Great time for Italian - Collefrisio Montepulciano

I had a friend over for dinner on Sunday as we were picking out wine glasses that we would utilize for The Handsome Cab.  I think we had about 30 sample glasses.  I purchased this wine at the state store for our Holiday Happening this Saturday and she came with a bottle of this in hand as well.  I guess great minds think alike.  I enjoyed it enjoy enough to run back to Eastern Blvd and pick up a few more bottles.  This is a Chairman's Selection and is only $9.99 per bottle.  We really enjoyed the wine, but what we found is that you really should decant this wine.  It needs about 30 minutes of being open before drinking it.  It really adds to the flavor.  

 The wine has a dark ruby red color and violet hues with an intense nose of berries, spice and black cherry jam.  It is well balanced and has an excellent structure.  It contains about 13.5% alcohol and consists of 100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo grapes.  It is a DOC by Italian designation.  Even though it doesn't have the higher DOCG, don't be afraid of this wine as it is a great tasty red wine from Italy. 

 

 

This wine is made by 3rd generation winemakers in the foothills of Frisa in Abruzzo.  I hope you enjoy this wine as much as we did.  Check the Wine and Spirits shop on Eastern Blvd in York or Shrewsbury for this.  You never know how long they will have it.

 

2009 French Bordeaux, is so nice. RUN now and pick up a bottle.

I picked up this bottle at the state store last night and enjoyed several glasses while working on a project for our art gallery called the Cab Gallery that will open next year.  It is only $14.99.  I suggest you hurry and pick a few bottles up because I am headed back for more of this today.  It isn't available online, I already tried that.  I suggest calling the stores first for this one.

Prices for Bordeaux wines continue on the rise and with 2009 a banner year, I would suggest you run quickly and pick up a bottle of this wine.  It is amazing for the price.  France has seen demand rise so much for their wines because of guess................drum roll............ CHINA.  They are buying up large wines, but what I find interesting is that they also lie, cheat and steel.  Just like software they pirate wine and put crappy wine in bottles with copied labels and sell for very expensive wines and hey, get away with it.  It is really unbelievable.

This wine comes from the Puisseguin Saint-Emilion Region of France.  It is located on the right bank and like many other Bordeaux wines from 2009, it is a great vintage.  The blend of this Bordeaux is 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet.  Not the typical blend of a Bordeaux, but a great wine indeed.  With Merlot based red it displays the aromas of cedar, cherry, currant, and cassis with a bit of plum and blueberry.

The vines used to grow this wine are more than 45 years old.  Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion is one of the so-called “satellites” of Saint-Émilion, home of some of Bordeaux's most famous producers. But the “satellite” wines carry price tags significantly lower and represent especially good values in solid vintages such as 2009.
The palate of the wine is expanse and very polished with a silky smooth finish.  I really enjoyed this, I know it won't be around for more than a few days.

French Cuvee "G" Amazing - Try it today

This evening I wanted a treat and I went to the local wine store and it didn't take me long to find one.

After opening the bottle I noticed the deep intense color and said to myself - YUM.

This wine is a Grenache and Syrah and is 14.5% alcohol
 from the Rhone region in France.

The bouquet is very complex with flowers and ripe dark fruits. With A harmonious touch of vanilla. Finely balanced, the cuvee G show silky tannins and well balanced with an exceptional length.  It would go great with spicy food, lamb, and/or something with rosemary.

It is soooo smooth and luxurious.  Worth every penny.  I think I paid $24.99 a bottle.  Wine Spectator rated this wine #39 of the top 100 for the year 2010. 

Get some today before it is all gone.

Notice the Cuvee "G".  This is like the batch of wine.  In the French tradition, you may see this on a label.  It has several different meanings in French, but the concept is the tank of wine that the bottle came from.  Please note this is not regulated or mean that the wine is of superior quality, but it will help you find the batch you liked and usually means the wine is of higher quality.

It's Square not round - California Square

After a long trip across 4 states in 6 days I thought it was time to add a wine to the blog.

The first thing notable about this wine is that it is in a square bottle.  NO NEED for a wine rack as it doesn't roll across the counter.

Because of the design of the square bottle, it is easier to pack, ship, store and is definitely green for the environment because less packing materials are used.

Now a few words about the wine.  This wine is from the Paso Robles region of California  - or central coast.  It is a 2012 vintage.   I find the wine very smooth and in the Bordeaux style wines from France.  This wine is a blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Sangiovese, Zinfadel, and Merlot.

It isn't bold, but doesn't lack flavor and is dry.  The wine doesn't have a lot of fruit forward notes, but I do taste a bit of blackberry and possible some blueberry.  No cherry in this wine. I would put it as a medium bodied dry red.  They did a nice job with this wine.  Try it the next time you see it.

2012 was a great year for California wines in the Paso Robles appellation.  The crop was smaller but the concentration of flavors was much more intense.

The alcohol content is 14.6% and the wine would pair wonderfully with red meats or pastas that have a red sauce.

California square also makes a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Enjoy and happy tasting.

Haut - Medoc Region Wines

Personally, I have tasted some great wines from this region.  Visiting the region two years ago was amazing and we cannot wait to return.  There are so many great wines here not available in the US.

The Haut-Medoc region in France is the Appellation d'Orgine Controlee or AOC for wine in the Bordeaux wine region in southwestern France.  It is located on the left bank of the Gironde estuary. 

The Dutch settlers drained the region in the 1700s.  Large beautiful chateaus were built along the Gironde river that are still there today. The region was originally salt marshes mostly used for grazing animals rather than viticulture.  The British market was emerging and the Dutch wanted to offer the British alternative wines.  Graves and the Portuguese regions dominated the British market. 

The region allows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, and a small amount of Malbec grape varieties to grow here.  Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape in this region.

The soil in this region consist of mostly gravel, chalk and clay.  There are just shy of 400 vineyards in this region of France.  You will notice on the map above, there are several sub regions of Medoc that include Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, Sain-Julien, Pauillac, and Saint Estephe.  These areas were split off in 1936 and created their own AOC

You must put this region on your travel list. 

I tasted Vecordia 2009- Ribera del DueroRoble  from Spain tonight.  When visiting Total Wine, this was rated high by one of the magazines according to the shelf and I thought I would try it.

I totally loved the wine.  It is bold and dry, it doesn't have much fruit and is made mostly from the Temparanillo Grape.  It is a quality wine at a great price.  Total wine is selling it for $12.99, but I did see it a little less online on several websites.

I think this wine would go great with appetizers that have some spice, like a spicy mustard, or great with some spicy thai food - YUM!

This ripe red opens with notes of spice and currant on the nose, leading to bright red fruit notes on the palate supported by a touch of oak. Subtle tannins give weight to this wine without overpowering it. A silky finish rounds off with light hints of vanilla.

The wine has a really dark ruby red color.  The smell has a nice bouquet and long dry finish. This has a much smoother texture but similar robust flavor of a Rioja.  Please try it  and love it.

Spring and Rose Wine is mighty fine. BRAVO Oregon

While at the beach for the first nice spring weekend after a long snowy cold winter, I decided to try a rose wine and this one stood out on the shelf mostly because of it's color.  It is a beautiful color and I loved that it perfectly stated it was a "dry" rose.

This wine is made of 3 different grapes and is from Oregon.  BRAVO Oregon.  I loved this wine at $15.99 a bottle.  The blend – Pinot Noir – 44%, Pinot Blanc – 23%, Pinot Gris – 21%  12.8% alcohol

Tasting Notes:

Beginning:
Pink grapefruit, mandarin orange. The bouquet of scents from a fruit stand.
Middle:
Just bitten cherries, the bright freshness of a cranberry. Soft rosewater, cream.
End:
A marine tang, delicious! Sweet spice, white pepper.


Serve this nice and cold on a hot day and it is just lovely.  Hope you come to our wine tasting on June 28th.  It will be the arrival treat prior to our wine tasting

Cheers Winos!

A Great Italian - Michele Chiarlo Barbera d'Asti DOCG 2010

This wine I found at Harris Teeter in Virginia and as are most Italians, it is fantastic.  I packed an extra bottle and brought it home for other to try.   It is Superiore DOCG distinction with medium body and robust, rich fruit on the nose. It has rich cherry, black currant and black pepper flavors with moderate tannins that work with the acidity and a dry finish.  The superiore distinction means that it has been aged at least 12 months with 6 months spent in a barrel.

The price was $14.99, so don't be afraid to go over that $10 a bottle price point because it was so worth it.

Barbera is a dark-skinned red grape variety found in  several Italian wine regions (Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia, Campania, Sicily, Sardinia).  It is Italy's 3rd most common grape.  Barbera d'Asti is in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy and one of the most famous.  In 1970 this region became a DOC and in 2008 it was upgraded to DOCG.  The Barbera grape is a favorite among winemakers and consumers alike.


Here is a beautiful photo of the region in Italy

Be Italian - Italian Wine Classifications - DOC, DOCG, VdT, IGT - Which is best?

A group of Italian wine makers got together in the early 1960's  to find a way to raise the quality standards for Italian wines and classify regional wines.  The goal was to give the consumer a way to gauge the quality of the wine and determine if it is made with a consistent quality and style.  They created this 4 distinction system of ranking wines according to local wine making traditions.

VdT or Vino Da Tavola  is considered the lowest class of wine in Italy and are table wine.  This is wine created by the producer as they see fit to make it.  Most of this wine is insipid, thin, weak, and acidic.  The kind of wine that was sold in jugs.  However, in the past there were also some spectacular Vini da Tavola, wines made by extremely good producers who decided to make something that didn't qualify for a superior status because of its composition or the way it was made.  Because of laws in Italy almost all the quality wines that were once VdT are now IGT or wines that are produced in specific areas like

IGT or Indicazione Geografica Tipica -   Typical of a local region wines.  Most of these wines come from Tuscany.  Cheap and great for everyday drinking with pasta or pizza, but not the type of wine that will knock your socks off.  You can find some super Tuscan wines that are great, but most are still classed at the IGT level.

DOC  or Denominazione di Origine Controllata - These wines convey a regional wine making style with specific grapes and the quality of the wine tends to be higher than Vdt and IGT.  .  Similar to the French AOC distinction, these wines are produced in specific rules and regions that are designed to preserve the traditional wine making practices. These wines also are more expensive than Vdt and IGT.


DOCG - here the "G" stands for Garantita.  This is a wine that is guaranteed to follow specific wine making rules and where you will find some of Italy's best wines and most expensive.  They require longer aging practices and require a tasting to obtain this distinction.  The government actually will stamp the distinction along the side of the bottle/cork.

All this said, you may find you like a ITG or DOC over a DOCG, so get out there and start tasting now that we all better understand the classifications of Italian wines.