2007 Castillero del Diablo Gerwurztraminer from Concha Y Toro

Hello!! Here's another wine I've never tried before, this Gerwurztraminer from Chile. I have mixed feelings about this wine. it starts out with a bright grapefruit and has this really bright acidity on the mid-palate along with the nice nutmeg spiciness one generally finds in a Gerwurztraminer. On the finish there is a pleasant lingering minerality. What I don't like about this wine is that it's so unexpected. It's extremely dry for a Gerwurtztraminer. The greapefruit flavor is also a little unusual. In fact, this wine is more than a little reminiscent of a Savignon Blanc. A nice dry, complex Savignon Blanc. So, overall, a very nice crisp dry white wine with good acidity and a spiciness and minerality which adds a level of complexity. Still it's not a typical Gerwurtztraminer, and if that's what you're looking for, reach for a different label.

Chanti

Hello!! I want to talk about chianti wines today. Last night was the Winers get together and we did pizza night. Everyone brought a food and a wine pairing. I have to say, the pairings get better and better with this group. Anyway, because there were pizzas, there were two different chianti wines. I love this wine. Chianti has gotten some bad press in the past. Forget about all that! There are some fabulous chiantis out there. And I'm always impressed with sangiovese varietals. Sangiovese is the main varietal in chianti, Brunello, Montepulciano di Nobile, Super Tuscans, and is sometimes labeled as Sangiovese, especially when produced outside Italy. I'm fascinated by how different these wines can be from each other and with how much variation exists between different chianti wines based on style and winemaker. I've personally discovered a very llightly oaked chianti, Tiziano, which is light and fruity. I often serve this wine instead of a rose (I'm not much of a rose person). It's a very good wine when having guests that are not big wine drinkers and food that begs for an Italian wine. I serve it with Italian food made with light tomato based sauces. A little heavier than the Tiziano is Da Vinci chianti. We had this last night paired with a pepperoni and cheese stromboli. It was very smooth and mellow, still with the characteristic cherry vanilla, a bit of earthiness, and fairly soft tannins. Bigger than the Tiziano, but still very easy to drink and a good choice for people who don't drink a lot of Italian wines. Not a very complex or challenging chianti, but pleasant. We also had a Gabbiano last night. It was a little harsher, with firmer tannins. I liked it, but it might be a little rough for some people. I believe it would have been better if it had more time to open. Then there's one of my favorites, Cecchi chianti classico. It's a bigger wine than any of the previously mentioned wines. I'd drink it a lot more often, but I spend a lot of time exploring different wines. There's so much out there. I think the Cecchi is a terrific food wine for many Italian dishes. It's great with lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, steaks, anything with a tomato based sauce. It's much like the Da Vinci, but with more structure and complexity. And finally I want to mention one of my all time favorite italian wines, Francobaldi Chianti Reserva. It's big but mellow, with a wonderful velvety weight on the palate. Maybe the Cecchi would become more like this with age, but I lack the patience to find out. The Francobaldi is a little more pricey, at close to $30 a bottle, but it's worth it. It approaches a really good Montepulciano di Nobile in character. I keep at least 3 different chiatis in my winerack. Right now, we have the Tiziano, the Cecchi Chinati Classico, and the Francobaldi Chianti Reserva. This way, I always have the right chianti at hand. I'm considering adding the Da Vinci just to round out my lineup.
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2005 Pio Cesare Barolo

Hi!! We tried a barolo a few days ago and I'm still trying to decide whether I liked it or not. We had it with home-made tortellini stuffed with ricotta and served with a very meaty tomato sauce. Thad Cox, at Ashes, recommended that if we wanted to drink it now, we should decant for at least 4 hours. Well, it was opened and decanted 2-3 hours before dinner. It was still very tight. In fact, I now know exactly what people mean by this. It was extremely rough when first opened, with harsh tannins and strong acid. It did soften a bit, but really it just never finished opening, even after about 6 hours. It seemed pretty well balanced to me, with firm tannins, bright acid, and dark cherry with a little licorice on the finish. It was quite pricey at $69 a bottle at Ashes. Really, I'd like to get another bottle and set it aside for 5-10 years.

Barolo is supposed to be an iconic wine from Italy, one that collectors take quite seriously. It's definitely a "big red" and is best served with meat ro meaty dishes. As you may know from previous blogs, this wine is definitely out of my usual price range. But, it was on the Matt Kramer list of Italian wines as a "don't die without trying it". It has quite a reputation as one of those eye opening wines that turn people on to drinking wine. I can't say that this Barolo had that kind of effect on me. But, it did make me realize how important aging is for some wines. I suspect that my impression of this wine would be very different if it aged 5-10 years or more. Some say these wines age well for 30 years or more. Really, I feel it's unfair for me to evaluate this wine. It's just too young. But, after drinking it, I now know just what that means.

2006 Cantele Salice Salentino

Hi!!

I haaven't posted in a while. I've been busy cooking, drinking wine, reading about wine, and of course working. Also it's been wicked hot. The heat makes me want to reach for lighter food and white wines. However, don't think for a minute that I'm tiring of reds.

Last Friday night, date night for Al and myself, we went to Savelli's for pizza. We brought a 2006 Cantele Salice Salentino with us. It's a favorite. We've had it several times, and it never disappoints. I picked up a replacement bottle at Ashes yesterday for about $12 or $13. It's very cherry on the nose, with a little oakiness. On the palate it's again very cherry with soft tannins and acidity and a smooth velvety mouth feel. Very nice on the mid-palate and a pleasant lingering finish. It's very nicely balanced and very good with food. Honestly, the wine was way better than the pizza. A better pairing might have been something a little meatier. Matt Kramer recommends serving it with ribs.

We had this wine again when we had some friends over. We served ribs slow cooked in Italian spaghetti gravy, polenta, roasted pepper salad, and zucchini. This wine was a very nice pairing. It had enough body to hold up to the food well, but with the delicious cherry taste, the velvety body, and the friendly tannins and acids, it was a nice wine to serve with dinner for guests who do not drink a lot of wine. A hit!!

Bordeaux: 2007 Chateau Crox-Mouton

Date night!! Dinner was sauteed lamb chops, potato slices tossed with olive oil and seasoning and baked in the oven, and roasted vegetables with olives. The wine was another Bordeaux. Delicious! This wine was very nice with the strong, savory flavors of this meal. When first opened the wine smelled of blackberry and smoke with a little tar and a little of the mulch/forrest aroma I've tried to describe before. It tasted much like it smelled. The acidity and tannins were fairly soft. As the wine opened up over the next hour or so, it developed some cherry flavor, and the smokey/tar flavor mellowed a bit. The tannins were a little more apparent and it developed this wonderful silky mouth feel. Very nice lingering finish. Overall I really liked this wine and this pairing, but I think I prefer the L'estang we had the other night. It was a bit more complex than this wine. This wine would be better than the L'estang with something like barbeque. Both were very good. This wine was about $18 at Bob's, which was actually $3 or $4 more than the L'estang, so... Still, I think the take home message is that there are some good Bordeaux's at affordable prices out there, you just have to be willing to try a few. Both these wines are listed in Robert Parker's Wine Bargains book. Interestingly, he doesn't give numerical ratings to wines in this book, he just describes the wines. I guess if it's listed, that's recommendation enough. I also picked up a Cadet Mouton Bordeaux at bob's for $6!! I guess I'll have to get around to trying that before too long.