Chenin Blanc - October 2012

We had a smaller group this month due to one of the area schools having Homecoming.  Next year, I think the schools should have to coordinate with Wine Club so that we avoid these kinds of conflicts.  I mean, isn't it kind of rude that they scheduled their little event on a Wine Club night??!!! (just kidding!)

Chenin Blanc was this month.  I have to say that I didn't think about this grape at all!  I would see it and automatically skip over it.  I lumped it in with jug wines and was sure I wasn't missing a thing....

I WAS WRONG - well, that sounds a little harsh - is mistaken any better?  

If you are like me and have ignored Chenin Blanc - STOP!  This is totally worth your time and attention and the price points are FABULOUS!  

Let's start with some basic info on Chenin Blanc.  For those of you who do not speak french, like me, "blanc" means white :0)  This is a white wine from the Chenin Blanc grape.  These are not blends.  Chenin Blanc is primarily a French wine that comes from the Loire Valley.  They are sold under their regional names (more on that later).  California and South Africa also produce Chenin Blancs (commonly called Steen in South Africa), but these wines are considered to be far inferior and bland and not good examples of the grape.  

This little white grape, when grown and handled in France, comes in 3 different styles.  Savennieres (sah-venn-YAIR) is always dry.  Vouvray (voo-VRAY) can be sec/dry; demi-sec/off-dry; or moelleux/sweet.  This information is usually on the label (supposedly) but I never found it on the 2 bottles I bought.  Coteaux du Layon (coh-TOE duh lay-OHN) is always sweet and Jay, the lovable wine guy at Wegman's said he had never even heard of it before - needless to say, we didn't try that kind.

So, here is the line up.  We drank them from right to left.  I will go through them in order and then I even took some really fun pictures of the bottles after using my latest find for wine!

Our first bottle is a Savennieres (remember always taste light to full in body but dry to sweet in taste).  This is a Domaine des Baumard and cost $19.99 at Wegman's.  I mentioned before that this wine is always dry.  It was, but it was good.  I could definitely see this wine on Thanksgiving with appetizers (you know, the spinach dip, cheese and crackers and such that everyone always puts out before you sit down to eat a really huge meal - cause you don't want to be hungry before a huge meal.).

Next up, is our first Vouvray.  This is Clos le Vigneau and cost 14.99 at Wegman's.  WOW!  This is the bottle that made me realize I had really been missing out by not having Chenin Blanc all these years.  This wine was so drinkable.  Not too sweet, but not too dry - a beautiful balance with a nice, clean finish.  This went well with everything except the andouille sausage (we had parmesan, camembert, 5 yr cheddar, spinach dip, apple pie muffins, and andouille sausage with this tasting).  Everyone enjoyed this wine and darn it, they drank it all up!  This wine is a keeper and I will not only ensure I always have some on hand, but I will also give this one as a host/ess bottle.

Second Vouvray and this is when we learned that not all Vouvray is the same - kind of an important lesson to learn.  I looked for the sec, demi-sec, moelleux info on the bottle and didn't see it, but if I had to guess, this is a moelleux.  This was totally different from the bottle before it!  This was sweeter & darker.  Definitely a fuller body, but after the balance of the Vouvray before it, it was almost too sweet.  This bottle, a Domaine de Vaufuget Vouvray was 11.99 at Wegman's

We couldn't do a Chenin Blanc tasting without seeing why the ones outside of France are universally panned.  This bottle was disgusting.  I couldn't even tell it was the same grape as the 3 before it.  I didn't drink it.  There are those heroes in the wine club who will finish what is in their glass, just because.  Not me!  To quote a famous "food critic"..."If I don't like it; I don't swallow."  (now, who can tell me where that line comes from - come on, impress me with your pop culture knowledge!).  This bottle from South Africa cost 9.49 and I should go to Wegman's and demand I get $12 back for it cause it was that bad!

As always, we pop open other bottles that just happen to be laying around in the house.  We had a really bad experience with the Jefferson 2010 Chardonnay Reserve when we did Virginia wines.  BUT, I really like the bottles and we did like the Viognier we had tried, so when I came across this lovely gem at Poplar Forest this summer, I couldn't resist putting up the $30 for the bottle.  WORTH EVERY CENT!  This bottle rocked!  If it weren't for the price point, I would keep this one on hand all the time.  This was a great example of the Viognier grape - if you get the chance to try it, take it!  (everyone at wine club loved it) 

It was cold the night of our tasting and that always gets us drinking reds.  This Campo Viejo Rioja is a reasonably priced and very reliable & drinkable red.  This is a medium body wine with a nice fruity nose and no real tannins - just the way I like it :0)  This bottle is about $8-9 depending upon the store you get it at.

Okay, let's recap and let me show you my new wine toy!  I was "back to school" trolling through Target because I am addicted to office/school supplies and don't we always need notebooks, markers, pens, & paperclips?!  Anyway, I found these WET dry erase markers - OMG - best thing EVER for marking wine glasses.  I tested it out last month at the pot luck when we opened every extra bottle from 14 months of tastings.  One of my GFs did a large monogram on her wine glass.  Some people wrote their name on the glass.  Some wrote on the base of the glass.  Everyone had a really easy time telling whose glass was whose without having to remember what their "charm" was.  The best part - a soapy wash cloth barely touching the glass was enough to remove the marker!!!!  SCORE!  This is my forever glass marking method - easy and straight forward cause by about the 3rd glass, not only do I not remember what my charm was, I don't really even care anymore :0P

So, here are the bottles with the summary of our tasting written on them!!!

"Great for Turkey Day"

"#1 of the night"

 "Mom will like :0)"

  "Bleh {-("

I hope you will give Chenin Blancs a try after our experience with them.  If you do, let me know what you thought of the grape.  Next month is Norton - the only truly American grape and my mom will be with us!

Until then, 

Cheers,

Kitti

Tasting Lesson #2 - August 2012

Tasting lessons are always fun, but boy, this one was lots of wine and yumminess (yes, I think it is a word and if it isn't, it should be, so I am using it)!  This tasting was 11 wines plus 1 more because of my error.  Some bottles are empty, others will be dumped, and some will still be shared.

As before, for the lesson, I referred back to the fabulous Master Sommelier, Andrea Robinson (see link to her site below).  We did our second tasting for body but this time based on alcohol content.  Who knew the alcohol content of a wine could make such a difference?!  And who knew that the sunnier the growing location, the higher the alcohol content of the grapes??

First, we compared 2 Rieslings.  This first one is German and only has 9% alcohol.  Not everyone liked this one, but those that did thought it would be mighty good on a warm day.  This bottle of Leonard Kreusch cost $9.49 at Wegman's.  We have to remember this for next summer!

The second Riesling is from the Alsace region of France.  This had 13% alcohol and man, was it too much!  This went into the dump bucket for most of us.  Yes, you really can smell the alcohol in wine.  My MIL said this one smelled like butterscotch liquor or a buttery rum.  This bottle of Trimbach Riesling cost $16.99.

We tasted the Rieslings with spicy Kung Pao chicken (well, except for our vegetarian - she ate crackers and cheese).

If you are going to taste for body based on alcohol content, you have to be fair and taste the whites AND the reds.  While whites have a larger range for alcohol content, reds do not.  That didn't stop us from knowing which was which.  We were tasting Merlot for the red.

This first bottle is a French Merlot from Bordeaux.  It came from Saint Emilion which is one of the 33 vineyards that has a Grand Cru rating.  Based on the price of this one, I don't really think it was a Grand Cru.  I took a picture of the cork because there was sand on the cork and the neck of the bottle when I opened the bottle.  I had to decant the whole thing through a wine sieve.  Still don't know what the deal with the sand is.  This bottle had 12.5% alcohol and cost $19.99 at Wegman's.

We tasted our Merlots with meatballs in sauce and also with Twix and Kit Kat candy bars (YUM).

It is sparkly, but I am not a good enough photographer to capture it so you have to trust me.

The second Merlot was a Cali Merlot.  I am not generally a Merlot fan, but this was kind of yummy.  Made me want a steak too.  This Gnarly Head Merlot has 14% alcohol and cost $8.99 at Wegman's.  I will keep this on hand for when my Dad comes to visit again cause I liked this better than his 14 Hands Merlot (sorry, Dad).

Now that we are 4 bottles in, it is time to move to the next flavor to taste for.  We have 2 pictures of Chardonnay here and we have already done a tasting for oak, so it seems logical that we were tasting for butter.  Personally, I think that the only white that is synonymous with "butter" is Chardonnay.  We tasted these with brie and olives.

Oh boy, more French labeling.  Well, it is a French Chardonnay which means it is a white Burgundy (why they can't just put that on the bottle is beyond me).  Louis Jadot has made appearances at our wine tasting before (and will again, well, cause I really like it).  This is a Macon-Villages Chardonnay.  The great thing about French Chard is that they generally don't oak it.  This was ever so yummy and creamy and nice, but not so buttery on the nose.  This bottle cost $11.99 at Wegman's.

For butter, we head to Cali.  This Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay smelled very buttery but was SO oaky!  Do oak trees even grow in Cali?  I don't think I have ever seen one there.  Maybe that is why they are so darn hung up on them.  Chardonnay labels usually will mention "barrel" or "oak" or "steel" on the label.  If it has the first 2, then you know it will be woody.  Steel is the best word on a bottle of Chard - IMHO.  This bottle cost $8.49 at Wegman's.

Next, we tasted for grassiness.  I knew that would send us to Sauvignon Blanc.  I personally hate this grape. I mentioned in a previous post that it makes me think of green grapefruit.  Well, it also smells like a whole meadow is in there.  I bought this bottle at Wegman's instead of Rick's and got it for a savings of more than $10.  This one only cost $22.99.  Still too much money for wine I pour down the drain.

We ate goat cheese with it.

We had to taste for spice.  Tasting for spice involved 3 different bottles - 1 white and 2 red.  There is only one grape in the world called "spice grape," so we had to have some.  This particular bottle is almost always in my house just because it goes down very, very easily.  We tasted this bottle with the Kung Pao and also some Boursin cheese.  If you haven't had Boursin cheese in a while or ever, go buy some.  You will thank me.

This little bottle of Fetzer Gewurztraminer cost $5.49 at Wegman's.  I finished the bottle.

Spicy reds means Syrah or Shiraz (same grape - 2 names - Shiraz comes from Australia).  We have had some great luck with Pepperwood Grove wines (OMG - their Pinot Noir is actually from Chile and is so good and so cheap!), so I decided to take a chance and try their Syrah.  This is a Cali Syrah and was very drinkable.  It only cost $5.99 at Wegman's so I will probably keep some of this on hand during the winter.  We had more meatballs in sauce and some sharp cheddar with these reds.

We compared the spice in the Pepperwood Grove Syrah to the spice in this Peter Lehmann Shiraz (Aussie). they were both good, but as one person said last night, if you can have 2 of the first kind for the price of 1 of the second, go for the 2.  But since they were both open, she took one for the team and had more of the second :0)  I really love my friends!  This bottle of Shiraz cost $13.99 at Wegman's.

Last bit of the lesson was tasting for floral.  When I read over the tasting notes that Ms. Robinson did for this Moscato d'Asti, I chuckled when she mentions that the smell might make you want to "dab some of this behind your earlobes."  Wow, she was totally right!  This is from the Muscat grape and it is a "lightly sparkling" wine.  It smelled like a perfume store or a flower shop - both work here.  The taste was very light and refreshing.  Most of the group liked it.  I would rather have Prosecco or Champagne or a real sparkling as I thought this was a little too sweet on the tongue (but I drank what was in my flute).  We had this white chocolates (can you say Lindt).  This bottle was about $14 at Harris Teeter (explanation below).

Here's the $13.49 Prosecco that I bought at Wegman's.  I was looking at Moscato d'Asti and I was looking for one that Ms. Robinson mentions in her book.  I knew the Moscato d'Asti was blending into the Prosecco on the shelf and I had checked myself a couple of times.  Finally, I saw the name "Mionetto" and grabbed the bottle, triumphant!  Got home and put everything in the wine fridge and started prepping for wine club.  As I was marking the wines in the book so that I knew what we were tasting and how much it cost and everything, I grabbed this bottle and went to mark it on the floral page and got so mad at myself.  It was now a Friday morning and I had a bunch of things to do before the tasting and NOW I had to go find a bottle of the right stuff for that night.  OH - take a lesson from me - Safeway does NOT carry Moscato d'Asti and Harris Teeter has 1.

As for this Prosecco, I wouldn't buy it again.  It was way too dry and not at all refreshing.  Stick with Lunetta for Prosecco.

Next month will be interesting as we are bringing our spouses and opening all the bottles that are left over from our previous tastings (that doesn't mean that we didn't like the wine, just that we could bring ourselves to open the second bottle most times).  I will share the hits and misses and hopefully some new insights on some previously discussed wines.  I should probably take a before and after picture of the wine fridges too as I am almost out of room for wine (tragic, I know).  

Until then, 

Cheer,

Kitti

German Whites - July 2012 Tasting Notes

German Whites

Why do people think "sweet" when they think of German white wine?  Chalk it up to the Blue Nun and the terrible grape juice that was mass exported in the 70s and 80s.

Let's break things down.  Until the 20th century, only 2 countries in the world were known for producing great wine; France & Germany.  Yep, Germany!  The truth is that the majority of German wine is not considered sweet (not high in residual sugar).  Germans strive for complexity in their wines.  Transparency and tension are the goals of every German wine.  German wines are generally lower in alcohol than most wines.

If you think french wine is confusing, let's talk about German labeling.  There are 7 ratings of German wines.  They are, in ascending order:
QbA - this is bleh wine - don't drink it
QmP - means it is quality wine
Kabinett - this style is the most food friendly of all German wines
Spatlese - late harvest wine, but usually NOT sweet
Auslese - "select harvest" and lush with sweetness
Bierenauslese - BA for short - rare and costly
Trocken BA - most expensive of all German wines and the rarest too - the richest and sweetest

Now - trocken means "bone dry" and halbtrocken means "dry to taste" and you may see these monikers show up on labels too.

If the bottle is thin and short and says "Eiswein" - this is the sweetest stuff.  The grapes are harvested after the first freeze and they are harvested at night by workers wearing gloves.  The goal is to keep all the sugar in the grape in its frozen state to extract more of it in pressing.

Apparently, we have nothing on the Germans when it comes to sweets.  Their "not sweet" and our "not sweet" are about 15 sugar packets apart.

Silvaner - this is a german grape.  Known for a light body.  Label says "trocken" so it should be dry.  I bought it because I liked the shape of the bottle.  We drank all of this and I still have the bottle.  Cost $18.99 @ Wegman's

Erben Spatlese.  Let's call this a German white and be done.  We have all seen this bottle.  Think cheap.  Think cold.  Think not bad to just sit and drink on a warm, summer day.  This one cost $7.49 @ Wegman's

Wolf Pinot Gris.  We did a Pinot Grigio/Gris tasting a couple of months ago and learned that we, as a whole, prefer New World (NW) Pinot Gris.  Should have remembered that in the store.  Poured this uninspired bottle down the drain.  Cost $10.99 at Wegman's

Here is the bottle that make so many cringe.  The traditional riesling style bottle.  This is a Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett.  Should be food friendly, right?  It was a little sweet, but it got consumed anyway.  Cost $13.99 @ Wegman's

Believe it or not, Germany doesn't really produce much Gewurztraminer.  It is a German grape, but doesn't really grow in Germany.  Most people think sweet when they think of this grape.  Let's break it down - "gewurz" means "spicy" and "traminer" means "grape."  This one is also labeled Kabinett so it should be food friendly.  This was one of the sweetest wines I have ever sipped.  I drink gewurtz and I could NOT drink this.  This $12.99 bottle went down the drain with the sugars clinging to my sink as it went.

We have pretty much decided to either drink really cheap German white wine or leave it all to the Germans to consume.

Virginia Wines - June 2012 Tasting Notes

Virginia Wines

Why Virginia wines?  Well, why not?  They are close but man are they expensive!  We tried wines from all over and many different varietals.  We did like one enough to decide to explore that grape this fall, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Here is a sparkling wine from Barboursville Vineyards.  They say they are in Charlottesville, but they aren't.  I know this because there isn't enough open land in C'ville to grow enough grapes on to make all the wine they produce.  They are near C'ville though and they are on an historic estate that was designed by Mr. Jefferson, so they get a little credit on that.  As sparklings go, this was a decent brut.  Costs $16.90 at your local VA ABC store.

This was a leftover bottle from a visit to Unicorn Winery.  Unicorn Winery is in Amissville, Virginia (around Warrenton).  There was something "amiss" with this bottle.  This is from the traminette grape which is a cross  between Gewurztraminer and Joannes Seyve and is a new, new varietal.  It was crossed and officially named in 1965 at the University of Illinois.  This tasted nothing like gewurtz but it was really golden in color.  Sorry to say we poured it out.  On the up side, it was a free bottle.

Back to Barboursville.  Octagon is an award winning red.  It is supposed to be big and yummy and bold.  Maybe we got a bad bottle or maybe 2007 wasn't a good year.  Even those in the group who love big reds didn't like this.  Another one down the drain.  @$36.99 from Total Wine, it hurt to pour it out.

I picked up this lovely bottle because it has Mr. Jefferson's signature on it.  I am a little attached to C'ville and Mr. Jefferson, but I digress.  This is a "Reserve Chardonnay" and we had reasonable expectations for it. At $21.99, I was hoping it would be really enjoyed by the Chard lovers in our group.  Hurt to pour this out, but I kept the bottle, cause, well, he signed it!

Veritas Vineyards wins the design competition.  We all thought this was a nice label.  This winery is located in Afton, Virginia (another one outside C'ville - told you I had a problem).  The wine is Viogner from the viogner grape.  This was surprisingly good.  Most of the group liked it (not loved, but it was drinkable).  It smelled sweeter than it tasted and was a bigger body that expected.  This one comes in at $17.99 a bottle at Total Wine.

Chrysalis Vineyards was our winner for the night!  Chrysalis is located in lovely Middleburg, Virginia.  We tried their Norton which is, for the uninitiated, the only REAL American grape. The Norton grape is native to Virginia and was pretty darn good.  Good enough that we are going to do a Norton tasting this fall.  Too bad, this, like all the Virginia wines, is just too expensive to be an every day, always on hand, drinking wine.  This one set us back $17.99 but was the only bottle we really wished we had bought another bottle of. 

Pinot Grigio/Gris - May 2012 Tasting Notes

Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris


Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris (gree), depending on what the winery decided to call it, is an ancient grape.  It is actually a natural genetic mutation of the pinot noir grape.  This is typically thought of as a light, refreshing white wine.  HOWEVER, there is a huge difference in this grape depending upon where it was grown.  They are divided between Old World and New World.  This tasting really showed all of us which style we prefer AND we had a Wine Club First; all of us agreed on 1 bottle of wine being very good!

The difference between the OW and NW Pinot Grigios is depth.  OW Pinot Grigio tends to be lighter, crisper, and usually almost clear.  These are gentle wines that don't require thinking.  They come from Europe and, as a whole, OW wines are subtler in style than NW wines (no matter what the grape).  NW wines come from the US, Australia, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa.  These wines tend to be bolder.

New World Pinot Gris - King Estate - Oregon - $12.99 @ Wegman's - this is the winning wine.  We ALL enjoyed this and I think we all are keeping it on hand at home now.  Very drinkable!

Old World Barone Fini - Italy - $11.99 @ Wegman's

Old World Le Altane - Italy - $6.99 @ Wegman's (got it for $6 cause it was on sale)

New World Jacob's Creek - Australia - $5.99 @ Wegman's

Old World Willm - Germany - $13.99 @ Wegman's

Burgundy - April 2012 Tasting Notes

Burgundy

Burgundy, the name can strike fear in many a novice wine drinker.  The French are so good at taking something simple, like a wine label, and making damn near impossible to acquire any information about the contents of the bottle.

Burgundy comes in 2 colors - white and red.  If it is white, it is from chardonnay grapes.  If it is red, it is from  pinot noir grapes.  See, that was easy, wasn't it?  But what about that bottle that say "Chablis" on it?  Well, that is chardonnay too.  There is no such grape as chablis and, as all French wine are, it is labeled with the town/village/region it is from.  That means that Chablis comes from the village of Chablis which is in the Burgundy region and they only grow chardonnay grapes there.  Got it?  No?  Don't worry, I am typing this and I don't get it either.  Let's just chalk it up to the French being french and let it go.  There are different levels of the wine and as the level goes up, so does the price (Cote d'Or is the creme de la creme of all of Burgundy and you pay for it).  Find one you like and stick with it.


This lovely red Burgundy is a traditional Pinot Noir (see the label?  It says Pinot Noir and Bourgogne which is just french for Burgundy).  This was $9.99 @ Wegman's

This lovely little bottle is 100% chardonnay, but the French don't even call it white burgundy (which it is).  This is Pouilly-Fuisse which I think translates roughly as "partly fussy," but I could be wrong cause I studied spanish in school.  This set us back $17.99 @ Wegman's

Again, no where does it say "burgundy" but it is.  Louis Latour is one of the top producers of burgundy.  This one was $12.99 @ Wegman's

Remember when I said that there are levels in burgundy wine?  Well, for the most part, there are 3 to know. They are, in ascending order, Village wine, Premier Cru, and Grand Cru.  Village burgundy is made solely from grapes grown in and around the village on the bottle (like Beaune).  Village wine will always have the village name on the bottle.  Premier Cru (first growth) is a designation given to a vineyard.  Premier Cru vineyards are always noted on the label (like below).  Grand Cru (great growth) is the highest designation any vineyard in Burgundy can receive.  There are only 33 Grand Cru vineyards in all of Burgundy.  You can pretty much tell if it is a Grand Cru by price as these are the absolute, most expensive burgundies (and they only have their names on the label).

This Premier Cru from the village of Beaune (bone) cost $29.99 @ Wegman's.  We drank the whole bottle.

This one is easy.  You try it.

Did you get that it is a chardonnay and it is from Burgundy?  Good.

This one is $14.99 @ Wegman's

We were still thirsty, so we opened up this little gem just to see if it really smelled like "freshly baked chocolate chip cookies" as the label claims.  It didn't but some of us still drank it.

Do you see the interloper in the picture?  We all fell in love with Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir a few tastings back and at about $10 a bottle, why not always keep some on hand?  We didn't get around to finishing it, as evidenced by the stopper in the top!

Barbera & the Piedmont Region - March 2012 Tasting Notes

Barbera & The Piedmont Region

Barbera is the table wine in the Piedmont region.  It is known for being drinkable and consistent.  There are many good Barbera wines to be found at reasonable prices.  This is a light to medium body red from the Piedmont region in Italy.  If you can find Baby Barbera, buy me a case please as it pairs extremely well with a glass (as does all Barbera).

Sant' Orsola Barbera D'Asti - $7.99 @ Total Wine

Coppo Camp du Rouss Barbera D'Asti - $11.99 @ Total Wine

Michele Charlo Barbera D'Asti Superiore - $14.99 @ Wegman's

Comparison time:  The Piedmont region is really known for its Nebbiolo grapes and they make big, juicy, full bodied reds.  These are big, big, big reds and their prices reflect it.

Rocca Felice Barbaresco - $29.99 @ Total Wine

Rocca Felice Barolo - $24.99 @ Total Wine

Another contrasting grape from the Piedmont region.  The Dolcetto grape makes a lighter wine than the Barbera and is very low in tannin.  The result is usually a very quaff-able wine.  Next time I will look for a Dolcetto D'Asti as we seem to favor Asti over Alba.

Sant' Orsola Dolcetto D'Alba - $9.99 @ Total Wine