Very Good

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Quinta do Ameal Eschola Branco 2004

August 25, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

As I mentioned earlier in this spotlight, white wine of merit is somewhat of a rarity in Portugal. In particular, Vinho Verde (aka Minho), a wine region north of Oporto, is known to produce mostly quaffing whites with no real interest beyond a hot day and a low price. Quinta do Ameal, however, has taken upon itself to show how the indigenous variety Loureiro can actually make serious wine.

The Region

Vinho Verde is synonymous with high acidity, watery whites and fairly rustic reds. The region produces ⅙ of Portugal’s wines and accordingly has quite high yields. The climate is damp, with high malic acid and low natural grape sugar. The majority of white wines are actually made from Alvarinho (aka Albarino) but it can also be blended with other indigenous grapes including Loureiro.

The Grape

Loureiro is an aromatic grape usually used in blends, however it has naturally high acidity and low alcohol and thrives particularly well in the cooler parts of Minho. Often the yields are high with this grapes, but Ameal crops it at yields far lower than normal at 5 tons/hectare in order to release its savory aromas and deeper concentration of flavours and make it suitable for a 100% varietal wine.

Ameal does a 48 hour cold soak and ferments and ages in oak.

The Wine

This is intriguing wine that is well made and also quite delicious. It pours somewhat greenish but darker than normal for Vinho Verde. However, clearly this grape does not have a lot of colour. The nose proffers reasonably dense oak, but it also has intriguing aromas of bitter citrus rind, nuts and strange flowers/savory herbs.

The relatively high acid palate is both bright and savory: minerals, bitter citrus rind, and flowers again. An up front wine that combines both richness and fresh easy approachability so long as you are amenable to the unique flavour profile.

There is a bit of greenness here (underripeness is a perennial problem in Vinho Verde) but it is not offensive. Rather it adds interest and spark. Quite a fascinating wine and absolutely worth checking out. This is definitely wine geek wine, but with a broad appeal. Who’s ever had 100% Loureiro before?

12% ABV.

Very Good+
$41 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $40-$60, Loureiro, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Very Good

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Quinta do Noval Cedro do Noval 2007

August 20, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Quinta do Noval is becoming one of the more important houses in Portugal for dry red wine. Situated in the Douro, Quinta do Noval was founded in 1715 and started making dry reds in 1996 (but only marketing the wines as of 2004). Over time, the estate was driven towards the brink of bankruptcy until it was sold by its former owners, the Van Zeller family, to AXA Millesimes and is headed by Christian Seely who is given free reign by the corporate conglomerate.

It is amazing that a Quinta famed for one of Portugal’s greatest ports, “Nacional” made from a single vineyard of very old ungrafted Touriga Nacional vines, also has managed to turn out some of the country’s finest dry reds that are constantly improving.

A Touch of Internationalism

All the table wines at Noval are fermented in conical steel tanks. Seely has said that Legares are not good for table wines as the grapes are prone to oxidation. While most of the excitement in Portuguese wine comes from its bevy of undiscovered indigenous grapes, Noval has become well known for planting Syrah vines (Seely notes that their vineyards have schist soil overlooking a river, much like Hermitage), and blending syrah into their second wine, Cedro do Noval.

As such, this 2007 has 35% of Syrah blended in with 30% Touriga Nacional, 25% Touriga Franca and 10% Tinta Cao. Seely insists that his intention is not to make the wines international, but rather to experiment and also to produce a more accessible wine at a younger age.

Quality Wine on the Rise

The wine pours an extremely rich dark red and opens with oak, spice, chocolate, and dark red fruit aromatics. There is a heaviness to the nose that suggests lack of balance, but after a few hours open, this, along with everything else, integrates very well.

The palate tasted of blackberries and chocolate and is very dark and rich. Nonetheless good acid keeps the wine speaking and I think this is a worthy bottle at its price point, but I wish it went in a different direction (I still prefer Ribera del Duero or Rioja reds over most of the Portuguese reds I’ve had so far). However, there is something unique and compelling about the wine and despite its bigness it maintains an old world feel. There is also a softness to the texture that pegs this immediately as old world. It is not hard to appreciate that this is quite a delicious wine and it prompts me to seek out Quinta do Noval’s top wines.

Very Good+
$35 at BCLDB

Filed Under: $30-$40, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Syrah, Tinta Cao, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacionale, Very Good

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Lemos & Van Zeller CV Curriculum Vitae 2005

August 12, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Cristiano Van Zeller is one of the most famous names for dry wine in Portugal. Now owner of Quinta do Vale Donna Maria, he has had his stamp on a few top dry wine estates in the Douro, including Quinta do Roriz.

Certainly a bit of a whiz and one with a penchant for new projects, Van Zeller also seems to have a fairly new world bent with his wine making style. So he is both a good example of the modernization of Portugal but also of the divide between big ballsy New Worldy wines and wines with more subtlety and elegance, which are also possible in Portugal.

Portugal’s Grape

Touriga Nacional is amongst the absolute best quality grapes in Portugal for making red wine. Long used in port production, it is now seeing centre stage in numerous highly regarded dry reds. TN makes delicious full bodied wines but is also very aggressive, and in the worlds of Oz Clarke is “a grape of tremendous personality but with aggressive tendencies that is usually much better when softened by blending with something else”.

The wine has an expressive bordeaux-like nose, staying true to its similarity to Cabernet Sauvignon: blackberry, plum and plumskin, spices and a bit of leafyness.

This is fully fruity on the palate, very forward and is filled with big bright acid. I find this more like a very good California wine on the palate than anything old world, though the tannins manifest dustily on the palate. You can definitely taste a little stewy fruit here, and some alcohol and so I’d say this wine has less finesse than the Chrysea. Overall, it is still a bit harsh now with fairly overt oak and tannin and could clearly do with another 4-6 years of bottle age. In some ways the wine is a little unbalanced, especially for its price tag. Right now, while I respect the quality of this wine, it is unfortunately a pass for me based on QPR.

Summary

New World style but distinctly Portuguese grapes and flavours. A good wine for those who like em big. Personally I prefer the red wines from Portugal with more elegance – a hard thing to achieve in its climate.

Very Good+
~$100 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Touriga Nacionale, Very Good

Domaine Fouassier “Sur le Fort” Sancerre 2009

August 11, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Sancerre has the biggest name in the Loire but often produces the least interesting wines. I opt for Savennieres, Vouvray, Saumur and Muscadet far more often than the generally overpriced sauvignon blancs of Sancerre. Sometimes, however, a winery can come along that challenges these tendencies, and Domaine Fouassier does just that.

Of Soils and Deliciousness

Sancerre is famous for its three types of soils: white chalky soils, limestone and flint. Fouassier categorizes its wines by soil types, with white and brown labels representing grapes grown in two types of limestone soils and grey labels those in flint. The Fouassiers are one of the oldest families in Sancerre and have a large estate extending 53 hectares, which allows them a wide range of wines in various terroirs.

This is extremely expressive wine, but not in that big over the top style that commercial Sancerre is made in. This is minerally wine but also is full of tropical fruit and tang. These are big and expressive on the palate too, and include a nice fairly lengthy finish by Sauvignon Blanc standards. A great food wine and a great wine by itself, this is outstanding for the price and well worth picking up.

Very Good+ to Excellent and Highly Recommended Value
$35 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars

Filed Under: $30-$40, French Wine, Highly Recommended Values, Sauvignon Blanc, Very Good

Fontodi Chianti Classico 2007

August 9, 2011 By Shea 7 Comments

Fontodi is a top producer in Chianti, a region much maligned both for its history of cheap dreck and for an overabundance of new Super Tuscan blends many of which have focused more on international rather than regional varieties.

On the other hand, Chianti, particularly Chianti Classico, has seen a bit of a resurgance lately, with top producers like Fontodi focusing on a terroir driven approach to Chianti and demonstrating that the Classico DOCG can offer stunning soil driven wines.

Fickle Grape, Rediscovered Terroir

Sangiovese, of course, is one of Italy’s greatest indigenous grapes, descendant from two other indigenous Tuscan vines called ciliegiolo and calabrese monotenuovo. Sangiovese is a vigorous grape that must be closely pruned but also that has difficulty ripening. The grape’s naturally light colour is what led to blending with both traditional varieties and the international grapes Cabernet and Merlot. Though I have to point out that while these noble French varieties have been much maligned, when done well, they can produce outstanding wine. That said, this Chianti is 100% Sangiovese (as is Fontodi’s Super Tuscan Flaccianello).

Perfectly Classic

A nose of classic medium bodied cherry becomes a fantastic full-bodied yet very well balanced wine with flavours of cherry, licorice and roots. This has amazing length and structure for basic Chianti Classico and is a superb example both of Fontodi and the outstanding 2007 vintage.

There is pretty much no Chianti out there in B.C. at this price point with this level of structure and complexity. That makes this wine an outstanding buy that you can lay down or drink now with a hearty plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Very Good+ and Highly Recommended Value
$33 at BCLDB

P.S. The Portuguese Spotlight will continue soon – the contingencies of a busy life have created some delay.

Filed Under: $30-$40, Highly Recommended Values, Italian Wine, Sangiovese, Very Good

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

Spotlight on New Zealand: Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2005

July 9, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

I’ve been pretty excited about the New Zealand Syrahs I’ve tasted in this spotlight. This wine, however, has proven to be somewhat of an enigma.

A New Zealand Giant

Craggy Range is one of the bigger names in Hawke’s Bay – 200,000 cases – which is not huge by standards outside of New Zealand, but within New Zealand it is quite considerable. Founded in the late 1980’s, Craggy Range has helped bring considerable success to the Hawke’s Bay region and has since expanded all over New Zealand, with wines made from grapes grown in Marlborough to Central Otago.

The Le Sol, however, is from Craggy Range’s “prestige” range of wines that supposedly represent the absolute best of what they do and what the Hawke’s Bay can produce.

Gimblett Gravels, the Hawke’s Bay sub-region from which this Syrah sprouts, is also considered by many to be the best region for Syrah in New Zealand – an ancient river bed with sedimentary soils. It is certainly the warmest, which helps make wines made from these soils some of the densest and richest in the country.

A Confused Wine or a Confused Tasting

The Le Sol comes in two parts – pop and pour and decanted. Surprisingly, the impact of decanting on this wine proved to be in reverse to what is traditional: it became more one dimensional and monolithic and lost the aromatic complexity and fresh palate I experienced upon initial opening.

On the initial open, this offered plenty of game and pepper, pouring a very youthful deep red. I thought these aromatics were so much more interesting than any of the big boy Syrahs from the U.S. and Australia.This changed, however, with the decant as the oak took over the fruit.

The same occurred on the palate. Initially a wine with juicy blackberry, plum, pepper, a hint of game and great freshness. This had mouthwatering acidity and exceptional length, finishing with herbs, garrigue and fine tannins. Strangely, with the decant this became all oak, which dried out the fruit on the finish. I cannot understand how such an expressive, fresh and complex wine could become so simplistic and monolithic with only a couple hours of air, but this is what happened.

As such, I find this a difficult wine to rate, and I’m not sure what to make of it, though at the price I can’t recommend it over the Sacred Hill or Man O War. Nonetheless, here it is:

Very Good+ to Excellent upon Pop and Pour
Fair with a Decant
$100 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Fair, New Zealand, New Zealand Wines, Syrah, Very Good

Spotlight on New Zealand: Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2008

June 22, 2011 By Shea 3 Comments

Jake at Cherries and Clay just posted on the possibilities of aging new world Pinot Noir by looking at a 2004 Rippon Pinot from Central Otago in New Zealand. In that piece he considered how red Burgundy tends to be built for age and most new world producers have instead built their wines for immediate drinking. Nonetheless, his 2004 Rippon seemed to straddle the line between the two worlds. This got me to thinking about what New Zealand Pinot Noir was all about and what it offered to drinkers beyond immediate pleasure.

Sex or History?

This is a difficult question given that most new world Pinot has built its market off its sexy immediacy. In fact, I have a hard time looking beyond the instant pleasure that such bottles bring. Nonetheless I do think the best examples from New Zealand are starting to move into slightly different territory.

Ata Rangi is one of New Zealand’s most iconic producers of Pinot Noir. It uses one of the oldest clones in New Zealand (the abel clone), which is a Dijon clone thought to have been smuggled into New Zealand from France (reportedly, a cutting from DRC itself) in the 1970’s. Amazingly, the current existence of these clones in NZ owes a debt to Malcom Abel, friend of Clive Paton founder of Ata Rangi , who was a former customs officer who was working for the government at the time the cuttings were confiscated and managed to see their potential and preserve them.

So Ata Rangi seems to have a significant link to Burgundy and certainly and important role in the NZ wine industry. They also manage their vineyards at a high standard of biodiversity, vineyards that have never seen the use of insecticide, and other important management practices you can read about here.

Fruit, Spice and Savor

As with most Pinot Noir it is easy to get lost in the hugely immediate up front fruit with this wine. It was not until this wine had decanted for several hours that I began to appreciate the savory nuances that gave this wine its character. This is something I have noticed in the best Pinots from New Zealand, and there is a particularly unique savoriness and spiciness to the Pinots from Martinborough that distinguish the best examples from other regions in the country.

This is a wine with a fruity palate and high acidity. The fruit is darker than expected, but it retains freshness and length on the finish. This is an undoubtedly new world Pinot Noir, but a delicious one. As a classic example of a traditional well made new world Pinot, this wine is texturally very pleasing and this may be its best quality, though the up front fresh fruit is a close second. However, as mentioned earlier with air the wine completely changes. It gets very nuanced, more savory and complex and much more aromatically expressive.

There does seem to be some heat on the finish that I would like to see disappear, and I suspect it will with time. That seems to be a common theme with many NZ pinot noirs. They have such great up front fruit, good acidity and balance until the finish on which you can detect the alcohol, even in many of the finest examples from top wineries.

I have no problem with New Zealand wineries embracing the new world style, though I still think they are going through some growing pains with the Pinot. There is a bit of an identity crisis – what distinguishes these wines from California, Oregon, or Australia? There are subtle nuanced distinctions in fruit and spice, alcohol and acid, but stylistically almost all of the Pinots from these regions go for the same thing: sexy fruit. I’m down with sexy. But I do see the potential for a far more intellectual journey. The terroir is there in the making. All that is needed is the vision (which wineries like Ata Rangi have been instrumental in developing), and a few hundred years.

Very Good+
$68 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, New Zealand, New Zealand Wines, Pinot Noir, Very Good

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