this heaven gives me migraine

2002 York Creek Vineyards Tempranillo

Region: Sonoma County, California, US

Composition: 100% Tempranillo

Background: Today is, in essence, the first birthday of Wine Blogging Wednesday, and for this one year anniversary, Lenn challenged us to find (and drink) wine from the closest winery to our house. This took some consideration... did I want to go by closest winery office, vineyard, tasting room, winemaking facility or something completely different? I ended up, after some debate, going with winemaking facility since that seemed most honest to me. I had a feeling I knew where the closest place that actually made wine would be, but I did some Googling to make sure there wasn't anything sneaky that was closer, and then I was good to go.

Fritz Maytag is famous for a lot of things, but York Creek Vineyards is probably not at the top of that list unless you are a wine lover. His family is the family to bring you not only Maytag washing machines, but also Maytag Blue cheese (not that he has ever had much to do with those personally). He is the man behind Anchor Brewing Company (makers of fine beer, rye whiskey, and gin) and singlehandedly brought the microbrew to power in the United States. Or at least made "microbrew" a household word. He is also quietly making wine (and making olive oil even more quietly than that), something I heard about years ago, but never got around to investigating. Which is stupid since I live less than a mile from Anchor Brewing and York Creek Vineyards.

Maytag got involved in the booze business in the mid 1960's, when he was a grad student at Stanford. He was a fan of the local Anchor Steam beer, and when he heard in 1965 that the company was in trouble and about to go under, he bought half of it for a few thousand dollars. Three years later, he bought the other half, even though he knew nothing about brewing beer, and had to figure it out as he went along. The company limped along until 1971, when he launched a reformulated Anchor Steam beer, which became an immediate hit and was so popular Maytag couldn't keep up with demand by the mid 70s.

About the same time he bought Anchor Steam, Maytag (along with his ex-roommate and friend, Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards) tried to set up an effort to improve Chilean wine and agriculture, but that failed (even though Chilean winemaking is in full force now and it seems that they were just ahead of their time). Maytag also bought 700 acres of land closer to home, near York Creek between Napa and Sonoma, and planted vineyards on about 100 of those acres. For years he sold the grapes grown on the land to other wineries (such as Ridge), but he always secretly harbored a desire to make his own wine.

So he started to do just that in the early 1990s (with the help of Cathy Corison of Corison Winery), first using equipment and space where he could get it, then building a little winery of his own in 2000. He started out making only three wines, and, while he makes more than those three different wines now, he makes only small lots and is very much about the process of winemaking, learning about the individual grapes, and experimentation. This Tempranillo is grown for the winery's Port project (something I would also like to get my hands on) and is one of the wines Maytag says he made "just to see".

(Randomly, the label reminds me of the Anchor Brewing Christmas label (also tree-themed) and the 24 trees represented are each varieties of tree found on the York Creek property.)

Notes: This is one intense wine. It's a thick burgundy-black in the glass with a slightly pink rim. The nose is filled with cocoa and tobacco leaves, along with spice and red berry. It's smooth, generous, and mouthfilling, with good acids, a lot of black fruit, and a spicy, smoky finish. There's more spice than tannin in the mouth on the finish. I like it a lot, but I do have a thing for Tempranillo. This is a nice example; inky but kind of friendly.

Cost: $21

Overall: A/A-

2005 Pink Out!

Yesterday RAP held the first annual Pink Out! rosé tasting at Butterfly, a restaurant up at Pier 30 here in SF. I have been a little obsessed with rosé and was interested in trying a slew of them, since man can only consume so much wine bottle by bottle. And I recently missed not one but two rosé tastings and wanted to make up for that.

It was pretty obvious it was the first tasting this particular group had put on, and they have a few things to get sorted out before the next one. The venue was a little small (it was crowded at the trade tasting and I know the public tasting sold out... I can't imagine how packed that was), but I think that has been a problem at about 80 percent of the tastings I have been to recently. The spit bucket situation was dire enough that I felt completely justified in my habit of carrying my own personal spit cup (an old travel coffee mug) at tastings. There were some tables lacking buckets completely, and some tables had cocktail shakers in place of actual buckets. As you can imagine, these things were hard to hit when spitting; I saw a lot of people struggling with that. The buckets also got scarily full before someone thought to empty them, which was at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half into the event.

The crowd leaned more towards the marketing types/trade and for some reason there were a lot of groups of 4-5 people who seemed to be there to get loaded or stand around chatting (I am not sure who these people were; I got the idea that they knew someone who knew someone who got them in). At one point I was delighted and horrified to overhear one man telling another man something along these lines:

"Rosé is great because it has a little residual sugar in it, it tastes really good, Southern women love it, and you can get it out of your clothes easily if you spill it... so if you want to market a wine to people after Memorial Day, what with the white clothes and everything, it's ROSÉ!"

I fully expect to see some rosé in the future marketed to women solely on the fact that, unlike pesky Nebbiolo or Syrah, it's easy to get out of those white capris if you spill it. Which is, of course, what women are looking for in wine, isn't it?

The wines themselves were all over the map, quality-wise (and temperature-wise; they ranged from teeth-freezingly chilled to lackadaisically room-temperature). I was personally a little surprised at the amount of candylike fruitiness in many of the wines, but I guess my taste in rosé tends to run to the European. I am not usually looking for a particular style, but tend to like the drier and more mineral styles. I am not opposed to some fruit, but the finish still needs to be high-acid to even it out. I don't like a ton of wood, normally, and I don't like the spritz of CO2 in a rosé, although I like it fine in some whites. And as you can see by some of the wines that I liked, these rules are made to be broken.

Anyway, here is what I tasted and my general notes on each wine. There were a lot of wines that I could drink in the right situation, but they did not wow me at the tasting. Maybe I am too hard on wines at tastings; I know the more I think about a wine the more critical I get, so I have to take that into consideration, but that's what tastings are for, right? Why drink so-so wine when you can choose good wine? In any case, I mentally clumped the wines into a few categories... wine I liked, wine that I could drink but didn't love or hate, wine that I didn't like, and problematic wine. All things considered, it was great to have a chance to taste all these wines, and I look forward to the next Pink Out!

*The Good:

2004 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo Il Gufo Barbera interesting nose, not floral or candy or fruit, slightly earthy/bloody, I like it because I like Barbera and it has a nice snap, starts out very snappy (at my snappy limit) but then evens out, very candy pink in the glass which makes you think it will be way fruitier than it is

2004 Perbacco Rosé (Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah) interesting nose, has a lot of Pinot qualities, slightly medicinal, slightly leathery, some prickly spice on finish from Petite Sirah, a little bit big for a rosé but also kinda good, definitely one of the more unusual wines... am I looking for a Pinot Noir at this point?

2004 Marques de Carçeres Rosé nice acids on the finish, a little bit of earth and rock, nice fruit that is not overwhelming

2004 Domaine de Nizas Rosé from Languedoc soft, placid, feminine but austere

2004 Sanford Pinot Noir Vin Gris pale salmon, soft raspberry cherry strawberry nose, floral, elegant, nice

2003 Château Potelle Riviera (60% Syrah, 40% Zinfandel) very girly, a lot of cherry and raspberry, for a girly wine it was alright, even if slightly on the fruity side-- was I was losing my resolve against fruitiness this late in the game? (they were in the home stretch for me)

2003 Château La Rouviere Rosé AC Bandol (Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Grenache) very woody/tobacco-ey in the finish, rocky, not a lot of fruit

2004 Château Routas "Rouviere" Rosé (40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Cinsault) Syrah sees a little ML, so it is softer-- very soft, plain yet elegant like French rosés are, nice acids on finish

2004 Tablas Creek Rosé (62% Mourvèdre, 28% Grenache, 10% Counoise) very pleasant, has a lot of fruit flavor but that is saved by the acid finish which is very good

2004 Iron Horse Rosé of Pinot Noir I like it better than the Sangiovese, it is not overwhelmingly fruity, very soft and round

2003 Ventana Rosato (90% Grenache, 10% Syrah) all about raspberry in nose, lots of green brambly dark raspberry in the mouth, kind of interesting and I like it, although that surprises me, and it isn't particularly rosé-like

2004 Mas de Cadenet Rosé (40% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 30% Syrah) Côte de Provence, rocky, mineral, nice resistance on the palate

2004 Maitres Vignerons de Saint Tropez Château de Pampelonne Rosé (50% Grenache, 40% Cinsault, 10% Tibouren) softer and rounder than the Cadenet which I had just had, but also more acidic

2004 Château Marouine Rosé (Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Carignane, maybe some Syrah) lots of mineral and rock, very hard and maybe a little too hard, but okay (I had this at dinner the night before the tasting and was eh on it until I had it with food when it was much better, and I liked it a lot more at the tasting)

*Didn't Make Me Go Yay [sic] or Nay, Really (Wine Purgatory!):

2003 Alderbrook Dry Creek Valley Rosé (Zinfandel, Carignane, Syrah) fruity finish, slightly medicinal

2004 Amador Foothill Rosé of Sangiovese prickly and earthy, not a lot of fruit, possibly too acidic (and I like acidic), but nice

2004 Bonny Doon DEWN Sangiovese Rosé slightly herbal/piney at finish, slightly too acidic

Chateau d'Aqueria Rosé Tavel (50% Grenache, 20% Clairette, 15% Cinsault, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Bourboulenc) light, pleasant enough but not blowing me away

2004 Château du Rouet Cuvée Reservée lots of raspberry strawberry and soapy in the mouth, but I think raspberry can be soapy on my palate and that is what I am getting

2004 Chimney Rock Rosé of Cabernet Franc dark red, slightly fruity (not as much as the Alderbrook, which I had right before it) but kind of dull

2004 Goats do Roam Rosé I liked this a lot more than I expected given that 1- it is from S. Africa 2- It has Pinotage in it and 3- I did not like the GdR red I recently had, slightly animal/gamey on nose but not too much, and the finish is intense

2004 Herzog Wine Cellars Zin Gris Special Reserve wacky, smells like full-grown Zin in the glass, hot fruit funk and bramble, blackberry, and tastes like regular Zinfandel minus some tannin, you might not know this was a rosé if you didn't see it, interesting

Jean Luc Colombo Cote Bleue Rosé (40% Syrah, 40% Mourvèdre, 20% Counoise)

2003 Kuleto Rosato very pale in the glass, a slight earthy nose, not enough acid, too fruity, but other than the too-fruity low acid finish, was interesting

2004 Mantra Bliss Rosé (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel) slight peppery bite at finish, some rigidity, starts out smooth and ends up jaggedy

2004 Niebaum-Coppola Sofia Rosé of Pinot Noir a very girly soapy (raspberry) nose, not cloying but not remarkable

2004 Ruby Wine Company Rosé (Cabernet Franc, etc) alright, a fair amount of fruit

2004 Rutherford Hill Rosé of Merlot candy pink in glass, slightly cloying

2004 Saintsbury Vin Gris (Pinot Noir) seemed a little lost to me, like it didn't know what it was or where it was going, very vague

2004 Scherrer Vin Gris (Zinfandel, Pinot Noir) on the first taste I liked it, because it had a growing, burning acidity on the finish that expanded in the mouth, but on the second sip I was not so sure and didn't like the aftertaste/feeling

2004 SoloRosa California Rosé (50% Merlot, 50% Sangiovese) meh, not bad but not overly interesting

2004 Toad Hollow Eye of the Toad Pinot Noir Rosé slightly clean/soapy, cherry candy, but not sweet... almost a little too much on the bitter side

2004 Verdad Rosé (95% Grenache, 5% Tempranillo) Tempranillo shows in the finish with a woody rustic toasty thing, slightly interesting, but unusual

2004 Vinavera Rosé (87% Syrah, 13% Grenache) very pink in the glass, well-balanced, the kind of rosé you could get out at a party and everyone would dig it, user-friendly

*Made Me Go Huh:

2004 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare I really don't like the finish, it's lingering medicinal fruit, iodiney, very strange

2004 Carol Shelton Rendezvous Rosé mmm, lifesavers

NV Domaine Chandon Etoile Rosé (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay) overwhelming mousse and the nose is reminiscent of ecologically correct household cleanser

2004 Fife Redhead Rosé of Carignane what's that CO2 doing in my Carignane? It's a little too snappy for me with the CO2 that tingles the tongue

2004 Fleming Jenkins San Francisco Bay Syrah Rosé who knew Peggy Fleming had a winery? she does, and had a signed photo on the table, wow, somebody put C02 AND sugar in my Syrah! definitely not my thing

2004 Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois Rosé (Merlot, Syrah, Gerwurztraminer) lots of Gewurz in the nose, very spicy and floral, way too candylike with sweet fruit on the palate, not enough acid

2004 Gargiulo Rosato di Sangiovese not much on nose, soapy raspberry-cherry coughdrop in the mouth

2004 Iron Horse Rosato di Sangiovese too fruity and sweet, finish might be dry but you could fool me

NV Korbel Brut Rosé (Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc) very fruity, raspberry-ey

2004 La Veille Ferme Rosé (Cinsault, Syrah, etc) cough syrup on finish

2003 Meeker Pink Elephant a little too much fruity-sweety-spice

2004 McDowell Valley Vineyards Grenache Rosé not much on the nose, tastes like water with some diluted candy in it

2003 Michel Schlumberger Rosé of Pinot Noir pale pink, odd nose of camphor, slightly medicinal

2004 Miner Rosato don't like the nose, the nose had a lot of funk like unwashed laundry, but was okay in the mouth

2004 Montevina Nebbiolo Rosato slightly too much on finish, rather like some Nebbiolo can be... raisiny, maybe some RS?

2004 Pedroncelli Zinfandel Rosé again, somebody put their CO2 in my rosé and that doesn't make it taste any better

2003 Peju Province (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, French Colombard) smells a little foxy with a lot of overpowering fruit and not much acid

2004 Rutherford Hill Rosé of Merlot candy pink in glass, slightly cloying

2004 Toad Hollow Eyes of the Toad Reserve Pinot Noir Rosé way too much oak for a rosé, the nose is overwhelmingly oaky and odd

2004 Unti Vineyards Grenache Rose (75% Grenache, 25% Mourvèdre) snappy upfront with a yeasty/beery finish in the rear

2004 Unti Syrah Rosé they made this Syrah bleed off to put with the Grenache but didn't like it so they bottled it up and just figured whatever, and it definitely lacks character, very subdued

*Problematic:

2004 Van Ruiten Family Rosé of Cab-Shiraz very sulphurous/cauliflower/cabbage/onion nose, it smelled very unpleasant and I didn't want to put it in my mouth-- I did so against my better judgement, but I think there is a mercaptan fault (at least in the bottle I had) because this wine was not clean: DNPIM

WBW12 Announced: Drink local

Holy crap, this Wine Blogging Wednesday is going to be a hard one. This time around, for the one year anniversary of WBW (hosted by founder Lenn), we have to drink local. Like, REALLY LOCAL. We have to find the winery closest to our house and drink a wine from there, and no cheating. I don't even know if I know what the winery closest to my house is (I have a guess that it will be one of two places, but have to investigate), but I have to figure it out by August 10 and report back here.

This is a good one, and I will be very interested to read the reports!

WBW11 roundup posted

I am off to take the WSET test and impress the world with my knowledge of Cream versus Pale Cream Sherry, but wanted to mention that Beau posted the roundup of WBW11 for all to see. Looks like people had a wide variety of wines, still, sparkling, very sweet, just a little sweet... you name it!

2005 Golden Glass

A little over two weeks ago, I had the good fortune to attend the second annual Golden Glass tasting up at Fort Mason. Why did it take me so long to write things up?

1- I have been trying to study since my test is on Saturday.
2- My parents have been in town since last week and I have been entertaining and going to all the touristy parts of the city (luckily not Fisherman's Wharf).
3- I tasted a lot of wines at Golden Glass.
4- Writing up said wines took me a long time, partly because I had to endure my own terrible mangling of the Italian language (which, believe me, was painful, since for some reason I was mispronouncing words that I even knew better than to say incorrectly), but also because I had to check spellings and info. For the love of god, if anyone reading this ever puts on a wine tasting, please please PLEASE put the tasting book in some order that can be understood by the common man. The person at Slow Food who put this book together was a sadist and had the wineries listed in random order. I think it was possibly by region (which of course were not marked) and then by some random listing within that region, but it mostly meant that I had to leaf around every time I looked anything up, which was pretty much constantly. When I was at the tasting, one of the tables had a "we are on page 17" sign up, so I know it isn't just me. I imagine the book was even more frustrating at the tasting itself, although if you managed to taste in the right order, maybe it wasn't so bad. Aside from the tasting book order, the tasting was good, but oh, man, that tasting book was traumatic.

Pre-tasting I attended the seminar about "Italian wines in America" and while it was interesting and sometimes confusing since I don't speak Italian, I felt like the panel (mostly restaurateurs and retailers) were yelling at the producers in the audience (there were a lot of them there) about having wine that is too expensive or too confusing for the American public. I understand that it is difficult to sell expensive wines to people if the buyers have never had the grape or heard of the producer, but at the same time I don't think a lot of these producers were selling ridiculously priced wines. A producer also doesn't want to sell at a loss, and how is a producer in Italy supposed to fix the American problem with Italian wines? It seems to me that if I go to a shop and the shop has a lot of Italian wines I might not understand, it is the shop's duty as much as anything to make me understand why they are selling those particular wines. So I am not really sure what the seminar was supposed to do, besides get some of the producers pretty mad and encourage them to do more tastings in the U.S. (something they might not want to do given the chiding they got in the seminar).

Post that I had lunch at Greens and got to watch the flashback-to-high-school events surrounding some of the producers/marketers/distributors/pourers having lunch. There was a lot of worried looking around and concern if certain important people stopped at the wrong table for too long before joining the table they were supposed to, and a lot of peering around and watch checking, and, oddly (I thought), wine being drunk, considering we were headed to a big room where four and a half hours of wine-pouring was about to ensue. I had lemonade, and I am glad I did, because my mouth was shot when I rolled out of the tasting at 6.30.

The tasting itself was great, although I found myself wishing over and over that I spoke Italian, because I couldn't have much of a conversation with some of the more interesting people there, due to my complete lack of Italian. There were the requisite disillusioned youth and women teetering around in high heels more to be seen than taste wine in attendance, and some goofy people taking society-type photos for the event, but it was not overly crowded, and the quality of the wines poured seemed pretty high to me. I ended the day, once my palate gave out completely and I couldn't face any more Barolo, talking to Dee Harley of Harley Farms about her goats and her cheese and her life in general, and decided I want to live with a bunch of goats somewhere and make cheese. At least in theory. I also got to taste a lot of her delicious cheese, and right now have a trip down to the farm (it's near Half Moon Bay, in Pescadero) mentally planned out in my head.

As for the wines, there were a lot of interesting ones and I really enjoyed most of them and thought them well-done, even if they weren't up my personal alley. I think the Prà Soaves were very good, as were the Fattoria di Felsina wines. The 1999 Prunotto Barolo was very nice, even though I found myself gravitating towards the more acidic reds, which seems to be my mindset these days. Fontanafredda, Sassotondo, Bastianich, and Marotti Campi also had some very good wines. I didn't get through everything, although I got through just about all the whites and three or so tables of the reds (there were four tables). I am still working on my speed and figuring out exactly what I am looking for tasting notes... I don't like the grade-and-nothing-else commentary, which I tried for my first few wines this time around and abandoned, but I am not sure what I want to do and what is most useful. I also have to work more on the technical aspect of my notes, since my voice recorder has the Record button in a very dumb place and I often end up turning it on/off at inconvenient times and then miss notes. Anyway, the notes I took are below.

Les Cretes
2004 Valle d'Aosta Petite Arvine Vigne Champorette (100% Petite Arvine) a lot of acid very lemony, slightly aggressive but good

Coffele
2004 Ca' Visco Soave Classico (75% Garganega 25% Trebbiano di Soave) banana nose, limey orangey in mouth, almondy finish
2003 Alzari Soave Classico (100% Garganega) partly dried grapes, fermented in wood really nice nutty bitter vanilla flavor probably from the oak, a little softer than Ca' Visco

Feudi di San Gregorio
2004 Falangina (100% Chardonnay) very floral nose steely in mouth with slight vanilla finish

Roberto Anselmi
2004 Capitel Foscarino (90% Garganega 10% Chardonnay) interesting, can't place the nose, generally a B
2002 Capitel Croce (100% Garganega) barriqued, slight oak on the finish, a little too much for me (it starts out okay but then overwhelms)

Poggio dei Gorleri
2004 Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino Vigna Sori (100% Vermentino) bitter lemon flavor B-, not much on nose
2003 Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato Cycnus (100% Pigato) more on nose than the Vermentino, a lot of white fruit evident, I liked it better than the Vermentino

Centorame -Lamberto Vannucci
2003 Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Castellum Vetus (100% Trebbiano)
2003 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo San Michele this nose is all about tar, which is surprising, since the actual wine is very light/delicate

Eugenio Collavini Viticultori
2003 Collli Orientali del Friuli Ribolla Gialla Turian (100% Ribola Gialla) bitter but clean, zippy
2003 Collio Bianco Broy (40% Chardonnay, 40% Tocai Friuliano, 20% Sauvignon Blanc) heavy feeling, you can feel the Chardonnay in it, it's a little much, almost buttery (especially after the Ribola)

San Michele Appiano (at the Moris Farms table)
2003 Sanct Valentin (Sauvignon Blanc) from Alto Adige very grassy and cat peeish (in that good way), but soft and no bitterness, unusual and stood out among wines just because it was slightly different

Arnaldo Caprai
2004 Colli Martani Grecante Grechetto (100% Grechetto) lots of tropical fruit in nose, soft, a slight CO2 zip on tongue, snappy, finish is lingering and fluid

Cornarea
2004 Roero Arneis (100% Arneis) zippy, lemony, finish kind of dies off, but is pleasant

Cantina Sociale Di Trapani
2004 Drepanum Bianco (50% Insolia, 50 % Grillo) Sicilian native grapes very pretty exotic floral nose
2004 Forti Terre Rosso (80% Nero d'Avola, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon) smooth at the beginning, gets frisky at the end, I don't love it but it is pleasant

Bastianich
2004 COF Tocai Friuliano Plus (100% Tocai) citrus and white flower nose, smooth finish, very soft
2002 Vespa Bianca (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Picolit) named "Vespa" because when harvesting they had a wasp attack and the winemaker or someone got eight wasp bites and the wine was named Vespa because that is what he would have needed to get away (Vespa is also Italian for "wasp") almost buttery finish but very well-integrated and well-done

Prà
2003 Soave Classico (Garganega, Trebbiano Blanca) nice astringency, very drinkable
2003 Soave Classico Montegrande (90% Garganega, 10% Trebbiano di Soave) more fruit in finish than Classico, so far these two are my winners of the day

Vigneto delle Terre Rosse Enrico Vallania
2001 Sauvignon Blanc (100% Sauvignon Blanc) zesty finish, very steely and brassy, reminded me of a Gruner

Marotti Campi
2004 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jessi Luzano (100% Verdicchio) just bottled, has a clean hay-ey grassy nose, slightly tight, probably because it was just bottled
2001 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jessi Classico Superiore Salmariano)(100% Verdicchio, 20 percent in oak) heartier, fuller than the Luzano with some extra spice, dry bitter finish, very nice
2003 Lacrima di Morro d'Alba Orgolio (100% Lacrima) very floral red berry nose, almost flowery flavor, even, along with the berry flavor, Lacrima is mostly indigenous to the area (Marche) so you won't see this stuff a lot

La Boatina
2004 Collio Ribolla Gialla (100% Ribolla Gialla) unusual nose, slightly musty old book smell, not TCA but like old papers
2003 Collio Pinot Grigio (100% Pinot Grigio) almost like white chocolate, marzipan on nose, lots of acidity to uphold the heavy flavor and aromas

Santi
2004 Sortesele Pinot Grigio (100% Pinot Grigio) musty marzipan nose (like a combo of the last two!), starts out acidic and turns into vanilla goo at the end, very creamy finish
2002 Valpolicella Classico Superiore (Ripasso) I enjoyed it quite a lot, had a burst of clean flavor in the finish, good astringency/acid

Cave du Vin Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle
2004 Valle d'Aosta Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle Rayon (100% Prié Blanc)
2004 Valle d'Aosta Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle (100% Prié Blanc) good labels foamy, looks unfined and unfiltered, girly flowery nose, finish ends up creamy lemony

Zenato
2003 Lugana Vigneto San Benedetto (100% Trebbiano di Lugana) reticent nose but a lot of vanilla in mouth
2000 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (Corvina, Rondinella, Sangiovese, according to book) a little closed up, vague black fruit and astringency, kind of one-d, probably needs some more time

Tasca d'Almerita - Regaleali
2003 Leone d'Almerita (Catarratto, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay according to book, I noted Inzolia and Chardonnay at the table) a nose like canned vegetables and then strangely lemony and fruity in the mouth, kind of odd combination
2002 Cygnus (Nero d'Avola, Cabernet Sauvignon) slightly green, mostly seems to behave like Cabernet

Marchesi Mazzei - Catello di Fonterutoli
2001 Chianti Classico Castello di Fonterutoli (85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot) a little too much bitters/quinine (?) and not a lot else going on in it
2002 Tenuta Belguardo (Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) I liked it better than the previous but still kind of simple and like a "whonk on the head" (I wondered if the transition from white to red did the wine in here, but I didn't get a chance to revisit later, so I can't say for sure)

Allegrini
2001 Palazzo della Torre (70% Corvina Veronese, 25% Rondinella, 5% Molinara) dried grape sweet finish, a very dried raisiny plummy finish and a little too dried for me, nice tannins, though
1999 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (75% Corvina Veronese, 20% Rondinella, 5% Molinara) smells a little corked but pleasant in mouth if you can ignore that, very drying and intense
(people who wear all cream to Italian wine tastings are crazy)
2001 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (75% Corvina Veronese, 20% Rondinella, 5% Molinara) clean nose, berry, tarry, leathery, violet, nice finish that isn't too cloying

Di Majo Norante
2002 Biferno Rosso Ramitello (85% Prugnolo, 15% Aglianico) beeyooteful nose, green bell pepper, in the mouth it is bitter and stemmy (and I mean that nicely)
2004 Sangiovese (100% Sangiovese) leathery tea nose, a lot of fruit up front but then gets bitter with soft fuzzy tannins, tasty

Giuseppe Cortese
2000 Barbaresco Rabajà (100% Nebbiolo) lots of sediment, nose smells heavy dried fruit, light in mouth though
1996 Rabajà Riserva (100% Nebbiolo) looks like old coffee/tea, has a soapy floral nose

Prunotto
1999 Barolo Bussia (100% Nebbiolo) smells like heaven (black tarry flowers), not as cloying at finish, more astringent than the 2000
2000 Barolo Bussia (100% Nebbiolo) very tasty, very dried raisin/prune, a little much for me
2000 Barbaresco Bric Turot (100% Nebbiolo) nice, slightly too sweet/fruity at finish but I wouldn't kick it out of bed

Fattoria di Felsina
2001 Chianti Classico Rancia Riserva (100% Sangiovese) very well balanced
2001 Fontallloro (100% Sangiovese) more aggressive than Rancia, more tannin and astringency, makes your mouth tingle

Fontanafredda
2000 Barolo Fontanafredda Vigna La Rosa (100% Nebbiolo) tarry, berry, cherry, tarry, not too sweet or tannic
2002 Eremo Langhe (70% Barbera, 30% Nebbiolo)

Casanuova delle Cerbaie
2000 Brunello di Montalcino (100% Sangiovese Grosso) so so, too fruity at finish for me
1999 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva (100% Sangiovese Grosso) slightly more tannic than the 2000, but similar in style

Palari
2002 Rosso del Soprano (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nocera e Calabrese) Sicily, has the funky nose I smelled last night that I can't quite place, Rob says it is blood, cigars, (I think it has some manure, too, because it has a sweet aroma), it is slightly fruity and then just fades off and disappears
2002 Faro Palari (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nocera e Calabrese) less sweet version of the nose the Soprano had, slightly lighter overall, had a nice fuzzy finish, and I enjoyed it

Ricardo Baracchi
2002 Ardito (Merlot, Syrah) 3rd wine with manure/blood/cigar nose
2003 Cortona Sangiovese Smeriglio (100% Sangiovese) nice tarry blackberry nose, nice tingly finish, prickly, I liked it a lot

Ruggeri & C.
2004 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Extra Dry Gold Label (Prosecco, Verdino, Bianchetta e Perera) floral nose, pleasant mousse, apples and citrus, zesty, slight sugar
2004 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze (100% Prosecco) slightly more reticent nose and then no more because there was a minor to-do as the poor lady at the Ricardo Baracchi table spilled red wine all over herself (she was wearing light clothes) and the Ruggeri guys gave her one of their aprons to wear to cover up

Cusumano
2003 Cubia (100% Inzolia) slightly ML finish, but pretty well-balanced and smooth, slightly too buttery on finish for me, but only a bit
2003 Sagana (100% Nero d'Avola) licorice, not tannic, easy drinking, simple

Fattoria Le Corti Corsini
2002 Chianti Classico Le Corti (95% Sangiovese, 5% Canaiolo e Colorino) it has the funky funky bloody nose, with a hint of manure, very smooth and soft finish, lots of sour cherry fruit, well done
2001 Chianti Classico Don Tommaso (85% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot) nose reticent, not much funk like the previous, pleasant lingering tobacco finish

Fratelli Alessandria
2000 Barolo tar and a floral element, violets or jasmine, big
2000 Barolo Monvigliero very tannic and heavy, I would store it for a time, classic tarry fruit

Academia dei Racemi
2003 Primitivo Manduria Giravolta (100% Primitivo) refreshing, not too spicy, pretty well balanced
2003 Susumaniello Sum (100% Susumaniello) old variety from Puglia, medicinal herbal nose, bite mid palate to finish like a Syrah, but wilder, with more funk

Albino Armani
2001 Corvara Vallagarina (Corvina Veronese, Cabernet, Merlot) well-balanced
2002 Foja Tonda Vallagarina (100% Casetta) sweet cardamom like an Australian Shiraz, bitter fruit followed by astringency

Anzivino
2001 Bramaterra(Nebbiolo 70%, Croatina 30%) much softer nose, no bloody funk like the Gattinara, lots of red fruit, with bitters and a fair amount of tannins
1999 Gattinara (Nebbiolo 100%) blood nose, lots of acid, not tannic, some sweet dried fruit (berry/cherry), it has a lot of things I like in it even if it is a little challenging

Sassotondo (loved this woman)
2001 San Lorenzo (100% Cigliegiolo) oak, lots of tannin, it is rugged, some funkiness with the nose, not as clear and pure fruit as the Rosso
2004 Sassotondo Rosso (70% Cigliegiolo, 10% Sangiovese, 10% Alicante) regular blend, very clear and pure berry, with a bite of spice at the end, all stainless, the nose is a little reticent

Tenuta Coppadoro
2002 Radicosa (100% Montepulciano) bitters, crushed rotting flowers, cigar and wood
2003 Pescorosso (85% Primitivo, 15% Nero di Troia) sweet candied leather, some cigar, in the mouth it is all about the big boom finish, lots of spicy tannins at end with slight bitter undertones

Cascina Adelaide
2000 Barolo Cannubi slightly hot but reticent nose, some tar, more cigarettes and cigars than other Barolos, nice acids at finish
2000 Barolo Preda reticent nose, sweeter, fruitier on finish, I prefer the Cannubi

Gianfranco Alessandria
2001 Barolo smoother than the Nebbiolo... could be better grapes, could be the extra year, could be both, very nice
2002 Langhe Nebbiolo leather and earth, it was very tannic and made me cough, even...in a few years it will be tasty but right now it will beat you up

Cà Viola
2003 Langhe Dolcetto Barturot soft cute fruit nose, no leather here, simple fruity, would be an easy drinker, fun

Veglio Mauro
2000 Barolo Vigneto Arborina roses and red fruit, not much tar, kind of a Barolo-lite, not a lot of tannins, fruity

Manara
2002 Valpolicella Classico Superiore Le Morete blood nose tempered by dried fruit, very delicate in the mouth, slightly warming, spicy, elegant
2000 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico more slight funk of the tobacco blood variety, dark and spicy and tannic

Castello di Neive
1999 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva cypress and pine needles in nose

Impromptu Italian

Friday night, I tasted a bunch of Italian wine as a precursor to Golden Glass on Saturday... wines from Monchiero Carbone, Filippo Gallino, Cascina Val Del Prete, and Cascina Cà Rossa, all from Roero. I'm glad I went, since many of the wines poured were not poured at Golden Glass the next day, and some of those were my favorites.

It was a very good tasting, even though it was kind of crazy, too. The producers were there and everyone was playing the shell game with the bottles on the counter and debating the pouring order (and changing it, and debating, and changing, and debating some more) throughout the tasting. I think my clear winner for the night was the 2001 Cascina Val Del Prete "Carolina", although I liked several of the wines that night. My notes are not the best since there was a lot going on and talking to people and figuring out what I was supposed to taste next and if it was in the right order was pretty distracting. I also think that sometimes I just don't have the words to describe Italian wines well, yet. I am talking about them in the verbal equivalent on sticks and rocks, which you will see more when I write up Golden Glass.

I was perplexed by the nose on the "Monbirone", and thought it unusual, but then at Golden Glass I had about four or five wines that had similar notes, so it isn't all that strange after all, I guess. It's a funky sweet smell that I can't nail down exactly but is in the meat/tobacco/blood/manure part of the smelling world. And I of course mean that in the best meat/tobacco/blood/manure way.

Here is what I tasted, below, albeit reorganized by producer (we did them in the usual order, whites first, reds next, and that is where the big debate on order came in... flip between the same producer and stainless/oak to compare or do all the stainless wines to compare them first and then do all the oaked wines. This was mostly the issue with the Barberas since Nebbiolos came later, and finally, the Birbéts).

Birbét, by the way, is a semifizzy, light, sweet wine that is made from Brachetto but can't be called Brachetto d'Acqui because of laws governing the growing and region (Brachetto d'Aqui has DOC status, and the grapes must be grown in Asti or Alessandria), since it is grown in Roero. The people in Roero just decided to call it Birbét.

Filippo Gallino

2003 Roero Arneis pale straw - nutty nose, floral when swirled - soft at first in mouth, then steely, lots of acid, grassy hard finish
+2003 Barbera d'Alba (stainless, no wood) pink-ruby - austere and dusty nose - pleasantly drying tannins with a little burst of fruit in the finish, maybe a little young, still
2000 Barbera d'Alba Superiore bloody red - dusty red fruit and spicebox smells - more tannin, acid, rigidity than the "Carolina", could use some aging

Cascina Val Del Prete

2004 "Luet" Arneis pale straw - superfruity peach and banana nose, not as steely as the Gallino in the mouth, still a lot of acid, but more honey tones, fuzzy fun finish, tingly
2003 Barbera d'Alba (stainless, no wood) pink-ruby - dried fruit raisin plum nose - very soft tannins, very pretty fruit in mouth, slight bitterness at finish
++2001 "Carolina" Barbera d'Alba Superiore (oak) blue-red, looks young - pretty pretty pretty nose of tobacco, flowers, and spice, nice nice acids and fruit, not much by way of tannins

Monchiero Carbone

+2003 "Recit" Arneis straw yellow - funky peachy nose - lemony in mouth, soft finish, did it see some wood?
+2001 "Monbirone" Barbera d'Alba (18 months in wood, ten percent Nebbiolo) opaque burgundy - very funky nose... ham? blood? cigar? manure? - nice acids in mouth, but I spent way too long trying to understand the nose and found it very intriguing
2003 "Regret" Nebbiolo light burgundy - cherry and violet soap, earth - slightly more fruit evident than the Cà Rossa Nebbiolo (which I had just before this), nice acids, fuzzy velvety tannins
2000 "Printi" Nebbiolo brown brick - on the dusty/austere side, both of these Nebbiolos could hang around for a while
NV Birbét light, sweet, sparkling red, strawberries and flowers, fun and fizzy

Cascina Cà Rossa

+2001 "Mulassa" Barbera d'Alba burgundy - first one corked - second one had a much cleaner cherry and earth nose, but was sort of closed - nice acid and tannin, leathery finish
2003 Nebbiolo color of dried blood - bitters, soap, dust, cherry - intensely tannic right from the start with some red fruit and iodine
NV Birbét fruit leaves on the nose, very interesting, I liked it better than the Monchiero Carbone

WBW11 Announced: Get off (dry)

Foxy is alive and well, as indicated by the most recent Wine Blogging Wednesday announcement:

Get off! Dry, that is.

Beau over at Basic Juice is hosting next month, and his challenge is to find an off-dry wine-- something, that is, that falls between "dry" and "sweet". It can be red, white, or rosé, but has to be off-dry. Confused? Think German, or Champagne, or head on over to the announcement for more info. Check back over there after July 6 for the roundup!

2005 Golden Glass (and more)

If you are like me and love Italian wine (and can get to SF this weekend, of course), you will definitely want to head up to the second annual Golden Glass, which is going on this Saturday at Fort Mason, from 3-6.30. There will be sixty producers from all over Italy pouring 120 of their wines, and all proceeds will benefit everyone's favorite food organization, Slow Food San Francisco.

I am determined to not miss this one, not only because I love Italian wine and am trying to demystify it for myself, but also because I feel stupid for missing the Etude tasting last week; I was so study-panicked that I didn't even realize it for two days. Friday morning I was on my way to work and remembered. Duh. Anyway, I will be brushing up on my Italian grapes and regions and producers before I head over on Saturday.

If you can't make it Saturday, or can't wait until Saturday, I also hear that K&L in San Francisco is going to be doing an informal tasting of four producers' wines from the Roero: Monchiero Carbone, Cascina Ca' Rossa, Malvirà and Filippo Gallino. It starts at 4.30 on Friday, and will be pretty cheap, from what I hear... around five bucks. Consider it a warm-up.

WBW10 wrap-up posted

I am a day late and a dollar short, but Alice posted the roundup for WBW10 days ago, over here. It looks like some good wines were tasted, and I will be seeking some out, now that it (maybe) finally stopped raining, here.

2004 Chehalem Pinot Gris

Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon, US

Composition: 100% Pinot Gris

Background: I am in the throes of frantic study for my WSET exam in July (and wondering what I was thinking, as well as wishing I could drink wine and study effectively at the same time, but that isn't possible), so I haven't been drinking much at all, but I made an effort to sit down with some wine tonight so I could participate in Wine Blogging Wednesday 10, the not-Noir Pinot challenge. We sat down with this, some bread and cheese, and an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. I may or may not get through Germany and Austria later tonight, at this rate.

Today was a lousy day for a crisp white wine here in San Francisco... it's been rainy and cool and drizzly all day, and I would much rather be drinking a nice rustic Minervois or Southern Rhone tonight, not a sprightly white. But for Wine Blogging Wednesday, I go the extra mile. And I think we had a winner... someone else in the house was eye-rolling about having to drink a white wine on a day like this. He had some, and opened a red since that was more in keeping with the weather, but I notice he went back to this after a glass of the red.

I have had and enjoyed Chehalem Pinot Noir before, and chose their Pinot Gris because I had some at Chez Panisse back in April and enjoyed it enough to want to try it again and pay more attention to it.

Chehalem was founded in 1990, and is in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, about 45 minutes south of Portland. They make a variety of Pinots (Noir, Gris, Blanc) as well as a couple of Chardonnays, and I certainly hope to visit them someday, next time I fly up to Portland (we drove the first/last time we were up there, and that drive is LONG). Chehalem is pretty dedicated to terroir and was involved with an interesting "transparent winemaking" experiment with some pals over at Rex Hill and Bethel Heights wineries back in 1998. (I love experiments like those because I love all things conceptual). They model their Pinot Gris after Alsatian Pinot Gris, favoring complexity and a full body, and they bottle the wines in flûtes d'Alsace, the traditional long, thin bottles used in the French region. They also use a very nifty-looking screwcap that I liked.

Notes: Greenish straw in the glass, like dried grass, something I am seeing a lot in California of these days, the freak rains notwithstanding. The full nose of honeyed peach with pineapple is forward, but not overwhelming. It's snappy when it first hits the tongue, with a lot of tart fruit right off (more stone fruit), and it finishes with tart green apple and apricot, along with some honeyed undertones. We had it with some Hudson Valley Camembert, Cypress Grove Pepper Chevre, and quince paste (...I called it "dinner!"), and it was pleasant. It has a lot of weight to it, and is almost Chardonnay-like in body. My only complaint is the apricot-bittersweetness at the finish, and the fact that overall the finish is a little heavy and clunky for the rest of the wine.

Before I sat down and picked it apart like this, I enjoyed it a lot more. Back then I had it with pasta and asparagus with green garlic and cream. I thought it went really well with those things, even the pesky-to-match asparagus, and the funky finish didn't bother me at all. This is what happens when you pay attention....

Cost: $15

Overall: B