Auka

The 2007 Auka Argentine Malbec and 2010 Penfolds Australian Bin 2 Shiraz/Mourvedre were the tasting winners from last night as far as I could tell.  The Penfolds may have been the better wine but for the price differential, I would have opted for the Malbec, especially if there was a steak in the picture anywhere.

We just bought a quantity of Auka wines and while the Malbec seems pretty hard to beat, as I recall, the Syrah from them is even better.  After looking at several reviews on-line, it may be a toss-up.  Reviewers use the same " full-bodied, oak, and smoke" for both wines, but the Syrah features both red and black fruits (raspberry, cherry, plum) along with black pepper and notable structure.  The Malbec was all about rich black fruits in my opinion.

Auka is from the San Polo Winery in La Consulta in the Valle de Uco in the department of San Carlos within the province of Mendoza, the best wine growing region of Argentina.  On the map it appears to be near the middle of the western side of the country.  It is a 180 hectare vineyard at 33 degrees latitude and 1000 meters above sealevel.  It is at the foothills of the Andes and receives its irrigation from melting mountain snow.

The winery was founded by three european immigrants in the 1880s who settled in Mendoza and gave San Polo its corporate name in the 1930s.  Today two great grandchildren of the founders operate the winery.

At the San Polo website the winery gives credit to the Auka indigenous people for the wine label art.  The Auka people, according to the website, would carve into the earth the design on the label which features a sun, moon, and star over a hill, which meant the people were beseeching the deities in the sky for rain. 

I thought that was interesting so I started researching the subject and found nothing to indicate there ever was a tribe of Aukas in Argentina.  There was a notorious Auca people to the north in present day Equador but even that people was not known by that name.  They were the Huaranis and if you google them, hold on to your stomach.  Supposedly the neighboring Jivaros tribe, which used to shrink heads, would cower when confronted by the Huaranis.  According to my research, "Auca" is a pejorative term for the Huaranis which means "enemy".

My dad was a lifelong avid hunter in the upper penninsula of Michigan, by the way.  At his funeral his buddies told me my dad would go deeper into the woods than anyone else.  My dad  told me his greatest fear was coming upon a wolverine, which he called the meanest animal on earth.  Something like the Auca maybe?

Here is the thing, though.  Indigenous new world people everywhere invariably get overwhelmed by "civilized" european immigrants everywhere in the western world.  If they survive at all, they are displaced, marginalized, and reduced to poverty...and we call them savages.  So where does the truth lie?

Last night we tasted the 2009 Auka Torrontes also.  Last year that wine was ultra-popular and made it into my semi-serious Tasting Hall of Fame.  The regular retail for the Aukas is $9.99.  Say you read this article and they are $7.99/btl. 

Tommy Basham of Continental Beverage joins us with his fine portfolio of Spanish wines 5 to 7pm on Friday August 24th.  Be here.

The Great Antifreeze Wine Scandal

The following text relates to the preceding article about Gruner Veltliner.

 In 1985 a scandal was exposed by German chemists who, when testing the purity of German wines, uncovered illegal adulteration on two levels:  1) German wines were being supplemented with Austrian wine, a violation of German wine law.  2)  That Austrian wine was contaminated with diethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze!   At about the same time an Austrian tax examiner was wondering why a certain wine broker was claiming diethylene glycol as a business expense.

As scandals go, this one was major.  Diethylene glycol poisoning damages kidneys and tests revealed that the levels in some bottles could have been lethal.  Of course, it started innocently enough.  After two weak vintages in the early eighties, someone thought of a plan.  Why not amend the product with an ingredient that would sweeten and fatten the body of the weak wine.  What an idea?  Who could have thought of it?  While twenty-four individuals were charged and many went to jail, a chemist named Otto Nadrasky appears to be a central figure.  Perhaps the wine broker who claimed his business expense would be another major player.

While no one ever claimed to be damaged physically, the Austrian wine industry most definitely was.  Common wisdom suggests the industry lost the value of about ten years worth of business. Since only two dozen people were ever charged, the vast majority of innocent workers paid an excruciating price for the criminality of a few.

 Germany had been Austria's primary wine trading partner receiving ninety percent of its exports.  Because Germany's bulk producers were using the tainted Austrian juice, they suffered internationally also.  Having been in the business at the time, I remember the removal of German labels from the shelves and while I don't remember the Austrians of the time, records show twelve of those brands were also removed.  The contaminated Austrian wines were the opposite of the German bulk wines.  They were the elite pradikat wines, some of which being competition winners.  The wine with the highest level of contamination discovered was one of those award winning desserts and it was actually determined to be very dangerous to consume.

So here's the irony.  Austria decided to change from sweeter wines to Gruner and other lighter and drier whites as a result of the scandal, coinciding with the change in tastes of the global market.  At the same time, the screw caps that seem to aid in retaining the freshness of such wines, were coming into vogue.  So despite the hit the Austrian wine industry took, they have landed on their feet by proactively adjusting their industry to contemporary tastes.

This Friday (5-7pm) we are tasting everyday Argentine reds and whites along with our continuing exploration of superior California Cabernet.  Please join us.  And if you enjoy these blogs, please let me know.

Gruner Veltliner

As I type in Gruner Veltliner I understand why this wine has been flying under the radar for about twenty years in America.  It is the same reason Gewurztraminer will never find a decent audience. It's the name.  Gruner was marketed twenty years ago very unfortunately as "Groovy" and that didn't work either (duh!), so it appears to be destined to a lesser status than it perhaps deserves.

Gruner Veltliner is a white wine grape indigenous to Austria as far as the ampelographers can discern.  DNA testing has shown Traminer to be one of its parent grapes while the other is an obscure 19th century variety called St. Georgian-vine, which is now being rescued from near extinction by progagators interested in its potential as a wine producer.

The flavor profile for Gruner is typically citrus with peach fruit particularly, along with white pepper and tobacco for the more earthy component.  The wine is typically light and intended as much as any wine for early consumption and that is what most of us in this country understand about the subject.

Gruner vines occupy about 50,000 acres in Austria or 37% of vineyard land in a country the size of Maine.  It is the most widely planted variety there and that always means it is the type that is the most marketable.  Gruner is a staple of wine bars and restaurants in Austria and neighboring countries and for most of the past one hundred fifty years or so, Austria's focus has been on mass marketing their wines.  Only in the past twenty years or so has the emphasis shifted to  quality.

The other great white variety of Austria is Riesling and there is an ongoing debate as to which type produces the better wine.  Most Austrian oenophiles would go with Riesling but the gap has closed with the quality emphasis dictating vineyard selection for optimal terroir.  Mastery in Gruner winemaking technique has also evolved in recent decades.  Gruner does best in the lower part of the country on hillsides with just the right slope to retain water with the soil composition consisting primarily of clay with minerality.  Cropping for lower yields and ripeness then provide the winemaker with the raw materials to make an intensely concentrated and rich white wine.

So how good are these Gruners?  They actually counterbalance the easy-growing commercial wine style.  They compare to great white Burgundies and age similarly, perhaps up to twenty years!  Because the variety has not caught on in America, it is doubtful we will ever see them here though and since only about twenty producers make these "Super Gruners" anyway, they get consumed entirely in Austria.

One last point about Gruner Veltliner is its  food-friendliness.  This is a wine suitable for all vegetables.  Along with the fruit flavors mentioned above, vegetable aromas are there without the vegetal grassy herbaciousness.  Some sommeliers think there is no better match for artichokes or asparagus.  Could this be the ideal wine for cabbage?

Taste Gruner Veltliner with us here at the store (5-7pm) on Friday and judge for yourself.  Say you read this article and get a free Dancake!

Boisset Part 2

The Buena Vista wines currently in distribution here are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and The Count (red field blend).  Soon to be added: Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay.  These are designated as the Sonoma Series and all are priced in the mid teens.   Projected for the near future are several higher priced Carneros region specialty wines and "Eclipse" which was an  historic methode champenoise sparkler from Count Agoston Haraszthy that won a gold medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition in France.  It is now being reproduced by Boisset.  Just for clarification, that winning accomplishment was more than a hundred years before the "Judgment at Paris" tasting (blog July 5, 2012) popularized in the film, Bottle Shock!

Boisset Family Estates markets wines from twenty four properties in Europe and California.  In 1999 Jean-Charles Boisset united all of his family's Burgundy negotiant holdings into one company, Domaine be la Vougeraie, which had been the historic name of his family's Vougeot estate before his ascendancy.  This move instantly made Boisset the largest Burgundy wine company and the largest Pinot Noir producer in Burgundy.  The company markets four Grand Cru Red Burgundies but the flagship wine of the company ironically may be a Chardonnay, Vougeot 1er Cru "Les Clos Blanc de Vougeot" Monopole.

Boisset also markets a line of California wines eponimously named JCB.  Each type in that line is named by number, as in, No.7, which is said to be "debonnaire, charismatic, and seductive" on their website.  Puh-leeze!  JCB also features a couple of French wines in the line whch makes me think there is more here than seems apparent now.  Gina Gallo is the wife of Jean-Charles and E&J Gallo is the largest land owner in Sonoma County.  The Sonoma Coast region is projected by some to one day be the finest Pinot Noir source outside of Europe.  Jean-Charles Boisset has described Sonoma Pinot as being "open, flamboyant, and exuberant" while Burgundy is "earthy, austere, and serious".  And yes there is a Boisset plan to blend the two!

It is truly a frighteningly new and modern wine world we're living in and Jean-Charles Boisset may have more in common with the great Count than we could have anticipated.  Both were/are certainly experimenters, dealmakers, and self-promoters.  If you take a look at the Boisset web presence you see both its ubiquity and engenuity.  www.domainedelavougerie.com may be the best winery website I have seen.   While this writer has actually tasted few of the Boisset offerings available in this market,  enough has been shown to warrant an optimistic approval.

Curtis Gauthier of Empire Distributors will provide the wines for this week's Friday tasting.  Expect more fine California fare.  Be here 5 to 7 pm!

Boisset Part 1: Buena Vista

A week ago our best seller at that Friday tasting was the 2010 Buena Vista Cabernet Sauvignon.  Last night the winner was the 2010 Cabernet-based Raymond R Collection Field Blend.  Besides both being moderately priced California Cabernets, they are both owned by French Vougeot-based multi-national, Boisset Family Estates.  We blogged about Raymond back on February 16th of 2011.  This time we'll look at Buena Vista.

Jean-Charles Boisset, head of Boisset Family Estates, purchased Buena Vista in May of 2011.  While the Cabernet we tasted a week ago was made prior to his ascendancy to ownership, Jean-Charles, being very historically reverent toward this industry, would no doubt view his position as a temporal custodianship.  Buena Vista was founded in 1857, making it 155 years old.  One of the new owner's first moves was a label change to approximate an 1860 Buena Vista label.

Jean-Charles was born in Vougeot in Burgundy and his California winery purchases all reflect that inherent historical context.  Deloach Vineyards, purchased in 2003, was the first Russian River Pinot Noir.  Lyeth Estate was the first red Bordeaux blend from California even before the term, Meritage, was coined.  Raymond boasts five generations of Napa winemakers and Buena Vista is all about history.

Buena Vista was founded by Count Agoston Haraszthy of Hungary, a notorious bon vivant and dealmaker.  The Count was actually Hungarian royalty by birth (1812) but moved to America in 1840, returning to the homeland periodically to visit and bring others back with him to America.

 Haraszthy became known in California as "the father of California winemaking" and is credited with introducing 300 European grape varieties to California, Zinfandel arguably being one of those credits. Before Buena Vista, Haraszthy experimented with viticulture for a decade in various locations and partnered with like-minded agriculturalists resulting in the 1858 "Haraszthy Report", the first published treatise on winemaking in California.  The following decade yielded further written delineation on the subject along with much speechmaking advocacy for the industry.

Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma was a natural outgrowth of Haraszthy's grape experimentation which continued for years on the Sonoma property prior to the opening of the winery.  The winery itself was a "gravity flow" creation built of stone with nearby hillside caves for cellaring.  Charles Krug was one of the notable winemakers hired by Harszthy.

Winemaking history has largely been eclipsed by mammoth production in California in the current era.  For twenty years prior to Boisset, no wine was actually made at Buena Vista and, sad to say, that isn't unusual.  Now winemaking has returned to the old stone winery and so has the Count in the personage of actor/historian George Webber who aptly recreates that larger than life figure on the premises.  "The Count" may be experienced more viscerally in the Buena Vista wine of the same name, another red field blend from Boisset.

Because this is the slow season, stop in the store and get a ten percent discount on our wines from the past week's tasting.  Curtis Gauthier of Empire Distributors will be feting us with some of his stellar California wines this Friday between 5 and 7pm.  Please join us.

By the way...Count Haraszthy joins a relatively short list of notables who all died in mystery, that is, they disappeared!  Amelia Earhardt, anyone?

Grafton Village Cheese

Last week we received a forty pound block of cheddar from our wholesaler in New York.  It was a promotional item from a sales circular that only said it was from Vermont.  Since we could retail it for ten dollars a pound, we jumped on it.  When it arrived here, the heavy plastic wrap was clearly stamped Grafton, which is a brand we purchase in volume for the holiday gift baskets.  We never taste those eight ounce waxed cheddar bars because they are usually in and out of the store within a few weeks via the gift trade.

So we cut into the forty pound cheddar last week and immediately I was struck by the texture.  Our Widmer's four year old cheddar  and other forty pounders we have had here have all been hard and difficult to cut.  This one was relatively soft and crumbly and that was an eye-opener.  Coming from the midwest this cheese clearly felt different.  This almost reminded me of the real stuff, English Cheddar.

With a crumbly cheese, you can't help but taste it, right?  Actually anyone standing near the cutting table opportunely gets to taste a crumbly cheese and the feedback (and sales) have been very good on this one.  The cheese is creamy and mild but also pleasantly winey enough to work with a light red or medium bodied white wine in my opinion and I don't usually think of cheddar that way.   

The following is information gleaned from the Grafton website, www.graftonvillagecheese.com: 

The company was formed in 1892 as a cooperative to support small neighboring dairy farms.  After its original physical plant was destroyed by fire, the nonprofit Windham Foundation of Grafton, Vermont, with a similar cooperative philosophy, rebuilt that cheese plant and later built another one in Brattleboro, Vermont as the business grew.

Grafton markets many dairy products along with other goodies but essentially just four cheddars, aged one through four years.  Our unmarked forty pound block is probably the one year old.  They also offer a maplewood chip smoked cheddar.

Grafton uses no artificial hormones in their cheeses and their rennet is not animal based, therefore it is suitable for vegetarians.  In 2010 they hired cheesemaker Dane Huebner who has added a line of eight cave aged artisanal cheeses which may be seen at their website.  We will inquiry as to the availability of these soon.

At next Friday's wine tasting (5-7pm) we will set out the Grafton just as we did last Friday.  Please come and taste.

 

Chenin Blanc

Writing about light dry summer wines prompts me to take a look at one of the most ordinary of white vinifera grapes, Chenin Blanc, which only finds nobility in French Loire Valley Vouvray and, perhaps, in South African production. I am also prompted to write because Vouvrays seem to have been rediscovered here at the store this summer and our Friday evening tasting this week includes a South African. So it doesn't hurt to advertise what's current, right? But what about the quality question? Is Chenin Blanc good wine or isn't it?

First of all, this summer if it's cold and refreshing, as we have been saying here recently, it's good wine. But critically speaking? For most of my thirty years in the business, I would say not, largely because I have held to a hierarchical schema regarding grape types. Those that were historically proven to produce harmoniously complex wines occupied the top tier. Those that produced such quality only occasionally were at the next rung. The ordinary grapes were below that and at the bottom was, well, you don't want to know.

Michael McNeil, the highest ranking sommelier-credentialed connoisseur in the Atlanta wine business, took me to task about this approach recently. For him it's about wine improving in the bottle, i.e., if it improves in the bottle, it's noble. So for him, Chenin Blanc is a noble grape in those instances where the terroir allows for superior production to the extent that the wine improves in the cellar. I humbly stand corrected.

Now, I have always known of the great Vouvrays, having tasted them thirty years ago. I knew then that they were truly special cellar-worthy wines. I just always thought of those examples as an anomaly, an accident of nature. Chenin Blanc was just ordinary as a rule.

The most noble of red grapes is Pinot Noir and I learned that thirty years ago from my mentor, Jim Sanders, the father of the fine wine business in Atlanta and the French Burgundy expert of the southeastern United States at the time. Here's the rub though. Pinot Noir only produces nobly in Burgundy, France to my knowledge. What's the difference then between that and the Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley? I believe Mr. McNeil may have a point: nobility is an overlay that covers all wines with only a few examples of certain types standing out.

This Friday (5-7pm), along with the South African Chenin Blanc, we will taste some combination of new inventory in California Cabernets, Spanish dry rose, Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, and Argentine Pinot Noir. The wines we are offering at our tastings this summer really are special, after all, we do have to drive away the summer heat somehow. Please join us and say you read this article for a free Danish Dancake.