2010 Peju Provence Estate Bottled Chardonnay

Appellation:  Napa Valley

Tasting Note:  13.8% ABV.  100% Chardonnay.  Very rich color.  Nose is dominated by buttered popcorn, with some tropical fruit.  This has me concerned.  Luckily, the nose belies what is a very nice wine, not overoaked, with bold pear and apple along with the rich mouthfeel.  Not shy.  Finish has a little minerality and acid.  This is generally not my favorite style of wine, but for what it is, it’s pretty darn good, and doesn’t overdo any one aspect.  Nicely balanced.

Rating:  3/5

Price:  $28 from the winery.

2010 Thomas Moray Bourgogne Blanc

Appellation:  Bourgogne (Burgundy)

Tasting Note:  13% ABV.  100% Chardonnay.  Light gold in the glass.  Very tight nose, just a hint of tropical fruit and minerals.  Oh my goodness! crisp.  More of a citrus than tropical flavor, with stone and great acid.  Will be a fantastic food wine, very tasty! I love this style of wine, flavorful and acidic, just perfect to have with just about any fish or chicken dish.

Rating:  5/5

Price:  $26 at Chesapeake Wine

It’s a great concept, and they execute it well.

A couple of comments on that execution, then I’ll run down the wines.  The setting is outstanding.  Silo Point is a spectacular building, and the tastings are hosted in a warm space on the 19th floor.  The view is spectacular, and the space is large enough for the group, with plenty of seating options.

The folks running the tasting do a very nice job keeping things moving… I never waited more than a minute or so to get a pour of the next wine, and the wines were served at appropriate temperatures in appropriate glassware.  Everyone had some knowledge of the wines, and had clearly tasted them.  From a service perspective, the tasting is very well done.

Rita Blackwell, as the host, engages every guest.  She’s got an uncanny ability to recall people, she remembers small details that matter.  Clearly, she’s about service first.  That said, she provides background and educates in a manner that everyone can appreciate, from novice to the experienced oenophile.

Most striking is the diversity of the group.  I was really happy to see a varied group; instead of the wine tasting of your old perception (a bunch of wealthy white people over 40 with their pinkies in the air), this was a racially diverse group ranging from 20′s to 70′s.  Everyone was friendly, and we had a great time talking wine with each other.

Wine is fun, and this tasting made fun the focus.  I’m looking forward to attending more.

Now for the wines.  The tasting was “California Dreamin’”, and while the theme was one of summer, the wines really reminded me of Thanksgiving, a great variety of food friendly and crowd pleasers.  All of these wines would pair with the rich/diverse foods on your Thanksgiving table, and would make everyone happy.

Kali’s Heart Chardonnay (Monterey County)

A bit sweetish, unoaked, but retained the California fruit/richness.  Good drinking, would be a crowd pleaser.  Grew on me.

$23.  3/5

Qupe Marsanne (Santa Ynez Valley)

Great wine!  Food friendly, crisp minerality and acid.  Very old world, would have guessed it was from the Northern Rhone.  Extremely food friendly, made my mouth water.  My favorite of the tasting.

$24.  4/5

Paraiso Riesling (Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey)

Probably my least favorite, but still pretty darn good wine.  There’s a hint of risidual sugar, but nice fruit, and some crispness on the finish.  Another very food friendly wine, and a good turkey wine.

$18.  3/5

Fappiano Pinot Noir (Russian River, Sonoma)

Another easy drinker, and another crowd pleaser.  Funk and fruit, enough complexity to pique my interest, and plenty of fruit to keep the family happy.  Yet another match for roasted poultry.

$26.  3/5

Ancient Peaks Zinfandel  (Paso Robles)

A peppery nose belies the huge fruit on the palate.  Offsetting that fruit was a ton of acidity, another one to make your mouth water between bites of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry; but flexible enough to stand up to some meat off the grill.

$24.  3/5

Paradiso Syrah (Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey)

Another big fruit wine.  I think they were trying for a Northern Rhone style, but ended up closer to an Aussie Shiraz.  Along with the fruit, there is some beef jerky and spice; another wine you could put on your Thanksgiving table.  Probably my least favorite of the tasting, but still pretty good stuff.

$26.  3/5

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(May not be safe for work or little kiddies due to language)

I want one.

I love history and terroir and maintaining a special niche for certain wines, but COME ON ! A debate over allowing just a 15% non-Sangio blend in the Rosso, the younger sibling to Brunello ? … Grow up Consorzio ! At the end of the day growers and vintners don’t JUST “do it” for passion and family. Winemaking is also a business and people need to maintain their livelihood. Giving producers more flexibility in vinification (and again, just a BIT more, not A LOT) would provide for more strategic maneuverability in the market and more options to stand out and separate their wines from the pack.

A lot of New World growing regions allow wines to be labelled Merlot, even with a 20% blend of other grapes, for example. Granted this might be a bad comparison and I’d air on transparency in this case and require that the “other” varietals be listed on the back label, which I believe is the case, although I could stand corrected.

In the end winemakers MAKE wine for it to be consumed right ? If there’s a drop in sales and a disinterested market, then let’s be progressive and creative and stir the pot a little (or vat and barrel rather), trying out some new recipes !

PS : Okay so this is just a very brief and rather generic counter to the Consorzio’s vote and the majority opinion of the local growers. What does the rest of the public have to say ? I’ll kick-start the counter to my arguments with a very interesting August 31st article on JancisRobinson.com, “Keep Rosso di Montalcino pure!”, including a letter to the Consorzio from Nicolas Belfrage MW, urging against allowing the 15% non-Sangiovese blend.

PPS : And just to admit that I’m a total hypocrite, I worked in business development (just a quick 6-month contract) for Domaine du Closel, a Savennières producer of the Clos du Papillon, Loire Valley Grand Cru and a representation of Chenin Blanc at its pure state of hedonistic perfection ! How’s that for objectivity ?! I can’t say that I’d support even an ounce of blending in these wines. It’d be sacrilegious ! So do I have any argument against my hypocrisy ? Not really although wait I think I do ! I guess the key difference is that Clos du Papillon (and Coulée de Serrant and Roches-aux-Moines) are designated Loire Valley Grand Crus. Savennières is essentially legislated and syndicated as the birthplace and essence of the beauty, expression and typicity of Chenin Blanc, whereas Rosso di Montalcino is the litter sister (or brother) to Brunello. Therefore, I’m sorry but little brothers and sisters get beat up on sometimes. So i say preserve the integrity of 100% Sangiovese in Brunello di Montalcino and loosen up the little sibling a bit. Although I do love the irony in the 2008 comments of Ezio Rivella, one of Italy’s most prominent oenologists and current President of the Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino. Ezio referred to 100% Brunello blends (i.e. Sangiovese) as “undrinkable”.

In either case I digress, the vote already passed and no changes will be made anytime soon. So on that note, cheers to 100% Sangiovese !

2009 Albino Armain Bigneto Corvara

Appellation:  Valdadige

Tasting Note:  100% Pinot Grigio, 13% ABV.  Pretty light yellow. Fresh citrus with a bit of tropics on the nose.  Crisp, bright, tart.  Grapefruit, but much, much more than that.  Elegant.  Great acid, minerality.  Makes the mouth water.  Wonderful wine, went very well with caprese salad.

Rating:  4/5

Price:  $17.99 at Beltway Fine Wine

2008 Tetramythos Roditis

Appellation:  Achaia

Tasting Note:  12.5%.  Roditis.  Pretty dark yellow. Nose is pepper, petrol, and tropical fruit. Pretty complex.  Lots of fruit, but there’s a bite of acid and a little petrol.  Very interesting.  Would certainly match well with lots of Greek food – tomatoes, feta, stuffed grape leaves.  Very good.

Rating:  4/5

Price:  Unknown, was in a mixed case from Chesapeake Wine

2009 Oracle Pinotage

Appellation:  Stellenbosch

Tasting Note:  Pinotage.  13.5% ABV.  Color is dark purple. Nose is jam, vanilla, and some chocolate.  Plums and berries, with some wood and spice, along with the vanilla.  A lot going on, maybe too much, as it’s disjointed.  A tick hot for me (at 13.5% it shouldn’t be, adding to the thought that this is disjointed), although the bright berry finish is pretty interesting.  Not all that.

Rating:  2/5

Price:  Unknown, was brought to a party.

I agree that Facebook and Twitter enhance blogs.  My advice to a new blogger on any subject, including wine, is to not take yourself too seriously.

I blog for fun.  During the NFL season last year, I wrote (essentially blogged) for bleacherreport.com.  They take themselves way to seriously, and focused far too much on page views instead of content (although some content was quite good, they wanted people to create two slide shows out of every three posts because slide shows have more pages, thus more page views).  It stopped being fun for me, so I stopped posting there.

Wine is the same.  Drinking and discussing wine is fun.  If it stops being fun, I’ll stop doing it.