Talk-A-Vino

Meritage time!

First, the answer for the Wine Quiz #60, Grape Trivia – Sangiovese.

In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about Sangiovese grape, one of the essential Italian grapes. Here are the questions, this time with the answers:

Q1: Grape, blending partner mostly of the past, typically leading to Sangiovese wines becoming dull and unexciting.

A1: White grape called Trebbiano at some point was mandatory blending partner of Sangiovese in Chianti wines, leading to overall diluted character of the wines. Nowadays, when even 100% Chianti wines are allowed, the usage of Trebbiano in the Chianti wines is very minimal.

Q2: What is Fiasco, and how is it related to the Chianti wines?

A2: Fiasco is a straw cover which was traditional with the Chianti wines. It also became a symbol of wines of a bad quality, as many Chianti’s of the past actually had quality issues.

Q3: On some of the bottles of Chianti, you could see an image of the black rooster. What is the meaning of it?

A3: Black Rooster, or Gallo Nero, is the symbol of Consorzio Chianti Classico. It can be argued that black rooster serves as a symbol of quality – whether it is true or not, I can only tell that most of the Chianti Classico I tried which had the Black Rooster symbol on them, where of a very good quality.

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?

A4: Considering all Chianti sub-regions as one (Chianti, Chianti Classico and Chianti Rufina), the answer is Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Morellino di Scansano.

Q5: Name 3 leading regions in United States producing Sangiovese wines. For an extra bonus, add your favorite producer(s).

A5: The way the question was formulated, it was hard to give a good answer, so all the answers will be considered correct for this question. I actually was looking for California, Washington and Texas and 3 main regions in US producing wines from Sangiovese grapes.

Considering that questions 4 and 5 were somewhat lacking precision, I will count all the answers to those questions as pretty much correct ones. Therefore, we have 3 winners this week – Wayward Wine, Red Wine Diva and The Winegetter are all getting the usual prize of unlimited bragging rights!

And now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and web!

First, the 2013 Wine Blog Awards winners had being announced at Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC13) last week. You can find the list of all winning blogs here. Also, the location of WBC14 was announced, and it will be… Santa Barbara! Here is the link to the announcement. Santa Barbara sounds quite appealing as a location, so at this point I really hope that I will be able to attend the WBC14 event.

Capital Grille is doing it again! Generous Pour program is back – starting July 8th, you can taste 7 different varietals from 7 different wineries, all for $25. Don’t miss it, as this program will only run during summer – and if past experience is any indicator, yep, you don’t want to miss it for sure.

Somewhat on a sad note, as reported by Guardian, wine writer Hugh Johnson is selling his wine collection, which includes bottles dating all the way from 1830. I think it is pretty sad when you have to part with the wine which you wanted to drink, but the moment comes when you realize – there is simply not enough time… You can read the story for yourself here.

Well, that’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. But it will be refilled, I promise. Cheers!