WBW Updates: Roundup on Indigenous Grapes and October's Theme

A lot happened on the Wine Blogging Wednesday front yesterday. Both the roundup for WBW #37 on indigenous varieties and the new theme for WBW #38 were posted.

First, Dr. Vino had a very successful WBW #37 where he encouraged folks to go native and drink indigenous varieties. There were 52 entries, and a lot of first-timers which is always good to see. The reviews look terrific, and there are some wines I will be seeking out. Check out the roundup, complete with hyperlinks to the reviews, by clicking here. It's a great resource for those of us who are trying to learn more about wine.

Second, Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino will be our hosts for WBW #38, which will be focused on the wines of Portugal. Ryan and Gabriella want us to try to steer away from the port and madeira most of us are familiar with, and even the Douro if we can (not sure I can manage that!) and focus on Portuguese table wines. They've made up a packet of hints and tips to help us find the wine and as usual given us lots of helpful information to get us started. Find your wine, taste it on or before October 15, and send the links to Catavino for inclusion in the roundup. Have fun, and join this great online event.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #37: Going Native with Indigenous Grapes

It's time once again for Wine Blogging Wednesday, the online virtual tasting event started more than three years ago by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. This month our host is Tyler Colman, better known in the blogosphere as Dr. Vino. He set the theme of indigenous grapes for WBW #37, and asked us all to find a wine that was made with grapes indigenous to its place of production. He also asked us to steer clear of the big grape varietals--sauvignon blanc, cabernet--if we could. That left me with choices from the Loire, the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and from Spain. Or England, which is where I'm writing to you from at the moment, but it turns out England doesn't have a native grape--or not one that I could find.

The wine I chose was from Spain, and is a classic bargain sparkler. The NV Cristalino Cava Brut is made from not one, not two, but three indigenous grapes: macabeo, xarel'lo, and parellada. (Whole Foods, $8.99; available practically everywhere else for between $3 and $8). All three varietals produce acidic, citrusy juice that is blended to produce Spanish sparkling wine.

As budget sparklers go, I was impressed with the very good QPR that this wine had. Interesting aromas of bread dough and lemon give way to a citrusy palate with an edge of buttered toast. While this was not as complex as a vintage French champagne or US sparkling wine, it had much more complexity than many of the proseccos that are available at this price point. As a result, it would be a great bubbly for making mimosas at brunch, but it was good on its own with food, as well. I would definitely buy it again. And again!

Thanks to Dr. Vino for hosting such a great event, one that had me hitting the reference books to find out where grapes came from and which wines they made. When the roundup is posted I will, as always let you know, as well as giving you a heads-up on the theme for October's WBW #38.

Cellaring White Wines

I read an interesting article the other day by Jancis Robinson, one of my favorite wine writers. She wondered why there is so much more expert wine writing focused on red wines than on white wines. (image from Ian Britton and FreeFoto.com)

There are a few possible explanations. But one leading reason is that most folks drink white wines young and fresh--they don't cellar them, and they often don't spend much money on them in the first place so they aren't seen as an investment that demands a lot of time and thoughtfulness. In the case of reds, however, many wine drinkers do age their wines, and are willing to pay hefty price tags for their favorites--both of which lead to a desire to know more about what will soon be taking up precious financial and storage resources.

Robinson points out that this ongoing media fascination with reds is especially odd given the kinds of food we tend to eat these days--chicken, fish, vegetables and other foods that go far better with white wines. And she provides some good tips on white wines that do improve with aging and deserve a place in your cellar. Chardonnay, for example, is a white varietal that often shines after a little cellar time. Recently, I pulled out two older chardonnays--a 2001 chardonnay from Burgundy, and a 2003 chardonnay from Oregon--to see whether they agreed with my palate. I didn't buy either one of these wines specifically to age, so take my findings with a grain of salt, but I felt that in neither case were the wines necessarily improved with their extra time in bottle.

First, there was the 2001 Domaine Anne Gros Chardonnay ($16.99 on sale; now I can't find it anywhere else, but you can buy a more recent vintage for under $30). Recent tastings that others have had of the 2006 wine suggest that this may be a wine that is best drunk young. This is the entry-level wine for the talented Anne Gros, and I think this was past its prime. The aromas of toast, butterscotch, and apple were very promising, but these notes did not emerge in the flavors. When you took a sip, it was flat a bit acidic on the palate. I didn't store it myself, so there is no way of knowing whether this was because of improper storage somewhere in its life, of whether it was just a bit tired.

The next older chardonnay I tried was the 2003 Argyle Chardonnay ($8.99, Costco; available elsewhere for around $14). This wine was sealed with a Stelvin closure, and was holding up pretty well with pear and lemon aromas that were muted and subtle. More pear flavors emerged as you drank the wine, which veered towards apple towards the end and was accompanied with a high, citrusy note. There was a creamy, tangy finish that reminded me of creme fraiche. What was interesting to me was to compare my note with one made by Jerry Hall at Winewaves in September 2005, almost two years ago. He found much brighter aromas, and much tarter flavors. The creme fraiche I seemed to taste was a "butterscotch twang" when Jerry drank the younger wine.

Based on this experience, I'm not sure how to proceed with cellaring white wines. Is it worth the space in my cellar, given my preference for crisper, fruitier whites? Am I buying the right kinds of white wine to cellar, or should I steer clear of chardonnay for the moment and focus on rieslings or some other varietal? If you've got experience cellaring white wines, I'd love to hear your advice. And if you have questions, like me, feel free to leave them in the comments in hopes someone will know the answer.

60 Degree Zinfandel

Serving wine at the right temperature is a difficult business. As a rule, in the US we tend to drink white wines too cold, and red wines too warm. If the wine you're serving for dinner tonight is a red, and has high alcohol levels, you may not be happy if you don't chill it down a little first.

But how much? Take zinfandel. Experts disagree on the ideal serving temperature. The Wine Taster recommends serving zinfandels at 62 to 67 degrees which is too warm for me. Vino! suggests serving temperatures of 60 to 80 degrees. If I drank a zinfandel at 80 degrees I guarantee you I would find it tasted hot, alcoholic, and raspy on the throat. But 60 degrees sounded too cool. I thought I'd give it a try and see.

I pulled a zinfandel out of my wine refrigerator, which keeps wine between 55 and 58 degrees and let it sit out for a bit while I whipped up some quick grits with cheddar cheese. I was going to top them with some spicy black beans and sauteed peppers, and the zin would make a good pairing. Ten minutes later, the grits were done, the peppers sauteed and tossed with the black beans, and the wine had come up a few degrees to around 60. It was utterly perfect to my palate: smooth, spicy, and yes, even refreshing.

My 60 degree zin was the 2003 Carol Shelton Monga Old Vines Zinfandel from the Lopez Vineyard. (previous vintage pictured here) Like its name suggests, the Monga Zin was certainly a big wine. It was bright, true garnet in color like a ring my grandmother used to wear. Aromas of blackberry, blueberry, black tea, and spice rose to meet you as you poured the wine into the glass. Once there, a good swirl released something sweet, herbal, tangy--sassafras. I've never smelled sassafras in a zinfandel, but it was unmistakably there for me. The flavors were what you would have expected given the aromas, developing chocolate and pepper notes as you held the last drops in your mouth. It had 15% alc/vol, but it was nicely balanced and by drinking it at a cooler temperature it didn't taste rough or raspy.

It's hard to assess the QPR on this wine, because I bought it on sale as a bin end for $18.99. At that price, it was very good QPR given its complicated and intricate flavor profile. But most retailers have this for between $22 and $26. First of all I don't know whether I'd plunk down that much money for a zinfandel without thinking twice, since there are some awfully good versions at lower price points. But given the complexity of this wine, I think even at around $25 it would still be good QPR.

But the real message from this wine was not about QPR--it was about serving temperature. Serving wine too hot or too cold can mess up the flavors and textures of any wine. What the "right" temperature is for you may be as subjective a business as figuring out whether you prefer California or New Zealand sauvignon blancs. So do some experimenting with chilling wine down and letting it warm up and then try to remember it next time you drink that varietal. For now, I'll be serving my zins at 60 degrees.

First of the Turkey Leftover Wines

This post originally had a different title: Last Rose of the Summer. I had to laugh when I saw exactly this headline on Wannabe Wino's recent post. Apparently, we wine bloggers are often on the same page, and drinking the same wines! I changed mine a bit to compensate, but the point remains the same: these are the final days when it will feel summery to sit outside and drink rose. Like wearing white after Labor Day, drinking rose in October can sometimes feel a little sad.

So why the title for this post? I wanted to remind you that even if you've sworn off rose as a summer wine, don't underestimate its value in November when you are looking for something to go with leftover turkey in the aftermath of Thanksgiving. You won't be able to find very many bottles of rose on the shelf then. Might as well pick up a few bottles of this wine now, because it would be great with a turkey sandwich, oozing with cranberry sauce and a lick of mayo.

Of course, here in LA it IS still summer, and rose is a pretty attractive drinking option. domaine547 gave me a bottle of the 2006 Domaine de l'Hortus Bergerie l'Hortus Rose Saignee to sample, and it was a perfect wine for these last days of summer, just as it will be perfect in a few months with your turkey sandwiches. Its deep rose color is striking, and an indication of how this wine was made. Roses made from the saignee process are really bi-products of red wine. After a brief contact between the skins and juice, some of the juice is bled out of the vats and this is saignee rose. The rest of the wine in the vat then goes on to produce a big, tannic red wine and the rose wine is bottled separately. In this case the red wine became a Rhone-style blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre--which helps to explain the rich and robust nature of this rose.

The 2006 Domaine de l'Hortus Bergerie l'Hortus comes from the Languedoc, and it smells like a southern French summer, with aromas of soft strawberry and wet stone that reminded me of a strawberry patch after a summer rain. These inviting aromas lead into a flavorful mixture of cranberry and strawberry fruit, with a nice contrasting note of mineral and stone on the finish. I often find American roses too fruity, and French Tavel roses too minerally--but this wine achieved a perfect balance between fruit and mineral notes. This rose was nice and dry, with good acidity at its core. It was, I felt, much better balanced than the 2005 Chateau d'Aqueria I had recently, which received many rave print reviews, but has had a much more lukewarm reception among consumers on CellarTracker. This wine costs less, too. You can buy yours from domaine547 for just $12.99. Excellent QPR, for a full-bodied French rose, in my opinion.

If you're drinking this wine now, it would be great with grilled tuna, fried chicken, or poached salmon. Or whip up a bunch of pesto with lots of parsley and walnuts, cook up some cheese tortellini, and toss them together to serve with this wine if you've already consigned your BBQ to the garage. But don't forget: this is a great turkey wine, too.