Talk-A-Vino

“Uncovered” is an interesting word. On one side, it means that something is simply not covered, like a grill left uncovered for the night. Uncovered also means that a discovery will be made, a secret will be revealed, something will “lose its cover”.

I intend to talk about both meanings.

Let’s talk about revealing.

I have a secret closet – compartment, shelf, what have you. I don’t like it. It bothers me. I always remember it exists, and it is daunting and depressing. This closet contains posts that should’ve been written and never were. I’m not talking about just some interesting post ideas which never materialized. I’m talking about winemaker dinners, exciting, insightful, delicious – but not written about. Happening 5 years ago – and still hurtful to think about. Wine tastings – too many to remember. Some are reasonably recent, such as the 2020 Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois tasting (by the way, if you like Bordeaux, 2020 is the vintage to get by the caseload) – and some going back to much earlier. And even samples – I have some samples I didn’t get to in ages… I’m telling you, this closet is not a happy place…

Sad closet aside, let’s talk about some of the things that were not covered in 2023.

Wines

Many wonderful wine experiences of 2023 were never discussed in this blog. I don’t have any notes, so I can’t recover from it – but I can still share some memories – with the help of photographs, of course. Let’s take a quick trip back to 2023.

I had a good reason to open these two 21 years old (young?) Rioja wines from Lopez de Heredia. Just look at the state of these corks… and the color of this red wine. Both were superb, but I will not tell you anything more than that.

Then there were a couple of trips to Cape Cod, where we always drink well. In this set, there were good and bad memories at once. 2013 Torrione Petrolo was quite underwhelming, and 2001 Turley Petite Sirah was surprisingly not great – as I said, I don’t have any detailed notes, only remember my disappointment with these two wines. 2007 Leviathan was superb, though, and it made it into the top 23 of the 2023 list.

The sunset through the glass was unbeatable:

Next, I tasted a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley:

This 2016 Hendricks Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley was perfectly on point in its Cabernet sauvignon expression, with just enough of everything (cassis, eucalyptus, tannins, acidity).

Another trip to the Cape:

Both 2020 and 2021 Campochiarenti Chianti Colli Senesi were outstanding, one better than the other – this is why they were included in the top list. San Nicolas is always perfect. 2013 Campochiarenti Passione Divina Vini Storiche was excellent, but so was 2013 Stolpman Sangiovese, and literally surprising myself, I preferred Stolpman Sangiovese over the classic Italian version (#5 on the Top 23 of 23). 2016 The Family Barrel Shiraz from Barossa was also very tasty and perfectly restrained.

The last set was from a get-together with the wine friends:

This was an interesting set of wines. Nothing was mind-blowing probably with the exception of 1998 Gaja Rennina Brunello di Montalcino, which was simply superb. But overall, most of the wines were good. 2017 Dr. Konstantin Frank Amur was tasty, and a new rare grape (Amur) for my collection; 2018 Dr. Konstantin Frank Saperavi and 2020 Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli were nice and tasty. Voruta Black Currant from Lithuania was also nice, with a delicious Cassis profile, and allowed me to add another checkmark to the Wine of the World collection. 2010 Vino Della Pace was simply surprising, as I didn’t expect the wine made from 855 grape varieties to last 13 years, but nevertheless, it was quite drinkable. 2021 Domaine de Chafalet Le Méphisto Gamaret from Switzerland was a touch gamey, crisp and fresh, easy to drink. Flor de Muga Rioja Rosé was excellent, more of a Provençal style, lean and crisp. Lastly, Capetta Dolce Asti DOCG was a perfect accompaniment for dessert with its cut-through acidity (#12 on the Top 23 of 23).

These wine experiences should’ve been covered better, but at least now these wines have some presence on this blog.

Wine tastings and events

I already mentioned the Bordeaux tasting which was not covered, and it will not be, as the 2021 Cru Bourgeois tasting is taking place merely in a week. Few other events still have a hope of coverage – Benvenuto Brunello and Chile Site Matters were two of the tastings that I still hope to write about. The same goes for the virtual tasting of the wines of Alentejo – I will make an effort to have all of them covered.

Travel

While I wrote last year about my trips to Nashville and Sweden, there were two trips to Belgium and another one to Greece that never made it to the blog – and you know how much I love inundating everyone with tons of pictures. The Belgium trip was also interesting because I accidentally came across Belgium wine which I didn’t even know Belgium produces, thus needing to add Belgium to the list of countries in the Wines of the World table. I still have a hope of correcting this, and at least writing about the Belgium trip, but we will see.

Why did I write this post?

This might be a reasonable question to ask. What is the point of this sort of self-pitying talk? When I only started writing this blog, I read many posts from others talking about blogging in general, their motivation and goals for blogging, and so on. One idea got stuck with me: we (writers) write this blog first and foremost for ourselves. This is the only reason to stay true to what you are doing. As soon as you start writing for “someone else”, you lose the core of your writing. So I needed this self-talk, I needed to get this pain and pressure out of the system – and now I feel better.

Mission accomplished.

Let’s get some wine writing done.