Temecula Valley

Just another post for posterity and for my own rememberence. This summer Cory and I traveled cross country, and during our visit to his aunt and uncle's near Riverside, CA, we made a stop for wine tasting in the Temecula Valley.

So, this we were in southern CA and so our expectations were tempered, but it was CA afterall and they've been doing this a lot longer than PA or VA, etc. In actuality, the Temecula Valley has in fact quite come into its own. We visited three wineries there in the short time we had, and mostly shared tastings (since I was still nursing Tristan at the time), which ran $5-10 depending on the selection. Some wineries seemed fine with that, and Tristan's presence, while others were a bit more snooty.

Hart Winery is the first one off of the main drag (Rancho California Road), and is the reason I'm writing this post. Hart is unpretentious and low key. The tasting room is small and informal, and my expectations were low. They totally welcomed us, and baby T, without hesitation. The wines, moreover, were pretty strong. Their tempranillo was off the hook! We left with one of these, somewhat surprised.

Our next stop was Callaway Vineyards, which I believe is right next door. Our vineyard selection was really based on our limited time and what was still open since it was late afternoon when we arrived. Callaway has a larger, more formal tasting room, which was also very welcoming. The wines here were good, though not as good as Hart. We left with a blush and I think it was a Sangiovese? They have nice grounds and a restaurant - here is a pic.

Our last visit was to Miramonte. It was probably the most refined of the tasting rooms (had many coordinating events and clubs and such) but the least friendly. The wines were fine but for the price and atmosphere, we much prefered (again) Hart.

All in all it was quite a successful visit and definitely worth a stop!

Organic Wine

Hi Guys!
I saw this article and thought of you all. Foreign grapes are among the dirtiest twelve fruits and vegetables available in terms of pesticide content when consumed; this is because many nations have yet not prohibited many of the really bad pesticides (e.g., DDT is still used in South America to my knowledge). Organic wine doesn't seem as good (small production/immature producers?), or maybe there just aren't as many available yet (though Cory and I are certainly looking more at these wines, well at least we were before I got prego), but I'm sure this market is bound to grow. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this article, from the weather channel oddly, about it, which has some suggestions at the end. Just for the record, I think biodynamics are a bit goofy, but I'm all for wine that doesn't have pesticides in it.

On a personal note, we miss you all and wine club tons already! We have yet to find a restaurant around here that even carries a real wine list (how snobby does that sound???!), so it is going to be a lot of dining and drinking at home! Some of the restaurants actually carry some of the local wine; there are several wine regions close by (Eerie/Niagara/Finger Lakes) so I suppose we'll be taking some trips around there to taste after the baby's born. You all are of course welcome to join us any time! Hope you all are doing well! Oh, and I hope that Matt and Alisha give us some details about their time in Sonoma soon!

Best, Nicole

A Chenin Blanc suggestion from the NYTimes

Eric Asimov writes on a favorite American Chenin Blanc on his blog today - I can't remember exactly when we're up for Chenin Blanc, but I believe it's coming up soon.

Rioja wine night

What we drank:

1. Gran Familia, Rioja, 2005, $13
2. Marques de Riscal Reserva, Rioja, 2003, $25
3. Marques de Caceres, Reserva, Rioja, 2001, $25 (94 w.s)
4. Atalayas de Golban, Ribero de Duero, 2005, $23 (90 i.w.c)
5. Artadi, Rioja, 2005, $35 (91 w.e.)

Thoughts on Tempranillo:

Characteristics of Tempranillo:

· Ruby red color

· Aromas and flavors of berries, plum, tobacco, vanilla, leather and herb

Rioja:

· Named after the Rio (river) Oja

· History of grapes since 873; history of viticulture since 1063

· Geography: continental mountainous (1500ft above sea level), clay with chalk and iron

· Divided into three regions: Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Alta (cooler), Rioja Baja (hotter and drier, more Mediterranean climate, more often used for blending)

· Rioja wine usually a mix of: Tempranillo (50-90%), Garnacha (Grenache), Graziano, and Mazuelo (Carignan)

· Rioja wine usually aged in oak: first large oak tanks for primary fermentation, then oak barrels

· Classification: Rioja (youngest, less than one year in oak), Crianza (aged for two years, of which at least one in oak), Reserva (aged for three years, at least one in oak), Gran Reserva (aged for at least two years in oak and three years in bottle)

· Wines very variable: good years are 2001 and 2005; bad years are 2002 (too cold and rainy) and 2003 (too hot)

· Recent trend (since 1990s) of “new classics”: small artisanal Rioja’s created with ‘old vine’ Tempranillos and aging in French Oak adding flavors of toast and chocolate. Examples: Muga, Marques de Riscal, Roda, Artadi

Ribero del Duero

· Follows the course of the Duero river

· Geography: Further South than Rioja on Northern Plateau, characterized by flat rocky terrain, silty/clayey sand, extreme climactic conditions within and across seasons (summer = 100 F, winters as low as 0 F)

· Tempranillo grape usually blended with Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot

· “To get elegance and acidity out of Tempranillo, you need a cool climate. But to get high sugar levels and the thick skins that give deep color you need heat. In Spain these two opposites are best reconciled in the continental climate but high altitude of the Ribera del Duero” Oz Clarke

More recently Tempranillo venturing outside of Spain: Argentina, Chile, Mexico, California, Australia

Some interesting articles:

http://www.winemag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=82EE93BD5A98404BA185D801FE455C1B
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempranillo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rioja_(wine)
http://blog.winemag.com/index.php/2007/08/23/californias-tempranillo-frontier/

Some articles to read on Grenache in prep for Wine Club, if you are inclined

For the Love of Grenache - (Wine Enthusiast) "From excellent and expensive Châteauneuf-du-Pape to better-value Vacqueyras and Gigondas, Southern Rhône producers are now getting better extraction and riper fruit from this notoriously difficult-to-grow grape. Meet some of Grenache’s greatest champions."

The Great Red Hope - (Wine Enthusiast) "The recognition that McLaren Vale, and its Grenache, deserves may be just around the corner."

Raising a wine's price improves its taste, study suggests

WASHINGTON: Apparently, raising the price really does make the wine taste better.

At least that seems to be the result of a taste test. The part of the brain that reacts to a pleasant experience responded more strongly to pricey wines than cheap ones - even when tasters were given the same vintage in disguise.

Antonio Rangel and colleagues at California Institute of Technology thought the perception that higher price means higher quality could influence people, so they decided to test the idea.

They asked 20 people to sample wine while undergoing functional MRIs of their brain activity. The subjects were told they were tasting five different cabernet sauvignons sold at different prices.

However, there were actually only three wines sampled, two being offered twice, marked with different prices.

A $90 wine was provided marked with its real price and again marked $10, while another was presented at its real price of $5 and also marked $45.

The testers' brains showed more pleasure at the higher price than the lower one, even for the same wine, Rangel reports in the online edition this week of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In other words, changes in the price of the wine changed the actual pleasure experienced by the drinkers, the researchers reported.

On the other hand, when tasters did not know any price comparisons, they rated the $5 wine as better than any of the others sampled.

"We were shocked," Rangel said by telephone. "I think it was because the flavor was stronger and our subjects were not very experienced."

Tipping on Wine

While reading an article on the lost art of serving wine in the November Wine Enthusiast by Roger Voss, I was struck by his discussion of tipping on wine, which is apparently the subject of some disagreement. Opinions range from excluding the wine from tip calculation all together to applying the 15-20% rule to the wine as well (the option I was always under the impression was standard). Voss, while strongly advocating tipping for good wine service, does not feel that, even in the case of good service, 15-20% is required. After doing a small amount of informal Google research, it seemed that consensus was 10% was perfectly acceptable and considered something of the norm, especially if the wine is pricey. Maybe this was common knowledge, but I found it interesting and thought I'd pass it on in case it wasn't. Oh, and in case it doesn't go without saying, I believe the 10% tip on wine is assuming a bottle purchase, as opposed to wine by the glass.

On a related note, I came across some interesting etiquette for sending wine back. Of course, corked wines (and oxidized whites), can and should be sent back, but apparently there are even situations where it is appropriate to send back a wine you simply do not like. If you have received a wine recommendation, or if the sommelier/waiter has been instrumental in selecting the choice of wine, it is acceptable to send it back if you don't like it. If, however, you make the wine choice independently, etiquette is to suck it up and drink it.

Tuscany

With our exploration of Tuscan (esp., Sangiovese) wines fast approaching, a post conveying some experiences about the region seemed appropriate.

The experiences we'll convey are from the several days we spent in the region on our honeymoon in October, 2005. The map should help get your bearings.

We'll focus on the roughly north-south axis running from Firenze (Florence) through Siena and down to wear it Ts-off with the east-west axis between Montalcino and Montepulciano. We'll focus on three areas that produce three wines which are deemed DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita): Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile de Montepulciano. All three of these wines use the Sangiovese grape (or one of its clones) as their majority ingredient. We'll save focusing on the wines themselves for our tasting.

The Chianti DOCG is divided into eight sub-regions. The autostrada from Florence to Siena bisects the Chianti Classico sub-region (where Chianti originated) with stereotypical Tuscan vistas on either side. Soon after passing the half way point between the two cities, there is an exit to the tiny town of Montereggioni whose towers are old enough to have had a cameo in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, xxxi. 41-44).

Montereggioni lies near the border of the Chianti Classico and Chianti Colli Senesi regions. We stopped for lunch, a little exploration, and to enjoy the view from the hilltop.

That night we went on to our bed & breakfast just outside Siena.

The next day we explored beautiful Siena. The following day it was back to the hills, but this time south of Siena. By lunch time we reached Montalcino and found some proscuitto, pecorino cheese, and bread for a little picnic with a half bottle of Brunello just outside the town's castle.
From there we had a view of the hills descending down from Montalicino's perch.

Unlike Siena and Florence, wine is front and center in Montalcino -- a large map of area wineries is in the main square. Having just served a favorite from Banfi called Col di Sasso at our wedding, we decided to try to find its source. Heading south we quickly descended into the valley as the sun broke through the clouds. We drove past vines on either side from a variety of producers, and as we got closer to the valley floor began to see the logo indicating we had found Banfi's 7,000 acre estate. Banfi is a relatively recent American-owned addition to the Montalcino wine scene. (Montalcino itself has really only gained prominence in the last half-century or so.) Banfi's central "castello", however, dates from the middle ages, at least.





Unlike many Italian producers, Banfi has a consumer-friendly retail operation, though at the time it had no tasting facility other than its restaurant.

From Banfi we decided to head east, eventually ending up in Montepulciano around time for our evening meal. Montepulciano is a bit more imposing and engrossing than Montalcino, though its signature wine, Vino Nobile, is often in the shadow of its cousin Brunello. We enjoyed exploring it at dusk.

The restaurant we had our eye on turned out to be booked solid, so we tried a one-man trattoria next door. As dinner progressed (with a half bottle of Vino Nobile), we were pleasantly surprised to learn first that the pasta dishes were fairly tasty and second that our seemingly passive server/chef/barkeep was an aspiring opera singer.

He sang along energetically and quite capably with the great tenors on the stereo. That evening we returned to our B&B and the next day set out for northern Tuscany and eventually on to other destinations (see other pictures).