Archive for 2010

Home Archive for 2010

Many years ago I was reading a book by an Englishman who had been a very successful wine merchant turned novelist, and he had one of his characters insist that the only way to drink champagne was ice-cold and out of a chilled pewter tankard. I must admit that the idea immediately intrigued me. I realized the problems with this – the champagne would have to be imbibed fairly quickly, before the bubbles dispersed and it went flat. Now, I would never in good conscience suggest guzzling champagne, but I have to admit I tried it and for a few years it became my chosen method for drinking sparkly.

The other problem for some would be the pewter. Once upon a time the lead in pewter could and often did cause anything from gout to lead-poisoning, but there is no longer any lead in pewter these days. No, the problem for some would be any flavors imparted by the pewter. Personally I found this negligible, but the alternative of course would be to use glass tankards.

Years later, after almost forgetting my little tankard foible, I happened to be staying at The White Hart, a hotel in Devonshire, England. It was a very old hotel, parts of which dated back to the fifteenth century, and had an adjoining pub. I went in to the pub for lunch and guess what they were serving? Champagne in pewter tankards! The difference was that they served it in half pint tankards rather than the imperial pint ones I had once used. This worked well – you didn’t have to drink quite so quickly - and of course if you were in the mood for more you could simply order another half pint.

Now, I’m not saying this is how you should always drink champagne, but I am saying that there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with these things. Try it, even if it’s just as a conversation piece, the next time you have some friends over. And if the idea of using champagne this way seems something of a sacrilege to you, remember there are many excellent and fine cavas, proseccos, spumantes, and sparkling wines available at your local ABC Fine Wine and Spirits.

So let me raise my tankard to you and wish you all a very Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year! Cheers!

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Coast

Visiting with a friend of mine at a Christmas party last week, we got to talking about some good wines and the friends we enjoyed them with over the past twelve months. As I was driving around town yesterday and started thinking about the places and people that were a part of my wine experiences this past year, the first thing that came to mind was how fortunate I am to have such a great group of friends and co-workers that share my love of food and wine. I was invited to a few memorable wine dinners and traveled to a number of beautiful wine regions for work, though it didn’t always feel like work.

I had dinner with a couple of dear friends, Vince & Holly, in March. Anytime we get together it is always fun and the wines we enjoyed this year with the roast tenderloin were very good: wines like the 1989 La Mission Haut Brion and ’89 Lynch-Bages. Vince has always been of the mind that great wine is meant to drink and share with his friends and has always been extremely generous.

I had an opportunity to travel with Bill Stobbs, a contributor to this blog, and a few others to Tuscany in the spring and visited the properties owned by Bruna Baroncini, a very fascinating woman who is producing some incredible Rosso, Brunello and Reserva wines from her Poggio Castellare property in Tuscany. While there, we had a chance to do something one morning in the tasting room at Castellare that doesn’t happen too often: we were able to taste through the last six vintages of Bruna’s Reserva, 2004 through 2009, with the winemaker. To see the difference each year made on the character of the wine was a real treat. After that we sat outside in a courtyard under a linen canopy and had a lunch of Italian meats, cheeses, olives, wonderful tomatoes, and bread that you dream about, all washed down with delicious Tuscan Rose. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing and we were surrounded by the sights and sounds of Tuscany. A great lunch!

These were a couple of the terrific wine and food experiences for 2010 and hope to have some more in 2011. If you have any to share, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

I love this time of year. Our stores are full of shoppers looking for help with their wine selection and I am always eager to help them make a good selection. This is not always easy as many of our holiday guests visit us only once a year and are not really sure what they are looking for.

Last week I had a sweet older Italian woman ask me where the "Italian Champagne" was located. Technically there is no such thing as "Italian Champagne," so I knew this would take a bit of probing to get her what she wanted. After a short question and answer session she was soon on her way with what she came for.

When most people think of Italian wine they generally don't think of sparkling wine...but they should. Italy produces more different kinds of sparkling wines than any other country in the world. In fact, Italy has been crafting sparkling wines since Roman times, long before Dom Perignon was making Champagne in France. From light, off dry Proseccos to the classic Franciacortas, Italian sparking wines are varied, tasty and quite often affordable.

Prosecco

This light sparkler, from the Veneto region in northern Italy has exploded in popularity recently. It is light and refreshing with hints of melons, pears and almonds. Prosecco is made from a grape of the same name and is excellent paired with Florida's seafood.

Asti

Asti (no longer called Asti Spumante) is both the name of a town in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy and the sparkling wine. Asti is light and slightly sweet with a lovely peachy quality, made from 100 percent moscato grapes. It has a high acidity which helps to balance out its sweetness. Asti is ideal paired with Gorgonzola cheese and by itself as an apperitivo.

Moscato D' Asti

Moscato D' Asti, too, is made from Moscato grapes. It has fewer bubbles than its Asti cousin. This wine is light and crisp and relatively low in alcohol, about five to seven percent. Drink Moscato D' Asti with traditional Italian biscotti.

Bracchetto

Bracchetto is a ruby red sparkling wine made from the Bracchetto grape. The wine is festive and light with hints of strawberry and cherry. It is excellent when paired with fruit and cheese.

Italian sparking wines are generally less expensive than their French and California counterparts. They are perfect for holiday toasting and have a crisp inviting character all their own. So come in and let us help you find that perfect, "Italian Champagne."

--Paul Quaglini, Wine Supervisor, SE Florida

I’ll admit it up front – the joys of the holiday season and my British background still brings out the Dickensian in me at this time of year. Corny as it may sound, I love the atmosphere, the traditions, the music, the food, and the wines that associate themselves with Christmastime. In my mind I put aside the stress and crass commercialism that so often overtakes the season and imagine I’m enjoying a steaming bowl of punch with Mr. Pickwick in a snowy 1830’s London inn.

So - anyone for Posset? Posset is a very olde worlde hot drink, a kind of early version of eggnog, made of milk curdled with wine or ale and then spiced. It can be traced back to the 15^th century, and may derive from an earlier similar concoction called Caudle.

Shakespeare mentions it a number of times in his plays. From The Merry Wives of Windsor we have: “Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset tonight at my house”.

There are hundreds of varying recipes for Posset. Here’s one called My Lord of Carlisle’s Sack-Posset from 1671 ---

“Take a pottle of Cream, and boil in it a little whole Cinnamon, and three or four flakes of Mace. To this proportion of Cream put in eighteen yolks of eggs, and eight of the whites; a pint of Sack. Put in three quarters of a pound of sugar into the Wine and Eggs, with a nutmeg grated, and a little beaten Cinnamon; set the Bason on the fire with the Wine and Eggs, and let it be hot. Then put in the Cream boiling from the fire, pour it on high, but stir it not; cover it with a dish, and when it is settlede, strew on the top a little fine Sugar mingled with three grains of Ambergreece, and one grain of Musk, and serve it up.”

Sounds pretty rich and very sweet to me! It should be mentioned that Sack is an antiquated wine term for a white fortified wine, originally somewhat sweet, from Spain or the Canary Islands. Later it became synonymous with dry sherry. Of course this recipe would be only enjoyed by people with money. The poorer people made their posset from ale instead of wine, and thickened it with bread.

A well-made posset has three layers. The uppermost (known as ‘the grace’) is an aerated foam. The middle layer is a smooth, spicy custard to be eaten with a spoon. And the bottom layer is a pungent alcoholic liquid traditionally drunk through a straw-like spout in the posset pot.

As well as being a warming winter drink, posset was also said to be a remedy for colds, sleeplessness, and minor ailments.

I was going to write about another holiday drink, but that will have to wait until my next blog on December 31^st. In the meantime let me raise my posset pot and wish you ---

A joyful, safe, and loving Holiday season to one and all! Cheers!

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Coast

Another good choice for a holiday wine gift can be one of the many sweeter styled dessert wines. One of the first wines that come to mind are the Eisweins (Ice wines) from Germany, Austria and Canada. These wonderfully sweet, rich wines are produced from grapes that are naturally frozen on the vine and then pressed before they thaw, not as easy as it sounds. The frozen little balls are pressed into delicious juice that is extraordinarily sweet, with great balance because of the natural acidity. The sugar level of these wines is approximately 26 to 30 percent sugar by weight. The wine can also be extremely long-lived due to the presence of this acidity. Germany may be the most famous producer of these lovely wines, but Canada is now the largest maker of Eisweins in the world. At your favorite wine shop you may also see wines called Vin de Glacier; these are wines from frozen grapes, but cannot be classified as an Icewine, because the grapes are frozen in freezers, not naturally frozen on the vine.

The Bordeaux region in France also produces one of the great sweet wines of the world, Sauternes. Produced in the Graves region of Bordeaux, this wine is comprised primarily from the Semillon grape, but also includes Sauvignon Blanc and some Muscadelle. What makes this wine so special is a naturally occurring mold called Botrytis cinerea, a.k.a. the “noble rot”…which doesn’t sound so appetizing, but believe me, these are some of the finest wines in the world. This mold makes the fruit shrivel, leaving nothing but drops of extremely sweet, concentrated and very delicious juice. These vineyards are sometimes harvested many times, picking only the grapes that are at just the ripeness and “mold” level to produce the best wine. The finest producer of the wines of Sauternes is Chateau d’Yquem, officially classified as Premier Grand Cru. A couple of years ago a few of us visiting Bordeaux took a wrong turn on an access road and found ourselves being escorted off the property by a security car. Seems we took a turn into the vineyards of Ch. d’Yquem…oops. Some other notable and much less expensive Sauternes include Chateau Rieussec, Climens, Guiraud and Lafaurie-Peyraguey. At some time in your life, please treat yourself to a bottle of one of these unbelievable wines.

You will find other great dessert style wines from around the world such as Vin Santo from Italy, Tokaji Aszu from Hungary and Muscat wines from Australia, France and California, to name a few. These are all great gifts, but you can always have a few bottles at your house to enjoy any time the occasion arises.

Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

For the record, harvest 2010 is now officially in the books. By now, the perennial holdouts for the title of last grape picked (a.k.a. dessert wines) have already been carefully secured, even in the most obscure appellations. It’s a safe bet that in the Niagara Peninsula for example, the very last row of grapes destined for Canadian Ice Wine (or German Eiswein from the Mosel for that matter) are picked, crushed, and fermented. It’s now left to the talents of the winemakers to make the most out of what Mother Nature has provided.

At this juncture, it would be premature to proclaim victory or admit defeat in any winery’s case. Even in tough vintages individual producers can excel. Nonetheless, certain generalizations regarding the outlook for this vintage can be made.

And so here’s the scoop on Portugal and Spain in 2010. The initial assessment of the vintage as a whole is that it may be very good for both.

Portugal’s most famous DOC, the Douro, overcame a damp winter deluge courtesy of a very hot and dry summer. The winter rain was actually beneficial as it came on the heels of a three-year drought. Going into 2010, the grape vines were unduly stressed and the above average rainfall allowed them to reset. July and August was completely devoid of precipitation. This was followed by a mild albeit occasionally moist September and the few lingering showers delayed part of the harvest. The area’s top grape, Touriga Nacional, did particularly well and produced musts with very good sugar levels, colors and aromas. The early prediction in the Porto DOC is that this may not be a declared vintage port year but may be good enough to produce some excellent Single Quinta ports. Only time will tell.

In the top appellations of Spain, all concerned are equally pleased with the results of their harvests. Northern Spain had a wet and cold winter, but warm summer days combined with cool nights to positive results. Preliminary reports indicate prospective wines with balance and ripeness. It appears that quality of the Tempranillo picked in Rioja and Ribera del Duero was high with the berries featuring fresh acidities. The only bad news was that the harvest was small; a result of spring rains during flowering reducing grape yields. The white wine regions of Rueda and Rias Baixas also seemed to fair well. Here too ripe, clean and healthy grapes were picked under optimal conditions.

We won’t know precisely how good the wines of 2010 will be in Iberia for several months but the buzz right now is noteworthy. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated.

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida

The enjoyment of wine sometimes involves a number of little rituals which to the outsider can seem a little pompous and even downright strange! We have the ritual of sniffing and inspecting the cork after opening the bottle. We have the weird cabbalistic symbolism of passing the port decanter to the left – well, actually the host pours the port to the person on the right, then pours his own, then passes the decanter to the person to the left; the decanter must then go around the table, each person pouring his own, and must never come to rest on the table until it returns to the host. (I don’t think anybody really knows the full reason behind this one!)

We have corkscrews and wine keys, some resembling antique torture devices, for every possible occasion. Not to mention decanting devices that come right out of Rube Goldberg!

We have wine glasses for every style of wine. Glasses for reds and glasses for whites, glasses for just about any wine region or grape variety you can mention.

Fashion statements, I suppose, can become rituals, too. Note the wine charms that were so popular at wine parties a few years ago. And now I’m beginning to see wine koozies – Woozies I believe they’re called – that cover your glass much like a koozie covers your bottle of beer. (I think I’d better reserve my judgment on these and just say if you want to have fun with them – go ahead and enjoy! – there are worse things you could be doing.)

As far as I’m concerned, I can and sometimes do involve myself in these little rituals if the situation demands. But at home I prefer to keep everything as simple as possible. I use a simple ‘waiter’s friend’ wine key. I use only either Bordeaux or Burgundy glasses for all still wines, plus champagne flutes and, because I love sherry, sherry copitas. That’s all. Nice and simple, no?

But I do have one wine ritual which I recommend to anyone who loves wine. It originated in Italy, I believe, but you see it more and more in the wine world at large. It’s called preparing (or seasoning, or sometimes priming) the glass. This simply means that you pour a little wine in your glass, swirl it around to coat the inside, then pour from that glass to the next and swirl, and so on down the line. At the last glass you pour that dash of wine out, and then fill the glasses with a normal serving. Now you’ve prepared the glass for the wine – it’s a baptism of sorts! – but also removes any extraneous cupboard or soap odors from the glass, and I swear it helps bring out the aromas of the wine.

With the holidays coming up, I’ll mention one other ritual I have. For special occasions when I’m pouring really great wines I keep a silver or gold oil-based pen handy. When the bottle is finished I note the date and the occasion on the bottle and have everyone there sign it and make comments if they want to. Then it goes up on a top shelf with the other memorable bottles from parties past.

So what’s your ritual?

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Florida

As we work our way toward the end of another year, the traditional surge in sparkling wine sales has begun. This time of year the sale of any and all wines with bubbles exponentially increases with each passing day leading up to New Year’s day. As I spend more time in the stores and have much more interaction with our guests I see that not much has changed when you are approached and asked where is your “Champagne” section? This usually leads to a game of 20 questions to try to figure out if they are asking for true French Champagne or one of the many sparkling wines produced throughout the world. The word Champagne has become synonymous with any wine that contains bubbles much as all tissues are called Kleenex and pain tablets Aspirin. So, narrowing down just exactly which sparkler they prefer can sometimes take some tact and patience. I usually use brand names to help figure out what they are hoping to find. By asking if they are looking for Haton, Moet, Clicquot or maybe something from Korbel , Cooks or Martini & Rossi it helps to avoid any possible embarrassing moment or I would rather direct them to the lesser priced sparkling section and have them either say thank you or I was hoping for a fine French Champagne. Better to have them shop-up than to look a little embarrassed to ask for the Andre instead of the Bollinger. I have heard an employee, when asked where the Champagne section is located, ask the guest “do you want the good, French Champagne section or the cheaper California kind”. Helpful yes…tactful no.

This a really good opportunity to introduce people to some of the terrific sparkling wines from around the world. Something on the drier side like a Cava from Spain, one of the delicious sparklers from Italy such as the Extra-Dry Prosecco from Collalto, a beautifully balanced sparkling wine from the Limoux region of France along with all of the choices we have here in California i.e. Gloria Ferrer, Scharffenberger, Schramsberg and the reliable Korbel.

For you who like your bubbles a little on the sweet side you can try a Moscato d’Asti from Northern Italy like the ones from Ca D’Gal or Umberto. These wines are Frizzante which is the Italian way of saying effervescent. Italy also makes a Brachetto d’Acqui that is a fizzy red wine with flavors of raspberry, strawberries and other red fruits. Anyway you like it, dry or sweet, this is the traditional season, ‘though anytime is a good time for giving and drinking bubbly wines. So, go visit your local Wine Guru and have him show you around the “Champagne” section.

--Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor, North Florida

Like many people, I enjoy trivia. I enjoy searching for little known and unusual factoids that are completely irrelevant to just about any occasion and absolutely never come up in the course of general conversation. Are you the same? Well, here’s some of the wine trivia I’ve come across recently ---

The first American Viticultural Area (or AVA, which is an officially designated American fine wine area similar to an appellation in France), approved in 1980, was Augusta, Missouri – of all places! The largest AVA is the Texas Hill Country which, at over 15,000 square miles, is larger than both Vermont and Massachusetts.

The wines from Sainte Genevieve, which we sell here at ABC, come from the largest winery in Texas, and are jointly owned by the French wine company Domaines Cordier and the University of Texas. They are named after a fifth-century French nun who became the patron saint of Paris.

A hybrid is created by hybridizing one or more American vine species with the European vinifera vine (e.g. the American-French Seyval Blanc; or Vidal Blanc). A cross is created by breeding two varieties from the same species of vine (e.g. Pinotage = Pinot Noir + Cinsaut; or Scheurebe = Silvaner + Riesling).

While most California methode champenoise sparkling wine producers use Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and occasionally Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc for their wines, Korbel uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc, and French Colombard. In 1970 Chenin Blanc was the most popular white wine made in California.

The first known wine review was written by the Roman Pliny the Elder, who rated the vintage of 121 B.C. as “of the highest excellence.”

The first vineyard in Florida was established in 1562 in Jacksonville. The wine produced was made from the Scuppernong grape. Scuppernong was also used in what was probably the first branded wine in the U.S.A. It was introduced in about 1835 and was called ‘Virginia Dare’, after the first child of English parents to be born in America. The oldest still existing winery in America is the Brotherhood Winery in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. It was founded in 1839 as Blooming Cove and produced sacramental wines. The winery was bought out in 1885 by a former member of a disbanded commune called The Brotherhood of New Life, and named the Brotherhood Winery.

The wine business in California (with a $52 billion dollar economic impact) is bigger than the Hollywood film industry (a mere $30 billion).

The average price for an acre of unplanted vineyard in Napa Valley is $200,000. (In 1970 the price was $5,000.) It will take another $20,000 an acre to plant, with no return for three to five years.

In 2009 more than 20 million people visited the California wine areas, which makes them California’s second most popular tourist destination (after Disneyland).

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Florida

Well, here is something to make you think, or maybe to reinforce what you already think! I always, and I mean always, stick my reds in the fridge once I open them or decant them, even if they have just come from my wine fridge, since I truly think the ideal temp for many reds is in the mid 60’s, rather than the low-mid 70’s (room temp): it seems to give life to the fruit component and tame the alcohol, which dominates the aromatics if the wine is served too warm, all too common here in the Florida heat.

So this weekend, I had my eyes set on a Chianti Classico, and cooked dinner around it. Sadly, once the wine was poured and the dinner was plated, I realized the bottle was corked! I really hate that, since I look closely at each bottle I buy to assess the fill, capsule and cork to minimize my chances of this happening! Sometimes it happens, no matter. My back up bottle was a Cru Beaujolais at 5 years old, which, to be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for. My ‘PLAN C’ was to throw a bottle of the 2007 Frog’s Leap Cabernet in the freezer to give it a quick chill in case the Beaujolais let me down….which it did not!

Which brings me to the point! The Cru Beaujolais was fine, almost Burgundian. Life was manageable again, until the following morning, when my wife asked me if I had the Frog’s Leap Cab in the freezer for a particular reason…of course the cork had pushed entirely out of the bottle, and the wine had run down the baggies of stock meat and into the bottom of the freezer.

I pulled it out, put it in the sink until the wine returned to, well, wine….shook it up and stuck it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Of course I tasted it then, knowing in my mind that there was NO chance of resurrecting the bottle….yet it was fine!

Yet it was fine? Yep, fine! Tasted about like I would have expected if I hadn’t ruined it in the first place! Wish I were a scientist, rather than waste my time researching copper coins to drop in my wine to make them taste 4 times older and 3 times more expensive, I would like to learn how this did not ruin my bottle? Anyone?

--Shayne Hebert, Wine Supervisor, Central Florida

The fact that grape harvests were generally very late this year, and the recent spate of cold(er) weather here in Florida reminded me of a harvest time recipe I wanted to share with you. This is something that’s simple, easy to make, delicious, and warming. It’s often served outside in the vineyards during harvest time in France to the grape-pickers. The French call it Pot-au-feu, and the recipe I offer serves eight ---

Place a 4-5 lb. topside of beef, an onion studded with 4 cloves, ½ teaspoon of black peppercorns, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 bouquet garni in a large saucepan. Add cold water to cover it, and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Remove any scum as necessary. Reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for 2 ½ - 3 hours. All of this can be prepared the day before. If you do this, simply bring it back to a boil the next day and continue.

Add 4 large potatoes that have been quartered, 4 large carrots cut into pieces, 4 parsnips cut into pieces, 8 stalks of celery cut into pieces, and 4 leeks cut into pieces to the pan and let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove the meat and vegetables from the liquid, set it aside and keep it warm.

Strain the liquid and return to the saucepan. Add ½ cup of red wine. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Slice the meat and arrange it with the vegetables on a serving platter. Serve in soup plates and pour the broth over it. Accompany with crusty French bread, mustard, if desired, for the beef, and a few bottles of red wine.

What wine should you serve? There are literally hundreds of choices. As this is a simple meal I wouldn’t suggest anything too expensive. While first and second growth Bordeaux are making the news at several hundred dollars a bottle, we sometimes forget that there are some terrific wines made in Bordeaux in the $10 - $20 dollar range – many with excellent ratings! Or try a wine from the Rhone Valley. Or a Spanish red would work well, too. All you have to do is go to your local ABC Fine Wine and Spirits and tell the Wine Consultant what you’re eating, and she or he will gladly offer you a gallery of choices to help make your meal a feast.

Bon Apetit!

Bill Stobbs, Wine Supervisor, West Florida

I had to pinch myself after a long flight as here I was, after 23 hours of travel, standing in the organic vineyards of Poggerino Winery tasting Sangiovese grapes right off the vines. Listening to Piero Lanza (winemaker) talk about his method of farming and seeing the rocky soil gave me a better understanding as to why their Chianti Classicos have such amazing extracted flavors and minerality. The town of Radda in Chianti was amazing, as were Piero's sister Benedetta's meals: she cooked for us with ingredients right out of her organic garden. I think Piero said it best when he left us with "winemaking is my part-time job. I am a farmer and grape grower first and a winemaker second." I now sell Poggerino Chianti Classico as my favorite Chianti Classico at ABC in part because I have seen with my own eyes why the wines taste so good!!

Our second stop on our whirlwind tour of Italy was to Cortona, to visit with Fernando Catani at La Calonica Winery. Fernando and his son Giovanni are amazing, jovial, passionate people. In the picture you can see his vineyards in Cortona and in the distance , Montepulciano, as they are located right on the border of Cortona and Montepulciano. Fernando has been the president of the Cortona D.O.C. for 8 years now. His philosophy is different than the winemakers’ in Chianti. He feels Sangiovese needs a little help or as he put it "a little love." That is why his Cortona Sangiovese Girifalco has 80% Sangiovese with a little love from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and his Cortona Sangiovese has 15% Syrah. I especially liked his La Calonica Vino Nobile di Montepulciano which is 80% Sangiovese and 20% Canaiolo. Fernando wanted to make sure we would never forget the town of Cortona and a 20 minute walk in the park turned into a two- hour walk that almost killed Wine Supervisor Marie Griffin. We got to see the home where the movie Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. After that walk, Fernando was right, my feet and I will never forget Cortona! We had dinner with Fernando and his lovely, classy, wife Esther and dined on a feast which included fresh porcini mushrooms. I fell in love with the town of Cortona and "the love" La Calonica gives to Sangiovese has made me a forever fan of La Calonica wines.

We drove from Cortona with our hostess with the mostest, importer Nadia Galati as our co-pilot to Manduria. It was a seven hour drive but well worth it to visit Academia di Racemi and winery owner and winemaker Gregory Perucci. The sandy soils where wines like Racemi Portile come from add that minerality to the wines and the grapes for his Pietraluna. All his wines (1 million bottles a year production) are well extracted and fruit forward styles that could go well with meats or, especially , seafood, which is the king in Manduria and Puglia as they are right on the Ionian Sea. Gregory took us all for the best meal of the trip, a seafood feast in Manduria which included a whole grilled doratto fish (Gregory only ate the head and the eyeballs), octopus carpaccio that was smoked and sliced paper thin, langostinos, mussels, whole prawns with the heads and eyes on. The highlight for me you can see in this picture.

Gregory has only ten bottles of this Late Harvest Primitivo wine that sells for 1,000 euros a bottle –equal to about $1500 dollars!! The vintage is 1959…Wow!! It was like candy. I was born in December, 1959, so the group sang an early Happy Birthday to me as we drank this $1500 dollar bottle of nectar of the Gods from the very year I was born. Academia di Racemi rocks and Gregory is a great winemaker and a great host.

Larry Baker, Wine Consultant, Pompano Beach

As a counterpoint to my friend Shayne’s post, Spanish wines also make good partners for Thanksgiving dinner. Here are a few suggestions for your upcoming holiday meal.

Start your evening with a sparkling Cava as an aperitif. Cava is a perfect alternative to Champagne and always a good value. Made in the traditional method, fermented and aged in the bottle, it is produced in the Penedes region near Barcelona and can be dry (labeled as “Brut”) or off-dry (labeled as “Extra Dry”) in style. For less than $10, you can have a delicious bubbly. I recommend the Poema Brut which has wonderful apple and toast aromas with crisp acidity. Cristalino and Freixenet also make very good Cava.

If you wish to skip the aperitif, but find the idea of a sparkling wine with turkey intriguing, then opt for a Cava Rosado (sparkling rose), which often has Garnacha (Grenache) in the blend. Try the Freixenet Cordon Rosado Brut, on sale for $9.99.

Medium-bodied red wines also pair well with the richness of Thanksgiving fare. Rioja reds, with their cherry and spice flavor profiles are a terrific food match that will complement but not overwhelm. I might choose either of two 100% Tempranillo based Rioja Crianza’s from Bodegas Ramon Bilbao (R. Bilbao Rioja Crianza Tempranillo Limited Edition 2006, $16.99) and Bodegas Baigorri (Bai Gorri Crianza 2004, $21.99). Both wines garnered 90-point ratings from the Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate respectively.

Anyone that prefers a dry white wine with their meal will be pleased with a zesty and juicy Rueda. The Inspiracion Pampano Rueda from Agricola Castellana, on sale for $8.49, hits the right balance with crisp citrus, kiwi, and melon notes, with a wisp of white pepper on the finish.

For an added treat, try one of several fortified wines with a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert. Chill down a half-bottle of Ordonez Malaga ($21.99, limited availability) made from the Moscatel grape for a decadent delight. An alternative choice would be any of several Pedro Ximenez (PX) varietal wines from Alvear or Bodegas Toro Albala.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida

Beaujolais (the Nouveau makes its annual debut every November) makes a fine pairing with Thanksgiving. From the most simple Nouveau to the more serious Beaujolais-Villages, and including the Beaujolais Cru’s (the 10 top wine villages of this region, entitled to list the village name, and not the word Beaujolais. Look for Moulin-a-Vent, Brouilly, Morgon, etc.) Beaujolais has an appealing fruitiness which everyone seems to enjoy.

Beaujolais Nouveau

It’s that time – time for Beaujolais Nouveau to make its way from Beaujolais producers (traditionally, actually IN Beaujolais, but there are some American producers) to the harvest table. So what’s so special about this wine?

Considered the “First Wine of the New Vintage”, Nouveau Beaujolais is a festive red wine produced from the early crop of Gamay grapes in the Beaujolais area, south of the Burgundy region in France.

The Beaujolais Nouveau excitement begins in early November each year, and peaks on the third Thursday of the month, the release date world-wide for this wine. This year's release will be available on the 18th.

Nouveau wines are quite simple to produce. The Gamay grapes are harvested, and placed in a fermenter in whole clusters, with no, or very little, crushing. The fermenter is then topped with CO2 gas to protect the grapes from oxygen. The weight of the clusters crushes those below, and fermentation begins. Allowing each grape to begin fermentation individually from the inside out without any pressure heightens the fruity component. This process is called Carbonic Maceration, or Whole Berry Fermentation, and the resulting wine often…and certainly in the case of Beaujolais Nouveau….displays aromas of fresh pears, a vibrant, fruity flavor, and a crisp bite of acidity. The entire process from grapes to wine takes only a month, and the wine appears in the market soon after!

The roots of the Nouveau style are hard to trace, but one romantic version goes something like this…Beaujolais was all the rage in many a Paris bistro. During the fall months, most of the bistro proprietors would take their families to the countryside, a vacation in the Beaujolais, where the views are beautiful and the rooms and the wines are cheap. Savvy wine producers began to produce an early version of their regular wine, to showcase the new vintage to these proprietors, their best customers back in Paris. The wine would be tasted, probably re-tasted over and over (after all, they are on vacation!) and orders for the upcoming wine would be placed…Sort of a working vacation. Well, this style caught on, and somewhere between then and now, a guy named Georges DuBoeuf came along and helped create this phenomenon.

And that’s pretty much it. Is it a great wine? Well, it's not designed for cellaring. There are about zero tannins. But it’s a great wine to celebrate the harvest with, to stop and take stock of the good things in life with, and to take a break from the serious business of business with (like those bistro proprietors!). Good thing it goes with turkey….

-Shayne Hebert, Wine Supervisor, Central Florida

What’s this? Writing about a spirit in a wine blog? Well, begging your indulgence, I’m a little excited about this – ABC has just picked up a terrific new grappa from Lorenzo Inga. It’s Lorenzo Inga Moscato Grappa and it comes in a 375 ml. bottle with a regular price of $24.99.

So what exactly is grappa? Grappa may be defined as an alcoholic beverage of Italian origin (though similar spirits are made under different names all over the world) made by distilling the grape residue – mostly grape skins – left over from winemaking after pressing. But while traditional grappa can be made with grape skins, seeds, stems, and even leaves and was often a mix of whatever varietals came to hand, the Inga grappa has always been distilled from single varietal grapes bought from select wineries, and is made only from the skin and leftover pulp of the grapes, not the other residue. They use skins that have only been pressed once before (to make the wine). Their second pressing of the skin and pulp is then distilled within 18 – 24 hours of the first pressing. Inga grappa is double distilled in small alambic copper pot stills in the manner of fine cognacs. Obviously this is a quality product!

Now, before all you Moscato fans rush out and buy a bottle of Moscato grappa, I should warn you that this is something very different. It’s very strong in alcohol (40%) and despite having pleasant fruity aromas with hints of peach and apricot it is not what you’d call sweet. Many of my friends refer to it simply as firewater. But for those of us who love grappa it’s a real treat!

When and how do you drink grappa? Grappa is usually served after dinner as a “digestivo”. Usually it is served straight in a small liqueur glass. Some people will add a little to their espresso to create a “caffe corretto” or corrected coffee, or sometimes they will pour a little into their espresso cup after they’ve finished the coffee, swirl it with the coffee residue and drink it down in one sip.

So why not try something a little different after dinner? Pour a small amount of grappa for yourself and your friends and let them experience one of the taste treats of Italy. Enjoy!

Bill Stobbs (aka Frank Grappa), Wine Supervisor, West Florida

Of course white Burgundy (Chardonnay) and Pinot Noir are comfortable choices for Thanksgiving dinner, but here are some less-traditional wine pairings for your holiday feast. First, you can always think of sparkling wine when you settle down to enjoy your meal. The beauty of sparkling wine is the wonderful array of sweetness levels you can select. So if Aunt Sally enjoys her wines with a little more sweetness, as if she isn’t sweet enough, you may choose a nice Moscato d' Asti. This is a very popular wine these days for people that have a bit of a sweet tooth. It's a wine that also works well as an aperitif or to enjoy with your dessert. We here at ABC Fine Wines have discovered a wine from the Lombardy region of Italy. It is an off-dry red wine called Costarosa. This effervescent red is an interesting blend of Croatina, Barbera, Uva Rara, Ughetta Vespolina…I lost you on Uva Rara I bet. These certainly are not the typical grapes you are used to drinking, but neither was Argentinian Malbec until you gave it a try. Give this wine a chance even if you are not a big fan of off-dry wines; it is very tasty.

Another great wine region to explore, that is so often overlooked (see Bill Stobbs' post on this from September), is the Alsace region in France. This is one of the most decorated food Meccas in the world. I’ve been told that Alsace has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other place in France. Although Alsace is recognized as producing wines that match incredibly well with food, it is unique in that the wines are almost exclusively white. These full-bodied white wines that include Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer are made in a drier style than their German cousins to the north. They have been described as the white wines for red wine drinkers. Try a bottle of Pinot Blanc or a dry Riesling this year for Thanksgiving and I’m sure you’ll become a fan of this style of wine. Alsace does produce wines in a sweeter style, Vendange Tardive, but give these drier examples a chance and I’m sure you’ll become a fan.

Ken Amendola - Wine Supervisor, North Florida

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