Cinsault

 Cinsault (san-SOH) gets short shrift in the Rhone Valley where Syrah dominates in the northern valley and Grenache in the south.  So it's basically a blender, adding light fresh red berry flavors to soften Syrah and using those same traits to broaden the profile of Grenache-based reds.  Someone said, Cinsault in a blend is "like squeezing lemon on fish."  It adds complexity, balance, freshness and finesse. 

Cinsault is also an ancient variety, either native to southern France or imported by traders centuries ago.   While flying under the world radar for most of us, it has impacted this industry through its success in the Rhone.  It's now planted in Chile, Algeria, Australia, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Lodi and Paso Robles in California.  Total Cinsault vineyard acreage worldwide approaches 57,000 acres.

Why this post now?  Clearly, after it was such a hit at our recent Lubanzi South African wine tasting, the word needs to get out.  This is your ideal all-purpose summertime red.  Light, fresh and fruity; you can marry this one with basically any similarly lighter-styled summertime meal.  And if you feel like passing on your big Cabernet because of the hot weather, try Cinsault with your steak. 

Gigondas and Gattinara

This takes me back a ways.  Gigondas and Gattinara were amongst the first great wines I was introduced to back in the day and of course, I had no reference points to compare them to, which is confusing if you think about it.  When you taste them you know they are special but just how special means you have to taste a lot more of what's out there for perspective.

Gigondas is a southern Rhone Valley wine appellation comparable to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but usually at a better price.  The wine must be at least 50% Grenache with Mourvedre and Syrah usually making up the balance.  The southern Rhone has alluvial soils with red clay, gravel, sand and limestone.  The climate is Mediterranean.

Gattinaras are a DOCG Nebbiolo-based wine from the Verceli province of the hallowed Piedmont region of Italy.  Bonarda and Vespolina grapes are allowed in the wine but it still must be 90% Nebbiolo.  The appellation soils are red in color and rocky with granite and iron composition.  The region has a Continental Climate with the much desired diurnal temperature swing that works so well ripening red wine grapes.  

A Gigondas has aromas and flavors of red fruit, plum, herbs and white pepper.  With age, you may get licorice, dark chocolate, mocha and tobacco.  The Gattinara nose shows floral and spicy aromas while the flavors are a dry and complex mix of fruitiness, earthiness and minerality.  Both wines would complement roasted or grilled red meats and aged cheeses.

Ampelidae

Ampelidae is a French Loire Valley IGP (Indication Geographique Protege) wine producer that we have long known to be very good at what they do.  IGP wines are produced from the appellations designated on their labels but are freer in their winemaking practices than the pedigreed AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlee) wines.  Those must reflect the historical practices that made the wines great in the first place.

The Loire Valley is home to the finest Sauvignon Blancs in the world so it is no surprise that Ampelidae specializes in these also.  They market a dozen different wines including both still and sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay-based offerings and just a couple reds, a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Franc.  We believe our supplier in Atlanta only stocks the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir since that is all we've ever been offered.  

The Ampelidae.com website leaves much to be desired.  We would love to know where their grapes are sourced but that information is not provided.  What they are proud of is their organic bonafides.  Apparently Ampelidae has been on an extended trajectory toward purity.  While organic accreditation in Europe only requires organic farming, Ampelidae now boasts no sulfites added.

Ampelidae's Sauvignon Blanc is a lively, minerally, balanced yet intense tropical fruity offering.  The Pinot has savory aromas before getting into soft floral and round red fruit flavors.   The finish is long and satifying.

Grenache Blanc

Grenache Blanc is the trendy white grape in southern France nowadays and for good reason.  It makes a heady, blowsy, high alcohol, low acid white with citrus and herbaceous flavors.  What's not to like there?

Well..the blowsy part.  That means flabbiness, which applies to a very flavorful wine that is too low in acid.  It uninspiringly just hangs in the mouth.  If there is no concurrent acidity going on, a wine lacks structure and is frankly just dull and...flabby.  Which is why grapes are blended.  What one type is lacking, another will make up for the deficiency. 

Grenache Blanc has siblings in Grenache Rouge and Grenache Gris (gray) that are its most common blending partners.  It is believed Grenache Rouge is a parent to the other two which mutated long ago in Spanish vineyards before moving eastward into France.  All three types are often intermixed in vineyards since original plantings were indistinguishable from each other which also explains the interblending.  Since genetically all three are very much the same, they still need another type to provide acidity.  In Spain it's often Macabeo; in France, Roussane is most common but it also partners with any of a number of types.

The Spanish example we would love for you to try is Les Argiles d'Orto Vins from Montsant.  Our French bottle is Chateau Saint-Roch Old Vine White from Cotes du Roussillon.  The Spanish is a little lighter and finer so enjoy with seafood and salads.  The Frenchie shows stone fruit flavors and is a bit more substantial (oilier) so something more formidable may make this one shine.

Enjoy!

Dao

Earlier this week we tasted eight types from a Spanish wine importer and we brought them all in except for the one that was equally fine but just a little too hard to sell.  We especially liked the red and white Prunus labeled wines which the importer avowed were, in fact, her best sellers.  

That these wines were Portuguese, not Spanish, in origin was good information that we must have missed at the time of our tasting; but it makes sense that the Portuguese would be the cream of the crop based on our history with the region.  Spain is, of course, one of the great wine regions of the world but Portugal is seriously underrated.

If you consider Mateus Rose during the college years, we have a fifty year history with Dao region Portuguese wines and that history has always been one of numbing, head scratching appreciation for what they do.  They just don't get credit for making wonderful wines over there.

Dao is located in north-central Portugal just south of Douro, the great Port region.  It is a plateau with vineyards at 500-1,500 feet elevation sheltered on three sides by mountain ranges.  That shelter moderates temperatures and protects the wine country from heavy weather off the Atlantic.  The name comes from the Dao River.

Dao is an old wine region, receiving its DOC back in 1908.  For most of the twentieth century the region was run by wine co-ops which maintained an acceptable quality level for producers there but once the EU brought back competition in '89, everyone's quality improved.

The great red grape of the region is Touriga Nacional with Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) a worthy second best.  The esteemed white grape is Encruzado.  The reds are rich and full-bodied, cherry-ish wines.  The whites are fresh, fragrant, forward and stone-fruity.  You ought to try them both.

2022 Trig Point Diamond Dust Cabernet Sauvignon

Trig Point Cabernet has always been a fave here at the store.  Although it's only been available sporadically in recent years, it's here now and here are three reasons you may want to pick some up:

1.  Alexander Valley is home to Trig Point and the terroir there has been likened both to Napa and Bordeaux.  That pretty much means Alexander Valley is going to produce a fine example of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Certified as an AVA in 1984, Alexander Valley has actually been known for superior Cabs since the 1960's.

2.  Our winemaker here is Nick Goldschmidt who specializes in 100% Cabernet wines like this one.  He is a highly educated winemaker with an industry resume to back it up.  Among his affiliations in the past have been the following wineries: Carneros Creek, Caliterra, Cloudy Bay, Terrazas, Ruffino, Clos du Bois, Gary Farrell, Atlas Peak, William Hill, Buena Vista, Geyser Peak, Simi and Wild Horse.  Currently he makes and markets his own wines under the Forefathers and Goldschmidt Vineyards labels.  I think he knows what he's doing.

3.  This is Clone 6 or Jackson clone Cabernet Sauvignon which was first brought to California from Bordeaux in the late nineteenth century.  It is best known as Beaulieu Vineyards' clone of choice for their reserve wines including their top of the line George de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon.  On the vine the grapes are small berries in small loose clusters, leading in winemaking to concentrated flavors with robust tannins. 

Los Vascos

Los Vascos is the project of Chateau Lafite Rothschild of Bordeaux; in some wine circles, the finest wine in the world.  While we accept that appraisal, we still prefer Burgundy (when it's right).

We have known Los Vascos since Lafite established the brand in the late 80's.  As one might expect, Cabernet Sauvignon is the bread and butter of Los Vascos with two thirds of their holdings devoted to that one varietal.  The press says it's modern yet traditional; that is, it has the finesse coming from modern technical expertise and the precision that comes with exacting historic standards.  It is elegant and freshly aromatic yet has too much depth to be trendy.  It is deserving of its Lafite patronage.

Lafite acquired this 3,600 hectare estate in 1988 but its history goes back to the 18th century when Basque farmers first planted vineyards there.  The property is in the Central (Colchagua) Valley of Chile 200km south of Santiago.  It lies between the Andes and the Coastal Mountain range at 150m above sea level.  The soils are volcanic, consisting of granite, shale, clay and tosca, a compacted ash product.  The climate has a thirty degree temperature shift between days and nights which is especially good for slowly ripening Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Our Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon is from their entry level Classico tier drawn from their Perlillo Vineyard on the valley floor.  Their other locales going up the hillsides provide for three higher quality level Cabs that we are quite certain get very expensive.   This Los Vascos Classico Cabernet is here both because our vendor raved about it and because of our long history with the wine.  It's always been a superior product at its modest price point. 

The wine is an estate grown and bottled, fresh and juicy styled 100% Cab sourced from 15-60 year old vines.  The nose shows plum, cherry and strawberry with hints of nutmeg, cocoa, thyme and black pepper.  Because this moderately tannic wine is of such good quality, decant twenty minutes or so to fully appreciate its concentrated and persistent varietal flavors.

Castello di Titignano

From Tenuta di Salviano comes this Umbrian blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  It's a full-bodied, soft-tannin red that shows a pomegranate color with complex spicy, intense red fruit flavors.  One critic thought the more savory aspects made the wine Rhone-ish in character.  

The Salvianos aren't novices at winemaking.  This estate has a twenty year history with the family but before that they were in Tuscany where they founded the Sassicaia Super Tuscan, one of the great red wines of Italy.  Umbria is adjacent to Tuscany to the north so they just moved to a lower rent district to create this more affordable version.

Turlo is the name of the Salviano vineyards in Umbria and they are located between Todi and Orvieto at an elevation of 150-380 meters on the north side of Lake Corbara, giving the vineyards a southern exposure.  The volcanic soils are red clay, limestone and pebbles.  The climate is Mediterranean, meaning mild winters and warm summers.

The Salvianos built a modern state of the art winery for this Umbrian IGT effort.  The grapes are hand harvested with types fermented separately with frequent pumping over before undergoing a malolactic fermentation.  Everything is temperature controlled at the winery including time spent aging in steel barrels.  Smaller lots see time in small French oak barriques.

Manchego

Sixty percent of all cheese made in Spain is Manchego.  It is the signature cheese of Spain and an EU protected DO (denominacion de origen) as Queso Manchego.  Manchega sheep provide the milk for this cheese which comes in four varieties: Fresca (aged two weeks), Semicurado (3 weeks-4 months), Curado (3-6 months) and Viejo (1-2 years).  The cheese may be either a pasteurized or raw milk version.  Ours is usually the pasteurized Curado and often labelled with its specific aging time.

Manchego is legally made only in the La Mancha plateau region in south central Spain.   This arid, windy and cold plateau of Don Quixote fame has long been known to us for its formidable dry red wines that scream for a savory red meat accompaniment.  These are legacy wines that must be appreciated with a meal and without varietal labelling.

Inside its brown herringbone exterior Manchego has an ivory colored paste with tiny pores.  Depending on age the texture moderates between its creamier style and hardness.  Manchego has a pleasantly sharp piquancy featuring fruit and nut flavors finishing with the customary sheep milk flavors at the end.  

If you are looking for something to go with your glass of red wine, this one is textbook.  It is also one of the few that would pair well with many white wines.  Check out the last sentence of the previous paragraph and imagine that taste with your favorite wine.  Salivating yet? 

Kanonkop

Hey red wine lovers - you want a real treat?  Check out the Kanonkop Kadette Cape Red Blend from Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Whether it's a versatile dinner wine you need or just an anytime red, this is it.  The blend is a sixty percent Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot + forty percent Pinotage, the signature grape of that country.  And whoever thought of this mix nailed it big time.

Now ordinarily I would start cribbing from a half dozen wine industry websites to fill out the text of this post but after going to www.kanonkop.co.za, I got more information there than I could possibly use here.  This is the best winery website I have seen.  Please, everyone, check it out and see what is possible if a company wants to share their business with an interested audience.  In particular, the Viticulture and Winemaking headings are where you want to be for getting a toehold on what they're doing.  

My takeaway from the experience? The two headings above show an expansive understanding of the importance of vintages.  The winemakers don't just take what the vineyard gives them at harvest time and make a wine out of it.  Well, they do...but their intention is to capture the unique expression of a harvest.  That starts with the old school, tried and true hand-picking of grapes.  Then, using modern technology, evaluating for sugar content in the juice and tannin content in the skins and making sure the acids balance with the sugars and that the pips are not green.  Now, just to be sure, lets restate the intention - They want to do everything in their power to capture the unique expression of the vintage.

Classy!

Brusco dei Barbi

This is a big red Tuscan IGT wine.  IGT wines are an Italian wine classification created after DOC, DOCG and VdT were shown to be inadequate for wines better than Vino da Tavola but made using methods outside of DOC rules. 

If it's Tuscan, you can assume it's Sangiovese-based and Barbi is, but this one has a Cabernet-like grip to it that makes it appealing for red meat dishes.  The wine is a bright ruby color, has a vivid red berry nose and shows supple fresh red berry flavors on the palate couched in soft tannins.  It's a fresh and fruity, yet structured versatile red that would ideally accompany anything on the grill.  

Barbi also has a pedigree.  It comes from Giovanni Colombini of Fattoria dei Barbi in Montalcino, "where Brunello was born."  Colombini studied modern winemaking extensively in the 1960's and 70's with an emphasis on cold fermentation.  Barbi actually has a pre-fermentation chilling to kill polyphenols and anthcyanins before the twelve day cold fermentation and that shows in the indelibly fresh Barbi.  Hand harvested Sangiovese, Caniolo and Colorino are what go into the wine which goes on to see some time in oak before bottling.

The Colombini family has a seven century history of winemaking.  Their current winery was established in 1790 but the family has been in Montalcino since 1352.  They are one of five today to have a one hundred year (continuous) winemaking history there where they remain a major Brunello producer today.