Brew Hops & Wine Stops

After tasting some terrific wines in Paarl and meeting some very friendly and inspired winemakers, it was back in the car and off to the region of Franschhoek.

Once a ward of Paarl, Franschhoek was awarded district status in 2010. The area was originally settled by 180 French Huguenots fleeing from religious persecution in 1688 and was originally known as Oliphantshoek (“Elephants Corner”) after the many elephants who found food and safety there. Today, Franschhoek is the place to go for great restaurants and fine wine.

Here we visited Lynx Wines. Owners Dieter and Diana Sellmeyer purchased this table grape farm in 1997 and, despite having no wine background, were soon producing wines that garnered high scores and great reviews. The estate produces 90 tons of grapes annually from which they select the best 15% for their own wines, ensuring top quality. They then sell the remainder to another private cellar. The owners were unfortunately unavailable for our visit but were well represented by their winemaker, Helgard van Schalkwyk, who spent a good deal of time showing us their vineyards, their barrel room and, of course, letting us taste their delicious wines.

Then it was back in the car and along some very mountainous roads with spectacular panoramas on our way to Elgin Valley. On the way, we came across some rather curious hitchhikers.

The Elgin Valley is in the Overberg region and has long been famous for its apples and pears. Lately, however, it has become just as famous for its wine. Here we visited the Downes Family Vineyards. Most of the rest of the world knows them as Shannon Vineyards. That name is already
taken in the US, so Downes Family it is to us. We were met by owners Stuart and James Downes who were more than gracious. They took a good deal of time to drive us around the estate and show us the vineyards which lie in a spectacular cool climate Kogelberg Biosphere. Brad and I had already tasted their Merlot at a function in Cape Town and were very impressed. We were soon to taste the rest of their wines and found them all of excellent quality.

I can finally announce a new wine coming soon to ABC! Look for the delicious Downes Family Sanctuary Peak Sauvignon Blanc!

It had been a long and very fascinating day, and we still had to drive to our hotel in Stellenbosch and change for an intimate dinner for 100 people at Warwick Estate. More next time…

Bill Stobbs, ABC Wine Supervisor

(Follow me on Twitter @abcwinebills)

Bernard Magrez is the only owner in Bordeaux of four Grand Crus Classés in the most prestigious appellations:

Château Pape Clement (46ha) – Grand Cru Classé, Graves

Château La Tour Carnet (70ha)  – Grand Cru Classé, Médoc

Château Fombrauge (58ha) – Grand Cru Classé, Saint Emilion

Clos Haut Peyraguey (16ha) – Premier Grand Cru Classé, Sauternes

For years now, he has been producing wines of consistent and rare quality on these outstanding
Bordeaux terroirs.

Regarding winemaking methods, he applies a combination of the traditional (harvesting and destemming by hand) and the cutting edge, but always with the greatest respects for the integrity of the fruit and the environment. His overriding commitment is to quality, and this is the basis of his moral contract with wine lovers. 

This know-how acquired in the world’s leading wine region and the success of his Bordeaux estates encouraged him to set out on a painstaking search for the most promising terroirs in other French wine regions and the world. For certain vineyards, it would take over 15 years to reveal all the exceptional qualities of these terroirs and produce wines of rare elegance and finesse.

This quest led Bernard Magrez first to Spain and then on to Portugal, California, Argentina, Chile,
Uruguay, Morocco and most recently Japan. Each of his wines today is ranked among the top 5 in their country. 

With 40 vineyards around the world bearing his signature, each of them unique, Bernard Magrez
seeks to satisfy the tastes and expectations of all wine lovers in search of new emotions and surprises.

Atanas Nechkov, Central Florida Wine Supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwineatanas

 

 

Well, 2012 ended among a myriad of bubbles from a number of different Champagnes, the best of which was a bottle of 2004 Moutard 6 Cepages. That was followed by searching through a myriad of pain-relievers for my first self-inflicted headache of 2013. Which led to this: sitting down to drop you all a note about some my fondest memories of 2012.

2012 turned out to be the year of travel. In addition to the great adventure my 8 year old son and I took this past summer, which is at the top of my list, I also did some traveling to a number of wine regions and met some very interesting people along the way.
I took a trip through France in the spring, visiting wineries in the Rhone Valley and Burgundy.

This first trip to these wonderful places was every bit as thrilling as I had imagined. Seeing the Grand Cru vineyards of Burgundy was eye opening and certainly made me appreciate the terroir of these terrific wines even more than I already did…which is a lot. The opportunity to meet the young turks of Burgundy, Charles Ballot and Paul Pillot, then to meet Jean Durop of Chateau Maligny in Chablis was a great experience.

 

In October, I had the chance to travel through Northern Italy with the charming Nadia Galati. We visited a number of family-owned properties whose wines she represents; one of these wineries is in the Asti region of northwest Italy, Agostino Pavia & Figli. This multi-generational winery accepted us into their winery, as all the wineries we visited on this trip did, as if we were also part of the famiglia.

Sitting at a long table that was set up in the winery itself, we spent the better part of the afternoon enjoying a typical Italian lunch of meats, cheeses, breads and plenty of delicious wines. Helping were the two young daughters, future winery “rats”--very adorable winery rats, that is. Seeing how much effort, true caring and love goes into the making of these wines really comes across in every glass of Barbera d’Asti we tasted that day.
These were among the many good memories.

Looking toward 2013, I can't wait to see where the next great experiences will find me.

 

Ken Amendola
Wine Supervisor
  N. Florida

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena

When it comes to buying wine I am often reminded of the old cliche, "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing." OK, maybe "dangerous" is too strong a word when it relates to purchasing a bottle of wine but it can certainly mislead people into buying something they really didn't intend to purchase.

Last month I was approached by a sweet, older woman who needed a bottle of wine for her doctor. She proceeded to hand me a piece of paper with the words "reserve wine" scribbled on it. As most shoppers are during the holiday season, she seemed to be in a bit of a hurry...but I had to find out more in order to help her.

In Spain, Portugal and Italy, for example, "Reserva" is a regulated term controlled by law, at least ensuring the wine gets additional aging. In most new world countries where "Reserve" is not regulated, it means nothing. One of the top selling wines in our stores has the term "Vinters Reserve" on the label strictly for marketing purposes.

I was fairly certain my guest could have cared less to hear me recite the aging requirements for reserve wines around the world, but I still wasn't sure what to recommend.

She went on to tell me how her doctor saved her husband's life and how he loved traveling to Italy. Ah! Now we were getting somewhere. I quickly showed her two of my favorite Italian wines, La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Gli Angeli 2004 and Poggio Castellare Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2006.
   

 La Gerla- "The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Gli Angeli emerges from the glass with sensual red berries, sweet spices and flowers. The wine's richness and density are impressive while French oak adds an extra dimension of volume and spiciness that follows through to the round caressing finish. a terrific effort from La Gerla. 92pts." (Wine Advocate)

Poggio Castellare Brunello Riserva 2006- "A combination of power and finesse, this red evokes concentrated plum, cherry and underbrush flavors, with a vibrant structure. Gets more focused on the long, racy finish, where cherry, spice and mineral notes interplay. 95pts." (Wine Spectator)

Oh, and after the guest read the reviews and heard my praise for these two great wines, the lucky doctor got both bottles.

Paul Quaglini   

For those of you who drink at the growing number of excellent beer bars throughout the state, you have probably seen a few stouts or porters offered on nitro. While some of you may think of nitro as your favorite American Gladiator or the gas that you beg your dentist to let you inhale while you wait in his chair, it has a whole different meaning when it comes to beer. Most beers are carbonated with CO2, either naturally in the bottle or artificially to bring the beer from the keg to the draft tap. Nitrogen is an alternative to CO2, and it helps make the beer creamier and fluffier. Very few beers are packaged with nitrogen, and for years the only ones that came to mind were Guinness and Boddingtons. Both of these examples used a widget in the can or bottle to release nitrogen once the package was opened. The folks at Left Hand Brewing Co. have spent many years and dollars perfecting a way to bottle their famous and award winning Milk Stout with nitrogen without a widget.

For years Left Hand’s Milk Stout has been a favorite beer of mine. The sweet, malty, chocolate flavors

always make for a great beer to enjoy in the cold weather or use to make black and tans, Irish car bombs and adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an adult ice cream float. I have had this beer on nitro before at bars around town, but I was happy to see the bottled version of the nitro stout hit our stores this past week. Then I had the idea to compare the regular bottle and the nitro bottle for this article.

Both beers have the same exact flavor profile. I think more of the coffee flavors come across on the regular bottle, while more of the chocolate flavors come across in the nitro version. While I enjoy both of them, I really enjoyed the extra creaminess of the nitro more than I thought I would. I think the nitro bottle will also mix better into the beer cocktail ideas I previously mentioned. I will never refuse a Left Hand Milk Stout, but if both options are available to me, I will go for the nitro version. The creamier the beer gets the more it felt like it coated my palate and prolonged the finish. When you are looking for something new or different, this is a great beer to try. I only hope to see more beer bottled with nitro.

Keep your glasses half full,

Evan

Beer blogger Evan Kaye is a regional manager in the Palm Beach area.

 

 

In what is quickly becoming a post-holiday tradition here at Notes from Wine Country, it’s time to reveal my personal list of the Top 5 new wines enjoyed (immensely) by yours truly over the span of the last year.  Yes, it’s hard to believe that this is now my third installment of The List and I have to admit that I actually considered changing the theme to something entirely different.

I mean, with 2012 being such a pivotal year in many aspects, I could have gone with the Top 5 Most Interesting but Ultimately Disappointing Doomsday Predictions, for example.  Yes, I’m sure I speak for many out there who think the Mayans could have done a much better job foretelling mankind’s end.  ;-)

 

So here they are!  And as usual, they’re listed in no particular order! (This technically means that wine number 5 could really be wine number 1).

5) 2010 Agostino Pavia e Figli Barbera d’Asti Bricco Blina

My vote for the best pizza wine on the planet!  A terrific single-vineyard value!  Kudos to Agostino, Pino and Giuseppe……and to Nadia Galati :-) 

4) 2010 Bunan Bandol Rosé Moulin des Costes

When I think of great rosé, the appellation of Bandol is home to many legendary producers i.e. Domaine Tempier, Domaines Ott etc.  Here’s a terroir-driven rosé priced at a fraction of some of the more hollowed names in the region.  It’s a blend of organically farmed Mourvèdre, Grenache and Cinsault, producing an outstanding wine with complexity, verve and depth. 

3) 2010 Bodegas Baigorri Rioja Blanco en Fermentado

A very modern-styled white Rioja, with luscious, creamy, honeydew, guava and kiwi notes.  In a word, it’s exotic!

2) 2011 Marchori & Barraud Malbec Perdriel

The follow-up to the delicious 2010 (92 WA) is another 90-point rated wine (90 IWR) from Lujan de Cuyo’s dynamic duo.

1) 2005 Xavier Vins Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Anonyme

“X” marks the spot on this amazing Rhone wine.  While technically, not a “new” release this year, this wine is brand new for us at ABCFWS (okay, let’s call it a “new” library release then).  It’s a phenomenal GSM blend produced by the very talented Xavier Vignon, one the appellation’s best enologists.  I tasted this wine during the last week of December 2012, and I think the finish is still on my palate!  A real stunner!

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2013!

Jim Greeley, WS SWFL

It's time to leave the holidays behind and start looking ahead to spring and summer.  All that wonderful food and drink we've had to help us celebrate the holidays may have taken its toll on some of us!  Many folks I've talked to are tightening their belts and seriously get down to losing those "few" pounds they put on.  (Great for a New Year's resolution.) 

While browsing the web I came across a "wine lovers' diet," a plan conceived by a cardiologist (and wine collector), Dr. Tedd Goldfinger.  His plan focuses on healthy, rather than restricted, eating.  Simply exchange harmful simple sugars, carbohydrates and high fructose corn syrup for vegetables, legumes and grains.  Always go for natural and satisfying!  Be sure one meal a day is accompanied by a small glass of wine, which contains bioactive pigment tannins and antioxidants found in grape skins.

The "Sonoma Diet" also recommends a glass of wine should accompany one meal a day, as do the "California Wine Country Diet" and "Wine and Food Lovers Diet"!

Some serious attention will be paid by myself regarding these publications.  After all...we deserve to be "HAPPY" as well as "HEALTHY" in 2013!

 

Marie Griffin, NW Florida Wine Supervisor