San Felice Chianti Classico '07

   This Chianti from the Classico DOCG is a textbook example of what good everyday Chianti can be. It's also one of the reasons that I love Italian wines. Sangiovese is the grape of course, and this version gave me everything I love about Sangiovese from this part of the world. Complex aromas of smokey cherry, cinnamon and cloves give way to medium-bodied bitter cherry flavors with notes of licorice and leather. It's elegant and beautiful and even though I expected a touch more body from an '07, a generally warm and ripe vintage in Tuscany, there's a lot to like with this wine. Chianti has been made in various forms for centuries of course and some folks still think of it as a quaint little peasant quaff that usually comes in a bottle with that straw covering. Some misconceptions are hard to change but there really has been a quality revolution in this and many other parts of the wine world. Although now under corporate ownership, San Felice is a producer who has been around an awfully long time and their track record is quite solid. At $13.99 this is a Chianti bottling to seek out. Cheers.

Fattoria Selvanova Aglianico "Vignantica" '05

   I've always had a fondness for good Aglianico, the most important grape of Campania in southern Italy. There's always something wild and rustic about wines made from it, and those are characteristics that frequently bring complexity also. Aglianico is the main grape of Taurasi, whose wines have been dubbed by some "the Barolo of the south". In truth, that is a gross over-simplification as wines made from Aglianico and wines from Barolo (which are made with Nebbiolo) actually have little in common. What they do have in common is that they can be very long-lived and deliciously complex. In this case, we have an entry level Aglianico that cost a mere $12.99 and is an '05, which probably means that it isn't selling very fast at my local shop. That's a shame because this wine is still fabulous while most everyday wines that old are probably fading fast. What I love about this wine are the wild aromas of roasted plum, coffee, iron and a distinct forest floor earthiness. It's still got a good fruity mid-palate, excellent acidity and nary a trace of typical hot climate over-ripeness that can be sometimes found in these wines. The very modest 13.5% alcohol is proof of that. It finishes long with some dusty tannins and stony notes. Imported by David Vincent Selections, this is a portfolio I will definitely be on the lookout for. Cheers.

Bodegas El Angosto "La Tribu" 2010

   Here's a very nice 3 grape blend from the Valencia region of Spain, where they have been making wine for more than a few centuries. Called "La Tribu", this blend consists of equal parts Monastrell (Mourvedre), Garnacha (Grenache) and Syrah. It's got attractive yet somewhat reticent aromas of blueberry, blackberry and a touch of smoke - probably from the 4 months of oak barrel aging this wine gets. In the mouth it's medium-bodied and very up front fruity with very nice balance and grace. It's never heavy handed and there's no alcoholic heat on the back end. It's not the most complex quaffer I've had but fans of the fruitier styles will find a lot to like here. It went perfectly with the artisanal  pizza from our hometown favorite, Nomad Pizza, and it set me back a mere $12.99. It's imported by one of my faves, Vintage Imports. Cheers.

....and while I have Nomad Pizza on the brain, those of you in the Philadelphia area should watch for the opening of the Philly restaurant on Feb. 10th. I can't rave enough about these individual pies, made in a very traditional Italian manner with mostly local and/or organic ingredients in a wood-fired oven that they had shipped here from Italy. They have a great draft beer list;
1. Allagash White
2. Anchor Liberty Ale
3. Brooklyn Lager
4. Dogfish Head 60 min IPA
5. Dominion Oak Barrel Stout
6. Long Trail Ale
7. Ommengang Hennepin
8. Rogue Dead Guy Ale
9. Stone IPA
10. Victory Prima Pils
11. Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale
12. Seasonal Tap
and a wine list put together by yours truly, featuring many of the values touted on this blog. Pictured here is the margherita pie with shitake mushrooms. Yum.

Dehesa Gago "Little g" 2010

   One of the first great everyday Spanish wines I ever encountered on my wine journey was the Dehesa Gago "Little g", produced by the Telmo Rodriguez Estate in the Toro DO of Northwest Spain. It's a wine I've ignored over the last few years as new wines have popped up on a very regular basis. I'm happy to say that I am ignoring it no longer as this is an absolutely delicious bottle, featuring bold up-front fruit and a very generous mid-palate. The grape here is Tempranillo, known locally as Tinto de Toro. It's got all the goodies...big aromas of roasted fruit and dark berries like blueberry and blackberry along with notes of coffee and cola. The flavors are just as big and mouth filling but what I love is that it is also balanced with enough acidity to give it lift. This beauty finishes long with slightly dusty tannins and a leathery note. There's a lot of wine out there that costs more but isn't nearly good as this $12.99 gem. Imported by newcomer Vintus, this is a bottling to seek out. Cheers.

Laborum Torrontes 2010

   Okay it's official. I am a huge fan of Argentinian Torrontes. So much for my old world bias. These new world white wines have everything I love. Big aromatics, complex flavors and vibrant acidity. I've already written up the Crios Torrontes and tonight we tried one from VOS import Bodegas El Porvenir. These grapes are grown at the almost impossible sounding altitude of 5700 ft. and produced just 2000 cases. They remind me so much of Alsatian Gewurztraminer yet they are lighter and more vibrant. This wine has big aromas of white flowers (Gardenia?), white peach, citrus elements and tarragon. It's mouth-filling flavors echo the peach, along with apricot, grapefruit and stony elements. It finishes long with a note of saline. It's also got wonderful, tangy acidity that make these wines great partners for spicy Asian food. We enjoyed the Laborum with a spicy, Thai-style fish soup that my wife cooked up. It's a shame that wines like this don't get more consideration from consumers. It cost me $15.99 and while that may be more than you might want to spend on a Tuesday night, if it's a Friday night you should definitely try this awesome wine out. Cheers.

Le Bourcier Macon Cuvee Elena '08

   Chardonnay is still king by most accounts of today's white wine buying trends. Sales increase every year for this popular grape that accounts for almost 30% of domestic production. In addition, the Chardonnay drinking public has been moving more and more to unoaked versions for their everyday drinking and the California producers are rolling out more of these wines every year. But if there's one thing I've confessed on these pages, it's that I am going to skew old world in my tastes, and that means that for me, the best Chardonnays are French.
   The unoaked Cuvee Elena from Le Bourcier is a Chardonnay from France's Macon region (a sub-region of Burgundy), the home to millions of gallons of Chardonnay production every year. This bottle is a 2008 and it's somewhat golden color hints at a bit of oxidation as it nears the end of it's 2 or 3 year window of drinkability. It's delicious anyway. Beautiful aromas of honeyed pear, fresh fig and a minerally nuance lead to big flavors of pear, orange rind and almond. It's got excellent balancing acidity and a long, creamy finish. The aromas and flavors definitely fell off a bit with airing but I wouldn't hesitate to pick up an '09 or a '10 of this bottling. It's almost always delicious. Imported by one of my faves Polaner Selections, this easy drinking everyday Chardonnay cost me $12.99. Cheers.

Syrocco 2008

   Here's a great little Syrah made from grapes sourced from a very unlikely place - Morocco! The winemaker is Alain Graillot, one of the top producers of the Northern Rhone whose Syrahs from Crozes Hemitage earn accolades on a consistent basis. As the story goes, Graillot was cycling through the Zenata area of Morocco when his route took him through a vineyard. The label features a couple of stick-figure cyclists. He stopped to chat with the owners and discovered that the grapes on the vines were the same varietal that he had spent his professional life working with. He promptly made a deal on a joint project to produce a user friendly everyday wine for the export market. This venture now produces about 8,000 bottles annually. It is a delicious example of Syrah that cost me $14.99. It has dark cherry aromas with notes of black olive and brown spices. In the mouth it features medium-bodied up front cherryish fruit with enough acidity to give it lift. Imported by Michael Skurnick, Syrocco is a very nicely balanced example of good everyday Syrah. Cheers.

The Holidays are for Nights Like This...

   Such a busy time the end of year holidays are, yet there is much joy to share in. This year we squeaked in a night out with some of our best friends at one of Philadelphia's best BYO's, Radicchio. It's hard to put into words how much fun this place is so luckily I have some pics to prove it, courtesy of our dear friend Sherry of Kobo Services.

The wine lineup of course was a big part of it. There's a Malbec from Alamos; A Cotes du Rhone from Domaine Boisson, which I have already written up on this blog; A Spanna from Vallana; and a couple of cherries from my cellar, a '07 Maison Bouachon Chateauneuf du Pape and a '97 Super Tuscan called Il Merlotto, a Sangiovese/Cabernet blend.

We started with some carpaccio with argula and shaved parmesan and some wonderful grilled baby artichokes with shrimp. The carpaccio was all melt in your mouth sweetness and the baby artichokes were cooked perfectly and drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil, the grilling adding a smokiness to the full bore flavor of the chokes. The shrimp did seem to be an unnecessary add on.

The star of the show at Radicchio however, is always the grilled octopus. I have never had such a tender plate of octopus, with the grill flavor bringing out the best of this often ignored delicacy.
Follow that with house made rigatoni with mussels and clams in a beautiful garlicky white sauce, and it starts getting hard to pack it all in.

A 2008 Gilbert Picq Chablis imported by one of my favorites, Polaner Selections, was the perfect wine for this course. I'm a big fan of this entry level Chablis, whose unoaked Chardonnay flavor, bracing acidity and distinct aromas of pear, apple and wet stones are perfect accompaniments for seafood. The '08s are wonderfully minerally in a way that the '09s are not, it being a riper, fruitier vintage. This example cost me $17.99.

I have to go off about the Spanna also. As a Nebbiolo fan, the most important red grape of Piedmont, there are few good examples of Nebbiolo based wines in the everyday category. Barbaresco and Barolo, the two most important wines made from that noble grape, are expensive and in need of extended aging to really show their best. This Spanna from the Colline Novarese zone and produced by one of the venerable old names, Vallana, is an incredible bargain at $13.99. It's soaring aromatics feature bitter cherry, liquorice and violets along with notes of saddle leather. It's flavors are equally large and mouth filling with the cherry and liquorice flavors standing out above all. It finishes lightly tannic and long. I wish more folks would take a chance on wines like this when they pop up in stores. They are so different yet so special. "Sir, put down the Cabernet and step away from the rack"

We also had a couple of entrees that were good but almost beside the point after all the appys. The Halibut was delicious but a thin hangar steak with mushrooms was overcooked and bland. Still, Radicchio is a must destination if you find yourself hungry and in Philadelphia. Oh yeah, the desserts are great also. Cheers and I hope everyone has a great 2012.

Recession Busters - Wallet Friendly Holiday Sparklers

   As we move towards the end of the year holidays, sparkling wine sales pick up quite a bit of steam. In fact, a large majority of producer's sparkling wine sales - by some estimates almost half - come in the month of December. And while true Champagne (which only comes from the Champagne region of France) is still the king, great value sparkling wines are available from many different countries.

For this tasting, we opened three sparklers from three different countries, all designated a "brut" or dry style with 12 or less grams of residual sugar per liter and all costing under $15. Two of them, The French sparkler from Varichon and Clerc and the Spanish Cava "Sonim", are made in the champagne method which involves inducing a secondary fermentation in the bottle by adding yeast and sugar. The carbon dioxide produced is the source of the bubbles. The Italian Prosecco from Zardetto is produced in closed stainless steel tanks where the same process is induced in a larger volume.
   The first wine in our tasting was the Varichon and Clerc, a French bubbly produced via the Champagne method from three grapes, Ugni Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Colombard. It retails at my local store for just $9.99.

Here we have fine, small bubbles with aromas dominated by nutty/yeasty tones. It was also very nutty in the mouth at first but with airing began to show some apple and pear elements. The nose also opened a bit more and showed some melon and vanilla. It's delicate, steely and finishes quite dry with good length. It's a great value at this price point. It's imported by one of my favorites, Maximum Wine Co.
   Next up at $12.99 was the Spanish Cava Sonim. This sparkler, produced from 40% Parellada, 30% Macabeu and 30% Xarel-lo, three indigenous Spanish grapes, had a much more pronounced leesy/nutty nose with vanilla and herbal tones. In the mouth, the Sonim leans much more to citrusy fruit tones, especially lime zest. It finishes dry and tangy with good persistence. It's imported by Aviva Vino.

   Lastly we tried the $12.99 Italian Prosecco from Zardetto. With this sparkler we found a much more fruit driven nose featuring apricot and melon with the nutty nuance clearly taking a back seat. This may have had something to do with the secondary fermentation occurring in tank as opposed to in the bottle. In the mouth, there was clearly more sweet fruit, again dominated by apricot and white fruits. It finishes long, yet still dry and though it's not quite as delicate as the Varichon and Clerc, If you like a fruitier style, this one's for you.

Imported by topnotch importer Winebow, this sparkler is a sure crowd pleaser. If I had to rank them in order of my preference, I'd go with the Zardetto as number one, followed by the Varichon and Clerc and then the Sonim. Still, they are all good values and present excellent examples of sparkling wines that won't bust your budget. They'll make great aperitifs to a special holiday meal. Happy Holidays and as always, cheers!

Chateau Pascaud '07

   Good, inexpensive Bordeaux can be hard to find. And for most common folk like me, it's usually an afterthought when it comes to everyday red. But when a decent steak or a leg of lamb are on the menu, red Bordeaux, which is usually based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, can be the perfect fit. Tonight's entry from Chateau Pascaud was a $11.99 Bordeaux Superieur, an area that produces entry level juice for everyday consumption.

The vintage is 2007, a good but not great year in a zone where the weather still matters every year. In this case, the Chateau Pascaud is dominated by Merlot to the tune of 85%, with Cabernet Franc making up the balance. It's got very attractive red and black fruit aromas complicated by a bit of earthiness that became more pronounced as it aired. Both the '08 and the '09 should have a bit more stuffing than this '07 did, as both years were warmer and better. It's medium-bodied and very smooth and though it finishes a bit short, it went very well with a venison roast with chanterelle mushroom gravy, mashed sweet potatoes and roasted root vegetables (featuring baby carrots that just came out of our cold garden last week!). This attractive little wine is imported by Michael Skurnick, an importer with a wonderful portfolio. Cheers.

Purato Nero d'Avola 2010

   Some of my favorite everyday wines are coming out of Sicily these days. There's a purity of fruit, some stony terroir and prices that are extremely wallet friendly. A case in point is the lovely $9.99 Purato Nero d'Avola 2010. It's got big aromatics that bring to mind raspberry jam and baked cherries, brown spices and a distinct stoniness. There's a wonderful fruity mid-palate and excellent balancing acidity. In addition, this mid-week crowd pleaser is produced from organically grown grapes while the package features recycled paper, glass and vegetable ink. You can't much greener than that while you're tossing down red, that's for sure.

Produced by Feudo di Santa Tresa and imported by one of my favorites, Vias, this great little wine will pair perfectly with your bolognese, roast chicken, pizza or the rustic and delicious sausage and black-eyed peas my lovely wife Janet made us tonight. Cheers to one and all.

La Vigne en Veron Chinon 2009

  Chinon may be the most unknown appellation for American consumers of red wine in all of France. It's from the Loire valley and when most of us think of that region we think Sancerre, Pouilly Fume or Muscadet which of course are all white wines. Red wine from the Loire is not only uncommon but it is often just not very good. The reds are made from Cabernet Franc with an allowance for a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon blended in. They used to be mostly thin, uninteresting wines that tended to be under-ripe and overly acidic. Nowadays though (and maybe this is partly another effect of climate change on wine production), there are new Chinons in the market that are fuller and fruitier yet balanced enough to pair with whatever you want to throw at them. Which brings me to today's offering from small negociant Foucher-Lebrun. Negociants are producers that source grapes from various growers (Jadot and Drouhin are well known negociants). So while their wines may not be estate grown and bottled, if their sources are good then the wines may be also.
   This 2009 Chinon was a perfect match for a beef brasciole that my wife made us today. It featured somewhat reticent aromas of spicy baked cherry and licorice, but flavor-wise it was very forward and easy to drink with medium bodied dark fruit flavors and that bell pepper quality that is very typical of Cabernet Franc. It finishes smooth with good acidity and cut that gives it a lingering freshness. Imported by one of my favorites, Polaner Selections, this Chinon is an excellent value at a mere $9.99. Cheers.