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Matching wines with bouquets of another kind
2009 Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes 11.99
Bored with matching solid and liquid pleasure, Food & Wine magazine leaped into more ethereal pairings: wine and flowers from high-style florists.
Try to guess what wine inspired San Francisco Studio Choo, (not the shoe Choos) to assemble a rustic smellathon of “honeysuckle, jasmine and roses loosely gathered with sage, apricots and thyme.”
Pretty lovely eh?
Correct answer: The 2009 Crios Torrontes from Susana Balbo (92SS, $11.99). I agree, the scents are there and Torrontes is a charmer with more aroma than grapefruit. They do last longer in the arrangement than in an open bottle at my house.
For another, Holly Flora of LA put together peonies, lilacs and irisis with mint and basil. This was to compliment Hugel’s 2007 Alsatian Gewurztraminer. Good idea, but you can get as many flowers and herbs from Hugel’s Gentil ($7.99) , a ripe 2006 blend of Gewurz, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat and more. At a price to match a supermarket bundle of fresh flowers.
Moscato warning: Beware the 91 pt sting
2008 Botani $13.99
No bug spray needed, just a caution that if you think you’re immune to sweeter grapes, stay away from this varietal steadily invading American shelves. You could be infected with a new love.
The more open minded (or empty headed) are already there, especially guys like me, a softy on sweeties, a champion of underdog grapes and a partisan of unsung regions.
Moscato may be the oldest grape with many forms and names, including a world of dessert wines and sweet sparkless but it is the unfortified version, sweet, not-o and dry that is popping up in California, Spain and Australia. Sutter Home, Barefeoot Cellars, Gallo and its new everyday brand Tisdale, all moscatos with peachy aromas and modest residual sugar.
Yet moscatos can be more than a cheap thrill, as any fan of the muscat canellli in 2008 Conundrum ($18.99) knows. The most stunning example of new-school moscato comes from no less than Jorge Ordonez the great Spanish importer, explorer and champion who is now making a wine of his own, a moscato farmed organically and vinifed sec on Ordonez’s home turf in the Málaga sierras.
More important its nose is full of flowers, honey and tropical fruit but the taste has fewer calories. Jorge’s 2008 Botani (90WA, $13.99) is dry crisp, with intense fruit, a perfect Florida refresher and a boon companion for seafood.
Burgundy vs. California chard-off: No contest
2008 Langoureau Saint Aubin Blanc $19.99
Somewhat by accident I held an in-home judgment of Paris. On succeeding nights I opened two chardonnays, one Burgundian and the other Californian, both under $20. For some of us that’s not a school-night price; but for chardonnay of great quality, not $7 plonck , and yet both these over deliver in bang per buck.
The Burgundy and was 2008 St. Aubin Blanc (91 RAS, $19.99), a lovely find of ours smack next to the best chunks of Montrachet, Puligny and Chassagne. Here Sylvain Langoureau
makes a terrific chard bright gold, crisp and minerally with apples and a touch of honey. Burgundy that’s friendly to a sophisticated palate and wallet.
From Monterey in a cooler corner of sunny California, I tried the 2005 Bernardus (95WN, $17.99) with success, long rich and lush with peaches, honey and figs with limey acidity on the edge. Not the flabby sun worshipper, Californians are supposed to be.
Both were polished, crisp, and quite happy with shrimp in olive oil. A win-win for both sides in this round.
What were we drinking? Muscadet without an oyster in sight.
2009 Eric Chevalier Muscadet Cote de Grand Lieu $12.99
That’s right, the subject was shrimp, not the classic muscadet pairing. We had passed up lovely salty oysters that match so well yet muscadet is one of my favorite unloved French wines, brisk, clean, affordable and a proud child of the lower Loire. I decided that being typecast has to get old for the muscadet and the oysters.
So we had some fine shrimp, big sweet guys of three bites a piece, lightly grilled with lemon and garlic and grilled squash on the side.
I trotted out an exceptionally fine muscadet, that has a touch of the salt but a fuller body and hints of melon. This is not the stock muscadet but carefully made by Eric Chevalier, found by our trusty French explorer Kermit Lynch. The 2009 Chevalier Muscadet Cotes de Grand Lieu ($12.99) is an elevated muscadet. Of course Chevalier leaves muscadet on the lees/lies, but unlike many of his contemporaries and more like the old guard, he leaves the wine there until Easter.
That gives it more body and sweeter flavor that go with the whole range of shell fish and much more.
You must have this summer even before the R months roll around.
What lurks in Languedoc? Ripe, juicy Grenache…
There are few places to celebrate the year of Grenache other than the Cotes du Roussillon, on the remote southwestern coast of France. Most of the time we think it lies in a no-quality zone between the teeth cutting black wines of almost-Bordeaux and the land of $4 cab/chard/whatever for the international grocery market.
Look again, and by all means taste again. The place to start is the 2007 Chimeres from Chateau Saint Roch, mostly Grenache, smoothed out with Syrah and Mourvedre.
That big spicy fruit places the Cotes instead on the Mediterranean coast road from Priorat
2007 Chateau Saint Roch Chimeres (Cotes du Roussillon) 15.99
and Barcelona in Spain to the southern Rhone and Chateauneuf du Pape, (which was at its best in 2007).
No would-be Bordeaux here, just the black berries, cherries, peppers and throny herbs that come from a land of sun and rocks.
Which is not to say rough and tumble cowboy red, this is silky sleek and sophisticated, drink that won 92 points from Wine Advocate and often commands $20. At $15.99 (B-21), buy a couple, call your friends and throw some chops on the grill, heavy on the rosemary.
To read the tasting notes in Parker’s Advocate makes it sound like marmalade loaded with Marmite, and it’s good enough to spread on toast: “Fresh and jam-like layers of black raspberry, rhubarb, and fresh cherry in the nose and mouth are tinged with resinous sage, rosemary, and lavender, while striking top notes of gentian and violet waft from the glass. For all of its saturating sweet ripeness and fresh berry brightness on a silken-textured palate, this also harbors low-toned roast meatiness, while piquant notes of toasted pistachio and almond, black pepper, cherry pit, and herbs keep its long finish far from any danger of succumbing to sweetness.’’
Pass the bread.
A rose grows in Bordeaux…A 2009 St. Emilion, only $11.99
2009 Le Rose du Chateau Larcis Ducasse 13.99
Actually lots of rosés do, both the flowers planted all along the vineyards and the bright rosé wines of summer. Sure, most Cabernets Sauvignon and fellow grand varieties of Bordeaux go into the regions bigger reds, and “White Merlot” sounds blasphemous.
Yet there are many wines in them thar hills, not all of them full-blooded. Who said you can’t make a substantial rosé from Bordeaux grapes? Not the people at Chateau Larcis Ducasse, who are in fact the dream team of Nicole Thienpont and consulting genius Stephane Derononcourt.
Normally they make grand grand cru right-bank bottles, Merlot rich wines, like the 98-pt 2005 Larcis Ducasse ($159.99) .
One trick to making great red even more intense is the saignee process, which bleeds off the first free run juice. That leaves the grapes for the red more intense — while squeezing out the first small sampling of the vintage in a lighter shade.
Lucky us. We get a rosé with the depth of a Bordeaux, surprisingly broad and rich, and a very drinkable barrel sample of the great 2009 to come ($55.99, future). Parker says that will be between 91 and 94.
In this Larcis Ducasse, however we already have a 2009 St. Emilion, for only $11.99 that gets 90 points from Steve Rayman.
And it’s fun, candy apple red in color, bursting with strawberries, plums and cinnamon. Like its fully mature siblings in Bordeaux, this is a wine that likes a steak.
Now that’s a big-boned rosé.
Click here to see our Summer 2010 Rose Collection
Mitolo’s Jester’s no joke: A funny thing happened on the way to the throne room.
2006 Mitolo Shiraz Jester (McLaren Vale)
The Mitolo winery takes its fun seriously. The silliest thing on their labels is a Jester of the classical kind in suit of motley colors, belled hat and a fake scepter. This kind of joker goes back to before Shakespeare, a professional funny man hired to amuse and mock the court and king, with license to be truthful and mirthful, a precariously fine line.
It’s a clever image for wines; like Mitiolo’s Jester Shiraz ($15.99), a playful wine with soft approach, but ultimately straightforward and powerful. For extra grins, Mitolo’s back label honors a real jester, Richard Tarlton who was Queen Elizabeth’s favorite jokester and possibly the first comedian to become a superstar.
Given the royal standards for wit, I’d say the chances are slim for a 2108 Aussie shiraz dedicated to Adam Sandler.
Trumps again: Harvey Steiman lifts a glass to Charles Cimicky
2008 Charles Cimicky Trumps Shiraz (Barossa) $14.99
Harvey Steiman took a trip through Australian reds and among his 90 pointers was our fave from Barossa’s most serious winemaker, Charles Cimicky’s Shiraz Trumps.
“A juicy mouthful of plum, berry and tobacco flavors, hinting at clove and nutmeg as the finish lingers effortlessly. Drink now through 2018.”
We agree, this is a ripe shiraz, big on fruit and earthier flavors, and a keeper for the cellar. Only thing off is Wine Spectator tags the price as $19. C’mon down to B-21; it’s only $14.99.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
90-point Ribera del Duero under $12
2008 Bodegas Emilio Moro Resalso $11.99
In February we were fortunate to have David Espinar, Winery Director for Bodegas Emilio Moro here in Tarpon Springs to conduct a dinner. The best selling wine that evening was Emilio Moro’s value-priced 2007 Resalso from Ribera del Duero! Why? It’s a great wine that is affordable and ready to drink. At Emilio Moro they are rebels that age wines until they feel they are ready (not just when a DOC says they are ready). Resalso is a perfect example. We quickly sold out of the 2007 but just received the already-well-reviewed 2008. Both Steve Rayman (our Director of Wine) and I tasted the newly arrived 2008 and we agree; It’s rockin’!
- Summer Martin, B-21′s Spain Advocate