Sunday, November 22, 2009

#162 Traminer

Well as far as the quest is concerned I have now drunk a wine super-store under the table.  This is the last of my Sam's Wines (RIP) bottles... last but certainly not least.  I was assured that this bottle contained the ancient Traminer (see below and here) but now the website and that salesman are long gone.

With today's grape, Traminer I get a chance to sample one of the great ancestors in the wine world.  The Traminer grape has given us Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Silvaner, Grüner Veltliner, and impressively Pinot Noir (with all of its offspring...Chardonnay anyone?) to name but a few.

Surprisingly, given much of its progeny, the flavor profile here is more Chardonnay than Riesling although elements of both are clearly observable.  Unfortunately in this case of 1+1 does not equal 3.  Our human ancestors must have decided that those flavors would be better apart than together and began working on 2-1=2...

This tasting opened up a world of questions most of which are unanswered as of this posting.  For now I will consider this a new varietal but as I learn more and as my DNA sequencing lab finishes up determining the genetic code for all grapes this might change.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

#161 Scheurebe


2008 Weingut Bürgerspital Wuerzburger Steinharfe Scheurebe Kabinett (cannot ship)  SKU #1049937

With a wine-growing area of 110 hectares, Bürgerspital wine-growing estate, located in a fantastically beautiful courtyard right in the middle of Würzburg, is one of the largest wine-growing estates in Germany. This is Scheurebe, folks, a crossbreeding of silvaner and Riesling, and it shows an almost red grape aromatic profile with hints of cassis and a finish that is nicely acidic, making it a great match with sausages, veal or cheese. The 2007 edition of this wine got a Double Gold at the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

OK at first blush this posting may look like a cop-out on my part.  But this is my first post using my brand new computer with 64 bit Windows 7 and the new blog editor.  I cannot believe I got this far...

#160 Arinto

Well the hits keep rolling. Here we have an Arinto from Quinta da Romeira (Portugal) and it becomes yet another in a string of surprises. I started this wine overly chilled (after all it was a sub $10 bottle) and I was a bit disappointed by the singular dimension I experienced. When I returned to the glass 15 minutes later everything had changed. This was an entirely different wine.

Immediately I equated this wine with a simple sauvignon blanc but there is more to it than that. Certainly the citric acidity is evident but it is a fuller wine with more balance than I had expected. As I write this I wish I had been able to leave a little wine in the bottle for the review but it truly was a shame not to drink it. I am more than a little surprised that Arinto has not caught on as a more popular grape. I consider Arinto one of my favorite under the radar white wines and put it on par with the not as obscure Spanish grape Albarino.

I regret that I served this with chicken instead of with crab cakes or a seafood salad of some sort. This wine will definitely be served here again.

I enjoy reading the WSJ wine writers Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher and was surprised that I missed this recent piece which summed up more than a few of my experiences with the quest and with this wine in particular. They closed the piece with "New is fun and often rewarding." Cheers to that!

Quinta Da Romeira Arinto

#159 Malvasia Nera

One of the wonderful things about the late stages of the wine quest is that I never know what to expect when opening a new bottle. The surprises here started with popping the cork and carried through to the finish.

Firstly this wine is under pressure and the surprising POP as the cork was forced out shocked, scared and then interested me. When I noticed that the cork had expanded greatly (think champagne cork) I knew that the carbonation was not a fault. The wine poured a grape juice purple and generated a slight "head" of bubbles which remained around the sides of the glass. The aromatics are enormous but sweet and floral. This wine has a mere 5.5% alcohol which puts it in league with many European beers. This reduced alcohol allows the fruit and sugars to really shine through. The carbonation adds the illusion of acidity so the wine doesn't need it and as you might suspect there is no tannic structure to speak of.

As you may know I am not a huge fan of very sweet wines but somehow this one really hit a soft spot with me. It is very well made, certain to be a crowd pleaser (served chilled on a warm summers day) and would be great served with a variety of the summers best fruits. Not easy to find but for $15 it is a compelling choice.

2008 Cascina Gilli Malvasia Nera di Castelnuovo Don Bosco

Friday, November 6, 2009

#158 Favorita

Getting to 200 wines by years end is feeling increasingly impossible but I will knuckle down and plow ahead. Today is a grape called Favorita. This wine is as green in color as the picture shows. It has the faintest hint of carbonation that passes quickly but does push a lovely floral aroma out of the bottle. The wine itself doesn't hold up to the promise of the nose, instead presenting a surprisingly dry and acidic profile. The finish is a bit hot but I wasn't trying this wine chilled which I suspect would be the best idea... All in all it is quite a nice grape although like many at this stage in the quest increasingly hard to find.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

#157 Grillo

Here we have another ancient grape. This Sicilian white apparently has been made into wine for thousands of years. Most often the grapes are made into marsala.

This is another of the Mediterranean style whites (if I may) which is crisp, fresh, served well chilled and perfectly suited alongside a seafood meal in the sun with a salt breeze coming off the sea.

#156 Pineau D'Aunis

Color like a dark rose'.

Nose of raspberry and pepper.

Effervescent feel on the tongue.
(though not carbonated)

Taste: light oak, barnyard and big acidity.

Sadly this one, though unique and ancient is not an inspiration.