Gundlach Bundshu

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

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

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

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

Raclette

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

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

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

Carmenere

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mistral Winds & Matthew Fritz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Red Wine and Seafood, Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Red Wine with Seafood

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

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

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

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

The customer is alway right.

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

And just for the record, Roses go with anything.

Cantine San Marzano

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

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

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

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

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