Posts Tagged ‘Under 13 percent’
I hate when this happens
I pull an old bottle from my cellar. Thinking it’s probably over the hill and not something I’d want to chance sharing with friends, I open it one evening when I’m alone. The wine is glorious. And I’m the only person around to appreciate it.
In this case, the bottle is a Sonoma Mountains 1993, Cabernet Sauvignon, Laurel Glen, for which I paid a stiff $49.50 back in the day. The reason why was that it was said to be a sleeper, an underappreciated wine that could hold its own against better-known Cal Cabs costing two or three times as much. And you know what? It does.
Earlier in the day, I’d found a a beautiful veal rib steak sitting in my butcher’s display case. Looking for something I could, weather permitting, grill or, weather not, cook on the stovetop, I grabbed it.
Look in food-and-wine pairing books and you’ll often find that mature Bordeaux, in particular Médoc, is a recommended accompaniment for côtes de veau. And I was sure I had a cru bourgeois or two from the 1990s or early 2000s at home. Except when I looked, I didn’t. After hesitating over a 2002 Chinon, I went with this. And now, since there’s no one to share the experience with, I regret it. Except the wine is so delicious, I don’t really.
Gorgeous Bordeauxish nose of cassis, cedar and cigar box along with notes of turned earth and slate. A joy in the mouth: the fruit sweet and vibrant, the texture satiny, the tannins resolved into velvet, the acidity bright and streaming. The long finish is remarkable for its complex of savoury, minerally, tobacco/herby nuances. What’s more, the wine is dry and perfectly digeste, spritely, invigorating, with an alcohol level of 12.5%. Probably as good as it ever will be, though probably not declining for a few years more.
It’s the kind of wine that restores my faith in California. Except does anyone in California make wines like this any more?
Lucid and solar
In the late 1970s, his youthful obsession with race car driving behind him, Marco De Bartoli returned to the family estate and set out to save Marsala wine from the quantity-over-quality mindset that had tarnished if not destroyed its once sterling reputation. To say he succeeded would be an understatement, as his terroir-driven, Grillo-only Marsalas are widely viewed as exceptional and peerless. In the mid-1980s, De Bartoli expanded his operations to the island of Pantelleria, renowned for its sweet Muscats. In the mid-1990s, his sons came on board, leading to the production of dry reds and whites made from local grape varieties. While the farming has always been organic, it is only now being certified as such.
We tasted two of the dry whites. A third, the 2013 Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) “Pietranera,” didn’t make it out of the SAQ warehouse in time. The Marsalas we hope to taste before long, the good news being that at least one of them will soon be available at the SAQ Signature stores.
IGT Terre Siciliane 2013, Vignaverde, Marco De Bartoli ($29.35, private import, 12 bottles/case)
This is the first vintage of the wine. The grapes were picked earlier than is the case for the fruit used to make the estate’s Marsalas and oak-aged Grillo (late August as opposed to early September), the idea being to produce a fresher wine. 100% Grillo from organically farmed 18-year-old vines grown in the Samperi vineyard. Manually harvested. Gently pressed. The must is chilled and clarified by settling for 48 hours. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled 50-hectolitre stainless steel tanks. Matured on the lees for six months also in stainless steel tanks. 11.5% ABV. 15,000 bottles made. Quebec agent: oneopole.
Minerals, preserved lemon peel and a hint of mango, gaining sweat and quartz notes as it breathes. Medium-bodied but possessing a certain weight and roundness. The ripe-sweet fruit is dusted with minerals and checked by sourish acidity. A saline thread runs through the long finish. So smooth and solar you could be forgiven for not immediately noticing its complexity and depth. (Buy again? Gladly.)
IGT Terre Siciliane 2013, Lucido, Marco De Bartoli ($21.85, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Catarratto Lucido from organically farmed 11-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Gently pressed. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Matured on the lees for seven months also in stainless steel tanks. 11.5% ABV. 10,000 bottles made. Quebec agent: oneopole.
Shy rainwatery nose with peach and floral overtones. Drier, fleeter and even more savoury than the Vignaverde, packed with rocky minerals. Acidity is sustained but not souring, while the finish is clean and appetizing. Opening, deepening, drinkable and delicious. Great QPR. (Buy again? Done!)
MWG March 12th tasting: flight 2 of 7.
In the pink
Two from the first wave of spring rosés to hit the SAQ’s shelves.
Alsace 2014, Pinot Noir Rosé, Alsace Willm ($17.90, 12521401)
Another wine not listed on the producer’s website and with no technical information that I’ve been able to find. 100% Pinot Noir. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Sylvestre Vins & Spiritueux.
Pretty nose of red berries. Delicate in the mouth, fruity but not sweet (or bone-dry for that matter). Lightly brightly acidic. Not much substance or length but enjoyable for its freshness, faint juiciness and ethereal ephemerality. A patio wine par excellence. (Buy again? On a hot summer’s day, sure.)
Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence 2014, Château Vignelaure ($24.70, 12374149)
Grenache (40%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%) and Syrah (30%) from vines averaging 25 years old. Manually harvested. Saignée method after two hours’ maceration for the Grenache; direct pressing for the Cab and Syrah. The must is chilled to 10°C and allowed to settle for 48 hours. Fermented at low temperature (17°C) and matured in stainless steel tanks except for 7% of the Cab, which is aged in a 400-litre new oak barrel. Maturation on the lees with regular stirrings lasts three months. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: LBV International.
Savoury nose: minerals and garrigue up front, fruit in the background. More substantial than the Willm but also more akin to a white wine. Dry and balanced, the extract buoyed by fine acidity. Shimmering peach and pink grapefruit are on equal footing with white minerals, while a light salinity threads through the long finish. Delicious is on its own but the real vocation of this vin gastronomique is to accompany grilled seafood or bouillabaisse. Will probably rank among the top half-dozen rosés to be found at the SAQ this spring and summer. (Buy again? Yes.)
An OK wine at an OK price
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2013, La Cuvée dell’Abate, Zaccagnini ($18.30, 908954)
Another wine not listed on the producer’s website, this looks like it could be a Quebec-only bottling. 100% Montepulciano from vines between 20 and 25 years old. Manually harvested in several passes. Macerated on the skins for 15 days and fermented (both alcoholic and malolactic) in temperature-controlled (28-30C) stainless steel tanks. Matured in 1,000-litre oak barrels (90%) and second-fill oak casks for around six months. Aged three months in the bottle before release. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Balthazard.
Red and black berries, turned earth, terracotta and a hint of black licorice. Medium-bodied and well balanced. Dry but not austere thanks to the ripe sweet fruit (cherry) and thread of oaky vanilla. The smooth surface is supported but undisturbed by soft acidity and light tannins. Gauzy minerals and a faint astringency, most obvious on the finish, add savour. Not the kind of wine that has you sitting up and taking notice but drinkable all the same, an “OK wine at an OK price” as one Cellartracker user concluded about the 2010. That said, it’s the best pairing yet for one of my winter staples: pork shoulder stewed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, while wine, chile and black-eyed peas (grazie, Marcella). (Buy again? Sure.)
Salt and pepper
The last time I saw one of Weingut Jurtschitsch’s bottles on an SAQ shelf was in 2002. In the intervening years, a new generation has taken over the winemaking, the estate has been certified organic and the Little J line of affordable Grüner Veltliner and Zweigelt has been introduced. Technical info on this is hard to find; the wine’s not mentioned on the producer’s website and no details are provided on the Quebec agent’s. Is it made from estate-grown grapes? Is it fermented with native yeasts? Is it filtered or fined? Your guess is as good as mine.
Kamptal 2013, Grüner Veltliner, Little J, Weingut Jurtschitsch ($17.75, 12486562)
100% organically farmed Grüner Veltliner. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Gently pressed. Fermented and matured in stainless steel tanks. Screwcapped. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Rézin.
Textbook nose of lime and white grapefruit, crushed seashells, white pepper. In the mouth, it’s clean, fruity and not bone dry. A faint spritz and souring acidity enliven. Abundant minerals deepen. The running thread of salinity is most obvious on the attack and finish. White pepper lingers after the fruit has disappeared. Fresher and finer than many similarly priced GVs, this seems tailor made for sipping as an aperitif and accompanying raw seafood (shellfish, sushi, tartare), Vietnamese fare, maybe even salads. Would so hit the spot on a sweltering July evening. (Buy again? Several bottles with an eye to July.)
Released a couple of weeks ago, this has already disappeared from several SAQ stores, so don’t dawdle if you’re interested. An extra inducement for acting fast is the Generous Wines campaign: for every bottle of white wine purchased at the SAQ (in stores and online) today and tomorrow, the monopoly will donate $1 to Food Banks of Quebec.
Introverso di Langhe
Langhe 2013, Dolcetto, Silvio Grasso ($19.75, 12062081)
100% Dolcetto from 15- to 20-year-old vines. Still not listed on the producer’s website. According to the Quebec agent, the farming leans “natural” (organic fertilizers, manual weed control) and the wine is fermented and macerated on the skins for four to five days and matured for seven to eight months, all in stainless steel tanks. Sulphur use is said to be low. 14% ABV per SAQ.com, 12% per the label. Quebec agent: Rézin.
Shy nose of earth, slate, sandalwood and plum skin with hints of raw red meat and blueberry yogurt. Equally restrained in the mouth: less vibrantly fruity than the San Luigi, quite dry and savoury. Sleek acidity lends a welcome brightness. The tannins seem quite tame until you vigorously chew the wine, at which point they gain a velevty rasp and add an astringent edge to the faintly bitter finish. Not a smiling wine, which is not to say dour but rather brooding, inward-looking. Passing through a closed phase? In any case, it’s as inscrutable as the 2012 was. (Buy again? A bottle or two to cellar for a few years?)
Party wine
Côtes du Marmandais 2013, Le vin est une fête, Elian Da Ros ($20.65, 11793211)
A blend of organically farmed Abouriou (40%), Cabernet Franc (40%) and Merlot (20%). Manually harvested. The Merlot and Cabernet were destemmed, macerated for ten to 15 days and gently pressed. The Abouriou clusters were kept whole and vinified using semi-carbonic maceration. All fermentations are with indigenous yeasts. The wine was matured 12 months in old barrels. Unfined and lightly filtered before bottling in December 2014. Sulphur is added only on bottling. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Rézin.
Attractive nose with a pronounced lactic note: cassis, blackberry and a whiff of wildberry yogurt along with faint pencil shaving and red meat notes. Medium-bodied, supple and silky. Fruity yet dry. The fruit is ripe but tart, the tannins raspy but light. There’s plenty of follow-through, with black pepper and slate colouring the long finish. Maybe a little less acidic – and thus a shade less fresh and lively – than the excellent 2012 but still a joy to drink, especially lightly chilled. If Bordeaux made a Beaujolais cru, it might well taste like this. Food pairings for this food-friendly wine? Roast fowl, rabbit stew, grilled pork, portobello burgers, bavette aux échalottes and more. (Buy again? Yep.)
This showed up a couple of weeks ago and stocks are already dwindling. If you’re interested, act fast.
A not quite classic Classico?
Will get back to regular posting as soon as work lets up a little. In the meantime, a sop to quell the clamouring masses.
Soave Classico 2012, Calvarino, Pieropan ($26.30, 741058)
Sustainably farmed Garganega (90%) and Trebbiano di Soave (aka Verdicchio, 10%) from 30- to 60-year-old vines grown in the Calvarino vineyard. The grapes were manually harvested, destemmed and crushed. The free-run juice was fermented separately. Fermented at 16-18°C in glass-lined concrete tanks. Matured on the lees for 12 months in glass-lined concrete tanks. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Enotria.
Subdued nose: yellow apple just beginning to brown, lemon oil, rain on limestone, a hint of marzipan. In the mouth, it’s dry, medium-bodied, as much about extract as flavour. The soto vocce fruit is encased in a quartz matrix while the sleek acidity turns a little lemony as the wine traverses the palate. Bitter almond – or at least a touch of bitterness – colours the long, yellow apple-scented finish. Understated almost to a fault, this reveals more with vigorous chewing and could be passing through a closed phase. Perhaps not the best choice for chicken braised with white wine, rosemary and garlic though probably the best-suited of my neighbourhood SAQ’s newly “improved” (read “category-managed and severely dumbed-down”) offer of Italian whites. Better on its own, at least for now, or maybe with a pristine piece of fine white fish broiled and drizzled with melted butter and a few drops of lemon juice. (Buy again? Maybe. Or look instead for the beginning-to-arrive 2013 vintage.)
MWG February 18th tasting: Noddities
The idea for this eclectic flight? Easy-drinking reds, all new arrivals, made from off-the-beaten-path grape varieties. New + oddity = noddity.
IGT Maremma Toscana 2013, Ciliegiolo, Azienda Il Grillesino ($17.85, 12280695)
100% Ciliegiolo from vines grown in stony clay-limestone soil near the Tuscan coast. The grapes were fermented in temperature-controlled tanks for 15 days. Matured for six months. Sees no oak. Bottled unfiltered in the spring following the vintage. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Mark Anthony Brands.
Spice, cherry, black raspberry, lingonberry, hints of chocolate, caramel and, oddly, “white vinegar” (quoting another taster). Fruity, supple and light though gaining a little weight as it moves through the mouth. Tart acidity keeps things refreshing, lightly raspy tannins add texture and a bit of backbone. Simple but quaffable, especially if served lightly chilled and with food. I wish it were $4 or $5 cheaper. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Valle de la Orortava 2013, 7 Fuentes, Soagranorte ($22.10, 12475425)
A 90-10 blend of Listán Negro and Tintilia (which, despite claims that it’s Grenache, Mourvèdre or Molise’s Tintilia, appears to be none other than the Jura’s Trousseau aka Bastardo) from ungrafted vines between ten and 100 years old grown in various parcels at altitudes ranging from 400 to 650 m on Tenerife. The grapes from each vineyard were vinified separately. Manually harvested in early September. Alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts and manual punch-downs was in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Sixty percent of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation and eight months’ maturation in 5,700-litre concrete tanks while the remainder was matured in 500-litre French oak casks. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Les vins Alain Bélanger.
The bottle at the tasting was irredeemably bretty, reeking of barnyard. The staff at my neighbourhood SAQ reported the same of the bottle they opened. A bottle enjoyed last weekend was funky at first but clean-smelling after a couple of hours in a carafe. Unusual nose of sandalwood, sawdust and spice with whiffs of doner and plum. Supple, fluid and medium-bodied, ripe and fruit-forward but not a bomb. Very dry, with soft, dusty tannins, glowing acidity and a dark mineral underlay. A faint, alum-like astringency marks the saline finish. Unusual, interesting and, above all, drinkable. Food pairing? Well-done red meat, maybe one of those doners. (Buy again? Yes.)
IGP Ismaros 2010, Maronia, Tsantali ($13.00, 12460354)
100% Mavroudi (aka Mavrud) grown in estate-owned vineyards around Maroneia. Alcoholic fermentation lasts eight to ten days, after which the wine is left on the grape skins for another two or three days. After pressing, it undergoes malolactic fermentation and then is transferred to new 300-litre French oak barrels for eight months’ maturation. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Amphora.
Jammy plum, sweet spice, sawed wood and “cherry Vicks.” Medium- to full-bodied. The big but not lumbering fruit is structured by soft acidity and round tannins. An undercurrent of tar adds an appealing earthiness. Black pepper and vanilla-caramel colour the finish. Broader than it is deep but, at $13, who’s complaining? A bottle I opened a few days before the tasting seemed lighter and less fruit-driven. Either way, it’s a QPR winner. (Buy again? Sure.)
(Flight: 3/5)
MWG February 19th tasting: Mostly Macabeu
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Blanc, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($45.00, private import, NLA)
All or mostly Macabeu (some claim it also contains a dollop of Carignan Blanc) from vines around 80 years old that had been abandoned and were about to be torn out when winemaker Cyril Fahl acquired the vineyard and revivied it using biodynamic methods. Manually harvested. Non-interventionist winemaking with spontaneous fermentation. Matured nine months in neutral 500-litre barrels. Minimally sulphured at bottling, with some carbon dioxide added by way of compensation. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
When young, the wine needs to be carafed hours before serving (one MWG member reports carafing it 24 hours before paring it “memorably” with oysters). After nearly two hours in the carafe, ours had an initially odd nose of “canned tuna” (quoting one of the tasters) that soon evolved into acacia blossom, pear and pineapple water, “pine nuts,” crushed stone and so much more. Complex and layered in the mouth. The ethereal fruit tends to pear, apple, faint citrus. Minerals abound. Acidity shimmers. Saline and bitter notes colour the long finish. A unique, spellbindingly protean wine, more elegant and profound than the Cours Toujours and slower to give up its many secrets. While the paradigm is different from, say, a Meursault’s, this is one of France’s great whites and, as such, it’s a QPR winner at under $50. (Buy again? In future vintages, as many as I can afford and lay my hands on.)
Côtes du Roussillon 2012, Cours Toujours, Domaine du Possible ($32.00, private import, NLA)
The estate farms organically. This is mostly Macabeu with a little Grenache Gris. Manually harvested. Non-interventionist wine-making with spontaneous fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Matured 12 months in used barrels. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with very little or no added sulphur. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Initially reticent but evolving nose: dried pineapple, yellow apple, quartz dust, background straw and honeycomb. More fruit-forward than the Clos du Rouge Gorge. A little wilder and more rustic too. Ripe-sweet on the attack; full of crunchy minerals on the mid-palate; turning drier, sourish and saline on the long finish. A here-now joy to drink. (Buy again? For sure.)
(Flight: 2/5)
Brett happens 