Interested in Italian Wine?

I just picked up the September 2007 issue of Food and Wine Magazine, and it is a must buy if you are interested in Italian wine and the food that goes with it. If you aren't a subscriber you should try to pick it up when you go grocery shopping next time, as nearly every recipe and wine mentioned had me running for a pen and paper to copy down the ingredients, or to jot down the name for my next wine shopping spree.

There are some great features in this month's issue for winelovers. First, for bargain hunters like you and I, Ray Isle rounds up the 25 Best Italian Wines Under $25, including the 2005 Fattoria le Pupille Morellina di Scansano ($19) and the 2005 Feudo Arancio Nero d'Avola ($9). Both of these wines are excellent values, and use varietals that are native to Italy. Ray Isle also selects six budget-friendly barberas to go with some mouth-watering recipes. For varietal fanatics (I fit in that cateogory) there is an A-Z primer of Italian wine grapes that is a superb overview of the wide range of drinking options. There's a lot more than sangiovese to sample, that's for sure, like fiano and aglianico. Lettie Teague explores whether Barolo is all that it's cracked up to be--especially the new "modern" style wines. And Chang-Rae Lee remembers a very special Italian wine that she'd swap her best brunellos for if given the chance.

I've hot-linked the highlights here, but there are loads of food and wine pairings that steer you to even more Italian wine finds so do pick up a copy and get cooking, sipping, and enjoying all that Italy has to offer. I don't know as much about Italian wine as I'd like to, and the September 07 issue has inspired me to learn more.

BBQ Wine for the Last Days of Summer

The so-called "dog days of summer" ended on August 11, marking the astronomical turning point of the summer season and our tilt towards fall. The last best BBQ weather is upon us, and even if you can BBQ year round as we can in California, somehow food from the grill always tastes better in summer. I don't know how much they BBQ in France's Languedoc, but I found a perfect wine from that region to go with your grilled foods.

The 2003 Chateau de Caraguilhes is a fun, old-fashioned grenache-based blend with a little bit of syrah, carignan, and mourvedre in the mix. ($10.99, Mission Wine) It's a bit rustic and rough around the edges, with all kinds of warm herbal and brushy notes up front in the aromas. These mouth-watering summer smells are followed by ripe, blackberry fruit and a lingering aftertaste of dusty and grilled herbs. The ripe fruitiness underneath comes through at the very end, keeping the wine balanced and making it utterly perfect for BBQ. This robust wine is unfiltered, so expect it to throw a little sediment, or expect to decant it if this bothers you. I thought this wine represented excellent QPR at just a hair over $10, as it was richer and more complex than many reds at this price-point. And it's organic, to boot.

As for foods to pair with it, it would be as good with simple grilled chicken as it would be with BBQ ribs slathered with a spicy tomato sauce, burgers, hot dogs--you name it.

Chateau de Caraguilhes is a historic wine chateau located in the Corbieres district of the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region in southern France. The tradition of grape-growing and wine-making extends back to Cistercian monks in the 12th century. The chateau was a pioneer of organic agriculture, and the vines have been farmed without chemicals or pesticides since 1958, a tradition that continues today in this certified organic winery.

I tried a white from the Languedoc for WBW #33, and did not like it as much as I had expected to given the reds I've tasted and enjoyed. But this wine didn't disappoint, and confirmed my sense that if you like robust reds, you should keep your eyes out for wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon.

Unoaked Bubbles: Moscato

This week we've been celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the wine blogosphere's most popular event, Wine Blogging Wednesday. The theme for this month's tasting was unoaked chardonnay, and I decided to feature unoaked wines all week. First up was an unoaked pinot noir, then an unoaked chardonnay. But what celebration would be complete without a little sparkle?

Most sparkling wine undergo some time in the barrel, but there's one sparkler that never seems to get wooded, and that's sparkling moscato. This is not a big, complex, bubbly wine. Nor is it a dry wine. But if you are looking for something off-dry and slightly sparkling, moscato can be a very good choice. Made from the muscat canelli or moscato bianco varietal, the most famous are made in the region surrounding Asti, but I tried a local moscato made in Mendocino County, and it had very good QPR.

The 2006 Enotria Moscato (available from merchants for between $12 and $15) is made by the Graziano Family of winemakers. The wine is a pale, watery gold in color and as with most well-made moscatos, the first thing that hits you are the aromas of flowers and citrus fruit. The flavors of peach and lemon accent these wonderful aromatics which fill your head with every sip and transport you to summer, no matter what time of year. This wine is off-dry, but a strong core of acidity kept it in good balance. Its slight effervescence was not as fizzy as Italian versions of this wine that I've had. With only 10% alcohol by volume it can serve as a stand-alone sipper or as a dessert wine. I can't honestly think of a good food option, with the possible exception of peach cobbler. It would be fantastic with that. I just drank it on its own, and enjoyed every mildly intoxicating sip.

In addition to its low alcohol, a moscato like this is perfect for summertime drinking because it benefits from having a good chill. If you are sweating in the summer heat, try to find a bottle of this refreshing wine, pop it in the fridge for an hour, and then sit outside in the evening and sip a glass. Instant coolness.

Happy Birthday, Wine Blogging Wednesday. Here's to a great 4th year, and many more years to come.

Hold on to Your Wallets: 2007 Napa Harvest Report

There is growing excitement in Napa Valley these days over the dry, cool summer conditions. This combination is the perfect weather for a blockbuster vintage, and already folks are touting this as possibly the best vintage in the last century, as Alan Goldfarb reported in a recent article on Appellation America. (picture of ripening pinot noir grapes in Carneros by Greg Hess for the Napa Valley Register)

Believe it or not, the first grapes of the 2007 Napa Valley harvest were picked two days ago at Mumm Vineyards. Grapes throughout the valley are taking on color (known as veraison) and ripening evenly and slowly. This should lead to wines that are balanced and high in tannins--in other words, wines that should age exceptionally well. Unfortunately for bargain hunters, this year's crop will probably be smaller than last year's by about 10%, which should keep cabernet prices in the upper price brackets. And if the harvest is this good, the demand for the 2007 wines will be steep.

The last time I bought Napa cabernets in a systematic way was in 1997--a long time ago, now, but it was a vintage that was also heralded as a classic. I still compare cabernets I drink today to the increasingly hazy memories I have of those made from grapes harvested in 1997. I can't remember a single maker, I just remember that every 1997 cabernet I tasted was better than the last. If you are a cabernet lover, I'd start praying to the Wine Gods for the weather to hold, and start saving up your money now, too. Get on a few allocation lists if you can afford it, and wait for the madness to begin in a few years time.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #36: Unoaked Chardonnay

Welcome to the 3rd Anniversary of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the online tasting event dreamed up by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours, who is (appropriately) hosting this special birthday edition. Dedicated to "naked" or unoaked chardonnay, it's a tasting that I've been looking forward to because these wines made me rethink what had become a strong aversion to the varietal. Turns out it wasn't the chardonnay, but the style of chardonnay that was the problem. After years of feeling like I'd drunk a bucket of overly buttered popcorn and followed it up with a mouthful of toothpicks, it was a delight to have winemakers step away from the oak and let the varietal characteristics of the grape shine through. While it was hard to find unoaked chardonnay in the past, it is becoming more and more common to see "naked," "unwooded," and "unoaked" on labels these days.

I wanted to drink something local and historic for this month's event, and so my choice was easy: the 2006 Toad Hollow Francine's Selection Chardonnay from the Mendocino County AVA ($13 direct from the winery's tasting room in beautiful downtown Healdsburg). Toad Hollow founders Todd Williams and Rodney Strong saw that the future of chardonnay was unoaked back in 1993, when everyone else was making oak chip tea bags and going for new American barrels. The Mendocino County fruit that provides 90% of the grapes for this wine helps to keep it focused, and provides enough acidity to provide a good structure for the fruit. That's because the swings between warm days and cool nights in Mendocino County helps to keep the fruit from over-ripening. The remaining 10% of the juice comes from Sonoma County.

I found the 2006 Toad Hollow Francine's Selection to be a fresh and lively unoaked chardonnay, that smelled of golden delicious apples. Soft and food-friendly, there were apple and citrus flavors that were never harsh or acidic because the juice underwent 100% malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks and was left on its lees for 8 months. The result was a wine that had a full-bodied mouthfeel without the oakiness. At 13.7% alc/vol, I was surprised to get a little bit of alcoholic heat in the aromas and a bit of afterburn in the finish. This is a new release, and I wonder if the wine still needs to settle down a bit. What will it be with 6-9 months of bottle age, because giving it a little time to open up really diminished the alcoholic sensation? Very good QPR for a wine that was easy to drink and easy to pair with food.

Toad Hollow Vineyards was started up by friends Todd Williams and Rodney Strong. Their motto is "fine wine at a reasonable price" and I certainly felt they lived up to that with this bottling. Their 2006 unoaked chardonnay was just released a few months back, so keep your eyes open for it in your local wine stores this fall.

Thanks to Lenn for hosting, and for getting us into all this trouble--I mean fun--with his Wine Blogging Wednesdays. As usual, I'll let you know when the roundup is posted and when WBW #37's theme is announced.