New Year, New Wine: Sparkling Alternatives to Champagne

I've barely done any reviews this month -- it's just been crazy. Still, I've been writing. Here is a reprint of my latest post from BlackBook Magazine. Click the title or just read on!

New Year, New Wine: Sparkling Alternatives to Champagne

By Elizabeth Schneider

December 29, 2009

It’s New Year’s again, and whether you think it’s the ultimate party or the ultimate amateur night, you’re probably drinking a sparkling beverage. Notice that I didn’t say “Champagne.” You can only use the word Champagne for sparkling wine if it comes from the Champagne region of France, and is made in the serious and complicated old-school method. With the economy still in the tank, it may be better to venture beyond this esteemed region (and its $30+ price tags) and find some bottles that are unique and affordable, while being every bit as bubbly.

If you’re already in the French section at the liquor store, you can stay put because the little-known secret is that you can get awesome sparkling wine for half the price of Champagne right there. Les Français have protected the name of Champagne, so only wines from that region carry the name, but the techniques used to make it are employed all over France, masquerading under the name “Crémant.” If you want to be really savvy, pick up a Crémant d’Alsace made from Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, or Riesling, among other grapes. Or try a Crémant de la Loire for a sparkling Chenin Blanc, or a Crémant of Chardonnay from Limoux in Southern France. All completely rock and some are even better than the original Champagne, especially if you consider the value for the price.

We all know the Spanish love to party. What you may not know is that they do it with bubbly just like everyone else. Spain learned how to make their version of sparkling wine, Cava, from the French. The only difference—it’s about one third the price of Champagne. These are probably the best values in bubbles and they are pure pleasure for your mouth. If you find a rose Cava, buy it immediately. For something light and fruity, report directly to the Italian section and try Prosecco. You can pick some decent stuff up for $10, and if you spend $15 or $20 the difference is huge. Regardless of price, all these bubblies are floral, light, and fruity. They may be less serious than Champagne, but they are still a great way to get your effervescence fix.

Wines from the U.S. are another option, but proceed with caution. Our sparkling wines tend to be overpriced and underwhelming. Some are just plonk. There is one producer in New Mexico, of all places, that makes some great-value sparkling wine. If you can get some from Washington State, you may have a real find. Still, my vote is to stick with Europe. You won’t regret it. No matter what you choose, be safe, and have a fabulous time toasting 2010 with your alternative bubbly.

Elizabeth Schneider is a Certified Specialist of Wine, Sommelier, and wine educator in Atlanta who teaches about wine in a normal, relatable way. For more of her musings please visit her blog Wine for Normal People http://winefornormalpeople.blogspot.com/ or her Twitter @Vine75.

Photo attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

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Last-Minute Christmas Wine Shopping, as featured in BlackBook Magazine

This post is appearing in BlackBook Magazine's House Special Section. This is a republish for the blog...


Inevitably there is one person on your Christmas list who
a.) you’ve procrastinated buying for because they are ridiculously picky;
b.) you completely forgot you needed to get something for;
c.) got you something, and now you have to reciprocate.

Never fear: unless they’re a teetotaler (which should have you questioning why you’re friends with them in the first place), wine is the best gift to give. For $15 you can get someone a solid bottle that will taste delicious if it’s opened with the Christmas goose this week.

If you have a little more to spend, you can get a bottle for $25-$30 that will have you looking like a wine connoisseur. Better still, if you play your cards right, the person can age the wine for 3 to 5 years, and hopefully they’ll wait to open it until you come over to their house for dinner! It’s like a present for you and for them.

But what to buy?

There are amazing deals on wine right now, and if you are looking for something in the $25-$30 range, you can get bottles that are good today and will be lights-out in about 3 to 5 years. Wines that are sure to impress and age gracefully come from many places, but Europe’s got a treasure trove for age-able goodness, and it’s my pick for the best place to look. So for $25-$30…

France
• For a big, complex, age-able red try a Bordeaux, specifically from the Medoc, Graves, or Pommerol. 2005 was a historically amazing vintage and 2006 was pretty great, too, so look for those years on the bottle.
• Premier Cru from Burgundy will be amazing in a few years. Go for a red (Pinot Noir) with earthy, velvety flavors, or a white (Chardonnay) that has solid acidity yet creamy, tropical fruit, and butterscotch flavors as it gets older.
• The Northern Rhône makes delicious Syrah that tastes like dark fruit, herbs, and meat (no joke)—look for Crozes-Hermitage, which is affordable and terrific.

Italy
• Italy makes some darn fine wine. The best stuff is red and it’s expensive. Forgo the Barolo for its little, softer sister, Barbaresco—a delicious choice that will stretch your buck.

Spain
• Or try Spain and go for a Rioja Reserva, which has been aged for 3 years by the time you get it, but can stand another 3 to 5 more in the bottle. This baby will be full of spice, leather, and complex earthy flavors when you pair it with tapas.

California
• Napa Cabernet can be unreliable for long-term aging, but to drink in the next few years you can get great wines right now at bargain prices. Take advantage of the bad economy and get a steal from Napa’s Stags Leap District.

Dessert Wines
• Finally, if your friend or family member likes sweet wines, go for a 10-year old Tawny Port from Portugal, or an Eiswein from Germany or Canada.

Think about who you have in mind and take care of that shopping now! Happy Holidays.

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What You're Stepping In With Stepping Stone Cab Franc and Grenache

Recently I took part in an online tasting for the vintage release of Stepping Stone wine (full disclosure: they sent the wines for me to taste, but I'm still going to give you the truth). Cornerstone is a Napa Valley winery and Stepping Stone is their new "drop down" tier -- a bit more affordable than the $100 for their regular label. I had the opportunity to taste two wines: a Cabernet Franc and a Grenache. True to form of many Cali winemakers, subtle is not a descriptor you could use for Stepping Stone. Both wines were bursting with flavor, high in alcohol, and very fruity. They screamed California in every sip. Since they are from separate regions, I'll give a little background on each area and then give a quick review.

1. Stepping Stone Cabernet Franc. This wine is from the Carneros region that spans the southern length of Napa and Sonoma Valleys. It is a big area that is cooler, owing to the fog that blankets it from the San Pablo Bay in the south everyday. You'll find Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and therefore lots of sparkling wines (Pinot and Chard are the primary grapes in sparklers, so this stands to reason) there and it's kind of a hot spot these days, as people have been seeking wines that have more nuance and are less...um...overbearing, I guess you could say. Huge wines are very typical of Napa and sometimes Sonoma, so Carneros presents a good alternative to those whom are seeking a little more than just jammy fruit.

A word on Cabernet Franc, which is an interesting grape. It's used as a blending component in red Bordeaux and is made as a standalone wine in the Loire Valley (Chinon and Saumur to name two places). It is generally earthy (think mushroom and the smell of a forest) and sometimes minty, and it tends to be lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon (which is it's love child with Sauvignon Blanc, BTW).

Trying this wine, I had to throw out what I knew about Cabernet Franc though, since this was not what I expected...let's review
The Wine: Stepping Stone Cabernet Franc
Where It's From: Carneros, Napa/Sonoma Valley
The Grapes: 90% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot
Vintage: 2007
Price: $30.00 Color: Much darker than what I'd think a Cab Franc would be, the wine was a blood red color with an orange rim that was a little watery. Just from looking at it, you could tell this thing was going to have juicy flavor.

Smell: There was a great waft of coffee right at the start, some pretty floral/herbal notes, and a touch of vanilla creaminess. I was pretty pleased, but on second whiff, to my nose, there was also a really distinct smell of ham or even bologna. It sounds odd, but meat scents can sometimes pop up in red wine, so I was willing to roll with it.

Taste: This was, indeed, a fruity wine but not without great structure -- most likely helped by the addition of that 10% of Merlot, which adds some muscle to the Cab Franc. It tasted like a basket of fruit -- black plums, black raspberry, and pomegranate. There was an amazing vanilla essence too. A few sips more and it reminded me of chocolate with roasted hazelnuts. The wine had a good amount of tannin and a zesty bite from them. Even though it's virtually a brandy (I kid, but 14.9% alcohol is unbelievably high for a wine), the wine didn't taste "hot" like high alcohol wines often do.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink. With this, you are stepping into goodness. It had a nice complexity to it and was a delicious sipper. You would need very flavorful roasted or grilled food to stand up to this wine (and to coat your stomach so you don't get completely hammered from all that alcohol!), but I think it's a keeper and worth a try.

2. Stepping Stone Grenache. This wine is from Red Hills in Lake County. As background, Lake County isn't known for the best quality wines and the grapes are often used in blending for lower tier wines rather than as standalone bottles. The issue is that it's hotter than hell there, so the grapes don't benefit from the cooling influence of fog that is prevalent in Napa and Sonoma. Hence, the wines usually have less acid and structure and can be flabby fruit bombs. That said, there are some producers who do good work there and make fine product.

So without further ado,
The Wine: Stepping Stone Grenache
Where It's From: Red Hills, Lake County California
The Grapes: 96% Grenache, 4% Zinfandel
Vintage: 2007
Price: $20 Color: Viscous, heavy and purple in the center. I could tell this was going to be another high alcohol fruit bomb just by looking at that dark color and the thick tears on the glass.

Smell: Grenache from southern France or Spain tends to be a lighter and aromatic, but in Australia and the US it's a different story. This wine was similar to some Australian Grenache I've tried -- big black fruit, a Coke/cinnamon character, and coffee and vanilla notes. I smelled a delicious basil thing going on too -- unusual in a good way! Black pepper from the bit of Zinfandel was prevalent here too.

Taste: That basil flavor morphed to mint and with the blackberry and cranberry fruit flavors. There was an herbal, peppery character as well. The wine had strong acid and, for me, it seemed slightly unbalanced. It was a bit too alcoholic -- like grain alcohol punch you get at a college frat party-- and that made the wine bitter for my palate.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Not the best Grenache in town. For me, I'd "step away" and go for a juicy Australian or Spanish Grenache instead. Too much alcohol and a bitter tinge made me want to pass.

If you're interested in getting these wines, They're available online if you want to give them a try. So there you have it. My thanks to TasteLive and Cornerstone for including me in the tasting! Readmore »»

Why I love Spain: Monte Castrillo from Ribera del Duero

We invited our lovely friends MAF and MG over the other evening for some wine, cheese, and tawdry gossip and broke out a bottle from Ribera del Duero, one of my favorite regions in Spain.

Located just north of Madrid, this region is near a river but on a really high plateau so it doesn't have as much warming influence from the water. Its inland location makes it subject to temperature extremes, but the vines of Ribera del Duero know how to get around all that mother nature throws their way, and as a result the area produces some tasty grapes. In the hands of the right winemaker you can get lights-out-amazing vino. Case in point: Ribera del Duero is home to Vega Sicilia, one of Spain's most prestigious wines.

Never fear though, as this is Wine for Normal People, there are options outside of the expensive stuff and if you can't spend the coin for the high-end there are a ton of great values from Ribera del Duero, mostly made from Tempranillo with splashes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha (Grenache), Merlot, and a few other blending grapes. If you want a wine with lusciousness, earth, and elegance, and something that will warm you up on a cold night go for a wine from this region.

The wine we had was Monte Castrillo from the producer Finca Torremilanos. The winery is known for its lux hotel on the property, but also for turning out delicious Tempranillo-based wines (in Ribera del Duero Tempranillo is actually called Tinto Fino, but it's the same stuff). Better still, on my quest to find more organically grown wines that are delicious, I have found a friend here. The fruit for this baby is all farmed organically on 30 separate vineyard plots.

Here's the run-down:
The Wine: Monte Castrillo from Finca Torremilanos
Where It's From: Ribera del Duero, Spain
The Grapes: 90% Tempranillo (Tinta Fino), 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2006
Price: $12.99

Color: Rich plum tones highlight the rim, but this wine is a purple-black. Gorgeous.

Smell: The aroma of the Monte Castrillo was so subtle but also so mouthwatering! It completely rocked. Raspberry, ripe black plum, and a touch of black pepper were noticeable, but kind of weaved in with a smell of a dusty country road. The earth, fruit, and spice together were so appetizing I could barely wait to taste it!

Taste: Yum. The Monte Castrillo is like a tall, dark, and handsome man. Easy on the eyes, suave, yet strong and slightly brooding. If Cabernet is the Johnny Depp of wine (deep, transformative, multi-layered, super-brooding), this wine is a little lighter so it's more like maybe Christian Bale from the Dark Knight (pre-freak out on that YouTube vid).

To put it in wine terms, I think this wine is the perfect combination of softness, raspberry fruit flavor, spicy pepper, and dustiness with a great underlying note of stand-up tannin that saves it from being flabby or watery. The second wave of flavor is like a raspberry bramble -- there's a dried herbal mix that underlies the fruit and is unbelievably delicious.

Food: Surprisingly this went very well with the hard cheese that we ate (it was a little less good with the soft cheese, but that's really the province of white wine, so it's ok that it didn't pair). I think an even better match would be grilled foods with delicate spices. Something roasted with an herb rub and an earthy quality may be the perfect complement. I bet this would be a winner with tapas too -- just a hunch that paella and salty Spanish ham may be winners with this native son of a wine!

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink, and drink often. This is definitely on the greatest hits list for me for the money. Look out for more reviews on Ribera del Duero from me. This has gotten me back on the kick, and just in time for the cooler weather! Rock on RdD!
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Beaujolais Nouveau: It's That Time of Year Again

Ok, so my travels prevented me from waxing poetic on the release of Beaujolais Nouveau this year, which came out, as it always does, on the third Thursday of November (the 19th), but with the stuff on stacked display across America, I think it's still relevant to comment on my latest tasting of it.

If you're not familiar with Beaujolais Nouveau, it's a red, Gamay-based wine (Gamay is a grape) from the Beaujolais region of Burgundy in France. It's released by producers on the same date every year -- about 6-8 weeks after the grapes are harvested. With very little time to make the wine, special fermentation methods are used (for you dorks -- it's carbonic maceration/ anaerobic fermentation). This means that the wines don't develop much flavor and are simple, fruity, and frequently nasty-ass.

This begs the question, why are people so giddy about these wines if they are kind of gross? A few reasons come to mind. The first, is that in a stroke of pure PR genius, the folks at Georges DuBoeuf created marketing hoopla around the release of this stuff, noticed that people bought into the concept, and have milked it every year since. The second, is that it's a very uncomplicated red wine that has some level of sophistication because it comes from the mecca of wine: France. The third, it's cheap and easy to say.

Whatever the reason for consuming it, I'm just happy that it's a time of year when France is celebrated and people are having fun with wine. The downside is that there are unbelievably great Gamay-based wines in the form of Cru Beaujolais (look carefully on the label for this and one of 10 village names that indicate quality) that I think people may overlook because the Beaujolais Nouveau is what they associate with the region. In any case, now YOU know and can spread the word or do a taste test to see for yourself.

Clearly I don't have a great opinion of the stuff, but if you want my take on Beaujolais Nouveau, here are some notes on America's most popular, Georges DuBoeuf 2009:

The Wine: Georges Du Boeuf, Beaujolais Nouveau
Where It's From: Beaujolais, France (in Southern Burgundy)
The Grape: Gamay
Vintage: 2009
Price: $7.99

Color: Dang, this thing is DARK. Purple and opaque with a plum ridge, this is just as close to looking like prune juice as you can get.

Smell: Let's see. Cherry cough syrup came to mind at first, then cherry ice cream, then some sort of green herb, like Italian parsley. It may have been a little like cherry chewing gum too. Not so much to my liking.

Taste: Thankfully, the wine tastes better than it smells. It's a bit like cherry Juicy Juice with a touch of unripe pear, and maybe raw fennel. It has a creaminess to it that I would characterize as Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia except that the ice cream lacks the wine's astringent, bitter taste. If B&Js replaced the fudge with the cherry stems it would taste identical.

I know I'm being harsh, so on the positive side, this is probably one of the better vintages of Beaujolais in that it had a good structure -- there were moderate mouth-drying tannins that I really found pleasant and a good foil to the creaminess.

Food: I'm at a bit of a loss. You won't find me saying this too much, because wine and food go hand in hand, but Beaujolais Nouveau is really just a sipping wine. For anything beyond maybe a hard cheese with a baguette, which can provide a salty complement to the overt fruitiness, I think this wine is best served a little chilled and alone.

Drink or Down the Sink?: If you can appreciate that this is a sipping wine that's just for fun then drink. If you want something good to enjoy, dump this and go for something else. Readmore »»

"CPR for Your Thanksgiving Wines" Published in BlackBook Magazine

Great news -- I've been published again in BlackBook Magazine. In lieu of re-publishing the post, I'll direct you to BlackBook's site and to the article!

Enjoy and I hope this helps with your TG wine selection!

http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/cpr-for-your-thanksgiving-wines/13272 Readmore »»

Picking a Wine Shop: How to Separate the Wheat from the Chaff

Today, I canvased the city of Atlanta to promote the launch of my in-home wine tasting and wine education business. I visited nearly 20 wine shops, dropping off marketing materials and pressing the flesh. This little journey (which was successful -- thanks for your support, wine peeps of the ATL!) got me thinking about wine shops and how people pick their faves. Given that the holiday season is upon us, and that we're all going be frequenting the till more often than usual, I thought it may be helpful to talk about what to look for in good shop.

A local shop or grocery store can have great employees who can help get you the best versions of what you like, and lead you to take chances on things that will open up the world of wine for you. Unfortunately, there are also many stores that suck. I'm no guru, but here are some things you may want to consider as you're picking a store:

1. Do they have enough wine? If the walls are bare or there isn't a good selection, I feel uncomfortable in a store. It's like I'm pigeonholed into getting something, even if it's not what I wanted. Who wants to be guilted into buying something? I like stores that have a lot of selection at a lot of price points.

2. Do they have too much wine? Ok, not to be Goldielocks, but if there is too much wine, it's hard to narrow down what you went to the store for in the first place. It's like babies and shiny objects -- it's too easy to be distracted. The best shops are those that have bottles across all major wine producing countries, and who carry a range of price and quality within that selection. If they lack a good French, German, or Spanish section, I'm out.

3. Is the store clean? If the bottles are dusty or the floor is dirty, what does that say about the wine? Could mean the wine is corked or heated or nasty. Leave.

4. Is the store organized well? There are two ways that stores organize wine -- either by country, or by wine type/grape. Either is fine, as long as there is a rhyme or reason to the organization and it's consistent. I prefer the organization by grape because I may want a certain style of wine -- let's say Riesling -- but forget that the Clare Valley in Australia makes wonderful Riesling that I love, so I buy a German instead. Because the world does not bend to my will (dammit!), most stores are organized by country. Regardless of my preference, a must is that things are easy to find. If the wine is all over the place -- some on the shelf, some in a box behind me, some on a table somewhere, it's too hard to sort through it all.

5. Are the people all over you or are they no where to be found?
Either is irritating. I like to scope out a place, be given some breathing room and then have someone ask if I need help. If I don't need help, I don't want to feel like I just told the person I have Swine Flu. I also don't like being followed around like I'm about to shoplift. On the flip side, I HATE when I need help and there is no one around. The goal of building a relationship with a wine shop is that they get to know you and what you like. Then they can recommend other stuff that expands your wine world into new and different things. If people are no where to be found, you don't get to build that trust or be exposed to new stuff. At that point the store really has very little value to you and it's time to find a new one.

6. Are the people dumb or snobby? I'm astonished sometimes at how little people that work in wine shops know about wine. Especially in grocery and chain wine stores, sometimes they don't even hold basic wine knowledge (like saying Pommard is a grape, when it's a region that makes Pinot Noir in Burgundy -- horrible). Either that or they know too much and try their best to make you feel small and dumb. I've got no patience for either.

7. What are the prices like? Even if you have a lot of cash, there's no reason to pay more than the fair price for wine. Go to a few shops and price out some standard brands (a few good ones to try with are things like Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc). Make sure they are all within range -- don't get gouged. Most of my favorite shops have great prices and even better ones if you pay with cash or debit. Look for deals -- they are out there.

8. Speaking of money, do you feel like someone is always trying to upsell you? Turn around, walk out. If you tell someone your price range and they exceed it by more than a dollar or two, I find that disrespectful. You shouldn't feel pressured to buy something expensive because someone recommended it to you. Fake a call on your cell, walk out, and don't go back!


So that's the list. Hope it helps you narrow down where to go and what stores to cut off. Go out and get 'em! Readmore »»

Carménère: Not All Are Created Equal

Last week, I told my sister that I was doing a live blogging event with Wines of Chile. She was really excited for me. Then I told her I'd be tasting 8 Carménères. Her tone changed. Sympathy city.

"That stuff tastes like shit," I think were her exact words. I couldn't exactly argue with her, nor could I concur. In my past experience the wines have been all over the map -- some are great, and some are really, really, really freaking awful. I entered the tasting with some trepidation.

Chile is a fabulous country for wine. The Sauvignon Blanc kicks ass, the Cabernet is delicious, and the Chardonnay beautiful. But the big deal in this little sliver of a country is a rare grape originally from Bordeaux, Carménère. They used to blend it into the fine wines on the Left Bank of Bordeaux to add some red fruit and spice notes to the mix. The problem with the grape is that it was a pain to grow. It's fragile, susceptible to rot and fungus, and frankly didn't thrive in its native home. In the late 1800s there was a giant pest infestation in Bordeaux and when the growers replanted they decided to let Carménère go the way of the dinosaur.

The thing they didn't know is that somehow vine clippings made their way around the world to Chile. The Chileans grew it and thought it was some weird strain of Merlot, labeling it that way when they began making wines in earnest and exporting them to the US. I'm not sure how they confused the two grapes, since Carménère is kind of weird and Merlot is really straightforward, but hey, we'll give them a buy on it (I mean growers in California blend 25% Syrah into Pinot Noir and call it Pinot Noir, so I guess it's not too far off from that...).

Now the Chilean wineries are pushing out Carménère and are doing PR around it (hence my event). In my personal experience and in the blogger event I found tremendous variability in the wine. I usually say that if you don't know what you like, remember a region you like and try stuff from there until you get bored. Here, I feel pretty strongly about that and about the fact that you need to find the right producer and seek them out too. Because although the wines in the blogger event were all well-made, there were some that tasted so off to me that I could barely drink them.

After the tasting I realized that I definitely prefer Carménère from the Rapel Valley, specifically from the Colchagua Valley sub region. The other regions produced wines that tasted like green pepper, V-8 juice, and mothballs/old lady (I swear. M.C. Ice can vouch). The second thing I will say is that Carménère is a huge wine. It stains your teeth, it's flavorful and spicy, and it can be fabulous. Because this post is so long, I'm going to mention my three favorites with a short explanation on why they are kick-ass wines that you should have ASAP.... here goes:

1. Vina La Rosa, La Capitana Carménère 2008. This wine is one of the most delicious reds I've had in a LONG time. It smelled like incense and was multi-layered with red berry and blueberry undertones and gorgeous flavors of oregano, cigar, and an unbelievable balance of tannins and acids. This wine is phenomenal. For $18.00 this drinks like a $40 bottle and it was the only one of the 8 that we finished. This is everything that Carménère should and could be.



2. Cono Sur Vision Carménère, 2007 (clever pun on the name, no?). Don't drink this right out of the bottle. It needs to sit in a glass or a decanter for a minimum of 30 minutes. After that you will get a rush of black tea, blueberry, black pepper, and coffee up the nose. The wine tasted like roasted nuts, violets, and coffee and the tannins were thick and juicy. I love this wine because it's delicious but also because it's organic and it proves that organic wines can be as great as those farmed chemically. For $15, this is well worth seeking out.




3. Santa Carolina Reserva Carménère 2008. This wine could also use a little mellowing in the glass or decanter. If you do that you'll get rid of the tomato-like flavors that are hanging around when you first open the bottle (I think this is typical of Carménère, and frankly, I don't like it.). With some time, it's a solid wine -- lighter and simpler than the others with plum, blackberry, and blueberry flavors and a hint of sage and brown butter. The tannins are soft and for $10, this is the most unbelievable deal you are going to find on Carménère.

On food...All Carménère will pair best with brown food (you know, like meat and mushroom stuff). Anything red and it will taste tomato-y, anything green may bring out the green pepper, and it will annihilate anything light colored.

So ends the exploration for now. Go out and try these and don't give up if you've had a nasty Carménère in the past. These wines have great potential and they don't all taste like old-lady, green peppers, and V-8.

Enjoy and tell me what you find!

Disclosure: Wines of Chile sent complimentary samples to me, but I only reviewed those I loved! A full transcript of the event is here. Readmore »»

Wanna Go For a Ride? Hop in the White Truck 2007

Admittedly, I'm a wine thrill seeker. When it comes to wine shopping, I'm like one of those people that needs to skydive or bungee off a cliff to feel alive (I'm so wannabe Bella from Twilight!). I love to try something I've never tried before and I usually shun the super popular wines. But after our awesome Halloween party (partly awesome because I got to listen to the Monster Mash 7 times) we had a bottle of White Truck 2007 left over so I decided to give it a whirl.

You know, it wasn't half bad.

Although California is not known for its blends, leaving that to the Europeans and Aussies, Cline, the producer, does a nice job on this. For a cheap wine, I'd give this a whirl. Why? Let's break it down...

The Wine: White Truck
Where It's From: California (the wine notes say it's from Lake County and the Central Coast)
The Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc (56%), Chardonnay (22%), Pinot Grigio (11%), Viognier (11%)
Vintage: 2007
Price: $8.99


Color: Rub a dandelion on the inside of your arm. Look at the color. There you go.

Smell: There is a whole lotta scent on this truck (sadly, there's no gasoline smell in it...guess that would be too ironic for them!). Initially, the wine smelled really grassy, figgy, and grapefruity. It was also kind of like green vegetables. I waited a few minutes and put my mitt around the glass to warm it up a tad (cold wine is less aromatic) and shaazam! new scents appeared before my very eyes (lesson: don't over-refrigerate your wines please). Now it was more like white flowers, vanilla, and thick apple butter (so southern of me, I know). Ah, the scents of a child borne of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. I was able to impress M.C. Ice greatly with this blind guess -- we had not looked at the wine notes yet.

Taste: This was a really easy wine to drink. The overwhelming sensation was apple paste (I think wine snobs call this flavor quince, which is a Mediterranean/Persian tree fruit like an apple or pear but that needs to be cooked. It's heavier, less mealy, and awesome as a jelly). It was also a little like cilantro and green bean -- but when you get them from a farmer's stand and they're fresh. The wine tasted more like flowers than it smelled -- honeysuckle and other white little blossoms. That was the normal stuff.

There were some weird things with this wine too. Like the distinct sour note that M.C. Ice and I described to each other as sour cream or Parmesan cheese rind. Strange, but happily it was funk-a-licious, not funk-ass. The other weird thing about this wine was that it was creamy and thick and round. This usually means the wine went through a second fermentation, called malo-lactic fermentation, but the wine notes say it didn't get that treatment so I assume that it's either the aromatic, low-acid Viognier giving some bounce or the fact that this wine is pretty good on the alcohol (13.5%) which our mouths/brains translate as creaminess. Given the burn as it blazed its way down into my belly, and the small ring of fire it created once there, I'd say it's probably the latter.

Food: Be careful what you pair with this wine. I think for its sour cream-like notes, I would recommend it best with Mexican food or something like Indian or Thai where there is spice and cream mixed together. I think grilled chicken or fish could do better and be enhanced by something with less going on. I would not pair this with Chinese or sushi or anything soy-based, because even though I haven't tried it personally, I think the savory/salty thing in soy would be nasty with the sour cream/green bean funk of this wine. Maybe I'm wrong -- happy to amend this post if so.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink. This is a good wine for 9 bucks. For those tiptoeing into the world of Sauvignon Blanc, this is a good place to start because it's a mild version of what the grape should could be. It is a pleasant wine, it's kind of interesting and it's a good buy for the money. Would I drink it at someone's house? Yes. Will it be a regular in my rotation? Probably not -- I like something a little more pure. Should it be in yours? Try it and see...and remember that while I'm saying it's not on my shortlist, I've got a proverbial plane to jump out of for my next wine thrill... Readmore »»

Rad Rieslings from Rheingau

So, you may remember that a few weeks ago I did a tasting on www.tastelive.com with the Wines of Germany. I wrote about three German Rieslings from Schloss Saarstein in the Mosel region, which rocked.

A week or so after the event, I was diligently procrastinating and I clicked over to TasteLive. I noticed that the Wines of Germany was sponsoring another tasting with Rieslings, this time from Rhiengau, so I figured I'd pull on the black vinyl pants, round wire glasses, and turtleneck, revive my love for the monkey, and check out the differences between wines from these two regions.


(Big print: the Wines of Germany sent me the wines for review. I'm still going to tell you what I think, though!).

This time the wines were mostly QbA (I'm not EVEN going there with what it stands for because there're like 6 vowels in a row), which means quality wines that come from 13 designated regions that make decent wine. It's usually an estate's base tier wine and it's affordable.

To do a little compare and contrast to the last review, Rheingau has completely different terrain from Mosel. Where Mosel is full of steep slopes and terraced vineyards, Rheingau is pretty gentle, with slopes that flatten towards the Rhine River and its tributaries. Mosel has mostly one type of consistent soil -- slate, and Rheingau has lots of different soils mushed up together. Rheingau's Rieslings are hard core -- lots of flavor, lots of acid, lots of stuff goin' on in general, probably because of the soil type and the growing conditions. Mosel Riesling is but a soft flower compared to Rheingau.

The Cliff Notes: There's a difference in the regions so please pay attention to the different reviews before you go pick something and then tell me you hated it.

Below are reviews of the 4 wines all from Schloss Reinhartshausen. The properties they own have been churning out wine since 1337 (beat that Napa Valley!) and currently the Weingut (translation is winery, not the gut you acquired from drinking too much wine) is the largest private wine landowner in Rheingau. For the blogging event we had Andrea Besslich, the export manager at Schloss Reinhartshausen to answer questions for us.

So without further ado -- my take on the wines:

Wine #1: 2007 Schloss Reinhartshausen Fountain Blue Riesling (off-dry/a little sweet)
Color: Straw yellow and nice and bright!
Smell: This was an interesting one. The nose had a lot of acidic citrus on it -- the zest of a lemon (the part of the peel that is really strong smelling), some fresh lime juice, a little orange. There were definite nectarine, peachy whiffs, and a nice white jasmine note too.
Taste: I tasted light orange and apricot flavors and it tasted like rose water too, but the overwhelming sensation: a tart apple candy -- sour and really sweet at the same time. The wine is off-dry, so it has some sugar in it, which is probably why the apple tastes candied instead of just plain tart. From a texture perspective, the wine was a typical Riesling -- burning acid with a long finish.
My take: For an entry tier wine (it's about $15), this is a decent Riesling. It's well-balanced, has more than one flavor going on, and it's soft. Although I enjoyed this wine, I did find it a little sweet and not quite acidic enough for my taste. It left me wanting more and I wasn't overwhelmed by it. Could you eat it with some moo shu pork takeout? Yes. But I think you may be able to find something that does the job better for the same price.


Wine #2: 2007 Schloss Reinhartshausen Old Vines Riesling (off-dry/a little sweet)
Color: Also straw yellow and very twinkly!
Smell: Very, very faint. I thought my (rather large and usually overly sensitive) snout may be broken when I sniffed a few times and I got just a little hint of gardenia or a floral perfume something. Riesling is usually super aromatic. I thought I was coming down with H1N1 or something...
Taste: ...then I tasted this wine. This will keep you awake! Put it in your mouth and zzzzzzzz! It's like an electric shock on your tongue. Such bright acidity, IT'S ALIVE! And pretty damn great. Here the sugar is balanced by the acidity very well. The dominant fruit flavor: a pineapple lifesaver! And it had this absolutely amazing savory quality, as my fellow blogger, Decatur Wine Dude, astutely pointed out (a cool and nice dude, BTW). It was like a butter herb rub. There was a slight bitterness at the end, but the wine was solid.
My take: This wine is worth a try. This could be your Thanksgiving wine -- for $22, so worth it. It's a classy wine, very balanced and unexpected in its savory characters that not overwhelming because they are tamed by acidity. You won't even notice the sweetness when you pair it with all the salty, buttery goodness on the TG table or with savory Thai or Indian samosas. Try this one...if I haven't convinced you, have I mentioned that it has a glass cork closure. Well worth bringing to mom's for TG.
Note: As a side note, even though they don't market this wine as such (big mistake!) it's actually from a single vineyard called Erbacher Hohenrain. That makes it more consistent and full of character. If you want to buy this wine and open it in 10 years, it will ROCK then too, given the quality of it now.


Wine #3: 2007 Schloss Reinhartshausen Erbach Schlossberg Monopole Erstes Gewachs Riesling (dry)
WTF on the name? Let's break this down. Germans love putting detail on their bottles...

Erbach Schlossberg= the Schlossberg vineyard in the town of Erbach
Monopole= it just comes from that one vineyard (mono = one)
Erstes Gewachs=a quality classification for DRY Rieslings. This is the highest quality level
Riesling = you got this one, I know it

Color: Sparkly, very pale straw color with spritzy bubbles.
Smell: Ah, at last...some traditional Riesling smells. I was in my comfort zone: it was like eating a peach near a babbling mountain stream. Petrol, minerals, nectarines. My confidence in my nose was restored.
Taste: This was a very serious wine. The palate lived up to the nose -- it tasted streamy. Crisp acidity was balanced out by the really luscious apricot, pear, and tart apple fruitiness. It was slightly hot because, strangely, this wine was high in alcohol (14%). It was kind of hot in my mouth and felt full, even though there was a ton of acid. It added another, very interesting layer to the wine.
My take: Kinetic and flavorful, this was my fave. It's just a damn sexy dry wine. With your triple cream brie, fatty meats, and cream sauces -- have a field day with this. This is getting up there in price at $30, but for the layers, the balance, and the richness I think it would be hard to find a dry German Riesling at this price point that is this nice. Love it.


Wine #4: 2006 Schloss Reinhartshausen Erbacher Marcobrunn Auslese Riesling (very sweet)
Again, WTF on the name?

Erbacher Macrobrunn= the Macrobrunn vineyard in the town of Erbach
Auslese= Select grapes are picked very ripe. This is a high quality classification and usually the wines are pretty sweet, although they can be off-dry or dry too

Color: This was kind of a 14K gold color. It was dark but still very sparkly in the glass. It looked like honey and was very pretty!
Smell: OMG. Pooh Bear? Did I just sniff a honey pot? Or is it a honey comb with a little waxy-chemically, nutty smell? Flavored apricot honey. With petrol. WOW.
Taste: Man, this is a HUGE wine. It's nearly of dessert status. This is like sipping apple cider or tea with a lot of honey in it. It was very, very sweet, but was not quite of dessert quality because it still had wonderful acidity to make the wine bright rather than syrupy.
My take: This wine is from a very high quality vineyard that produces a lot of sweet and dessert wines. Although I appreciate the wine and think it is well-made, for me, it cannot be consumed without food. This wine could age for 30 years and still be great, but it wouldn't ever be great without something rich, creamy, or creamy and spicy to go with it. This is a big boy and without food, it may just be too overwhelmingly sweet and rich to shine.


For the full discussion on these wines from the Taste Live event, go to: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23winesofgermany. My Twitter Name is Vine 75. Readmore »»

Latour Chablis: An Unexpected Winter White

A few years ago, if you had asked me what Chablis was, I would very quickly define it as a giant jug of watery white wine with a screw cap. I would also tell you that, on nights we were feeling especially sophisticated, my college friends and I would depart from our usual Popov and cranberry (or Goldschlager if someone had procured a fraternity brother's leftovers), pour it into red Solo cups with an equal portion of Sprite, and drink it greedily down.

Awesome.

I'm convinced that a ton of normal wine people share this experience. You may have a vague idea that Chablis is a French word, and may even know that the big jug brands ripped the name off a great wine region in France, but you may not. If you don't know about this stuff, you've got to get clued in because Chablis is a phenomenal, fabulous wine. If you're bored with your whites, it will give your mouth a thrill.

Chablis is actually a small, super-northern region of Burgundy (yes, a Chablis is a Burgundy. Hopefully that ratchets up it's rep a little). It's actually closer to Champagne than the main part of Burgundy. Any way you look at it, the area's got major street cred.

Like most French wines, it's named for the region. The grape: it's Chardonnay. BUT this is NOT your mother's big oaky butterball. This is something entirely different.

Chablis is grown on a chalky soil in this cold region. Most is not aged in new oak, so it has none of the caramel, vanilla, woody flavor that you may find in the Chardonnays you swore off (if you hate Chard, that is). These wines smell like crisp green apples and mountain streams, and have unbelievably high acidity. They can even taste a little salty or chalky because of the soil. If you like high acid wines, look no further. They are also such a great match with food -- especially with seafood which they complement, and cream sauces, which they cut through so your Alfredo sauce isn't like swallowing heavy cream.

With all that said, some producers do a different style that is not considered to be "classic." They use a bit of oak to soften the wine. I feel like this is a marketing ploy to try and compete with American wines. It's disappointing to me, but maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist.

We served Chablis at our wedding last year. We had a few bottles left over (these were not stolen by our caterer, which was the fate that befell the Cabernet and Pinot Noir...urgh) so we opened one last night. Here goes...

The Wine: Louis Latour Chablis
Where It's From: Chablis, Burgundy (wine geeks -- appellation is Chablis Controlee)
The Grape: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2006
Price: $17.99


Color: It was a light color, like hay. That's usually what Chablis looks like. This one, though, had some yellow undertones. That made me wonder if it was age (whites darken as they age -- like age spots on people) or oak (also makes a white wine more yellow).

Smell: One little whiff and the butterscotch and caramel shot up the beak. Disappointing. There was green pear and maybe some Asian pear (which I like to call a 'papple' because it's a pear-apple), white flower, and honeysuckle. Although I did smell mineral, stream bed, and chlorine the main vanilla-romas tipped me off to the fact that Latour had dumbed down this wine to give it broader appeal. They oak aged it a little. I have such high regard for them (their higher tiers are phenomenal) that this made me sad.

Taste: Kind of like a Macintosh apple, or a caramel candied apple, the Latour was round and even had pineapple notes, which I'd expect in a fuller style from further south in Burgundy or in other parts of the world. I wouldn't pick this out of a line up as a Chablis, but it did have a metallic quality and some kinetic lemon zest flavors. The best part of the wine was a classic Chablis character -- rock solid acidity. That said, the overall impression was a rounder, medium-bodied, red-appley wine rather than an austere, granny smith apple, mineral rock, acid bowl.

Food: Because the oak is present but not overpowering, it's a good food wine. I'd try it with some grilled halibut or grilled chicken. Actually, if you need to bring a wine for Thanksgiving, this may be a good bet too. It's versatility will pair well with the mashed potatoes, the string beans, the toasted chestnuts, and, most importantly, the turkey.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink. Here's a winter white for you. Although it did not resemble all that I love in Chablis, the wine is a good winter sipper. Like a previous post recommends -- leave it out of the fridge for a bit and sip away. Although I really recommend trying a more classic Chablis (William Fevre Champs Royaux is classic and the same price, or get higher tiers of Latour, which are terrific) this is a very versatile wine and a good compromise if you don't like a big wine and your friend/spouse/partner/drinking buddy/dog does.

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