Lamadrid Agrelo Cabernet Sauvignon

When wine lovers think of Argentina we automatically think Malbec.  Argentina has the best, after all, so perhaps other types from that incredible region don't get the respect they may deserve.  Well, guess what.  We think we found a gem in this little Argentine Cabernet.  

The key word on the label here is Agrelo.  If this was ordinary everyday red wine it would have just been labeled Mendoza Cabernet, which in all honesty would have been plenty prestigious enough.  But Agrelo means so much more.

Mendoza is a huge desert plateau that has become Mecca for large wine companies everywhere.  Everyone wants to have a piece of the prized Mendoza action.  But if you head west in Mendoza into the Andes and higher elevations you enter the Lujan da Cuyo province and within that province you find Agrelo, one of the finest venues for big complex Mendoza reds.

Malbec still rules in this region just like everywhere in Mendoza.  Half of the Agrelo production is Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon making up a mere thirteen percent of the pie.  Argentine wine law says a varietal wine must be at least 85% of that type so it's reasonable to assume some of that prized Malbec has found its way into the Lamadrid blend.  

So what makes the Agrelo terroir so special?  At 1,000 meters above sea level Agrelo soils are erosion from higher Andes altitudes making them rocky enough for good drainage while also enabling tap roots to access nutrients and minerality below.  This region also has the diurnal temperature shift so essential for acidity to balance the fruit in rich red wines.  And it has a fortuitous rain shadow, a mountain providence of shelter from excessive rain.  Since there is plenty of water from runoff from above, water is not a problem.  

Think about a case of this one, folks.  It could go a long ways to getting you through the holidays. 

When Buying Red Wine

Datassential (whoever they are) surveyed 4,500 red wine buyers for what they are looking for when they purchase wine.  Here's what they found.

56% are concerned about the degree of sweetness/dryness.  

50% want to know what style the wine is made in.  (lighter, richer etc.)

49% want a description of the flavors.  (fruit, oak etc.)  

39% want to know the food affinities of the wine.  

34% want to know a brand name or producer.  

24% want to know the place of origin of the wine.  

22% want to know the alcohol content.  

16% are concerned about the wine's acidity.  

And 11% want to know nutritional information.  (organics vs additives)

Datassential says most red wine buyers enjoy their wine with the meal but entertaining is a close second.  They also like the fruit-forward style with a sweetness/dryness balance that works for them.

For us, food pairing is paramount so everything else must work to that end.  With that in mind, the wine style and place of origin should at least be considered as a factor for the enjoyment of a meal.  Thanksgiving is coming up and the traditional holiday dinner is a sweeter meal, so for that one, the wine doesn't need to be bone dry.  With regard to the last four considerations on the list; alcohol content, branding, the nutritional stuff and acidity; those are all really personal decisions that should be respected by all of us. 

4 Monos GR-10 Tinto

Here's where you find out just how ignorant I am.  This Spanish red has been on the shelf here for about a year with very little action on it because I frankly didn't know what it was.  Spanish red, I thinks.  That's all you need to know.  Spanish red.  So it's got to be good.  So I thinks.  

Svetlana writes her own orders so when I asked her to send me a couple cases of Spanish and Portuguese wines, more 4 Monos came in the door, which was fine since everything she sends me is good.  It just means I need to get off my butt and learn what the stuff is so I can sell it.

4 Monos is literally 4 Monkeys, the project of four winemakers who, while hiking the GR-10 trail from Lisbon to Valencia, found the vineyards for this wine around Madrid, the midpoint of the trek.  Being winemakers they recognized the worth of the high altitude granite soils of the Sierra de Gredos region within the Madrid DO and thus began their project.

This organic red is a blend of mostly Garnacha with Carenina and Syrah blended from vineyards up to eighty-five years old.  Those grapes are hand harvested and whole cluster pressed before fermenting with wild yeasts from the vineyard.  For aging, the wine sees nine months in oak with some time in foudres and concrete. (Foudres are larger oak vats commonly used in the Cotes du Rhone.)

The wine is a pale ruby color with floral aromatics of lilac and violets.  On the palate it shows fresh focused raspberry and cherry fruit with spice and soft tannins.  Being Spanish wine, its display is balanced and complex with typical Spanish earthiness and acidity.  Food affinities are wide open but definitely something with a meat sauce/gravy might be nice.

And there you have it...I thinks.

Bronco

George McConnon is an importer of fine estate bottled wines from Slovenia.  George is also a veteran of thirty years in the California wine industry, spending about six years with the Bronco Wine Company.  Bronco is one of the largest in the world so we asked him to share a little bit of what that experience was like.  But before we get into that, lets learn a little about Bronco since it's not exactly a household name.  

Bronco was established in 1973 by brothers Fred and Joseph Franzia along with their cousin John Franzia.  The Franzias were nephews of Ernest and Julio Gallo and probably got their start in the industry through them.  Like Gallo, Bronco has its headquarters near Modesto.  

The money to start Bronco came from an unlikely source, Coca-Cola, which purchased the existing Franzia winery of that time.  So the Franzias join the long list of wine industry families that have sold their name which means the Franzia boxed wines in the grocery stores have no relationship to the Franzia family.  They are now owned by The Wine Group which purchased them from Coke.

The selling of a winery name is actually all the buyer wants.  Usually these larger players don't need the vineyards or the actual winery.  They just want an existing profitable brand name.  It's just the way it is in the industry now.

George McConnon says Bronco now markets wines under 319 labels including notables like Rosenblum and Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck.)  They are the largest vineyard owner in the world with seventy thousand acres in vines.  Many of their wine labels weren't active at the time of their purchase or never were an entity before being created by the company.  

Bronco is vertically integrated owning five huge wineries with bottling and storage facilities across the state.  They turn sixty-one million gallons of grape juice into 125 cases of wine a day or sixty-five million cases a year.  George says if a grocery store wine label shows no wine appellation other than just California, it's probably from Bronco.  He said that with a smile so it's an overstatement but it also reflects his over all appreciation for the company.  He said the Franzias were nice folks and treated him well.

Allegro Moscato is a sweet white from California currently promoted by Bronco.  That one is in stock currently as are several other California appellation wines that may also be from Bronco AND George's fine Slovenians are also here.

Reggiano Parmesan

It's almost conspiratorial the way Covid, the supply chain doldrums and whatever else is behind food inflation have all together waylaid the cheese business for guys like me.  Maybe we just need to get out of that business entirely, but then I guess we'd have to change our store name and what a pain that would be.  Or else we can hit the reset button and start all over with it.

So after listening to several customers gripe about the quality of grocery store parmesan, we went ahead and brought back the "King of Cheeses" and you know what the good news is for you?   Price.  What?  Why?  Don't know.  But the price is reasonable again.

Parmigiano Reggiano has a uniquely sharp, complex, fruity/nutty savory flavor accompanied by a uniquely gritty granular (tyrosine crystals) texture.  No other cheese in the world puts all of those characteristics together in such a completely satisfying way.  And it's manufacturing is regulated by the Italian government...but more on that later.  American chain store parmesan can be anything from anywhere.  It may be a fine substitute for Parm-Reg or maybe not.  It is not regulated.  Not by a long shot.  So good luck with quality.

Parm-Reg is sourced from a confederation of cheese makers across five provinces in northern Italy.  The earliest written references to the cheese go back to the thirteenth century but historians believe that tradition goes back further.  If you want to know specifics about the making of the cheese we would refer you to the Wikipedia page which goes into great detail.  Suffice it to say here, the only additive to the cheese is salt. 

While the regulations referred to above are voluminous (bureaucrats, ya know), here are some of the biggies.  Five cattle breeds with specific diets are allowed for milking for Parm-Reg with the milking done at varying times resulting in a partially skimmed product.  The cheese is then aged a minimum of two years for basic Parm-Reg but further aging increases the value of the cheese which is then regulated again.

Reggiano Parmesan is meant for grating over pasta, soups, salads or whatever.  The natural rind may be used in soups, broths, sauces or once again, anything you might like.  A couple nights ago Parm-Reg  became my homemade pizza cheese.  And it was m-m-m m-m-m good!

So stop in and pick up some of the "King of Cheeses!"

Bertani, Part 2

Angelini is a Tuscan-based wine company established in 1994.  We currently have several of their decent moderately priced wines in the store at this time.  Angelini is also the name of the Rome-based drug company (est. 1919) that bought into the wine business with their purchase in 1994.  They have grown comfortably since that beginning thirty years ago.

Bertani is a family-owned Veneto-based wine company that has been one of the best in the business for a couple hundred years.  In 2011 the family made the decision to sell 70% of their company to Angelini.  They retained the best seventy-three acres of Valpolicella Classico vineyards along with their fifty-four acres of Tenuta Santa Maria vineyards purchased in the 1850s.  Those blocks are still in family hands and constitute some of the best vineyard land in the region.

The backstory here is that the family feared global warming was going to wreck the quality of much of what they had.  They retained Classico vineyards at higher altitudes where they believed both the atmospheric heat and microbial life in the soils would remain consistent with historic norms.  The goal was to maintain the wine quality going back a hundred years.

So the Bertani labeled wines on store shelves now are made by Angelini although some Bertani family is involved considering they still hold a thirty percent interest in the Veneto operation.  The 123 acres retained by the Bertani family and the wines marketed under the Tenuta Santa Maria label continue as some of the best of the region.

Bertani, Part 1

When we got into this business back in 1981 one of our suppliers was a wine distributor called MacKesson; yes, the pharmaceuticals company.  They had gotten into the wine business in a big way, owning the rights to sell exclusively in Georgia the wines of several premium California estate wineries.  And they failed miserably in the process.  America at large was not yet culturally ready for fine California wines.  So, for those of us savvy enough to pick up on what inevitably became regular dumps of fine wines at ridiculously discounted prices, it was manna from heaven.  

Earlier this year our Tenuta Santa Maria Italian wine vendor shared that his wine was actually the production of the historic brand, Bertani (est.1857), and that the actual Bertani brand on store shelves was now owned by an Italian drug company.  Weird.  

MacKesson quickly got out of the wine business, by the way, and those great labels of yore found new suppliers who knew how to market them effectively.  Here's the obvious backstory: Wine industry insiders know how to work with narrow profit margins.  Drug companies don't have the patience.  They're used to the H-U-G-E margins in their industry.

The Italian drug company has now owned Bertani for a dozen years and they've added parcels in Montepulciano, Montalcino, Chianti Classico and more recently, Marche and Friuli.  They appear to be quite successful.  How do they do it?

Three things:      

1. The wine culture in Italy is very mature so selling this product that is known to everyone should be relatively easy.

2. Georgia is a three tier state.  Maybe Italy doesn't have that extra expensive level of bureaucracy eating up profits.  AND the government over there is probably more supportive of the industry than over here.

3. The Bertani wines aren't what they used to be.  The drug company bought the Bertani name but not the best vineyards.  So there you go, they lowered their costs by sourcing from lesser vineyards to increase their margins.  

Rueda

Time to eat crow.  

We always thought the Rueda (roo-AY-dah) wine appellation solely produced wine made from the Verdejo grape, kind of like Picpoul in France, an entire wine appellation dedicated to a single varietal.  But we were wrong.  While Verdejo has been the signature grape of Rueda since the 11th century and currently 90% of the production there, some time back Sauvignon Blanc made its appearance there and more recently, Chardonnay and Viognier have been added.  As of 2008 red grapes have even been added, making up 4% of vineyard land currently.

Rueda is Spain's most famous white wine region.  All of the changes mentioned above actually began in the 1970s when the great Rioja house, Marques de Riscal, took an interest in the area.  At that time the sherry grape, Palomino Fino, was still widely planted there, a legacy of the Phylloxera debacle a hundred years earlier.  With all of the continental climate benefits we recounted in the previous post, Riscal was eager to invest in Rueda's fine wine potential. 

In the store currently we have two from Bodegas Grupo Yllera, a varietal Sauvignon Blanc and a white blended of 91% Verdejo, 3% Sauvignon Blanc, 2% Chardonnay, 2% Viognier and 2% of the indigenous Viura varietal.  Since Spanish wine law says a varietal wine must be 85% of that type, we don't know why this one wasn't just called Verdejo, except that the blend name may sell better, I guess.

Verdejo wine is aromatic and fruit-forward with flavors of citrus, grass, stone fruit, white flowers and fennel.  It is full bodied, structured, acidic and finishes with a little bitter almond amongst everything else.  Most of the white wines of Rueda are 100% Verdejo.  In a blend Verdejo adds fruit and a floral quality, which, if you think about it, meshes quite well with the tropical fruit and minerality of Sauvignon Blanc.  Whether as a varietal or in a blend,  Rueda Verdejo has always been a fave here. 

Nuevemeses

This is an inexpensive estate-bottled red blend from Bodegas Grupo Yllera of Spain.  Yllera is a formidable operation that markets wines from several appellations in Spain, all within the largest wine region of the European Union, Castilla y Leon.  This tract overlays the northern half of the Meseta Central plateau, one-fifth of the land mass of Spain, extending from Rioja to the east to Portugal to the west.  Nuevemeses is the entry level offering in what they call their classic line of red wines from Castilla y Leon.  

The key wine grape of the region is Tempranillo.  Nuevemeses is 91% Tempranillo with the remainder being some combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.  The wine has a cherry red color with purple highlights with a complex nose featuring red fruits, plum and chocolate.  On the palate darker berry flavors emerge with pepper, vanilla and toast.  In the mouth the wine is soft, round and elegant.

Castilla y Leon has a two thousand year history of winemaking.  Its continental climate features hot dry summers and sharp cold winters.  The region is sheltered by mountains from the temperature-moderating Atlantic Ocean so the diurnal effect of day/night temperature swings is in full effect.  This temperature swing maximizes the inherent grape aromas and minimizes oxidation in the rich red wines of the region.  Night harvesting of grapes captures those grapes at their best.

What makes Nuevemeses a red wine worth trying?  Aside from what we've already said above, the winemaking includes an extended fourteen day maceration with daily pumping before undergoing malolactic fermentation in stainless steel.  Then the wine sees time in American oak barrels before further aging in the bottle.  Folks, when considered with what we know of the region, this bespeaks quality winemaking.  Enjoy this one with your steak, hamburgers or really anything you would like.

The Finger Lakes

It's been ten years since the release of Jancis Robinson's acclaimed American Wine book.  That much anticipated tome justifiably covered the established west coast industry, as you would expect, but also surveyed the rest of the country.  In the book she acknowledged what wasn't exactly a secret - The Finger Lakes appellation in upper New York State deserves its due as one of our finest wine venues.

The very first vinifera wine grapes to be planted in America arrived in New York in 1647 courtesy of some well meaning Dutch colonists who, of course, knew nothing of the appetite of the American phylloxera aphid.  That short lived experiment set New York winemaking back almost two hundred years, essentially conceding the industry to America's native labrusca grapes.  French-American hybrids followed in the 1950's before America's tastes finally shifted to finer wines.

What makes the Finger Lakes AVA (American Viticultural Area) so desirable?  It has the cooler continental climate wine grapes love and gravelly (fast-draining), nutrient-poor slate soils that force a taproot deeper for sustenance.  Trace elements of this and that then find their way into the fruit yielding a clean, fresh, minerally wine with high acidity.  These are white wines in particular we are talking about and by this description you know they would be delightful if enjoyed by themselves.  But that acidity is also perfect at mealtime for cutting through fatty meats and fishes and standing up to spicy cuisine.    

The Finger Lakes fine white wine claim to fame is the versatile Riesling grape which may be made into wine styles from very dry to strictly-for-dessert.  The typical flavor profile may include some combination of green apple, citrus and stone fruit flavors accompanying a floral component along with the acidity and minerality mentioned above.  

Riesling is one of a handful of noble wine grapes and the coolness of the Finger Lakes growing conditions are ideal for it.  Forty years ago in what may have been my first blind tasting, we tasted five Rieslings from distinct locales across the country.  Surprisingly I correctly identified each with the Finger Lakes wine being memorable for its soft round mouthfeel.

Las Lilas Vinho Verde Rose

This delightful dry rose comes from the Adega Ponte Barca winery (est. 1963) in northwestern Portugal.  Specifically, this is the Vinho Verde wine appellation we're talking about, home to the lightest white wines you will find anywhere.  While that is the pride of the region, the roses shouldn't be overlooked.   The Lilas is a lightly effervescent, fresh, floral and crisp quaff with cherry fruit notes.  Food affinities would be seafood and salads.

The hand harvested Las Lilas fruit comes from twenty year old mountainous estate vines lying between the Lima and Vez rivers and since we're talking about Vinho Verde here, the Atlantic Ocean maritime influence is real.  

Adega Ponte Barca is a modern winemaking facility that does everything in stainless steel.  After an extended maceration with little fining or filtering the wine is left on the lees for two months, accounting for much of its character.

The Las Lilas Rose consists of 40% Vinhao grapes, 30% Borracal and 30% Espadeiro.  What does that actually mean for us, considering these types are not exactly household names?  If you go to the Wikipedia page called List of Portuguese Wine Grape Varieties you run smack dab into the miasma that is really old Old World winemaking.  Vinhao turns out to be two varieties that are currently being hashed out as to which may be the variety in this wine.  Espadeiro is a family of five grapes types that we couldn't differentiate.  Borracal goes by eighteen different names.  All we were able to glean from this mess is that in all likelihood Vinhao imparts color and rustic raisiny character while Borracal gives the wine a perfumy nose and tart acidity.  Espadeiro?  Heck if we know. 

Escudo Rojo Pinot Noir Reserva

Just like the previous post, we come by this wine via a vendor's choice placement in the store.  Eric is so reliable we let him mix up a few cases of wines he thought might do well here and as always, we're grateful for his acumen.

Escudo Rojo is Chilean Pinot Noir from the Baron Philippe de Rothschild organization, which not so humbly calls it an iconic brand in their promotional literature; which is tooting their own horn, I would say.  

The wine is a big business endeavor sourcing their pinot grapes from the Casablanca Valley, which does well with that variety.  They blend grapes from the flatlands of the Atlantic side of the appellation with those from the higher terrain eastern side to achieve the level of quality they need.  They say the maritime-influence and sandy soil of the western side provide freshness while the higher elevation eastern granite soils bring minerality and elegance.  The wine is then aged in new oak for six months before seeing a year or two in old barrels.

The result shows an inviting nose of fresh and complex forward red fruit and almonds followed by an attack of elegant, succulent tannins along with the fruit on the palate, then finishing with the fresh red fruits again.

All of the above text is derived from the Rothschild promotional material.  Here is what we would like you to know: Pinot Noir needs the savory side of the palette spectrum and that's what Chile does so well.  We all love fruitiness in wine and if a producer has great pinot fruit and wants to feature that without the oak then we're all for it.  Truly great pinot is a wonder to behold.  What is all too often the case though is that the pinot is mediocre and the winemaking adjustments meant to amend the problem only seem to make it worse.  That's where savoriness comes into play.  So much of pinot magic happens when the fruit meets savoriness.  That kind of complexity is to die for.

Tibouren Clos Cibonne

When this one came through the door I thought, WTF, a $45 rose?  How am I ever going to sell that?  Svetlana is aces as a wine supplier; so much so, I let her write her own orders and occasionally I end up with stuff like this.  It will be a hard sell, sure, but I need to take a deep breath and relax because whoever purchases this one is going to get a helluva rose.

Along with the wine's name across the top half of the front label, the words Cotes du Provence Cru Classe run across the bottom, which I concluded was just marketing.  To my knowledge there was no classification in Provence.  Upon googling the question, I was humbled to learn that yes, back in 1955 an official classification of the producers in Provence was created with Clos Cibonne (est. 1804) residing in the top tier. 

Tibouren is the grape variety, by the way, and it has its own story beginning around 500bc in Mesopotamia.  Greeks are credited with bringing it to Rome and, for all practical purposes, Provence became its permanent home.  Ninety-eight percent of the world's Tibouren grapes reside in Provence (2% in South Africa) with one half of Clos Cibonne's twenty-four hectares being planted in Tibouren.  The other half is some combination of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault.  

Tibouren is a black thin-skinned grape that makes full-bodied roses with a floral, berryish, earthy bouquet.  Garrigue is the name of the fragrant ground cover in Provence that wine makers believe imparts its aromas into the vineyard grapes which in turn become a part of the wines' aromas.  Jancis Robinson is the reigning wine expert of the world and she describes Clos Cibonne's garrigue aromas as intense. 

So why is the Tibouren grape so obscure in the current wine scene?  The answer is obvious.  It's difficult to grow.  It is a cultivar, a grape variety that is cultivated using grafts, clones and hybrids in order to maintain its desired characteristics.  That separates it from the greater world of grape types. 

If you are a rose lover and want to taste the best there is, stop in for some Tibouren Clos Cibonne. 

Al-Cantara A Nutturna Nerello Mascalese

We'll get back to the name of this wine shortly.  Let's just say this may be the best white wine in the store.  Its bright golden color reflects its nose of pineapple and apricot with hints of minerality leading into the fresh and ample, staggeringly complex palate.  A big part of the mix is the spiciness which continues into the long memorable finish.  Suggested pairings include aged cheeses, white meats and seafood.  Hell, enjoy this wine with anything!  Or by itself!  

A Nutturna is a single vineyard, single varietal Mt Etna, Sicilian white wine made from the Nerello Mascalese grape.  The vineyard is located 650-1200 meters up Etna and features 18 year old vines.  Sicily has one of the longest histories of wine production and Nerello Mascalese is one of its indigenous grapes that has proven its worth.  This example is made with wild yeasts with six months duration on the lees.  It is aged in steel.

Italian Wine Law designates four quality levels.  Our subject today is in the third tier down, an IGT (indication of geographical typicality) which basically means the wine's quality must reflect its origins.  To get way down into the weeds - Its color, aromas, sweetness, alcoholic content, flavors and ever so much more are somehow regulated to reflect that vineyard area of Etna.  If that isn't enough, the text on label then must reflect some of these same qualities.  This, for a wine a step above VdT (vino da tavola)!  What are they thinking!

But we still maintain this may be the best white wine in the store.  Now back to the name - Al-Cantara is Arabic for the bridge.  A Nutturna means at night.  Then standing by itself on the label are the words drinkable poetry and that goes to what they are trying to convey here.  Their metaphorical bridge is one that ties vineyard terroir with art and poetry.  Yeah, it's a little bit heady...but I like it.

At the 2023 Gran Italy wine competition, Al-Cantara was named the Winery of the Year for having eight five star wines, the highest rating possible. 

Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio

For such a simple white wine, things sure can get complicated when you look at the genetics involved.  We've posted many times about the unstable genome of the pinot grape that seemingly mutates at will.  Pinot Gris/Grigio are the French and Italian names meaning grey pinot, one of six distinct pinot varieties, but like we said, it gets complicated.  On a single pinot grapevine, bunches may vary in color due to ongoing mutations.  Ramato Pinot Grigio, the quintessential orange wine of history, is a classic example of this.  It is a naturally copper colored grape that occurs randomly.

To tell you how screwed up the pinot family is, there is very little difference between most members of the family.  Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio are very much the same genetically.  Any significant differences existing now stem from centuries ago when a mutation took place in a vineyard somewhere resulting in the change.  That happened over and over again until there are now six distinct pinot varieties.

Today in popular wine culture Pinot Gris is the term for a drier more robust wine style while Pinot Grigio is used for a lighter fruitier simpler version.  But even that isn't clear.  There is overlap in terminology.  Fruitiness used to be a grigio term, as in Italian-style fruitiness.  Now new world gris has obvious new world fruitiness.  Oiliness used to be synonymous with the Alsatian Pinot Gris style but darned if I don't get that in some Italians.  It gets downright complicated.

So we started this post because we got in Kind Stranger Pinot Gris from Washington State and it is a delightful example of new world winemaking.  The back label says "sun-drenched pears and citrus fruit" and that really nails it.  It's a special wine that captures the best of both worlds.  It has the fruitiness of a Grigio summer quaff but also has the body and oiliness of an Alsatian Gris.

Wine Labels

We recently blogged about chain store wine labels and the tranquilizing effect the designs and colors have on the customer facing the display.  We concluded that the wine aisle had much in common with other store aisles where colors are used to soothe customers and perhaps to prime them for additional purchases.  

We also got a little critical of the stupid names or other text on labels that seemed to have nothing to do with what's actually in the bottle and that's what prompts this post now.

What the consumer should know is that the grocery store wine set is the result of incredible research done by the largest wine companies in the world.  Those wines are often amended and manipulated to appeal to everyone and offend no one.  Hence, they lack distinction.  So when I see Tribute Cabernet Sauvignon I know two things immediately: there is no Tribute winery and what's in the bottle is formulaic using bulk wine.  It is not the product of an individual vineyard and more likely the product of a laboratory.

The mass marketers do a good job, by the way.  Joe Six-pack probably gets a better bottle of wine at the end of the day than he would have gotten fifty years ago when we got into this business.  Like we said though, there is little in the way of distinction in this end of the business. 

Anyway, back to the offensive wine names and here's a surprise - You don't have to go to a chain store to see stupid labels.  We have them right here.  Leviathon, True Grit, Silver Spur, Blood Root and the inestimable Glup Glup are all currently in stock and they are all good wines.  With names like those, they've got to be good!  Oh, and we have the seductive colors and designs the chain store have too!  

So, who are we to be critical.

Barbaresco

Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello, Barbera.  What's with all the B wines in Italy?  It gets confusing.  For me it seems like one out of these four always gets lost in the shuffle.  I figure, if I can remember three out four that ain't bad, is it?  Unfortunately the one that tends to get overlooked in my mind's eye is Barbaresco.  Barolo is always memorable.  It's the greatest wine in all of Italy.  Barbera is a memorable best buy in everyday wine.  Brunello is the great wine of Tuscany.  So where does that leave Barbaresco?

Barbaresco does, in fact, have an identity problem that may stem from its pedigree.  Both Barolo and Barbaresco are from Piedmont in the northwest corner of Italy, where the best Italian wines come from.  Barolos are huge red wines often requiring ten to twenty years to develop.  If tasted too young, their tannins will absolutely take the enamel off your teeth.  Barbarescos are sourced from ten miles to the northeast of Barolo in a region a third of the size of Barolo.  So you get the picture - The great wine next door in the larger domaine dwarfs what you do in your smaller venue.

One of the great grapes of the world is Nebbiolo and that single varietal is all that is allowed in both wines but the difference in growing conditions couldn't be more pronounced.  Both appellations are located in the foothills of the Alps but because of the lay of the land, Barbaresco gets a more maritime climate.  It's warmer and drier so the grapes ripen earlier meaning fewer tannins yet the wine remains age worthy.  It is an aromatic, rich and spicy red with flavors of cherry, truffles and anise; yet softer, rounder and more elegant than Barolo.

If that description of Barbaresco sounds pretty good that's because you are in step with what the modern wine loving public loves - rich red wines with soft tannins.  So here's the irony - All this time that Barbaresco has gotten short shrift next to Barolo, it turns out it has the winning formula.  Using modern winemaking technology, Barolos are now being made into that more approachable style.

Las Cartas

In 2004 wine importer Vino Del Sol collaborated with the great Chilean winery, Ventisquero, to form Las Cartas, a maker of two wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.  We suspect the importer's contribution was monetary since the wine is made at the Ventisquero's Maipo winery and we wouldn't want that arrangement any other way.  Ventisquero is one of the best winemaking operations in that part of the world.  

Vino Del Sol is also a marketer of note.  All of the text in this post is drawn from their website which is refreshingly informative and not full of the self-apparent misdirection at the mass marketer sites.  All nineteen wineries represented by Vino Del Sol are family-owned, featuring sustainably grown estate fruit that make wines that over-deliver value in a terroir-driven format.  They want everyone to know that, as opposed to the mass marketers who usually concoct an enticing backstory to seduce the reader into purchasing the product.  

Las Cartas' Cabernet is sourced from twenty year old vines at Ventisquero's Trinidad Vineyard in the Maipo Valley.  After a low temperature maceration and fermentation in stainless steel, the wine is aged in French oak for six months and then in the bottle for three months before release.  It is a readily approachable, berry fruit-driven quaff that sells very well off the shelf.

Now here's what's interesting - Usually when a red and white are described the red gets more promotion and the white gets short shrift.  At the Vino Del Sole website the Sauvignon Blanc text is more expansive and detailed than the Cabernet, like they are prouder of that one.  The wine is 100% Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc cold macerated for 12-14 hours for skin contact before a slow cold fermentation.  Four months of a slow battonage (stirring in the barrel) follows that.  No oak is used at any point.  The result is a complex blend of citrus and tropical fruits with minerality at the finish.

Like most Chileans, these wines are moderately priced.

Maremma

Maremma is an Italian wine appellation on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Tuscany.  It is a hundred miles north of Rome saddled between the provinces of Livorno and Grosseto.  The meaning of the name Maremma is disputed.  It either means maritime or it's the Italian version of the Spanish word marismas meaning marshland, which the area was until Mussolini drained it in the 1930s.  Before making it big in the wine business the region was known for its ranches, cowboys and a wild west anything goes mentality.

We discovered Maremma twenty years or so ago when we discovered salinity in wine.  There really is no explanation for salinity in wine except that coastal vineyards have salinity in the air and Maremma has it in spades.  Not surprisingly Maremma has a Mediterranean climate of hot summers and warm winters.  The soils are a mixture of loam and clay and limestone and sand.    

Maremma is a fifteen percent carve out from the entire Tuscan wine appellation.  It includes the Bolgheri wine appellation we posted about a couple months ago.  Here's where things get interesting: This region with its cowboys and ranches felt free enough in the 1940s to break the existing wine laws by bringing in the Bordeaux grape varieties of France, a slap in the face of the domestic wine industry.  The Maremma growers were intent upon competing with Bordeaux and they prevailed with their own Italian version of Bordeaux.  The rest is history.

What were to become known internationally as Super Tuscans, were enjoyed locally for about twenty years before a ground swell of demand expanded their distribution.  In the 1960's they went international, finally hitting our shores around 1980.  It took ten years for the Italian regulators to amend the winemaking laws to allow for this new category and then ten more years before Maremma received its legal appellation DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata).

Maremma is home to Ornellia, Masseto, Sassicaia and many others that command prices comparable to most classified Bordeaux.  They are among the finest wines of Italy.  But if you need something to go with your pizza or pasta this weekend modestly priced Super Tuscans can be had here for under twenty dollars.

Nuts

We have the best mixed nuts in town and I'm not talking about the denizens of this store or even yours truly.  The mix I'm talking about is new here and it is sublime.  We've had chocolate covered nuts, Marcona Almonds, and little cutesy packs of nuts for gift baskets for years but nothing like this.  This mix puts Planters to shame.  

So what's the key selling point for our nuts?  They contain the amino acid, tryptophan, that produces seratonin, the neurotransmitter that modulates moods.  They make you feel good.  Moreover, nuts are anti-carcinogenic by modulating the gut microbiome and reducing pathogenic bacteria.  They are heart healthy.  They lower blood pressure and since cardiovascular health includes respiration, breathing issues are addressed.  Remember the mood altering seratotin?  In a UCLA study dieters who ate nuts were more satisfied with their diets and still lost weight!  

If you are of a certain age you remember buying a can of mixed nuts only to find that you got mostly peanuts.  We have nothing against peanuts.  We like peanuts.  But it was ridiculous.  Now, thanks to the FDA, if a mix has more than 50% of one variety (peanuts) it has to say so on the can.   Our mix has zero peanuts.

So what kind of wine goes with nuts?  In our research we found recommendations of roses, champagnes and light dry unoaked whites.  But those recommendations came from the nut companies.  What do they know.  Drink anything you would like.

The Grocery Store Set

I was in Publix recently and took a gander at their wine department.  It never hurts to see what's selling at the competition and while it didn't look like much was going on there, I hung around for a few minutes anyway...because I had to.  I was paralyzed.  The brightly colored labels and whimsical names kind of perversely overwhelmed me for a minute before I got my bearings again.  Then I thought for a minute longer about what had just happened.

Here's the historical perspective: Fifty years ago wine labels were usually white with no nonsense information on the front like producer, type and vintage.  Usually the plainer the label, the better the wine.  At least that's the way it used to be.  Fancier labels evoked suspicion, like, Why are they trying so hard to sell this stuff?  Now I guess the MBA's and admen have transformed the industry into something sensational.  They've made that grocery store wine aisle into an adventureland.  And I get it.  The mass marketing of wine in grocery stores wasn't successful with the plain labels.  They needed to be dolled up.

What I don't get is the silliness in many of those labels.  The captivating colors I get.  You see something similar in other aisles; soups, frozen foods, breakfast cereals.  This is the way it is in the modern grocery biz.  Colors can be mesmerizing.  And I'm sure the appeal is dissected repeatedly in labs and boardrooms to get those color schemes just right.  It's just the way it is.

I remember a label from several years ago, Angry Housewife, or something like that.  I remember at the time thinking, What does that have to do with wine?  It's a distraction from what's in the bottle, which to my my way of thinking, probably means the wine isn't very good.  Like Yellowtail.  

If the silliness in wine labeling continues I'm left wondering how long before Tony the Tiger makes his appearance on a wine label.

Syrah

Back in the day we learned to appraise wines by recognizing the few grape types that were deemed to be noble by the experts and then, by default, seeing all of the others as ordinary types.  (Some were actually ignoble.  Ask me about Alicante Bouschet some time.)  That scheme has since fallen from favor once one acknowledges that most grapes are capable of producing superior wine in the right environs with the right winemaking hands.  But still, we maintain that some vinifera wine grapes are downright noble.   

Cabernet Sauvignon is a no-brainer.  It produces superior wine most everywhere.  Pinot Noir is also a for-sure winner even if it is only a select few acres that make the case, relatively speaking.  Syrah, on the other hand, has always been on the fence.  Some maintain its nobility while others just don't get it.  Its quality capabilities are more like Cabernet, forthright and deliberate, the inverse of the insipid Pinot Noir now populating chain store shelves everywhere.  You might say there is so much good Syrah out there we take it for granted.  It's just doesn't have the popularity of Cabernet.  

For as long as we've been in the business, the Cotes du Rhone as been the go-to region for any serious wine lover to find their affordable red meat dinner wine.  The southern Rhone is where Grenache dominates with a blending assist from Syrah and others.  The northern Rhone however, is where the Syrah grape shines.  These are the finest Syrah-based wines in the world.  They are refined, concentrated and elegant; structured and capable of improving for a minimum of ten years. Potency and finesse is the calling card.  But our all time favorite descriptor has to be violets and tar.   

In the nineteenth century the grape was exported to Australia.  Re-named Shiraz, the grape quickly became the signature grape of the continent.  In fact, like Cabernet, Syrah seems to do well in most places.  If it has soils of granite, schist or shale, that is, rocky, you get that intense northern Rhone black pepper and olive style.  If the soil is softer, sandy or clayey, you get a lighter aromatic, softer structured plum and chocolate wine.  In any event, it's all good.

History is fickle in this industry.  In the 1700s Syrah was esteemed in Europe and put on a par with Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux.  That estimation will probably come around again.  Syrah is a prolific vigorous vine, easy to cultivate and in need of regular pruning.  Those kinds usually get promoted by the industry, so we shall see.

By the way, we taste a lot of wines here.  The best we tasted last year was a Cornas from the northern Rhone. 

Estate Bottling

The highest predictor of quality you can find on a wine label is whether or not the wine is estate bottled.  You have to be careful though because producers will play with words to mislead the consumer.  For instance, the word estate by itself means nothing legally on a wine label.  Likewise, while it's always nice to see the words single vineyard on a label, that too doesn't signify estate bottling.  The key words for ascertaining estate bottling are grown, produced and bottled by on the back label.  If any of those three words is not there, the wine is not estate bottled.

So what's the big deal with estate bottling?  In short, it signifies quality control.  It means the viticulture on the property is intimate.  Someone is walking the vineyards daily throughout the growing season overseeing every element and aspect of production followed by hand harvesting at season's end.  Great wines are made in the vineyard and that production is protected in estate bottled winemaking.

This post concerns the domestic wine industry and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulates that industry.  Estate bottling in America must meet three qualifications: 100% of the grapes used must be grown on the estate or on land in the same appellation and controlled by the estate; 100% of the wine is vinified, blended and aged at the winery and 100% of the production is bottled at the winery.

It should be no secret that the wine industry has become big business.  More than ninety percent of wine sales are controlled by the thirty largest companies in the world (overwhelmingly American) and the largest company on that list dwarfs all of the others.  If you hear of a winery that has just sold for some exorbitant amount of money, it is often just the wine label that has been purchased.  The buyer already has the wine in inventory and depending on the quality of that inventory the label may resemble what it was previously or a noticeable drop off in quality may be in the offing.  In any event, it is not the same product it was before.  

Our recent posts on Torbreck and Januik wineries seem to indicate estate winemaking but neither declares it on the label.  Both use estate fruit and seem to exercise control over nearby other-owned vineyards so you would think they qualify as estates.  Torbreck is Australian so American wine laws don't apply there but Januik apparently falls short of the estate bottling qualification.  

It should be noted that with specificity in wine production, quantities of production become limited and with all that is required in labor, prices are higher for estate bottled wines.

The Hafner Vineyards website provided much of the content for this post.  They are justifiably proud of their estate bottling bonafides...and they should be. 

Jorge Ordonez

The Quadrum three liter Spanish boxed wines have just had a twenty percent price reduction.  (Yes, you heard me right.)  It was almost a year ago when we blogged about them, encouraging everyone to try them because after all, it was picnic season and the three types were way better than grocery store fare.  AND they're Jorge Ordonez wines, so you really ought to try 'em!

Jorge Ordonez Selections is a family-owned importer of Spanish wines produced on twenty-seven winery estates.  The company was established in 1987 when Spain was not regarded as anything special in the wine world.  Jorge fixed that.  Spain is actually the planet's largest viticultural region with a 2,700 year history of wine making, the oldest in Europe.  

Jorge grew up in a wine wholesaling family and understood early on that Spain had something special to offer the wine world.  Yet in 1987 it was the large corporate-run, profit-driven cooperatives that were shipping to America and that wine was often tainted by poor transportation and storage.  There was a lot of room for improvement.  They weren't even trying to make fine wine.

Having been raised in the wine industry, Jorge looked around at all of the historic family-owned vineyards and wineries and wondered why this honorable and honest approach to the industry wasn't valued for what it is.  He reached out to many of these owners beseeching them to maintain the traditional ways AND update their operations with whatever needed to be done to improve their product.  Cleanliness in the winery, limits on harvests, and organics in viticulture and winemaking were stressed.  After these improvements Jorge would have his work cut out for him.  He would insist on refrigerated trucks and warehouses wherever his wines were sold.  Then he had to challenge the international palate to try wines made from the indigenous grapes of Spain, something decidedly outside of the American comfort zone.

Spanish vineyards are traditionally dry farmed, meaning tap roots have to find water deep in the earth.  Trace elements of different minerals and nutrients would then find their way through the plant and ultimately into the wine creating a complexity of flavors.  Through Jorge's uncompromising efforts these new and unfamiliar flavors have found a market share in America's wine culture.  

The Eternal Question

Not really eternal, of course, it's just that the question has been around for as long as we've been in the business.  And the question is - How long should I hold on to this bottle?   And for the sake of narrowing things down, let's say we're talking about California Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fifty years ago Hugh Johnson in his Encyclopedia of Wine would have said only three percent of French wines would improve with age.  That is all.  No others.  Now in the modern, more sophisticated wine culture of today, we have recently read that maybe one percent of the great wines of the world, regardless of national origins, will actually improve with age.

But what about that bottle of Cal Cab we just bought?  We want to hold it until we think it will show its best.  Well, it's complicated.  Most cabernets are intended to be consumed within five years.  That is, most California wines feature the popular forward-fruit style with soft tannins and low acidity and therein lies the rub. 

Tannins are astringent compounds that come from grapes skins, pips, twigs and contact with the oak barrels the wine is aged in.  These compounds soften with time and new flavors develop from them.  Citric acid is a natural preservative and a higher acid wine aids the aging process.  The California climate is warmer than Europe and most other fine wine regions so grapes ripen faster leaving lower levels of acids than elsewhere.  Aging isn't needed for most of these easy drinking wines.

So how long should I hold this wine I just bought?  The prevailing wisdom is no more than ten years.  If it's a great cab from an acclaimed producer and made in the old world style, up to twenty years.  And that's if the wine is laying down in a dark, temperature-controlled, humidity-regulated, vibration-free environment.

Januik

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the great figures in the contemporary wine business.  Throughout the 1990's Mike Januik was the winemaker at Chateau Ste. Michelle, the largest winery of Washington State.  That decade was the high point of that company's existence.  Was it a coincidence that Januik was there at their peak?  I don't think so.  If the truth be known, Mike Januik put CSM on the map.

So what exactly did he do?  Januik created the great single-vineyard reserve reds that probably put Washington State on the map for those of us who thought California invented enology.  Januik, a Washington native, had been in the wine business for the better part of a decade before CSM so he knew where to go for superior fruit.

And where is that?  From the same places where Januik sources from now; Horse Heaven Hills, Royal Slope and the greatest Washington AVA (American Viticultural Area), Red Mountain.  Januik also sources from Stillwater Creek Vineyard. a part of the Novelty Hill estate.  In 2000 upon leaving CSM, Januik entered into an agreement with Tom Alberg and Judi Beck to make the wines at their new Novelty Hill winery.  It's at that same location he would start making his own eponymous Januik labeled wines, a project he had started a year earlier.  

This year Januik celebrates his fortieth harvest.  When he started there were twenty-four wineries in Washington.  Now there are two hundred.  As of 2011 a third winemaking operation has been added to the Novelty Hill/Januik operation.  Mike's son Andrew now makes his Andrew Januik wines there also.

As we said above, Mike Januik is a giant in the Washington wine business.  We now have two of his cabernets in the store, the Novelty Hill and the Januik label.  If you like great cabernet, try these!

Torbreck & Barossa Valley

The quality of Torbreck Vintners wines has never been in question.  Robert Parker calls them a "Top 100" winery.  If the travesty that is Yellowtail hadn't driven down the Australian wine business, Torbreck may have become a household name by now.  Maybe even like Beaucastel, their model in the southern Rhone Valley of France.  Torbreck really is that good.

Torbreck was established in 1994 but you could say it started more than a hundred fifty years earlier when many of its cornerstone Rhone varietals were first planted in the Barossa Valley.  With the oldest vineyards in Australia, Barossa is known for rich powerful structured reds with lengthy flavors.  Wines of this quality age gracefully.  The wines' velvety tannins are courtesy of Barossa's Mediterranean climate of a hot dry growing season stressing the vines before the diurnal temperature shift to coolness at night compensates for the heat.  This temperature shift is ideal for maintaining acidity in the grapes to prevent flabbiness in wine flavors.   

Torbreck markets two dozen different wines.  Most are reds; all are Rhone varietals.  The reds include Shiraz (of course), Grenache, Mataro, Counoise and Carignan.  The whites include Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Semillon.  Like in the Rhone Valley, most Torbreck wines are blends.

Torbreck boasts of "estate winemaking" which is not the same as estate bottling, meaning everything is done on the property.  With long term management arrangements at high quality vineyards, what they call custodial care, they can secure the fruit that they need for their many premium wines.  In other words, they know what they're doing.

Runrig is Torbreck's flagship wine.  It's a Shiraz/Viognier blend likened to their northern Rhone model and yes, it commands a lofty price.  The two in the store right now are more grounded price-wise.  The Cuvee Juveniles is a Grenache, Mataro, Carignan, Counoise, Shiraz blend.  The Woodcutter's Semillon is an oak aged robust Madeira clone Semillon first planted in Barossa 160 years ago.  

If Rhone red blends or the white Semillon grape are new to you, here's your opportunity.  They're well worth a try.

Orange Wine

Orange wine is a very popular term for white wine that is made in the fashion of a red wine.  In the Asian Caucasus region where they've been doing this for 5,000 years they call it amber wine.  Other terms include skin-contact or skin-fermented wine or using larger terminology, non-interventionist winemaking, which gets more to the point - This is the furthest thing from the common filtered-clear white wines on store shelves.  Possibly as a reaction to that norm, David Harvey coined the term orange wine in 2004.

With skins and seeds included in the grape maceration and fermentation (sometimes up to a year!), the wine acquires pigment, phenols and tannins; giving it a robust, perhaps honeyed nose and a complex, lacquered nutty flavor.  This kind of a big white wine would show well with curried Asian cuisine or cabbage or any meats/fishes with a similarly high phenolic character.

Orange wines are made everywhere today.  In Friuli-Venezie-Guilia, Italy and Slovenia they have been doing it for hundreds of years applying the name Ramato to their Pinot Grigio version.  

Aside from our interest in the essential wine character and food affinities, health consciousness may be driving the orange wine fever.  Much like red wine, the skins and seeds in the production of orange wine are believed to slow mental decline and the risk of heart disease.  During maceration, anti-oxident chemical compounds like kaempferol, quercetin, catechin and resveratrol leach into the wine and neutralize unstable molecules (free radicals) that cause cellular damage.

Now here's some good news for all of us.  While there have been no specific studies of health benefits from orange wine consumption, it is believed any wine consumption in moderation improves longevity.  Wine drinkers have a lower risk of metabolic syndrome, the group of conditions that raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancers of the bowel, colon and prostate.

Frey

Frey Vineyards was established in 1980, about the same time as we got into this business.  They claim to be the first organic and biodynamic California winery.  Girard has been organic since the 1950's so they must be referring to the biodynamic part.    Between their wine label and website, they cite ten claims that serve to validate their bonafides.

#1.  USDA Organic Certification.  This is the biggie.  It involves stringent advance planning, implementation and regular inspections.  It's serious stuff.

#2.  California Certified Organic Farmers.  CCOF certification preceded USDA (1973) and today works within the USDA to certify farmers.  The CCOF foundation educates the public about organic values.

#3.  Demeter Certification.  This is also huge.  Demeter is biodynamics and also involves regular inspections.  With Demeter, the property is an ecosystem where nothing is added from the outside. 

#4.  No Sulfites Added.  Again, huge.  No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical additives.

#5.  Vegan.  Fining is the filtering process wines undergo before bottling.  It typically involves the use of eggs or casein protein from fish.  This kind of fining is not done at Frey.   

#6.  Non-GMO.  This concerns yeasts that may be genetically modified. There are no laws concerning GMOs but since Frey is Demeter-certified all yeasts are local.

#7.  Gluten-free.  This goes to the current popularity of flavor additives in wine which may have a small percentage of gluten.  Frey wines are unadulterated. 

#8.  1% for the Planet.  This international certification goes to business owners who pledge a percent of their profits to environmental causes.

#9.  Regenerative.  This catchword applies to agricultural land management.  There are no legal standards for the use of this term.

#10  FSC Certification.  This applies to the wine label paper which must come from managed forests where de-forestation will not be accepted. 

Frey sells organics.  That's their schtick.  The most important attribute listed above is their Demeter Certification.  If you have that, much of the rest is not necessary. 

Bolgheri

This post is a long overdue exercise in remedial education for those of us who thought we were so smart.  With just a little research we learned just how wrong we were about the wine appellation Bolgheri and it's place in greater Tuscany.  It's not just a cut above standard issue Tuscan Sangiovese.  Bolgheri is home to Sassacaia, which on at least three occasions in the last fifty years has shown better than the best Bordeaux has to offer.  The Bolgheri wine appellation, replete with its Bordeaux varietal vineyards, is, in fact, Italy's answer to Bordeaux.

Bolgheri is an Italian DOC (denominazione di controllata) in Maremma along the northern Tuscan coast just south of Livorno.  Like everywhere else in Italy, viticulture and wine making there has an exceedingly long history.  The traditional ways were adjusted two to three hundred years ago when the Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot) were first introduced.  Still, today the popular sentiment and Italian Wine Law dictate that wine is to be made in the traditional fashion.  Viticulture and oenological procedures are to be appropriate and consistent with longstanding local customs.

The Bolgheri DOC allows for two quality levels, Bolgheri and Bolgheri Superiore and the autonomous stand alone Sassacaia appellation.  Basic Bolgheri appellation red wine may contain up to 50% Sangiovese or Syrah or it may be 100% Cabernet, Merlot or Cabernet Franc or any combination of those grapes not to exceed the Sangiovese/Syrah limits.  Any Bolgheri wine must conform in color, bouquet and taste to traditional standards.  It should be red-garnet in color with a heady bouquet and dry and balanced on the palate.  The Superiore version must be aged two years and must impress with elegance and structure.

Sassacaia is the product of Tenuta San Guido in western Bolgheri.  They are the wine appellation.  They make three wines: Sassacaia (85%,Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc) and Guidalberto and Le Difese, two Bordeaux Blends that include Sangiovese in the blends.  

South Africa

It hasn't all been smooth sailing but South Africa seems to have finally arrived.  The turning point in their journey was in the early 1990's when apartheid ended and the government got out of the wine industry.  Up to that point the government-sponsored KWV cooperative had run things and they did a good job.  They actually built the South African wine industry, albeit with brandy as the base product.  Ten years after the big change, the sales percentages would be reversed with dinner wines becoming the order of the day.

The South African Wine law was enacted in 1973 but revised in the early nineties to allow for an expanding wine industry.  At the same time the newer technologies that were dominating the industry elsewhere were brought to South Africa along with some of the world's best winemakers as the country prepared for a boon.  But it didn't happen right away.  South Africa has always been isolated from the well known wine markets and each of those markets had the homecooking of its own wine industry to compete with.

There is an unfortunate sacrifice inherent in trying to satisfy an international market.  You have to make what people from other cultures want.  The most popular South African red and white wine grapes of the twentieth century were Cinsault and Chenin Blanc.  They grew well so they were popular with industry insiders but more importantly, the critics acclaimed their quality.  Cinsault, a Cotes du Rhone blender, largely went into brandy so it had to be sacrificed.  Chenin Blanc, while still the most widely planted grape in the country, is but a fraction of the juggernaut it once was.

Also sacrificed was Pinotage, the signature red wine grape of the country.  It proved to be too hard of a sell to the western world.  The Pinotage that has survived in more recent shipments here is a superior pinot-ish red dinner wine that is much more to our tastes than earlier efforts.  

The industry expansion that was begun in the 1990's includes new wine appellations to the east of the historic center in the Western Cape.  Those newer vineyards have a long way to go before they can compete in quality with the Cape.  The learning curve can be lengthy.  In the meantime Western Cape reds and whites are finally selling like they should.  Our Klein Constantia (est.1685!) Sauvignon Blanc and red blend sell quite well here and by the way, South African Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc are acclaimed by many of us to be second only to France in quality.

Matthews - In Pursuit of Pure Washington Wine

While that mission statement sounds a little grandiose, when you consider the quality displayed across everything they make, the claim seems reasonable.  For instance, they have what many of us think is the best Sauvignon Blanc on the continent and a red Bordeaux blend that rivals any from Napa.  Maybe they aren't just in pursuit of purity; maybe they've arrived.

Matthews was established in 1993 but re-born when the Otis family took over in 2004. They make one white wine, the Sauvignon Blanc, and just a few reds using Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  Matthews' Columbia Valley vineyards are located in the Royal Slope, Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVA's at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Burgundy in France.  That latitude offers the long sunny days and cool nights that ripen wine grapes ever so optimally.

In 2021 Matthews was re-born again with a new winemaking crew.  From the winery website blog, the three gentlemen now in charge "completely overhauled the existing winemaking techniques and processes."  They sourced grapes from new places and planted new clones "for complexity and dimension at blending."  To concentrate and intensify their product they reduced yields by 30%; harvested later for riper fruit and dramatically extended grape maceration for richness and depth. 

Maybe they're now in pursuit of perfection.

Sancerre

If it's light dry white wine and it sells in January, it must be good and Sancerre has its own punched ticket as the best there is in Sauvignon Blanc.  With its light bone dry, clean fruit flavors and distinct minerality, Sancerre's historic reputation is secure.  Nowhere else in the world comes close to what Sancerre does...unless you look next door at Pouilly Fume.

So what makes the stuff so good?  It's got to be the soils.  As we've reported in the past, this part of northern France was under water for most of the life of the planet resulting in Kimmeridgian marlstone soils for the most part.  This is a limestone/clay soil type that influences the full bodied perfumed roundedness of Sancerre fruit.  Silex (flint) is a secondary soil of the region that provides the Sauvignon Blanc grapes with their steely minerality.  

As we said above, nowhere else does Sauvignon Blanc approach the quality of Sancerre.  Everywhere else the grape shows an herbaceous grassiness to one degree or another and that is fine in itself.  We don't believe the spectrum of flavors a wine can exhibit should be segmented judgmentally into positive and negative categories.  Without sounding too contradictory, however, we do believe in the historic model for each and that's where Sancerre wins out.   

What was to become the Sancerre wine appellation was first planted by the Romans in the first century.  It became a legally defined Sauvignon Blanc wine appellation in the inaugural class in 1936 and has been expanded four times since then.  We mentioned the Pouilly Fume AOC earlier.  Sancerre is sandwiched between Menatou-Salon on the left and Pouilly Fume on the right and for most of us, examples from each appellation would be indistinguishable.  They're all great!

Rosenblum Cellars Chenin Blanc/Viognier

In theory each bottle in a wine tasting lineup should be better than the one before.  In theory.  So when our vendor went through the lineup starting with three somewhat similar white blends followed by three reds, we were struck by how good that very first wine was.  By the way, in most wine tastings the price of the wines usually ascends so if that first inexpensive bottle is memorable, to our way of thinking, it is a find indeed.

Rosenblum Cellars was established in 1978 in Alameda, California maybe five miles from where we were living at the time.  Had we known we would be writing this now we could've been doing our spade work back then but it took us a few years to find our career path.  When we did land in the wine industry permanently, Rosenblum was still there.

Actually Kent Rosenblum hit the ground running when he started his operation.  Zinfandel was his thing back then and finding superior fruit in vineyards untapped by the larger industry players was his forte.  Rasmussen befriended these growers, struck a deal with each and then bottled single vineyard Zinfandels with the individual vineyard owner's name on each label.  At the time Rasmussen was crowned "The King of Zins."

Charlie Tsegeletos is the current Rosenblum winemaker and he was nice enough to educate me on the Chenin/Viognier.  The blend is 85% Chenin and 15% Viognier and the fruit is sourced from two estate vineyards in the greater Lodi region.  The wine shows bright citrus, pineapple and honey flavors with the Chenin being responsible for most of the light crispness and fresh fruit flavors.  The Viognier lends body and apricot flavor to the blend.  The wine is cold fermented in stainless steel and sees no oak or malolactic fermentation.

Gehricke/Sebastiani and the Knight's Valley AVA

Gehricke is a very successful line of five varietal wines made by 3 Badge Beverage of Sonoma.  We have at least a five year history of selling them here at the store.  Sebastiani, established in 1904 and also Sonoma-based, was one of the most successful wine companies of the twentieth century.  Unfortunately they went under in the early 1990's.  We knew the two operations were related somehow but just how that happened always eluded us.  It's complicated.  Stop in the store if you want to know more.  Suffice it to say Gehricke is sort of a decendant of Sebastiani.

The current best seller from Gehricke is the Knight's Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  It shows full bodied rich red fruit flavors, soft tannins, prominent oak with vanilla and clove spice.  While Knight's Valley is most definitely a part of Sonoma, in many respects it is more like Napa.  The Knight's Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) abuts the Alexander Valley AVA with the Chalk Hill AVA lying just south of it.  It is the furthest east of Sonoma's wine country where it's southern end meets Napa's northwest corner.

The Knight's Valley AVA is one of the five original 1983 Sonoma AVAs.  It contains 37,000 acres where thirty growers maintain 2,000 vineyard acres.  Three of those thirty are huge.  Beringer and Kendall-Jackson both market their own Knight's Valley Cabernets while Bavarian Lion Vineyards (est. 1996) has five hundred acres in vines.  It is from the less well-known Bavarian Lion Vineyards that we assume Gehricke sources their fruit.

Alsatian Whites

We've made no secret about our tastes in white wines.  We like 'em light, dry and minerally.  If it's summertime and seafood or salads are in the offing, Sauvignon Blanc is our go-to.  If we just want to taste a generally great example of a white wine other than Sauv Banc, we go to Alsace where we have yet to taste one that fails to impress.

There are ten white grape types allowed in Alsace.  For our purposes here we'll concern ourselves with the five biggies: Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat and Auxxerrois.  The first four are considered to be noble types by the locals.  The Muscat name in Alsace is a little different in that it encompasses four different Muscat types.  Auxxerois is genetically the same as Chardonnay and produces a white wine in that vein.  While Muscat and Pinot Gris don't conjure up notions of nobility for us we'll defer to the Alsatians and their classification.  We feel, however,  Alsatian Riesling and Gewurz are bonafide stars within any white wine lineup.

Ninety percent of the wines of Alsace are white with about 60% of those being AOC varietals made from the noble types listed above.  Another four percent are varietals sourced from recognized Grand Cru vineyards.  Another fifteen percent are Cremant sparkling wines.  The rest are either blends of the notable grapes and/or lesser grapes and since the AOC (noble) types are the only types rated, all of these others are considered to be mere table wine.  Since Alsace makes 100% varietal wines, some of the table wine blends consist of the great types while others are of the lesser five types.  In general a Gentil is usually a blend of superior grapes; Edelzwickers are usually lower quality blends.

Alsace has an identity problem, by the way.  For much or its history it has been German including four stints in the last hundred fifty years.  While most French wine labels identify by place names, Alsace, like Germany, labels with varietal names.  In fact, Riesling and Gewurztraminer are German grape types and therein lies the problem.  The public sees the wines as German and generalizes about style and quality based on what they have tasted in the past.  Sweeter mass marketed German plonk doesn't begin to represent the nobility of dry Alsatian Riesling and Gewurztraminer.  Germany has now learned this from Alsace and is currently making drier wines.    

Malbec

Okay, so we've tackled this subject several times in the past.  Hang with me.  We've found a new angle on this one.

Black Cabra is one of the real bargains in Argentine Malbec at a mere $12.99/btl.  We thought we would post about it here only to find importer Vino del Sol really has nothing in the way of relevant information about the product.  Moreover, depending on the vintage, the  "estate bottling" on the label may refer to different estates in Argentina.  So while Black Cabra isn't winery-specific, to our way of thinking, we're fine with it as long as Vino del Sol maintains the quality it has.

So we pivoted to a quick study of the Malbec grape and learned a few things.  While the experts believe Malbec originated in Burgundy, Cahor in southwestern France is the current home for Malbec today.  Now popularly called Cot, in the Cahor AOC the grape produces an inky tannic dark purple version that contrasts with the more popular style from Argentina.  

Why is that?  It has to do with Malbec's vineyard problems in France where diseases like coulure, downy mildew and rot from frost inordinately affect the vines.  It has become so problematic that Bordeaux has largely replaced Malbec plantings with Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

So once again, why is Argentine Malbec so different from the French version?  It's because the Malbec vines in Argentina which date back to 1868 are not the same as what is currently in France.  Over time that clone of Malbec was in all likelihood ravaged by disease into extinction.