Zin Versus Zin Versus Zin
I was in “zin’s mind” this past Father’s day. I don’t know how did that happened, but when I was thinking what bottle to open for dinner, “how about Zinfandel” thought came over. I had no reason to resist, so Zinfandel was it. And by the way – the title of this post sounds a bit antagonistic – but this is not the idea. I just happened to enjoy recently 3 different Zinfandel wines, hence the wording in the title.
Zinfandel is one of the pretty unique grapes – even if we will count Primitivo as Zinfandel (which technically is incorrect – it is only a very close relative), there are only a handful of places where Zinfandel wines are produced. But – the good news is that California, the primary Zinfandel’s habitat, has no shortage of excellent Zinfandel producers.
If you will take a look at my “Happy Father’s Day” picture, you can see two Zinfandels there – and these are the wines I want to talk about. First, a couple of words about producers. Turley Wine Cellars needs no introduction for any Zinfandel aficionado. Turley produces 28 wines, most of the them are Zinfandel with addition of few Petite Sirah and some others, coming from Napa, Sonoma, Lodi, Paso Robles and other primary areas in California. Turley is a “cult” winery, and while their wines can be found in some of the very select wine stores and restaurants, one really have to be on their mailing list to have more universal access to their wines (Turley was the first mailing list I was accepted onto – give me a second and slice of lemon to extinguish smile on my face).
The second producer is called The Wine Guerrilla. While not as well known as Turley, they also produce a full range of Zinfandel wines from the different areas in California. It is interesting to point out that The Wine Guerrilla is the only producer (to the best of my knowledge), which doesn’t make any other wines but Zinfandel. When your slogan is “The Art And Soul of Zinfandel”, I guess this is rather appropriate.
I decanted both Turley and Wine Guerrilla Zinfandel for about 2 hours. Yes, I know this is not typical to use a decanter around Zinfandel, but both wineries make wines rather in restrained style, so I really wanted them to open up. First up – 2009 Turley Pesenti Vineyard Zinfandel Paso Robles (16% ABV). Even after two hours of decanting, the most I got on the nose was a hint of blackberries and some dark chocolate notes. The very first sip of the wine said “I’m big”. The first words which come to mind to describe this wine are “dense”, “firm”, “structured”. On the very firm structure the perfect fruit is weaved (hmm, interesting composition of the sentence – not a typical one for me, but I like it : ) ). More blackberries and dark chocolate on the palate, but also an “old world style” minerality was coming through, and then acidity was all in check. The wine is perfectly balanced, with tannins, alcohol, fruit and acidity being all together, in harmony. Drinkability: 8-
Now, let’s talk about 2010 Wine Guerrilla Mounts Vineyard Cypress Block Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma (15% ABV, 95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah, 300 cases produced). The wine showed a lot of dark fruit on the nose, mostly blackberries and cherries. On the palate, the wine was not as structurally dense as Turley, but instead it had layers of fruit with very nice luscious texture – ripe blackberries, cherries and dark chocolate, and a hint of eucalyptus. Very good acidity and overall nice and round wine, excellent balance. Drinkability: 8-
Did you notice a label of another Wine Guerrilla Zinfandel at the beginning of this post? It is there not for the purposes of decoration – it is actually another Wine Guerrilla Zinfandel which I had a week ago. 2010 Wine Guerrilla Monte Rosso Vineyard Block E44 Zinfandel Sonoma Valley (15% ABV, 200 cases produced) was totally unique in its style. To give you an idea, I would call it a Brunello of Zinfandels. After 2+ hours in decanter, the first thing which came to mind after the first sip was “dry”. This wine was soooo dry – uniquely dry for Zinfandel. It was also very herbaceous for the Zinfandel, with lots of dried herbs aromas, such as sage and oregano. It did show some fruit, but in very restrained, dialed back fashion. Definitely the most food friendly Zinfandel I ever tried, very balanced overall. Drinkability: 8
So I have to confess that I have one regret in regards to three wines I presented to you today. One, but big regret – I really want to taste these wines 10 years down the road! No, decanting didn’t do them any justice. These wines have to mature first, and then they will give you an ultimate pleasure. They were great and very enjoyable wines now, but they would become something much much bigger – if I would only have some spares…
Before we part, I want to share a few pictures from the Father’s day. Few weeks ago, my cousin got for me a new charcoal grill which is called “mangal” and it is mostly intended for making a kabob, but of course can be used as generic charcoal grill. Here are few pictures for you – with the warning – it might make you hungry…
Ribs and chicken
just chicken
just ribs
That’s all I have for you for now. Ahh, before I will forget – don’t miss the WTSO Cheapskate Wednesday tomorrow, June 19th. Expected to appear are Benziger Pinot Noir, Rioja DOC Crianza, Provenance Merlot, Pomo Nation Cabernet, Expo Cabernet and Edenhall Shiraz, of course in addition to many many other wines. Cheers!
Disclaimer: The Wine Guerrilla wines were provided courtesy of Wine Guerrilla. But of course all opinions are my own.
Happy Father’s Day!
To all of you Dads out there – today is your day! Enjoy it! I will raise my glass to all of you tonight – cheers!
Father’s Day in progress
Weekly Wine Quiz #61: Grape Trivia – Tempranillo
Tempranillo grapes as captured in Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Here is your new wine quiz you’ve been waiting for so hard (yeah, okay, I know I’m pushing it, but may be at least a bit?)
And yes, we are continuing the grape trivia subject – by the way, if you are tired of it, do tell me – I will come up with something else. Just to let you know, we have two more red grapes to go through, and then we will switch to the whites for may be 8 different white grapes – then will see where we will end up.
Today’s subject is – Tempranillo! Just saying the word Tempranillo makes me very excited, as Rioja, one of the most well-known wines made out of Tempranillo grapes, are some of my all time favorites.
Tempranillo is indigenous grape originating in Spain, with more than 2000 years of history. It is black, thick-skinned grape, capable of surviving temperature swings of Mediterranean climate, with very hot days and cool nights. Tempranillo grapes are naturally low in acid and sugar content, so they often rely on blending partners to complement on both. Flavor profile of Tempranillo typically includes berries, leather (so famous in Rioja wines) and tobacco. Most famous Tempranillo wines come from Spain, from Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions, but Tempranillo is successfullygrowing in many other regions, including Portugal, California, Texas (up and coming star), South Africa, Australia and others.
And now, to the quiz!
Q1: What is the meaning of the name Tempranillo?
Q2: Name 3 grapes, traditional blending partners of Tempranillo
Q3: What is common between Bodegas Muga, La Rioja Alta, Lopez de Heredia and Vina Real outside of the fact that all four are very famous Rioja producers and of course make wines out of Tempranillo?
Q4: Tempranillo is used in production of the wine outside of Spain, which is at least equally famous to Rioja. Do you know what wine is that?
Q5: Name two producers of Tempranillo wines – one is the most famous and another one is probably the most expensive.
Enjoy the weekend and good luck with the quiz. And don’t forget to celebrate Dad tomorrow – Father’s Day, yay! Cheers!
Meet The Winemaker, Get Your Bottle Signed, Now What?
You come to the wine tasting, meet the winemaker. Talk about vintage, talk about history, taste the wine, get very excited, taste another wine, get even more excited, get a few bottles, and the winemaker signs them for you. So far so good, right?
d’Arenberg bottle, signed by Chester Osborn
You come home, put the bottles in the cellar. Now the time comes, and you remember that great wine you put aside to be enjoyed later. And you decide that the moment is now. You get the bottle. And it has a winemaker signature on it!!! Is it still the bottle of wine? Yes, but now, it is also the memorabilia! What now?
Yes, you can keep the signed book, baseball or baseball card, a cap, a painting and many other objects … forever!. You can take them out, show to the friends, tell the stories, rehash the memories, re-live the moment, pass those mementos from generation to generation if you wish. But wine? What do you do with the wine?
Another signed bottle I have – might be past prime already!
Drink the bottle and keep the empty, proudly displaying it (yeah, really not sure about that one)? Never open the bottle and keep it as is? But it is wine. It will not be good indefinitely…
So, what would you do? I’m asking this question as a generic one, not pertinent to the bottles I have. What would you do or what do you do with the signed bottles you have?
Happy Friday, friends. Cheers!
Wine Gadgets: Wine Preservers
Here comes new Gadgets’ Thursday. Today we will talk about Wine Preservers (in case you missed previous post where we talked about Wine Pourers, here is the link).
The idea behind wine preservers is simple but equally difficult to achieve. As soon as the bottle of wine is open, the oxygen gets in the contact with the wine, which sets of a rapid ageing process. The wine changes its taste as the result of this ageing process. While wine is in the closed bottle, it ages very slowly, as only trace amounts of oxygen (or none in case of screwtops) are getting into the contact with wine. As soon as cork is out, the ageing is fast and irreversible. The best defense – finish the bottle in one day (I know – this is what many of my readers will say) – but in a lot of cases, this simply doesn’t work this way. My wife likes wine, but sometimes she would prefer another drink or none at all – which leaves me one on one with the bottle. Can I finish it? Yes, and it happens from time to time. Is that a good thing – not really, may be for the wine it is, but not necessarily for me. Thus I want to make sure my wine still tastes good on the second day. If necessary or happened to be – on the third too. This is where you reach out to the wine preservers.
How do you preserve the wine from going bad once it is opened? By not letting oxygen get to it, of course. So there are few solutions which can be used here – not all of them are gadgets, but I will list them anyway:
- Box wine: Of course box wine is not a gadget. But the whole point is ( outside of environmental friendliness and low cost) is that by the nature of the design, box wine allows you to pour wine into the glass without letting oxygen inside the sealed bag. Once you “open” the box of wine (opening typically means getting the spout out of the carton), you can continue using it for the long time without any loss in the taste.
- Wine kegs: while not widely used, the wine can be distributed in the stainless steel kegs which are used by the restaurants to serve the wine on top. Not really an option for the home users (unless you entertain tremendously out of your house). Same as above, the wine is preserved as no oxygen gets back into the keg
- Inert gas preservers – the idea is based on using the inert gas, such as argon (which is heavier than oxygen) to displace the oxygen on top of the wine in the open bottle. There are few options available which are based on this approach:
- Enomatic wine dispenser – I kind of wish to have one at home (see picture below) – allows to have multiple bottles open at the same time, so consumers can run a “self-guided” tasting.
- A wine preserver system in the can (a can with the inert gas which can be sprayed into an open bottle to displace oxygen)
- Vacuum pump – allows to remove oxygen from the open bottle by pumping it out.
Here is the same, with the pictures:
From Wikipedia: Enomatic Wine Dispenser. Do you think I have one at home?
Wine Vacuum sealer
I have both vacuum pump and gas can, and I have to tell you that I use vacuum pump literally every day. Just to explain the usage:
For vacuum pump – insert rubber cork into the bottle, put vacuum pump on top, and pump the air out for as long as it is easy to move the handle – once the resistance becomes substantial, you know that you got all the air out.
For gas can – insert the straw into the bottle, push the top – you will hear the flow of gas under pressure. Keep pushing the top for about 2-3 seconds. Take out straw and quickly close the bottle with the cork.
Both vacuum pump and gas can allow you to accomplish the same goal – extend the life of your beloved beverage once the bottle is opened. Vacuum pump is very inexpensive (one time investment of $12.99 or so), and it will last you almost forever (mine is still working fine for the past 10+ years). At about $9.99 we can’t call gas can an expensive solution either, but you will have to replace them more often. One advantage of the gas can – you can use it to continue keeping wine for much longer time compare to the vacuum pump. I had a few times the need to taste the wine months prior to that wine actually being consumed. What I have done is open the bottle, pour out the amount I needed, use the gas can and put the cork or screwtop back and put the bottle back into the storage – it worked just fine and the wine tasted perfectly when it was opened much later.
Bottom line: I highly recommend using the wine preservers, whether it is a vacuum pump or gas can – they really help to remove that fear of opening the bottle only because you think that you will not be able to finish it and half of the good bottle will go to waste. It is one of the best of the useful, simple and inexpensive wine tools which help you to enjoy the wine more.
Now, to get your opinion on the subject, I created the poll which I plan to continue using for the future gadget posts – let me know what do you think about it. Please keep in mind that answering the poll questions is not a substitute for leaving the comment : ). I definitely would like to hear your opinion on today’s topic.
In case you have an urge to get one of the wine preservers now, here is what you can find on Amazon: Wine Preservers
And with this – we are done! Cheers!
A Bit Of Wine Data To Brighten Up Your Tuesday
I’m an infographics junkie. I can spend hours studying wittingly constructed graphs and pictures, representing data – sometimes totally unexpected.
Today I want to bring to your attention a very interesting set of charts compiled by the company called SpareFoot (interestingly enough, the company is in self-storage business), presenting the data around growth of wine consumption in US (remember, we are #1 right now, yay!). Enjoy and don’t forget to share your thoughts. Cheers!
Screw Top Versus Cork – The Jury Is Still Out
Inadvertently, I run an experiment of cork versus screw top, and the results were interesting enough to discuss them here.
About a week ago, I pulled out of the cellar (which is actually a wine fridge) the bottle of 2004 d’Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz MacLaren Vale from Australia (14.5% ABV). As I confessed in my blogging addiction in the recent post, before the bottle is open, in addition to just regular anticipation of wine experience itself, now I have added anticipation of the possible blog post which can be written based on the wine experience.
Or not. There are many possible was for the experience not becoming a blog post. Too many things to write about, too little time. Or you just hit the “writer’s block”. Or the experience is not worthy of being captured. Which was the case with this Shiraz.
d’Arenberg is a well known Australian winery, which just celebrated 100 years last year, producing substantial range of typical Australian wines, such as Shiraz, Grenache, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and more. I had pleasure of meeting Chester Osborn, d’Arenberg’s winemaker in third generation, and even have couple of bottles with his signature in my cellar (by the way, what do you do with those signed bottles? I should make a separate post to discuss this interesting question).
Now, I didn’t know what to expect from this bottle of Shiraz. The Footbolt is one of the introductory level Shiraz wines from d’Arenberg, but that doesn’t mean anything. Cork is out (regular cork, just keep reading to see why it is important), and judging by the color alone, this wine didn’t reach its prime yet – dark ruby in color. But the nose and then the palate were inconclusive. Acidity would jump up and down with every sip, and while the wine had enough fruit, it was simply not getting together, definitely lacking the balance which is all so important for me in the wine. So, based on this wine alone, the blog post was not born.
And then yesterday I pulled out another bottle of d’Arenberg wine from the same vintage:
d’Arenberg Shiraz Grenache
2004 d’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache McLaren Vale (14.5% ABV) – a blend of 50% Shiraz and 50% Grenache . With the screw top. That was an “aha” moment. Same vintage as the previous wine – but wit the screw top – how different the experience will it be?
No “pop” of the pulled cork. Just a quiet “tsk-tsk-tsk” of unscrewing the top. In the glass, this wine looked like it was made yesterday – dark ruby, very concentrated color. From the get go, the wine showed beautiful fruit on the nose, ripe plums, equally supported on the palate with fresh fruit and energetic acidity.
About 45 minutes or so later, when I poured another glass, the wine tasted almost sweet – the thought was “what happened”? This was a totally a different wine compare to the way the wine started. Another half an hour or so – and we were presented with the new wine again – dark concentrated fruit, firm structure, tannins and acidity all summing up into a gorgeous balanced wine.
Wine ageing in the bottle is typically associated with the tiny inflow of oxygen through the cork. In case of screwtop, the oxygen doesn’t get to the wine at all. Thus my theory is that once you open a bottle under the screwtop, the very quick ageing process starts off, which takes the wine through the different “taste stages” in the rapid succession. Then at the same time, the wine is changing its taste in the glass no matter what, so may be that rapid taste changing has nothing to do with the way the bottle was closed.
Ideally, of course, I would love to compare two identical bottles (same wine, same vintage), only one closed with the screwtop and another one with the regular cork (I believe I actually read about some producers who are doing that). In this experiment, the Shiraz Grenache under the screwtop was a clear winner, but it is hard to tell what it has to do with the screwtop versus regular cork versus the two wines being just differently made.
I guess I can end this report with the words “to be continued…” – and I would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #60: Grape Trivia – Sangiovese
Sangiovese grapes close up from Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Yep, it is the time for the new wine knowledge test.
We are continuing our Grape Trivia series, and today we will talk about Sangiovese – one of the most famous Italian grapes. Sangiovese is typically associated with Chianti, but in reality, Sangiovese is one of the most planted grapes all over Italy. One of the interesting issues is that Sangiovese, similarly to Pinot Noir, is very clone-prone, so it is known in different places under different names, such as Sangiovese Grosso, Prugnolo Gentile or Calabrese, to take a few.
Sangiovese is black skinned grape with cherry-dominant, earthy and savory profile. Sangiovese is capable of a wide range of expressions, starting from simple food friendly wines from Chianti to the oak-loaded monsters requiring long ageing and long decanting, coming from different regions in Tuscany and beyond. Absolute majority of Sangiovese plantings are located in Italy, but the grape is also slowly becoming popular in the other regions such as United States or Argentina.
Now, to the quiz! I thought that Zinfandel was not a simple quiz to compose, but then I realized that it is even more difficult to create an interesting quiz all around Sangiovese. For what it worth, 5 questions are below.
Q1: Grape, blending partner mostly of the past, typically leading to Sangiovese wines becoming dull and unexciting.
Q2: What is Fiasco, and how is it related to the Chianti wines?
Q3: On some of the bottles of Chianti, you could see an image of the black rooster. What is the meaning of it?
Q4: Tuscany no doubts is the major source of Sangiovese wines. Can you name 4 sub-regions in Tuscany, producing great wines with Sangiovese as the main variety?
Q5: Name 3 leading regions in United States producing Sangiovese wines. For an extra bonus, add your favorite producer(s).
Have a great weekend, have fun and cheers!
Daily Glass: Of Wonderwall and Unwooded Pinot
How can you tell when blogging is becoming an addiction? When you drink great wine, you think about it in the terms of the blog post. And when you are not producing that blog post for whatever reason, you become upset and feel incomplete…
I don’t want to feel incomplete – who does? And to avoid that feeling, let me tell you about few great wines I experienced recently.
Last week, when it was hot and not crazy rainy as today (did someone up there forgot to turn off the faucet?), I walked into the wine store and told Zak that I’m in the mood for a nice bottle of Rosé. “Here”, he said handing me a bottle, “you have to try this”. Okay, I’m ready to try whatever Zak hands me with such a conviction. 2011 Haute Cabrière Unwooded Pinot Noir Franschhoek South Africa (12% ABV, $15.99) didn’t look like a Rosé, but hey, the proof is in the glass.
And what a proof it was! Light ruby color, the nose of strawberries, cranberries and onion peel (classic Rosé, huh?) – same on the palate – perfect substance, perfectly refreshing body – nothing wimpy, nothing sweet, only refreshing, light and exciting wine. This wine is produced by Achim von Arnim, whose blog is called Sun Soil Vine Man – which is also a motto of his winery. Tasting this unwooded Pinot Noir, I can say that his simple model works quite well. Drinkability: 8-
And then there was Wonderwall. First I tried 2012 Wonderwall Chardonnay Central Coast (14.9% ABV, $22/$17.60 for catalog members). These Wonderwall wines are produced by Andrew Jones, the winemaker behind Field Recordings wines, which I discussed many times in the blog – and of which I’m a big fun.
What is amazing about many Field Recordings wines is aromatics. Once you pour the wine into the glass, you simply can’t put it down – but not drinking, only smelling, and smelling and smelling. Some wines transform with their taste, and some just with their aromatics. Bright and beautiful fruit on the nose – together with fresh flowers. I experienced similar aromatics with some of the best Albarino wines – but not with California Chardonnay. Good amount of fruit on the palate, but tame, more controlled, balanced and perfectly weaved around acidity. When the bottle was finished (much faster than I would want to, unfortunately – this was my only bottle) – I smelled the bottle and it showed vanilla and touch of butter – but it was too late. I wish I had another bottle to try it at least in 3-4 years – oh well, may be someone will. Drinkability: 8
Then I had 2012 Wonderwall Pinot Noir Central Coast (13.9% ABV, $22/$17.60 for catalog members). To describe it in a few words, I would put it like this: from nose to palate – classic California Pinot Noir. Violet, cherries and hint of smokiness on the nose, cherries, cranberries and tart blackberries on the palate, all moving and evolving. On the palate, this wine is somewhat elusive, and it gives you a different perception with every sip. On the second day it showed bright, clean and assertive fruit, with mouthwatering acidity – you really want to give this wine some time (I will not, as again this was my only bottle). Drinkability: 7+
Before we part, I have to cite for you the words written on the back label of the Wonderwall wines:
“I’m unsure if it has been me, the grapes or the vineyards. There
has always been a barrier between me and the wine I wanted.
Finally, I have broken through the wall.”
That’s all I have for you, folks. And I feel better already. Cheers!
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