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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Dinner guests: 2008 Martin Codax Albarino, 2007 Sebastiani Pinot Noir, 2006 El Coto Rioja, 2005 Las Rocas Garnacha

Hello!! Well, we have been drinking wines this past week, but nothing new until this weekend. We had another couple over Saturday evening. For starters I fixed little crostini with green beans, zucchini, salsa verte, and feta cheese. We had the Albarino with this. It was very quite good. Subtle aromas of jasmine and white flowers. I picked up well integrated flavors of peach, mild citrus and hazelnut. It was very well balanced and had a nice rich body. It was my first Albarino and now I know what all the fuss is about. I'll be keeping one in my winerack. This particular wine was $16 at Ashes. They have one on sale now for $10 or $11 which was rated 90 or 91 by the Wine Spectator.

Next came Italian mushroom stuffed crepes and salad. Our guests brought the Sebastiani pinot noir, and we opened it with dinner. It was a pleasant, soft well balanced pinot, somewhat lacking in complexity, but it was a nice wine with dinner and took a bit of a back seat to the food. It had soft tannins and acids and pleasant, easy to drink fruit flavors of strawberry, cherry, and plum.

The other two wines were after dinner sippers. The Las Rocas is one we have had before, $19 at Ashes. This is one of my current favorites. It's a fairly big wine with a big, aromatic nose which rises right out of the glass to greet you. The aromas are dark cherry and a soft spiciness. On the palate it's dark cherry, blackberry, and cedar with a little bit of pepper. It's fairly smooth and full bodied with firm tannins and a nice balance of acid. It had a pleasant lingering finish. Lastly, we opened the El Coto. To me, this was a bit of a disappointment, but Al liked it better than I did. It had a big, in your face nose, with bright cherry and oak. The taste was pretty much the same. It seemed simple and very "new world" after having had the Las Rocas. It wasn't bad, but was a bit of a fruit bomb and the oak monster was definitely with us on this one. Personally, I think you can find better Spanish wines. To each his own.

California 2006 Bogle Phantom

Hi!! Well, my younger son will be turning 22 in a few days and he requested burgers for tonight. I bought some prepared burgers from Fresh Market, bacon and cheddar. First I sauteed a couple of onions nice and slow so than they were sweet and caramelized. Then I just pan fried the burgers, and laid a slice of cheddar on top to get melty before taking them up. I then deglazed the pan with a little white wine, reduced it down and stirred it into the onions. We used chiabatta for buns, toasted for a minute in the broiler. A little tomato and lettuce with the sauteed onions, and it was a great burger. Bogle Phantom is a blend of petite syrah, zinfandel, and mourvedre from California. I've had this wine before, but I didn't like it as well this time. I think it's because we've been drinking so many European wines. It seemed a little harsh to me. The fruit was big, but the tannins were a little rough and it lacks balance. Also I get a little burn from the alcohol (14.5%). It's definitely lacking in complexity. Maybe it would be better with some age? The nose is blackberry and oak, but not a big nose. On the palate I taste mostly blackberry with a little vanilla, and maybe a little chocolate and smokiness on the finish. I think it was better when we had it with a steak, but overall, there are better wines out there. At $20 from Cedar Bluff Wine and Spirits, I'm sure I could do better. Perhaps a nice bordeaux from Bob's?

California Francis Ford Coppola Rosso

Hi!! We actually went out to eat Friday night. We went to Aubrey's to have one of their fabulous salads. It's been so wicked hot the past week or so, I couldn't stand the thought of eating anything heavier. However, I was still in the mood for a red wine, so I ordered the granny smith salad with little slices of steak and balsamic vinaigrette. I ordered the Francis Ford Coppola Rosso to go with it. I knew this would be a bit of a stretch, since I had ordered this wine before. This would be great with a big burger or a steak, but would be a little big for a salad, even if it did come with steak slices. The real problem with the pairing was the salad dressing. The balsamic dressing was a little sweet and kind of clashed with the wine. So, I just ate my salad and then enjoyed sipping the wine after the meal. The salad and the wine were both delicious, just better separate than together. This wine is actually a blend of three different varietals. It was very fruity, even jammy, with a nice amount of spiciness on the nose and the finish. The spiciness definitely gave it more interest. This wine sells for $6 a glass at Aubrey's or, I believe, $30 a bottle. Not bad for wine at a restaurant, but it would be much less at a liquor store. Incidentally, the wine list at Aubrey's seemed pretty heavy on domestic wines, with quite a few well known and well priced labels. Usual restaurant markup for wine is somewhere around 3 times retail. That's why I always drink better wines at home than when I'm out (unless it's a "bring your own bottle" place, like Savelli's).

2004 French Cuvee des Aedoises des chateau Eries Fitou

Hi!! This was a night of leftovers. I grilled some steaks and we ate leftover cheesey polenta, roasted pepper salad, and a little sauteed brocoli and leeks. It was all pretty good, but I managed to overcook my own steak a little (Al didn't mind, because he likes them medium well anyway). I'm from cattle country, and it seems just wrong to eat a steak that not red and juicy in the center. Oh well, on to the wine. This particular wine is a Fitou from the Languedoc region. I honestly don't know much about it. But, it rated high on the delicious scale. It was $11 or $12 from Bob's, if I recall correctly. It had a beautiful deep rich color and was pretty aromatic on opening the bottle. On the nose ( or "sniffy sniff" if you follow Gary Vaynerchuck) it smellled of cherry and peppery spice. I could pick up aromas of oak and vanilla. Tasting started with blackberry and dark cherry. There was pleasantly firm tannins and a nice silky body, then a lingering peppery spicy finish. It paired nicely with the steak. This was a terrific wine for the price. I think we need another bottle to keep on hand.

2007 Italian Tiziano Chianti

Hi!! this is a very nice everyday wine that pairs well with many foods. I reach for this wine when I want a red that's not too heavy or "big". We had this wine with scallops fra diavolo (which was very delicious). It's also a good wine to serve to people who are not big wine drinkers. The tannins and acids are pretty soft. My notes from a previous tasting are that it is delicate and elegant with no apparent oak. It tastes and smells of cherry. It's a very pleasant,easy drinking wine that pairs well with a variety of foods. We often have it with lighter pasta dishes with fresh, bright tomato sauces. It does improve after opening for about 30 minutes or so.

2007 Alamos Viognier from Argentina

Hi!! We actually had this wine a couple of nights ago. It was pretty good. We had it with grilled chicken salads, and the pairing was good, but not outstanding. The viognier was very fresh and clean on the nose with aromas of jasmine and lemon peel. On the palate it was very acidic, bright and juicy, and tasted of grapefruit and a little lime with nice minerality. This was a pleasant summer sipping wine and at $8 or $9 at Ashes, a very good buy.