I think I have earned a bad rap… My students and event attendees will tell you that I am highly-critical of California wine. I liken my relationship to California wine to the relationship I have with my son, described by a single phrase: high expectations… Call it tough love, but I think that producers in California can do more to produce wines with character at far-more reasonable prices than their European counterparts, but often our domestic winemakers fall short of the mark. There are exceptions – Steven Rogstad at Cuvaison for one – a European-trained winemaker of tremendous talent that produces some really tasty wine. Michael Pozzan – with roots stretching back to Italy’s Piedmont region is another talented winemaker. And we have Sean Minor. According to their website, Minor Family wines are about producing better quality wines that won’t break the bank. After having tasted all of the wines produced by the team, I have to say that they have accomplished their mission. In October of last year, I tasted the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir offerings – quite classy renditions that had many distinguishing characteristics and, like the web site promised – didn’t break the bank. Recently I enjoyed their Napa Valley offering that I would call a Meritage, except Sean Minor is not a member of the Meritage Club, nor is the wine really composed of the correct varietals. The composition of the wine is 30% Merlot, 23% Petit Verdot, 17% Zinfandel, 16% Petite Sirah, 10% Syrah,and  4% Malbec, which combine to produce a quaffable, yet structured blend – I think the word I used was “yummy!” At $19.99 average retail, the wine is an pretty good value…

My tasting note:

Ripe, fruity nose with cherry, blackberry and violet hints. Full-bodied with moderate acidity and firm, dry tannin – good balance. Structured with a dark fruit core and tar, tobacco and jammy notes. Smooth. Moderate length with a layered, evolving finish. Drinking well now and should hold for another 3 – 5 years in bottle. A pleasant value…

Cheers!

In 2004 I decided to try an experiment… While I could not duplicate the exact wines from the now famous Judgment in Paris tasting of 1976, I thought matching up some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines from Napa Valley and those of Bordeaux would be a fun, competitive way to spend an afternoon. Seven years and four tastings later, I have a veritable wine-bath on my hands. I thought it would be fun to look over the four tastings and see how things are fairing.

The first installment took place on October 16, 2004. I was looking to taste a set of six wines that were at equivalent quality levels with the same degree of maturity and drinkability. The results were as follows:

The next installment took place on April 21, 2007. California was looking for payback, but we were committed to keeping an even playing field. Once again I tried to match wines of equal breeding that were showing well. The results were as follows:

So with the score tied 1 to 1, a rematch was called for and on October 10, 2009 Napa squared off against Bordeaux for the third time. In this installment I dug deep to find some really special bottles, wines that at the time of their release were considered spectacular. The results were as follows:

France barely pulled out a victory, so it was inevitable that a fourth match-up would need to take place. On October 22, 2011 the mighty regions squared off again this time with wines from one of the best vintages of the last century. The results were as follows:

So after four installments, France has a commanding lead with 3 check marks in the win column. Point-wise the French have 127 points to Napa’s 90 points, a fairly sizable margin. Where does it go from here? Well if history repeats itself, I imagine a fifth match-up in 2013, either in April, or October…

Should be fun, as usual!

Lascaux is the site of some of the oldest and best preserved Paleolithic cave paintings, dating back over 17,300 years. In my History of France in Ten Glasses class, Lascaux is where it all starts and we usually serve up something from Côteaux du Languedoc, or sometimes Provence. The caves contain well over 2,000 figures, which have been categorized as animal, human and abstract runic signs. The animals represent large species that have been identified primarily from fossilized remains. The site is a fascinating look into our ancestry and the incredible poise that these ancient peoples possessed.

A little while back I wrote about “one that got away…,” referring to a 2007 Château de Lascaux that was simply joyous. Well, in working through the last group of wines reconstructing the Harvard Faculty Club list, I tasted the 2009 vintage from this producer. Like most of what I’ve tasted from 2009, the wine was chock-full of fruit. Where the 2007 had presence, structure and focus, the 2009 has panache, drinkability and gregariousness. The 2009 is primarily Syrah (60%), with Grenache (30%) and Mourvedre (10)% as helpmates. At an average retail price of $15.99 per bottle, this is another nice find. By the way, the artwork on the label is a representation of some one of the cave paintings in Lascaux.

My tasting note:

Ripe, dense nose with blueberry, cherry, tar and dried herb hints. Full-bodied with moderate acidity and dry, well-integrated tannin – good balance. Peppery with black cherry and blackberry jam on the palate. Violets, rosemary and white pepper notes abound. Smooth and enticing. Moderate length – young. Drinking well now and should hold for another 2 to 3 years in the bottle. A good value.

Cheers!

For generations of American wine drinkers, the term Chablis means insipid, slightly sweet white wine that comes from the Central Valley of California. As a wine educator, this is painful, but I can’t blame the wine drinking populace. No, I level the blame with the ATF, and now the TTB, the organizations responsible for promulgating the wine labeling requirements for wine in the US. Many years ago, in their infinite wisdom, the ATF decided to create a set of “generic terms” that could be used on wine labels to help “name” and “market” wines made in the US. Chablis is one such term and it is unfortunate, especially since the French have sought legal protection for most of their more famous AOC’s.

What I want folks to understand is that official French Chablis is Chardonnay in its purest form. Irrigation other than the moisture Mother Nature provides is illegal for AOC wines. This means that the vines in most French vineyards grow deep into the sub-soil searching for precious water. The depth of these root systems allows the vine to take up a lot of complex minerality from the soil. In the case of Chablis the sub-soil is prehistoric sea shells, which produce a distinctly chalky note. Arguably this is one reason that Chablis is the near-perfect accompaniment to oysters…

The Domaine Costal, another partnership involving Kermit Lynch is stunning Chablis. The other stunning factor is the price – average retail of $29.99 per bottle is a remarkable value. If you prefer your Chardonnay as an expression of the fruit and not winemaking techniques, then this is a wine for you!

My tasting note:

Green apple and mineral nose – clean with just a tiny hint of oak. Medium-bodied with moderate acidity – rich – well balanced. Tart, citrus palate with lemon, apple and pear notes. Long finish with a purity of fruit – delightful! Drinking well now and should improve with another 5 to 7 years in bottle. A good value in Chablis!

Cheers!

In my History of Italy, France and Spain in Ten Glasses classes I talk about the important contributions that the Muslims made to the history of wine and spirits. For openers, the Muslim invaders brought with them the art and science of distillation, which they used for producing perfumes and medicinal elixirs. It took distillation in the hands of Christian monks to produce a different elixir, one known as the “water of life,” or Whisky. Muslims also brought with them a better understanding of astronomy and the impact of planetary motion on agriculture, which in turn improved the growing of crops, especially grapes. Lastly, the Muslims brought with them the vine – specifically vines of the Muscat grape. Despite the conflict that has raged between Christians, Jews and Muslims over the last 2,000+ years, I think we wine and spirits lovers should take a moment to say thanks.

So I’m not waxing poet about world peace, but I am going to rave about a lovely wine from Spain – the 2010 Torres Viña Esmeralda, a terrific blend of Muscat (85%) and Gewurztraminer (15%), giving the wine an exceptionally exotic nose and palate. A “light” wine at 11.5% alcohol (I seem to recall when a “light” wine contained 5% – 7% alcohol), the forward fruit provides the teasing impression of sweetness, but the finish is crisp and food-friendly. At an average retail price of $13.99 per bottle, you really can’t go wrong.

My tasting note:

Perfumed, floral nose with honeysuckle, lychee and pear hints – gorgeous! Light-bodied with moderate acidity – crisp and clean – well balanced. Citrus and exotic fruit palate – lemon, apricot and papaya notes – smooth. Moderate length – light and refreshing. Drinking well – not for aging, although the screw cap will keep the wine fresh for a while.

Perfect for the Thanksgiving table!

Cheers!

Super Tuscan… Most people who have drunk wine long enough know the term… For those who don’t, the term was coined back in the late 70’s, early 80’s and it describes a particular type of wine from Italy’s Tuscany region – the home of one of the world’s most well – known wines – Chianti. So where does this term come from? Well, as I have related to so many of my classes, throughout the 60’s and early 70’s the wines of Chianti were universally considered some of the most awful wine on the planet. Rampant over planting and production, combined with less-than-stellar wine making combined to produce wine that was thin, bitter and just dreadful. Even pizza was embarrassed to have to share the limelight with this inferior plonk.

With time, younger wine makers, and a few traditionalists started a movement to make Chianti a wine worthy of its name. However, during this renaissance of wine, certain producers felt that the problem was more deeply-rooted – fundamentally the laws governing production in Chianti needed to be “updated” to harness the true potential of wine making in the region. Well, updating wine laws in Italy is tantamount to changing the laws of Roman Catholicism – I think it involves flying pigs, or a certain subterranean region freezing over… Get the picture? So, a few enterprising folks decided to make some wine that was truly the best wine they could make, literally “Super Tuscan” wine. Of course, the wine did not conform to wine law standards and therefore had to be delimited as plain old Vino da Tavola wine, but to wine connoisseurs around the globe, these were wines worth noticing.

The bottles commanded extraordinary prices, which were shocking for wines that were no more than “table wines,” but the quality and character of the wines spoke volumes about what these wines were really worth. Over time the wine laws would adapt to recognize these wines for what they are – non-traditional Italian wines of the highest quality. Eventually the term Indicazione Geografica Typica Toscana would supplant the term Vino da Tavola, and a new hot region was born…

In Europe vintages are much more important than they are in the US. Where California basks in near perfect growing conditions, Europe almost always has to light candles for Mother Nature to shine a little beneficial sunshine on their oft suffering vineyards. Lately, though Europe has enjoyed a few really terrific vintages – 2005, 2007 and now 2009. I have tasted a lot of wine from all three vintages and they are each distinct. The 2005 vintage is big – wines with lots of fruit and lots of tannin – near endless aging potential… The 2007 vintage produced wines with good structure and balance, but unlike 2005, the 2007 wines tasted a bit more integrated and mature. The 2009 vintage is like 2005 on steroids – bigger, fuller in-your-face wines that seem endless…

Here we have a really fantastic wine – from the 2007 vintage the wine has a smoothness and maturity that is welcoming. The region is Toscana and you can tell that while Sangiovese plays a part in the wine, the dominant grapes are non-indigenous varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc… A Parker 90+ wine, which I could care less about, but some folks will take as validation – small quantities and somewhat expensive – $29.99 average retail per bottle – high value in my book…

 My tasting note:

Ripe, jammy nose with blackberry, raspberry, lilac and tar hints – stunning. Full-bodied with moderate acidity and firm, dry tannin – good balance. Sour cherry palate with truffle, saddle and red berry notes – impressive. Long finish – smooth with layers of complexity – spice, cocoa and vanilla bean. Drinking well and should improve with 7 to 10 years in the bottle. Good value.

Here’s to breaking the rules and producing the best wine possible!

Cheers!