Sips: the wines of summer – getting through a long, brutal winter with a good bottle of rosé

The thought of rosé in February makes many people wince.  Aren’t blush wines the easygoing liquid of summer, to be enjoyed, chilled as they are, on beach or patio as a refreshing cross between red and white? Of course they are. But once you get past the psychological barrier of drinking rosé in cold weather, I think  you’ll find them (the good ones, at least) as delightful in mid-winter as in the dog days of summer. Good luck to me in persuading many of you that that’s the case.

But let’s examine the proposition a little more closely. A bottle of salmon-colored wine arrives at your doorstep, say Jean-Luc Colombo’s 2010 Cape Bleu Rosé, a $12 vin de pays from the Côte Bleu district outside Marseille with a watercolor representation of sea and sky and vineyard on the label. At first, you dismiss the notion as hopelessly off base when piles of dirty snow and subfreezing temperatures have become what seem like permanent features of the East Coast landscape and climate. But then you think of the months ahead, the inevitable thaw, spring, summer. Go ahead, try it. Well, I did the other night, tentatively at first, but quickly realizing that this was very good wine and a wine for all seasons.

That judgment gets to one of the fundamentals of rosé. Depending on the bottle, it can be a remarkably versatile food wine, as I have described it many times in the past. In this case, we enjoyed it with very fresh fluke (summer flounder) fillets roasted with Dijon mustard and tarragon. It will also match nicely with herbed chicken and pork dishes, salads and all kinds of appetizers. Its light style, with ripe strawberry and cherry tastes and a bit of citrus and cream on the finish, also make it a winning apéritif. The blend is 40 percent syrah, 40 percent mourvèdre and 20 percent counoise and alcohol is listed at a modest 12 percent. Rosé in winter? You bet.

Imported by Palm By International, Boca Raton, Florida. Received as a press sample.

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Sips: Cheap red wine – discovering an excellent $10 Chianti

For better or worse, we eat a lot of pasta in our house, despite often-expressed waistline concerns based on the narcotic-like effects of good pasta sauces. (How many of us can really resist the temptation to go back for second helpings?) And because we enjoy pasta so much, I often find myself in short supply of good, inexpensive Italian wines, especially reds, which for me are de rigueur for tomato-based sauces.

Budget Italian reds are a hit-or-miss affair, especially in the $10- and-under category. Yes, there are lots of cheap nero d’avolas from Sicily and primativos from Puglia around, not to mention the familiar big-brand Chiantis from Tuscany and Valpolicellas from the Veneto, most of them ordinary. One that rises above that  status is a $10 wine I brought home the other night from my local wine store, Vincenzo Cesani’s 2008 Chianti Colli Senesi “Pancole.”

This estate-bottled wine from a respected grower in San Gimignano also known for its white vernaccia is one of the better budget Chiantis I’ve tasted in recent years. It’s high in acidity (a requirement for good food wines) with spicy cherry and raspberry tastes, a leather note and a  tannic structure often lacking in wines at this price. Slightly chilled, it was a satisfying match for our tomato and meat sauce. Colli Senesi is perhaps the best known of the “other” Chianti appellations and is generally less expensive than Chianti Classico.  Alcohol in this sangiovese-based wine is 12.5 percent. Imported by Montecastelli Selections, New York.

Technorati Tags: Italian red wines,Edwad Deitch,Chianti,Chianti Colli Senesi,Viincenzo Cesani,Pancole,San Gimignano,Vernaccia,Tuscany,Tuscan reds,Budget wines,Budget red wines,Cheap Italian wine,Cheap red wine,$10 wine,Sangiovese

Sips: For Super Bowl Sunday and beyond, bring out the Prosecco

At last week’s Vino 2011 trade event here in New York, during a review of Italian wine in this country, the subject of sparkling wine was put into blunt context by Leonardo LoCascio, president of Winebow, a leading importer. “I don’t think we have a sparkling wine story,” he declared at a press conference. “We have a Prosecco story.” He was referring, of course, to the highly popular sparkling wine from the Veneto region, which has enjoyed enviable and singular success among non-Champagne contenders for a major piece of the budget bubbly market in recent years. I, for one, intend to have a few bottles on hand as I watch the Super Bowl with friends on Sunday night.

But a typical bottle of Prosecco, unpretentious and affordable, doesn’t need an excuse to be opened, as I reminded myself the other night when I felt like something light and refreshing before dinner. So I pulled out a bottle of  Canella’s Prosecco Brut from the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where it was sitting among several other sparklers of various pedigrees. Very dry with fine bubbles, it had apple and muted herb and citrus notes and was all but effortless to drink, even more so given a price tag of $15 or so. And with half a bottle left that evening, it also held up just fine in the fridge with a miscellaneous cork stuck back in the bottle until the next night, when I brought it out for an encore. Think of Prosecco as a go-to sparkler for just about any occasion, including  Valentine’s Day.

There are, of course, many other Italian sparkling wines at various price points, including sparkling Gavi, Moscato d’Asti, sweet and dry red Lambruscos, the higher-end Franciacorta and others. Unfortunately, they are minor players in the American market. Leonardo LoCasio said that higher-priced bubbly doesn’t do very because “on a special occasion people want to go safe.” In other words, he said, they want Champagne. Fortunately, for most other occasions, there is Prosecco. Canella’s Prosecco Brut imported by Empson (U.S.A.), Alexandria, Virginia. Received as a press sample.

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SWIRLS: Vino 2011 -- “totally insane” Italian appellations, retro wine, Robert Parker

Here in New York, this week’s Vino 2011 Italian Wine Week opened today with some perspectives on Italian wine and other aspects of the wine business from a panel of industry leaders. Here are some of the more interesting observations and comments.

From Leonardo Lo Cascio, Chairman and Founder, Winebow, Inc.

-- “In the sweet retail spot of $25 and under there is not another country that comes close to Italy” for American wine drinkers.

-- On Italian sparkling wines: “I don’t think we have an Italian sparkling wine story, we have a Prosecco story.” Beyond the great success of Prosecco, Italian sparklers “don’t do very well because they are priced like Champagne” and on a special occasion “people want to go safe” with Champagne.

-- On Italy’s wine laws: “Most Italian wine laws are totally irrelevant to the American consumer. People can’t make their way around DOCs or DOCGs. The  whole thing needs to be simplified and made easier. We have some appellations that are totally insane.” Example he cited: Colli Morenici e Mantovani del Garda. “There are 280 of those appellations.”

From Cristina Mariani May, Co-CEO, Banfi Vintners:

-- There is increasing interest among consumers in regional wines from Italy,  and there is a fallback to “retro wines” such as dry Lambruscos, Soaves, Amarones and Frascatis. “What is old is really new again but new in a better style, a purer style.”

-- More and more Italian producers are using natural  growing methods, even if they are not going through the cumbersome process of becoming certified organic.

From Tyler Colman, editor of Dr. Vino.com:

-- On wine journalism and criticism: The traditional model of “handing down points from Manna in Heaven is running out of gas.” Young people, thirsty for wine knowledge, are largely getting it from their friends and passionate retailers. As for wine information on the Web: “It’s a bull market for free content. If you’re giving it away for free on the Internet, people will come and read your content.” He noted that there are four million “core wine consumers” on Twitter alone.

-- Robert Parker won’t be replaced and there will be “a lot more voices” in terms of influential wine writers.

-- On barriers to increasing Italian wine sales even further:  1)more education will be needed because of the great diversity of Italian wines;  2) “The retail channel, I think it’s fair to say, is blocked” because of this country’s still-restrictive wine shipping laws.

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SIPS: A tale of two malbecs (and you thought malbec only came from Argentina)

After a long conversation about business with a friend, I  reminded her that, among other things, I write about wine. She responded by noting how she had recently been enjoying malbec. She quickly confirmed my hunch that she was  referring to malbec from Argentina, which has become an “it” red wine of late. I wasn’t surprised that she had no idea that malbec originated in France, as a blending variety in Bordeaux, where it has all but disappeared, and, more importantly, in Cahors in the southwest, where it remains the centerpiece of that appellation. More on Cahors in a moment.

But first, Argentine malbec can be stunning. One has only to  spend an evening with a wine like the 2008 Malbec from Luca Vineyard and Winery in the Uco Valley of Mendoza to get a sense of the variety’s depth and range in the sun-drenched region. This limited-production wine, which is priced at retailers on wine-searcher.com at anywhere from $25 to $37, has a refined, Bordeaux-like elegance with sweet and concentrated blackberry and plum tastes joined by earth and coffee notes, all supported by a fine tannic structure. Alcohol is 14 percent. Imported by Vine Connections, Sausalito, California.

Based on a sampling of several Cahors releases, the French wines deserve more attention than they are getting. Compared with malbecs from Argentina, their style is a bit less fruit forward and more lean, although I found good concentration and lots of complexity.  I also found the popular notion that they be somewhat coarse and unrefined to be overstated, at least in ‘06 and ‘07 vintages.

My favorite was the 2007 Cahors from Chateau de Gaudou, a ready-to-drink blend of 80 percent malbec, 15 percent merlot and five percent tannat. It has relatively soft tannins, blackberry and blueberry fruit and notes of mlk chocolate, herbs and black pepper. I was shocked at its $10 price. Alcohol is 13 percent. Imported by USA Wine Imports, New York.

Also worth trying is the 2006 Cahors from Chateau de Haute-Serre, which is well balanced with beautiful fruit, mainly blackberry, along with earth and tobacco notes. It’s listed on wine-searcher.com at at between $17 and $22. The blend is 80 percent malbec, 10 percent merlot and 10 percent tannat. Alcohol is 13 percent. Imported by Baron Francois, New York.

Notably, and with good reason, the varieties are listed on the labels of these wines.  This represents a welcome loosening of the strict French appellation and labeling laws that will allow the wines compete  more effectively with their New World counterparts. The average wine drinker will know that France, as well as Argentina, produces first-rate malbecs. Wines received as press samples.

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SIPS: An unusual California offering -- white wines from Dierberg and Star Lane released with a little bottle age

Something quite different arrived at my door the other day. As part of a sampling of new releases from a California producer, the two white wines in the shipment caught my eye because of their vintages. One was a chardonnay and the other was a sauvignon blanc. While most chardonnays being released right now are from 2009 or perhaps 2008, this one was from 2007. While almost all the sauvignons I receive are from the ‘09 vintage (some 2010s from the Southern Hemisphere are also now being released) this  one was from 2008. Most chardonnays, of course, will benefit from some bottle age and some of the great ones from Burgundy and California can develop for years. While sauvignon blancs are typically enjoyed young, they, too, can develop in the bottle.

And so it was that I tasted these two wines from Dierberg Estate Vineyards in Santa Barbara County on different evenings. The first was Dierberg Estate’s 2007 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay. Made in a bright, fruit-forward style, this wine is a model of balance at this point with subtle, well-integrated oak treatment (just 40 percent of the blend was aged in new oak). There’s lots of complexity here with notes of lime and orange, tropical fruit, ginger, vanilla and a nice underlying minerality. Quite Burgundian in character with superb acidity and alcohol of 14.1 percent. The wine would be superb with all kinds of white meats and elegant fish dishes. It was one of my favorite chardonnays of the past year and is well worth the $32 price.

Dierberg’s sister property, Star Lane Vineyard, focuses on Bordeaux varieties in the relatively warm eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, and its 2008 Santa Ynez Valley Sauvignon Blanc is  also notable for its balanced approach to a variety that often presents itself in extremes – exceedingly racy, as in many New Zealand sauvignons, or as sauvignon hiding in chardonnay clothing, which is sometimes the case with California sauvignons. Star Lane offers a delicious middle ground in this $20 wine with muted notes of pink grapefruit, lemon curd and lime and lots of minerals on the long finish. Acidity is very ample, in this one as well, and alcohol is listed at 13.4 percent.

Beyond modest levels of alcohol and releasing their white wines with a little age, the Dierberg wines are made with an emphasis on native yeasts, all of which combine to make them distinct and memorable.

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‘True Grit’: more on the wine and movie connection

After my piece yesterday on “True Grit” the movie and the wine, I heard from Jan Mettler, a partner at Boss Dog Marketing, which represents Parducci Wine Cellars, the producer of True Grit Petite Sirah. In an email, Jan related how she and her agency came up with a tie-in for the 2007 vintage of the wine with the launch of the movie. She wrote:

“… when the partners at Parducci Wine Cellars requested that we look into a connection, we joined IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) and pulled the phone number for Joel Coen's agent.  One conversation led to another and we followed up with wine samples to all, from Mike Zoss Productions (the Coens’ production company) to Coen's PR handlers, to top executives at Paramount.  Doors opened and True Grit became the exclusive wine pour for the screening at Academy Theater.”

She continued: “The folks at Paramount Marketing liked the True Grit so much that they bought 160 bottles to send to their media and another 175 bottles as gifts for their employees. “ Jeff Bridges, she added, sent Parducci an email saying he was enjoying the wine.

It was, as they say, the kind of exposure money can’t buy.

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SIPS: Reflecting on ‘True Grit,’ the movie and the wine

I usually ignore wine and pop culture tie-ins, such as the one I received not long ago for “True Grit” featuring the re-make of the movie classic and the wine of the same name. In this case, however, not only did I thoroughly enjoy both but was fascinated to come acros s the back story of just how True Grit wound up on the a wine label.

True Grit the wine is a $30 Petite Sirah produced by Parducci Wine Cellars, part of the Mendocino Wine Company in California’s Mendocino County. It turns out that the idea for the name came in 2005 when a publicist suggested to Tim Thornhill, Parducci’s proprietor, that petite sirah was a “John Wayne among reds,” Thornhill related to Wine Spectator. The publicist was Jo Diaz, who has promoted petite sirah for years through her “PS I Love You” campaign (but who does not represent Parducci itself). I’ve always thought the slogan was a bit hokey and  haven’t referred to it until now, but it seems to have worked well for the variety, and Jo, I’ve discovered, has a very good ear for this sort of thing.

She recalls the Parducci experience on her own wine blog  and reprints a release on petite sirah she wrote at the time in which she called it the “all-American variety” and a “burly, manly wine.” The description may have fit well with the petite sirah campaign and the True Grit narrative, but I doubt Jo will mind if I say that it doesn’t quite do justice to the 2007 True Grit, which is a wine of elegance and complexity (along with a little brawn). It is marked by herb-infused black cherry and blackberry notes, an earthy core and unsweetened cocoa on the long and considerably tannic finish. Although alcohol is 14.5 percent, this is not a big or heavy wine, with the overall impression bright rather than ponderous. As I breathed in the  aromas again a few days after opening the bottle, Bordeaux even came to mind.

No, True Grit the wine may have a pair of cowboy boots with spurs on its label, but I can’t imagine Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges or John Wayne) trading his bottle of hooch for a glass of this sophisticated and just slightly gutsy red. (Received as a press sample.)

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