I was invited by David Hautzig to a tasting of some of the wines he sells for T Edward Wines. T Edwards is a boutique distributor in New York State, from whom I buy some wines for Local 111, in Phillmont. There were close to 70 wines available for tasting. This is a nice small tasting where there is enough time to try everything and keep an overview. All in all, the wines were very good, some of them stuck out, however, and I would like to mention a couple of these stand outs. The "Planella" by Joan d'Anguera from the D.O. Monstant was really impressive. The color reddish purple and intense. It just about jumped out of the glass with rich black fruit aromas. On the pallete it was just as intense and "sweet" but balanced. I put sweet in quotation marks because the wine seems to have been fermented dry, but the fruit was so strong that it had an almost candy like quality, always balanced by the acidity and tannins. The D.O Monstant is a newish D.O. which all but surrounds Priorat. The winery is not new, but is an old family winery, and their farming methods are sustainable!! The wine is made from 40% Mazuelo (also known as Carinena elsewhere in Spain; and as Carignanin France), 20% Syrah, 20% Grenach, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a Rhone like blend with the addition of the Cab. Sauv. You can really taste the Cab. Sauv. in the cassis notes. The wine comes from 15 - 50 year old vines planted in chalky soil. The wine spends 11 months in oak. I would think that with the sweetness of the fruit that the fermentation was carried out at lowish temperatures, on the other hand the extraction was impressive enough to hint toward a warmer max temperature. Check out the winery web site for more info. . I think it is a wine to look for and buy for under $25.
I'll try to write about a couple of the other wines tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Joel Stein on wine
In the LA Times last week, Joel Stein had an article about wine that attempts to pump up the populist mob against wine snobbery. While I am all in favor of demystifying wine, this article is the wrong way to do it. The attempt here is to make fun of wine writers, especially in how they describe wines by giving "a long list of obscure smells."
I agree that wine writers and commentators should concentrate more on the structure and balance of wine and less on their nuances. The real problem is that wine writers are attempting to do the impossible and so they are always failing and always going to fail. Describing flavors and taste sensations shows nothing so much as the limits of language, as does describing music or art.
So a writer fishes around to give ever more detail in an effort make a complete picture. In their attempt they describe a potential, not unlike a connect the dots picture. The drinkers job is to fill in the dots. The writer often tries, perhaps too hard, to make as many dots as possible.
Mr. Stein has found a writer in Gary Vaynerchuk who he likes. I congratulate both of them for finding each other. Everybody should try and find a writer who's explanations and descriptions seem to speak to them. Like wines themselves the question is often not one of quality but of taste. Find a writer who is to your taste, and find wines that are to your taste, and every once in a while try something unusual (in writers and wines) and widen your horizons.
It is easy to make fun of Robert Parker, and he can handle it, but there was a time when he was breaking the mold. Back then wines were described in terms of women, by the old british wine press. Everyone made fun of them when Parker came around, just as people make fun of Parker now.
Since we have no real wine culture in this country, there is always extra hand holding involved in wine writing. Where there is more common experience, there is short hand that everyone understands. The real task at hand is for people to drink more wine and more interesting wine. The real job of a wine writer is to encourage people to do this. Mr. Stein fails at this.
By the way Roald Dahl, who Stein quotes as dismissing the wine writer snobs, has a blurb on the back of Parker's book that seems to me to be quite favorable.
I agree that wine writers and commentators should concentrate more on the structure and balance of wine and less on their nuances. The real problem is that wine writers are attempting to do the impossible and so they are always failing and always going to fail. Describing flavors and taste sensations shows nothing so much as the limits of language, as does describing music or art.
So a writer fishes around to give ever more detail in an effort make a complete picture. In their attempt they describe a potential, not unlike a connect the dots picture. The drinkers job is to fill in the dots. The writer often tries, perhaps too hard, to make as many dots as possible.
Mr. Stein has found a writer in Gary Vaynerchuk who he likes. I congratulate both of them for finding each other. Everybody should try and find a writer who's explanations and descriptions seem to speak to them. Like wines themselves the question is often not one of quality but of taste. Find a writer who is to your taste, and find wines that are to your taste, and every once in a while try something unusual (in writers and wines) and widen your horizons.
It is easy to make fun of Robert Parker, and he can handle it, but there was a time when he was breaking the mold. Back then wines were described in terms of women, by the old british wine press. Everyone made fun of them when Parker came around, just as people make fun of Parker now.
Since we have no real wine culture in this country, there is always extra hand holding involved in wine writing. Where there is more common experience, there is short hand that everyone understands. The real task at hand is for people to drink more wine and more interesting wine. The real job of a wine writer is to encourage people to do this. Mr. Stein fails at this.
By the way Roald Dahl, who Stein quotes as dismissing the wine writer snobs, has a blurb on the back of Parker's book that seems to me to be quite favorable.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Tannat Redux
Okay, it seems that I just deleted a new entry, so here it goes again
After my last entry about the Catamayor Tannat from uruguay, I was not expecting to tasted another such wine so soon. But David Hautzig the sales rep. from T. Edward Wines invited me to taste a few wines and lo and behold among those wines was the 2006 Tannat from Vinedo De Los Vientos, a winery in the Coastal Region of Atlántida, Canelones, in Uruguay, just a couple of miles from the Atlantic Ocean. This 5000 case winery (that is tiny) is run by Pablo Fallabrino, descendant from a Basque immigrant.
The wine was a good example of Tannat. It was dark deep red, had good firm tannins, lots of primary flavors and a bit of earth and finished with raspberry flavors. You knew it was a Tannat from the nose and the first sip.
At the price of $12 or less this is a great deal. It is at least as good as all the Merlots and Malbecs from South America and most likely something you haven't tasted yet. It would go well with roasted or grilled meats and of course Cassoulet, for which this varietal was invented.
It is fun to taste something out of the mainstream, and this counts. The wine is imported by T, Edward Wines of New York.
In the Hudson Valley of New York you can find it at Little Gates Wine Merchants, Village Wine and Spirits and BTG at Manna Dew Wine Bar, all in Millerton, New York.
After my last entry about the Catamayor Tannat from uruguay, I was not expecting to tasted another such wine so soon. But David Hautzig the sales rep. from T. Edward Wines invited me to taste a few wines and lo and behold among those wines was the 2006 Tannat from Vinedo De Los Vientos, a winery in the Coastal Region of Atlántida, Canelones, in Uruguay, just a couple of miles from the Atlantic Ocean. This 5000 case winery (that is tiny) is run by Pablo Fallabrino, descendant from a Basque immigrant.
The wine was a good example of Tannat. It was dark deep red, had good firm tannins, lots of primary flavors and a bit of earth and finished with raspberry flavors. You knew it was a Tannat from the nose and the first sip.
At the price of $12 or less this is a great deal. It is at least as good as all the Merlots and Malbecs from South America and most likely something you haven't tasted yet. It would go well with roasted or grilled meats and of course Cassoulet, for which this varietal was invented.
It is fun to taste something out of the mainstream, and this counts. The wine is imported by T, Edward Wines of New York
In the Hudson Valley of New York you can find it at Little Gates Wine Merchants, Village Wine and Spirits and BTG at Manna Dew Wine Bar, all in Millerton, New York.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tannat
When you talk bout wine, tradition often comes up as an important topic. Tradition in terms of variety and place and practice is held up as a worthy value. I agree with this for the most part and would more likely drink a Chianti than a "Super Tuscan" for that very reason. Now on the other hand, some Super Tuscans a 100% Sangiovese, a truly traditional and perhaps indigenous Tuscan variety. So there.
And Brunello, which seems traditional as such, was "invented" around 1888. So it is old and traditional, but not that traditional and not that old.
The classic French variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, is a bit older than that but not nearly as old as Pinot Noir. And for that matter Syrah, known as Shiraz in Australia come originally from Iran and is named after the city of Shiraz.
So how old does a grape or a wine type have to be to be traditional or authentic?
The answer to this question will have an effect on what you think about new world wines, none of which are made from new world grape varieties. Some great wines are being made in countries with a short wine-making history. These wines are being made with European varieties but in new world styles.
Because wine should be an expression of place, new world wineries are inventing new traditions. I mean to say that by taking a foreign grape but growing it in a new place and then making wine out of it, it creates wines distinct from the traditional wines made from that type of grape in the old world. So new traditions are being established, and they are legitimate and authentic.
I would go and say that most people who complain about the lack of tradition or lack of authenticity in new world wines ironically often call for new world wines which taste more like old world wine. A recipe for inauthenticity!
All of this comes to mind because of the Tannat from Uruguay I drank the other day. Produced by Catamayor and distributed by Petersen Imports in Massachusetts, for whom I work, the wine is great!
The Tannat grape is grown traditionally (there's that word) in Madiran in southwest France and is known to be one of the most tannic grapes there is; hence the name.
For some reason the grape is also traditionally grown in Uruguay. Go figure. It seems the Basques brought Tannat over and planted it in 1870, before there was such a thing as Brunello in Italy. I have tasted a few of the Uruguayan Tannats over the last year. So far the best i have tasted is the Tannat Reserve of the Family from Catamayor. The regular Tannat from Catamayor is a real bargan at under $12 per bottle. It is dark, way less tannic than those from France but still pretty dense and deep, if not super complex.
You can pair it with food the way you would with a red Bordeaux or not too ripe Cabernet.
In general it is worth seeking out Madirans and Uruguyan Tannats, as the grape is wonderful in all its iterations.
And Brunello, which seems traditional as such, was "invented" around 1888. So it is old and traditional, but not that traditional and not that old.
The classic French variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, is a bit older than that but not nearly as old as Pinot Noir. And for that matter Syrah, known as Shiraz in Australia come originally from Iran and is named after the city of Shiraz.
So how old does a grape or a wine type have to be to be traditional or authentic?
The answer to this question will have an effect on what you think about new world wines, none of which are made from new world grape varieties. Some great wines are being made in countries with a short wine-making history. These wines are being made with European varieties but in new world styles.
Because wine should be an expression of place, new world wineries are inventing new traditions. I mean to say that by taking a foreign grape but growing it in a new place and then making wine out of it, it creates wines distinct from the traditional wines made from that type of grape in the old world. So new traditions are being established, and they are legitimate and authentic.
I would go and say that most people who complain about the lack of tradition or lack of authenticity in new world wines ironically often call for new world wines which taste more like old world wine. A recipe for inauthenticity!
All of this comes to mind because of the Tannat from Uruguay I drank the other day. Produced by Catamayor and distributed by Petersen Imports in Massachusetts, for whom I work, the wine is great!
The Tannat grape is grown traditionally (there's that word) in Madiran in southwest France and is known to be one of the most tannic grapes there is; hence the name.
For some reason the grape is also traditionally grown in Uruguay. Go figure. It seems the Basques brought Tannat over and planted it in 1870, before there was such a thing as Brunello in Italy. I have tasted a few of the Uruguayan Tannats over the last year. So far the best i have tasted is the Tannat Reserve of the Family from Catamayor. The regular Tannat from Catamayor is a real bargan at under $12 per bottle. It is dark, way less tannic than those from France but still pretty dense and deep, if not super complex.
You can pair it with food the way you would with a red Bordeaux or not too ripe Cabernet.
In general it is worth seeking out Madirans and Uruguyan Tannats, as the grape is wonderful in all its iterations.
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