Tasting the wines of Australia and New Zealand

Last March, our tasting club met again, this time to taste the wines of New Zealand and Australia.

Even if Australia is considered to be one of the main new world wine regions, vineyards were already well established in the 1820s in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. In fact, some of the oldest vines in the world are now found in Australia, as they were able to escape the phylloxera epidemic that destroyed most of Europe's vineyards.

In New Zealand on the other hand, wine remained a marginal activity until the late 1970s, although the country's first vines were planted in Northland in 1819. New Zealand has now ten main wine growing regions stretching from latitudes 36°S (Northland) to 45°S (Central Otago), thus producing a wide array of wine styles.

Our group tasted seven wines, two whites, five reds, three from New Zealand, and four from Australia.

Our first white was the 2005 Grant Burge Pinot Gris Reserve from Eden Valley. Located in South Australia, Eden Valley is one of the country's coolest wine regions with a production dominated by Riesling, Chardonnay, and Shiraz. The wine is produced by Grant Burge Wines, a major wine company located in the Barossa Valley. Established in 1988, Grant Burge is now one of the top 10 privately owned wine companies in Australia. The wine had a subtle nose of citrus, a clean and generous palate with mineral notes and a fresh acidity on the finish. A light wine for a warm, summery evening.

Our second white was the 2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. Marlborough is New Zealand's largest and best known winegrowing area. Sauvignon Blanc is Marlborough's most planted grape variety and the star of the region with Chardonnay in second place, followed by Pinot Noir and Riesling. The wine had an extremely attractive nose of grapefruit and cassis. The palate was crisp with vibrant fruit flavors, followed by a long aftertaste. The wine was definitively one of the group favorite wines.

Then we tasted the following reds:

• 2005 Felton Road Pinot Noir from Central Otago: Central Otago is the world's most southerly wine region. It has a continental climate with great extremes of daily and seasonal temperatures. Pinot Noir is the region's dominant grape variety followed by Chardonnay. The wine had a deep color and a fragrant nose of red berry. On the palate, it was rich in flavors with a spicy finish. This was a very nice wine that reminded me of a California Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley.

• 2002 Alpha Domus Hawke's Bay The Navigator: Hawke's Bay is the country's second largest wine region. Chardonnay is the most planted grape variety but late ripening red varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc are very also successful thanks to the area's long sunshine hours. The wine is a classic Bordeaux blend of Merlot (43%), Cabernet Sauvignon (36%), Cabernet Franc (11%) and Malbec (10%). It had a deep red color, a very Bordeaux-like nose with gamey and rose petal notes. The palate was less Bordeaux-like but still earthy with firm tannins and a rather long aftertaste.

• 2001 Leeuwin Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River: Margaret River is a leading wine region located in Western Australia. Although it produces only three percent of total Australian grape production, it produces more than 20 percent of the country's premium wines. Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the production followed by Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay, and Shiraz. Leeuwin Estate is located in the South West of Western Australia, just north of Cape Leeuwin, Australia's most southwesterly point, and less than 6 km from the Indian Ocean. The Art Series are the estate's premium wines. Their labels have paintings commissioned from leading contemporary Australian Artists. The wine had a dark purple color and a nose of pepper and yeast. The palate was chewy and exhibited a nice array of fruity aromas. A classic, fruit-driven new world Cabernet.

• 2004 Henschke Henry's Seven Shiraz-Grenache-Viognier: the Henschke family has been in the Barossa Valley since 1861 when Johann Christian Henschke, who was fleeing religious persecution in Germany, purchased a farm in Keyneton. This wine is a tribute to Henry Evans who planted the first vineyard (of seven acres) at Keyneton in 1853. It is a blend of 60% Shiraz, 30% Grenache, 5% Viognier, 5% Mourvèdre. It had a deep color and a sweet nose of red and black fruits. The palate was full-bodied and smooth with an aftertaste of bittersweet chocolate. A tasty wine, very food friendly.

• 2005 Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz Barossa Valley: Torbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in 1994. The estate produces wines with intense, rich, Rhone-like flavors using Rhone varietals such as Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne. The name Woodcutter is a reference to David Powell earlier job when he was working as a lumberjack in the Torbreck forest. The wine is a 100% Shiraz from 10 to 20 year old vines. It had a dark color, a sweet berry nose and a full-bodied, smooth palate, leaving a jammy aftertaste of candied fruit. We found the wine much too sweet and much prefered the Henschke.

Our next tasting event should be fun, the theme is Guess the Wine so don't miss it!

Other wine club tastings:
•  From Old World To New World
•  Champagne Tasting
•  Tasting the wines of Piedmont

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Back to classics: 1998 Clos de l'Oratoire

Sometimes, you don't need a fancy meal to enjoy a good bottle of wine. Take our last Friday dinner for instance. We had a simple home cooked dinner of grilled steak, oven roasted potatoes, and green salad. But the steak was screaming for a nice bottle of Bordeaux so I opened a 1998 Clos de l'Oratoire.

Clos de L'Oratoire is a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru currently owned by the aristocratic Count Stephan von Neipperg of Château Canon La Gaffelière. It is a 10.32 hectare estate located on Saint-Emilion's northeast slope. The soil consists of limestone, sand, and a clay subsoil, conditions that are particularly favorable to the Merlot grape (90% of the blend, the rest being equally divided between Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon). The wine is aged in oak barrels, mostly new, for up to 18 months and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

In the glass, this 9 year old wine had a dark garnet color showing no sign of age. The nose had wonderful gamey aromas with sweet berry notes in the background. The palate offered a rich layered array of flavors, a nice balance between tannins and acidity and a persistent earthy/mocha finish.

It's funny how quickly we forget how rewarding simple pleasures are, like a juicy grilled steak and a glass of good Bordeaux.

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Try Sicily for a change

Have you tried any wine from Sicily recently? And do you know that Sicily is one of Europe's fastest growing wine regions?

Although a great majority of Sicilian wines is still produced by cooperatives, there is an increasing number of private estates that put a new emphasis on quality over quantity. Moreover, some of Sicily's most interesting wines come from native varieties unique to the area, including the red grapes Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese, and the white Inzolia.

So this weekend we tasted an excellent Sicilian wine, the 2002 Vini Biondi Etna Rosso Outis. Etna is one of Sicily's finest DOC although vines planted on Mount Etna desert-like slopes are not easy to cultivate: the volcano has frequent eruptions and the soil has extremely fine volcanic ash and sand that can damage the vines and the farm equipment.

Outis (nessuno in Italian, nobody in English) is the name that Ulysses gave to Polyfemous the Cyclops on the foothills of Mount Etna. The wine is a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, Etna's main grape varieties, that are planted on an east facing vineyard at 620 meters above sea level.

The wine had a medium red, slightly brown color, and a fragrant nose of sweet cherry liqueur and coffee. On the palate, it had a dry, tannic attack and a nice mix of aromatic herbs and vanilla on the finish. It is a distinctive wine that you should try with a Fennel and Sausage Pasta dish.

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WBW #32: Reserve or not Reserve?

Reserve or not Reserve? That is the question asked by The Wine Cask Blog for the 32nd edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday. This month, we need to determine whether Reserve wines are really better than their regular counterparts. What a great question! And are they worth the price, can they age better?

For this experiment, I chose to compare (blind) two wines from Merryvale Vineyards: the 1999 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon bought $20.80 at the time, and the 1999 Merryvale Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon that costed me $30.20. Both are from the Napa Valley, from the same vintage, and both have some amount of Merlot in the blend.



In the glass, the two wines had a similar deep garnet color, the Reserve being slightly darker. The regular Cabernet had a bright, spicy, and smoky nose whereas the Reserve had a denser nose with black fruit and cherry liqueur aromas, and some smoky notes. On the palate, the regular Cabernet was medium-bodied, slightly lean on the mid palate with some acidity on the finish. In comparison, the Reserve had a fuller and more complex body, with a more tannic finish.

At the end, it was easy to identify the two wines. The regular Cabernet was a fine wine that had aged pretty well but it didn't have the complexity of the Reserve. Does that mean that the Reserve was worth the price? I think so.

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Nuits d'Ivresse

I have to admit that I bought this wine because of its name. Nuits d'Ivresse is a great wine name. It means Drunken Nights, although I think that ivresse is more than just being drunk. Ivresse can also be caused by happiness, the happiness of drinking a good wine.

The wine is produced by the Domaine Catherine & Pierre Breton. Catherine & Pierre Breton practice organic viticulture and vinify most of the wines in stainless-steel vats so that the wines can express their terroir and vintage. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered and only a minimal dosage of sulfur is used.

The cuvée Nuits d'Ivresse is a Bourgueil, an appellation located in the Loire Valley. It is made from old Cabernet Franc vines growing on clay and limestone soils. The wine has a deep garnet color and a nose of forest berry fruit and violent scents. The palate is firm and spicy with a fresh finish. It is wonderfully food-friendly. Try it with a roast chicken and a Spring Risotto.

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A quick trip to Philadelphia: will I be able to taste some Pennsylvania wines?

Do you know that Pennsylvania ranks fifth in grape growing production and is one of the fastest growing wine region in the nation?

Pennsylvania's winemaking history goes back to the 1600s with William Penn the first to plant Vinifera vines in 1684. Unfortunately, none of them survived.

Nowadays, Pennsylvania is still primarily a dairy producing state but winemaking has been growing rapidly since the adoption of the Farm Winery Act in 1968, which allowed wineries to sell wine directly to the public. Only about a quarter of the grapes grown in the state are Vitis vinifera. The majority are Native American (Vitis labrusca) and French-American hybrids (including Chambourcin, Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc, Vignoles) that are planted for their hardiness and resistance to disease.

Pennsylvania wine is not easy to find. 95 percent of the production is sold directly at the winery, 4 percent through the state-owned liquor stores, and only 1 percent is sold out of state.

Therefore , the best way to discover Pennsylvania wine is to visit the wineries along some of the state's well documented wine trails such as the Berks County Wine Trail, the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail, or the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail.

Unfortunately, I will not have the time for such visits during this trip, so I just hope that I will find some local wines by the glass wherever I go for dinner.

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A delicious wine for a great bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is Marseille's traditional fish stew. The word comes from the Provençal bolha-baissa which means boil and reduce. It is served with toasted bread slices spread with a spicy garlic mayonnaise called rouille or rust. I never tried to make one, thinking that the recipe was too complicated and that I could never find the right fish in California.

But last week, a friend of mine showed me her simplified recipe. Her bouillabaisse ended up being rich in flavor and surprisingly easy to prepare. First, make a fish broth with fish trimmings (such as fish frames and fish heads). This can be done ahead of time. Then, cook onions, garlic, tomatoes, leeks, fennel in olive oil. Add orange peel, fennel seeds, bay leaf, saffron, and the fish broth. Let it boil and reduce. Finally, strain the soup, add fish fillets (halibut, red snapper), scallops, then mussels. Serve with parsley, croutons, and rouille.



With the bouillabaisse, we had a white from the Languedoc, the 2005 Bergerie de l'Hortus Classique Blanc. Domaine de L'Hortus is a 60 hectare estate located in the valley between the Pic Saint Loup and the Montagne de l'Hortus. Bergerie de l'Hortus is the domaine's second label. Made with young vines, the wine was an unusual blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, and Sauvignon Blanc. It had a bright golden color with aromas of stone fruits and white flowers. On the palate, it was deliciously lush, ripe, and mouthfilling with a touch of sweetness on the finish. Everybody agreed: it worked wonderfully well with the bouillabaisse.


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Pinot Locale

I really like the Pinot Noir wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains. I find them racy, aromatic, and well-balanced. Unfortunately, they are usually produced in small quantities by family-owned boutique wineries and therefore, are not easy to find in mainstream wine stores. Now, if you live in the Bay Area, there is a great place to taste and buy these wines: Vino Locale, a small wine bar in Palo Alto that specializes in local products. Many of their wines come from little known Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County producers. And if you're not familiar with their names, just ask Randy Robinson the owner, for a recommendation. He knows all of them very well.

I was there recently with a good friend of mine as we were both low on Santa Cruz Pinots. We bought a couple of bottles of our favorite, the Muccigrosso Pinot Noir and while we were there, we also tasted the 2004 Silver Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir Tondre's Grapefield that was available at the tasting bar. The wine was not from the Santa Cruz Mountains but from the nearby Santa Lucia Highlands. It was nevertheless delicious: fragrant, well structured, with a long finish. We walked out of the store with arms full, but we were happy.

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WBW #31: wines in boxes, are they any good?

Last week for the first time in my life, I stopped in front of the wine box area of my local supermarket. I was on an important mission: I had to find a wine in a box for our coming Wine Blogging Wednesday. This month, the most famous wine blogging event is hosted by Box Wines and of course, the theme is Box Wines & Non-Traditional Packaging.

The first wine I tried was the 2004 Three Thieves Bandit Pinot Grigio sold in a one-liter Tetra-pack for $7. “We stole money from the bottle and gave it to the wine” claims the producer Three Thieves on the box. According to the winemaking notes, the wine is a California blend of 80% Pinot Grigio, 12% Sauvignon Blanc, 4% Chenin Blanc, 4% Muscat. It was cold-fermented at 50F in stainless steel to retain the fresh, fruity aromas of fermentation and was not permitted to undergo a secondary malolactic fermentation to ensure crisp acidity.

The big surprise was that the wine was actually very pleasant. It had a very pale yellow color and a subtle nose of honeyed pear. On the palate, it was dry and crisp with a creamy mouthfeel and an aftertaste of apple. Transfer the wine into a regular glass bottle and serve it to your friends on a warm summer day: they will love it!

I also tried a red wine from South Eastern Australia, the 2005 Hardy's Stamp of Australia Cabernet Sauvignon, sold in 3-liter box for $16. In Australia, this kind of wine is pretty common as more than 50 percent of all wine consumed in the country is from boxes.

The bag-in-the-box system was actually created 40 years ago by the Scholle Corp. There is a vacuum-sealed plastic bag inside the cardboard box that keeps the wine in a sterile environment. As wine is poured from the tap, the bag collapses, blocking air from reaching the wine and preventing oxidation. However, the wine should be consumed within a month after opening.

So I poured the wine from the tab. It had a dark red/purple color, a heady nose of sweet black berries, a soft and full texture and a finish of ripe fruit and licorice. Although not the most exciting wine, it is a solid everyday drinking wine. But 3 liters is a lot; I may use some of it in the coming days in a beef stew.

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A new trend in France: low alcohol and reduced alcohol wines

In reaction to stricter driving regulations and the decline of alcohol consumption in France, some producers have recently released new brands of low alcohol/reduced alcohol wines. These wines are also aimed at female drinkers who don't like to feel heady after just one glass of wine and also appreciate the reduced amount of calories.

Winemakers have different ways to produce low alcohol wines. This can be done naturally by using varietals such as Grenache and Cinsault that can reach maturity without accumulating too much sugar. They can also use yeasts that do not completely transform sugar into alcohol, leaving a certain amount of residual sugar in the wine. Other methods are more technology-based. Some remove the sugar from the must (Redux procedure). Others remove the alcohol from the fermented wine (reverse osmosis).

Now, do these high tech reduced alcohol wines still taste like wine? According to the French wine magazine La Revue du Vin de France, only few are successful, most are disappointing.

The magazine tasted 13 wines with an alcohol content ranging from 9% to 11.5%. The best rated brand was the Plume (means feather) range from Domaine La Colombette in the Languedoc. The domaine offers a white, rosé and red with an alcohol level reduced to 9% using reverse osmosis. The magazine gave the Chardonnay a 15.5/20 rating and noted that the wine was fresh and tonic with a vivid nose of citrus and stone fruits and a well balanced palate. They also found the Plume Grenache Rosé and Grenache-Syrah Rouge pleasing and well-crafted. But many were lower than average, including the Dix Vin Blanc and Dix Vin Rouge (alcohol limited to 10%), also from the Languedoc and produced by the Vignerons de Calvisson. They didn't have much structure and flavors and were both rated 9.5/20.

Now I am curious to try some of these Plume wines. Unfortunately, I don't think they are imported in the US yet. So maybe next time I go to France, I'll let you know...

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Tasting the wines of Piedmont

At the end of January, I organized a tasting of wines from Piedmont for our wine club. Piedmontese wines are made from indigenous grapes that are unique to the area and so for me, they taste like nowhere else in the world.

Piedmont, which means foot of the mountain, is almost completely encircled by the Alps. Winters are cold and snowy, summers are warm and dry, and in the fall during the harvest season, the weather is often cool and foggy. Besides its wines, the region is famous for its cuisine rich in flavors, featuring game, porcini and white truffles.

When we think about Piedmontese wines, we think of the intensely flavorful Barolos and Barbarescos, and maybe the fruity Barberas, but few of us have tried the region's excellent whites that made from ancient, indigenous, sometimes almost extinct grapes.

We tasted two whites from Piedmont. The first one was the 2005 Palladino Gavi di Gavi. Run by the Palladino family, the Azienda Vinicola Palladino is the oldest of the area. The Gavi di Gavi is one of the producer's most popular wines. Gavi is a wine made exclusively from the Cortese grape, an indigenous variety from the hills of southeastern Piedmont. The wine had a golden color with grapefruit and citrus aromas on the nose. On the palate, it had a crisp acidity and a fat mouthfeel. It was excellent served as an aperitif and should also work well with a fish dish in a light cream sauce.

Our second white was the 2004 Monchiero Carbone Roero Arneis Recit. Because of its thin skin, Arneis, which means little rascal in the local dialect, is hard to cultivate and hard to vinify. By the 1960s, Arneis was nearly extinct and was often vinified and blended with Nebbiolo. But thanks to a few Barolo producers, the varietal was saved from extinction. The Roero Arneis Recit is unwooded and packaged in a dark bottle to prevent premature aging. It had a pleasant fragrant nose. The palate was full-bodied with a rich mouthfeel and a distinctive stony finish. It was absolutely delicious with the Vitello Tonnato dish that one of our friends had brought, a Piedmontese specialty with veal, tuna, capers, and anchovies.

Then we tasted the following reds:




• 2005 Braida di Giacomo Bologna Brachetto d'Acqui: Braida means stretch ball and is a local Piedmontese sport. It was also the favorite pastime and the nickname of Giacomo Bologna's father. While Barbera d'Asti is the winery's main production, it also produces some amount of Brachetto d'Aqui, a low alcohol, sweet, red sparkling wine, named for the Brachetto grape as well as the Acqui district near the town of Asti. Showing a light red/pink color, the Braida Brachetto d'Acqui had a fruity nose of raspberry and blackberry. Slightly fizzy and semi-sweet on the palate, it was fresh and light with an alcohol content of only 5.5%. This Brachetto left nobody indifferent: some guests really loved it, others had hard time finishing their glasses: too sweet, too fizzy, too light.

• 2004 Ruggeri Corsini Dolcetto d'Alba: founded in 1843 by the Besserat family, Podere Ruggeri Corsini is a husband and wife operation located in Monforte d'Alba, one of the main communes in the Barolo Appellation. The wine is made from Dolcetto, which means the little sweet one, an easy to drink, medium-bodied, and fruity varietal. It had a bright reddish-purple color and a floral nose of violets. On the palate, it was round with mineral flavors and a fresh peppery finish.

• 2004 Michele Chiarlo Barbera d'Asti Superiore Le Orme: Michele Chiarlo is a leading figure in the Italian wine industry. He is one of the first Italian producers to have introduced malolactic fermentation in Italy, in order to make more stable wines with not as much acidity and easier to drink young. The Barbera d'Asti, made from the Barbera grape, is one of his most popular wines. It had a deep red color, fruity aromas, a structured backbone and a well balanced palate with some good acidity. It was excellent to accompany a plate of prosciutto, salami, and cheese.

• 2002 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco: Founded in the 1950s, the Produttori del Barbaresco is a cooperative that is known to produce high quality wines, and that has become a model for the other wine cooperatives in Italy. Barbaresco is a powerful wine made purely from Nebbiolo, a noble grape considered to be one of the world's greatest wine varieties. The wine had a red brick color and a powerful nose with complex aromas. The palate was rich, full-bodied, with firm tannins.

• 2001 Mauro Molino Barolo: Molino is very highly regarded producer from the village of La Morra in the Barolo Appellation. Its 8 hectare vineyard is mainly planted with Nebbiolo (60%) and also includes Barbera (20%), Dolcetto (10%), and Chardonnay (10%). Barolo, also made from Nebbiolo, is considered the most famous Piedmontese wines. This one had a ruby color and a light floral nose. The palate had intense and complex flavors and a long finish. This great wine should be paired with rich food such as beef braised in wine, wild mushroom risotto, and truffles.

Our next tasting event will feature the wines of two other amazing wine regions: New Zealand and Australia, so don't miss it!

Previous wine club tastings:
•  From Old World To New World
•  Champagne Tasting

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Wine by the glass: unfortunately, not a sure bet yet

A trendy tapas restaurant in Old Pasadena, a tasty offering of small plates, a well designed wine list with a good selection of Spanish wines by the glass: this looked like the best recipe for a great evening. Unfortunately, two out of the four wines that we ordered by the glass were plainly undrinkable.

We started with a Viña Nora Albarino and a Faustino V Rioja Blanco. We liked the Albarino a lot. It was floral, fresh, zesty. But we were pretty disappointed by the Rioja, which tasted flat, tired, and had very little flavors. We told our waitress about the wine but decided to move on and try some red wines instead: a Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva and a Borsao Campo de Borja, which is a Garnacha/Tempranillo blend from the region of Aragón. The Rioja had bright fruity and spicy flavors, perfect with our Spanish meatballs in a mushroom sauce. The Borsao, on the other hand, had an unpleasant port-like pruny taste.

This was a real surprise to me to find so many oxidized wines that evening. How could such a fairly upscale restaurant not properly avoid wine spoilage in its uncorked bottles?

Complaining a second time, we finally got a free Priorat Garnacha. And this one was fine.

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My best airline wine so far: a Riesling from Lufthansa

It is during a recent trip to Frankfurt that I discovered Lufthansa's excellent wine offering. First of all, alcoholic drinks are free in economy class. They are served by the glass from large 1 Liter bottles, one white, one red. On my flight, the white wine was a German Riesling and the red looked like a Cabernet Sauvignon. I decided to taste the Riesling.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the wine. It had a fine floral nose. The palate was light, refreshing, slightly fizzy, rather dry, with I guess, a low alcohol content, great qualities to fight the dryness of the cabin air and enhance the blandness of the airline food — which was honestly not so bad.

While I was sipping my Riesling, I watched the movie A good Year. I was curious to see whether the movie's reputation was true. True indeed: no real soul, not even funny. The Riesling was much more satisfying.

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Out of town for a couple of weeks

In the meantime, I hope you'll taste great wines!

Have fun!
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WBW #30: my own new world Syrah

Tim at WineCast is our host for this 30th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday and the theme that he has chosen this month is New World Syrah. The rule is simple: the wine needs to be made from at least 51% Syrah or Shiraz and come from the New World.

The wine that I have selected today is a Syrah from California. However, you will not be able to find it anywhere — except in the cellar or wine cabinet of a few people — because it is a wine that we made ourselves, with the effective assistance of the Crushpad winemaking team. We designed it, punched it, pressed it, barreled it, and finally bottled it just a year ago. Only 25 cases were made.

So after one year in bottle, is the wine any good? You bet!

Our goal was to make a Syrah in the Northern Rhône Valley style, spicy and complex, but not too big. Therefore, we got our fruit from the cool climate Clary Ranch Vineyard, located in the Sonoma Coast AVA, just eleven miles from Tomales Bay. The fruit was destemmed but not crushed, leaving mostly whole berries for fermentation, then aged for 15 months in a one year old Burgundy barrel.

The 2004 La Feuille d'Or Syrah Clary Ranch Vineyard is a blend of Syrah with a dash of Viognier to add floral notes to the blend. After one year in bottle, it has a deep garnet color and an attractively aromatic nose of red berry and vanilla. The palate is medium-bodied, juicy, and fruity, leaving a long peppery finish. This is a very food friendly wine that should be enjoyed now or within a few years.

Thanks Tim, this was a great theme!

Related stories:
• Making our own wine!
• Making our own wine: update 2
• Making our own wine: update 3
• Making our own wine: update 4 (bottling)

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And another excellent biodynamic wine: the 2005 Pic Saint Loup Clos Marie l'Olivette

I almost chose the 2005 Pic Saint Loup Clos Marie l'Olivette for our last Wine Blogging Wednesday but I couldn't taste it in time for the event. So we finally tried it this weekend.

The Clos Marie L'Olivette belongs to a relatively new appellation, the Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint loup, a region located some 30 kilometers north of Montpellier. It is dominated by the Pic Saint Loup itself, a pointed mountain rising 638 meters above the sea level. The soil is poor and stony, mostly clay and limestone. The region has a more northerly climate than the rest of the Coteaux du Languedoc with cooler average temperatures and slightly higher rainfall. It has also stricter appellation rules. Noble grape varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre must account for at least 90% of a blend.

Clos Marie is a 20 hectare domain located near the village of Lauret, one of the thirteen villages included in the Pic Saint Loup appellation. It is run by Christophe Peyrus who took over the family's vineyards in 1991. Before that, the wine was sold to the local co-operative. He made drastic changes in order to improve the quality of the wine, unrooting and replanting 75% of the vineyard with a high planting density, and adopting manual harvesting. He also started farming the vineyard using biodynamic principles in 2000.

The cuvée L'Olivette is the domain's basic offering. It is a blend of 40% Grenache, 40% Syrah, and 20% Mourvèdre, aged in 1/3 new oak, 2/3 neutral barrels. The wine has a dense purple color and a sweet nose of blackberry. The mouthfeel is full and unctuous, leaving a fine dusty aftertaste. Simply delicious, addictive, and highly recommended!

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Another choucroute and beer tasting

My friend Virginie doesn't like wine but enjoys beer a lot and she really loved the choucroute and beer tasting that we did last year. So the other weekend, we did it again. We were at the ski cabin and it was unusually cold outside: 18°F! We had spent half the day skiing cross country to keep us warm and now we were hungry! Our Choucroute (sauerkraut) was slowly cooking in the oven; it was time to get the beers out of the fridge.




This year, we selected some Abbey beers from Belgium including a Trappist. Trappist beers are made by abbey monks from the Trappist order. Monastery brewhouses used to exist all over Europe because the monks were brewing beer to earn their living. But today, only seven Trappist breweries continue to produce beer, six in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. Unlike Trappist beers, Abbey beers are not made by monks anymore. Instead, they are produced by commercial breweries under license from the Abbeys.

We started with the Affligem Blonde. Affligem Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Flemish Belgium. Until 1970, brewing was the responsibility of the abbey's monks. Today, the making of the beer has been taken over by the nearby Affligem brewery, under license from the monks. The Affligem Blonde is a classic Abbey Ale, with a clear and deep yellow color and a toasty, nutty, and slightly bitter taste.

The Grimbergen Blonde Ale was created by monks of the Norbertine order from the Grimbergen abbey. Like all the abbey beers, the Grimbergen is a high fermentation beer, which means that the fermentation takes place at a temperature varying between 15°C and 25° whereas low fermentation temperatures are around 8°C. The beer had a pleasant nose of citrus and honey. The palate had a definite sweetness and not much bitterness.

The Chimay Blanche or Triple is a Trappist beer brewed by the monks of the Notre-Dame de Scourmont abbey in the town of Chimay. Like with all the Trappist breweries, the monks are making beer to financially support the abbey. The beer is non-pasteurized. After being bottled, it is allowed to ferment a second time for three weeks before being shipped. The Chimay beers can age well, at least five years and up to fifteen years for the Chimay Bleue, a dark and strong ale. The Chimay Blanche had a darker color and a compact foam. The color was slightly hazy. On the palate, it was dry and hoppy with a long bitter finish.

The Leffe Blonde comes originally from the abbey Notre Dame de Leffe, but today, all Leffe brands are brewed at the Stella Artois brewery in Leuven. The beer had a glowing golden color and a flavorful and refreshing palate, followed by a long finish.

My friend Virginie fell in love with the honeyed sweetness of the Grimbergen. Personally, I thought that the Affligem was particularly well balanced and a great accompaniment to the sour cabbage and the spicy sausages of the choucroute.




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Champagne Tasting 2006

You may think that all Champagnes taste the same — bubbly, yeasty, toasty — and are hard to differentiate from each other.

In our last wine club event that occurred last month just before the holidays, we tasted and compared 8 different Champagnes. Some were blends of several vineyards, varietals, and vintages, and some were made from a single cru, a single varietal, or a single vintage. Many of them were from small grower producers that farm their own vineyard and vinify their own Champagne, and direct-imported from K&L Wine Merchants.

As we were tasting them, it became obvious that they all had different characters and unique personalities. Some tasters enjoyed the elegance and finesse of Blanc de Blancs Champagnes, made with Chardonnay only, while others preferred the distinctive character of Premier or Grand Cru Champagnes.

We tasted the following wines:

• Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Brut: when Florens-Louis Heidsieck, the son of a Lutheran minister from Westphalia, discovered winemaking in Reims in 1780, he decided to found his own Champagne House. After his death, his nephew Christian Heidsieck and his cousin Henri Guillaume Piper took over the business, which quickly became known as the Piper-Heidsieck Champagne house. Ideal for cocktails, parties, and informal dinners, the cuvée Brut is a blend of 50 different growths of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The wine had a lively effervescence. The nose was a bit shy. On the palate, the wine had a sweet, fruity, yeasty taste.

• Champagne Launois Père & Fils Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Réservée: founded in 1872 by the Launois family, the Launois Père & Fils house is located at the heart of the prestigious Côte des Blancs, an east-facing hill south of Epernay, producing Champagne's finest Chardonnays. The Cuvée Réservée is 100% Chardonnay sourced from Grand Cru vineyards. The wine was much drier than the Piper-Heidsieck, with finer bubbles, apple and pear aromas, and a crisp acidity on the palate, maybe too acidic for some tasters.

• 1999 Champagne Roederer Blanc de Blancs Brut: Champagne Roederer is one of the largest remaining independent champagne houses owned by the same family since its foundation, in 1776 by Louis Roederer. His son, also named Louis, was made official supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia by Tsar Nicholas II. The finest crus from the estate vineyard in the Côte des Blancs are selected for the Blanc de Blancs Vintage cuvée, which is only produced in small quantities. The wine had a nice creamy texture and less acidity than the Launois. It had a lot of elegance and balance, and quickly became a favorite for many tasters.

• Champagne De Meric Grande Réserve Sous Bois Brut: founded in 1843 by the Besserat family, Champagne De Meric continues to follow traditional vinification processes. It uses the traditional 4000-kilo vertical press and vinifies and ages 50% of its cuvées in oak barrels, Then, the wine is aged in deep chalk cellars, where each bottle is manually rotated every day (remuage). The Grande Réserve Sous Bois is a blend of 80% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, and 5% Pinot Meunier from Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards. It was less acidic than the two Blanc de Blancs, with a vinous character, rich Pinot flavors and a firm backbone. Definitely one of my favorite Champagne.

• Champagne Marguet Père & Fils Grand Cru Brut Réserve: Champagne Marguet Père & Fils is located in the grand cru village of Ambonnay, on the Montagne de Reims, one of the best areas in Champagne to grow Pinot Noir. The Grand Cru Brut Réserve is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from the Grand Crus Ambonnay, Bouzy and Mailly. We found that the wine had many similarities with the De Meric. It was dry, fruity, rich in flavors, with a round finish.

• Champagne Perrier Jouët Grand Brut: the Perrier Jouët house was established in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas-Marie Perrier who decided to add his wife's maiden name, Jouët, to the name of the house. His son Charles introduced the concept of Vintage Champagne and build up the reputation of the family business. It is now one of the major Champagne brands. The cuvée Grand Brut is 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinor Meunier, and 20% Chardonnay. it had subtle creamy and nutty flavors but seemed less distinctive than the De Meric and Marguet.

• Champagne Tarlant Brut Prestige Cuvée Louis: the Champagne Tarlant house was founded in 1687 by the Tarlant Family. The Cuvée Louis is named after Louis Tarlant, born in 1878 and instrumental in specifying the Champagne appellation in 1927. It is a 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir blend, vinified and aged in oak barrels with no malolactic fermentation. The fruit comes from the vineyard Les Crayons named for its chalky soil. The wine was distinctive and elegant, dry and crisp with a fresh nose of green apple and toasted aromas, and a slightly bitter finish.

• 1987 Champagne Leclerc Briant Rubis de Noirs Brut: Champagne Leclerc Briant is a 30 hectares estate that now follows biodynamic farming practices. The Rubis de Noir cuvée is not a blend of red and white wine like most Champagne Rosé (Champagne is the only French appellation allowed to make rosé by blending a red and a white wine), but it is a 100% Pinot Noir vinified as a rosé de saignée where the red grapes are fermented with their skins for a short amount of time. The wine had a wonderful copper color with a nose of cherry liqueur. On the palate, it was yeasty and smoky with an intriguing port-like finish. Truly amazing for such an old Champagne!

Next time, we will be tasting a selection of wines from Piedmont so stay tuned!

Other wine club tastings:
•  From Old World To New World
•  Champagne tasting 2005

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WBW #29: Biodynamics in Châteauneuf-du-Pape

In 1990, the Domaine de Marcoux became the first in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to implement biodynamic farming practices. At the time, the domaine was run by Phillipe Armenier, a vigneron strongly inspired by the biodynamic principles developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.

According to biodynamics, a farm as a whole is an organism that should be self-sustainable as well as healthy balanced in order to control pests and diseases. Earth and plant life have their own rhythms in respect to their position to the moon, sun and stars. Therefore, in order to enhance these rhythms, the work in the fields and the cellars takes into account the different phases of the solar and lunar cycles. Furthermore, specific field preparations are made to stimulate hummus formation, such as manure stuffed into the horn of a cow to be buried in autumn, or crushed powdered quartz stuffed into the horn of a cow to be buried in spring.


Weathercock showing astronomic symbols at Domaine de Marcoux

Philippe Armenier is now a biodynamic consultant in California but Philippe's sisters, Sophie and Catherine Armenier, are now efficiently running the 17.5 ha estate planted mostly with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault. It's a family affair: the domaine has been run by the Armenier family since the 1300's.

The wine we drank tonight was the 2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine de Marcoux. It had a deep red core, a light brick color on the trim, and a spicy and peppery nose. The palate was lush, full-bodied, and juicy with sweet berries aromas, leaving a finish of bitter cocoa powder. We drank this biodynamic wine in honor of the 29th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, hosted this month by Jack & Joanne from Fork & Bottle.

I am not sure of the differences between organic and biodynamic wines but I am certain of one thing: I haven't found any bad biodynamic wine yet.

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Winemaking step #6: after the malolactic fermentation

After the holidays, I got an update from Crushpad regarding our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Ink Grade Vineyard that we had pressed last October. The wine had finished its malolactic fermentation and had been racked and moved to a brand new Sylvain barrel. So it was time to pay another visit to Crushpad and meet Kian, our winemaker to taste the wine.

I found our barrel in a heated room where all the wines were finishing their malolactic fermentation.


Cabernets finishing their malolactic fermentation in the barrel room

We tasted the wine. It had lost the thick purple texture that it had just after pressing. The nose had dairy notes with hints of vanilla from the new oak. The palate was amazingly well balanced for such a young wine. The tannins were present but well rounded. The finish was long and earthy. I was really pleased: the wine had evolved beautifully.


Our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Ink Grade Vineyard in a new Sylvain barrel

Just to compare, we tasted another Ink Grade Cabernet made with different vinification parameters. The nose was pure fruit and the palate seemed very jammy and sweet. The tannins were tougher on the finish. Kian explained that the sweetness of the wine could be explained by its high alcohol content (more than 15%). We added water in ours to lower its alcohol level.

Kian proposed that we meet again in three months, when the wine is going to be racked again. It should have more pronounced flavors coming from the new oak. Actually, Kian recommended that we monitor the influence of the new oak and consider to move the wine into a neutral barrel if the new oak flavors become too predominant.

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Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class: Croatia, Slovenia and Romania

The last session of Derrick' s Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class, gave us the rare opportunity to taste wines from Croatia, Slovenia, and Romania, three countries with ancient wine growing traditions, yet very little known in the United States.


Vineyards in Slovenia

Croatia

Like the rest of Central Europe, Croatia has a long tradition of grape cultivation and winemaking that started well before the Romans. The country has two major wine growing areas: the Continental region and the Coastal region. The Continental region has a continental climate and produces mostly white wines. Grasevina, also known as Welschriesling in Austria, is the most widely planted variety in the area. The Coastal region runs along the Adriatic coast and enjoys a temperate Mediterranean climate. The region produces both white and red wines from many indigenous varieties as well as imported Bordeaux varieties.

The wines we tasted:

• 2003 Daruvar Grasevina: The Daruvar Winery is one of the most modern wineries in Croatia. It has its own vineyards and a modern wine cellar and bottling plant. The wine comes from a traditional wine growing district in Croatia's continental region. It is made of Grasevina, the most planted white grape variety in Croatia. Grasevina is also called Welschriesling in Austria and Germany, Riesling Italico in Italy, Olasz rizling in Hungary, Laski rizling in Slovenia, and Vlassky rizling in Czech republic. When yields are moderate, it produces a style of wine that is floral and zesty with a pleasant bitter aftertaste. My notes: straw color, nose of cherry stone, nutty and citrusy on the palate with a tangy acidity. Tastes better than it smells.

• 2005 Kozlovic Malvazija Istria: The Kozlovic family founded the Kozlovic Estate four generations ago. The winery is located in the Istria peninsula, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. Sometimes described as the New Tuscany, Istria's wine country is made of lush valleys surrounded by olive groves and steep hillsides terraced for vineyards. On the coast, picturesque seaside towns have preserved their Venetian colonial character. Malvazija or Malvasia Istriana, a white grape clone from the Malvasia family, is the most widely planted white grape in Istria. My notes: fragrant and floral nose, nice acidity on the palate with dried herbs and spicy flavors. Quite a distinctive wine.

• 2004 Dingac Plavac Peljesac Peninsula: wines made in the Dingac area of the Peljesac Peninsula on the Dalmatian Coast are well renowned in Croatia. The grape is Plavac Mali, an indigenous variety that has strong morphologic similarities with Zinfandel. Plavac Mali was first thought to be Zinfandel's ancestor but DNA results showed that a native grape called Crljenak Kastelanski, — actually a parent of Plavac Mali — was the true Croatian counter part of Zinfandel. My notes: this wine comes from the Dingac farming cooperative and winery. Dark brick color, medicinal nose, aromas of wet mushroom. On the palate, dried tannins, rather short finish.

• 2004 Ivo Skaramuca Dingac Plavac Mali Peljesac Peninsula: this is another Plavac Mali wine from the Dingac district. It is produced by the Ivo Skaramuca Estate, named after the owner and winemaker Ivo Skaramuca. My notes: dark red color, sweet fruit and burnt sugar aromas. On the palate, nicely balanced acidity and tannins, ripe banana flavor on the finish. For me, this was a much better wine than the previous Dingac.

Slovenia

According to archaeological findings, winemaking began in Slovenia some 2400 years ago. We suspect that Celtic tribes that lived in northeastern Slovenia knew how to make wine long before the Romans. They also knew how to make barrels from the local oaks. Located between the southern slopes of the Alps and the Mediterranean sea, Slovenia produces a wide range of wine styles, from aromatic German or Italian-inspired whites to full-bodied Bordeaux-style reds.

The wines we tasted:

• 2004 Movia Tocaj Gredic Goriska Brda:
The wine comes from the Goriska Brda region, along the Italian-Slovenian border. In Slovene, brda means hills and the region corresponds to the Italian appellation Collio in southeastern Friuli. In Brda, the Movia estate has been producing wine for more than three centuries. The current owner is the charismatic Ales Kristancic, who believes in a completely natural approach to grape-growing and winemaking and uses biodynamic principles to farm his vineyard. My notes: bright color, nose of pear and honey, crisp on the palate with caramelized apple flavors, refreshing finish. Very nice!

• 2001 Zlati Gric Laski Rizling Ledeno Vino: produced by the Zlati Gric Winery (means golden hill in Slovene), this is a Welschriesling (Laski Rizling) ice wine (Ledeno Vino) from the Maribor area, a region with a strong German influence and with the best white wines similar to those grown in the Rhine and Mosel valleys. For this wine, the grapes were harvested in November at -10ºC then pressed at the same temperature in order to keep the ice crystals formed inside the grape berries and only extract the sweet, concentrated juice. My notes: greenish color, smoky nose, sweet and meaty on the palate, slightly soapy finish. On its website, the winery recommends pancakes with chocolate stuffing, nut roll, or dried fruit with the wine.

Romania

Romania ranks tenth among the world's top wine producers by volume. Thanks to the country's mild Mediterranean climate and fertile Danube Delta, Romania produces many different types of wines, from dry, sparkling whites to full-bodied reds. After the phylloxera epidemic, many indigenous vines were replaced by varietals imported from Europe, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.

The wines we tasted:

• 2003 Aurelio Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve Dealu Mare: the wine is produced by the Rovit Valea Calugareasca winery in the Dealu Mare appellation. Dealu Mare, which means big hill in Romanian, produces mostly red wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, as well as the indigenous Black Feteasca. My notes: brick color, smoky nose of sweet caramel, green and tannic palate, seems oxidized.

• 2004 Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon Recas: the wine is produced by Vampire Wines, a winery that successfully exports its wines to the United States, Canada, and Europe. Not surprisingly, its best selling month is in October, just before Halloween! My notes: dark red color, nose of black fruit, spices and tar, balanced acidity and tannins on the palate, some greeness on the finish but overall, rather pleasant.

I really enjoyed taking this class. The company was great. Derrick was very knowledgeable and such a big fan of German Riesling! The wines were often delicious, sometimes surprising, always interesting. Highly recommended class for the curious minded who likes to experience uncommon flavors and wine styles.

Related stories:
•  Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class: Rheingau, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, and Mittelrhein
•  Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class: Nahe, Rheinhessen, and Pfalz
•  Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class: Kremstal, Kamptal, and Wachau (Austria)
•  Wines of Germany and Eastern Europe class: Hungary

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