Saturday afternoon brought everyone together in the Great Oak Co-housing common dining room to taste an amazingly wide array of wines under the guidance of Ric Jewell, sommelier and front-of-the-house manager at Zingerman's Roadhouse. Operating under instructions to find interesting, less well-known wines that anyone could afford, Ric walked us through 21 bottles from all over the world, many of them wines made from relatively unknown (at least in the U.S.) grapes such as savagnin, pedro ximenez, verdejo, and counoise.
21 wines! Even with dump buckets, we were a rather rowdy bunch by the end...
Usually, when I get to sample a variety of wines, it's at a holiday dinner or a party where friends and relatives bring their various bottles to share. Half of them end up being merlots, another quarter pinot noir, and a handful of other varieties. Now, I don't mind merlot or pinot noir at all, and wine brought to share is always a generous gift, but it gets a bit predictable.
Not a single merlot or pinot noir grape was featured here. While I didn't like all of these wines, I delighted in the breadth of scents and flavors and finishes these wines offered. I would have never found these wines on my own, or probably even tasted anything like them (especially the fortified wines). My wine world has just expanded many-fold. Now if I could only learn that elusive skill of pairing wine with food.
Fortunately, Ric has good basic advice to offer to wine novices: be confident in your own abilities and find a story about the wine to share. Take a drink of the wine, then eat your food, as it is the wine's finish that interacts with the food. It's also worth considering whether the wine will be drunk on its own or with food. American wines tend to have a narrower finish and are great for drinking on their own, whereas European wines have a wider finish and that shows better with food.
Thank you, Tammy, for organizing this tasting and Ric for guiding us.
I have gratefully stolen this pre-type list from "tammylc" at eGullet.com, who has saved me the work of typing it in myself, and I am borrowing shamelessly from Ric's own notes. I've bolded my favorites below.
The Wines
Oxidized
Vin Jaune, Henri Maire au Château Boichailles, 'Réserve Catherine de Rye,' Château-Chalon AC, Jura FR, 1986 — serve as an apertif, or with assertive cheeses or curries, a marinade for roast chicken. Grape: savignin
Bodegas Alvear, 'Carlos VII,' Amontillado, Montilla-Morales SP, NV — a great cheese wine, goes with everything. Grape: pedro simenez
I found both of these sherry-style wines intriguing. I didn't exactly like them, but the flavors were so interesting that I couldn't stop tasting them. The Bodegas Alvear was especially interesting with a caramel-like nose, but flavors that are almost salty with a long butterscotch finish. I just could. not. stop. tasting.
White
Arabako, 'Xarmant,' Arabako Txakolina SP, 2004 — a Spanish Basque wine with a crisp but musty taste. This was one of my least favorite wines. Grape: hondarribi zurri
Vin de Savoie, Pierre Boniface, Apremont, Savoie FR, 2004 — a crisp, light wine that Ric suggests serving with goat cheese. Grape: jacquere
Bodegas Cerrosol, 'Esperanta,' Estate, Rueda SP, 2004 — a crisp wine with citrus flavors. This wine is unusual in that it is made of 100% verdejo grapes. Grape: verdejo
Claude et Bernard Greffier, Château Tertre de Launay, Entre-deux-Mers AC, Bordeaux FR, 2004 — I didn't make any particular notes for this one. Ric recommends serving this one with shellfish and lighter fish like halibut. (Salmon would be okay, but not the best pairing.) Grapes: sauvignon blanc, semillon, muscadelle
Domaine des Cassagnoles, 'Reserve Selection Cuvée Gros manseng,' Gascogne FR, 2004 — my favorite white of the bunch from my very first taste. A nice, bright wine with pineapple, tangerine, green apple, lemon with some floral and grassy notes. Ric strongly advised looking for "dry" mansengs, and that the bottle must say "petit" or "gros", otherwise you might not be getting what you think you are. Petit mansengs are more expensive and often used for dessert wines. This was a "gros manseng". Just delicious. Grape: gros manseng
Cusumano, Sicilia IT, 2004 — The insolia grape variety is often used as part of a blend to make marsalas, but it is increasingly found as a table wine. Medium-bodied with with lemon and apple notes. Grape: insolia
Tokaj-Oremus, 'Mandolás,' Tokaji HU, 2003 — this grape is not to be confused with the Alsatian tokay or Italian tokaj grapes. My oh-so-detailed notes say "nice, sweetish for a dry wine". Ric's notes describe it more fully as having mineral aromas, a viscous mouthfeel, and ending with a fresh acidity. He recommends salmon with it. Grape: furmint
Rosé
Rosé de Pinot gris, 'Les Rouesses,' Domaine des Rouesses, Reuilly, Loire FR, 2004 — this is a very "white" looking rosé, that is dry and full and round. I rather liked this one. Grape: pinot gris
Rosé, Les Domaniers de Puits Mouret, Selections Ott, Côtes de Provence FR, 2005 — Grapes: grenache, cinsault, syrah
Rosé goes well with bouillabaisse.
Red
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie, Cuvée Beauvais, Bourgueil AC, Loire FR, 2003 — My own notes say "too dry for me". This was a very "muscular" wine, probably due to the overripeness of the grapes that year. Grape: cabernet franc
Domaine Charles Joguet, Cuvée Terroir, Chinon AC, Loire FR, 2003 — dry, fruit forward. Grape: cabernet franc
Both of these cabernet franc wines were highly unusual vintages. 2003 was an exceptionally hot year, resulting in a grape harvest more similar to what you'd find in California (where the growing season is typically hotter and longer, resulting in higher sugar levels). These two vineyards are only a handful of miles apart, but they produced radically different cabernet franc wines. Domaine de la Chanteleuserie attempted to make a European-style wine using these more California-style grapes, whereas Domaine Charles Joguet decided to make a more Califorian-style cabernet franc with their unusual harvest. So neither of these two are typical wines for the region or vineyards.
Weingut Gernot Heinrich, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee AUSTRIA, 2004 — Grape: zweitgelt
Villa Zorilor, Vinarte, Estate, Dealu Mare ROMANIA, 2000 — I though this was a nice, not too dry (for me) wine. Medium-bodied with red and black current scents. Appears sweet at first taste but finishes dry. Grape: feteascâ neagrâ
La Posta del Viñatero, 'Estela Armanda Vineyard,' Guaymallen, Mendoza AR, 2003 — This wine comes from ungrafted vines. Though the grape comes from Italy, only in Argentina is it used by itself to make wine. I liked this one. Grape: bonarda
McCrea Cellars, Red Mountain WA, 2002 — a nice wine to serve with strongly flavored foods like BBQ. Grape: counoise
Château des Erles, 'Cuvée des Ardoise,' Fitou AC, Côtes de Languedoc FR, 2002 — A fruity wine with an oak finish. Ric writes that it is "unusually polished for a wine from this part of France." Grapes: syrah, carignan, grenache
Quinta de Roriz, 'Prazo de Roriz,' Douro PORTUGAL, 2004 — this wine was named to Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines in 2005. Deep red and black fruit flavors with plenty of tannins. Good with foods served with port sauces. Grapes: touriga nacional, tinta roriz, tinta barroca, touriga franca
Scala Dei, 'Cartoixa Reserva', Priorat SP, 2000 — My hands-down favorite of the reds. Smooth, refined, balanced with spice notes and plum flavors. A mix of granacha, cabernet sauvignon, and syrah. Grapes: granacha, cabernet sauvignon, syrah
Azienda Agricola Cosimo Taurino, 'Notarpanaro,' Salento IT, 1999 — Ric described this one as "more rustic" than the Scala Dei. A nice rich, medium-bodied wine with notes of berries, anise, and licorice with a light finish. "An authentic, rustic southern Italian red made in the traditional style." Grapes: negroamaro, malvasia nera
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