Wine

Another wine day has come and gone and I did my bit part by celebrating #ChardonnayDay with two of the Finger Lakes finest. Also cemented my feelings about what is considered the world's most popular white grape varietal. Of course, those that know me, know that it means forget the oak with it's buttery, toasty, vanilla, butterscotch and creamy profile and give me Chardonnay aged in stainless steel or just a touch of acorns. I've now come to realize why Chardonnay was not near the top of my favorite white wines. It actually sat well situated on the very bottom of my list. It's also a bit surprising that I would not favor well oaked Chards when I do have a liking for oaky red wines. Someday, I may write a post about what I think the reason is, but it may be a two or three part series and I'm just not ready for that, yet and I'm no Evan Dawson. Oh, by the way, let me plug his book here. Title is "Summer In A Glass" - The Coming of Age of Wine in the Finger Lakes. This past September the book was named International Wine Book of the Year. Contains great stories about wineries and the winemakers that have made the Finger Lakes a producer of world class wines. Now a little bit about the two Chardonnays I opened for today's celebration.Early afternoon, after finishing my duties in lawn care, I opened a Ravines Wine Cellars Chardonnay 2011 ($18). I recently tasted this wine at our Keuka in Bloom wine tour. As I very often do, anything I like in the tasting room, comes home. Sometimes, especially with Chardonnay, that does not always come out the way I thought it will, but this time I think it was better. Ravines has won recognition as a quality-driven winery dedicated to producing crafted and elegant food-friendly wines. The winery has won numerous medals in international wine competitions, received great reviews in major wine publications and can be found in many wine shops and fine restaurants throughout New York state.This Chardonnay was aged for a short time in oak, but as I stated above, lightly oaked is passing the grade. Aromas were full of apple, citrus, some peach and melon with very small hints of toast. More peach in mouth, a little citrus and some slate like taste led to a smooth finish, leaving long taste of citrus and slate. Aromas and taste did not suggest any real oak influence and that is OK by me. I was forced to pair this with left over mild BBQ chicken, but found the match was excellent.For a second choice, I had to pair a Heron Hill Ingle Vineyards Chardonnay Unoaked 2011 ($16) with Shirley's 20 minute turkey meatloaf. This wine, I did not taste, on our last tour. I had made up my mind weeks in advance that I would bring this Chardonnay home. Don't ask why, the wine just intrigued me. After all, it does say UNOAKED and I have never been disappointed by wines from Heron Hill.Heron Hill gets most of its grapes from 12 acres of grapevines onsite and from the owner’s Ingle Vineyard, where there are nearly 20 acres of vinifera grapevines. Located on Seneca Point, on the west side of Canandaigua Lake, Ingle Vineyard is the only vinifera vineyard on that lake. Varieties grown include Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. The vineyard is located on the home property of the Ingles, who maintain the vines themselves and with their staff. Sustainable methods are utilized and have been for nearly 40 years.Color was more like a Sauvignon Blanc or Vinho Verde, very light with just a greenish like tint, but the aromas were very powerful. Lots of pineapple with some grapefruit and a little melon and floral aromas on the nose. In the mouth was more of the same with some added peach and clementine. A hint of honey like sweetness and a silky mouthfeel leads to a medium to long crisp finish with a little added lemon and mineral.Today was an excellent day to discover Finger Lakes Chardonnay. Both wines excelled and are Very Highly Recommended.

Brash Higgins has hit the ground running over the past few years. It has fast become a key producer in the quality reputation of modern McLaren Vale.

Slight bricking at the rim;Bouquet of subdued earthy sweet cherry underneath baked cherry pie with cedary presence.Palate--Overwhelming initial blast of huge cedar and spruce--like biting into an evergreen branch; with air, it mellows yielding cedar, earthy cherry with robust foundation and pleasantly ripe tannins. Finishes pleasantly and lingering suggestion of tangy black cherry.I loved this wine! Classy and bold, full of mouth filing textures and flavor. I have an 03 waiting in the wings and I can't wait! I paid about $40 which is a nice price for such a wine. Raise a glass.--A Review from The Wine Cask Blog. Creative Commons: Attribution - ShareAlike 2.5 applies

Seems we’re onto the 2012 vintage now, so I’ve been a little slow reviewing it would seem.

More NSW wine. #askforit they suggest. It’s up to you I say. Drink what you like. There’s no need to be parochial or patriotic. We’ll leave that to the South Australians

Grenache based red from Southern France's Languedoc Roussillon region is made by Dave Phinney (Orin Swift's The Prisoner) and famous California winemaker Joel Gott. 15.9% alcohol.TASTING NOTES:Inky purple-red with blueberry pie on the nose. Dark fruit with notes of blueberry, blackberry, plum, charred oak, and mocha. Brambly, some sweetness, lush grapey richness.SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:95 PTSThis is a blockbuster wine. Simply awesome. Powerful with elegance. There's complexity here and the whopping alcohol content is integrated fairly nicely. Saturated and full of pure deliciousness. If you love cult-Syrah like Denner, or young fruit forward Chateauneuf-du-Papes, you'll love this CDP-esque wine on PEDs. Retails for $29 and one of the best new wines I've tasted all year.

Plus, a Texan happy to have wine on his boots, a Santa Barbara wine label dispute ends amicably enough, and the ups and downs of Brooklyn's Great GoogaMooga

In the Wine Atlas of Australia & New Zealand (HarperCollins, 1998), James Halliday refers to Kay Brothers in McLaren Vale as a “traditional winery with a rich history and some priceless old vines.” As far as history is concerned, the winery was established in 1890 by brothers Herbert and Frederick Kay (pictured on many of the labels) and is the oldest estate in McLaren Vale still owned by the founding family. Winemaker now is Herbert’s grandson Colin Kay, who uses traditional methods and in fact employs the winery’s original basket press and open-top fermenters. “Priceless old vines” refers to the estate vineyard’s Block 6, planted in 1892 and still producing shiraz grapes that are bottled separately as the property’s flagship wine. As for me, these are the sorts of wines and the kind of family estate that are a joy to write about, because they embody a heritage and an adherence to old-fashioned methods, and they evince no desire to be all things to all people. These Kay Brothers wines from 2010 were tasted in Chicago on May 15, 2013. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The entry-level wine at this estate is the Kay Brothers Hillside Shiraz 2010, McLaren Vale. The color is very dark ruby, almost black in the center and with an intense violet rim. Despite the portent of that depth of hue, this is not a heavily extracted wine and is impressive for an impeccable sense of balance, especially in the sway dusty tannins against vibrant acidity and a dynamic graphite element. Fruit shines though, with a bright array of ripe and slightly macerated black and red currants, blackberries and blueberries fostered by earthy touches of leather and briers and hints of cloves and sandalwood, lavender, bitter chocolate and dried thyme, all of these aspects beautifully proportioned and poised. 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2017 to 2020. Excellent. About $35. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Next is the Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Shiraz 2010, McLaren Vale, a wine derived from the estate’s Amery Vineyard; it spent 18 months in American, French and Bulgarian oak barrels. The color is dark ruby with a vivid magenta cast; aromas of ripe black currants, blackberries and mulberries are deeply infused with cloves and allspice and some wild spicy and floral note, as well as graphite-tinged touches of briers and brambles, making for a lively and engaging bouquet. On the palate, this wine is pure and intense, downright lovely in its lucid spicy black fruit qualities but also a little chiseled and flinty, more faceted than rounded, so while every element is balanced and harmonious, the emphasis lies in a somewhat sculpted structural character. I don’t mean that this nature is a flaw, in fact far from it; I love the crystalline, scintillating approach that bolsters the wine’s ripe fruit with its slightly Olympian — yet thoroughly drinkable — personality. 14.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2018 to ’22. Excellent. About $45. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Third in this trio is the Kay Brothers Amery Block 6 Shiraz 2010, McLaren Vale. Of the original 12 acres of Block 6, planted in 1892, only four acres remain. The wine aged 20 months in American oak barrels. The color is dark ruby that sports magnificent depth and clarity, while the complete package is wrapped in the paradoxical yet totally complementary qualities of rigor and allure; my first note: “just beautiful.” While the wine’s sense of dimension — its breadth and depth of tannin and mineral elements. its profound acidity and longevity on the palate — feels immense, it does not diminish the finely-etched details of fruit and flowers and spice that lend the aspect that

Now that we’re rolling into the last few months of our second pregnancy, I’ve begun cooking dinner nearly every night so that Tracie P can rest at the end of her day. The star of last night’s dinner was penne with white asparagus (above). I peeled, trimmed, washed, and steamed a bunch of beautiful white asparagus until tender and then puréed the stalks and tips with about a quarter cup of white wine (I added the wine while the asparagus was still piping hot so that the alcohol would evaporate). Then I folded in some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and an eighth of a cup of milk. Before folding in the Rustichella d’Abruzzo (our house brand) penne, I added some of the pasta’s cooking water to the purée. As Tracie P likes to say, one of the greatest feelings in the world is when your daughter enjoys eating something you cooked for her. Georgia P INHALED it. :) Tracie P (who has a glass of wine a couple nights a week) and I paired with one of our all-time favorite Apulian wines, our good friend and client Paolo Cantele’s 2011 Rosato from Negroamaro. The wine had actually been open since the night before but hadn’t lost any of its freshness or zing. And its balance of delicate tannin and fruit was a superb complement the sweet asparagus and salty Parmgiano Reggiano. If I do say so myself, it couldn’t have been a better pairing. Paolo and became fast friends back in 2009 when we first met and I’ve been giving him and his family a hand with their English-language media for about two years now. This year, we launched a new blog devoted to their presence in the U.S. market, CanteleUSA.com. Check out my post today for their blog on “Why Italians drink more rosé than you’d think”.

There are winemakers who make great wine. There are winemakers who advance the discourse on wine. It's not often that you get to offer wines from a winemaker that does both. It's even rarer when the wines are affordable enough for everyone to drink them. Today is one of those days when it all comes together.For those of you who don't know, I almost never offer American wine. This isn't because I don't think that good wine can be made in the United States but because I feel that most wine made in the States is not as good as European wine at the same price points. I taste hundreds of American wines but very few get over my bar for offering them to customers. So when I offer an American wine, I hope that you believe me when I say that it's worth drinking, even for Europhiles. I'm thrilled to be offering 2 wines today. The 2010 Cowan Cellars Bennet Valley Syrah "Moevani Vineyard" is a revelation for as little as $21.99 on a 6-pack. This wine is grown on steep slopes and made using traditional European techniques (no late harvesting or heavy oaking). The result is a wine with delicious fruit, savory Rhone gamey overtones and terrific balancing acidity. It can be drunk with food but also has the complexity that allows the wine geek to ponder it over the course of an evening. The wine can be drunk young but will also benefit from medium-term aging.The 2012 Cowan Cellars Pinot Noir Rose for as little as $12.99 on a 6-pack is an incredible wine. It has terrific, vivid Pinot Noir fruit to go with the traditional rose minerality. The quality is on a par with $20-$30 French roses but I'm offering it at a low price so that people buy 6-12 bottles.This e-mail could really be a short story or a novella as I have so much to say on so many subjects that could be covered in this e-mail. I will try and keep it short but I might go full bore on you If anybody is deserving of lavish praise it is the one, the only Florida Jim. Florida Jim, as I referenced in the headline is a force of good on the internet and ALWAYS has been. He is the antithesis to the Mao Tse Dong-style wine bulletin board bully. Never in the history of the wine internet has there been a man with such grace, such aplomb, such insight and such a calming effect on everyone he has interacted with. And Jim Cowan, known affectionately as Florida Jim, has finally taken the plunge and makes wine in California. Of course it is delicious. Of course it is authentic. I mean, look who is making the wines. Here is more about Jim, in his own words.That is why it just seems like such a natural fit for Florida Jim's wines from his estate Cowan Cellars, to be sold by me. Jim used to literally carpet bomb the internet with his tasting notes across, what seemed like 15 wine bulletin boards. E-Bob, Wine Therapy then Wine Disorder, West Coast Wine.net, Robin Garr's board and even more obscure boards I am sure I have never heard of. Jim was always the calming influence among much, sometimes, aggressive debates on everything and anything about the wine world. If you never have been on a wine bulletin board it does not take much for a discussion to get heated. But it's the same on most bulletin boards. I have a friend who is an occupational therapist for autistic children and the board he is on gets nasty. I have a sister who used to ride horses in competitions all over the US and horse boards were some of the nastiest stuff I have ever seen. Maybe that's why there is such a thing as Godwin's Law.Today I am offering two California wines from Cowan Cellars, that in my opinion are what California should be making at these price points but usually fails to. It's a damn shame as some of the best wines I have ever had in my life have been from California. Jim, when we chatted, told me he is trying to make European style wines (cool climate, moderate ripeness, high acidity, earthy/mineral wines with finesse and sense of place) in California. I laughed because I was booted off Robert Parker's