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Daily Glass: Chianti Escapades
I haven’t done one of these ”daily glass” posts in a while, and at some point I really thought that these posts will be written daily. Some plans, huh? Okay, let’s talk about wine, shall we?
I have to tell you – once people know that I’m seriously ”into wine”, one of the first questions I hear is ”so, what’s your favorite wine?” – and this is the question I’m dreading literally the most – because I don’t have an answer. Depending on the mood, food, company and tons of other factors, I will be glad to drink different wines all the time. Better question might be – what wines I don’t like? You think you got me, right? No so fast. The only wines I don’t like are those which are bad (yes, I know – very lame and predictable answer) – and luckily, there are really very few of those. But – as we are having an honest talk here – I have to tell you that there are wines which I’m generally trying to avoid. Not that I don’t like them, but I don’t get much out of them – on average, barring any exceptions. Not trying to create any loaded pause here – one kind of wine which I often trying avoid is Chianti.
Why? A lot of Chianti wines I tasted are flat in their flavor profile – Chianti is usually considered a nice and easy wine to drink – which it is, but this ”ease” also takes away most of the excitement for me. Of course we can not and should not generalize – as I said, I’m avoiding it, but this is not vegans-do-not-eat-meat kind of avoidance – I’m always ready to be surprised.
During the recent trip to Bottle King, I saw there 2008 Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Classico Riserva on sale. I did like the label, like the name (Ser Lapo, somehow it sounds good for me), like the price ($16.98), plus I have a bottle of 1988 Mazzei waiting to be opened – and I didn’t drink Chianti in a while – do you think that this is enough reasons to get a bottle? Yep, so did I.
Last Wednesday night bottle was opened. Beautiful dark garnet color – intense and promising. On the nose, there is energy – acidity, earthiness, some intense cherry flavor. Good start, right? I take a sip and…it is flat. Nothing is happening on the palate. I know I’m drinking wine, but that’s all – even after intense swirling in the glass, not much is happening. Gasp. This is precisely what I was talking about before.
It happens to be that recently I came across some notes from the ”unhappy” taster on Twitter, where ”leaf day” was suggested as a possible cause for wines not tasting right. After doing some research, I found lots of interesting read on Biodynamics – this is where the terminology is coming from (there is a lot of interesting discussions in blogosphere on the subject – here is one of the links for you). There is also an app for iPhone/iPad, called Wine Tonight, which I downloaded after doing the research. As you can imagine, when you have a problem nowadays, you look for an app for it, right? Yep, I decided to consult the app. Here is what I got:
Okay, that explains it, right? Let’s leave biodynamics aside, as this is actually the post about Chianti, and let talk about the wine. I had to run some errands, so I left the bottle opened for about two hours. When I’m came back, I poured another glass of the Ser Lapo, and…should I stop here and say ”to be continued”? Nope, will be too cruel, I agree – let’s continue. Swirl, sip – and ”hello, gorgeous” moment. The wine opened up beautifully, offering lots of dark fruit, like cherries and blackberries, hint of dark chocolate, earthiness and bright acidity with serious tannins coming in the long finish. Very balanced, great wine giving you lots of pleasure (Drinkability: 8+).
The wine opened up even further the next day, so it definitely will evolve in the cellar. By the way, I consulted ”Wine Tonight” app out of curiosity again, and it told me that it was a ”root day” and drinking of the wine should be generally avoided. So if I would listen to that app, I would have to avoid drinking wine for two days in the row – I don’t think I like that app at all.
That actually concludes my story – and I wish you to have a ”fruit day” every time you have a glass of wine in front of you. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #5 – Do You Know Kosher Wines?
It is time for our weekly wine quiz. But – before we begin with the new quiz, I just realized something – I didn’t give you the answers for the 4 previous quizzes. I thought that I would do it in the comments, but then the answer will always stay with the quiz itself, which is probably not that good. Therefore, going forward, the answer for the quiz will always be provided in the next week’s quiz.
Now, here are the answers for the past quizzes.
#1,The official drink of the United States – correct answer is Bourbon. While it is not written in the Constitution, there were a number of Congress resolutions which support the claim of Bourbon to be an official drink of the United States. You can find more information on Wikipedia – here is a link.
#2, Bordeaux 1855 Classification – correct answer is Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Only 4 Chateaus were classified as “First Growth” in 1855, and Chateau Mouton Rothschild was not one of them. Baron Rothschild spent humongous amount of efforts on getting Chateau Mouton Rothschild classified as first growth in 1973 – here is a Wiki link for more information.
#3, Judgement of Paris – correct answer is Caymus Vineyards. Caymus makes great wines, but they didn’t participate in the famous 1976 competition in Paris. Here is a Wiki link for more information.
#4, Which One Doesn’t Belong – These are the red grapes used in Bordeaux – correct answer is Syrah. Here is yet another Wiki link if you need more information.
Now, let’s talk about the theme of today’s wine quiz – Kosher wines. We are in a middle of both Passover and Easter celebrations this year, and while it is impossible to create a wine quiz around Eastern wines ( because there are no wines designated as “only for Easter” in this world), we can talk about Kosher wines.
Kosher wines are a complex subject if you want to know the details of what and why – here is … yep, you got it – Wiki link for that. I just want to look at the subject of Kosher wines form the consumer’s point of view. Ten years ago, if you would want to drink a Kosher wine in US, you had literally one choice – Manischewitz – a sweet concoction which majority of the wine drinkers should avoid, unless you need some syrup on your ice cream. Little by little, situation changed, as quality of Israeli wines increased dramatically, and more and more Kosher wines started to be produced all around the world, from Australia to France to US. Today, if you want to drink a Kosher wine, you don’t need to dread it anymore – most of respectful wine stores carry great selection of Kosher wines, and finding an excellent bottle is not a problem anymore.
Now, to the quiz itself – below are the names of the Kosher wines from all over the world – all except one. Just by looking at those names, can you guess which one is not a Kosher wine? The answer is coming next week.
Happy Passover and Happy Easter! Cheers and enjoy!
Dozen of Personal Favorites From Michael Skurnik Portfolio Wine Tasting
Thousand bottles of wine (this is not a mere matter of speech, but- more or less an exact count, give or take a hundred bottles). 4 hours. Come up with the list of 12 most favorite wines. What do you think about a task like that?
Whether you think it is easy or hard, this was my experience at the Michael Skurnik 25th Anniversary wine portfolio tasting few weeks ago in New York (selecting 10 wines was not the goal, of course, but tasting many great wines was).
”Overwhelming” would be an under-representation of the experience. Sip, swish for a second, think for a second, spit. Take a mental note, or may be a quick mark in the book. Move on to the next wine, then to the next table. Get through the crowd with your glass. Repeat until your palate is completely locked down by the amount of fresh tannins. Have a sip of fruity white to unlock and refresh. Continue and repeat until fully exhausted. Leave happy.
Above is a quintessence of the experience. Below, I would like to give you mostly a photo report with some comments on the most memorable wines. The list is not prioritized at all – if anything, it may be coming out in the order we tasted the wines. Here we go.
2009 Peter Michael ‘L’Esprit des Pavots’ – clean, gorgeous, elegant, balanced, approachable – this is Bordeaux-style red which you can drink now or cellar for next 20-30 years:
2009 Paul Hobbs Winery Chardonnay, ‘Ulises Valdez Vineyard’ – best non-French Chardonnay I tasted. Elegance and perfection of balance – acidity, hint of vanilla, hint of butter, hint of tasted oak – all in a perfect medley:
2009 Martinelli Syrah ‘Vellutini Ranch’ – full-bodied, luscious and well balanced, with nice dark fruit and spices. Outstanding Syrah:
2007 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Kronos’ – I was really looking forward to trying this wine after Joe Roberts, a.k.a. @1WineDude, called it “Black Panther” in his review. I’m not sure I personally met the panther, I rather discovered a mystery. This wine is impossible to understand in the format of the standard trade wine tasting. It says “let’s dance a little longer, shall we”? When you take a sip of this wine, it is asking you to think – there is no flavor attack, no particular taste element standing out – instead, there is a perfectly balanced, thought-provoking, mysteriously delicious substance. This wine needs double time – time in the cellar, and time in your mouth – then you might stand a chance of solving the mystery:
2009 Domaine Newman Mazis-Chambertin – exemplary Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir by the book – whatever way you want to call it, this was one of the most elegant Pinot Noir at the tasting – perfect balance of earthiness, fruit, acidity and power:
2010 Clusel-Roch Condrieu – beautiful full-bodied white, powerful and structured – great example of Viognier from the most classic Viognier Appellation:
2010 Domaine Saint Prefert Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc ‘Cuvée Speciale Vieilles Clairettes’ – fresh, elegant, beautiful white fruit, perfect acidity – definitely one of the best white wines in the tasting. Unfortunately, equally rare and hard to get:
2009 Domaine Allary Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan – classic Bordeaux from classic vintage. Perfect wine – you can drink it now, or wait for 30 years – the choice is yours:
2010 Boyer-Martenot Meursault 1er, ‘Perrières’ – absolute elegance ( yes, if you think that I’m abusing the word “elegant”, I agree with you, but I can’t find a better word to express my thoughts about these wines, so bear with me, please) – outstanding Chardonnay, great balance of white fruit, acidity, earthiness and tannins:
2011 Domaine du Moulin Méthode Gaillacoise – personal sparkler favorite at the tasting – bright, fresh, full-bodied, with apple and toasted bread perfectly showing on the nose and on the palate. Lots of pleasure:
2005 Cavallotto Fratelli Barolo Riserva, ‘San Giuseppe’ – trying Barolos at the such tastings is always fun – you need to build your impressions quickly, before tannins will completely numb your palate. This wine had enough power to get through everything else I tasted before and deliver plums and dark cherries and outstanding balance of spices which make Barolo a King of the Wines. Truly an outstanding wine:
2007 Hendry Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Hendry Vineyards Red Wine (Meritage Blend) – one of my biggest surprises in the tasting. I never heard of Hendry name before – they mostly had being known as a grape growers for all other prestigious winemakers. But then at some point they started making wines, and I can tell you – it was very hard to pick only one favorite out of the outstanding lineup of wines. This is why you see two red mentioned here – both are very elegant, balanced and varietally correct (and reasonably priced!):
This concludes our journey through the great tasting of Michael Skurnik wines – there were hundreds of other wines worth mentioning, but – sometimes I have to sleep too, right? Thanks for reading and cheers!
Some Wine Fun for April 1st
To celebrate International Fun [Fools] Day, I really wanted to write some serious post about, for instance, Chateau Petrus and Screaming Eagle wines available for sale in New York only for a day for $49.99, but – I’m not sure it would be that funny. I always admire great stories which look borderline real, put together for April 1st issues – like this one by Dr. Vino, or special reports in a Scientific American magazine, like this one – but sorry, I don’t have a talent to create a story like that on my own. Of course you don’t need to wait for the April 1st – you can find some [seriously] twisted wine fun in the Hose Master Of Wine blog at any day, but this usually goes way too far for me, so enter on your own risk.
Anyway, I feel like we need to celebrate April 1st, so I would like to offer you a video, which some of you probably saw before, but nevertheless – hopefully, it will put you in the right mood. Enjoy!
Have a great fun day and have fun with your wines. Cheers!
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