Elouan and the Oregon Wine Appellations

We recently got a case of Elouan Pinot Noir, which comes packaged in a good looking box that says, "Grown in Oregon, Made in California."  The obvious question here is, Can you do that?  Can you take grapes from one state and turn them into wine in another?

The American Viticultural Area wine appellation system is the ultimate legal arbiter in situations like this and in 2018, under pressure from Oregon wineries, they found Joe Wagner of Caymus fame did not have the right to name specific wine appellations on his wine labels or boxes.  So, no Willamette Valley may appear on Wagner's Oregon wines made in California.  Apparently, the Oregon place name is okay though.

Furthermore, Wagner was listing Rogue and Umpqua Valleys along with Willamette on his labels which sort of defeats the purpose of the appellation system.  If someone is purchasing a premium wine, they have the right to know where the grapes for that wine are sourced and you can bet if all three appellations are listed, most of the grapes will be from the lesser regions.  Willamette becomes just window dressing.

Why would vintners in Oregon care about the issue?  Oregon's wine laws are stricter than California's, so to take Oregon grapes to a California winery compromises the integrity of the Oregon product.  In Oregon (and much of the rest of the world) Pinot Noir is a single varietal wine.  In California they allow blending up to twenty-five percent.

So lets unpack this a little bit at this point.  Pinot Noir is the finest red wine grape in the world if you consider fineness to mean finesse and longer, finer and more nuanced complementary flavors.  When it's right, it's practically transcendent.  Unfortunately, that rarely happens.  Moreover, the American palate wants mouth-filling rich forward-fruit red wine, so that is what California gives them.  Hence you have blended reds masquerading as Pinot Noir.

Want to know if your pinot has been blended?  One way is to see if it's a cherry red color in the glass.  Another is to taste red fruit flavors in the wine as opposed to black fruit.  Want to know if other additives have been worked into it?  Can't help you there.  As long as California won't list ingredients on the back label of suspect wines, we'll never know.

2021 Brancatelli Valle Delle Stelle Cabernet Sauvignon

We've been selling this one for a few years now so it's about time we learned something about it.  Like...why is it so good?

Brancatelli features intense dark fruit flavors, black cherry in particular, with a distinct black pepper, savory herb and spiciness; all of which is embedded in the wine's definitive soft tannic structure.  Definitely a dinner wine, enjoy with any lighter red meat or hearty poultry dish.  

Giuseppe Brancatelli and Graziana Grassini are co-winemakers here but Brancatelli comes from a food background while Grassini has winemaking at Sassicaia (!) on her resume.  So it's safe to assume she is making the decisions there.

The vineyards for Brancatelli were planted in the clay and calcareous soils of Val de Cornia in southwestern Tuscany in the late 1990's.  The eighteen hectares of certified organic grapes in cultivation are located a mile from the Mediterranean Sea, lending a vibrancy to the wine.

The Cornia Valley site had never been cultivated before Brancatelli.  Historically, it had been densely populated beginning with the indigenous Etruscans in the Iron Age (900bc).  Their rule was ended by the Romans (circa 265bc) as winners of the Etruscan-Roman wars.    

Valdadige & Alto Adige

Have I mentioned how confusing Italy is to me?  Today we are looking at the northeastern corner of that peninsula.

Valdadige is the Adige river valley extending from Trentino-Alto Adige to the north down to Veneto in the south.  It extends through three provinces: Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige and Verona in Veneto.  Vineyard cultivation there may go back to the Iron Age with the wine industry as we think of it today being jump started by monks in the Middle Ages.

Valdadige received its DOC in 1975 but clearly plays second fiddle to the Alto Adige  DOC.  Alto Adige, or Sudtirol to the German population there, extends from Vento to the east to Lombardy in the west and Tirol, Austria to the north.  It encompasses the northern half of the Trentino-Alto Adige province.  Alto Adige is where the finest Pinot Grigio comes from.

Why this subject now?  Aside from just passing the Memorial Day seasonal marker, we have a couple stellar pinots in the store from both places.  San Pietro has the Alto Adige pedigree while Santi has the Valdadige value.  Both are great summertime pleasers.  Try them both.  You'll be needing them when it gets hot.

Stag's Leap Winery

Restaurateur and builder, Carl Doumani, bought Stag's Leap Winery in 1970, essentially reviving a moribund winery in ruins.  He was able to restore the historic buildings on the property while enjoying the early 1970's winemaking zeitgeist, creating a product competitive with the Napa standards of the time.

The Stag's Leap District AVA wouldn't be created for another thirty years but it's notoriety was established when Stag's Leap Wine Cellars won the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting.  By besting the great classified Bordeaux everyone assumed would win, a new found prominence for the Stag's Leap name benefitted Stag's Leap Winery.  Sales boomed as the Winery was regularly confused with the justifiably acclaimed Wine Cellars.  

The Carl Doumani-Stag's Leap Winery era ended in 1996 when Treasury Estates bought the winery.  Coincidentally, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars would be sold within a year to Constellation.  (And so it goes - The great estate wineries of California fade into history; replaced by mass market efforts from industry giants intended to be just good enough  to keep the dollars coming in.)   

Today the same Atlanta distributor represents both labels and we are told Stag's Leap Winery is the better product.  So kudos to Treasury.

Gummis

I make no apologies for this post...just trying to stay current here.

The most successful thing we've done in recent years has been our chocolates and now that supplier has recommended we try their chocolate covered gummis, like it's the latest thing.  Well, I guess, from their perspective it is the latest thing.  So we'll give it a try.  I figure it's got to do better than the chocolate mints, which were a real bust.

Anyway, here's what we now know about gummis.

Chewable sweets resembling gummis were first created in Lancashire, England in 1864 as a church charity confection.  They became commercial gummis in 1920's Germany under the auspices of the Hans Riegel candy company, which would soon become known as Haribo, a company still in existence today.

Apparently trained dancing bears in street shows were popular in Europe a hundred years ago so Haribo gummis were made in bear-shaped molds.  To say these bear candies were popular would be to understate things a bit.  They were sold successfully everywhere on the continent.

Gum Arabic was the original gumminess of the candy before gelatin became the base ingredient.  Other common ingredients include corn syrup, sucrose, starch and water, food colorings and flavorings.  The flavorings may be sharpened by adding food acids like citric or malic acids.

The gelatin base is most commonly sourced from pork which is frowned upon in some circles so starch and pectin may be substituted.  And the chocolate coating is the same chocolate our customers say is the best in town.

So what do we pair with this fine confection?  Boylan's Cream Soda, of course!

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.