What do you do when it snows in Hoosierville? California Zinfandel with Hoosier Tim Fish

I knew it would someday snow in Hoosierville (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and that after cleaning, laundry, and work-I-brought-home-with-me tasks to fill the hours of the snow day, the time would come to snuggle up with a nice bottle of wine. I was prepared with a recommendation from native Hoosier Tim Fish, senior editor, Wine Spectator, conveniently based in Sonoma County, CA.  

FYI Hoosier is the official demonym for a resident of the state of Indiana. Demonym is a term for the residents of a locality.

I found two of his recommendations at my local Cap ‘N Cork specialty retailer: Buehler Zinfandel Napa Valley 2012 (88 points, $20), and Dry Creek Zinfandel Sonoma County Heritage Vines 2012 (90, $20).

Without Tim Fish, Zinfandel was not on my list of must-haves; this is the most Zinfandel I have purchased in years. However, consumption by others has remained steady over the years, so the vines are old vines some dating back a century or more; www.snooth.com says “some of the greatest examples of terroir in California are found in Zinfandel.” www.winemag.com 2013 list of California’s Zinfandel Hot Spots as: Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, Lodi, Sierra Foothills, and Mendocino.

Zinfandel is one of the most popular grapes planted in the United States along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. It is California’s most widely planted red grape, and is exclusively planted in California as it has been lost elsewhere (or is the same grape once found in Croatia called Crljenak Kasteljanskior, or is the same grape as Italy’s Primitivo which could be as the vineyards were planted by Italian-American immigrants).

There are three styles of Zinfandel: Light-bodied, Medium-bodied, Full-bodied. Light-bodied are as you imagine drinking on a sunny breezy day – light, fresh-forward berry flavors, drinkable with or without food. They are the most abundant and most popular. Medium-bodied are more full-flavored and spicy. Full-bodied are deep, rich, and ideal for aging. Alcohol content varies too with full-bodied containing up to 16%. Over the years Zinfandel has been made in many styles according to www.winemag.com: red, white, rose, sweet, dry, late-harvest, Beaujolais-style, and even sparkling. 

Faced with my two selections, I opened Buehler first. Buehler Vineyards, according to my Wine Yoda Tony, is a good name and an old name of a small family-owned vineyard. At www.buehlervineyards.com, this Zinfandel is called a “wine crafted for immediate enjoyment” and I agree. Not only was it delightful on my snow day, the remainder came out of the refrigerator the next day retaining much of its taste.

As Dry Creek Vineyard is a favorite winery of mine and my wine-loving friends, I am saving that bottle for a dinner together. Because the Buehler was so good, I went back to Cap ‘N Cork to get another bottle of it.  In addition, thanks to knowledgeable wine salesman Christian, I found and left with a special bottle of Dry Creek Vineyard 2011 Estate Zinfandel, Spencer’s Hill Vineyard, Single Vineyard Series. Per their website, “Spencer’s Hill Zinfandel is grown in two small Zinfandel parcels in our estate Endeavour vineyard. The small clusters and low yields from this part of the vineyard provide us with fruit that is rich, ripe and full of expressive blackberry Zinfandel flavors. Named after Kim and Don Wallace’s son, Spencer, this outstanding wine is as precocious as its namesake and expresses true Dry Creek Valley terroir.” Only 452 cases were produced and this bottle was destined for Vintner’s Select Club. Now, it is waiting for us Hoosiers to enjoy!

 

 

 

 

The Perfect $25 Bottle of Wine | Exploring Wine with Tim Fish | Blogs | Wine Spectator

The Perfect $25 Bottle of Wine | Exploring Wine with Tim Fish | Blogs | Wine Spectator



Tim Fish is Hoosier-born and living the good life in Sonoma - boy, do I envy him!

Celebrity Wine – Sting’s Casino delle vie 2009

I was fortunate to welcome the New Year 2015 with good friends and good wine. One celebratory bottle was also a celebrity bottle – a product of rock star and 2014 Kennedy Center honoree Sting’s 900-acre Il Palagio estate and winery in Tuscany, Italy.  Three of the Tuscan reds are named after Sting’s greatest hits – Message In  A Bottle, Sister moon, When we dance – and the fourth, our bottle, is named after one of the properties on the estate – Casino delle vie which translates to either “little house by the roads” or “the muddling of the ways” according to the website www.palagioproducts.com. (Note – the labels are as stated on the website, i.e. Sister moon, not Sister Moon.)

Tenuta Il Palagio Casino delle vie 2009 IGT is almost 100% Sangiovese and rated 90 by Wine Spectator. Average cost is $33 per bottle but I paid $40 this summer at a charming art gallery/ wine store in Douglas, Michigan which has as much to do with locale as limited US availability. This is only the second release from the estate purchased in 1999 and restored through biodynamic farming techniques. Wife, actor, producer, and philanthropist Trudie Styler donates a percentage of the estate’s sale of the wine, Il Palagio olive oil, and Thousand Flowers honey to environmental causes including the Soil Association and the Rainforest Foundation.  

Sting & Trudie are relative newcomers to celebrity winemaking which could be credited to Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. The grapes he brought back from Europe over 200 years ago are still on view at Monticello, Virginia and the estate gift shop sells a non-family related selection of Jefferson Vineyards wine. Many celebrity wineries have been handed down to younger generations, such as California’s Fess Parker Winery established in 1987, whose labels bear a coonskin cap in recognition of Disney Legend Parker’s portrayals of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.  Others are as new as the first six thousand bottles of the 2012 Miraval Rose from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Chateau Miraval estate partnership with the Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel in Provence, France.   

My group was enthusiastic about Casino delle vie 2009’s aroma, color, legs, and most importantly its taste but I could not find it reviewed by anyone of note (other than “moi” to quote Miss Piggy). Sting’s Sister moon 2009 (40% Sangiovese, 30% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon) was reviewed in BuzzFeed “The Best And Worst Celebrity Wines” and was rated “Best Dad Birthday Gift” with 2 ½ out of 3 stars. If I can find Casino delle vie again, I will buy it. Ditto for the rest of the rock stars’ greatest hits. And I will hope for “Desert Rose” and “Fields of Gold” to become wine as well as song.                                                                  

V is for Valentine's Day, Viognier, and Variety

V is for Valentine’s Day

Miss Manners (Judith Martin) says “There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately. When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating. Under no circumstances can the food be omitted.” Nor the wine, says Diva daVino.

V is for Viognier (vee-oh-NYAY, or vee-oh-NAY, sometimes even VEE-ohn-yay)

More than 90% of quality white wine is made from these three grapes - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling – according to Kevin Zraly, wine educator, Windows on the World Wine School. Zraly calls Viognier not as full-bodied as most Chardonnays, nor as light as most Sauvignon Blancs. I would add, not as sweet as most Old World Rieslings. Viognier wines are known for their powerful floral and fruit aromas, and, ideally, a dry finish.

Zraly believes the grape grows best in the Rhone Valley of France and California. In the 1998 edition of “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course,” he names the two most famous white wines of France’s Rhone Valley as Condrieu and Chateau-Grillet, a minuscule AOC within the Condrieu AOC owned by a single winery Chateau-Grillet. Both are all-Viognier appellations.

Once in danger of extinction, Viognier grapes are now also grown throughout the world (Argentina, Austria, Australia, Chile, Greece, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland), Canada (British Columbia, Ontario), and in 13 states (Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, Virginia). In 2011, the Virginia Wine Board designated Viognier as the state wine grape. FYI - for the Virginia wine aficionados in the group, it has been suggested that Cab Franc be designated the signature red. 

The wide-ranging terrior means your bottle of Viognier will also range in taste. If you read the wine reviews at http://buyingguide.winemag.com, you’ll get an idea of what awaits. Highest rated at 95 points is Arrowood 2009 Saralee’s Vineyard Viognier (Russian River Valley) at $30: “brilliant, completely satisfying, sunny California terrior in the ripe lemon, peach, and mango flavors, finishes dry, steely minerality, just gorgeous.” Of course, selection won’t be simple as one of the lower rated at 82 points is Brotte 2003 Domaine du Versant Dore Viognier (Condrieu) at $48: “odd stuff, vegetal notes in place of ripe floral aromas expected, slightly oily mouth feel.”

Viognier for Valentine's Day

“Viognier could truly be said to be the hedonist’s white grape variety” according to Jancis Robinson, author and wine blogger (www.JancisRobinson.com), “the best Viognier has this heady characteristic scent that one feels envelopes the glass and drinker in a cloud.”

A hedonistic wine is fitting for a festival whose origin is a pagan festival of fertility - Lupercalia,. Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would sacrifice a goat for fertility, strip its hide, dip the strips in the sacred blood, and roam the streets slapping both women and crop fields with the bloody strips in the belief it would make them more fertile in the coming year. WooHoo!

In a quick trip to three local wine & liquor shops, I netted a selection of Viognier: Tortoise Creek Wines 2010 Viognier “Le Verger” (Languedoc region of France), Peirano Estate Vineyards Viognier 2009 Lodi (California), Yalumba Viognier 2012 South Australia. FYI  Yalumba’s interest and plantings are widely credited with saving Viognier from extinction.

So this Valentine’s Day, try a Viognier! Which one? Let’s turn to Stephen Stills (yes, that Stephen Stills) for advise – “love the one, love the one, love the one you’re with.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will the real A. Crisp please stand up

Thankfully, my friend & wine guru Tony knew more than me:

 

Andre Crisp is the President & CEO of Luna Vineyards | The Luna Collection.

BRANDS:     http://www.thelunacollection.com/Brands

• ARNOLD PALMER WINES
• aCRISP WINES
• LUNA VINEYARDS
• LUNATIC

 

As President & CEO of Luna Vineyards, Inc. and The Luna Collection, noted tech entrepreneur and wine aficionado Andre Crisp is hands-on in every phase of the winery operation leading it to unprecedented expansion. From hand-crafting profiles and tasting notes for each varietal in The Luna Collection to developing his own label of The Luna Collection wines starting with aCRISP Chardonnay, Andre successfully pairs his business acumen with his deep roots in the wine industry.2012 aCRISP Chardonnay

 

 

                                   Blend: 100% Chardonnay

A voluptuous Chardonnay from Northern California vineyards. Cooler weather during harvest produced lush, perfectly balanced fruit. Whole-cluster pressed, settled for juice clarity then barrel fermented. The juice then went through traditional Burgundian secondary malolactic fermentation and aged in select oak barrels.

Tasting notes: Tantalizing notes of butterscotch and carmelized butter.

A. Crisp Chardonnay

A. Crisp Chardonnay

Not “crisp” as an adjective modifying the noun Chardonnay, but A. Crisp as a proper noun and maker of this 2012 bottle of Chardonnay.

Discovered it at a wine tasting last fall and ordered a bottle ($18.25) when the taste confirmed the salesman’s “caramelized butter” hype. Drank it with friends at a time when we really needed a glass of wine, and we all liked it.

Unfortunately, very little information is available on the wine or the winery. Even a search of Graton, California wineries found no listing for A. Crisp Cellars. Graton is an unincorporated town in west Sonoma County.  

That’s all I know.

The Big C - Chardonnay

 

The Big C. In television shows, it’s Cancer. To Sarah Palin, it’s Christmas. To phobias, it’s Clowns. To wine, it is Chardonnay. The Wine Institute, Department of Commerce, lists Chardonnay as the most popular selling wine in the United States, and California’s most produced wine varietal. It is planted wherever grapes are planted because it is easy to grow and can make great wine.

Winemakers love chardonnay because it is influenced by terroir and technique. The most intensely flavored examples per Wines of the World compiled by Susan Keevil are found in California, then Australia, and in descending order Chile, New Zealand, and Burgundy with the most delicate flavors produced in Chablis, France. www.wine-searcher.com states due to the “high level of winemaker involvement, Chardonnay has become known as the ‘winemaker’s wine.”

Chardonnays of California and France went head to head at the historic 1976 Judgment of Paris – the blind tasting by French judges which established New World wines as not only equal to Old World, but superior. California entries won in both the red and white wine categories – Chardonnay vs. white Burgundy and Cabernet Sauvignon vs. Bordeaux (note: Americans and much of the New World name wines by grape variety, while European wines are named after places).  The 2008 movie Bottle Shock is inspired by the event, as is the proposed Judgment of Paris written by screenwriter and winemaker Robert Mark Kamen, Kamen Estate Wines.    

The winner in white - Napa Valley’s Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay – came from owner and winemaker Jim Barrett. A self-made man and lawyer, Barrett purchased Chateau Montelena in 1972 and replanted the vineyards with Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine Spectator May 31, 2013 ran his obituary stating “while his Cabernet vines matured, Barrett focused on Chardonnay made from purchased grapes.” Which makes me think the vintage that won came from purchased grapes, though I have found no speculation let alone confirmation in any articles. The winning bottle is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Annually, Wine Spectator features senior editor Jim Laube’s Chardonnay report (July 31, 2013). This year’s recommended Top Wines from a tasting of 425 selections: Kongsgaard Chardonnay Napa Valley The Judge 2010 ($175) “openly rich and smoky, yet graceful and polished, with roasted fig, honeysuckle, baked apple, marshmallow, and cinnamon-tinged spices”; Aubert Chardonnay Russian River Valley Eastside 2011 ($80), Knogsgaard Chardonnay Napa Valley 2010 ($75) followed by selections from Edge Hill, Kistler, Lewis, Alpha Omega, Paul Hobbs, Laird Family, Marcassin, Sbragia Family, Shafer, Beringer, Hanzell, Peter Michael, and Ramey.

Laube’s Top Values: Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Alexander Valley Robert Young Vineyard 2010 ($25), Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay Sonoma County 2011 ($23), La Follette Chardonnay North Coast 2011 ($20), followed by selections from Morgan, Pali Wine Co., Rock View, Beringer, Bonterra, Byron, Navarro, and finally Souverain Chardonnay North Coast 2010 ($14) offering “notes of citrus, green apple, white flowers, and cream.”

Note, not all Chardonnays are created equal. Between the number one Top Recommended at $175, and the last Top Value at $14, is a lot of money, a lot of taste, and a lot of adjectives.