BkkE

A novice wine lover learning as he goes . . .

An Interesting Argentine Blend

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on April 25, 2012

2010 Alamos Red Blend
Varietal: Malbec, Bonarda, Tempranillo.
Region: Argentina – Mendoza.
ABV: 13.5 %.
Color: The wine was a deep purple.
Nose: A pronounced bouquet of spice and fruit.
Taste: This is a medium-bodied wine with varied fruit flavors. Blackberry and hints of plum are most dominant. There are also a host of warm spices and soft oak to compliment a really complex collection of nuanced flavor. The tannins were moderate and there was the slightest hint of tobacco on the finish. This wine is both a good sipper and pared with food. Steamed vegetables and chicken sausage were excellent companions. I give this wine a stout 7.
Score: 7

Argentina, Malbec Argentina, Malbec, Mendoza

A Unique Discovery

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on April 20, 2012

One of the things I enjoy most when I travel is visiting local wine shops. There’s so much to learn about a place by seeing the local wine shop. Are they proud of their local wines (now that all 50 states make wine)? Do they prefer California over European? Do they prefer expensive wines or less expensive? So much can be learned by just walking around and seeing what they have for sale.

Such was the case earlier this week when I walked into a wine shop in Richmond, Va and was utterly confused by the layout. To date, every wine shop I’ve visited was organized by varietal and/or region to some extent. After a few minutes of walking up and down the aisles, it didn’t appear as though this was the case here. After a few confusing minutes of wandering I simply asked the proprietor how he had his shop organized. I came to find out he had it organized by price. He said that most of his customers came in knowing what they wanted to pay, not necessarily what kind of wine they wanted. He knew his shop and stock very well. He also knew his customers. So, when they were wandering around the $10 – $15 section, he could saunter over ask what they liked and help them find a California cab, Australian sauvignon blanc or whatever they were seeking. It was a fascinating idea, and I thought really customer focused. If you’re ever in the Richmond area, I suggest you check it out. It’s in a really great neighborhood, too. Once Upon A Vine.

So, what did I end up with you might ask? The uniqueness of the store inspired me to try a wine I’ve been hearing a lot about but have just never been daring enough to try . . . a French Rose.

2011 Cave de l’Angevine Rosé d’Anjou
Varietal: Grolleau, Cabernet Franc
Region: France – Loire Valley – Anjou
ABV: 11 percent
Color: The wine was a clear watermelon pink.
Nose: Slightly muted strawberry.
Taste: This is a medium bodied wine with good acidity. Bright red fruits like strawberry are the most prominent. Though there are hints of green apples and even raspberry too. Despite the color, this is not a sweet wine. It’s a dryer styled rosé, and quite tasty. It holds up really well with foods. I enjoyed it both with white sauce pasta one night and a chicken pizza the next. On both accounts, it was a great wine choice. As this is my first rosé, it’s really hard to give this a quality rating. I liked it, and I want to try more dry rosés, now. So, I’m going to give it a 7. If you are a rose fan and have tried this, let me know what you think below.
Score: 7

France, Loire Valley France, Loire Valley, Rose, Wine shop

Organic or not . . . that’s for You to decide

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on April 6, 2012

There’s a lot being said about the organic food movement, both good and bad. I will not try to weigh in on the larger debate, though I’ll offer a limited opinion when it comes to wine-making. The term organic simply means that the wine was grown, harvested, and produced using methods approved the Agriculture Department’s National Organic Program. There are strict rules as to what practices classify as organic, suffice it to say generally it means growing the grapes and making the wine without any artificial chemicals.

I’m all for avoiding artificial chemicals whenever possible, and I’ve had some outstanding organic wines. However, I’m also supportive of the advances of modern technology and have had many more amazing non-organic wines. Either way, the real test of the wine is not whether or not its organic, but rather whether you or I like it. So, that being said, here’s a quick review of an organic wine.

2007 Sterling Vineyards Organic Chardonnay
Varietal: Chardonnay (organic)
Region: California – Mendocino
ABV: 13.8%
Color: A very bright polished brass color.
Nose: Pronounced green apple and fruit.
Taste: A medium bodied wine with soft flavors. Tangy green apple fruit with the tiniest hint of orange are the more dominant flavors. There were modest flavors of oak that gave way to warm baking spices as the wine opened. In fact, the longer the wine sat the better it became. Interesting flavors of earthy green fruit really began to shine. Overall, I give this wine a 7 minus. It’s not the oak and butter bomb that can be typical of California Chardonnay. There’s some nuance here that I enjoyed. A little more complexity might have bumped it up the scale. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable wine.
Score: 7 minus

California, Chardonnay California, Chardonnay, Mendocino, Organic, Sterling Vineyards

Banner Elk Marechal Foch

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on April 1, 2012

Banner Elk Marechal Foch
Varietal: Marechal Foch
Region: United States
Color: The wine was a very dark almost inky crimson color.
Nose: The nose was slightly musty with dark fruit.
Taste: Dark fruit like blackberry and plum were prominent in this medium-bodied wine. There were also hints of herbs and spices with a light musty earthiness. Softer tannins made for a good finish. While this wine reminded me of a gamay at times, there was also some darker fruit flavors like a more full-bodied varietal, as well. It made for a very interesting wine. The strong acid also means it will hold up well against a wide variety of foods. The uniqueness of this wine leads me to rate it a solid 7. This wine won awards, and I think I understand why.
Score: 7 plus

North Carolina

Biltmore Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on April 1, 2012

2008 Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: North Carolina
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
ABV: 14.5 %
Color: Cloudy maroon with an orange tinge around the edge.
Nose: A muted smell of musty cherry.
Taste: This is a smooth full-bodied wine. The flavors are muted and dark – dark cherry, dark blackberry, even a hint of a dark blueberry. The tannins are solid and the acid is present yet soft. A finish full of leather, cedar, and smoke complement a subtle hint of herbs. This is not a blow-you-away fruit forward red wine. Rather, its a quiet winner. This is a really well made wine, and it showed. I would rate this a 7 plus.
Score: 7 plus.

Cabernet Sauvignon, North Carolina

Aggressive Yet Tasty

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on February 13, 2012

There’s a new bit of information in the review below. Starting with this review, I’m going to start posting the ABV, which stands for alcohol by volume. Required in the United States to be printed on the bottle, the ABV is the percent of alcohol in the wine. It’s an important number because it can offer a lot of information about the taste of the wine. Too high and the wine can be described as too hot, which detracts from flavor. If the number is too low, the wine can be bland or too fruity. The ABV can also tell you something about where the grapes were grown. Typically, hot climates tend to produce wines with a higher ABV.

The reason I’m adding it is because after having gone through a few very high ABV wines, I’ve really started to pay attention to that little number on the bottle. The real ABV of a wine can vary by as much as a percentage point from the number printed on the bottle – margin of error they call it. So, if I’m trying to avoid a wine that might push 15 percent, and thus be a little too hot for my taste, I tend to steer clear of anything with a number greater than 14 on the bottle. Here’s a wine below that hits the ABV sweet spot, if only they had to put information about the strength of the tannins on the bottle.

2005 Casado Morales Rioja
Region: Spain – Rioja
Varietal: 60 % Tempranillo, 40 % Graciano
ABV: 13.8 %
Color: The wine was a dark purple in the glass.
Nose: Pronounced slightly musty aroma of fruit and vanilla.
Taste: This is a full-bodied wine with flavors of red fruit. Nuts and spice also linger with smooth licorice and a slight hint of vanilla. There is good structure with a medium-length finish. The tannins on this wine were very aggressive. After a forewarning in the store, I decanted this wine for a good 2 hours. Even so, the tannins nearly jumped out of the wine. I like a good tannic wine as much as the next guy. This was a little much for me, though. Otherwise, it was an absolutely amazing wine. The flavors were bold yet intricate. Because of the tannins, I’d only give this wine a 7 minus. It’s worth a try, just make sure you decant it for a few hours first.
Score: 7 minus

Graciano, Rioja, Tempranillo, Uncategorized

A Double Taste of Spain

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on January 30, 2012

2009 Bodegas Arrocal Ribera del Duero
Varietal: Tempranillo
Region: Spain – Ribera del Duero
Color: The wine was a dark almost inky purple.
Nose: It had a pronounced aroma of dark cherries.
Taste: This is a full-bodied dry wine with flavors of dark fruit. Cherry and oak are the most dominant, and it has an almost jammy nature like that of a California Cabernet. Soft herbs hide just under the surface, and good structure gives the wine a very long finish. Solid acid helps it hold up against full flavored food, and at 14 percent ABV, the alcohol is kept under control preventing that hotness that can sometimes negatively affect bolder styled reds. As a fan of big bold red wine, and a growing fan of Spanish wine, I give this a 7 plus. Especially priced under $20, this is a wine I would definitely recommend.
Score: 7 plus.

2008 Flavium Bierzo
Varietal: Mencia
Region: Spain – Bierzo
Color: The wine was a bright red-garnet color in the glass.
Nose: Slightly musty with pronounced dark fruit.
Taste: This was a full-bodied wine with great structure. Blueberries and chocolate were dominant with just a little bit of raspberry. The dusty tannins led to a nice long finish. There was even a tiny bit of muted mint combined with light earthy herbs. There were a lot of different flavors that really made this an absolutely amazing wine. At less than $15, I was very pleasantly surprised that I ended up giving this wine a rare 10 score. I’ve seen this several places since I first bought it, so I think it’s pretty widely distributed. I would definitely recommend this wine.
Score: 10

10, Mencia, Spain, Tempranillo

Chianti, Portugal, and an Important Lesson Learned

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on January 16, 2012

It’s always fun trying new wines with folks, especially when it’s an opportunity to share a bit of my wine knowledge, limited as though it may be. This weekend, I got to not only enjoy a new wine and share a little wisdom, but I also learned a very valuable wine-enthusiast lesson – Wine-Away works! I was enjoying the first wine mentioned below when low-and-behold, my clumsiness somehow had me spilling an entire glass all over a nice cream-colored couch. Red wine and light colors do not mix. However, thanks to an emergency run to Town Duck in Warrenton, Va. for a bottle of Wine-Away, disaster was averted, and I was able to enjoy the wines below. I hope you do too!

2008 Piccini Chianti Classico
Varietal: Sangiovese, Merlot
Region: Italy – Tuscany – Chianti
Color: The wine was a brickish purple and slightly clear.
Nose: Musty mocha and dark fruit were most prominent.
Taste: This is a full-bodied dry wine with solid acid. Flavors of cherry and mocha were dominant. There were also hints of an earthy pencil lead hidden underneath. The finish was long to make this a very enjoyable wine. The earthiness also made for the tiniest bit of stinkiness sometimes present in good Old World style wines. I enjoyed this wine before dinner with some heavier appetizers. The strong acid and variety of flavors made it a good choice. I would give this wine a 7. It’s a good choice for the Chianti lovers out there, and a good wine for those who aren’t the biggest fans of Chianti – like yours truly.
Score: 7

2009 Giesta Dao
Varietal: Touriga, Tinta Roriz, Jaen
Region: Portugal – Beiras – Dao
Color: This wine was a clear purple-red.
Nose: It had a pronounced clean smell of vanilla and cherry.
Taste: A more medium-bodied wine with dominant flavors of vanilla and cherry. There were also hints of lighter fruit like strawberry present, too. The tannins were light making this an easy-to-drink crowd-pleaser. Hints of herbs and light spice gave it a unique nuance style. A lighter shrimp and spinach pasta dinner was the companion for this wine, meaning this lighter styled red was a excellent choice. A heavier red or even sweeter lighter white might have swung the balance too far in either direction. Given the unique nuance of the flavors of this wine, I’m giving it a 7 plus. In the past, I’ve not been a big fan of Portuguese wines, but this might make me rethink my bias.
Score: 7 plus

Chianti, Italy, Merlot, Portugal, Touriga

A French Christmas

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on December 20, 2011

Every year I pile the family in the front-wheel-drive sleigh to seek out the most special of Christmas symbols, the ~~Griswold~~ Robinson family Christmas tree. It’s an hour and a half trek into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia that usually takes a good half-day. In days gone by (read: pre-child) the goal was to get out, get back, get the tree up and the lights hung before kick-off. Now, the goal is keeping the child happy packed in her car seat next to a rambunctious golden retriever and a large evergreen. The kick-off can and often will have to wait. But what has this got to do with France? I’m getting there.

After the tree is up, the wife spends the better part of a day transforming our house into something that would make Will Ferrel’s Elf jealous. It’s truly a winter wonderland, one that’s not spoiled by the arrival of any well-meaning redneck cousins from Kansas, either. The trouble is, having retired our annual Christmas party a few years ago, we don’t get to “show off the house”, anymore. Whereas, I’m happy to enjoy our festive abode in the solitude of my chair, my wife would prefer the warm embrace of kith and kin. This year she got her wish, as we hosted her parents for an afternoon and evening of family games and Christmas presents. Here’s where the French part kicks in, I promise.

In one of my wilder moments, I decided it would be cool to have a French theme for dinner. Truth-be-told, I wanted an excuse to purchase and enjoy a few higher end bottles of French wine. Though, I will admit the excitement of some culinary exploration did sound inviting. So, after a little internet research and a trip to one my favorite local wine shops, I had a menu. Here’s how it went.

The first course was a real test of my (my wife and her sister, truthfully) chef skills. We began with a french puff pastry called, Gougere. I paired it with a Macon-Fuisse, which is a white Burgundy made from the Chardonnay grape.

2009 Les Vieilles Vignes Macon-Fuisse
Region: France – Burgundy – Maconnais
Varietal: Chardonnay
Color: The wine was a clear light straw color in the glass.
Nose: It was clean and faint with hints of pear.
Taste: This is a full-bodied wine with pear and green apple most prominent. There was just the slightest hint of oak and moderate acidity giving this wine a very smooth finish. The tiniest bit of almond was also present which made for a really good companion with the Gougere. I probably served the wine a bit too chilled at first. As it opened and warmed up, the flavors really began to shine, though. This was the best wine of the day. It scores a solid 7 plus in my book.
Score: 7 plus

After the appetizers and the unfortunate end of the Macon-Fuisse, we traveled just to the south to the Rhone Valley. The second wine was a Grenache based Cotes du Rhone.

2009 Xavier Cotes du Rhone
Region: France – Rhone
Varietal:60 % Grenache, 20 % Mourvedre, 10 % Carignan, 10 % Syrah
Color: The wine was dark purple in color.
Nose: It had musty and pronounced aromas of dark fruit.
Taste: The wine began with soft flavors of vanilla and blackberry. Plum and spice were also present. This is a medium bodied wine and like the Macon-Fuisse took some time to show its true character. Tight at first, it took a few glasses for it to fully open. Once it did, though, I wasn’t overly impressed. It was a bit fruit forward and light for my liking. I also thought it was a bit flat. I like something a little more nuanced in an Old World wine. This was my least favorite of the day’s choices, and I score it a measly 4 plus.
Score: 4 plus

The final wine was the dinner wine, chosen to go with an adventurous fully homemade French meal. The main course was Entrecôte Béarnaise (Pan-Seared Ribeye with Bearnaise sauce) with sautéed spinach and fingerling potatoes as sides. No trip to French wine country is complete without a stop-over in the granddaddy region of them all, Bordeaux. The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon based wine of this maritime region are also good choices with steak, so it was a natural fit.

2009 Chateau La Mothe du Barry Le Barry
Region: France – Bordeaux
Varietal: 70 % Merlot, 30 % Cabernet Sauvignon (this is a guess based on other vintages)
Color: The wine was a very dark brick-red.
Nose: A pronounced musty and blackberry nose.
Taste: This earthy and full-bodied wine was full of leather and oak. It was well structured with moderate tannins and a medium finish. Dark fruits like blackberry and black currant were prominent. A solid acid component made the wine an excellent choice with the red meat and Bearnaise sauce, while the nuance of a well-made Old World wine did not overpower the softer side dishes. While this didn’t blow my socks off, I thought it was a well made wine and a good end to the trip through France. I give this wine a solid 7.
Score: 7

Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, France, Macon-Fuisse, Merlot, Rhone

2010 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc

Leave a Comment Posted by BkkE on December 13, 2011

Supposedly, there’s a time for everything. The time for Sauvignon Blanc is the dead of summer, supposedly. I will agree that on a humid sweltering summer afternoon there’s nothing quite like a cold crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc on the front porch, or side porch, or back deck. However, I’d offer that this crisp fruity wine can also be enjoyed in the cold crisp weather of late fall, as well. If oranges and grapefruit can be an apropos Christmas gift, why can’t a glass of wine with hints of citrus be enjoyed in the shadows of Christmas trees and yule logs. It can. It should. It did. We’re currently in the middle of the Christmas season, and the other evening there was nothing I wanted more with dinner than a crisp clean glass of New Zealand Sauv Blanc. And that’s just what I had.

2010 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: New Zealand – Marlborough
Color: It was a clear pale straw in the glass.
Nose: The wine had clean pronounced citrus aromas.
Taste: This was a full-bodied wine with bright citrus flavors. Lemons and grapefruit were the most prominent and there was even the tiniest bit of slate hidden in the finish. With a strong acid component the wine held up to well to full flavored food. The only drawback was I thought the wine was slightly on the bland side. I like a really crisp bite from a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Whereas a Sancere might be a little more nuanced, I want a slap-in-your-face wine from the new world. Given this, I’m going to rate this a 4 plus. It’s a decent every day wine, but it’s not an award winner.
Score: 4 plus

Marlborough, New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc, Uncategorized

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