Undressing the Grape

Super Tuscany

The September/October 2007 issue of The American ran an interesting article on Italian wines entitled "Super Tuscany: On the trail of Super Tuscans, the wines that broke Italy's bureaucratic rules," by Amy Cortese and Robert McCanless.

The article is now online, and if you're interested in Italian wines generally, or the development of the Maremma region of Tuscany specifically, the article is worth reading.

Here's the opening paragraph:

Driving along country roads lined with Mediterranean pines, we at last reach the gates of Guado al Tasso. We ring the buzzer, but there is no answer. We are a little early, and this, after all, is Italy. We are in Bolgheri, a tiny town in the western region of Tuscany known as Maremma, to seek out the wines known as Super Tuscans.

Read the rest of the article here.

Clos del Pinell, 2001

A couple weeks ago, we joined some friends at the Spanish tapas restaurant La Tasca in DC's Chinatown district.  One thing we love about La Tasca is that they have a special every night of the week.  On Sundays, their special is half-price bottles of wine.

Last Sunday, to complement our chicken and seafood paella, we ordered a bottle of Clos del Pinell.  This wine, from the Terra Alta region of Catalonia, Spain, was a blend of 60% Garnatxa (Grenache), 30% Carinyena (Carignan), and 10% Syrah.  Intriguingly, the wine was aged in American oak for 8 months and French oak for 4 months.

The aroma of the wine contained a pleasant blend of spices and herbs: vanilla and nutmeg, and perhaps a touch of cinnamon, along with elements of rosemary and fig. We rated the aroma a solid A-.

The taste, likewise, did not fail to impress: spices of vanilla and cinnamon, herbal tones of rosemary and bay leaf, and the perfect degree of oakiness.  Most enjoyable was the cool, rainy sensation left on the palate, like a late Summer or early Fall rain in a meadow.  Overall, we considered this wine, with the perfect blend of cool, oak, and spice, to be a great wine for sitting out on the porch on an Autumn evening, and enjoying good company, the crisp air, and the changing colors of the trees.

Stephy rated the taste of the wine a B+.  Perhaps it was my mood that night, or my pining for Fall and cooler, less humid, weather, but I rated the taste an A.  So overall, the 2001 Clos del Pinell rates a solid A to A-.  I would definitely consider it a worthwhile purchase at it's normal price of $31, but at half-price this wine was a steal.

Happy October everyone!

Unwined

The other day, Stephy and I discovered a new wine store in Alexandria, VA called Unwined.  It's a very nice little store, with a fantastic selection at very reasonable prices.

They are hosting a series of wine tastings over the next couple of weeks.  Here is their schedule of upcoming events:

Tuscan Tasting
Featuring Guido Andretta from
Tenuta Vitanza of Montalcino
Wednesday, September 19
6 pm - 8 pm

Austrian Wine Class
Featuring Austrian importer
Klaus Wittauer
Wednesday, September 26
8 pm
Reservations Required

Northern Rhone Tasting
Friday, October 5
6 pm - 8 pm

Can Champagne Stay On Top?

I have an article today on American.com, wherein I examine how a limited annual supply of Champagne, running up against growing global demand, will affect the price of the wine and reinforce its image as a luxury good.

Here's the first paragraph:

Those interested in the world of wine have probably heard the bad news by now: the world is running out of Champagne. At least, this is the news coming from the Champagne producers themselves. The president of Moët & Chandon, Frédéric Cumenal, recently told the French financial paper Les Echos, “For thirty years, the industry has always succeeded in coping with demand. Today that's no longer the case. We're at maximum yield and we will soon hit a wall.”

Read the rest of the article here.

The Black Chook, Shiraz/Viognier 2006

As noted earlier in our musings, we had a fantastic experience with the West Cape Howe, 2005 Two Steps Shiraz/Viognier blend.  However, I was initially a bit hesitant to purchase a bottle of it because of a bad previous experience with a similar blend.

The Black Chook is a Shiraz/Viognier blend (95%/5% respectively) from the Langhorne Creek region of South Australia.  The 2005 vintage received very high ratings from Robert Parker (91 points in The Wine Advocate) and Josh Raynolds (90 points in International Wine Cellar).  For this reason, I had very high expectations when I purchased this bottle back in July.  In early August, we took it up to Pennsylvania with us and attempted to enjoy it as part of a relaxing evening with my brother.

Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed with the wine.  We rated the aroma a D, due to the overwhelming scent of formaldehyde, which hid the little bits of cherry and other berries that fought to make themselves noticeable.  We rated the taste a C, as the formaldehyde scent continued to overwhelm the berry flavors that could have been much more appreciated.  The wine was more drinkable than the scent initially led on, but even so it rated an overall C-.

As a concluding note, this wine had a screw cap, as did the West Cape Howe Two Steps.  We have since learned that while screw caps are becoming increasingly acceptable for quality wines (and indeed, the Two Steps was excellent), they can occasionally have a weird oxidizing effect which can give a wine a strong chemical aroma and flavor.  For this reason, combined with the high ratings from some of the renowned tasters, we are open to believing that we simply got a bad bottle of this wine.  It happens.  Upon drinking it, we were not remotely interested in buying this wine again.  But having learned about the wine and the rare, but possible, effects of screw-capped wines, we'd be open to trying another bottle of this some day.

You Get What You Pay For

One thing you learn when tasting wines on a regular basis is that price does not necessarily equal quality.  Granted, it often does, but it isn't uncommon to be disappointed in an expensive bottle of wine, and unexpectedly delighted with a really inexpensive bottle.

With this knowledge in mind, and as we happened to be shopping at Trader Joe's last night, we decided to purchase some Charles Shaw wine.  That's right: "Two Buck Chuck," as it is so lovingly called by its many admirers.  (This due to the fact that in most places you can buy it for $1.99 per bottle, although in Virginia a bottle will actually cost you $3.29.  Taxes or something...).  After all, everyone seems to be raving about it, and at $3.29 it seemed to be worth the risk.

It wasn't.  Last night we opened the 2006 Shiraz and were disappointed from the start.  Upon opening the bottle, the first thought that came to mind when inhaling the aroma was one of soggy bread.  The smell didn't improve much when the wine hit the glass.  The bread aroma dissipated to some extent after a while, only to be replaced by the smell of mildew, accompanied by hints of rubbing alcohol.  Overall, we rated the smell of the wine a D.

Now, a bad-smelling wine can still taste good, but we weren't so lucky with this one.  I drank two half-glasses to try and figure out what flavors there were (Stephy couldn't, or simply didn't want to, stomach more than a few sips), but the feelings of bitterness on the sides of the tongue and harshness on the back of the tongue overrode any flavors that might have otherwise made the wine enjoyable to drink.  It really had an all-around flavor of sour fruit, though which fruit it may have been was indistinguishable (perhaps cherry, or even orange? I really couldn't tell).  The taste rated a D, which gives the wine itself an overall D rating.

As far as texture goes, the wine was very thin, or light-bodied, and had virtually no viscosity - it swirled in the glass like water.

One last thought: the atmosphere in which one drinks a wine can honestly profoundly affect how much you enjoy it.  Some defenders of Chuck may be interested to know that we drank the wine unaccompanied by food (which may have made it more palatable), and while watching the original "Planet of the Apes," starring Charlton Heston.  "Ah ha!" you may be thinking, "those 'damned dirty apes' could ruin anything!"  Well, think again - I actually enjoyed the film.  Much much more than the wine, in fact.

In this case, the old adage "you get what you pay for" certainly rang true.   I can't say I'm looking forward to the bottle of Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon that we also purchased, but then again, one never knows.  We'll let you know how that one goes when we get to it.

Thunderstorms for hours and hours...

For those of you who live in the DC area, then you will most surely remember the magnificent thunderstorms we had less than a couple of weeks ago.  They were absolutely astonishing!  I just recently moved to Alexandria, but at that time, I was living in a beautiful studio apartment in the SW area with ground-to-ceiling windows that face trees and way over yonder.  I could not have asked for a better view that night.  Bright, powerful lightning bolts struck the ground every 5 minutes for at least two hours.  Illuminating and exposing the moist atmosphere with deep shades of purple, these clustered moments begged for dim candlight and, yes, a fantastic bottle of red to match the mood of the heavens above.  Earlier on in the summer, Benjamin had brought over a 2005 southern Australian red from the West Cape Howe winery in the Great Southern region, called Two Steps.  It is a blend of Shiraz (93%) and Viognier (7%).   It was as if God knew that we were supposed to save this particular bottle for this particular night.  Before I begin to explain the aroma and taste, you should know that together, Benjamin and myself gave it an overall A-  I am very confident that the nostalgic memory of wine has so much to do with the setting and environment in which it was tasted and smelled.  That being said, I will now indulge you in our take:  the aroma was a B+ - black pepper introduced itself first, with wisps of floral rose cleaving in.  There were also hints of nutmeg and pinches of faint oak.  The taste was outstanding!  The black pepper tones ensued, embedding its vocality on both sides of the tongue.  Nutmeg was close to follow, also layering itself on the sides of the tongue.  The rose essence blossomed delicately on the back of the tongue, and the entire mouth was engaged by subtle notes of oak.  The complexity and vulnerability of each scent and flavor from this wine complimented the environment outside that night.  It truly was a night to remember...

Wines from the Past

When we began drinking wine together, we also started collecting our corks.  We did not, however, start taking notes on our wines until later.  Here's a list of the wines we've had, but do not have notes for:

1. Da Vinci
Prodotto D'Italia
24/06

2. Les Jamelles
French wine
Bin #48003

3. Shafer Winery
Relentless
2003 Napa Valley

4. Pommery Champagne
Reims

5. Ravenswood Winery
Zinfandel
2004

6. Kistler Vineyards
2004

7. Brander Winery
2005

8. Apollonio
11-6

9. Bernabe Navarro
2005

10. Chateau de Braude
Haut-Medoc
2002

11. Il Molino Di Grace
Chianti Classico
Product of Italy
2003

All of this information is from the corks we collected, so in most of these cases the actual type of wine or the vintage, or both, is unknown.  The DaVinci (#1) was a Chianti Classico.  It is quite common and easy to find.

The Ravenswood (#5) was a Zinfandel, and this bottle accompanied us on a lovely picnic lunch in Annapolis, MD.  One could not have asked for a more beautiful day, or a nicer place, for a picnic, and the wine complimented both the goat cheese and the cheddar, both served on those peppery water crackers, quite well.  We were pleased enough with this wine to pick up another bottle for a 4th of July party with some friends.  Ravenswood wines seem to be pretty easy to find in the DC area.

The Apollonio (#8) was Italian, and I'm almost positive it was a Primitivo.  I first tasted it at a wine tasting held by The Wine Specialist in downtown DC.  I liked it enough to purchase a bottle, and it served well at a little gathering I had for some friends a few months back.

The wine we remember the most, without having taken notes, was the Il Molino di Grace.  We found this 2003 Chianti Classico up in Massachusetts, but unfortunately haven't been able to find it down in the DC area.  We drank this bottle while enjoying a long weekend at Stephy's lake house in Connecticut.  The atmosphere certainly called for a good bottle of wine, and the Il Molino di Grace filled the role perfectly.  The wine had a beautiful dark color to it, had a high viscosity, and smelled strongly of red cherries.  The flavor was complex, but was bursting with cherry and complimented by hints of vanilla and other spices.  We rated this wine a solid A- and would love to come across another bottle.  We also regret not having purchased the 2001 Reserve of the same wine.

Welcome

Welcome to our wine blog!  Why start a wine blog, you may ask?  Simply put, because we love wine: smelling it, drinking it, pairing it with different foods, and learning everything about it that we can.  And we're not alone in this pursuit - wine is more popular than ever.

Who are we?  We are two wine-loving professionals, currently living in the DC metro area.  To read more about our backgrounds, feel free to peruse our "About Us" page.  We are both relatively new to the world of wine, but are learning more every day.

The primary purpose of this blog is to chronicle both our experiences in wine tasting and our ever-increasing knowledge of wine.  We invite you to join us on our journey, read our reviews, and share your own opinions on the wines we've tasted.

Welcome, and Salud!