Posts Tagged ‘Affordable’
MWG January 8th tasting: A pair of dry Tokajs
Manufacturer of a vitamin supplement popular in Hungary, the Béres family acquired a 45-hectare estate near the village of Erdőbénye, in the heart of the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region, in 2002.
Tokaji 2009, Naparany Cuvée, Béres ($20.60, 12178922)
A 50-50 blend of Furmint and Hárslevelü from nearly decade old vines. Naparany (“sungold”) refers to the latter’s colour. Manually harvested. Alcoholic fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast takes place in stainless steel tanks lasts three weeks. Prevented from undergoing malolactic fermentation. Matured on the lees three months in third- and fourth-fill Hungarian oak casks. Filtered before bottling. Aged six months in bottle before release. 6.3 g/l acidity, 2.3 g/l residual sugar, 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Valmonti.
Intriguing nose of peach, dried leaves, parsnip, hints of orange peel and caramel. Dry, medium-bodied and intense yet buoyant and fluent, the ripe fruit carried on a gurgling stream of acidity. Turns a little fiery – not hot – on a long finish that’s full of salty butterscotch notes. Exotic, saucy and impressive. The winemaker suggests smoked goose breast with kidney beans, cream of spinach soup with dry ham, and potato, egg and smoked pork hash with garlic sour cream as pairings. (Buy again? For sure.)
Tokaj-Hegyalja 2009, Löcse Furmint, Béres ($23.90, 11766335)
The estate’s flagship wine. 100% Furmint from 30-year-old vines growing in the Löcse vineyard. Alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts in Hungarian oak casks lasts one month. Prevented from undergoing malolactic fermentation. Maturation on the lees in 30% new Hungarian oak barrels lasts eight months. Filtered before bottling. Aged three months in bottle before release. 6.1 g/l acidity, 1.7 g/l residual sugar, 14.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Valmonti.
Complex, umami-rich nose of quince, mushroom, faint nuts, hints of dried herbs. Rich, broad, deep and super long. Powerful and weighty yet balanced, even elegant. Bone-dry fruit, a mother lode of minerals and incandescent acidity dominate the mid-palate and last well into the super-long finish, where they’re joined by subtle oak and that palate-slapping fieriness. Wow-worthy and even better than the impressive 2008. As pairings the winemaker suggests “woodcutter’s roast” (sliced pork loin braised with onion, mushroom, bacon and, optionally, tomatoes and green pepper, and served with fried potato bread) or potato soup with smoked sausage, paprika and sour cream but I couldn’t stop thinking of chicken or tripe paprikash. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
For many of the assembled tasters, this was the flight of the night. The QPR for both wines is off the charts.
(Flight: 3/8)
MWG January 8th tasting: A pair of organic Soaves
Soave Classico 2013, Inama ($20.65, 00908004)
100% Garganega from organically farmed 30-year-old vines. The grapes are manually havested, destemmed, crushed, macerated on the skins for four to 12 hours, then pressed. The must is chilled and allowed to settle for 12 to 14 hours followed by alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The fermented wine is racked into vats for eight months’ maturation. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Bergeron-les-vins.
Lovely, delicate, nuanced nose of lemon, white peach and just mowed flowery fields. Subtle and nuanced in the mouth too, fine-grained and dry. The pure fruit is infused with a rainwater minerality and soft-glow acidity. A faint carbon dioxide tingle only adds to the impression of freshness, while hints of almond and honey colour the bitter-threaded finish. (Buy again? Gladly.)
Soave Colli Scaligeri 2013, Castelcerino, Cantina Filippi ($20.10, 12129119)
100% Garganega from organically farmed vines most of which average 45 years old. Manually harvested. After pressing, the must is gravity-fed into stainless steel tanks. Temperature control is used sparingly if at all. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Does not undergo malolactic fermentation. Matured on the fine lees for about six months, with occasional stirring, and an additional year in the bottle. Minimally sulphured before bottling. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Lemony and a bit Sauvignon Blanc-like with pear, limestone and faint floral notes. Clean and business-like on the palate, a delicate complex of minerals, white fruit and citrus that fade into a telltale bitter-almond finish. There’s acid aplenty but, oddly, the wine stays earthbound (“ça manque d’éclat,” in the words of one taster), which is surprising given its excellence in earlier vintages and the reception the 2013 has been getting from local restaurateurs and sommeliers. Perhaps ours was a slightly off bottle? (Buy again? At least another bottle for research purposes.)
(Flight: 2/8)
Bordel de Noël workshop (4/6)
IGT Terre Siciliane 2013, SP68, Arianna Occhipinti ($55.75/1.5 L, 12429470)
A 50-50 blend of organically farmed Nero d’Avola and Frappato from vines averaging 11 years old. Manually harvested. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and macerated 30 days on the skins with daily pump-overs and punch-downs. Matured six months on the lees in tanks and two months in the bottle. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with minimal sulphur dioxide. 12.5% ABV. Also available in 750 ml bottles ($28.45, 11811765). Quebec agent: oenopole.
Delightful nose: candied rose petal, plum, cherry and basalt dust. A supple middleweight in the mouth. The ripe and juicy fruit – so not heavy or sweet – is framed by lacy tannins and tanged with a mineral sourness. The long finish shows some tannic astringency and exits on a white pepper and anise note. A shade lighter than the 2012 perhaps but, as ever, one of the most drinkable reds on the planet. One of the most food-friendly too, as demonstrated by its compatibility with all the foods on the plate. Along with the Canarelli rosé, my turkey dinner pick of the evening. (Buy again? Automatically.)
Côtes du Rhône 2012, Lieu-dit Clavin, Domaine de la Vieille Julienne ($28.75, 10919133)
Organically farmed Grenache (80%), Syrah (10%), Mourvèdre (5%) and Cinsault (5%). Manually harvested and partially destemmed. Temperature-controlled maceration and fermentation with indigenous yeasts lasted 20 days. Matured 12 months in 50-hectolitre foudres. Unfiltered and unfined. Sulphur was added – and then minimally – only just before bottling. 14.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
A nose both exuberant and savoury: dusty plum, spice, turned earth, slate, dried herbs. Rich and dense with satiny, ripe, remarkably pure fruit. Tannic but not harshly so. Any sweetness is checked by the vibrant acidity. Bitter, earth and fired mineral flavours mark the long, full finish. Fundamentally dry and – that word again – savoury. Too intense for unadorned turkey and in no way synergistic with the Brussels sprouts, this really needs food that’s darker and more substantial: grilled lamb, say, or a beef daube. (Buy again? Absolutely, just not for Thanksgiving dinner.)
And that roasted turkey that even us turkey haters loved? Cooked using what some refer to as the blast-furnace method, which is nicely explained by chef Marek’s co-blogger here.
Bordel de Noël workshop (2/6)
Bourgogne Vézelay 2012, La Piècette, Domaine de la Cadette ($27.15, 11589691)
See the delightful Wine Terroirs blog for background on and pictures of the estate and many of its wines, though not the Piècette. 100% organically farmed Chardonnay from several parcels. The hand-picked whole clusters are pressed and the must is transferred to stainless steel tanks and new oak barrels (two-thirds to one-third for the 2010; not sure about the 2012) for six months’ alcoholic and malolactic fermentation (no added yeasts or bacteria). Unfiltered. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Powdered quartz and lemon, some green apple and a floral note. Fruity but dry. Fresh and just tense enough, with a clean attack, smooth mid-palate and lingering faint bitterness. The oak is so discreet as to almost be unnoticeable. Complex and elegant, showing more than a little of the rectitude and integrity that makes good Chablis so appealing. Worked with nearly everything on the plate except the cranberry relish, which proved more than the wine could handle. (Buy again? Yes.)
Côtes du Jura 2012, Fleur de Savagnin, Domaine Labet ($35.25, 10783248)
Like a few other Jura winemakers, the Labets use the “fleur” (flower) moniker to designate unoxidized wines. 100% Savagnin from organically farmed vines averaging 25 years old in several parcels, including the celebrated En Chalasse vineyard. After pressing, the must is allowed to clarify by settling for 24 hours. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in large, neutral oak barrels. Matured in newer 228-litre oak barrels that are topped up weekly. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Fragrant nose of Meyer lemon, apple/pear, wax candles and hints of almonds and porcini. The richness of extract doesn’t interfere with the wine’s fluidity, due largely to the grape’s inherent acidity, here present if not as trenchant as in some earlier vintages. The sharp strata of fruit and minerals are softened by a gossamer scrim of creamy oak. Finishes long and clean. Very impressive. In a tasting full of delicious wines, this was the most popular with the assembled tasters. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was also the most versatile in terms of food pairing, handling everything from smoked salmon to turkey to cranberry relish with aplomb and positively singing with the roasted Brussels sprouts. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
Sancerrenity
Sancerre 2011, Les Grands Groux, Domaine Fouassier ($25.25, 12259423)
100% Sauvignon Blanc from a 5.5-hectares of organically and biodyanmically farmed vines between 15 and 40 years old. The groux in the name is a local term for shallow chalky limestone soil with few rocks. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Pressed pneumatically. The must is gravity fed to stainless steel tanks for chilling and settling. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation takes place during the winter. All work in the cellar is done according to the lunar calendar. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV.
Wafting nose: gunflint and chalk, pomelo and pear, green-turning-yellow grass, honey. Smooth on first sip with a slightly viscous texture. Echoing the nose, the fruit has a pearish laidbackness in combo with citrusy acid and a pith-like bitterness that lingers into the minerally finish. When the fruit fades, you’re surprised at how dry the wine actually is. Less exuberant and dazzling than some but so satisfying to drink on its own or with simply prepared seafood, including salads, or goat cheese. A recent limited release that, unsurprisingly, has nearly sold out. (Buy again? Yes.)
Here-now Chianti
Chianti Classico 2010, Riserva, Le Miccine ($27.15, 11580135)
100% organically farmed Sangiovese (various clones). Manually harvested. Destemmed. Fermented seven to ten days followed by malolactic, all in stainless steel. Matured 18 months in 350-litre barrels and larger tonneaux, all French oak and reportedly not new (it certainly tastes that way). 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Avant-Garde.
Cherry and raspberry giving way to balsam, cedar, leather and a violet high note. Burgundian texture: silky sweet-ripe fruit, lithe acidity and supple tannins, though a light but pervasive astringency appears when you chew the wine and the long finish has a puckery, alum-like afterfeel. Not exactly deep but pure and elegant, delicious in its here-now way. Showed better – more fragrant, more complex, deeper – after an hour in the carafe. (Buy again? Sure.)
Le Miccine has received coverage in local media because the winemaker, Paula Cook, is from Quebec. She studied agriculture at McGill and viticulture in France and Italy, then worked with Patrick Léon, erstwhile enologist at Mouton-Rothschild. Her father, a former Rio Tinto Alcan exec, bought the estate as a retirement project. The 2010 is Cook’s first solo effort.
Lush life
“Here. Try this,” says the wine advisor as he hands me a glass filled with an opaque, deep purple wine. It’s his response to my asking whether he’d tasted anything interesting lately.
“This” has a heady, effusive nose of black and red fruit and toasted coconut. Vigorous swirling brings out spice and dark mineral notes. The first sip reveals it’s full-bodied to the max, a velvety mass of fruit saved from bombdom by the wine’s dryness and a subset of savoury slate and tar flavours. Acidity is notable only because it isn’t and while tannins are present, they’re so round and compliant you can’t honestly say they structure the wine. If anything does, it’s the glyceriny wave of alcohol that buoys and carries the fruit from entry to exit. An underground stream of sweet vanilla oak surfaces on the long, vaporous finish.
“Obviously a warm-climate, sun-soaked wine,” I advance. “Lots of oak.” The wine advisor nods encouragingly. “The dryness and savour put me in mind of the Old World, though if so, from a place where international grape varieties are added to the traditional mix and oak is viewed as a desirable flavour…” I’m grasping at straws. “A newfangled Spaniard like you sometimes get in Castilla-La Mancha?”
The advisor takes pity on me and reveals the bottle.
Gossamer yet tonic
Moselle Luxembourgeoise 2012, Premier Grand Cru, Côtes de Grevenmacher, Riesling, Caves Bernard-Massard ($20.50, 10790229)
100% Riesling from estate and/or purchased grapes grown on the west bank of the Moselle, where the river forms the border between Luxembourg and Germany. Manually harvested. Pressed with a pneumatic press. Temperature-controlled fermentation in 60-hl stainless steel tanks. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Univins.
Smells like Riesling: green apple, lemon, minerals vacillating between chalk and quartz. No petrol though. Light- to medium-bodied. Fruity but, in contradiction to the demi-sec designation on the SAQ’s shelf label, dry, with just enough residual sugar to tone down the high-pitched acidity. The background minerals outlast the fruit on the clean finish. A gossamer wine with little depth and a fleeting presence – like those stars you can see only when looking at them indirectly – yet somehow tonic. Closer in spirit to an Alsatian than to a German MSR, though with a foot in each camp and more insubstantial than either. I like but wish there were a little more to it. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Brett happens 