What a charming example of pure gewurztraminer character. Spicy and floral with a rich fruity (muscat) character that teases you by seeming sweet, but then a clean dryness drifts across your palate. Pull this out with some goat cheese for a treat. A very good value.
It doesn’t seem like so many years ago that I thought of Trimbach as a sort of boring producer. With all the other action they seemed to be left behind. Just a few decades or so later, to me, Trimbach is making some of Alsace’s best and most authentic wines. They did not change, my palate just grew up. Today other producers are making wines full of residual sugar, boytritis and no varietal or Alsatian character. Now it is Trimbach who is making clean, bright varietally correct wines that actually remind you more of Alsace than California when you drink them. They always did.
Give me these real wines from Trimbach any day over the bizarre wines coming from the likes of Zind-Humbrechet. If you want to actually drink Alsatian wine with a meal, I’m sure you'll agree with me if you really think about the food and wine on your table. The basic Trimbach Gewurztraminer is a charming wine with no pretension to greatness, only balance and real Gewurztraminer character. We enjoyed this great value with some fantastic goat cheese from Monteillet Fromagerie in Dayton Washington – a cheese producer worthy of a post of its own – and you cannot imagine a better cheese and wine match.
One of the saddest stories of the modern wine world has been the destruction of the great white wines of Alsace. A few decades ago, Alsace was the home of some of the most interesting wines on the planet, but today it has become the poster-child of over-manipulation in the vineyard and winery and the resulting sweet, out-of-balance wines should just be avoided.
Man this is a nice wine to drink. Zesty yet substantial, rich but firm. Brilliantly alive throughout, layers of fresh lime blended with creme brulee all tied into a mouthwatering package dying for some really great seafood makes this a wine not to be missed. It's an under $20 bargain besides. If you like your wines with a lot of backbone, but not just simple acid bombs - this wine is for you.
Distilleria Pilzer is in a strange position. They win award after award for their fine spirits and are respected throughout Europe as one of the finest grappa and acquavite producers in Italy. So why are they so hard to find in the USA? The only reason can be the lack of understanding of what really fine grappa is all about. The spirits shelves of American retail shops are full of grappa that is decidedly inferior to the exotic, perfumed spirits produced by the Pilzer family because the American market continues to pay more attention to the bottle containing the grappa than to the grappa itself.
The Pilzer family makes grappa in one of the most beautiful places in Italy, the Valle di Cembra in the mountains of Trentino. The grapes on these high slopes mature slowly, but fully in steep mountain vineyards and are exceptionally aromatic. In other words, they are perfect for grappa. The Pilzers don't let any of these essences escape and their spirits are some of the most refined and aromatic that you can find. These spirits rank with the finest Italy has to offer and they not only compete with famous names like Nonino and Poli, but often exceed them in complexity and pure varietal intensity. The Pilzer family produces the following Grappe:
White varietals: chardonnay, nosiola, muller thurgau, moscato giallo, traminer and a rare, truly elegant grappa from the moscato rosa grape.
Red varietals: schiava, pinot nero, teroldego and a blended grappa.
Acquavite: Williams Pear, Apple, Cotogne Apple, Apricot.
When I was in my twenties, I belonged to a tasting group with equally “deep” tasting experience. We considered ourselves experts and would nod at each other knowingly as we tasted a bottle of funky, smelly Burgundy and say seriously, “goût de terroir.” We thought we really knew our stuff as we forced ourselves to drink and appreciate those awful old wines full of Brettanomyces, or Brett as those in the wine-know call it. All we knew is they were expensive and famous so that must be what great wines tasted like.
Brettanomyces is a strain of yeast that gives all sorts of lovely aromas and flavors to wines like: Band-Aids, sweaty horse saddle, barnyard or merde – it's funny how if you used the same word in English no one would dream of considering it a positive, but when we said it in French somehow it worked.
We loved, or thought we loved, wines full of that supposed goût de terroir and merde. If we tasted those wines today we would grimace and pour them down the drain. There were whole regions of wine dominated by the off-smells caused by Brettanomyces. Happily those days are gone and young wine tasters are spared this experience. Wine after all should taste of fruit, not shit and real goût de terroir is a wonderful thing that does not remind one of Band-Aids.
However, it is true that just a bit of Brett can make a wine more interesting and layered, but by a bit I mean just a tiny bit.
As it is such easy sport to lampoon The Wine Spectator, it is easy to fall into the trap of never noting its successes. The March 31st 2006 issue contains some very good information in the form of a very nice article on Brettanomyces by Daniel Sogg. It is well worth reading for anyone not sure what the Brett fuss is all about. You will of course find this article way at the back of the magazine behind all the points and celebrity auction photos.
A great article in The Wine Spectator: no merde.
Notice a pattern here?
What we learn from this is you get points for “superripe, opulent and flamboyant” and negative points for “aromatic, balanced, structured and textbook.”
Frankly that sucks, but actually it’s Suckling. The above ratings are the opinions of current Barolo and Barbaresco vintages by James Suckling as published in March 2006 Wine Spectator. I should stress these are only Mr. Suckling’s opinions as few people in the world share them and no respected source agrees with him. This is a strange position to take as generally a reporter would not report information that all of his most trusted sources says is incorrect.
What is clear is that Mr. Suckling painted himself into a corner with his wildly over-enthusiastic endorsement of the hot 1997 vintage that led to his preposterous “perfect” rating for the hot 2000 vintage. What is ironic is now he is giving the thumbs down to the hot 2003 vintage, which could produce better wines than either 1997 or 2000 simply because the winemakers had the experience of two hot vintages under their belts when the blazing sun of 2003 blasted the vineyards. They really knew how to handle the 2003’s, while the 1997, the first of the trio of scorching vintages, mistakes were made left and right by winemakers unaccustomed to such conditions.
It seems obvious from his descriptions of the wines that Mr. Suckling does not like nebbiolo unless it it bloated beyond recognition. His take on nebbiolo is like someone who douses pristine fresh oysters with Tabasco: thus making the raw materials pointless. His ranking of 2000 over 2001 would be laughable is it hadn't cost so many people money and distorted the true character of nebbiolo for countless wine drinkers new to the great wines of the Piedmont. What he is trying to do is to take the edge out of nebbiolo – the very thing that makes it unique. Nebbiolo without cut and precision is a wine that has no reason to exist.
Those who want to experience actual nebbiolo varietal character would be wise to focus their purchasing on the 2001, 1999 and 1996 vintages for aging, while stocking up on the lovely 1998’s for drinking while you wait for those three great vintages to spread their wings. Certainly there are many wines worth buying from 1997 and 2000, but they should be tasted with the understanding that these wines are atypical and not as highly regarded by the producers or press as the vintages listed above.
Notice a pattern here?
The Tabasco bottle is now pointed at Bordeaux.
Winemaker Annette Hoff of Monterey’s Cima Colina is the author of a fine blog and offers some very insightful comments concerning the over manipulation of pinot noir and wines in general these days. In a recent post she comments:
“The way I see it, there are two different classifications of Pinot these days in the US: PCD’s (Pinot for Cab Drinkers) and PEE’s (excuse the acronym: Pinot for Everyone Else). I like Cabernet, and I have nothing against Cabernet drinkers, but what I don’t like is the concept of placing the same expectations one has of Cabernet (dark, rich, and, well, dark, rich) on a wine such as Pinot Noir and, as it turns out, the typical PCD’s are usually dark, rich and relatively non-varietal in character. If you like that, then go to it.”
That’s some great insight. For the complete story and to visit Annette’s Cima Collina blog, follow the link below:
Several years in Italy is guaranteed to destroy your appreciation of American-style pizza. Like so may American wines, pizza here features too much of almost everything. The vast pile of cheese and other ingredients turns the crust into a soggy mess. Delivered pizza is even worse. As easy as it is to make pizza at home and as bad as most American pizza is, why would anyone bother with delivery?
Pizza, like all Italian cooking is based on one thing: get great ingredients and don't screw them up. The most important part of any pizza is the crust, and good pizza crust is one of the easiest thing to make - especially if you have a food processor or KitchenAid. Here you go...
In the bowl of the food processor with the kneading blade in place, put the warm water, yeast and sugar. After a quick spin to mix, let stand for about 15 minutes until there is a thick foam on the top. Then add the flower, salt and olive oil and turn on the machine for a minute or so until the dough is kneaded. It should easily form into a smooth ball that is just a bit sticky. If not forming into a ball, you will have to add either a bit of flower or water depending on your climate. Put dough into a bowl rubbed with olive oil, cover and put in a warm place to rise for 3 or 4 hours. After tripled in volume, roll out and top with your preferred toppings. Please - not too much cheese: simple pizza is beautiful pizza.
Nothing can replace the searing, smoky heat of a wood burning oven, but you can still get good results at home. Be sure to pre-heat the oven to its highest temperature – you want fast hot cooking. A pizza stone is best, but if you don't have one get a pizza pan with holes in the bottom so your crust doesn't steam and get soggy while cooking. You are looking for a crisp crust.
In Italy, the preferred beverage with pizza is beer, but in the USA many of us think of wine. Deeply fruity, high acid wines go perfectly with pizza, but oaky, tannic or alcoholic wines taste jarring and overwhelming. An excellent example of the perfect pizza wine for someone serious about their wines is the 2004 Rosso dei Dardi by Alessandrio e Gian Natale in Monforte d'Alba in Piemonte. A blend of barbera, nebbiolo and friesa from the famous Dardi area, this delicious wine would be just as adept with grilled steaks as it would with pizza. My all time favorite pizza wine would be the Poderi Colla Friesa, whose light effervescence is a great compliment to any pizza. It's too bad this style very lightly sparking dry red wine, so popular in Italy, is almost impossible to sell in the USA.
A blend of barbera, nebbiolo and friesa, this wine is everything that the Paolo Scavino Rosso 2004 should be: or could have been. Brilliant fruity without overdoing it, with a brilliant streak of acid that brings it alive. A real charmer for meals that that need something really bright, charming and alive. Served with my homemade pizza, it was perfect.
A blend of barbera and dolcetto. Dark ruby, big fruit, lots of lots of lots... Nice enough with pizza, but the big black fruit extract is a bit tiring without a little more zip. Lightened up it would be a delight.
Always a very nice wine, Val Cerasa is a good introduction to the considerable pleasures of nerello mascalese, Sicily's finest red variety. Grown on the volcanic soils of Etna, this is more than a simple charming wine, as it has very nice underlying mineral earthiness. A great wine for grilled steaks and chops and an excellent bargain. Why is anyone buying all those boring, industrial New World wines when wine like this are around?
Brilliant medium ruby. Bright, fresh nose full of black cherry and cranberry with a touch of red licorice. All simple fruit at this stage, wait 4 or 5 more years before drinking. At $60 its a bit pricy for just charm. We can only hope for more.
Brilliant ruby, with an explosion of fruit on the nose. Not that kind of fake, contrived extraction you see so often these days, but a clean, brilliant ripe fruit with an underlying zest of acidity. Just plain delicious. Drink over the next couple of years.
A real charmer. Bright, quite light ruby/garnet. Very clean, fresh bright fruit. A real bargain in every day pinot noir: something very, very hard to find. Something to buy by the case.
The wild claim I made in my last post, "The Best Wine I Ever Tasted" worked perfectly. Without the hyperbole, I could never have gotten anyone to read a tasting note about a lowly Muscadet. Sensationalism works!
While not the best wine I ever tasted, that Muscadet was a great wine, but wines like this just aren't on the radar today. Press reviews only focus on current releases and the public show little inclination to go beyond the wines and varietal of the moment.
Wines like this, great as it may be, are the orphans of the wine media of today.
A stunning bottle of wine that offers almost none of the attributes that knock down the big points today. Wonderfully warm and earthy with just the right touch of inelegant abandon on the nose, this wine hits the palate with a bitterness and acid zing that evolves into a wine of such length and complexity that it indeed took my breath away.
Only a faint hint of older gold shines in the brilliant fresh straw yellow color. On the nose it is expansive yet firm, showing dense mineral highlights over fresh honeysuckle and red apples with cinnamon. Rich, yet zesty and alive on the palate with a finish that evolves into layer after layer of complexity for those paying attention.
I could not resist the bottle. A 1995 Muscadet for sale today. It was one of the best wine choices I have ever made as this bottle is one of the finest white wines I have ever tasted - and it cost $15.99.
A wine name that deserves a line to itself to contemplate the incredible achievement of producers Patrice and Vincent Gregorie. This is an extraordinary bottle that will be intensely ignored by the wine media because it does not cut the profile they are looking for, but this wine is everything I look for in a white wine. Unbelievably fresh for an eleven-year-old wine, this is a wine at the peak of perfection. It is worth noting that most of the white wines getting big points today will fall apart by their fifth birthday.
Only a faint hint of older gold shines in the brilliant fresh straw yellow color. On the nose it is expansive yet firm, showing dense mineral highlights over fresh honeysuckle and red apples with cinnamon. Rich, yet zesty and alive on the palate with a finish that evolves into layer after layer of complexity for those paying attention.
No, its not the best wine I ever tasted, but it is almost perfect and is certainly the best dry white wine I have tasted in the last several years. Congratulations to Portland Oregon’s Casa Bruno for having the courage to import such a gem.
At least that is what Decanter Magazine is reporting. It still remains unclear what's the main cause of the increasing girth of wines around the world. The culprit of the moment seems to be Robert Parker, but perhaps Mother Nature is more to blame. It would seem even she has more impact on vineyards than Mr. Parker. A quick look at the string of warm vintages in places like Piemonte and Oregon has to send up a few warning signals to even the skeptical. Pinot impossible in Burgundy over next 50 years - decanter.com - the route to all good wine.
Never have the great wines of the world been more clearly identified. Same for great vintages. Magazines, newsletters, web sites and blogs provide us with up-to-the-second reports on great bottles not to be missed. Big scores create feeding frenzies that clear store shelves nationwide. Now that we know who the best-of-the-best are, what do we do with them? We drink them as fast as we can.
More and more we are drinking the best at their worst. Consuming them at the very moment they are overwhelmed by full-blown young fruit power. What all this means is that consumers are learning that a great young wine, it all its majestic simplicity, is what great wine tastes like. This is truly a waste of some potentially great wine.
Robert Parker comments on drinking wines too young in the current New York Times article by Eric Asimov, “It's like walking into a maternity ward and looking at all the newborn kids, and other than the different colors, they all look alike."
Very, very true. With modern vineyard and cellar techniques, wines are more intensely fruity than they used to be when first released. This fruitiness, while charming, is simple stuff to what many of these wines will offer with a little bottle age. Perhaps everyone should stop blaming Mr. Parker for big, simple fruity wines and blame their own impatience and unwillingness to cellar a wine in the rush to taste whatever is hot and new in the press.
Recently I purchased two wines with a few years of bottle age on them from The Wine Expo in Santa Monica. The depth of complexity these wines offered from just a few years of bottle age was stunning. No amount of breathing or magnets can replace this time in the bottle. If you are going to seriously collect great wines, access to proper storage conditions are essential to enjoying these expensive and rare bottles at their finest.
