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Don’s October Collector’s Series Top Picks

October 24, 2013 by Don Lahey

The Collector Series Top Pick this month belongs to one of Rioja’s iconic wines, the 2004 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Rioja Reserva. Nobody in Rioja, Spain’s most celebrated viticultural area, consistently makes a more complex, traditional style of Rioja Reserva than La Rioja Alta. The 2004 Viña Ardanza is positively brilliant, so we were not surprised that Wine Spectator awarded this herculean effort 94 points and just published a preview of the magazine’s buying guide (for the September 30, 2013 issue) in which the 2004 Viña Ardanza Reserva is deemed Highly Recommended. Better still, Wine Spectator was quick to point out that “Viña Ardanza also offers the best value for money out of this exclusive list.” If you want to taste a top notch Rioja Reserva or catch a glimpse of the languid beauty of Rioja, come and taste a glass of the 2004 Viña Ardanza. In each sip, you may actually experience the radiance of the Spanish sun, feel the wind sweeping clean high country vineyards under a pulsating blue sky, and glimpse the arid beauty of distant mountains. It’s all here in one great glass of Rioja! Enjoy!

Saluté
Don

In Search of Fine Red Wines That Hardly Anyone Knows

October 10, 2013 by Don Lahey

wineglasses The market is full of fine red wines from every imaginable place, so choosing a good one can be a daunting task. So why bother looking for such wines? Bang for the buck! And where does one start looking for fine red wines that hardly anyone knows? How about beginning with wines you’ve never heard of from a place you would never think of? Start with Uruguay, The Republic of Georgia and circle back to small garagiste producers in California. Consider grapes such as Bonarda, Saperavi, and Tannat before coming back to Mataro, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel. Uruguay, a South American oasis of peace and stability, has been making good wine for centuries, most of which has been consumed by the small but prosperous local population.

Tannat, whose origin is Southwest France where it figures in the legendary “Black Wine” of France known as Cahors, is Uruguay’s signature grape variety. The word tannin derives its name from the Tannat grape, which should tell us something about Tannat: It produces full-bodied, age worthy wines for certain. Alone or when blended with Merlot from wineries such as Artesana, Tannat delivers a lot of bang for the buck and pairs beautifully with red meats and rich sauces.

Saperavi, a red grape from The Republic of Georgia (a small country with a mere 8,000 year old history of wine production) yields another fine red wine that almost nobody knows. Saperavi is a versatile grape that can be made for gratifying early consumption or crafted for the long haul. Marani makes a number of noteworthy wines from the Saperavi varietal. And after further exploration far and wide, head back to California in search of old vine field blends of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Mataro and more from a small producer you’ve never heard of. You will almost certainly find wine worthy of the quest.

Saluté!
Don

Great White Wines That Hardly Anyone Knows

October 3, 2013 by Don Lahey

Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and then there’s more Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. And yeah, there’s the occasional Riesling or Viognier to take a break from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. But isn’t there more to fine white wine than the hegemony of the usual triumvirate? And what are some other great white wines? The world’s full of fine white wines that don’t receive the attention they deserve. For starters, how about Falanghina? Don’t try to pronounce it. Even in Italian, the name Falanghina (an indigenous grape variety of Italy’s Campania) doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Bright, fruity, soft, seductive, yet dry and refreshing, a growing number of first class Campanian producers are sending Falanghina our way. Try it! The same can be said for Greco and Fiano di Avellino, two super premium grape varieties from Italy’s alluring Amalfi Coast.

Greco and Fiano di Avellino are truly beautiful white wines that drink well alone and with food, especially seafood. Verdicchio is another crowd pleasing white wine from Italy that is now better than ever. Gruner Veltliner, Austria’s iconic white grape variety, also deserves to be better known. It makes a wonderful aperitif, and it pairs beautifully with Asian and Fusion cuisines. Gewurztraminer is another unsung hero. It’s one of the few white wines that can hold up to heat and heady Asian stir fries as well as rich pâtés and smoked meats. Gewurztraminer is never outclassed by the food, and it can be enjoyed as an aperitif or in place of dessert. And these grapes are just a few of the great white varietals that abound. So, why not really step outside of the Chardonnay/Sauvignon box?

A votre santé
Don Lahey

Zinfandel: California’s Own Grape

September 12, 2013 by Don Lahey

For more than a century Zinfandel has run the gamut in California from boom to bust and back. Brought to fore during California’s Gold Rush, the hills of Amador County still yield plenty of the luscious, spicy, often chameleon-like grape we call Zinfandel. Zinfandel is widely believed to be descended from Primitivo, a European varietal now cultivated in Italy, which happens to be identical in DNA to the ancient Croatian varietal Crljenak Kaštelanski. This DNA match up confirms Zinfandel as one of the oldest continuously cultivated grape varieties in the world. Yet, it wasn’t until Zinfandel traveled to America that it found its true home – California. Although the first definitive California plantings of Zinfandel took place just prior to the middle of the 19^th century, it didn’t take long for Zinfandel to gain favor in America, first with the 49’ers and then with the waves of Italian immigrants who made their way west.

Today, Zinfandel is widely acknowledged as America’s Heritage wine with more than 50,000 acres under cultivation, nearly all of it in California. Although most important grape varieties have their reference points in Europe, Zinfandel bills itself as an American success story, and its history reads as the classic rags to riches tale. What has no doubt made Zinfandel so popular in America is the grape’s ability to adapt to different climates and treatments. Zinfandel is a grape capable of producing rich intense red wines of more than 15% alcohol as well as light fruity “blush” wines. What more can one ask for? How about a glass and a bottle of Terra d’Oro’s 2010 Amador County Zin?

Salud!
Don Lahey

Languedoc: The Source of Fine Red Wine at Affordable Prices

September 5, 2013 by Don Lahey

Languedoc Vineyard — Carcassonne Vineyards in Languedoc

After nearly a century of slumber precipitated by the advent of phylloxera, France’s Languedoc has come roaring back. Once the source of much of France’s finest red wines, the Languedoc fell from oenological grace in the late 19th century. The area’s growers and cooperatives felt compelled to revitalize quickly after the scourge of phylloxera and began re-planting for yield and volume, rather than quality. Languedoc rapidly became the world’s source of oceans of ordinary plonk, a situation that lasted until the 1980s. But what a difference a few decades make. Since the 1980s Languedoc has undergone a veritable renaissance in viticulture. Today, much of the sins of the last century have been rectified, and a coterie of young growers and winemakers continue to push the envelope on quality in the Languedoc.

Premium varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre now complement or supplant the region’s old vine Carignan. Vineyards have been moved back up onto the hills, yields are being limited to insure quality and modern winemaking and viticultural practices now predominate. Moreover, organic farming and sustainable agricultural practices are flourishing in Languedoc. So great has been the transformation of France’s oldest and largest wine producing region that the red wines of Corbières, Minervois, and Pic Saint Loup in Languedoc presently constitutes some of the planet’s highest quality, most affordable wines. Be sure not to miss this trend or bypass Languedoc wines when searching for quality and value.

Don Lahey

photo credit: dvdbramhall via photopin cc

The Best White Wine Under $20.00

August 19, 2013 by Don Lahey

Recently, someone asked me what the best white was under $20.00 per bottle. At first, I didn’t know quite how to respond to the question because truly, there are so many really good white wines for less than $20.00 a bottle. And at any given moment, my honest answer to that question depends upon the type and style of wine I’m in the mood for, what season it is, and what I plan to serve with the wine.

Nevertheless, one wine almost immediately popped into my head – Martinsancho Verdejo. Martinsancho is the handiwork of Angel Rodriguez, Spain’s most iconic producer of Verdejo and the driving force behind the resurrection of the Verdejo grape, one of Spain’s two quintessential white grape varieties. Nearing extinction four decades ago, Verdejo came back to life because a venerable gentleman named Angel Rodriguez made a decision to preserve Verdejo by refusing to rip up the oldest producing wines in his native Rueda. Instead, he grafted the gnarly three hundred year old vine cuttings from his pre-phylloxera Martinsancho Vineyard into a nearby plot. The result is a magnificent dry white wine by Angel Rodriguez named Martinsancho. Martinsancho is hardly the biggest, most complex white wine in the world, but it may very well be the most eminently drinkable.

In every vintage, Martinsancho Verdejo exudes supreme grace and exhibits a purity almost never seen or tasted in other white wines. Made from organically grown grapes, with no added sulfites, Martinsancho Rueda Verdejo always pleases me. Moreover, it stands as testimony to the quality of the Verdejo varietal and the faith and perseverance of one honorable man – Angel Rodriguez.

Salud!
Don Lahey

Where to Find the World’s Best Wine Values

July 18, 2013 by Don Lahey

Where do you find the world’s best wine values? I think that depends on one’s tastes and how adept a person is at ferreting out wines from relatively unknown viticultural areas. It never ceases to amaze me how much good wine remains undiscovered and appreciated, simply because they hail from relatively obscure wine regions and undiscovered wineries and wines makers. Many of the world’s good wines, even some of the world’s great wines, flow from places not exactly on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

Let’s take Uruguay for example. Yes, I do mean that tiny prosperous South American country with a stable democratic government, a temperate climate, and a centuries’ old tradition of winemaking – all of which remain hidden from most wine lovers in North America. Why? Two reasons appear as culprits. First, the folks in Uruguay truly enjoy wine and drink most of what they make themselves and secondly, we in the U.S. tend to be mistrustful or at least oblivious to anything we haven’t seen highly advertised or rated by a dozen or more critics, whom we tend to believe are more adept at determining our tastes than we are.

Happily, Uruguay is no longer content to keep its best wines to itself. And Artesana, an ultra-premium producer from Uruguay, is another example of a very good wine producer from a relatively obscure locale. Artesana recently featured some of their estate wines at the International Wine Bloggers’ Conference to considerable acclaim. Artesana’s 2011 Tannat/Merlot comes across as a crowd pleaser, though the winery’s more traditional and tannic 2011Tannat (a French grape, which lends its name to the word tannin) shows well, too. And Artesana is just one of a growing number of producers of fine wines from Uruguay whose wares can now be found in the U.S. Artesana’s wines are well worth seeking out.

Cheers!
Don

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