I spy with my little eye

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I took this wine home from a luncheon thrown by the PR firm for the winery.

A perfect wine for the summer. I recently attend a lunch for the wine brand Heritance, with owner/creator/winemaker Bernard Portet.  At the end of the lunch a lone unopened bottle of 2011 Heritance Sauvignon Blanc begged for a home so that it wouldn’t have to be checked in baggage on the flight Bernard needed to hop right back to CA. Of course, I obliged and carted it home with me.  The Heritance Sauvignon Blanc retails for $24, has a screw cap closure, and clocks in at 13.5% alcohol by volume.

Four takeaways from this wine:

1.) Bernard Portet might be the most charming man I’ve met in quite some time. I truly enjoyed the experience of lunch with him, and our very small group of 5 total folks.

2.) I am particularly taken with this Sauvignon Blanc. It is blended with 12% Roussanne which lends an interesting heft to the palate while not overpowering the fruit apparent in the Sauvignon Blanc.

3.) At lunch I had the wine paired with a mesclan greens, applewood smoked bacon, poached egg with a citrus vinagrette dressing salad. Amazing salad and a solid pairing with the Sauvignon Blanc. At home, we had it with Quiche Lorraine, which confirmed my initial reaction that it pairs quite well with eggs.

4.) I was jonesing for some grilled scallops while I drank this wine.

On the nose I got lemongrass, citrus, tropical notes, peach, passion fruit and a hint of the acidity to come. In the mouth I found melon, lemon, grass, tropical notes, lemongrass, and grapefruit.  The Roussanne definitely became apparent on the palate and while the wine certainly had nice acidity, the Roussane lent some weight to the wine and gave it some interesting character.

 

 

 

Filed under: California, Sauvignon Blanc, White, Wine | Leave a Comment »

2011 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Bonny Doon Winery.

With the weather finally turning to spring here (perhaps?) my thoughts have turned to white wines and (even more) bubbly. Keeping that in mind when I dove into the cellar for something to drink the other night, I popped up with the 2011 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc. I previously reviewed the 2010 vintage here. The current vintage is a bit more Grenache Blanc heavy, at 62% with the remainder being Roussanne. Last vintage was only 55% Grenache Blanc. The wine has a screw cap closure, clocks in at 12.5% alcohol by volume, and retails for $28.

Four takeaways from this mine:

1.) While the Roussanne still made its presence known with the mouthfeel and the viscosity, it felt less dominant to me in this vintage.

2.) I imagined myself eating crab with this wine, which we often indulge in during the spring and summer months.

3.) Or simply sipping it on one of those delightful spring nights where it is still cool enough to rock on the front porch.

4.) Overall, I’ve been mightily impressed with the quality of the wine coming out of Bonny Doon.

On the nose I got yellow apple, melon, pear, lemon, orange zest, flowers, mineral notes, and slight honey.  In the mouth I found green apple, lemon, pear, and grapefruit.  The wine had a lovely mouthfeel with a slight viscosity and a long finish.

 

 

Filed under: California, Roussanne, White, Wine | Leave a Comment »

What’s better than wine for breakfast?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Sonadora

Cute bit of marketing from Wines of Brasil.

*Disclaimer: Snooth provided transportation and boarding so I could attend this event.

Not much, really. Except perhaps Brazilian wine for breakfast which was a new wine experience for me. Not the wine for breakfast part, the Brazilian part. I suppose I vaguely knew that wine is made in Brazil, similar to how I know wine is made in Kansas, but I’ve never seen any in the market. It appears that Brazil’s largest market is in Russia, with the US coming in 3rd, but a very distant third.  Overall, Merlot is the dominant red grape with about 60% of the red wine produced being Merlot.

I’m always excited to explore a new to me wine region, and Brazil is no exception. The folks from Wines of Brasil brought a wide range of styles for us to try, from sparkling to dessert wine. Following are my notes, exactly as I typed them into my iPad, with only my spelling cleaned up.

The line up.

2010 Cave Geisse Nature sparkling- made in the Champagne Method, bright pear, acid, bread, slight cream, green apple, lots of acid, tart, definitely will wake up your taste buds, which was an excellent start to my day since I didn’t sleep well in the hotel the night before.

NV Casa Valduga 130: peppery, smokey,  yellow apple, Asian pear, seems like a little residual sugar, pear, apple, acidity, tight tart bubbles

2011 Salton Virtude Chardonnay: butter oak, coconut, pear, apple, light on the palate, slight butter, pear, apple.

2012 Lidio Carraro Dadivas Chardonnay: melon, tropical, pear, light, spice, herbs, very light, apple, pear. The winery uses no wood of any kind.

2009 Villagio Grando Chardonnay: herbs, dank, wet, stone, cement, green, earth, cedar, very herbal, pear, not a lot of fruit.

2007 Salton Desejo Merlot: bright red plum, raspberry, spice, herbs, chocolate, earth, dirt, very restrained, good fruit, earth, plum, the fruit is not the star of the flavors/aromas. No one would ever call them jammy.

2009 Pizzato Reserva Merlot: light, very reserved nose, earth, dirt, olives, herbal notes, salt, very earth drive, hardly any fruit.

2009 Miolo Merlot Terroir: more fruit than the previous wine, some raspberry, plum, wood, black cherry, tons of acidity, plum, earth, dirt, salt, dark fruit, more familiar as a Merlot, floral.

2009 Pizzato Fausto Verve: funky, black fruit, dark, plum, cherry blackberry, barnyard, herbs, dark, tannic, needs time.

2006 Lidio Carraro Grande Vindima Quorum: strawberry, floral, spice, herbs, cherry, spice, herbs, anise, woody, tannins, lovely nose,

2009 Perini Quatro: vanilla cream chocolate wood, oak lots of it, green under that, but the oak influence is really predominate, smooth, round, fruity, vanilla, cream, would easily appeal to the general North American palate. New world.

2007 Casa Valduga Villa Lobos: funk, earth, mint, eucalyptus, wood, spice herb, some black fruit, very dark, very tannic, needs age.

2008 Miolo Lote 43: chocolate dust, vanilla cream, lovely and floral, cherries, cream, cherry, raspberry, red fruit on the palate, nice mouthfeel, might be my favorite, really restrained austere fruit, mineral, a saltiness, the pieces are all there.

Pretty color on the Moscato.

NV Aurora Carnaval Moscato Rose: very sweet nose, definitely muscat, honey, sweet melon, overripe peach, less sweet in mouth, slightly frizzante, still a ton of peach of melon, could drink a tiny tiny glass, even though nice acidity. My mom would like this.

The standouts from this tasting for me were the NV Casa Valduga 130, the 2007 Salton Desejo Merlot, and the 2008 Miolo Lote 43. Overall I think the 2009 Perini Quatro would likely be the most successful wine in the typical US market.  I’d be very interested to check out more of the sparkling wines from Brazil as I thought they had quite a bit of potential.

Filed under: Chardonnay, Merlot, Red, Sparkling wine, White, Wine | 3 Comments »

Heading to Baltimore!

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Sonadora

Although I’ve lived in VA for a decade now, and in the Northern VA area for 7 years, I must admit that I’ve never had a wine from Maryland. I’ll attribute that mostly to being lazy – driving 40 minutes to a VA winery seemed much more convenient over the years. Admittedly, the closest MD winery is only an hour from my house, however, there isn’t a cluster of other wineries nearby, so it would be a 2 hour round trip solely for one vineyard.

In any event, I will rectify that this weekend. I will be joining fellow wine and food bloggers, journalists, industry types, and others for the the 5th annual Drink Local Wine Conference. I’ll be heading up today for an early tour day and will be visiting 3 Maryland vineyards to kick off the conference.  I look forward to reporting back on the state of Maryland wine and any gems I find in the tasting events.

Cheers, and happy wining!

Filed under: Wine | 1 Comment »

Scarpa via NYC

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: Snooth provided transportation and lodging so I could attend this conference.

Where is Scarpa Winery, you might ask? On this particular night, it was found at Peking Duck in Manhattan, but in reality, Scarpa is in Piedmont, Italy. When I traveled to NYC a couple weeks ago to attend the Snooth People’s Voice Awards blogger conference, we were able to try quite the line up from this winery, which is not currently imported to the US, but is looking to come to the market ASAP. The Scarpa tasting kicked the conference off with a bang, with almost a dozen more tastings to follow. Lucky for Scarpa, being first, our palates were fresh and ready to taste.

Our first flight.

Our first flight.

We tasted through the following line up, in this order:

  • Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, 2007, $72
  • Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, 2006, $52
  • Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, 2005, $68
  • Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, 1998, $58
  • Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, 1997, $95
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 2005, $74
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 2004, $88
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 2003, $98
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 2001, $130
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 1999, $105
  • Scarpa Barolo, Tettimora, 1987, $250
  • Scarpa Barolo, Le Coste di Monforte, 1978, $500

As you can see, we were able to taste through a couple different verticals, as well as even older vintages of both verticals. And yes, the last bottle really does retail for $500, which may be the most expensive wine I’ve ever tasted. I’d have to go back through the last 6+ years of notes to check, but I’m pretty positive that tops my list.

One interesting thing I learned about the winery involved the use of large oak tanks to age the wines, rather than the smaller barrels most wineries in the US favor.  Their idea of the life-span of a tank is also quite different than the American notion that barrels need to be replaced every 2-3 years. The Scarpa tanks are on average currently 12-13 years old and they will use them for at least 30 years. They also use no temperature control in the winery, just open the doors when the weather is nice!

My two favorites of the tasting were the 2005 Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona, and the 1978 Scarpa Barolo, Le Coste di Monforte.  When I’m looking for Italian wine, I often go for a Barbera d’Asti, just because I find it to be a delicious and more affordable alternative alternative to Barolo.

2005 Scarpa Barbera d’Asti, La Bogliona: Spice, herbs, orange zest, chocolate covered orange, crushed violets, black cherry, raspberry, fresh and vibrant, lots of acidity.

1978 Scarpa Barolo, Le Coste di Monforte: Mint chocolate, min, espresso, eucalyptus, coffee bean grounds, anise notes, fresh vanilla, red fruits, cranberry, bright fresh red fruit with excellent acidity. I was really surprised by how much life this wine has in it and can imagine  it could age for years to come given the acidity.

Overall, the strong line up of wines impressed me. In general, I could easily recommend all but the 1998 Barbera because I thought that particular glass had oxidized and so I didn’t get a fair impression of the wine. Here’s hoping Scarpa Winery will find its way to a wine shop near me soon.

Filed under: Barbera, Barolo, Italy, Red, Wine | 1 Comment »

NYC Bound!

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Sonadora

I apologize for the relative silence around here. I’ve been a bit under the weather and feeling uninspired to write about wine when I was on the mend. I’m better now, and off on my next wine adventure. I’m headed to NYC this morning to attend the Snooth The People’s Voice Wine Awards event.

A weekend in my favorite US city with my wine people and a dozen different exciting wine events should get things rolling around Wannabe Wino again. I’ll be attending everything from a Wines of Austria Master Class to an Oregon Wine Board dinner.

Look for lots of upcoming posts on all the new wines I discover while on this adventure.

Next up, Drink Local Wines in Baltimore in April, then the Wine Blogger Conference in Penticton, BC in June! Spring has sprung with tons of wine events. I couldn’t be more delighted.

Filed under: Misc, Wine | Comments Off

Lunch with Sella & Mosca

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Sonadora

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a wine lunch with Beppe Caviola, the consulting winemaker with Sella & Mosca at Acqua Al in DC. Sadly, I forgot my camera and my phone pictures didn’t really turn out. I hadn’t been to Acqua Al before so getting a chance to try it out was also an excellent side benefit to attending the lunch. I’m fairly certain the restaurant simply has a standard menu when people reserve the back room, which, while the food was tasty, it didn’t feel like any thought was put into how the food would actually match with the wine. Generally, red sauce with a white wine doesn’t do much for me…or the wine!

However, the wines themselves were interesting. As was the company. Since I took the whole afternoon off from work I was in no hurry to rush out of the lunch and go to enjoy some extra one on one time with Beppe and the team from Pam Bay Int’l.  We tried 9 wines over the course of lunch and dessert, which I believe is most of the portfolio from Sella & Mosca. I got to add yet another grape to my list of unique grapes tasted, with the winery’s 100% Torbato, which I understand might be the only 100% Torbato produced in the world.

2011 Teruzzi & Puthod Terre di tufi Toscana (80% Vernaccia, 10% Chardonnay, 10% Sauvignon Blanc): $15. Lime and other citrus on the nose, heavier on the palate with toasted coconut, nuts, lemon, green apple, good acidity. The oak influence seemed to dissipate quickly.

2011 “La Cala” Vermentino di Sardegna: $12. Light nose with lemon, honeysuckle and melon. Tropical notes, spices, lemon, lime, and some sort of orange citrus on the palate with good acidity.

2011 “Terre Bianche” Alghero Torbato: $21. Stones and a light fruit I couldn’t identify on the nose. Light citrus, rocks, minerals and flowers on the palate. I really can’t even compare this grape to anything else as I couldn’t pinpoint what I thought it tasted like.

2007 “Terre Rare” Carignano del Sulcis Riserva: $15. Dark fruit, oak, plums, very dry, spice, black cherry, dusty earth (I wrote that down as dusty dirt in my notes…), chocolate, almost port-like.

2008 Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva: $16. Spice, earth, black fruit, plum, dry, olives, pencil lead, barnyard.

2006 “Tanca Farra (50% Cannonau, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon): $30. Fruit nose, darker palate, plum, blackberry, earth, drying tannins, very dark overall.

Up last was the comparison of 3 vintages of Sella & Mosca’s 100% Cabernet Sauvignon which is aged for 18 months in small casks, then 18 months in oak barrels, and finally 18 more months in bottle before being released. We tried the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Marchese di Villamarina Cabernet Sauvignon, all of which retail for $75.

2004: Mint, cherry, plum, red fruit, berries, earth, slight green notes, spice, good acidity, and firm tannins on the finish.

2005: More reserved, barnyard, spice, black raspberry, softer, fruitier, cocoa, espresso, spice, black cherry, black fruit. This was my favorite of the 3 vintages.

2006: Mocha, red fruit, red cherry, very soft overall, soft tannins, sage, ripe fruit.

Filed under: Italy | 1 Comment »

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