My Memorable Wines of 2011

As the first calendar year of The Grapes of Rand comes to a close, I look back affectionately on this child I have conceived, nurtured, and sometimes torturously manipulated into doing what I wanted it to do.  Although this process has sometimes been agonizing and frustrating, there have been many moments of hope, joy, and sometimes even elation at seeing this so far insignificant little entity show hopeful signs of developing a unique character and personality.  I am deeply thankful for those of you who have had the patience and interest to join me on this journey of discovery and hope you will continue to see yourself as part of our natural wine-loving family.

May you have a happy, blessed, and prosperous new year!

Begin your celebration with me now by looking back at my favorite red and white wines I reviewed for you this year, and the most exciting and interesting of the runner-ups.

The most memorable red:

Vignobles Mayard 2005 Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Crau de Ma Mere  (Transcendent)  
Warm black and red fruit nose featuring blackberry, black cherry, red cherry, and raspberry.  But wait, there's more:  Mediterranean herbs, black pepper, a warm, pleasant barnyardy washed rind cheese bloom, some truffle, lavender, roses...lovely, lovely, lovely.  The palate shows a warm, soft, smooth entry of brambly preserve, then herbs and smoked pork belly opening up throughout the mouth.  All this is backed by great freshness and balance.  The finish is long with walnut, pistachio, fruit, truffle, and herbs.  Lovely!  $39.95

And the red runners-up:

Vietti 2006 Barolo Castiglione  (Delightful) 
Earthy, dusty dark chocolate coverd blueberries, cherries, and
raspberries backed by musty aging wood, black truffle,
porcini, sweet tea leaf, wet log, rose petal and violets.
All in all an exceptionally focused wine with
super-well integrated chewy tannins and beautiful balance.
The medium-long finish evokes the finish of a good
cigar, some truffle and suade.  $44.95

Domaine de Fondrèche 2007 Clos du Ventoux Fayard  (Delightful) 

Starts big, bright and complex on the nose with ripe cherries, cherry

cordial, blackberry, raspberry, red and blue plums, backed by 

garrigue, a spritz of lemon, and tons of freshly cracked pepper.  

Then moves to a pinpoint focus of dense dried fruits and baskets of 

freshly picked sweet violets.  On the palate shows great berry 

concentration, chocolate and herbs with incredibly well-structured

backbone.  Sur lie ageing with no perceptible oak influence really

lets the fruit and the terroir shine.  Excellent value!  $16.99

Bonny Doon 2006 Le Cigare Volant  (Delightful)

A very nicely constructed Rhône blend with some of the sweet fruit character
of the new world, but the complexity and restraint of the old.  A quite heady, 

masculine nose with game, underbrush, lavender and cracked pepper, balanced with feminine notes of flower infused cherry preserves, red plum and a touch of raspberry.  The fruit thins out a bit in the mouth, leaning more towards tart pie cherry.  The impressive aspect of the palate, however, is the complex gamey, wet log middle that also features some lavender-infused black licorice.  Silky smooth, yet mouth-filling tannins and good acidity create exceptional balance.  The finish is pleasure-giving and long with game, rotting log, cherry flesh, and delicate floral notes reminiscent of lilac. $32.99

The most memorable white:



Domaine Huet 2009 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Sec  (Transcendent) 
Enticing nose of sweet, freshly grated apple sauce
sprinkled with cloves, laced with clover honey and
Frangelico liqueur.  Fresh, juicy tart apples on the
palate followed by flowers, honey and hazelnuts.  A
beautifully balanced wine with depth and finesse that
could become even more impressive with a few years
in the bottle. $35.00






And the white runners-up:



St. Urbans-Hof 2010 Bockstein Ockfen Riesling Kabinett  (Delightful) 
The nose took me on a journey starting with juicy red
and yellow orchard apple and walnut turning to spicy apple tart with
vanilla custard, and finally opening up to field herbs and apple
blossoms.  On the palate the wine showed orchard fruit and
bright lemon zest, hints of kiwi and pineapple, followd by loads
of herbs and blue slate.  Bracing tartness perfectly balanced the
modest residual sugar.  Nice apple core and floral finish.  $15.99








Domaine Giachino 2008 Abymes Monfarina  (Delightful) 

Produced Biodynamically from the Jacquere grape, this lovely wine from a beautiful Savoie region of eastern France, immediately showed off it's extended ageing on the lees with warm caramel apple dipped in freshly churned sour cream, some pungent mountain cheese rind, alpine herbs, and mouthfuls of gravely granite minerality.  This would pair wonderfully with the great artisanal cheeses and charcuterie of the Haute-Savoie.  $13.99

The Eyrie Vineyards 2009 Estate Pinot Blanc  (Delightful) 
Delicately alluring sweet-tart aromas of raspberry, white currant and gooseberry with hints of pineapple and pear skin.  Rolls over the tongue smooth as liquid gold with wonderful white berry fruit concentration and a lovely bouquet of wildflowers and field herbs.  Like waling through a dewy field on a cloudy morning.  My only criticism is a somewhat low level of acidity.  Lovely medium-long raspberry seed and walnut skin finish.  $13.95










And not to be overlooked, one fabulous dessert wine:



Frog's Leap 2009 Frogenbeerenauslese  (Transcendent) 
Honey, honey, honey, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, ripe peaches and pears
drizzled with more honey and a sprinkle of orange zest.  Lively lemon zest
tartness on the palate with pear core and more spiced honey.  The beautiful
long finish shows pear skins, apple skins, and walnuts.  This is an exceptional
late harvest Riesling at this price to enjoy on its own, or pair with roasted hazelnuts, walnut tart, or apricot tart.  $23.99









Narrowing down this list was extremely tough.  Especially among the whites there were so many interesting wines that could easily have been included.  You can see all the reviews by going to the wine reviews section.

Answers to this week's quiz (Wine Label Lore)

1. DOCG
2. Quality Wines
3. Auslese
4. The actual place of origin
5. Austria
6. Higher alcoholic strength
7. A wine that has been aged at least 12 months in oak casks
8. Grand Cru

Wine Label Lore

Natural Wine Wars: Old v. New World Fizz

An Argument for Natural Wine: Part 2

In my last post on this subject I raised the question whether the quality wines of today are by and large better than those of past times, before modern technology allowed us to control every facet of grape growing and wine making.  Sure, consistency, cleanness, and uniformity of style are the natural results of modern scientific wine production.  I can be reasonably sure that if I pick up a bottle of whatever the major international wine producers have inundated the shelves of retail outlets with, it won't be undrinkable.  But I also know that all of them will taste pretty much the same.  Very few of them will excite me or make me think, 'Now that's what I love, that's what wine should be all about!'  But am I alone in my indifference to today's vast sea of industrial wine?  My previously recorded experiences with casual wine drinkers has proven the opposite.  Invariably wine novices who taste an authentic, naturally produced wine for the first time are stunned by how interesting and good wine can be after their previous experience with the standardized, homogenized fruit and oak bombs.  I suppose I was lucky to have an innate sense of curiosity and adventure as I delved into the world of wine, that prodded me to explore wines made from every possible grape and from as many geographical locations as possible.  In this process I quickly learned that what I loved was variety, complexity, subtlety and charm.  I also learned with time that the stuff I really fell in love with came largely from small producers in lesser-known regions who grew their grapes labor-intensively and without the use of chemicals, and who gently guided rather than forced their wines into submission in the winery.

So then, if I and many others have had such eye-opening experiences when we first tasted truly authentic wine, how have we arrived at this place where the vast majority of us have accepted wine for what it is (or isn't) today?  That we have accepted this status quo is no surprise.  There is just too little of truly interesting wine out there in relation to the vast sea of industrial stuff.  People simply drink what is available and therefore begin to accept what they are familiar and comfortable with.  But what has actually gotten us to this place where we are drinkers of wine more than lovers of wine?  Is it that a sinister wine critic has malevolently tricked our palates into accepting homogeneous mediocrity?  Have multi-million dollar wine conglomerates found it impossible to produce wine on a mega scale without the use of modern wine-making technology that sucks the life and individuality out of wine?  Has the world just become too quality conscious to accept the occasional fault in its wines?  I believe that we have to look a little deeper to find the answer to this question.  Granted, wine critics can and have undoubtedly influenced wine styles, but initially they can only rate wines that are already being produced.  The chain of change had to start somewhere other than on the critic's palate.  Modern technology and science have certainly made it easier to produce wine economically and reliably on a large scale, but what caused technological manipulation in the winery to be accepted as necessary in the first place?  I suppose it is true that over the past few decades food and drink quality standards have vastly improved.  We do expect everything we ingest to be consistent and wholesome, and I will grant that due to this our tastes have become somewhat dumbed down.  But we do keep wanting to go back to what is true and authentic and original, and when we find it we want more of it.  As we re-discover pure, natural, authentically produced foods we are beginning to  reject the notion that quality has to mean homogeneity.  So are we really willing to sacrifice authenticity in our wines for the sake of perfection?  I don't believe that is human nature and I don't believe that is the answer to my question.

What was it then that started the chain of events that has led to the state of wine as we know it in our lifetime?  The brilliant and somewhat iconoclastic Loire winemaker Nicolas Joly, one of the early champions of today's natural wine movement, lays the case out quite concisely, and I believe accurately.  According to Joly's thinking, and this is ironically considered old-school thinking by much of the modern wine industry, great wine must start with great grapes, which must in turn come from healthy soil.  At one point in history grapevines had all they needed to thrive and produce great grapes in their native soils, but the work required in the vineyard to maintain their health was time and energy consuming.  In the early part of the last century agricultural advances allowed farmers to increase production significantly while saving time and energy.

• As part of this trend, in the 1950's herbicides began to be used in vineyards in order to save time and eliminate the need to intensively work the soil.  
• One unintended consequence of herbicide use was the destruction of beneficial microbes and bacteria in the soil.  In the absence of these microorganisms the roots could not feed themselves, and so within five years vine growth had drastically decreased.  
• The solution was application of massive doses of chemical fertilizers
• These chemical fertilizers consisted largely of salts, forcing vines to need more water to compensate for the greater salinity
• This additional intake of water in creased the vines' vulnerability to disease and negatively affected the taste of the grapes.
• The solution was the invention of disease fighting "systemics," products that pass directly into the vine's sap, further altering flavor and introducing new and greater chemical residues in wines.
• To deal with the loss of and the new unusual tastes in the chemically altered grapes, technologies were invented that turned wine cellars into factories.
• More and more wines had to be dressed up with cosmetics such as hundreds of aromatic yeasts, added enzymes, tannins, etc.  

To be continued . . .

Quiz & Quote #19

"Here's to the corkscrew- A useful key to unlock to storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly."
                                                                          - W.E.P. French 

 

 

 

Wine Label Lore

Test your wine label knowledge with this week's quiz. If you don't score 100% check back Friday for the answers.

1. The legal category for Italy's highest quality wines is:
DOC IGT DOCG
2. Under EU labeling, the most stringent regulations apply to which wine category?
Table wines Quality wines Table Wines with a geographical indication
3. Which of these German wine label quality categories indicates the highest must weight?
Spätlese Auslese Kabinett
4. U.S. sparkling wine labels must list what next to the word "Champagne?"
The vintage A disclaimer stating the wine is produced outside of the Champagne region in France The actual place of origin
5. On which country's wine lables would you find the term Smaragd?
Hungary Germany Austria
6. The term Supérieur on a French wine label indicates:
Higher alcoholic strength Lower yields Wine from selected vineyard plots
7. The word "Crianza" on a Rioja red wine label would indicate what?
A young wine with little or no cask aging. A wine from a superior vintage A wine that has been aged at least 12 months in oak casks
8. The highest wine classification in Burgundy is:
Premier Cru Grand Cru Premier Grand Cru

Your Holiday Wines

Alright fellow natural wine lovers.  Here's your chance to take over The Grapes of Rand...well, at least until next week.  So go to the comments box and tell us about the wines you will be drinking, gifting, and celebrating with for the rest of the holiday season.  Get fancy if you wish with a full description, or keep it short and sweet with just the name of the wine and vintage.  I'll be back next week with Part 2 of An Argument for Natural Wine and my special pre-New Year's Eve video episode of Natural Wine Wars.

Until then, keep it natural, and keep it interesting.

An Argument for Natural Wine: Part 1

Wine.  It seems like such a simple thing.  Pick some wonderfully ripe grapes, crush them, press them, sit back, and watch magic happen.  After all, you need only sugar, yeast, and some flavor and color compounds suspended in water.  These basic elements are all found in grapes when they come out of the vineyard.  The yeasts will feast on the sugars, turn them to alcohol, and voila, you have wine.

Ah, if it were only that simple.  Consider this.  Over 1000 phenolic compounds alone, which contribute to the wine's color, flavor, and mouthfeel have been detected in wine.  Besides these there are the other naturally occurring building blocks of grapes such as amino acids, organic acids, sulfites, vitamins, minerals, and pectins.  Then new aroma compounds such as esters are created by hundreds of chemical reactions during fermentation, ageing, and maturation.  When all goes well, as it has for millennia under the right conditions and guidance, the result can be and astonishingly heavenly beverage.  Yes, all this has occurred through natural processes for thousands of years with minimal human intervention, without reverse osmosis, microoxygenation, or various additions such powdered tannins, acids, or oak chips.  Has anything ever gone wrong in this natural process?  Oh yeah.  Wine can gone wrong at any point in it's complex creation, starting with bad weather, pests, and disease in the vineyard.    Then, bacterial spoilage, uncooperative yeasts, the wrong cellar conditions, and the list goes on.

This, of course, raises the question:  Why not use all the modern technology available to help these natural processes along so nothing goes wrong, and if it does, fix it?  After all, the bulk of wine made today relies on technological intervention and does so quite successfully.   But does it?  What exactly is the measure of success when it comes to wine?  Are today's wines really better than those of, say, 60 or 70 years ago?  I suppose that will always be a point of argument and an open question.  I for one, and many other like-minded wine lovers can only answer it in context of the wines that are available to us today.  What I do know is that I am not a fan of about 70 to 80 percent of the quality wines (excluding the stuff that comes in a box, bag, or unnaturally voluminous bottle with a handle) that are available today.  I generally find them boring.  No variation.  Too much one-dimensional fruit and little else.  When there is something else, invariably it is oak.  Lots of oak, as if infusing wine with oak gave it power and complexity.  This is, sadly what people know of wine today.  No wonder when I ask the average casual wine drinker out there what they like in a wine they invariably bring up only two terms: dry, meaning oak, and sweet, meaning fruit.  When I then introduce these same people to the naturally produced, terroir driven wines I like, they almost always respond with utter astonishment.  'I didn't know wine could taste like flowers.'  'What do they do to get that nice herbal flavor in there?'  'I never liked red wine, but now I do, because this actually tastes exciting.'  'This isn't sweet, but I really like it.  I'm going right down to the wine store to buy more.'  'This is dancing in my mouth.'

So, I come back around to my question.  Is most of the quality wine made today better than it was before the days of wholesale intervention in the vineyard and manipulation in the wine-making process?  After all, I rarely hear  casual wine drinkers tell me that they can't stand the wines they drink.  And, quite frankly, before I discovered the delights of naturally produced wine I was quite happy drinking whatever uninspiring reds or whites where put in front of me.  I simply liked wine and accepted that it pretty much fell into those two color categories and beyond that it was all pretty much the same.  At the time, I have to admit, I really didn't see this as a problem.  I even marveled how amazingly consistent most wines were not only in style but in quality.  I found it interesting how rare it was to find among the vast sea of mass-produced wine a major fault that would render a bottle seriously off-putting, as I understood this to be a much more frequent occurrence with the wines of days gone by.  But was I inspired by the wines I was drinking?  Did they excite me?  Did they transport me to another realm (and I'm not talking about the effects of alcohol)?  For the most part I have to say no.  The point came however, in my personal oenophilic evolution, when I tasted wines that blew me away.  I remember the first time I opened a perfectly delicate, floral, slatey, alive bottle of, what I now know to have been a Biodynamically produced Alsace Riesling, and thought to myself: "Yes! This is different.  Now I know what wine can be!"  Not too long afterwards I drank my first truly transcendental red, which happened to be a wonderfully complex, naturally produced Sierra Foothills Syrah.  Unfortunately I didn't know at the time what it was that made me like these wines more than the vast majority I was drinking.  I had to find these transcending experiences by trial and error until, many years later, I made a fortuitous discovery.  I started to read the producer websites of the wines I particularly loved, and soon found that most of these producers shared a back to nature approach in their vineyards, and a minimal intervention philosophy in the cellar.

To be continued...

Vignobles Mayard 2005 Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Crau de Ma Mere

A truly transcending wine from one of my favorite appellations.  Watch the video to find out why I scored this Chateauneuf-du-Pape 95 points.  Comes in at just under $40

Quiz & Quote #18

"Wine is a living liquid containing no preservatives. Its life cycle comprises youth, maturity, old age, and death. When not treated with reasonable respect it will sicken and die."
                                         - Julia Child

Is it the Wine's Fault?

Can you identify the most likely cause of these "off" wine aromas?

1. Must, damp cellar, wet cardboard
Brettanomyces Lactic acid bacteria Reduction Cork Taint
2. Rotten egg
Sulfur Dioxide Hydrogen Sulfide Dimethyl Sulfide Oxidation
3. Nail polish remover
TCA Ethyl Acetate Diacetyl Acetic acid
4. Buttery Smell
Diacetyl Mercaptan Geraniol Acetic acid
5. Sharp/Vinegary
Sulfur Dioxide Ascorbic acid Acetic Acid Ethyl Acetate
6. Rotten cabbage/Burnt rubber/Garlic
Cork Taint Hydrogen Sulfide Sulfur Dioxide Mercaptan
7. Wood/warm spices/medicinal
Dimethyl Sulfide Brettanomyces TCA Diacetyl
8. Floral/sweet/pungent
Geraniol Acetaldehyde Mercaptan Acetic Acid
9. Nutty/almonds/sherry
Brettanomyces Diacetyl Acetaldehyde Lactic Acid
10. Struck match
Sulfur Dioxide Cork Taint Hydrogen Sulfide Acetaldehyde

Natural Wine Wars: Pinot Blanc, New vs. Old World

Installment 2 in our continuing series Natural Wine Wars pits old world Pinot Blanc against new world Pinot Blanc.  Find out who comes out the winner.  

Quiz & Quote #17

"Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water."  

                                                                                                    - W.C. Fields




Discovering the New World Wine Regions
See if you can identify the correct country for each of these new world wine regions.

1. Waipara
Chile New Zealand Australia South Africa
2. Constantia
New Zealand Australia South Africa Argentina
3. Maipo Valley
Brazil Chile New Zealand Arentina
4. Manjimup
South Africa New Zealand Brazil Australia
5. Breede River Valley
Australia New Zealand South Africa Canada
6. Casablanca Valley
Mexico Chile Argentina Uruguay
7. Parras Valley
Chile Argentina Mexico Urugay
8. Maipu
New Zealand Argentina Brazil Chile
9. Fraser Valley
Canada Australia New Zealand South Africa
10. Serra Gaucha
Mexico Chile Argentina Brazil

Bonny Doon 2006 Le Cigare Volant

One of The Grapes of Rand's early producer profiles featured Bonny Doon Vienyard.  The article was entitled Of Flying Cigars and Terroirs, a reference to Bonny Doon's homage to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Le Cigare Volant.  Today I taste the 2006 vintage of Le Cigare Volant, a wine that was awarded 91 points by Stephen Tanzer.  Watch the video to find out how I scored the 22nd vintage of this iconic Central Coast Rhone blend.