Happy Memorial Day

Take time to remember friends and loved ones today.
Have a safe, happy, and healthy Memorial Day.

(image from the Old Virginia Blog)

On the Road Tasting Wine

Just a note to tell you that I'm off on the road, tasting wine in some exotic locales--or at least they're exotic for me!

I will try to post from where I am but just in case I don't manage it, I will be back to business as usual here on the blog--with some new insights into wine--on June 2.

Thanks for your patience, and see you soon.

My Favorite Grower Champagne (So Far)

I'm starting to get bitten by the grower champagne bug.

As a devoted drinker of NV Veuve Clicquot in the yellow label--which I enjoy partly because I'm never disappointed--I always get exactly what I expect when I pop the cork. While this kind of familiarity, like your favorite chair, is very comforting, it is not precisely exciting.

Drinking grower champagne is different. I'm finding that they are a pleasant surprise, and offer something unlike what I've grown to expect and love from familiar standbys like Veuve Clicquot.

My most recent foray into grower champagne came from Comte Audoin de Dampierre, which is based in Chenay. They've been making Champagne there for almost seven centuries, and produce over 200,000 bottles a year. For their top bottling, the Cuvee Prestige, this house still uses a hand made string ficelage, which was the traditional way to make sure the cork didn't pop out of the bottle because of all the pressure. The ficelage is the point of origin for the wire basket that most sparkling wine has wrapped around the cork today.

The NV Comte Audoin de Dampierre Grande Cuvee Brut was a terrific champagne for the money, and definitely represented excellent QPR in a grower champagne. ($25.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; expect to pay between $19 and $36 online or at a retailer near you). Made from a blend of 30% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier, this was a sparkling wine that somehow managed to be both creamy and light. The wine was bright pale straw in color, and had lots of bubbles accompanied by a frothy mousse. I smelled faint aromas of bread dough and toasted brioche, which were warm and mouth-watering. When I sipped the wine I enjoyed the flavors of cream, lemon, and apples, especially with the toasted almond edge that these flavors took on after the wine slid down your throat.

This would be a perfect bottle to open when you want something special but don't want to break the bank. It's widely available, too, so keep your eyes peeled for it in your favorite wine store.

Verdicchio di Matelica: a Reader's Winning Suggestion

When I wrote about how I was heading to Italy's Le Marche region this May, one of my readers (Anton) said I had to try Collestefano's Verdicchio di Matelica.

So I did. And it was a good tip.

Le Marche has two main regions that produce wines made with the Verdicchio grape: Castelli di Jesi (which is much better known) and Matelica. Though Castelli di Jesi Verdicchios are more widely available in the US, the grapes grown in Matelica are often described as more intense, and produce a more full-bodied wine with a greener tinge in the juice.

The 2006 Collestefano Verdicchio di Matelica was a very good QPR Italian white. ($13.99, K & L Wines; available online for between $12 and $15) It was greeny-gold in color, which is typical of the variety. Fresh summery aromas of sea salt and straw were unusual and enticing. The tart flavors of grapefruit pith and more salt combined with honeydew melon developed the summery feeling of the wine, and and were very piercing and intense. The wine had a core of acidity that gave it good structure and accentuated its mouth-watering finish. I would definitely rebuy this wine, and keep it on hand for drinking, well-chilled, throughout the summer.

The intense briny and citrus flavors of this wine cried out for shellfish, and anything you can imagine doing with shrimp would be a very good pairing. If you are looking for something different and very Italian to go with your Verdicchio di Matelica, how about combining shrimp with white beans, rosemary, and garlic? This dish originates in Tuscany, but the wine's intensity would stand up well to the rosemary and garlic, and the briny notes in the wine would accentuate those qualities in the shrimp.

Readers have come up with some great suggestions regarding wine for me to try during my Italian wine tour this year, and I really appreciate them. Thanks, Anton, for telling me to try this winning wine.

Lemberger--the Wine

Lemberger is often the victim of mistaken identity. Tell people you are having some Lemberger and they are likely to ask you why you like smelly cheese. Sometimes, it's not called Lemberger at all, but Blaufrankisch.

As if the name thing isn't hard enough, it's hard to find, too. When you look on most wine store shelves you don't see a lot of Lemberger for sale. This is strange, because it basically tastes like a Merlot that took an unexpected turn and ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of the Beaujolais.

The 2005 College Cellars of Walla Walla Lemberger was a very good QPR wine. ($12.00, Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman) It was like a Merlot in its color--dark ruby-purple. There were nice aromas of cherries, spice, and perhaps even some roses. Initially there was a bit of funkiness and a very sharp acidity, but the wine opened up and mellowed out quickly into high-toned cherry and cranberry flavors. The wine was at its best with food. It's full-flavored but not heavy--and it's a great red wine for the summer' s grilled or BBQed food.

College Cellars of Walla Walla is the not-for-profit teaching winery attached to the Center for Enology and Viticutlure at Walla Walla Community College. Proceeds from the sale of their wine go to scholarships for WWCC students. I highly recommend contributing to this good cause and getting some good wine to boot.

And try a Lemberger if you get a chance. I mean the wine, of course, not the cheese.