The Amateur Wino

This week I had the pleasure of attending the Bordeaux Barrel to Bottle tasting in New York, and one section of the tasting was devoted to tasting of barrel samples from members of Le Cercle Rive Droite, a consortium of producers from the Right Bank of Bordeaux (meaning that they are located on the Right Bank of the Gironde River; most of these wines are predominantly merlot). For any of you who still believe Miles from “Sideways” and think that merlot sucks, there were quite a few wines in this tasting that could change your mind in a hurry.

Evaluating barrel samples is tough- the wines are so young at this point, they can feel like something between juice and wine – they haven’t had time to settle and develop complexity yet, or else the complexity that is there is hidden behind the sometimes dominating fruit flavors.

The good news is, the fruit flavors in the 2009 vintage are very, very good. Most of the chateau owners present told me that the weather was perfect in 2009 – enough warmth to get excellent ripeness, without fear of rain that might dilute the grapes, enabling producers to pick exactly when their grapes reached optimum ripeness.

The scores below are just preliminary due to the early nature of barrel samples. The chateau included in the tasting are not quite the very highest tier of Bordeaux chateau in terms of price and prestige, but there are some heavy hitters in the lineup that can compete with just about anyone. Here are my most notable wines, followed by complete notes in the order the samples were tasted.

Top-scoring wines

2009 Ch. La Fleur de Gay – my top wine of the tasting, this showed roasted nut/earth, fine slate, and some herbal character on the nose; a bit more perfumey than the other samples, the style is not hugely powerful, but refined and classy, with varietal character. Not as much complexity shows on palate as it does on the nose at this point, but I believe the material is there – tasty fruit, good ripeness, with a hint of spice on nose that I think will develop into good complexity. 93-95 pts. Reminds me a bit of La Conseillante.

2009 Ch. Rol Valentin – my big-time sleeper of the tasting, this chateau may surprise many people with its quality in the 2009 vintage. It’s initially a little minty on the nose with sweet fruits; the palate has irresistible sweet fruit, Continue reading First look: does 2009 Bordeaux live up to the hype?

I love blind tastings. I’m not particularly good at them- especially when they are done double blind (meaning you know have no idea what the bottles are at all – they could be any grape(s), from anywhere in the world). But they’re always fun to me, and a huge learning experience. I’m a member of two tasting groups that do blind tastings, so I do my fair share. But then, every now and then, you have a wine-drinking experience that completely resets your world, wine-wise. Last night was one of those nights for me.

A double blind tasting at Blue Streak Wines

In my last post, I wrote about a blind tasting that my friend Shaun and I did together. After
hearing about it, our mutual friend Chris in California surprised us with a gift/challenge: he was going to send us a box of wines that he wanted us to taste blind – the only condition was we had to make a guess at each wine and share our thoughts with him.

This immediately set Shaun and I into a frenzy of intrigue. Chris has got a dizzying amount of wine knowledge, so we knew the wines would be cleverly chosen, and a real challenge.

A date was set, and the players chosen: Shaun (a pro in the wine trade, also young like Chris with a similarly encyclopedic range of knowledge and impressively strong blind tasting skills, very much a mentor to me in my drive to learn more about wine every day), Val (another trade pro who used to work with the guys, with an excellent palate and WSET training), myself, my filmmaker friend and colleague Jen, Stephen and Rhoda (owners of the store that Shaun manages that hosted the tasting, Blue Streak Wines, located in a charming neighborhood of Long Island City), myself and my wife Plee, who’s not drinking tonight but is kind enough to film footage of the night, which I will post later when it’s edited. The offer to join is thrown out to a handful of other trade veterans and a community of wine geeks, but ultimately, no one else makes it to the tasting. Most importantly, Chris is in attendance, through videoconference on Skype.

Chris sent us 10 wines, blinded already, which are bagged and decanted by James, Shaun’s Continue reading A blind tasting for the ages!

Bottles from our blind tasting: '06 Tignanello, '99 Niebaum Coppola Estate cab franc, and '00 Ch. Cap de Faugeres bordeaux

Just a brief post today, a quick anecdote. This past week a wine-loving friend came over to have dinner, and we each wrapped up a few bottles for each other to taste blind. One wine had me stumped – I got that it was Bordeaux grapes, and I was sure it was from California – it had such ripe fruit and a strong oak signature – but I was told it was not CA. After guessing Washington and other New World bordeaux blends, I gave up and unwrapped the bottle. I was blown away! It was the 2006 Tignanello, one of the reknowned Super Tuscans that I had never tasted before. My buddy Shaun had remembered that I once said that I’d never tried the Tig, and brought it for me to taste! As some of you may know, it’s an expensive bottle of wine, so I was touched not only by the generosity, but also by the thoughtfulness that my friend showed in remembering a bottle that was on my ‘would love to try someday’ wishlist. Needless, to say, this is one favor I’m looking forward to repaying.

So, the moral of the story today is just an encouragement to give the gift of wine to someone who’ll enjoy it – in my experience it leads to more friendships and good times. I’ve given several bottles of burgundy and bordeaux to various friends recently, and it felt great. I’ve been lucky to have been on the receiving end of a lot of generosity from fellow wine lovers (most notably my friend Chris, whose full story of generosity and random kindness will be told on this blog someday when the story is ripe) and I’m excited by every opportunity I get to pay it back, and forward. Thank you Shaun, Chris, and everyone who has been generous about sharing wines and more importantly, their friendship, with me!

So let’s hear about the best wine gift you ever received or gave! Cheers,

Alan

Today’s episode is essentially a guest post by my wife and soon-to-be food blogger/entrepreneur, plee.  First, we have a video of a Lunar New Year / Valentine’s Day feast prepared by plee, partly inspired by her training at the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine in Seoul, Korea, and partly her own inventions.  Second, is the menu with her explanatory notes; please click on the image below to see it.

The food was paired with the 2008 Domaine de la Pepiere Clos des Briords muscadet, a white wine from the Loire Valley of France, a steal at about $15.  The wine, together with the spiced oyster and the rice cake, was just divine.  Muscadets have lively citrus-like acidity, so they function in the pairing almost like a squeeze of lemon on your seafood.  In this case, the wine brought out the briny flavor of the oyster while cooling the fire of the red pepper sauce.

This episode is a sneak preview of things to come in the upcoming food blog called “food with plee”. Stay tuned for word of its official launch!  Without further ado, here’s the video, and below it, a link to plee’s menu. Enjoy!

A Lunar New Year / Valentine’s Day Feast from Amateur Wino on Vimeo.

Click here to see plee’s menu:

Lunar New Year Menu plee

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a tasting of about 35 Austrian wines, most of them made from the red grape known in Austria as blaufrankisch (and known in other places as lemberger, among other names). This was my first extensive look at blaufrankisch, and I came away both impressed by the high level of quality in the wines, and the wide range of styles represented. At one end of the spectrum, the wines presented by Moric reminded me very much of red burgundies – showing earthiness and funk, and reddish fruits, if not quite the lightness of pinot noir, owing to the somewhat denser feel of blaufrankisch. At the other end of the spectrum, producers like Prieler and Schiefer showed very dark-fruited, tannic and structured wines that would please fans of brawny wines like big California cabs. The versatility of blaufrankisch impressed me given the high level of quality displayed throughout this spectrum. My snapshot notes from the tasting can be found at the bottom of this post, for those who want the particulars.

There are also very good accounts of these wines in blog posts by Eric Asimov of the NY Times and noted blogger Brooklynguy.  Mr. Asimov’s post in particular piqued my interest as I prepared this post for publication, mostly because of passages like:

“…this tasting demonstrated convincingly that when treated properly in the vineyard and the cellar, blaufränkisch can make some gorgeous, graceful wines that are wonderfully expressive of their vineyards.

Continue reading Discovering blaufrankisch; and when has a wine critic gone too far?

Yesterday, I tasted about 60 wines from the 2007 vintage of Bordeaux at the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux tasting here in New York. Here’s my scouting report:

Overall, as many winemakers told me yesterday, it was a tough vintage with less than ideal weather, and I think it showed in the wines. As a result, the wines for the most part show a cooler-climate flavor profile. This resulted in good white wines which benefitted from having a racy adicity, but the red wines are a bit ungenerously fruited overall. The Bordeaux dessert wines are quite good. 

Prices on 2007 Bordeaux are a bit unrealistically high right now, but it’s widely expected that prices will come down eventually given the weakness of the vintage and the current economic conditions.  There are other vintages available at retail that offer better quality, including 2005 and 2006 (which I will also be posting a report on soon), so smart shoppers will want to put their budget toward those vintages, or otherwise choose carefully from among the 2007s when prices come down.  Here are my wines to look out for:

Under $30

2007 Chateau Chasse-Spleen – One of my favorite value picks in Bordeaux, this chateau has a reputation for being good year in and year out, and 2007 is no exception. This wine shows good fruit and classic Left Bank graphite to give it some bass notes. When you figure in the modest price of this wine (about $25), this is a fantastic achievement for the vintage. This motivated me to ask owner Mme. Celine Villars-Foubet to do a brief interview with me on the spot, which she kindly did with great aplomb. Look for the video in a future episode right here soon!

2007 Chateau D’Angludet – this is a nice little QPR pick (about $28) from
Continue reading 2007 Bordeaux Round-up

Today’s episode features one of the wines that got my obsession with wine started – the Vina Bosconia from one of my all-time favorite wineries, R. Lopez de Heredia. Also, some quick tips on how to save leftover wine and keep it fresh, without buying any of those pump or argon gas gadgets!

Lopez de Heredia Bosconia Reserva Rioja 2001 Review from Amateur Wino on Vimeo.

Hello all,

Here is part 2 of the interview with Viu Manent winemaker Grant Phelps. In this episode, Grant gives us insights into a number of wines that I picked out as the most noteworthy ones that I tasted from their lineup.  One thing that’s unusual about Viu Manent is that they are a Chilean winery with a special focus on malbecs, which is more commonly known from examples from Argentina. We discuss how Viu Manent got into malbec, the difference between their wines and Argentinean malbecs, and the following wines:

Viu Manent El Capilla Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Viu Manent Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon

2003 Viu 1 (malbec blend)

2007 Viu Manent El Olivar Single Vineyard Malbec

More episodes coming soon on:  blending your own wine with a Crushpad Fusebox, review of NOBOS wines from Sobon Estate, and my picks from the Wines of Argentina tasting.

The Amateur Wino Episode 10 Part 2 The Wines from Amateur Wino on Vimeo.

Hi everyone,

Today, I’m pleased to post a video interview with Grant Phelps, winemaker of Viu Manent; I sought Grant out because I felt his lineup of wines was the most distinctive among the many wines that I tasted at the Wines of Chile event in New York.  Some of you may have heard about Viu Manent from this post on Dr. Vino’s blog; this interview was recorded before that blog post and the events that ensued with The Wine Advocate’s Jay Miller revising his scores on a number of Viu Manent wines.  Today’s episode focuses on how Grant got into winemaking, how it brought him to Chile, and his approach towards winemaking. 

The Amateur Wino Episode 10 Part 1 Viu Manent’s winemaker Grant Phelps from Amateur Wino on Vimeo.

Tune in again soon for Part 2 of this episode, which will include tastings and discussion of Viu Manent’s El Olivar single vineyard malbec, their Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, and their flagship wine, the Viu1.

Hello amateur winos out there,

Wines of Argentina tasting

Sorry for the lack of new posts (other than tasting notes posted to the Twitter feed) here lately – again, film work has monopolized my time.  However, by this weekend, I’m expecting to have some time to edit some of the episodes I promised a while back, and with any luck, time to shoot a little new footage.

I’ll also soon be embarking on a little reorganization of this website – dividing it into areas by category – winemaker interviews, wine reviews, and probably a “Getting Started/Wine 101″ section.  I’m also going to try to do shorter episodes to allow for more frequent posts.

In the meanwhile, I have continued tasting whenever I can, so look for upcoming reports on: the Wines of Argentina trade tasting in NYC (some killer malbec values; I’ll tell you which ones to look for and which to skip), a round-up of 2006 Bordeaux from the Graves (Pessac-Leognan) appellation, and some Chateauneuf-du-Papes, including some of the heralded 2007s.  Also, look for a blend-off episode between me and an opponent(s) to be determined, using Crushpad Fuseboxes.  More soon!  Cheers!  -Alan