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-

2004 Red Car "Think Pink" Rosé

Region: California, US

Composition: Not sure, but it smells/tastes like Syrah

Background: I admit, I bought this on a rosé-buying spree (not just for the nifty bottle and very good label, but also because I really liked Red Car's "The Fight" when I had it back in May), but it is interesting that I am drinking it tonight, since I have been thinking a lot about people who take a chance to do what they want to do in life. People who do something that seems crazy or that requires faith in themselves, or even people who just pick up and change something because that is what they think they want. People without fear. (Or, maybe, people with fear but who are optimists or foolish or very very smart.) I am not one of those people, or at least I am one of those people who moves like a tortoise and needs to examine and overthink every decision and plan for all possible failures, including meteors, plagues of locusts, and the possibility that I will sprout a second head from my shoulders à la How to Get Ahead in Advertising, so I envy the people who decide something and then do it within a decade.

A few years ago, Carroll Kemp and Mark Estrin fled Hollywood to take a chance and make wine, first scraping together a couple of thousand dollars to make their first 50 barrels in Kemp's driveway, then procuring investment money to buy vineyards, and finally quitting their day jobs for the wine life. It was definitely one of those leap of faith endeavors, and they made it happen. They aren't enormously famous or anything, but they make small quantities of wine they love and love to make, and they get some money for it (and some recognition in wine circles). That isn't so bad, is it?

Kemp and Estrin named their winery "Red Car" after the old red Pacific Electric streetcars that used to be part of Southern California's transit system before that was all removed (silly transit systems, what's the point?) so the land could become Land of Cars. Hollywood storytelling came with them to their new jobs, becoming evident on their wine labels (not for this rosé, for some reason, but for all the other wines I have seen); each label has a paragraph telling a noir-style story about the wine, its name (usually something like "The Stranger" or "All-Night Radio") and the feeling it evokes. Supposedly, taken all together, the wine stories will tell a bigger story. This is something you don't see on labels every day, and while some people might find it hokey, I think it's creative and interesting enough. It's not like wine labels are usually that informative, and I tend not to trust them when they tell me things about the wine, anyway, so why not do something creative? It's way better than something horrible like "luxurious raspberry caresses your palate while oak-kissed cherries drift in and out on a tide of sumptuousness". Go, Red Car, tell me a story rather than feed me that kind of stuff.

Sadly, part of the Red Car story is that a few months ago, in May, Mark Estrin died of brain cancer at 57. I am glad that he (as the story goes) listened to the fortune cookie that made him brave enough to take the leap and join his friend Carroll Kemp to form Red Car, and in doing it found something that he loved.

Notes: This is a dark rosé, one of those rosés that is really almost a red. It's a cherry red in the glass, clear but intense, and has slightly salmon highlights. The rosepetal and strawberry/raspberry nose will almost bowl you over when you open the bottle. It's aggressive and mouthfilling with enough acid to hold up to the intense red fruit followed by a cola and spice finish. The spice was rigid and slightly bitter when I opened the bottle, but is now softening with a little exposure to air and while the spice is staying, the bitterness is going away. The spice makes me think this is probably Syrah, and this is one of those wines that starts out slow but ramps up to a big finish.

I think I like it better once it sits out for a while and calms down. It's a little over the top for me straight from the bottle, and nice after a half hour or so sitting around. I just let some sit out for about two hours, and now the nose has faded to almost nothing, but it still has the soft, watery start ending in a big burny spicy finish that really sticks around with you for a while. I think it is somewhat challenging and I don't absolutely love it, but it is interesting to drink and I am enjoying it despite its flaws. Maybe I will have the rest tomorrow night with actual food and see how that goes. I kind of had ice cream for dinner (not much, and with a lot of peaches and nectarines, so that isn't as bad as it sounds) and did not drink the wine with it because that would have been very very bad.

Cost: $15

Overall: B (maybe a B-)

2004 Kalyra Sauvignon Blanc

Region: California, US

Composition: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Background: I haven't been drinking much worthy of discussion recently. Partly because I haven't been drinking much, and partly because the drinking I have been doing has been out of desperation. I have had a headache for the last two weeks, see. And when you have a headache, you often don't feel like drinking (or cooking, or reading, or sleeping, or doing anything fun). It's pretty draining, having this headache for so long.

So I have been taking a lot of painkillers, seeing my doctor, taking Vicodin on occasion, and drinking only sometimes when I feel a little okay or get desperate for a break from the headache. I got this bottle out a few days ago after a bottle of the 2003 Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc (I stupidly have no notes for that, but I liked it better than this, and the finish was a little creamier and smoother). It was a hot night and I wanted more zippy clean wine, and given that I had at least half a headache and couldn't commit to a bottle of wine without thinking it might sit for days and go bad before I finished it, I figured I would open something cheap, at least.

Kalyra is located down in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, and most of the grapes they use are from Santa Barbara County. The label is the brainchild of one Michael Brown, who makes wines under the Kalyra label as well as wines made from Australian grapes, which he bottles under the M. Brown label.

(Other than their own website, there isn't a lot of info on Kalyra out there in the world, but I would be remiss by not mentioning that you can see the tasting room in Sideways... it's the one Sandra Oh's character works in.)

Notes: This is pale straw in the glass with chartreuse glints, and has a typical Sauvignon Blanc-y herbaceous green nose with some apple and nectarine, with vanilla undertones. It's mostly tart green apple on the palate, and has some herbal spice in the finish, and a lingering green apple flavor, once you get over that bitter bump. It's a simple Sauvignon Blanc, and fine for hot weather, although not overly remarkable. I did finish the bottle, eventually, so that says something (I have two open and probably bad at this point bottles lying around that I never got around to finishing, and that usually means I didn't like something about them).

Cost: $8 (from Trader Joe's here in SF-- it looks like it is normally about $10-$14)

Overall: B

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

2004 Rosé de Calon

Region: St. Estèphe, Bordeaux, France

Composition: Either 100% Cabernet Sauvignon or approximately 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, depending who you believe (I would tend to believe the latter)

Background: Château Calon-Ségur is in St. Estèphe, and just happens to be the northernmost Cru Classé (3ème Cru) in the Haut-Médoc region of Bordeaux. It sits at the heart of what used to be the Calon estate, an estate that once took up most of the St. Estèphe commune. In the early 1700s Nicolas-Alexandre, Marquis de Ségur, became owner of Calon (and Lafite and Latour and Mouton, for that matter) when his father died. He supposedly once said "I make wine at Lafite and Latour but my heart is at Calon" and because of that, the Calon-Ségur wines have a heart on the label (except for this rosé which has no heart for some reason; maybe they thought pink+heart=too much, or perhaps it got lesser treatment since it is a humble rosé and maybe a newcomer to the Calon-Ségur lineup).

The sprawling Calon estate has been chopped up into smaller parcels over time, spawning such other estates as Phelan-Ségur. Madame Denise Gasqueton now owns the existing 123 acres and makes about 20,000 cases of wine a year from the land. She took over in 1995 after her husband Philippe died (this is not a usual occurrence, from what I understand; most wives are unprepared or uninterested and sell instead of continuing the business), first surprising people with her determination and shrewd business sense, and then releasing a 1995 vintage that kicked ass and took names. She's continued to make a lot of solid wines that are not ridiculously priced like a lot of Left Bank wines.

Wines from St. Estèphe can be very intense, rough, and tannic due to the clay and granite soils and usually need a good amount of cellaring to come into their own, so this rosé is your chance to get a Calon-Ségur that you will be able to drink before the next decade!

Notes: This is a chameleon pink... it looks deep pink in the glass, from far away, almost strawberry, but when you tilt the glass it turns pale and becomes a much lighter dusky rose. The nose is forthcoming, offering cranberry and strawberry, and in the mouth it is very dry and full of steely strawberry, the steeliness something the nose hints at but doesn't let you know for sure. It's very intense, acidic, and dry, and a good example of what a rosé can (should) be. I think I want some more, and I can't wait to have it with our yellow cherry tomatoes, garlic, romano beans, and basil over some pasta because it is very hot and I can't bear to cook anything else.

The acid on this is high... I don't mind it on the palate but I have noticed that I feel certain high-acid wines in my chest (similar to the way you feel alcohol warming you, but it is not as pleasant) and I can't drink a lot of it all at once, or I have to be careful to temper it with food. This is one of those wines for me, which is sad because I would like to sit around and drink it all day.

Cost: $12

Overall: A-

2003 François Chidaine Clos Habert

Region: Montlouis sur Loire, France

Composition: 100% Chenin Blanc

Background: At 4 o'clock this afternoon I remembered that today is Wine Blogging Wednesday 11, and I needed to drink and write up a demi-sec/off-dry wine before midnight. Of course, I had no off-dry wines in the house aside from a way-old bottle of Moscato d'Asti that I have been abusing because I forgot it in the fridge for about three years and only noticed it shoved way in the back behind the untouchable beer we had when I cleaned out the fridge a week or so ago. I mean, knew it was there, but had forgotten quite how old it has become (let's just say it would be in elementary school right now, if it were a small child).

Anyway, I had to do some quick work and pick something up, because I have a feeling that when I open the Moscato, it isn't going to be pretty. My dirty secret (well, not so secret) is that I don't drink a lot of sweet, or even slightly sweet, wines (hence, the existence of a six-year-old Moscato in the house), so I had my work cut out for me insofar as finding one that I thought I would like.

I ended up with a bottle of François Chidaine Clos Habert, a demi-sec from the Montlouis appellation in the Loire. Montlouis is located across the river from the more well-known Vouvray, and has a similar soil composition of clay and chalky tuffeau. The wines are similar, although some say that the Montlouis wines are more rocky in nature, and this all seemed fine to me since I was originally angling for a Vouvray just because I like saying Vouvray a lot (and if that isn't a good reason to buy a wine, what is?). In fact, Montlouis was part of the Vouvray appellation until it was granted its own AC status in 1937, and the wines are also made of Chenin Blanc, the grape which produces so many fascinating wines in the Loire.

The estate makes several styles of wine from Chenin Blanc....sweet, off-dry, dry, sparkling (the same styles can be are found in Vouvray), and also makes a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes for this wine come from 60-year-old vines and are harvested by hand in up to four passes, to achieve optimal sugar levels. The wines are certified organic even though Chidaine doesn't mention that on the label.

Notes: This wine is all about honey! Clear light gold in the glass, it has a strong nose of poached peaches and syrupy pears, with a mineral streak and a little bit of honeysuckle. The floral element is more noticeable as the wine gets warmer. It hits the tongue with a thick, heady block of intense sweet fruit (more peaches and pears), and finishes with a long honeyed note that has a little gingery bite in it to keep it interesting. There is enough acidity that my gums are left tingling, and I am not finding it cloying or unpleasant. It's not within my usual drinking repertoire and I don't think it has made a demi-sec believer out of me, but it was fun to drink and is well-done and balanced. We had it with bread, roasted almonds, blackberries, Harley Farms pepper chevre, Humboldt Fog, and Mount Tam.

Cost: $22

Overall: B

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

1999 Fritz Rockpile Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: California, US

Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Background: Fritz Winery has been undergoing a Renaissance of sorts for the last few years, evidenced first to me by their changing labels, since I am a label junkie. They used to employ an Eighties-style label that looked cheesy at worst and dated at best, and now they have moved to a much more sedate style of label involving some animals I think of mentally as "dinobirds" on it (I think they are really just peacocks or grouse or some land-bird along those lines, but the posing makes me think of dinosaur dioramas). From what I can tell the actual switch in labelling came about in 2001/2002, but because some of the older wines are just now being released, you can find a mix of labels for Fritz wines in the stores.

Jay and Barbara Fritz started Fritz winery in 1979, converting a family farm retreat they had owned since 1970 into a winery. It was the height of the energy crisis and gas shortage worries (as I can remember, since I was in elementary school at the time, being inundated with those "This Is A Landfill (Don't Be Part Of The Problem And Throw Things Away)" movies and Big Blue Marble), and echoing those early 1970s sentiments, they did the green thing and built an energy-conscious winery that is actually underground in a hillside. In 1996, they decided to ramp up their winemaking, and started making changes. They hired Helen Turley on as consultant, and worked with her for a few years. In 2002, they hired Christina Pällmann, who had worked with Jacques Seysses at Domaine Dujac, and Blair Walters at Felton Road, and she is now consulting with Merry Edwards on the winemaking.

This wine is interesting because it is a single vineyard Cab (Rockpile, no less... in what is now the Rockpile AVA, I believe, but that didn't happen until 2002) and it is cheap. It is about fifteen bucks normally, but I got some through my wine club for less than nine. And it is fairly simple and fruity, but still, for nine bucks it is a very good Cabernet. And I don't usually even like Cabernet very much, but this is kind of a guilty pleasure Cabernet.

In any case, it was just what I needed last night, after a weekend of weddings and cleaning and not enough studying. The exam is in ten days, I have an opera to see tonight, and my parents roll into town on Thursday. I am already having nightmares about misidentifying wines in blind tastings, and even though I need the next week to finish preparations (I am still trying to memorize all the sub-regions in Australia and where they are/what climates they possess/what grapes they grow, not to mention Bulgaria and Romania), I kind of wish it was over already, because I am tired of dreaming about wine (last night, I was creating a cellar from scratch, and that isn't even on the test).

Notes: Deep garnet with a slightly paler rim. Forward nose of black currants, bell pepper, mint, maybe some pine or spruce. Nicely balanced in the mouth... not a lot of tannin, enough but not a ton of acid. Pleasant persistent black cherries and currants, a tiny bit of leather, and minty freshness. It's simple and fruity, not complicated and brooding like a grown-up Cabernet, but tasty and easy enough to drink. I think that it is excellent value for the price, and am sad to see K&L is already sold out of it. It's the kind of thing you can take just about anywhere and people will enjoy it, rightly so.

Cost: $9 from my wine club (normally about $15)

Overall: B

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(Old Fritz versus New Fritz, label-wise, for those interested:)

2001 Penner-Ash Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon, US

Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

Background: Tonight we have the second in the mystery lot of discount wines (mostly Pinot Noir from Oregon) I picked up the other day, the same lot that handed me the somewhat unlucky St. Innocent the other night. This time I fared better. This wine is definitely somewhat evolved, but still very tasty.

Penner-Ash is located in Newberg, Oregon, and it looks like they just opened a new sustainable (good for them) gravity flow (who isn't doing that these days?) winery last May, situated at one of their vineyards. They focus on Pinot Noir and Syrah, and dabbled in Viognier last year, releasing it this year. Lynn Penner-Ash is the winemaker, and worked at Stag's Leap in Napa before moving to Oregon, where she made wine at at Rex Hill before buying some land and releasing her first vintage of Pinot Noir (the 1998, and only 124 cases of it) under the Penner-Ash label in 2000. By the time she released this 2001, which is a blend of several vineyards (whereas their other Pinots are single-vineyard offerings), she had upped the ante somewhat, and was making a lot more wine-- 831 cases of this were made.

The strangest thing about this bottle is the very deep punt. If you believed that punt depth determines the price of a wine, this wine would be very expensive indeed. I could almost jam my fingers up to my knuckle into the punt, which prompted a spate of bad punning in the house, and I spent a long time trying to get a picture of it, the results of which you can see on the right. I finally measured it and it was almost three inches deep! That is just strange, and it does make the bottle very fat compared to normal bottles with their puny punts. I guess it is another way to stand out from all those other silly Burgundy bottles on the shelf.

Notes: Medium ruby in the glass, this has a nose of smoky meat, leaves, sweet earth, and some black cherry. It's medium-weight in the mouth with some cherry, earth, and cinnamon/allspice. There's also some slight burnt toast and coffee (just like breakfast!), but not too much. The finish is soft, with little tannin but some nice lingering warm spices and a very very faint cherry cough drop flavor that is lasts a good long time (unlike a wine I had last week which was overpoweringly cherry cough drop flavored). Overall it is very plush and lush and full; hedonistic.

I could put these notes into WSET lingo, which kind of takes the joy out of things but is very thorough and makes me consider things I don't always remember to consider. Perhaps I should do this more often:

Appearance

Clarity clear
Intensity deep
Color garnet
Other core much darker than pale pinkish rim

Nose

Condition clean
Intensity pronounced
Development developing/aged
Aroma characteristics cherry, smoke, tobacco, meat, earth

Palate

Sweetness dry
Acidity low-medium
Tannin low
Body light-medium
Intensity medium-pronounced
Bubbles none
Flavor characteristics cherry, earth, cinnamon, allspice
Alcohol level medium
Length long

Conclusions

Quality good
Maturity ready to drink
Value category high-priced

Cost: $20 (originally $45)

Overall: A-

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