preferably a white or rose.  If you're roasting a hearty, meaty piece of fish, a lighter red sounds good.  If you're grilling salmon or tuna outside or blackening it in the house, all bets are off.  Go for it.  Get that great red you're dying to try and feature it with the meal.

Last time we used the map of Italy as a visual aid to justify Italian white wine as a go-to for seafood meals.  Using the same motivation can we say Italian reds are potentially seafood wines?  I think so, at least a good many of the lighter ones.  Recently we wrote about the rustic reds from the heel of the Italian boot.  They are truly red meat wines.  Would they work with blackened fish?  We'd love to try it!

Now here are three cautions to keep in mind with red wine and seafood.  

    1. Wine Enthusiast says skip the lemon.  Your red wine flavors will take a beating if they have to compete with lemon.

    2. From Phil Berardelli in Science Insider - There is a fatty acid in fish that breaks down rapidly when mixed with red wine.  Iron is the problem.  All red wines contain some level of iron courtesy of the soils in the vineyards.  The ones with a higher level will bring out the fishiness in sea food.  The problem?  How do you know the iron content of your wine?

    3. Want to make your pairing really pop?  Choose your wine to complement the dominant flavor in the dish.  Whether it's an herb or spice or if there is a sauce, stew, gravy or soup in the offing, consider pairing that element with your wine selection.

Red Wine with Seafood

When we got into this business way back in 1976, white wines outsold reds three to one.  Maybe it was four to one.  Anyway, trying to sell reds was difficult.  Now, fifty years later, reds are what everyone wants and that is good.  They are, objectively, better than whites.  More breadth and richness, more developed structure, more character in every respect.

Regularly we hear from our red wine lovers that the food pairing rules really don't apply anymore; like that kind of quaint stuff should be relegated to a bygone time.  If a big California Cabernet is what I want with my dinner, no matter what it is, then that is what I will have.  And that mandate is perfectly fine.  We aren't old Europe.  We do things differently here.  And like I said, that's okay. 

Pinot Noir is the great red grape of the world.  So said Jim Sanders, my long passed fine wine mentor.  Jim was a French Burgundy expert and said amongst other things, "Cabernet Sauvignon opens up in the glass; Pinot noir actually i-m-p-r-o-v-e-s."  It's been at least twenty years since his passing so I think it's safe to say, that subject could be debated.

Recently a customer came in consulting his wine app which said he needed a Pinot Noir with his Asian seafood dish.  Generously, the app said either French Burgundy or Oregon pinot would be fine.  Upon hearing this I wanted to pull out my non-existent hair.  His Asian sauce sounded sweet and a dry burgundy would have been the culinary equivalent of fingernails scratching on the blackboard.  So we sold him the Oregon wine.  And Jim did cartwheels in his grave.  

The customer is alway right.

This post is not sour grapes.  There are reasons for choosing any food and wine combination and they are personal.  But here's the thing: There are wines that are intended to go with seafood.  While you may choose a red with your seafood, and that is perfectly fine if you do, you may also choose a white from, say, Italy, which you may notice on the map, is surrounded by water.

And just for the record, Roses go with anything.

Cantine San Marzano

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to taste six from Cantine San Marzano located in the heel of the boot of Italy.  The larger wine appellation running up the back side of the boot is called Puglia but the heel itself is called Salento.  It is comprised of three wine producing provinces; Tarantino, Brindisi and Lecce; from north to south.  Marzano is a small village near the middle of the boot (Brindisi region) located in the Primitivo di Manduria DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta.)

At their website Cantine San Marzano traces their history to 1962 when nineteen growers affiliated for the purpose of advancing their common interest - grape growing.  In 1996 through the efforts of their leadership they built their physical plant and in 2000 they created their signature wine, Sessantani Primitivo Di Manduria.  Of the six new Marzano wines in the store only two have DOP status, the one we just mentioned and the 62 Anniversario Riserva Primitivo Di Manduria.  Much of Salento is apparently undistinguished according to Italian wine law.  Even perhaps the best known wine of the region, Salice Salentino, is considered vino da tavola.  

Traditional red wines from Salento are powerful, dry, rustic reds that are meant to complement strongly flavored red meat meals.  Because of the hot and dry growing conditions there, that is basically the only red wine style possible for them.  Fifty grape types are allowed in Salento, most of which arrived on their shores thousands of years ago from Greece.  Primitivo (Zinfandel), while originally from Croatia, most likely arrived here like the others, courtesy of Greek traders.  Most reds are constructed of Primitivo or Negroamaro with Malvasia Nera as filler.  The main white of the region is Fiano.

Like elsewhere in Italy and around the world, the international grapes have taken hold in Salento.  The white wine in our Marzano purchase is predominantly Chardonnay.  We have both a Primitivo and Negroamaro that are exceptional everyday-priced reds.  Aside from the two primo Primitivos listed above we also have a Negroamaro called F, short for Feudi di San Marzano.  

As we said, the two lower priced reds are formidable entries into that category.  The white is exceptional.  F is an IGP (Indicazione Geographica Protetta), a less distinguished quality level, but still priced like a DOP and of comparable quality to the two Primitivos.  What makes the higher tier worth the bigger bucks?  The grapes are hand harvested from old bush vines.  They have a 24-48 hour cold soak maceration before undergoing a temperature controlled malolactic fermentation.  The wine is then aged a year in oak. 

Slovenia

When we think of Slovenia, if we think of it at all, Melania Trump may be what comes to mind.  We need to expand our horizons.  Slovenia, like so many other eastern European countries, has fine wines that probably rank with the better known examples from France and Italy.

The Slovenian type we are most familiar with is Pinot Grigio.  The grape originated in northern France centuries ago and migrated east showing distinction only sporadically, like in Alsace and Alto Adige, Italy.  Ordinary Pinot is light, simple and without distinction.  In Slovenia, adjacent to Italy to the east, it's fatter, richer, softer and ideal for lazy afternoon porch sitting.

Other successful wine grapes in Slovenia include Riesling and Pinot Noir and some native types that are probably as good or better than the acclaimed types but we won't see them here because they won't sell in this market.  Spelling and pronounciation are the issue.  Slovenian names for places and things are kind of hard to digest.  But because they have a winemaking history that goes back to the 4th-5th centuries B.C., you have to assume they know what they're doing.  

We have two types in the store right now, a Pinot Noir and a Dry Riesling.  They are both 100% varietal wines, sourced from eastern Slovenia just south of Austria.  The climate there is continental, featuring great temperature variation and windy steep hillside vineyards suitable for blowing off pests and fungi.  The soils are marl, clay and sand.

The Sanctum Pinot Noir has a bright cranberry and vegetal nose with an elegant and intense mouthfeel featuring a garden salad of vegetable and spice flavors.  It would complement soups, stews, sauces and gravies and most any red meat dishes.

The Joannes Protner Riesling has a floral nose with pronounced stone fruit and petroleum.  Those structured flavors become electrified on the palate when combined with the wine's chalky minerality.

Demarie & Roero

Paolo Demarie is a third generation winemaker for his family-owned Demarie wine company.  Their easy drinking Barbera d'Alba Superiore has been a staple here at the store for the last couple years.    Only recently have we learned how good their Langhe Nebbiolo is; first from our vendor and then from our customer base who tried it.  So rest assured, the Nebbiolo should be a fixture here for the foreseeable future.

Demarie owns twenty-nine hectares of vineyards in Vezza d'Alba in the Roero district of Piedmont, the finest wine region of Italy.  Only two grapes are allowed in Roero; Italy's great red, Nebbiolo, and Piedmont's great white, Arneis.  Plantings in Roero tend to favor Arneis three to one over Nebbiolo so since both the Demarie Barbera and Nebbiolo carry appellations other than Roero, it's safe to assume it's mostly Arneis growing in the estate vineyards.  Italian wine law is loose enough though to assume some of the Demarie estate Nebbiolo can find its way into both the Barbera and Nebbiolo.

The Roero wine appellation has a continental climate with steep hillside vineyards with sandy, calcareous clay.  It is located in south-central Piedmont which is in the upper western corner of Italy.  Both our Barbera d'Alba and Langhe Nebbiolo are sourced within a mile of Roero.  Langhe is adjacent to Roero to the southwest; d'Alba is due south.  Demarie also owns vineyards in Italy's two premier wine regions, Barolo and Barbaresco, which lie an equidistant three miles away to the southeast and southwest.  As should be obvious at this point, this is not a bad neighborhood to be in.

Demarie has a versatile food-friendly wine style that aims for elegance and finesse while basically complementing any meal on the dinner table.  This model for both the Barbera and Nebbiolo makes it a sure winner for most of our needs.  When you consider how tannic some of those gold standard Barolos and Barbarescos can be, the Demarie style is a pure delight.

Grana Padana

I'm sure we've written about this generic Parmesan in the past but it's probably time for a revisit.  Grana Padana is essentially a cheaper version of Reggiano.  Because of its lower cost, restaurants everywhere use it instead of Reggiano as a rule.  While Reggiano is sourced from a delimited region of the Po River Valley, Grana Padana is sourced from a greatly expanded region of the same valley.  The name Padana literally refers to the Po Valley and grana means grainy.  

Grana Padana was developed by monks back in the twelfth century.  It's geographical catchment area has been legally defined since 1954 and its European Union PDO (protected designation of origen) was granted in 1996.  

There are 150 cheese factories that make Grana Padana and they are regulated across producers.  These regulations are less strict than Reggiano but much remains the same.  Grana Padana is made with unpasteurized cow's milk and is aged nine months to two years.  The curd is pelletized and stirred into the milk for texture.  Tyrosine, leucine and isoleucine crystals form as the cheese dries out with aging.  These are amino acids that are then synthesized by our cells into proteins.

What we get from these crystals is a delightful gritty, grainy crunch that augments the intensely nutty sweet and savory flavors of the cheese.  With aging the cheese flavors become more complex and the texture becomes more crumbly.

Grana Padana, of course, is Parmesan so its utility in the kitchen is wide ranging.  Beverage accompaniments would include most import quality red and white wines and most any good quality malt brews.

Tobias

We just got in three types from Tobias Vineyards of Ukiah, California, at least that is where their winery is located.  Principle owners Tobias and Dawn Pauli Forman own forty-three acres near the top of Howell Mountain which could rightfully be called their family estate.  

Both Tobias and Dawn come from wine royalty.  Tobias is the son of Ric Forman, legendary winemaker for Sterling and Newton Vineyards.  Dawn comes from five generations of grape growers in Mendocino.  She is part owner in her Pauli family business which has vineyard holdings in Napa and Sonoma in addition to Mendocino.   Her father is the former CEO of Souverain Vineyards and a past president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.  Both were raised in the family business and are hands-on in every aspect of their enterprise today.

The three types we brought in are the Lexi's Estate Sauvignon Blanc, the Blue Oaks Vineyard Chardonnay and the 2017 Tobias Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.  We chose not to carry the Tobias Formations Cabernet Sauvignon, thinking it paled beside the Howell estate wine.  Both the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are sourced from Pauli Mendocino vineyards and show their breeding.  The Sauvignon Blanc features complex, well-structured and balanced fruit with minerality.  The Chardonnay is floral and almondy and balanced with noticeable oak.  They are both centerpiece wines.

In 2014 the Formans purchased what was then called Vogt Vineyards near the top of Howell Mountain.  That vineyard was originally planted in 1997.  Since renamed Pauli Vineyard, it is now planted entirely in Cabernet Sauvignon, using five different clones for enhanced complexity.  If high-end Napa Cab is your thing, you should try this one!

Matchbook "The Arsonist" Red Blend

Some times we just have to laugh at ourselves.  Matchbook is a fairly well known California winery so we were shocked that their Arsonist Red Blend was sourced from Dundee Hills, Oregon.  Wanting to learn more, we started researching Dundee Hills until we learned seventy-seven percent of their grapes were Pinot Noir.  Huh?  This wine isn't pinot.  Oh...Dunnigan Hills, not Dundee Hills!

Then we started researching Dunnigan Hills, a California AVA where the giant in the industry there is R. H. Phillips.  Since we thought the Matchbook packaging resembled an R. H. Phillips product, we went that route only to learn Matchbook isn't from Phillips.  It is a standalone estate.  For that matter, we also learned R. H. Phillips isn't R. H. Phillips anymore since it has been sold twice, most recently to Constellation which transferred winemaking to their mega-facility at Woodbridge fifty miles away.

As we said, Matchbook is an estate and the red blend asserts its bonafides right on the label.  If a label says "estate bottled" then you better believe everything about the making of that wine is done on the property.  In this industry, that matters.  It's quality control.   

The grape composition for The Arsonist Red Blend is half Petit Verdot (pet-tee vur-doe) with equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  What's interesting there is that large percentage of Petit Verdot.  Historically Petit Verdot has been limited to no more than ten percent of the traditional blend.  It is a full-bodied, strongly flavored grape that adds punch to the mid-palate of a wine.  In the warmer Mediterranean climate of California's Dunnigan Hills, however, it ripens earlier moderating some of the stronger character traits.  

In a typical Bordeaux blend, Petit Verdot adds color, tannins and floral aromas to the mix with flavors that might include plum, sage, lavender, black cherry and dried herbs.  The grape originated in southwest France but is now planted on every continent.  As we said earlier, in the warmer Mediterranean climates it is softer which probably accounts for its predominance in The Arsonist blend.

The Judgment of Berlin

Twenty-eight years after the earthshaking "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting in 1976, a similar tectonic shift took place in 2004 Berlin.  If you recall, it was the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1974 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that won Best of Show back in '76 sending the wine world recoiling into a protracted spell of the heebee-jeebies.  Back then California was a primitive backwater, unworthy to be on the same table as sophisticated Europe.  In 2004 Berlin it was Chile's time to play "David" to King Europe's "Goliath."  Chile took the top two places out of a field of sixteen of the finest wines in the world at Berlin.

The prevailing wisdom with regard to Chilean wines is that they are a great value.  We consider ourselves to be very much in that camp.  We even extend our valuation to their finer, higher ticket types that compete at higher price points.  Recently we sold through a case of Apaltagua Domus Aurea at eighty dollars a bottle.  That fine red would have compared well with acclaimed types at fifty dollars higher.  So as much as we enjoy our Chilean wines, we have to admit we think of them in relative terms, with the underlying assumption being that the other one, the one the Chilean is being compared to, is really the better wine.

The Berlin quaff-off was the project of Eduardo Chadwick of Vina Errazuriz located in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, forty or so miles north of Santiago.  Among the French wine glitterati Chadwick had the audacity to challenge were Bordeaux Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Margaux.  Among the Italian Super Tuscans were Tignanello and Sassacaia.  Of course, it was a blind tasting and the judges were beyond reproach.  

Think Chadwick had any anxieties as the first glass was poured?  He claims it would have been a crushing defeat if his wines failed to measure up.  We're not so sure.  Chile isn't really supposed to compete with first world wines, is it?

The number one wine at the Judgment of Berlin tasting was the 2000 Vinedo Chadwick, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon effort.  Number two was Chadwick's 2001 Sena, a Bordeaux blend featuring 75% Cabernet.  Number three was the 2000 Chateau Lafite.  Number four was the 2001 Margaux.  Five was the Sena 2000.  Six was Chadwick 2001 and down at number nine was Chadwick's Dom Maximiano.  So out of sixteen of the world's best wines; six Chileans, six French and four Italians; Chile scored five of the top ten.  Not Bad.

Since then the tastings have been repeated twenty-two times around the world and the Chileans have repeated similar results to Berlin.  Fifty-five percent of the time they dominate the top five and 90% of the time they place in the top three.  Not bad.

Chile

We got some updated numbers on Chilean wine sales recently.  Depending on the news source, Chile is either the fourth or fifth largest wine exporter in the world behind Spain, Italy and France but still ahead of the United States.  They are also either the third or fourth largest importer into this country behind France and Italy and perhaps Australia.  So how did they rise to such heights when they only control 4.6% of the worldwide wine market?

The Chilean wine industry was started by Spanish settlers in the 16th century.  It was a thoroughly domestic market they served for centuries before American demand changed things in the 1980's and 90's.  A 180 degree turn followed when American investment from our industry leaders led to purchases of specific vineyards and wineries AND purchases of bulk wine.  20-25% of Chile's exports have been bulk wine imports to America, China and elsewhere.  So, after centuries of being a domestic-consumption wine country, Chile turned into a global player seemingly overnight.

So where do huge tanks of bulk wine go when imported by American wineries?  They are worked into California wines where, unless the label says estate bottled, only 75% of the wine in the bottle needs to be sourced from California.  Why supplement with Chilean juice?  Two reasons: The stuff is good, better than the bulk wine from California's Central Valley.  Secondly, when a label achieves mass market appeal and the sales numbers indicate a juggernaut going forward, the giant industry players will pay millions of dollars for that label.  They are, in effect, betting their future on it.  Then they need to fill those bottles as economically as they can to make their venture profitable.  Chilean wine is perfect for that purpose.

Eat This, Not That

Eat This, Not That is an American media franchise including the eatthis.com website, quarterly magazine, videos, e-books and downloadable pdf's, according to wikipedia.  We are familiar with them from scanning news aggregator websites where they post regularly.  They are kind of like a Consumer Reports for foodies.  

Sugar is definitely a hot button issue for them.  In their 2010 publication, Drink This, Not That, they focus primarily on the heavily sugared drinks Americans love.  We're interested in them today because one of our suppliers sent us the provocative October 19, 2022 article, 6 Wines Made from the Lowest Quality Ingredients.  Frankly, we were shocked, not that adulteration was going one - that's an open secret - but rather that someone had the guts to out the crooks. 

(Because there are no laws preventing adulteration of wines sold to a public and we shouldn't have to think of such a thing anyway; the term "crooks" isn't meant literally.)

90+ percent of the American wine business is controlled by the thirty largest companies in the world and they are overwhelmingly American.  To say they are powerful in this industry is to understate things just a tad.  They are the domestic wine industry.  They control the chain store wine business.  So why poke the bear?

Back in 2015 Constellation Brands, the second largest wine company in the world, purchased the Meiomi label from Joe Wagner of Caymus Vineyards fame.  Constellation is the well known long time owner of Mega Purple grape concentrate, since sold to Vie-Del.  Tintura grape concentrates have been around a long time and go by many different brand names.  Mega Purple is just the best known brand.

According to the Eat This, Not That article, Meiomi is the number one wine made with the lowest quality ingredients because of the use of the grape concentrate.  That's where they stop.  After all, they are a food magazine.  If a wine-writing muckraker had done the expose, they would have gone further.

Sandhi Central Coast Chardonnay

Our last post was almost three month ago, making that interval the longest dry spell we've had since we started this thing 543 posts ago.  We've tried to post in that interval, by the way.  Just last month we thought we had a good one about Bonny Doone wines but when we sat down to do it, it just wouldn't come.  What could the problem be?  It's just a silly blog.

So, we're going to overcome this writer's block thing slowly, with baby steps.

If you go to sandhiwines.com or to their marketer, skurnik.com, you will be greeted by an exceptional and classy professional presence.  Contrast this approach with the mass marketers who try to mask what they are doing with their transparently fictious, romanticized winery backstories.  Those stories can leave you cringing from their patent obfuscation.  They obviously don't want you to know anything about their product.  Sandhi (and Skurnik) want you to know what makes what they are doing better than others.  Their winemaking intentions in particular are absolutely noble compared to those who merely intend to turn out a commodity.  They also believe in passing along the kind of critical product information so lacking at other sites.

The Sandhi wine we have in the store currently is the Central Coast Chardonnay.  While the Sandhi/Skurnik websites assert their fine wine bonafides, this particular wine is not mentioned.  The Central Coast Chard is an entry level effort that gets eclipsed at the website by their estate wines.  So how do we know it's good?  We have it on good faith from an Atlanta sommeliere.  A real sommeliere.  That alone should tell us this one is food friendly.