$30-$40

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Chocapalha Branco Reserva 2005

July 24, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Today I move away from the famous Douro Valley to the less well known Estremadura region located near Lisbon. Part of its lack of notoriety arises from the fact that many wineries are decidedly mediocre here, even though it produces the most dry wine in Portugal. However, there have been a small number of new wave producers that are introducing high quality wines to the region. Chocapalha is one of these wineries.

A New Wave in the Estremadura

Now owned by Alice and Paulo Tavares da Silva, Chocapalha’s vineyards date back to the 16th century. Alice and Paulo’s daughter Sandra, winemaker at Quinta Vale Dona Maria. Chocapalh’a is still growing and learning the ropes, having experimented with various vines and only recently settled on the appropriate root stock on which to graft. A new winery is planned for this year.

That Portuguese red wines are still struggling for attention on the world stage does not bode well for the mostly lesser white varieties. However, the best producers are making truly exceptional white wines that are being ignored by most consumers. This is a shame as these wines carry even better price tags than the red wines.

Weight and Flavour

Chocapalha’s vines grow in calcerous clay soils. The Grapes are de-setmmed and undergo a cool pre-fermentation maceration before fermentation in the traditional Portuguese lagares. Lagars are stone troughs where the grapes are trodden and fermented.

This wine is also a fascinating combination of an international and an indigenous grape. At around 65% Chardonnay and 35% Viosinho, there is a classic chard texture and aroma to this wine, but the mid palate and finish have a distinctly deeper minerality and savory character than I’d expect. Viosinho adds structure and flavour. Generally Viosinho is one of the promising white grapes in Portugal and I think it blends very well with the Chard.

The wine pours a deep golden and opens with floral aromatics filled with honey, lemon and bright minerality. On the palate this is quite expressive, with medium+ to full body and great length and a unique mineral/savory element that keeps interest. A rounded wine that drinks well above its price point.

Very Good+
$34 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $30-$40, Chardonnay, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Very Good Tagged With: Viosinho

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Chryseia Post Scriptum Douro 2004

July 22, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

My new profile holds a place close to my heart. When I visited Spain on vacation one year ago, I happened to be one of those travellers who was stranded by the erupting Icelandic Volcano. Instead of wallowing in frustration, my partner and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Oporto in Portugal. Thank God we did, as Portugal ended up as one the favourite stops I’ve made in Europe.

Port is, of course, Portugual’s dominant wine export, though stagnant sales have prompted the top houses to look to dry wines to increase sales. Word of increasing interest in the dry wines has reached North American shores but access to the actual wines remains spotty. Additionally, there isn’t much critical attention on the most interesting wines being made. Part of this is a marketing problem with some of Portugal’s wineries who have poor branding and make far too many wines. However, part of it has to do with critics writing off an entire country after tasting only a few wines or, simply, minimal attention given how many other wines struggle for attention these days. Of course, our proximity to the U.S. and Australia has helped make those wines amongst the top selling in the Province next to perennial France (cache really does work sometimes). But the Portuguese wine scene is, perhaps, one of the most exciting in the world right now and it is damn time that someone pay attention to these wines.

Add to that that most wines in Portugal are made with indigenous grapes and have a character unlike anywhere else, that prices are disturbingly low for the quality, and that most of the better producers are only going to improve, then you have a recipe for a truly exciting wine hot spot.

Bordeaux Meets Douro

Chryseia is one of Portugal’s star names, which means, of course, that no one here has heard of it. A joint venture between the Symmington Family (one of Oporto’s great names, with holdings including Dow’s, Graham’s, and Quinta do Vesuvio) and Bruno Prats of Cos d’Estournel, this winery was established to make a premium red blend from grapes grown in the Douro Valley. While grapes for the first vintages came from Symmington’s port holdings, the duo have since purchased vineyards in the Rio Torto Valley solely for the purpose of making Chryseia’s two dry reds: the eponymous wine and this, the second wine Post Scriptum.

I should note that holdings in Portugal can be confusing to follow as acquisitions and mergers abound. Symmington now sources most of its grapes for dry reds from the vineyards previously owned by Quinta do Roriz (owned by Van Zeller). The name and vineyards have, since 2009, switched over to the Symmingtons – though given our ridiculous laws and delays in shipping the wines in this market are quite a bit older. Thus, the Post Scriptum I am reviewing today represents only the 3rd vintage of this wine, made from totally different vineyards than if you bought it today – i.e. the vineyards now exclusively used for Chryseia. Nonetheless, it represents the style that Chryseia is going for and is an excellent representation of changes in the Portuguese dry wine industry as a whole.

Elegance and Expression

This is serious wine, and totally unexpected. The nose evokes classic Bordeaux – that’s right, this is not a big alcoholic, fruity, heavily extracted red. Rather it has near cool climate expressivity with blackcurrant, blackberry, graphite and stoney mineral. The weight of this wine is shocking. I expected something huge and dense but this is medium bodied and elegant as hell. The fruit is moderate (likely exacerbated by the 7 years bottle age), but the secondary characteristics here are impressive: stone, pencil lead and chalky tannins. The finish seems to lack a little stuffing and I think this wine is on its downward curve now, but this is very good, honest wine, that is shockingly elegant for such a hot climate. No one would peg it as Portuguese in a blind.

And keep in mind that this is only the third vintage of the second wine from this estate. I will certainly be seeking the big boy whenever I get the chance. I feel effusive beginning this spotlight with this wine. I was expecting to be surprised, given my experiences in Portugal last year, but to be this shocked with the first wine was just darn cool and is something that doesn’t happen too often. So here’s to being open minded. 40% Touriga Franca, 40% Touriga Nacional, 20% Tinta Roriz.

Very Good+
$40 at Liberty Wine Merchants

Filed Under: $30-$40, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Tempranillo, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacionale, Very Good Tagged With: Portuguese Dry Wine

Azienda Agricola Cos Cerasuolo Di Vittoria Classico 2008

July 2, 2011 By Shea 8 Comments

How exciting it is for a wine like this to be in British Columbia. Cos is not only an icon of the ‘natural wine’ movement, but it is an exceptional producer that is making some of the most exciting wines in Sicily.

Natural Wine or Just a Great Producer?

Natural wine has consistently been a galvanizing force for debate about the nature and purpose of wine. Commercial viability, faults, ideology, and ethics all come out to play when a natural wine hits the glass.

Often those in this debate can lose sight of a simple reality for all wine: it is producer more than philosophy or technique that makes great wine. Great grapes and terroir are also necessary, but it is the endless minute decisions made in the vineyard and the cellar that ultimately make a wine what it is. This means that in natural wine, just as with all wine, there will be those producers that make wines far and above what most others are doing. For me, Cos is one of those producers.

COS – So Hot Right Now

Founded in 1980 by three partners – Giambattista Cilia, Cirino Strano and Giusto Occhipinti, whose daughter has started her own much adored eponymous winery – COS set out to challenge what had become ‘conventional’ winemaking in Sicily’s only DO “Cerasuolo Di Vittoria” first by farming completely biodynamically, and second by steadily increasing the use of clay amphora for fermentation of their wines. The amphora fermented wines bear the name “Pithos”.

COS is located on the southeastern tip of Sicily and as such the climate is both hot and dry. Despite this, the wines bear a lightness and elegance that belies their origins in one of the hottest climates in Italy.

Perfect Italian Wine

Alas while we do not yet have access to the amphora fermented wines in the province, this wine, fermented completely in neutral concrete, is still an excellent introduction to the COS style and philosophy. Made from 18 year old Frappato and Nero D’Avola vines grown on limestone-silicaceous and clay soils, this wine is both enticingly aromatic and very fresh and juicy on the palate. Pretty red fruits and flowers flow easily from the glass, and it is this effortlessness that is the wine’s most striking quality.

This is also a wine with a substantial medium body that will balance kindly with a wide variety of food from cured meats to lightly spicy pastas and grilled meats. It also goes great with air, as my friend Sean is fond of saying. This is also the kind of wine I would lovingly buy by the case – so don’t go running out and snapping up the small allocation this province has!

Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$35 at BCLDB

Filed Under: $30-$40, Excellent, Frappato, Highly Recommended Values, Italian Wine, Nero d'Avola

Le Vieux Pin Viognier-Roussanne 2009

June 18, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

My recent trip to the Okanagan has inspired me to give a few more B.C. bottles a fair shake. This white blend from Le Vieux Pin, made from Rhone Valley varieties and part of their new Rhone ranger influenced program, is the best example of these grapes that I have tasted from B.C.

I appreciate how Le Vieux Pin prints considerable detail on their label, including soil type, tons per acre, suggested ageing, and even sub-regions. So far there are no legally established sub-appellations in the Okanagan Valley and so it is basically impossible to know where the fruit used in a particular wine has come from if the winery does not disclose that information. Very few wineries are even using all estate fruit or all fruit grown in the sub-region in which the winery is located.

While Le Vieux Pin does use fruit from around the valley, I applaud their transparency in labeling exactly where it came from. In this case, that means the Black Sage Bench, an area with more moderate sunlight than its neighbour the Golden Mile. The soils here are sandy, like the majority of soils in the Okanagan, and as such drain pretty quickly. This means irrigation is needed in most places, and the wines tend to be pretty fruity.

This is, true to its place, a fruity wine. It captures the great aromatics of Viognier and the voluptuous texture of Roussanne and offers good depth and balance. The fruit here is much higher quality than normal for these varieties, probably because of the lower cropping, and I thought this was an excellent example and shows great potential for the future of the Rhone program at Le Vieux Pin.

Very Good
$35 at the Winery

Filed Under: $30-$40, BC Wine, Canadian Wine, Rousanne, Very Good, Viognier

Conceito Vinho Branco 2008

April 9, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Portugal is only starting to become known for its dry wines. The most recognizable of these are the dry reds from producers like Quinta do Crasto, which is certainly making some very good wines. The other producers we’ve seen in both Canada and the U.S. market have been variable in quality, ranging from low to mid range in price point. Many of these wines are over oaked or jammy and none too exciting.

After visiting Portugal last year (thanks Icelandic volcano) and tasting many of the country’s dry and fortified wines, I came to realize that a whole lot more is going on there than most in North America realize. The most exciting dry wines I tasted were made in a much more elegant and sophisticated style than what we tend to see over here, particularly the outstanding dry reds of Niepoort, which was perhaps the most exciting producer I encountered in my time in both Portugal and Spain (and one I really need to write about in more detail at some point).

I was also quite charmed by a number of the white wines I tasted in Portugal, from very well made and balanced Alvarinhos that shame the stuff we see here to more heady and sophisticated whites. However, it was not until I opened a bottle of the new producer Conceito’s white blend that I realized how high quality white wines from the Douro could be.

Rediscovering Terroir in the Douro

Conceito is Portuguese for concept, which is more than just clever marketing for a country that is mostly devoid of clever marketing. Conceito is a winery that wants to rediscover the concepts of the Douro valley by rediscovering its various terroirs and challenging the notion that it is a singular region (a ‘concept’ that port has helped to become predominant). Winemaker Rita Ferriera is bold in her vision to expose not only these terroirs but also to highlight how good some of the dozens of indigenous grapes can be. She makes a striking and exciting red wine from Bastardo, for example. Conceito makes wines in the eastern Douro, which has a distinctly different climate (far more arid) from the lower Douro.

This white blend is made from four varieties of indigenous grapes: Rabigato, Codega, Viosinho, and Gouveio. The vines are 80 years old and everything is dry farmed. Rabigato is known to be a low quality and high yielding grape (so it is all the more amazing what Ms. Ferriera has done with it), while Codega is a blending grape traditionally used in Madeira. Viosinho is a high acid grape used in blending white port (along with all the other varieties listed here) and is known to bring orchard fruit and floral qualities into the mix. Gouveio is similar to Verdelho and offers high acid and citrus characteristics but can produce good balance between sugar and acid. Gouveio is also frequently used in Portugal’s sparkling wines.

Superlative White Wine

Conceito’s Vinho Branco is a show stopper. I was frankly floored when tasting this as it approximated a very good white Bordeaux in quality and makeup. The wine’s creamy density finds its home perfectly within a superbly balanced high acid structure with extremely expressive citrus and floral notes. There are certainly some apricot pith notes in this wine that add to the complexity of its very full bodied palate. Texture is often what separates great wine from good wine and, for my palate, Conceito’s Vinho Branco has a perfect textural balance between voluptuous silkiness and mouthwatering crispness.

It is frankly revelatory that white wine this good is being made in the Douro and I urge any forward thinking agency to pick this winery up and bring it into the province. The prices are superb, the quality unmatched and the labels and marketing well suited to the North American market. You can find these wines right now in some U.S. states and in the UK.

Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
24 euros in Oporto, Portugal (at an amazing bottleshop that I will share with anyone traveling there)

Filed Under: $30-$40, Codega, Excellent, Gouveio, Highly Recommended Values, Portuguese Wine, Rabigato, Viosinho

Spotlight on Alsace: Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc Bergheim 2005

March 19, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Jean-Michel Deiss is a poet amongst poets. He articulates his philosophy of the vine with such grace that it is hard not to be drawn into his passion. For Deiss Alsace has been robbed of its memory by history. Yet the contingencies that led to the muting of Alsace’s diverse geologies and many terroirs in the past is now giving way to efforts from Alsace’s greatest growers to learn what each place has to say. Deiss is at the forefront of this reemergence of memory from history and is one of the most daring and unconventional of the lot.

Blends or Single Varietal?

Deiss generally eschews the traditional varietal wines and fully embraces complantation. This means that Deiss likes to blend the grapes of several varieties that have come to grow together in the same vineyard. As such, this particular “Pinot Blanc” actually includes some chardonnay, which seems apropos since the varieties look very similar. Deiss’ approach seems to bring out a tremendous minerality in his wines, which is particularly evident in this Pinot Blanc which has a mineral streak uncommon for the variety.

Pinot Blanc is not generally understood to be one of the noble varieties and as such is generally not found in any of the Grand Cru sites in Alsace. This wine is an exception and as such the Pinot Blanc vines benefit from the Bergheim Grand Cru’s alkaline limy soils, which seem to have provided great spicyness and minerality here. Bergheim is also one of the northern most Grand Cru sites in the part of Alsace called “Haut-Rhin”. I’d like to attribute the wine’s dryness to the more northerly climate, but Alsace can produce outstanding lean and linear dry wines from almost any Grand Cru site. I think, rather, that it is Deiss’ winemaking and his blending that has made this wine so unique.

Pinot Blanc that Tastes Good

A subdued nose, which is typical for Pinot Blanc. However, with air this becomes surprisingly expressive, mostly of citrus. The palate is zesty and higher acidity than both the Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris grapes but the wine is also well balanced and nicely finessed. More than anything the wine tastes alive and has an exciting spicyness combined with minerality. I think this is fantastic wine that is extremely complex for the price point. It is also distinctive and unlike most Alsatian Pinot Blancs. That alone is worth the price of entry.

Excellent
$38 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $30-$40, Alsace, Excellent, French Wine, Pinot Blanc

Nicolas Joly Les Vieux Clos 2005

January 14, 2011 By Shea 2 Comments

This wine is otherwordly. It is also completely unorthodox. The wine writer side of my brain spent hours confused about how to articulate what was going on in my mouth. The drinker in me kept wanting more of this most incredible juice.

His methods may be unconventional (Joly is one of the loudest proponents of biodynamic wines), but when they hit the sweet spot his wines can sing. You might not think that a funky, honeyed, musty, explosive, shy, and emotionally deep late harvest Savennieres would be the ideal pairing for Vancouver sushi, but it was.

I could go on about his methods, but others have done that before. What is important here is that this crackpot winemaker is making the kind of wine that you need to taste. He shows the benefits to striking your own path and being unconventional when you have the passion and talent to back it up. This is what makes wine exciting. I can think of no better praise for a wine or a winemaker.

Excellent
$40 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $30-$40, Chenin Blanc, Excellent, French Wine

Beer of Legend: Isabelle Proximus

December 30, 2010 By Shea Leave a Comment

Holidays and a good friend’s visit created the perfect occasion for me to open one of California’s rarest and most exciting beer projects. Isabelle Proximus is the collective work of Avery Brewing, Russian River, Dogfish Head, Lost Abbey and Allagash – a true list of U.S. superstar brewers.

The Art of Lambic

Back in 2006 the brewers from each of the breweries listed above took a trip to Belgium together and tasted through as many Geuze lambics they possible could and searched for the secret tricks of this very complex and difficult to make style of Belgian sour beer.

Geuze lambics are traditionally made with indigenous wild yeast cultures that create some extremely interesting, and, at first glance, ‘off’ flavours. In other words, if these yeasts were used in wine the result would be disgusting.

Through history and accident, however, a great brewer can tame the beast of the wild yeasts and create one of the world’s most interesting beers.

These bold Americans decided to take on the challenge on their home turf.

Mastery and Collaboration

It was understandably difficult for five brewers of the stature involved in this project to get together and brew something at Tomme Arthur’s Lost Abbey brewery near San Diego. However, I am thankful they finally managed to do so four years ago and that Tomme’s master plan for this beer came to fruition.

The idea was to get four oak barrels sent from each of the five breweries along with yeast indigenous to that particular brewery. Then, the brewers would get together at the Lost Abbey brewery and blend the various components together in order to make a Gueze style beer unlike any other that had been made before.

The Greatest Sour Beer in the United States?

This beer tops the list of sour beers that I’ve had. Only Russian River manages to get to this level, but they don’t make anything quite like the Isabelle Proximus. It has the cellar-like and yeasty aromas you expect from a Geuze, but everything is under extreme control and I would even call the beer poised.

The sourness, unlike many lambics, is not overwhelming and in fact is balanced incredibly well with the oak and some secondary fruit characteristics brought from the used oak barrels. These fruit notes come from the Festina oak barrels that were provided by Dogfish Head. The Festina beer is made with ripe peaches and it is amazing to see how the fruit notes are carried by the oak into a separate beer and how well these flavours integrated into the overall balance of the beer.

This is something you should drink slowly and out of a wine glass. It is a remarkable creation and I would not hesitate to call it a masterpiece of the art of brewing. It is too bad that this beer was only made once. I aged this in my cellar for 2 years before drinking.

Excellent+
$40 at Lost Abbey Night at Toronado SF during San Francisco Beer Week 2008.

Filed Under: $30-$40, American Beer, Excellent, Lambic

Spotlight on Languedoc-Roussillon: Clot de L’Oum La Compagnie des Papillons 2005

November 7, 2010 By Shea 3 Comments

If Roussillon is sometimes known for overtly heady, viscous wines, then the Clot de L’oum would speak of a different place. This is a wine that conspires to offer the drinker more than what they bargained for with 60-year old vines, organic viticulture and solid terroir.

Biodiversity in Roussillon

Situated on the Maury river in Roussillon, Clot de L’Oum is a winery that loves what it does and where it does it (if you read French, check out their fantastic blog). Not only do these guys love what they do, but they actually went about revitalizing the land on which they grow their grapes. Ten years ago, the only visible organisms on the land were two worms every 2 hectares. After moving the domaine to biodynamic principles and stopping all the pesticide and herbicide use in the vineyard, so much life returned to the vineyard that they named their red wine after the butterflies who came back after a decade away.

Of course, it’s important to keep all this in perspective – the agricultural idyll is far fetched on a global scale. However, important lessons remain. Certain methods can bring life back to a place and restore biodiversity. Small, dedicated producers who sell to a wealthy clientele are particularly well suited to this paradigm. That said, these wines are not priced in the stratosphere like many of their prestige counterparts (at least not yet), and are thereby offering outstanding value for the quality of what’s in the bottle.

Will this trend to comparatively moderately priced wines made with methods that respect biodiversity remain sustainable as critics like James Suckling from the Wine Spectator start to get interested in biodynamics and ‘natural’ producers? Practically speaking, will these wines ever be accessible to the average person? These are tough questions.

A Wine of Weight and Clarity

That said, this is an excellent and brooding wine with black cherry and licorice aromatics and cherry and licorice richness married to a herbal and stoney secondary backbone on the palate. This has very nice balance, is a clean and expressive wine and is big and full flavoured without being heavy – perhaps something to do with the 60+ year old vines grown on gneiss and schist soils. A blend of Carignan and Grenache, with a touch of Syrah.

Very Good to Very Good+
~$35 at Kitsilano Wine Cellar and occasionally on the list at L’Abattoir

Filed Under: $30-$40, Carignan, French Wine, Grenache, Languedoc-Roussillon, Very Good

Les Pallieres ‘Les Racines’ Gigondas 2007

June 23, 2010 By Shea 4 Comments

Les Pallieres is one of the most dependable names in Gigondas. After many years in the hands of a single family, in 1998 it was purchased by the famous importer Kermit Lynch and the Brunier family of Vieux Telegraph. This is a wine that consistently brings both great depth of flavour and balance to the table, which is something that cannot be said of all wines from the Southern Rhone, particularly these days.

This particular bottle is also part of the story that is the 2007 vintage in the Southern Rhone, which Robert Parker, amongst others, has hailed as the best ever, or something like that. I’ve heard concerns that the wines are over extracted, terse, etc. But, if I’ve learned anything in my voyage through wine, opinions about vintage mean nothing outside of the particular context of site and producer. Great producers are those you follow through the good years and the bad – they make the sort of wine that is worth trying no matter what. For me, Les Pallieres is one of those wineries. The ‘Racines’ is made from a parcel of 60+ year vines and likely saw stem inclusion. The wine is a blend of 80% Grenache, 8% Syrah, 7% Cinsaut and 5% Clairette.

Combining a great producer with what is supposed to be a great year, it is easy to understand why this is such an incredibly balanced wine. In fact, I would go as far to say that this is the most balanced Gigondas that I have ever tasted. There is both tremendous flavour here, but also pert acidity and great expressivity. The flavours are all classic Pallieres – licorice, underbrush, cherry, violets – but there is greater depth and intensity than usual. This is also in no way over extracted or overly rich: it is, in fact, very fresh. It is important not to forget the minerals and earth that guide all the fruit and provide great interest to the mid-palate and finish. This is probably the best Pallieres I’ve ever tasted, and that’s saying a lot given it is one of my favourite wines from the Southern Rhone.

Excellent
$40 at Marquis

Filed Under: $30-$40, Excellent, French Wine, Grenache