Terroir = man???
"Last Saturday, the Napa Wine Library Association held its 17th annual Varietal Seminar. This year, the program had two components: the first was a panel of viticulturists who spoke about the various terroirs of Napa Valley, and the second panel consisted of winemakers, who spoke mostly about how their careers led them to Napa Valley. There was considerable discussion about the word “terroir.” ... Bob Long (Long Vineyards) offered a definition of terroir as “the land plus the hand of man,” which better clarifies the term."
This seems totally incorrect. I can accept that terroir is partially attributed to the weather (with the land), but if you include the "hand of man"... what does that leave out from the winemaking process?
Labels: terroir, wine
Bordeaux tasting at Wente
At Wente, we organized a comparative Bordeaux tasting last week, and it was very successful. We were comparing the
Pichon Lalande and
Lynch Bages to the
Murrieta's Well red meritage. While the Bordeaux clearly had more complexity and potential to age, the Murrieta's Well had great balance and really great upfront fruit. The 04 Lynch Bages was bretty and austere. Pretty closed fruit-wise, it will need some time to resolve the tannins and I am not sure if it has the stuffing to be good at that point. The Pichon Lalande was much better in my opinion - good complexity, dark fruit in the background, and classic Bordeaux. A little light in the mid-palate, but I think it will be great in 5 years... just won't age for ages.
In addition, here are the websites from
Pichon Lalande and
Lynch Bages discussing their vineyards:
Pichon Lalande was a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc in 2004.
"The exceptional wealth of the Pauillac appellation is due to the poor and miserly earth. The hilltops are made up of gravel on top of clay, a composition which favours excellent water drainage. It is the gravel of the first quaternary, called Garonne Gravel, namely that of the Günzienne layer (the oldest and most elevated) that explains the quality of the best vineyards of the Haut-Médoc."
In 2004,
Lynch Bages was a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot.
"The Lynch-Bages estate (90 hectares) is located just outside the city of Pauillac, overlooking the Gironde estuary, on one of the most beautiful gravelly plateau in the appellation.
The well-drained soil consists mainly of Garonne gravel. The sub-soil (marl, chalk, and thick clay-sand gravel, or hardpan) forms a solid, but fairly disjointed foundation, enabling the roots of old vines to grow to a depth of 6-8 metres. The average age of the vineyard is about 30 to 35 years. The plantation is traditional and characterized by a high density level of 9.000 vine-stocks / hectare.
The Lynch-Bages vineyard which is amazingly homogeneous, is the focus of much careful attention: short pruning, green harvesting, thinning-out, hand-picking with highly selective sorting."
The
2004 Murrieta's Well is a blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Petit Verdot, 10% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc in 2004. The higher Petit Verdot percentage might show more cherry, but overall I thought the wines were similar in fruit profiles.
2004 Murrieta's Well Meritage - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Livermore Valley
The nose was clearly driven by red fruit with some crushed berries and tart cherries. I also found a little tobacco. The tannics were tight and focused, and I found a little spice and pepper on the finish. A balanced wine overall with the brightest fruit of the three wines. (Note: I am interning for Wente, but these wines were tasted single-blind.)
2004 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Compared to its compatriots, this was a heavy wine with big black cherry, a little tar, cassis, and herbal tea. It is a little tight on the mid-palate, but the finish was on another level. This wasn't a fruity wine - it was more powerful, more complex on the nose, and clearly had the tannins to resolve over a few years.
2004
Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
This particular bottle was showing off the Bordeaux barnyard and band-aid - it definitely had a little brett, especially next to the other two bottles. In addition to the barnyard, the nose was a little floral with a little dark berry and chocolate. The mid-palate was lighter but it had a nice plum-fruit finish.
Labels: Bordeaux, Lynch Bages, Murrieta's Well, Pichon Lalande, PLL, Wente, wine
Tasting note on Linne Calodo
2004 Linne Calodo LC Red, Rising Tides - Paso Robles
I have not had great experiences with Linne Calodo wines, but this was one of the best yet. We drank this bottle with delicious lamb meatloaf and sauteed mushrooms. The nose was floral with layers of ripe fruit and wet stones. Reminded me of Chateauneuf, but replace the anise quality with very ripe fruit. The alcohol is 15.8% on the label, but this was not a hot wine. Nice balance on the palate with very pure dark fruit and a touch of sweetness. I would buy this wine again.
Labels: Linne Calodo, Rhône, wine
Controversial winemaking - selling your soul to scores
Leo McCloskey started a consulting company to help wineries create wines that get 90+ scores... despicable, but a great business. For 98% of wine buyers, scores drive wine purchases.
This article has an interesting discussion of the business and his perspective on wine scores.
Labels: Enologix
Carbon footprint BS makes it into wine world
I applaud
them for adding data to the mix, but I question it nonetheless. How do we know when the carbon footprinting begins and ends. Is this tabulation of carbon just for the manufacture of closures? Does it include the disposal and potential for recycling? What about the environmental impact of pulling aluminum from the ground or cutting down cork trees?
Grüner Veltliner
Every few years, a new grape varietal catches steam and starts gaining popular interest. It seems like Malbec made a big push a few years ago and
Grüner Veltliner is in the middle of its popular movement.
Grüner Veltliner is a varietal that I think is based in Austria and it produces wines that are light but display minerality and good acidity. They aren't overwhelming, but they do well with food. Plus, cheesy wine pushers have come up with catchy names like "GrüVe" or "Groovy Grüner" or "Gru-Vee".
I have always like Grüner - I like that it is affordable, fruity, but low alcohol and better with food. I decided that I wanted to try out a few Grüners side-by-side, to see if I could figure out which producers I prefer. I went to
Paul Marcus Wines and I got some recommendations from Ernest (now proprietor of a
new Italian importing company).
I brought over the four bottles to taste them side-by-side with some friends. It was interesting to note that they were very similar, especially when first opened. They showed strong acidity, a layer of fruit on top of a sweet vegetal layer. They also all improved with air and with food.
Notes to be posted soon...
Labels: Austria, Grüner Veltliner, McClure, Paul Marcus
BAMCSA
Again, not about wine, but this will probably interest the food and wine lovers. When we lived in Brookline, we joined a farm
CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The idea is that individuals buy a share a farm's harvest. If the harvest is strong, you get a little more; if the harvest is smaller than normal, you get a little less. For the farmer, it is a great way to connect directly with consumers and to (in most cases) collect payment ahead of harvest, which takes away some of the financial pressures.
We joined the CSA in Brookline to support a local farmer and to get a steady stream of veggies. The veggies were often random (kales, chards), but it was good to learn about new foods.
In Berkeley, it is easier to find local fruits and veggies with all of the farmer's markets. There is a
great farmer's market three times a week in Berkeley alone.
That said, when I heard about the opportunity to get local meat in a similar fashion, I was all for it. The idea is to give consumers access to meat from locally, ethically, sustainably, humanely raised and slaughtered animals. The farmers bring the meat directly to Berkeley where we pick it up on a monthly basis. The meat is more expensive than Safeway meat, but it tastes better and you know it is coming from a good place.
The
Bay Area Meat CSA (BAMCSA), a project of Slow Food Berkeley, is made up of over 100 consumers who have joined forces to support local meat ranchers and farmers. If you are interested in learning more, please send me an email.
Labels: CSA, local food, meat
Don't call it a comeback
Cause we never left! This is unrelated to wine, but sometimes good stories just need to be published. Today I drove out to Brentwood with three buddies for a round of golf. Handicaps matched up well, so we teamed up into good guys and bad guys. Durbin and I took on Lele and Raj. We agreed to play hi-lo and the game began. Hi-Lo is a version of a
nassau. The stakes were $5 on the front 9, $5 on the back 9, and $5 for the total 18 holes. (For those scoring at home, in hi-lo you compare the two best scores and the two worst scores on each hole - thus there are 2 points available per hole.)
On the first hole, Lele casually rolled in a 50-foot putt for birdie. This after standing on the first tee complaining about his strained abdomen. Typical sandbagger material -- watch out for this behavior.
Our woes continued throughout the front 9 holes - by the end of the 10th hole, the good guys were down 7 points. They had dropped more putts and we were pretty much on the ropes... demoralized and just hope to squeak out a wine on the back 9 (so we would only owe $5 instead of $15).
Over the next 8 holes, Durbin and I won 12.5 out of the 16 points we could have won. It was a comeback of epic proportions, complete with clutch shots on the final hole and total shock from Lele/Raj. We look forward to the next opportunity to continue the trend.
Labels: golf
