Spring Means Events

by Rob Bralow, Wine Post Editor

The weather is starting to become warmer, with hopes that the storms of winter are behind us. I know the people of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Upstate New York are all hopefully that we will not have another tree uprooting storm like the one that happened this past weekend.

With the hint of spring comes events, and New York is thick with wine events. I recently went to a few of them and I thought I would talk about them briefly here.

Provence in the City: A Day of Rosé

"Vins de Provence," the regional campaign for the wines from Provence held a tasting on March 1st at the Brasserie Cognac in New York. The day was sunny and there was the hint that the winter snows were done as the piles of slush began to melt on the sidewalks and in the streets. The event was somewhat misnamed, because there were certainly plenty of other styles of wine besides Rosé. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to stay and taste through the hundred or so wines that were available at tables throughout the restaurant, but I did taste some spectacular Rosé. Some of my favorites were:

2009 Mas de Cadenet Arbaude Rosé - Light salmon color, very fruity with nice crisp acid

2009 Domaine Sainte Lucie "Made in Provence" (MIP) Premium Rosé - Very smooth and easy to drink. Perfect for the eventual sunny picnic day. However, the bottle is somewhat off-putting as it is shaped more like a bottle of VOS water with a thin spout.

2009 Domaine Saint André de Figuière Confidentielle - When I think of Rosé I rarely think of expensive wine. This wine is a bit more pricey, but the difference was palpable. This wine had a much more refined nose, the length of the palate stretched from here to France, and the complexity was the wine geek's romantic dream. The fresh berry flavors, slight spicy white pepper notes, and comforting floral aromas make this my favorite wine of the tasting.

Texas Two-Sip Tasting

I did a tasting with Texas wine almost a year ago and I was reasonably impressed, and after this tasting I continue to think that Texas wine might be something more than a joke that we Northeastern dwellers make at a party. As before, this was a blind tasting where a Texas wine was put up against a similarly priced wine of the same type from what most people would consider a more typical region for the varietal. The wines were chosen by Ross Outon, a Certified Specialist of Wine, award-winning cocktail designer and winner of the inaugural season of “The Winemakers,” currently airing on PBS. Ross also hosted the tasting, although only the PR representatives who executed the tasting knew in which order the wines were. While this did not make the tasting one hundred percent blind, I feel the stickers on the subject might be placated.

Here are my notes on the pairings and which I preferred, with the wine that was tasted first in the pairing listed first:

1. Vermentino: 2008 Mandola Estate Winery (Texas Hills) vs. 2008 Gagliardo Favorita "Fallegro" (Piedmont, Italy) - In this one I preferred the Mandola Estate Vermentino. I found the acidity more controlled and balanced.

2. Gewürztraminer: 2008 Messina Hof (Texas) vs. 2007 Chateau Ste. Michelle - I found the Chat. Ste. Michelle wine to be the better of the two, with more fruit, more acidity, and just a more enjoyable mouth-feel.

3. Chenin Blanc: 2008 Beringer (California) vs. 2008 Fall Creek Vineyards (Texas Hills) - I almost found this tasting unfair, but Ross made the point that it is rather difficult to find another Chenin Blanc less than $7. The Fall Creek wine blew the Beringer away.

4. Viognier: 2007 Zaca Mesa (Santa Ynez Valley, California) vs. 2009 Brennan Vineyards (Texas Hills) - I found the Brennan to be the better wine here, but is it because it is younger? It was definitely lighter, although neither of these wines had the classic Viognier perfume.

5. Rosé: 2009 McPherson Rosé of Syrah (Texas) vs. Marques de Caceres Rosé (Rioja, Spain) - This was another hard pairing because of the difference in the grapes used in the Rosés. The color of the McPherson was a beautiful bright strawberry red. Between the two I liked the McPherson above the Marques de Caceres. The McPherson was more vibrant, had more going on in the glass. Since this was just after my tasting of the Provence Rosés, I found them both paling in comparison.

6. Sangiovese: 2008 McPherson (Texas) vs. 2006 Ruffino "Aziano" Chianti Classico - This was a simple matter of the Texas wine being fruitier than the Chianti Classico. I thought both had their good points, but the Ruffino was rougher on the palate. Maybe food would have changed my thoughts on the matter.

7. Indigenous Red: 2007 Crasto Douro Red (Portugal) vs. 2006 Stone House "Claros" (Texas Hills) - This was a cool pairing, not because you can really compare the two wines, but that they had such different tastes. The Casto was a blend of Douro grapes, including Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional. It was a little off-color purple, and the taste was a muddle of dark fruits. The Stone House Claros is an interesting grape, also known as Cynthiana. This wine was early, very spicy and rustic.

8. Montepulciano: 2006 Cataldi Madonna vs. 2008 Mandola Estate Winery - This was almost too close to call. Both were well made wines, smoky, floral with an interesting hint of campfire marshmallow. Yup, first time I've used that as a tasting note. I would say the Cataldi was just slightly more earth driven while the Mandola was slightly more fruity, but the difference was only pronounced because I had them next to each other. I found both to be quite enjoyable.

9. Bordeaux Blend: 2006 Chateau Calon Ségur (Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux)vs. 2006 Inwood "Magellan" (Texas) - Here is the difference between an effortless wine and one where the winemaker had to work for it. There is no question that both are very good wines, but the Chateau Calon Ségur won out for me, with just beautiful transitions in flavors and balanced structure.

10. Cabernet Sauvignon: 2007 Llano Estacado Cellar Reserve (Texas) vs. 2006 Clos du Bois (Alexander Valley, California) - Here another pairing where I had an eyebrow raise after I found out the wines. I found the Llano Estacado wine more pleasant than the Clos du Bois.

11. Desert: 2008 Flat Creek Estate Muscato D'Arancia and 2006 Haak Madiera Jacquez - Both of these desert wines were from Texas. I was not over the moon about either one.

The verdict: Texas is definitely making some quality wine. I would want to get a larger tasting together to say for sure that a majority, or even a good portion of the wines from Texas are tasty, but if these twelve wines are any indication, there is potential.

Today's Bordeaux

The Conseil Interprofessionnel de Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) hosted a tasting at the Tribeca Rooftop for trade and media of the 100 top affordable wines from Bordeaux, selected by a panel of experts. I tasted as many as I could before I had to leave, but I left with a simple thought: These are all excellent examples of Bordeaux wine. For the full list check here.

Dancing the Texas Two-Sip

Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to have participated in an online tasting. The idea was really cool (and one I had been thinking about for a while). The guiding force behind the tasting was Texas, namely the Texas Department of Agriculture.

I fully respect organizations designed to promote a regions wines (I work for several) and I think the Texas promoters did a great job with this tasting. For the past six months the TDA has been doing these tastings to ensure that more people open their eyes to how good Texas wines can be, and with this experience I am now a believer.

Here is the set up, the TDA sent me ten wines: five of them Texas wines and the other five were wines from around the world. The catch was that each was wrapped in foil so that I could not tell which is which. Each wine was also labeled one through five and A or B. This allowed me to taste the wines blind, that is taste the A wines against the B wines without knowing which one came from Texas.

So, I had the wines and received direction to sign onto a web conference site on Tuesday night. Devon Broglie, Associate Team Leader for Whole Foods Market and Craig Collins, manager for Prestige Wine Cellars then guided me through the wines.

When asked about the Two-Sip program, Bobby Champion, director of the TDA Wine Marketing Program said, “We host Texas Two-Sip blind tasting comparisons as a way to avoid any preconceived biases or ideas about Texas wines and to show how well Texas wines compare against other highly respected wines.”

We had flights of Viognier, Rhone style blends, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and Orange Muscat. For each we tasted the wines and then opened them up to see what they were. Participants could type in questions to the presenters, but we could not speak directly to them until after the tasting.

The Viogniers were a Brennen Viognier 2008 from Comanche Texas, between the Hill Country and High Plains growing regions and a Yalumba Viognier 2007 from the Eden Valley of Australia. The Brennen was zesty with a slight sparkle and a bit of minerality and some nice peaches and apricot notes. The Yalumba presented riper, with many of the same characteristics as the Brennen but, it was a little richer and fatter on the taste. I preferred the Texas wine, but only slightly. Both retail in the $18 - $19 range

The Rhone reds were a bottle of the La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2006 from Mount Ventoux in the Rhone region of France and the Llano Signature Melange 2007 from west Texas and the High Plains. I was not particularly pleased with either of these wines. The Rhone wine was rather tasteless to me, very thin and without a defining taste in my opinion. The Texas wine had a funky nose and a weird salty taste. The La Vieille is $8 and the Llano is $11.

Then the Sangiovese. On one side was the Badia Coltibuono Chianti Classico 2006 and the other was the McPherson Sangiovese 2006. I really liked the Badia Coltibuono. I thought there was a very pleasant tartness to it, with nice juicy raspberry and strawberry flavors that came through. The McPherson smelled beautiful, a nice floral nose with a bit of vanilla. On the taste I was a little disappoint though, as I felt the opening strawberry jam was then swallowed up by vanilla and butterscotch. A little too much oak for me. The Badia Coltibuono is $25 and the McPherson is $18.

Next up, Inwood Cornelious Tempranillo 2007 and the Pesquera Tinto Ribera del Duero 2005. I really apologize for this but I was not excited about either of these. I will spare you my notes, but while I did taste the Inwood, I could not bring my self to taste the Pesquera after smelling it. A friend of mine once told me, “Why would you put that in your mouth? That’s why god gave you a nose.” Hopefully I was just cursed with a bad bottle. The Inwood is $39.50 and the Pesquera is $35.

Last round, the dessert wines. From Texas was the Texas Hills Orange Moscato 2005. From California was the Quady Electra Orange Muscat 2007. I wrote about the Quady wines before and was not blown away. Suffice to say this one did not change my feeling about the winery. This wine gave off an interesting peach and bright blood orange aroma that was really pleasant. The taste however made me think of a artificially flavored push pop. And it was fizzy! The Texas Hills wine showed a orange zest and floral white peach on the nose and a candied apricot on the taste. It was rich with just enough acid to make me want another sip. Really lovely. The Texas Hills is $17.50 and the Quady is $13.

Overall, a great experience.