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Beautiful Simplicity
Is there a such thing as simple wine?
I really despise controversy. In a world where every word is twisted, turned, analyzed, over-analyzed, then twisted and turned, again and again, I don’t want to be the one to start a new controversy around wine (clean or natural, anyone?).
But really, is “simple” an applicable descriptor for the wine? If I say “simple wine”, can you relate to this as easily as to “tannic”, “acidic”, or “sweet”?
Everything in the wine world is personable. No two palates are the same, no two glasses of wine are the same. And so will be the concept of simple wine – it is highly personal.
There are thought-provoking wines – you take a sip, which triggers an instant process in your brain – analyzing flavors, looking for patterns, digging into memory looking for comparisons. Not every thought-provoking wine equates with pleasure – if we call the wine thought-provoking, it doesn’t always mean that we are craving a second glass. Need an example? How about Frank Cornelissen wines? Nevertheless, we all can relate to the wine we designate as thought-provoking.
Then there are complex wines. The wine presents itself in layers. You don’t need to over-analyze anything, and yet every sip keeps changing, offers you new depth and new impressions every passing moment. Complex is beautiful, wine aficionados love drinking complex wines.
So what is then a simple wine? A lot of people would equate the definition of “simple” with the price. We are trained not to refer to the $10 bottle as “amazing” – even if we enjoy it immensely, we would rather say “it’s just a simple wine”. Leaving the price aside, a simple wine has a very simple effect – take a sip, and your only reaction is “ahh, that’s good”. Simplicity doesn’t affect the enjoyment of the wine – the wine should still give you pleasure, and you should still want a second glass.
Every time you think you know a lot a good bit about your favorite subject, wine, life quickly humbles you, just so you know your place. Ever heard of Mack and Schuhle? I also never have. Meanwhile, they had been in the winemaking and wine distribution business since 1939, and currently have a portfolio of 25 wine brands from around the world – from New Zealand to Italy, Spain, and France to the USA.
When I was offered to review 2 of their wines, Montepulciano and Malbec, I agreed to do that because I was intrigued by the names – Art of Earth and El Tractor. Would you instantly agree to drink something called Art of Earth? For a wine geek like myself, such a name makes the wine simply irresistible. And tasting these wines, which are also very inexpensive, resulted in the diatribe about simple wines. For what it worth, here are my tasting notes:
2019 Art of Earth Montepulciano D’Abruzzo DOC (13.5% ABV, $12, made with organic grapes)
Dark garnet with beautiful ruby hues
Touch of cherries, a hint of funk,
Bright, pure, beautiful, succulent, tart cherries – fresh of the tree.
8+, delicious. This wine doesn’t have the complexity of Masciarelli, and I don’t believe it will age very well – but it is absolutely enjoyable right now.
2017 El Tractor Malbec Reserve Mendoza Argentina (13% ABV, $14, 12 months in French oak)
Dark garnet
Blackberries, cherries, sweet tobacco
Dark fruit, tobacco, cherries, a hint of smoke, nicely restrained, good acidity, good balance.
8, excellent. This wine is not going to rival Catena, but it is perfectly an old-world style, quaffable, and enjoyable Malbec.
Here you are – two simple wines, good for every and any day – or at least I would be happy to drink them any day. What is your definition of simple wine?
Patches of Goodness – Introducing Ferzo
In Italian, Ferzo is a patch of fabric that is stitched together with others to create a sail. Let’s sail together into the world of wine.
Wine lovers are some of the happiest people in the world.
Don’t jump to any conclusions – the happiness starts before the bottle is open, not after the wine is consumed.
How I mean it? Let me explain.
I personally believe that travel is one of the best things people can do as a pastime. You get to experience a different culture, people, food, and lots more. Travel typically requires planning – money, time off work, finding someone to sit with your three dogs, water plants, feed goldfish … you get the picture. A successful trip requires one’s full, undivided involvement, from start to finish – and then it usually ends with happy memories.
Wine lovers, on another hand, have it easy. It is enough to take a bottle of wine in your hands, and you are instantly transported. Your trip starts with the first look at the label, and then it is only limited by your imagination. The more you learn about the world of wine, the easier such travel becomes. You can instantly immerse into the culture, imagine visiting the vineyard, talking to the people, sitting in the tiny cafe with a glass of wine, just observing life as it happens. Sounds good? Can I take you on a trip right now, right at this moment? Of course, I know you are ready. I’m inviting you to visit Italy, the region called Abruzzo.
Abruzzo is a region in Central Italy, located along the Adriatic Sea coast. The territory of Abruzzo is about half of the size of the US state of New Jersey. However, the region boasts the biggest number of forests and parks compared to any other region in Italy, and thus sometimes it is referred to as “the lungs of Italy”.
There is nothing unique about winemaking in Abruzzo – it is only about a few thousand years old, on par with the rest of Italy. Well, jokes aside, the Abruzzo region is enclosed in the Apennines mountains, which historically provided natural defenses to the people living in the region – as well as ideal conditions for the winemaking.
Abruzzo wines became known internationally in the 17th century, largely thanks to the Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes, who praised the high quality of the region’s white wine, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo – however, today Abruzzo is first and foremost known for its red wine, Montepulciano di Abruzzo, produced from the grape called Montepulciano (try not to confuse it with the wine made in the Montepulciano village in Tuscany, which is made out of Sangiovese).
The wine is made is all four provinces of Abruzzo, however, the province of Chieti has the highest production of the four. While Montepulciano is a “king” of Abruzzo, the white grapes always played an essential role in the region. Today, the focus is shifting past the traditional Trebbiano towards until recently forgotten varieties, such as Pecorino, Passerina, and others.
Codice Citra is the largest winegrowing community in Abruzzo, uniting 3,000 winegrowing families from 9 different communes (wineries), collectively farming 15,000 acres of vineyards. Formed in 1973, Codice Citra had been making wines from the autochthonous varieties – Montepulciano, Trebbiano, Pecorino, Passerina and Cococciola.
With bottling capacity of 20,000 bottles per hour, you can imagine that Codice Citra produces quite a bit of wine. But this is not what we are talking about here. When you make wine year after year, you learn what works and what doesn’t. Little by little, you can identify the parcels of the vineyards, the patches, which produce different, maybe better grapes, year after year. And at some point, you decide – this patch is something special, maybe it deserves to be bottled on its own?
And that’s how Ferzo was born. Single grape wines, made from the plots with the vines of at least 20 years of age, representing the best Abruzzo has to offer – Montepulciano, Pecorino, Passerina and Cococciola. I had an opportunity to taste the line of Ferzo wines, graciously provided as samples by Donna White, and I was utterly impressed with the quality and the amount of pleasure each wine had to offer. Here are the notes:
Tale of Two Reds – Are All Wine Lovers Eternal Optimists?
Let’s talk about red wines. And optimism. The connection between the two? You will see – give me a few minutes.
Let’s start from a simple question – how many chances do you give to a bottle of wine? Fine, let’s rephrase it. You open a bottle of wine. It is not corked, or if you think it is, you are not 100% sure. You taste the wine. The wine is not spoiled, but you don’t like it – doesn’t matter why, we are not interested in the reason – the bottom line is that it doesn’t give you pleasure. What do you do next?
Of course, breathing is the thing. You let the wine breathe – you pour it into a decanter, and let is stand – few hours, at least. You taste it again – and it still doesn’t make you happy. Your next action?
Let’s take a few notes here. First, we are not talking about the wine you feel obliged to drink – it is not a $200 bottle, it is not a first-growth Bordeaux – it is an average bottle of wine, let’s say, of $20-$40 value. Second, it is a quiet evening – let’s say, it is you and your spouse, and you have a luxury of opening another bottle of wine to enjoy.
As we said, two hours in decanter didn’t do anything. And another 4 hours didn’t help either. Or maybe you didn’t use the decanter, as you only wanted a glass, and dealing with moving the wine in and out of decanter was not your priority, so the wine was standing in the open bottle. In any case, it is the end of the day, and it is time to go to sleep – and the wine is still not what you want to drink. What is next?
At this point, you got a few options – leave the bottle on the counter, dump it into the sink, put it aside into the “to cook with” section, or pump the air out and see what the next day will bring. Let’s assume you’ve chosen the latter option, but the next day didn’t improve the situation – for how long will you keep trying?
While I’m sending you on the trip down the memory lane (or maybe not), let me share with you my most recent experience. On December 31st, I opened the bottle of 2012 Codice Citra Laus Vitae Riserva Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOP (14% ABV, $32). I had very high expectations of this bottle for a few reasons. First, the bottle itself is a BAB (for the uninitiated, it stands for Big Ass Bottle – a heavy, thick glass, pleasant to hold, bottle), which always creates high expectations for me. Second, I have high respect to the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – was surprised with the quality more often than not. Third, I just tasted through the samples of a new line of wines from the same producer, Codice Citra (the line is called Ferzo), four delicious wines, more about it in a later post – obviously, all of this added up to the expectations. Only the first sip delivered nothing but disappointment.
I took a sip of the wine, all ready to say “wow”, and instead the first thought was – “heat damage”? Most prominent note on the palate was stewed fruit, which is definitely a problem for the 6/7 years old wine, clearly meant to have a long cellar life. What happened? Was the wine stored improperly? No way I can pour this to my guests, so put the cork in, pump the air out and let’s see what will happen.
Every day from there on, I would pull the cork out, pour a glass, taste, and sigh. Still, the stewed fruit in various amounts – day three seem to show some improvement only to go back on day 4. Can you see me winding up the drama? What do you expect happened on day 5?
January 4th, I’m pouring another glass, not expecting anything good, but willing to finish the “experiment”, and subconsciously still surprised that BAB didn’t deliver. The first sip extorts “wow” and the thought of “what just happened”? The core of pure, ripe, tart cherries with a touch of a cherry pit, the hallmark of good Montepulciano, is laughing at me. Firm structure, fresh tannins, balancing acidity – the transformation couldn’t have been more dramatic. I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop of that wine, still utterly amazed at how little I understand in the mystery of the wine.
The second wine, which I happened to open a day later, but played with in parallel to the Montepulciano, worked in a very similar fashion. I got the bottle of 2014 Ernesto Catena “Tikal Amorio” Malbec Mendoza Argentina (13.5% ABV, $30) as the present from Chuck Prevatte of Food, Wine, Beer, Travel blog as part of the “Secret Wine Santa” fun originated and run by Jeff Kralik, a.k.a. The Drunken Cyclist. Chuck sent me a bottle with the message that Malbec is his favorite wine, and he was hoping that I will also enjoy his selection.
Okay, so here is another gaping hole in my “I don’t discriminate against any wine” adage – Argentinian Malbec is not my thing. I will gladly jump at Cahors, but given an option, unless I perfectly know the producer and the wine, I will avoid Argentinian Malbec as a generic category (as an example Broquel, Kaiken, Achaval-Ferrer, Trapiche are all on the “good list”). Yes, I will still try the Malbec I don’t know (someone has to eat the broccoli, right?), but only if asked. If you are interested in the reason, it has something to do with the flavor profile – I had a lot of Argentinian Malbecs which lack acidity and have too much of the overripe fruit and baking spices – interestingly enough, that exact flavor profile often wins the “easy to drink” praise among wine consumers.
Anyway, the Tikal Amorio Malbec had a very attractive label and sounded good from the description – the wine was created for the love of the grape and represented a blend of Malbec grapes from 3 different vineyard sites in Mendoza. Besides, it was recommended, so as I was opening the bottle, the thought was a happy “what if…” The first sip, however, brought (I’m sure you guessed it) the “this is why I don’t like the Argentinian Malbec” sigh – flabby fruit, very little acidity, and lots of baking spices. Ooh. I will spare you the day by day description – not much changed over the three days. But on the 4th day… The first sip brought in perfectly ripe blueberries with the core of acidity – nothing flabby, perfect structure, firm, fresh “pop in your mouth” blueberries with undertones of tobacco. The wine beautifully transformed (another mystery), and similarly to the Montepulciano, was gone in no time.
Here it is, my friends, a tale of two reds – and an ode to the optimism, don’t you think? Have you been in a similar situation? What do you do when you discover the wine you don’t like at first sight? How many chances would you give it? Cheers!
Do You Prefer Montepulciano or Montepulciano?
Nope, no typo in that title. And no, I’m not losing it. Not yet anyway.
Yes, the title is purposefully misleading. But within a reason – and I’m not looking to gain any unjust benefit from the confusion.
As most of you know, Montepulciano happened to be the name of the indigenous Italian grape, popular in central regions of Abruzzo and Marche. Montepulciano is also the name of the small medieval town, right in the heart of Tuscany, where the grape called Sangiovese is a king. The wine produced around the town of Montepulciano, which dates back to the 14th century, is called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and to be called Vino Nobile the wine should contain at least 70% of Sangiovese grapes. What is also worth mentioning that Vino Nobile di Montepulciano was the very first DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in Italy, awarded in 1984 – the emphasis here is on Garantita, denoting highest quality Italian wines.
A picture worth thousand words, so here is an infographic which nicely lines up all the confusing Montepulciano:
Infographic courtesy of Mosiah Culver
Now, let’s go back to the main question, only let’s ask it in a less controversial way – do you prefer Montepulciano or Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wine? The answer to such a question requires some wine drinking, so let’s fight it off with maybe some of the very best examples of both – Masciarelli Marina Cvetić Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
Masciarelli Tenute Agricole was established in 1978 by Gianni Masciarelli in San Martino, Chieti Abruzzo. In 1989, Giovanni married Marina Cvetic, who took over winemaking duties. Today Marina overseeing about 750 acres of estate vineyards, producing about 2.5 million bottles a year – of course, not only Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, but many different wines – you can find more information here.
The wine we are tasting today, Masciarelli Marina Cvetić Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva, is a flagship wine, which won numerous accolades from the critics around the world, and it is definitely a beautiful example of how good Montepulciano wine can be.
Avignonesi estate was founded in 1974, and the Avignonesi family was instrumental in helping the regions to obtain DOCG status and promote Vino Nobile wines worldwide. From 2009, the estate, which comprise today 495 acres of vineyards in Montepulciano and Cortona appellations and produces about 750,000 bottles per year, is owned by Virginie Saverys. She works tirelessly to convert the estate to organic and biodynamic winemaking, and Avignonesi is expecting to get its organic certification in 2016. You can learn more about the estate and its wines here.
The wine we are drinking today is Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which goes way beyond the requirements of the DOCG and made from 100% Sangiovese sourced from 8 best vineyards of the Avignonesi estate. If you will look at the suggested price ($29), in conjunction with the quality, this wine would easily beat many of its famous Brunello neighbors. Many critics also concur, as the wine repeatedly gets high scores and makes to the various “Top” lists.
Here are my notes for these two wines:
2011 Masciarelli Marina Cvetić Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva (14% ABV, $28, 100% Montepulciano, 12/18months in oak barriques, 100% new)
C: dark garnet
N: cherries, tar, roasted meat, undertones of sage
P: sweet cherries, perfume, open, layered, clean, good balance, very approachable and ready to drink from the get go
V: 8/8+, sexy, luscious and delicious
2013 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG (14% ABV, $29, 100% Sangiovese, 12 months French barriques, 6 months large Slavonian oak casks, 6+ months in the bottle)
C: brilliant ruby
N: herbs, sage, hint of black fruit, restrained
P: sweet and tart cherries, earthy, leather, touch of cherry pits, touch of tannins, good balance. Very long finish with fruit dominating.
V: 8. surprisingly ready to drink (unlike some Vino Nobile which I had before). Classic Italian wine all around, with finesse.
As you can tell, I really liked both wines, probably hedging a bit more towards Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – these are very well made wines, different and excellent in its own right – and by the way, both would perfectly brighten up your holidays :).
What do you think? Which Montepulciano would you prefer, not only from these two wines but in general? Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, #MWWC7 Few Days Left, Cali Crush Report, Wines At State Dinner, And More
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #92, grape trivia – Montepulciano. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about indigenous Italian grape called Montepulciano. Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: In the number of regions, Montepulciano is often blended with … [name that grape]
A1: Sangiovese is a popular blending partner of Montepulciano.
Q2: Wine Spectator calls wines rated in 95-100 range Classic (the highest and the most prestigious category). True or False: there are no Montepulciano – based wines rated in the Classic category
A2: False. There a few Montepulciano wines with the ratings of 95 or above. For example, 2000 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo got 97 points from the Wine Spectator.
Q3: From the list below, which state in US doesn’t make any Montepulciano wines of notice:
a. California, b. Maryland, c. North Carolina, d. Texas, e. Washington
A3: Interestingly enough, Washington so far doesn’t have any Montepulciano plantings of notice.
Q4: True or false: from 2000 to 2010, plantings of Montepulciano in Italy increased by more than 15%
A4: True. Plantings of Montepulciano in Italy increased from 28,679 acres in 2000 to the 34,824 in 2010.
Q5: Best known Montepulciano wine comes from Abruzzo in Italy and it is known as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Do you know the name of the white wine commonly produced in Abruzzo?
A5: Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is a white wine from the Abruzzo region.
When it come to the results, first of all, we had very good participation in the quiz, quite a few answers. And, most importantly – we have a winner! Tracy Lee Karner answered all 5 questions correctly, so she gets the top prize of unlimited bragging rights! Great job! I also would like to acknowledge Suzanne of apuginthekitchen and Mario Plazio (no web site), who both got 4 questions out of 5 correctly. Very well done!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web!
Boy, I have a lot of interesting reads for you. First of all, there are only a few days left to submit your entry for #MWWC7, “Devotion”. Over the past few days there were quite a few submission, which is great. I have a problem to come to grips with this theme, as “devotion” doesn’t trigger any mental image for me – I would much happier deal with “obsession” or at least a “dedication”. Anyway, may be my muse will still come, all covered in the snow? No matter – get your wine devotion story going! Here you will find rules and submissions to the date.
Like the grapes and the numbers? I personally do – I don’t even know why. Anyway, the California Agricultural Statistics service just released the numbers for the 2013 grape crush report – 4.23 million tons of grapes were crushed last year, up 5% from the 2012. The most crushed grape in California was Chardonnay, closely followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and then Zinfandel. For all the numbers please take a look at this article at WineBusiness.com.
Now, I want to share with you two interesting articles from the Dr. Vino’s blog. First, it is always interesting to know what the other people drink, right? Don’t you try to glance at the label of the wine been served at the table next to you? So this is not just some other random people we are talking about here – Dr. Vino analyses selection of the wines from the State Dinner given by US President in honor of the high guest from France. Here is the article – and similar to the Dr. Vino’s opinion, my question is – really? These are the best wines made in US? Okay, okay – I didn’t taste either one of the particular 3 wines served at that dinner – in case you have, I would be really interested in your opinion.
Last, but not least for today is another article from Dr. Vino’s blog – a short post about the sale of the wines at the auction in Chicago. Considering all the stories about the counterfeit wines nowadays, it is not surprising that the wines with the guaranteed provenance are sold at the premium nowadays. But for me personally, it is the data in that old receipt which is very interesting – $78.99 for the Echezeaux or $68.99 for Vosnee-Romanee – sigh, and another sigh – are those days gone forever?
And we are done here. The glass is empty – but the refill is on its way! Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #92: Grape Trivia – Montepulciano
Montepulciano grapes Source: Wikipedia
The Wine Quiz series is not meant to intimidate. The whole idea here is to have fun and learn something new. When answering the questions, it is fully encouraged to use all available sources of information, including Google or any other search engine. There are no embarrassing answers – the most embarrassing thing is not giving it a try…
Welcome to the weekend and your new wine quiz!
We are continuing our grape trivia series, with the focus still on the red grapes, and today’s subject is Montepulciano.
Montepulciano is an indigenous Italian grape variety, recommended for use in 20 out of 95 wine regions in Italy, and one of the most planted red grapes in the country. The origins of Montepulciano are hard to pinpoint, with some sources citing the grape been growing on the hills of Abruzzo since the ancient times, and some sources suggesting that the grape was brought into the Abruzzo region from the neighboring Tuscany at the end of the 18th century. Also an interesting “gotcha” is associated with the name of the grape itself. It seems that the name of the grape, Montepulciano, is given after the town in Tuscany, also called Montepulciano, where the grape supposedly came from. But the problem is that the wine produced in Montepulciano has nothing to do with Montepulciano grape! Town of Montepulciano produces the wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is made out of 100% Sangiovese grape! Yep, that’s what I call confusing.
Montepulciano is a late ripening variety, with thick black skin and relatively low acidity. It produces wines which are quite dry, with cherry and cherry pit (did you ever try to eat the content of the cherry pit?) flavors, full bodied and easy to drink. While a lot of Montepulciano wines are easy to drink but not necessarily memorable, proper care and reduced yields can result in the world-class wines. Absolute majority of Montepulciano wines are produced in Italy, with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Rosso Piceno and Rosso Conero probably been best known areas, but Montepulciano plantings also exist in Argentina, New Zealand and the United States.
And now, to the quiz!
Q1: In the number of regions, Montepulciano is often blended with … [name that grape]
Q2: Wine Spectator calls wines rated in 95-100 range Classic (the highest and the most prestigious category). True or False: there are no Montepulciano – based wines rated in the Classic category
Q3: From the list below, which state in US doesn’t make any Montepulciano wines of notice:
a. California
b. Maryland
c. North Carolina
d. Texas
e. Washington
Q4: True or false: from 2000 to 2010, plantings of Montepulciano in Italy increased by more than 15%
Q5: Best known Montepulciano wine comes from Abruzzo in Italy and it is known as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Do you know the name of the white wine commonly produced in Abruzzo?
Good luck, enjoy the quiz and your weekend! Cheers!
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