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.