Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 004 Trendy Wines

Wine For Normal People Radio:
Episode 004 Trendy Wines - The Wine Popularity Contest

This week on Wine For Normal People Radio...what makes a wine trendy? What wines *are* trendy right now?

Rick and I discuss the most popular wines of 2010 and which wine trends will be popular in 2011. Highlights -- some stuff on what generations are drinking what (and why I think it is BS to divide wine drinkers this way), the most popular searches in the Hello Vino application, and Pinot Noir -- the grape of the week and why the movie "Sideways" kind of ruined it.

Check it out:

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A Primer on Bordeaux: The 4 Things You Need To Know

What can I say about Bordeaux? I mean, we don't exactly think of it as "Wine For Normal People" material. I remember seeing it written for the first time and thinking, "THAT'S how you spell it? With an X? Weird." And then there's the issue that it just kind of sounds expensive. Wine snobs talk about it all the time and go on and on about vintages and Banks and other confusing stuff. Kind of makes you want to throw your hands up and walk away.

But here's the thing: when I first learned about Bordeaux, I was kind of surprised that it wasn't as complicated as I thought. There's a lot to know if you want to become an expert on it, but once you get a few basics under your belt it's really not that bad. Right now you're thinking that I'm full of s*&t, but I'm really not. I promise.

I think 4 basic points should make you feel like you've got a handle on it: the grapes and wine styles of the region, geography, the importance of weather (vintage), and the prominence of producers in the region. Then I'll tell you about an awesome wine I had last night from the region and how it rocked my world.

First a quick preface that I pulled off the Web from Bordeaux Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux. I'm citing facts because I don't think they're so boring and they help answer the question: "Why is Bordeaux such a BFD?":

• The area is about 290,000 acres (117,500 ha)
• It represents 38% of all still wine (not bubbly or dessert) sold in the world
• It has 8,650 winegrowers
• It is responsible for 55,000 jobs (that's 4 out of 10 people employed in the French wine industry)
• In 2009 (a recession year, no less), it produced $3.37 billion Euros in revenue
• It is the largest exporter of AOC (controlled appellation wine) in France.

If you were wondering what part of the hype was...that should give you a good start. Wine in Bordeaux is big, big business and it behooves the Bordelais to keep quality high...and most of the time they do.

Now for 4 basic things about Bordeaux that can serve as a cheat sheet:

1. Grapes and Wine Types
Ok, so it's not as easy as Burgundy, where there are really only three main grapes to know (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Gamay), but Bordeaux deals mainly in 8 grapes...3 whites and 5 reds:

• White (11% of all grapes planted): Sémillon (53%), Sauvignon Blanc (38%), Muscadelle (6%)
  
• Red (89% of all grapes planted): Merlot (63%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Cabernet Franc (11%), and less than 1% of Malbec, Petit Verdot, and some others.
  

Almost all Bordeaux is a blend of two or more of the grapes above. Why? Two reasons. First, to add complexity to the wine and intensity of flavor, which is what makes these wines so unique. Second, farming plain and simple -- each ripen at different times so the winemaker has a hedge if anything goes wrong with any one variety and can make up for it with others. Smart thinking -- remember that wine is just glorified agriculture.

So now you'll know that when you see a bottle of Bordeaux, it's a blend of the grapes above. It will be similar each time you get taste it, with variations, but now you know the recipe, so hopefully you'll feel more confident picking it up.

2. Geography
I'm not going to be too detailed on this, because there are 60 appellations or different areas with kind of distinct wine styles in Bordeaux.

Bordeaux’s name actually originates from the French phrase “au bord de l’eau,” which means "along the water." It's not just some romantic name -- the area does actually lie along the banks of three rivers, the Dordogne in the north, the Garonne in the south, and the Gironde, into which both flow and which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

From a climatic standpoint, the area is pretty ideal. The warming maritime influence of the rivers, along with a pine forest in the south helps protect this otherwise very exposed area from the tumultuous weather and severe frosts that often come in winter. From a geological standpoint, the rivers are a dividing line for the types of grapes that grow best on each side of the river. And here's where the whole "Bank" thing comes into play -- banks just are sides of the river.

There are three main areas of Bordeaux:

• The Right Bank is on the Dordogne and the Gironde River (including the famous areas of St-Émilion and Pomerol) and is famous for its mainly Merlot with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon as supporting players (you may have heard of Petrus, which is usually one of the most expensive bottles in the world).
  
• The Left Bank on the Gironde and Garonne, includes the Médoc, where some very expensive Châteaux are located. It is known for wines made of a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon, always blended with Merlot and/or Cabernet Franc for softness and texture. One area, up river, called Graves makes great reds and excellent dry whites too.
  
• An area in between the two rivers before they converge, called Entre-Deux-Mers (translated to "between two seas," but really it’s between two rivers) is known for dry whites that are totally affordable and lighter in style.
  
• Sauternes and Barsac, technically on the Left Bank, need to be called out separately, since they make sweet dessert wines from grapes that have been infected by a fungus called Botrytis, which makes the grape look disgusting, but the wine taste rad.
  

3. Vintage Variation and Aging
I am an animal lover, so I hate to beat a dead horse, but I will say it again: grape growing is agriculture. Some years Mother Nature is kind, some years, not so much. In years where it all works, prices rise and wine geeks get excited. If you pay attention to weather conditions, then you’ll understand vintage – very simple but something people love to complicate.

With that horse flogged, a note on aging. Bordeaux are known for their age-ability. A good Bordeaux from a good year can age for decades because the tannins in the wine act as a natural preservative. Over time, the tannins loose a lot of the “fight” in them as the remain in an anaerobic environment, and mellow. That means that older wine tends to be softer, and have more complex flavors, as the chemical compounds change over time and combine with the other elements in the bottle.

Can all Bordeaux age? No way. Young white Bordeaux should be consumed within a few years and less expensive red Bordeaux is meant to be consumed within 5 years. Don’t hold onto it unless it’s of high quality, or you’ll lose the enjoyment it can offer you now. Not all great wine has to age!

4. Classification Systems
Ok, the final and most complicated point: Bordeaux, more than any other area, is obsessed with classifying its Châteaux by perceived quality. There are three main classifications that have been done in this large area, and none are without controversy. They are: Graves, St-Émilion, and most important..the 1855 classification.

What's the 1855 Classification? In 1855, Napoleon III requested a ranking of wines of the region from best to worst for his Exposition Universelle in Paris. The result: A ranking of the Châteaux by the price they fetched. A simple demand-driven strategy, and not entirely foolhardy, there were 61 wines classified into 5 growths/levels or “Cru.” Four Châteaux were at the top and the rest fell in the other 4 buckets until a price point was reached that they didn’t feel was worthy of classifying.

Huge controversy erupted that still exists today because all the Châteaux were on the Left Bank, and most were in the Medoc area – the entire Right Bank was shunned, as were other parts of Bordeaux that churn out amazing wines. To complicate issues further, since 1855 only 1 change has been made (Château Mouton-Rothschild was elevated from a second to a first growth) even though Châteaux have changed hands and quality has ebbed and flowed. Nevertheless, the top 5 Cru still garner the highest prices and are considered some of the best wines in the world. History reigns supreme on this one.

____________________________________________________________

So those are Bordeaux basics. Here, the Châteaux are top dog. The best happen to be on the best land and can therefore produce the best wines, but ultimately Bordeaux is a marketing driven business and, frankly, it's a caste system, not a meritocracy. That said, there is a spectrum of great affordable wines. The region pumps out 700 million bottles a year, and most of it is just affordable table wine that can be quite phenomenal and give us peons a glimpse of what it must be like to have the $700/bottle stuff that those who live high on the hog enjoy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Case in point:
The Wine: Château Haut-La- Pereyre
Where It's From: Bordeaux Superieur (Sourced from slightly better grapes than regular 'ole Bordeaux, the wine is aged 12 months before being released)
The Grapes: Some combination of the Bordeaux grapes, probably mostly Merlot. They don't have a web site so it's anyone's guess
Vintage: 2005
Price: $15.99

Color: This gorgeous wine was the color of dark red rose petals -- a deep red with a brownish tinge. The wine had a watery rim and evenly spaced tears, meaning the wine had a medium alcohol level (water and alcohol separate, water runs out first and the "tears" are the alcohol left over), typical of a Bordeaux, which is generally moderate in alcohol.

Smell: Here's a typical Bordeaux characteristic: fruit takes a backseat to more organic smells. Wet dusty road, soil, and gravel mixed in with chocolate and coffee and a dark floral smell. There was a smoky mocha aroma and a very strong hit of mint on the nose too. The oak (which imbues the grape juice with the coffee, smoke, and chocolate as it ages) played so well against the blackcurrant, and dark cherry flavors that were the backbone of the aroma.

Taste: The wine delivered on the smell -- lots of mint, blackcurrant, and smoke appeared, but there was even more to it with every sip. Chocolate covered cherries, blood orange (sweet-tart and citrusy), raisins, and licorice dominated the flavor. It was really elegant -- medium in body with light tannins, low acid, and a super long finish that stuck around. It was so subtle and complex that it kept me wanting to go back for more to pick out new things and savor the stuff I knew was there.

Food Pairings: This wine is not a blockbuster and it's best served with dishes that won't out do it. Simple preparation is the key here. Meats that aren't overcooked are key. Herb rubs, simple reductions, or even soy-based sauces on medium to rare meat, mushrooms, or hearty veggies would work awesomely well.

A note on vintage: So, here's the tricky thing. This wine will probably be available in a few vintages and you'll need to check it out before you buy. In Bordeaux 2005 was an awesome year for weather and so most of the wines from that year I've had from the region have been amazing, regardless of price. 2006 and 2008 were pretty good too. 2009 was freaking amazing. 2007, maybe skip it if that's all that's available -- the weather was changeable, and the wines just didn't have the umph that Mother Nature is capable of.

Drink or Down the Sink?: DRINK!!! I'm trying to figure out how to get more '05 of this wine before it disappears. Amazing wine, amazing value. In fact, it was so good, MC Ice and I refuse to finish the bottle -- we just want to keep savoring it for as long as possible and seeing how it changes each night -- dorky, yeah, but it's that good!
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Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 003 Oak & Wine

Here it is! The third installment of Wine For Normal People Radio.

Sadly, the intro lies this time...we ran over to more like 35 minutes since this is a huge topic (and one that we STILL only sc ratched the surface on).

In this episode Rick and I talk about oak and its influence on wine, and then some. We discuss New Zealand's plans to go organic and the grape of the week is Pinot Gris. Check it out!

Episode 003 Oak and Wine - What’s the big deal?

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The price we pay for pesticides

Just to draw your attention to a report in the Telegraph yesterday on the death of a 43 year old vigneron Yannick Chenet whose death from leukaemia has been linked to the pesticides he sprayed on his crops including vines.

The report claims that over a quarter of the pesticides that are used in Europe each year are used in France and that a fifth of that amount goes onto vineyards despite the fact that they only account for 5% of France's agricultural land.

I've read that elsewhere although the figures vary. In Jean-Charles Botte's Le Guide des Vins Vivants (2007) he quotes microbiologist Claude Bourguignon who used to work for the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA). Bourguignon claims that vines only represent 2% of farmed land in France but use 30% of the pesticides, resulting in a loss of biodiversity as well as a hazard to the health of those who handle them. You can find his website here. Readmore »»

Paxton Shiraz Rosé

The trouble with writing a book is that you have to put the rest of your life on hold - family, friends and, these days, blogging. So I've actually been tasting some good wines and meeting some interesting organic and biodynamic winemakers without having a chance to write about them.

Anyway, a quick one about this Paxton Shiraz Rosé 2009 which is currently on offer at Oddbins* for £8.39 instead of £11.99 but probably won't be for much longer. It's made in McLaren Vale by the biodynamic producer Paxton Wines and is quite a curiosity - dark coloured with vivid cherry and raspberry flavours but surprisingly low in alcohol at 11.5%. What might throw you is that it has 12g of residual sugar but I reckon if you drank it with something hot, spicy and sweet (Sichuan Chinese, for example, or maybe a prawn curry) it would be perfect.

I got the chance to taste some of their other wines at the Australian Wine annual trade tasting on Wednesday and particularly liked the 2009 Quandong Shiraz which comes from the first vineyard they converted to biodynamic viticulture. It's made in open top fermenters and put mainly into old oak barrels - no fining or filtering - and it's lovely. Not jammy or over-extracted, just really well balanced. However it's the 2008, which I haven't tasted, that seems to be the current vintage in the UK. You can buy it from Wine Etcetera (£16.45), Barrels and Bottles £18.17 and Noel Young Wines (£18.49) among others.

Paxton is also a member of 1% For the Planet, a group of companies that donates one per cent of their profits to environmental organisations

* I've just learnt that Reserve Wines of West Didsbury near Manchester have it for £11.50. They also carry some of the other Paxton wines. Readmore »»

Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris: A Solid Pinot Grigio, A Poor Pinot Gris...

It has been a long time since I've had Pinot Gris. I'm not really sure why. I love it. It has all the fat-bodied, oily, fruity deliciousness of a Gewurztraminer, but with more subtle aroma and far more acid. It's a perfect white when made right. And it goes with my other favorite delight -- yummy cheese. From Brie to Gouda to Parmesan, I think Pinot Gris is a beautiful match. I need to drink it more often. But as I'll discuss in the rundown, I need to be careful where I get the goods from.

I've discussed Pinot Gris at length in another post, but I'll do a quick review here in case you're not inclined to click over. Pinot Gris is native to Burgundy, France and it's a mutation of the totally unstable Pinot Noir grape (which has spawned this as well as other greatest hits like Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier, which is used in Champagne). Even though it's made as a white wine, it often has its parent's looks -- grey-blue, pink, or grey-yellow skin -- attributes of a black-skinned grape for sure. As a result, sometimes the wine in the bottle has a pink tinge because of this skin coloration (as always when I think about this, I am left wondering why this wine is made as a white when it would be so much easier to make it as a light red, but I digress).

Even though Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the exact same grape (and both mean “Grey Pinecone” -- grey because of the skin tinge, and pinecone because the bunch is shaped like a pinecone), they are vastly different in style. Why? Because the grapes are influenced by the soils and climates they grow in.

For example, when grown in bulk on flat, fertile plains like in the Veneto in Italy, Pinot Grigio is light, citrus-flavored, acidic, and pretty mild...or alcoholic lemon water, as I like to think of it. When grown with care, on mountainsides, in cooler climates, and in smaller yields, as in some parts of Fruili-Venezia-Giulia and Trentino Alto-Adige in Italy, parts of Oregon, and in Alsace, France, Pinot Gris is full-bodied, aromatic, honeyed, and rich. When grown in Alsace, it also has this very distinct character of Indian food spices that make my knees a little weak. This is a stunning grape that is so often abused and mistreated, creating ick results (is there a grape abuse hotline we can call? We need one!).

Since wine labeling in the New World (everywhere except Europe) is all about marketing, producers get to pick what they want to call the grape. My rule of thumb is usually that California wines often are named Pinot Grigio to mimic the Italian style (of insipid flavorless white) and Oregon and New Zealand wines are often named Pinot Gris to indicate a style closer to Alsace. The thing is, now I'm annoyed because I've been finding that this isn't entirely accurate.

On the Pinot Grigio side, I think I'm doing ok -- if I want my alcoholic citrus water from California instead of Italy, I can pick out a Pinot Grigio and score (which I generally try not to do, FYI). But on the Pinot Gris side, it's all messed up. I can't really speak for New Zealand because I've only had one or two Pinot Gris from there and they have been closer to the French style, but my sample size is way too small to generalize. But Oregon...oh, Oregon...I don't know what to expect anymore.

Oregon is one of my go-tos for Pinot Noir and it used to be a pretty reliable source for Pinot Gris too, but I'm starting to doubt that this is a mecca for the Grey One. Most of the Pinot Gris is grown in the Willamette (Will-AM-it) Valley, a premium wine making area that stretches from the Columbia River in the north, to south of Eugene, and from the western Oregon Coastal Range to the eastern Cascade Mountains. With a cool climate that doesn't get above 90 degrees or below 0 Farenheit, it should be good for growing a grape that does well in cooler climates, like Pinot Gris. But it's not producing the wines I think it could...or the producers aren't.

Last night I had the Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris. It was the most recent in a string of (ten or more) that I've had that have been more like a fuller version of Italian Pinot Grigio than French Pinot Gris. The ship is turning on Oregon for me, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it out of the rotation and stick to Alsace and better regions of Italy for this grape. This wine was sent to me very graciously by the Winery to review (that's my disclosure), however I will be honest as always. Here's the rundown:


The Wine: Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris
Where It's From: Willamette Valley, Oregon
The Grapes: Pinot Gris with an unspecified amount of Pinot Blanc and Muscat thrown in
Vintage: 2008
Price: $16.99

Color: A light golden hue, and very clear and sparkling, the wine looked beautiful and like a perfect example of Pinot Gris. Mouthwateringly pretty in the glass!

Smell: Here's where I started to wonder...the wine smelled like citrus fruit, red apples, apple skin, and pear but also like minerals and stream. There was a slight gasoline note too it that I usually only find in Pinot Grigio from Italy. For me, Pinot Gris from Alsace, which the Winery's notes claim is the model for this wine, is loaded, even dripping, with honeyed apple, rich ripe peach, orange, floral and smoke aromas and unmistakable East Indian spice. That was completely absent here and I became skeptical.

Taste: Say it ain't so.
Tasting notes say: "The stylistic vision of this wine is an 'Oregon version' of Alsatian Pinot Gris. Depth of extract, richness, big mouthfeel but with elegance and ability to age."

WFNP says: Although the wine shows apple, peach, and pear flavors, it also has a radicchio lettuce-like bitterness to it. It's not as thin as an Italian Pinot Grigio but it has the same almond skin bitter flavors I get from Veneto PG. Rather than opulent, creamy, or rich (as it is described), I think this is more of a light, simple wine. I would definitely not characterize this as having a big mouthfeel or much depth. It's a simple, refreshing white that doesn't have much going on.

Food Pairings: Rather than the richer fare that I'd pair with Alsace Pinot Gris, for this I'd stick with vegetarian dishes, salads, lightly grilled white fish, and light risottos.

Drink or Down the Sink?: As a Pinot Gris, I'd pour this down the sink. I wish they had called it a Pinot Grigio and not made claims that it was anything like Alsace's version. Putting that idea in my head, as impressionable as I may be, made me really disappointed in the wine. As a simple quaffer that's akin to Italian Pinot Grigio, this wine is better than most of the stuff out there (it's also double the price of most Italian Pinot Grigio, so it should be). The wine is well-made and balanced, albeit a little too bitter for my personal palate. If you like Pinot Grigio, you'll like this wine, however if you are a big fan of Alsace Pinot Gris, don't expect much -- buy another brand or buy the real deal for a few bucks more.

I have to admit that this run-in with this wine has me realizing that I must change my expectation of Oregon Pinot Gris. Although a few Oregon producers make it in the bigger French style, I'm realizing more and more that I what I thought was so, just isn't and I've got to expect a little less (or grab a marker and change the label on the bottle so I can psychologically accept that this is just better-than-average Pinot Grigio).

Take it for what it's worth and let me know what you think. Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 002 Recommendations - Which is the best wine?

If you missed it last week, Wine For Normal People has gone multimedia! In partnership with the co-founder of the Hello Vino mobile wine recommendation application, Rick Breslin, each week we are coming to you to talk about basic topics in wine that are interest to normal wine people (aka, not wine snobs!).

This week's Wine For Normal People podcast is in response to a Tweet received by Hello Vino that asks for a recommendation for a "good red wine that's not too expensive."

So we bring you: Episode 002 Recommendations - Which is the best wine?

We break it down for you, here are this week's big topics:

• Which wine is best? - A loaded question
• News - The iPhone is (finally) coming to Verizon
• Wine apps that help you pick a wine
• Wine is subjective - we like different wines for different reasons
• Breaking down the process - Color, Texture, Flavors, & types of wine
• Red wine vs. white wine
• Grape Spotlight: Syrah (or Shiraz, depending on a few things)

Listen below, or click on the link above to download through Zune, iTunes, and virtually anywhere else so you can listen on your mobile device while you're driving somewhere, at the DMV, or just hanging around somewhere not near your computer! Thanks for listening!

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A Cure For Red Wine Ennui: Bandol from Provence

Although I do love the very popular wine grapes and blends that are widely available (Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc), this week I found that I had grape ennui. I was completely bored of all the usual suspects and I was craving something different. So when I went to one of my favorite wine shops and I saw a great deal on a Bandol (BAHN-dol), I grabbed it and cracked it open almost as soon as I got home. Bandol is not a grape. It's a place in Provence, in Southern France.

Amidst the lavender, olives, and beautifully patterned fabrics there is, like seemingly everywhere in the Mediterranean basin, wine. To be fair, most of the wine from this region is only passable, at best. 80% of it is Rose, which tastes like nectar from the gods when you're sipping it in St. Tropez at a beachside cafe, but has oh-so-noticeably lost its spunk by the time it travels the miles to reach us (wherever we may be that is decidedly NOT St. Tropez). The real action in Provence wines is in the 15% that's red...now we're talkin'. There are three red wine areas on the "ones to watch" list from Provence, but only 1 that I can ever find. The three: Cassis, Bellet, and Bandol, with the latter being the only one I've been able to try.

What makes these so special? These wines are made from the very powerful, luscious Mourvèdre (moo-VED-rrr) grape, which is a plummy, spicy, woodsy delight that is rarely made alone but rather part of a blend because it has such cajones. Wines from Bandol contain a minimum of 50% Mourvèdre, but can be up to 95% of the grape. They are often blended with Grenache and Cinsault to soften up the bold, tannic, and meaty flavors of the lead grape. Syrah and Carignan can also be added in small proportions to add depth and soften, respectively. Mourvèdre is so strong that it can't be without oak aging to tame it and in the bottle, these wines can age for 15 years and may still not be ready!

Because the wine world isn't confusing enough (ha!), this grape has a doppelgänger (this is one of my favorite words, FYI) -- its known as Monastrell (moan-a-STREL) or Mataró (maht-ah-ROH) in Spain and is native to that country. It's wonderful there, but the French have made it their own -- mostly because they can: its flavor and character changes based on the soil, the climate, the sun exposure, and the intangibles of the vineyard (all put together, it's what the French call "terroir"). In Bandol, over the last few million years, massive erosion took place following the ice age, giving the area beautifully well-drained, stony soils composed of granite and sandstone, which the Mourvèdre vine takes to like a duck to water.

Growing in tight little bushes that can stand up to the heavy, ferocious gusts of cold wind that come from northern continental Europe and is known as the Mistral this tough, muscly grape produces a small amount of very potent wine that is delicious to those of us who like bold flavors. The grape is mainly used for adding a kick to wines that otherwise may lack tannins and brawn (Mourvèdre is a big component in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for example, and many Côtes du Rhône).

A quick dork out on history of this region for a minute, since we HAVE TO give props to one of the oldest winemaking regions in France. Grapes started growing here 2,600 years ago, most likely when the Phoenicians took over the area we now know as Provence. They probably brought Monastrell from Spain, where they had already been cultivating grapes for several centuries. When they arrived in the Gulf of Bandol, they found a unique situation, what the site Vins de Bandol (which is the source of much of my info on this post and which I'm kind of in love with for its regional pride) describes as a natural ampitheater -- the area is surrounded by mountains on three sides that keep in warmth, while providing a perfect outlet for export on the south. The 8 communes or areas that make up the Bandol appellation or region all have a warm coastal climate, great soils, and enough but not too much rain.

So returning to history, nature's gift was awesome for the commerce-minded Phoenicians. Cha-ching! They could easily export the vino to far flung places and make cash without much transportation overhead (inland locales like Champagne or Burgundy required a trip down a river -- why waste the time when Bordeaux and Bandol were basically on the ocean? Leave those places to the monks!). After the initial investment of painstakingly building stone terraces into the mountainside (which are called restanques and are still there and still used today, although slightly upgraded, I'm sure), the Phoenicians and all the administrations after who owned Bandol, made some great money off the wine trade there and in the process built the reputation of this small enclave.

So apart from the fact that its cool to drink the same wine that Louis XV drank, and that this is one of the oldest and best kept secrets of bold red wine in France, you should know that Bandol producers have a very serious commitment to quality and to what is known as "typicity," which is just a fancy way of saying that, within a few degrees of separation, all the wines should taste similar and have an essence that tells you they are from Bandol. This is a nice safety net feature and one all European wines are supposed to have if they bear their country's version of the French Appellation Origine Controllee (AOC -- in Italy DOC/DOCG, in Spain DO, in Germany QmP, in Portugal DOC). Unfortunately, I find that this is not always true even in high quality regions like Bordeaux or Chianti...but that's a story for another post.

Bandol, in my limited experience, is an exception and is pretty great...so here's an example.

The Wine: Domaine Sorin Bandol
Where It's From: Bandol, in the South of France
The Grapes: Mourvèdre 85%, Syrah 10%, Carignan 5%
Vintage: 2006
Price: $19.99

Color: As expected from a Mourvèdre, this wine is uber dark red -- a red black color right up to the rim where it turned a brownish, watery garnet. After 4 years, this wine had heavy tears and was full of sediment -- a bunch stayed in the shoulder after I poured it into my glass. This was going to be a hearty, bold wine with lots of omph if the color was any indicator.

Smell: Sniffing this wine was like hiking in the woods! It smelled like a combo of decaying leaves, pine needles, and then kind of like an animal skin. The alcohol was standing tall at 14% -- it made my nose tingle and I actually coughed on the inhalation! On a second sniff, the wine did have some plum and sour cranberry scents, plus something like that lingonberry jam you get at IKEA (if you know what I'm talking about. My mom had it at her house so I tried it...I am too immature to actually buy it since it sounds to me like dingleberry or linger-berry, which...ew). After sniffing it a few times (short sniffs, of course so I don't burn out my nose) I realized that it kind of reminded me of a Bordeaux in terms of having a little stinky funk, which I love.

Taste: The wine didn't really taste like what it smelled like, which was fine but slightly disappointing. It tasted kind of like edible violets. There was a distinct spiciness to it that was almost like mulled wine or a spicy cranberry sauce. I loved the sweet clove and cinnamon notes, although I would have preferred the wine be more complex. It was medium bodied and had medium tannins -- nothing outstanding or really bold.

Food: Although game and lamb would normally be classic pairings with a bold Bandol, this particular wine was spicy but not strong. Rather than stronger flavored game, grilled vegetables and beef would be the best pairing because the smokiness of the grilling would go well with the warm spices and fruit flavors of the wine without overwhelming it. We had it with some cranberry encrusted goat cheese and hard VSOP Gouda cheese, and it went really well with both -- the goat cheese tasted creamier and fruitier, and the wine's spices really popped against the nuttiness of the Gouda.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink, however I would try another Bandol if given the choice. This wine has characteristics of a great Bandol, but it's not enough for me. I think for $20 you can do better...hell, for $12 try Hécula from Spain, a Monastrell that kicks serious ass.
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Is there more funk in Felton Road?

One of the first Kiwi Pinots I fell in love with was Felton Road so it's interesting to see how the wine has evolved since the winery went biodynamic (it was Demeter certified in 2009)

They have 5 cuvées now all of which I tasted at the New Zealand tasting this week. The standout one for me was the Block 3 which had a simply glorious purity of fruit. It's also (unfortunately) the most expensive at up to £51.75 (The Sampler)

The Block 5 (£40.40 at Slurp) was very impressive too - intense, rich and textured though still quite closed and I also enjoyed the Cornish Point which had some lovely fruit and an attractive freshness though possibly a little light for a £33 wine. Hard to tell at this age.

It was the two other 'entry level' pinots (if £25-£35 can be called an entry level price point) that exhibited the funkiness: the 2009 Bannockburn Pinot Noir (dark, earthy, quite rustic) and the Calvert (big, ripe, slightly chewy tannins, 'animal' my tasting notes say). And you just wonder how they'll age which you're entitled to expect they should at that price.

I remember buying some Felton Road (the 2003 Block 5, I think) while it was still an affordable £17 or so and finding it acquired increasing funkiness over the following four to five years. You wouldn't want a whole lot more on either the Bannockburn or the Calvert.

It's also interesting to speculate, following our previous debate, the effect of the biodynamic calendar on the way the wines were tasting. It turned out to be a leaf day . . . Readmore »»

Inaugural Episode of Wine For Normal People Radio: Varieties v. Varietals -- Which Is It?

Drumroll please....

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I've said that Wine For Normal People is going multimedia in 2011...and I've wasted no time!

Please check out the inaugural episode of the Wine For Normal People podcast, available at winefornormalpeople.podbean.com AND through iTunes! Or click here to download the MP3 and listen now!

What's the podcast about? It's a weekly 20 to 25 minute look into a basic wine topic with co-host Rick Breslin, a wine/tech enthusiast, and co-founder of Hello Vino, a free mobile wine application that assists wine consumers with recommendations on pairings, and provides lots of basic information about wine flavor profiles and how to pick wine based on your taste preferences.

Every week we're going to talk about wine and address topics that other wine podcasts may not even think to talk about (because they just assume everyone knows, of course). The first show: Is it varieties or varietals? And what does that mean anyway?

Check it out...and stay tuned for this week's topic, due out Friday: How do I pick a good wine? (amorphous, no? Comes from a real Tweet that was sent to Hello Vino and is a question I get all the time too! We break it down, so don't miss it!).

Oh, and please don't tell me I have a face for radio : ) Readmore »»

New Zealand winemakers aim to be 20% organic by 2020

Big news from the New Zealand wine tasting yesterday. The organisation that represents organic wine growers Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (OWNZ) has announced that it has set a target that 20% of New Zealand wineries should be organic and biodynamic by 2020.

Currently only 1,500 hectares of vines are managed organically – 4.5% of New Zealand’s total. The goal is supported by the main industry association New Zealand Winegrowers which has already signed a joint memorandum with the OWNZ to promote organic production and has its own sustainability programme with which any producer who wants to get an export licence will have to comply by next year. (You can read more about it here and here.)

The development puts New Zealand back at the forefront of the debate about sustainable viticulture which it occupied back in the 90s although it was interesting that some of the principal protagonists such as Rippon, Millton and Seresin weren't present at yesterday's tasting. Nor was Mission Estate which according to this report on the New Zealand website Scoop is running an interesting trial that compares organic and conventionally treated vineyards side by side. Readmore »»

An Amazing South African Syrah and the Contrast with a Less Amazing Cali Shiraz...A Cool Experiment

The other night MC Ice and I were cold. We needed something to warm us up. So we popped open a bottle of Syrah from South Africa that I'd been sent a while back (there's my disclosure, but as usual free wine doesn't guarantee a good review!). Because we're just so wild and crazy, we had another bottle of Shiraz from California (same grape, different name, and this was ALSO sent to me) and decided to do a little taste test. I don't want to be bitchy about this, but I've got a serious peeve where this wine is concerned. I hear it mispronounced ALL the time, so I want to clear it up here and ask that you PLEASE remember this, if nothing else from this post:

1. Syrah and Shiraz are different names for the same grape.
2. It is NOT Sy-RAZ or Sha-rah. PLEASE don't call it either of those things.
3. It's Syrah (See-RAH) or Shiraz (Shah-RAZ).

Ok, with that off my chest, some other important things....

Syrah is always the name in France, where the grape is originally from and where the flavors are more like savory herbs, black pepper, and horse farm (just trust me on this one and then get a bottle to sniff so you know what I mean!). Shiraz is always the name of the grape in Australia where the wines taste like blackberries with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and have secondary flavors like dark, wet soil.

In other parts of the world nomenclature is kind of weird. Producers use Syrah when they want to indicate a French style and Shiraz when they want to indicate an Australian style -- you'll see both used in Californian and South African wines, so just know it's all the same grape and the term used on the bottle is a tip off to the style.

Because I've gone into a lot of detail on California in prior posts, and because I've gone into detail on the producer, Concannon, in another post, I'm going to talk about the South African Mullineux from a semi-obscure area called Swartland, in the northwestern Cape area.

I make no excuses and don't try to hide my love for South Africa. I was there a few years ago and was fascinated by the beauty of the place, the kindness of the people, and the EXCELLENT food and wine. I'm pulling for the wines of South Africa to keep on keeping on -- improving quality and becoming more prominent players on the world wine scene.

The thing I think a lot people don't know about South Africa is that the country has been churning out wine since it was colonized in the 1650s. Because of that, there's been much debate about whether it is considered Old World (which right now is an exclusive European club) or New World (everywhere that isn't Europe). It's been classified New World both for stylistic reasons (it's fruitier and more bold in flavor than European wines) and for the fact that the political woes of South Africa (apartheid) put winemaking back nearly 100 years and now the country is tenaciously and aggressively trying to recover from its setback. Given the overhaul and modernization required by the industry, many New World winemaking techniques and ideas have permeated, so I think the whole debate on New v. Old World has been settled by the powers that be.

Regardless, the country makes good wine. And all its street cred comes from areas near the southernmost tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. You may have heard of places like Stellenbosch, Franschoek, Elgin, or Walker Bay, where the wine critics who like to put arbitrary numbers on wine quality (oops, did I say that?) have concentrated their tasting. These places do make great wine and as time goes on they are only bound to improve. But there are some more remote areas that have great wine history too that we may want to keep an eye on...and Swartland (to which none of my texts have given much credence) is one of them.

40 minutes north of the breathtaking end of the world, Cape Town (yes this is a picture from my haul up the back of Table Mountain, which involved scaling rock face, climbing up rickety ladders, and squirming up tenuous chains, but that's a story for another time...), is the giant bread basket of South Africa: Swartland. It's known as "blackland" because in the summer the green foliage turns black due to lack of water.

This place is no stranger to wine...or to civilization. According to the cave paintings (and to the Mullineux web site!), bushmen lived here 150,000 years ago, farming the rich, fertile land. About 2000 years ago, the nomadic Khoi-Khoi came in and brought with them sheep and cattle. And 350 years ago Europeans came from the Southern Cape in search of meat and a place to grow oats, wheat, barley, etc., which was greatly lacking in the Cape's windy, maritime climate. Like every sad colonization story, the Khoi-Khoi freely traded with the Europeans, until eventually the latter took over the water supplies and farmlands and forced out the nomads.

But leaving aside all that cultural and political stuff, we're here to talk about wine. And the key to this story is that from very early on, as soon as Europeans set up settlement in Swartland, they also began viticulture. Although it took a backseat to more important stuff like growing grains and raising sheep and cows, little pockets cropped up and grapes were turned into wine.

Fast forward to more modern times and bam! a revolution has taken place in this area. As it turns out, Swartland is great for growing grains, but less great for viticulture. Producers have to carefully select sites to get good raw material for wine. The area is surrounded by mountains, and the soils from those mountains have provided an excellent environment, but don't look for Swartland to be a huge volume producer of great wine any time soon. The good areas are limited. That said, a few amazing producers have decided to try their hand at making high quality wines using amazing, old school techniques.

For instance, many do what's called dry farming here. What's that? Really just old-school farming -- you don't irrigate and you leave it to nature to provide water sources for the vines. What does that mean? Instead of shallow roots that have consistent access to water from drip irrigation (hoses that kind of leak water to the vines on a regular basis), the roots of these vines have to go way down deep to access water. The yields are low from these vines and they struggle -- a good thing in the wine world. Instead of being trained on trellises, the better producers also grow these vines in bushes, a very old method of growing vines that ripens vines slowly but well in warm, dry climates like Swartland (left). All these old school methods are also used in the Northern Rhone Valley of France, where the famous native red grape, Syrah, is king. And this grape takes the crown with the top producers in Swartland like Sadie Family Vineyards, the only Biodynamic producer in the area.

A word on Mullineux before I review the wine -- it's a pretty new property, started in 2007 by a husband and wife team near a mountain called Riebeck Kasteel. The Winery is laser focused on making just three wines -- a white blend, a straw wine (sweet wine, the grapes raisin on straw mats or some other method, and then you press out mostly sugar to get a sweet treat!), and Syrah.

Mullineux is minimalist in farming and they don't believe in a lot of winemaker monkeying, as I like to say. They rely on grapes, not oak, for primary flavors and the wines are unfiltered and unfined, which doesn't mean there's chunks of grape floating in them, but more that flavor is retained because the wine isn't subjected to clarification, which some believe strips out and homogenizes flavors.

I'll provide the review below, but for fun and illustration of the differences, I'm going to add an extra section, which is how it compared to the Concannon Shiraz. This wine is 3 times the price of the California wine but probably 10 or 15 times the quality. I don't think there is always a direct correlation between price and quality, but in this case, yeah, it is in a BIG way.

The Wine: Mullineux Syrah
Where It's From: Swartland, South Africa
The Grapes: 100% Syrah
Vintage: 2008
Price: $29.99

Color: With the risk of grossing you out, I'll say that the wine is so dark that it's like looking at a blood bag. Pigment galore - it was nearly opaque but still had a nice pink, watery edge. All this sounds ick, but a Syrah with this much richness, at minimum, indicates lots of fruity ripeness. This is pretty common color in warmer regions, where the sun allows the grapes lots of ripeness and pigment development.

Smell: If I may be slightly judgmental for a second, I wasn't expecting that much from this wine. Swartland is warm, there aren't a ton of producers from the area, and I was concerned this would be like an expensive Livingston Cellars, from Cali's Central Valley.

I'll admit it: I'm a chump. This wine was complex, intense, and many splendored! It smelled more like a Rhone Syrah than an Australian one -- leather, horse hair, and black pepper were more prominent than the ripe plum, and blackberry aromas. This is so obscure, but there's this smell of damp wood or marine air that I associate with older apartments in San Francisco (if you've smelled it, you know what I mean) -- I smelled that here. If that is completely out there, just think of damp wood, and dark, dry soil. Oh yeah, and deliciousness.

Taste: The wine was fruitier than expected -- lots of sour blackberry juice with a raisin/prune flavor. That barnyard, horsey smell kind of melded with the fruit and was complex (think a cheese that's a little funky) and gooooood! A little peppercorn and a baked bread flavor were on the finish -- super unique and savory. It had a little bit of an alcohol burn but the mouth-drying tannins were in check and everything was in great balance. This wine had a ton of character and stuck around long after I swallowed it.

Food: Because this wine is so complex, you'll need something a little simpler to go up against it. Hard cheeses like Parmesan or something flavorful like Gorgonzola would benefit from the spicy, earthy flavors of the wine. If you go light on the marinade and just do a vinaigrette with salt and fresh pepper, then grilled meats or veggies would be an ideal match. Heavy meat and a peppercorn rub = good things with this wine. Grilled portabella mushrooms, another hit.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink, drink, drink! What a nice, bold wine. I was thoroughly impressed by how multi-faceted this was and how it resembled French more than Australian wine.

Comparison with Concannon: Concannon's wine is called Shiraz, so I expected more unabashed fruit flavors than the restraint shown in the Mullineux wine. But from the get-go I knew I was wrong. The watery, lighter color didn't indicate a bolder wine. The grapey aroma was nothing like the rich, horsey, woodsy, black plum scents in the Mullineux. The Concannon also smelled to me like it was going to be watery -- there wasn't a whole lot going on. This isn't like most Shiraz I've had and it was quite the opposite of the depth and complexity of the Mullineux.

In contrast to the multi-layered flavors of the South African wine, the Concannon Shiraz reminded me of (I'm going to take you back or stretch your imagination if you don't know what this is) Hubba Bubba Blueberry flavored chewing gum. There was a touch of black pepper and a bit of mouth drying tannin, but this wine was just light plum fruit with some alcohol -- it seemed like the flavor was baked out of the grapes in the hot Cali sun and the vines may be in soils that aren't the best for the grape. Regardless of reason, the wine lacked all the nuance I found in the South African Syrah. The Concannon was palatable, and had characteristics of the Syrah/Shiraz grape, but when stacked up against the Mullineux, it paled.

Doing a "taste test" like this is fascinating and I'd recommend it to you so you can see for yourself how diverse regions can make a big difference in aroma, flavor, and overall deliciousness. It also helps you learn the range of flavors a grape has, and kind of the "bones" of the operation -- what it seems to always have in common.

What did I learn from this excuse for drinking a lot of Shiraz? I like complexity in my Syrah/Shiraz. Fruit alone is not enough for me -- I like the funk (horse, pepper, dirt) that the grape can possess. So, hot areas without diversity in soil types for me aren't going to do it. I will always maintain that quality is not always driven by price, but I do think it's driven by where the grapes are grown and I think super fertile areas like the San Francisco Bay/Livermore Valley are not at the top of my list when I shop for Syrah/Shiraz.

Comment on this post and let me know what you discover!
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