Author: Jeremy

Traditional producers can be real sticks-in-the-mud.  While technological advances march onward they stubbornly hold onto older, less predictable practices.   Their methods can seem unnecessarily cumbersome and even anachronistic when compared to technophile wine-making contemporaries.

Winemakers do debate what is actually “traditional” from region to region, but there is no doubt that since the 1970’s the technology used in growing and producing wine has expanded dramatically.  Temperature controlled-stainless steel fermentation tanks, yeast selection, countless gizmos and chemicals used to adjust a wine’s alcohol content, water content, acidity, exposure to oxygen, etc. have come into widespread use across the globe since this time.

Few would argue that this has, on the whole, led to much more consistency and quality in the wine industry.  Certainly, the better technology available has been a net gain for wine lovers.

Yet, without restraint manipulating wine can be a Faustian bargain.  Wine may gain some traits that endear it towards the public, or important critics in the press, but too much manipulation and a wine loses its individual soul and begins to taste “fake”.  Less immediately obvious (but more worrisome over the long run) is when a lot of producers are able to manipulate their wines towards a single taste – a great indistinguishable swath of choices is the result.

Enter traditionalists like Umbria’s Giampiero Bea, of Paolo Bea, who eschews many technological advances and embraces the natural process of fermentation with a pre-industrial craftsman’s eye.   Mr. Bea, who along with his brother took over the winery from their father Paolo, is perhaps the wine world’s equivalent of the old man who exclaims “Kids these days!”   Yet an artisan approach and biodynamic practices give Bea’s wines memorable flavors and a distinct sense of the wine’s origins.

Like his wines, Mr. Bea was born and raised in Montefalco, Umbria, a heavily agricultural region in the heart of Italy.  Montefalco is a small viticultural area blessed with a gem of a grape, Sagrantino.  If you are a fan of burly reds, seek this grape out (imagine robust Australian Shiraz with Indian spices and a wicked tannic streak).

Bea’s flagship wine is his Sagrantino di Montefalco (a designation that by law is 100% Sagrantino) and it expresses the wildness and character of the grape as well as any bottling available.  Stainless steel tanks are used for part of the process, but otherwise it’s only close attention on the winemaker’s part that drives the flavors.  Wild yeasts, extended maceration and zero chemical processing are used.  The results may be less predictable, but they are delicious and fascinating when guided by experienced hands.

Part of the joy of drinking older wines is experiencing the styles of the past and noting how not just the wine, but the winemaking has changed.  Paolo Bea and similar winemakers keep an ideal of traditional winemaking alive and offer wine drinkers that increasingly rare chance to peak into some of wine’s past through contemporary bottling.  It’s not that it is a restoration of the past – it is rather a contemporary dedication to traditional craftsmanship, and it makes for fascinating drinking.

Learn More about Paolo Bea

http://www.paolobea.com/

http://theviptable.blogspot.com/2010/09/paolo-bea-legacy-in-making.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/wine_explorer/2010/05/drink-these-wines—paolo-bea.html

See Some Lovely Shots of Umbria

http://www.secondsonitalia.com/page7/page7.html

Learn More about Biodynamic Wines

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5725850

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/biodynamics-the-next-trend

Why do most people prefer red wine?  Some people feel that red wine is the only real wine and white wine is…  umm, wussy.

It’s unfortunate that a large number of people have stereotyped white wines as having less forceful or interesting flavors than reds.  White wines are a diverse lot and represent such a large spectrum of flavors and experiences in the wine world that no one should ever give them an automatic pass simply because they aren’t red.

Yet, it is understandable why white wine has developed a this image in some casual drinkers’ eyes.  Whites don’t have meaty tannins and generally lack the generous fruit of the fullest reds (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec).  More importantly though, many of the most popular white wines are lighter and simpler in flavor than the most popular red wines, and these wines are where people most often begin to explore and form opinions.

So I’m calling on “red-wine-only” drinkers to throw their biases aside.  There are a number of white wines that make you reconsider – if you let them.

That brings me to Friuli, a region bordering Austria and Slovenia in the far northeast of Italy. Italy is as responsible as any country for producing innocuous whites – the country is awash in palte-cleansing, but rather flavorless whites.  Friuli’s eastern-outpost positioning has made it a region of exceptions, however, and part of the unique culture of the region has been a modern focus on quality white wines.

Italy’s richest, finest white come from Friuli.  Familiar grapes such as Pinot Grigio gain a surprising richness and depth in the region.  The confluence of the Alps and maritime climate in the region generates the push-pull of warmer days and cool nights that white wine grapes love.  Friulian winemakers take white wines very seriously and white wine production dominates the two best growing areas in the region, something very unusual in Italy.

While some more familiar grapes like Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc can take on a new life in Friuli, the region also boasts an excellent pair of indigenous white grapes in Friuliano and Ribola Gialla.  Both are full bodied and have the potential to make stellar wines.  The more famous is Friuliano, which until recently was “Tocai Friuliano”.  The EU forced it to drop the Tocai name so as to avoid any confusion with the Hungarian Tokay (same pronunciation, but a style not a grape).

The taste of Friuliano (FREE –oo-LEE-ah-no) can range from apple to pear, to creamy peach in its ripest forms.  Its layers of flavor are offset by a distinct sense of minerals in the finish that is really appealing.  It’s like eating a summer fruit salad and washing it down with some Pellegrino.  Some Friulianos also have a hint of winter spice.  The wine goes amazingly well with hams, especially prosciutto.  For good producers try Plozner, Rocca Bernarda or Schiopetto.

Ribola Gialla (Ree-BOWL-la JEE-ahl-lah) shares some of the same qualities of Friuliano, but with more pronounced acidity.  Drinking the wine you’ll notice a wave of initial fruit like a basket of apples (red, yellow, green) and clove-like spice that adds interest to the mix.  Then the minerality lingers in the finish.  Gialla can make superb sparlkers, and they’re worth seeking out.  Look for examples from Colutta, Rocca Bernarda and Jermann (sounds like YER-mahn).

Terrific white wines are grown around the world and are waiting to convince skeptical minds.  To jump start the palate you could do worse than begin with the wines of Friuli – they might just change the way you drink.

Does oak aging improve white wines?  I used to think I knew the answer and was against any oak ever touching my whites.  Purity and acid!  That was my war cry.

Tastes change, however, and I’ve gained a better understanding of how oak flavors and barrel ageing change wine.  Understanding has led to an appreciation of the results when the process is carefully managed.

Ageing wine in oak imparts some of the character of the wood while introducing small amounts of oxygen.  Various aromas and flavors can be introduced from the wood to the wine: vanilla, clove/nutmeg spiciness, caramel and cream.  These flavors can be subtle or pronounced, depending on the wine, barrels, types of oak used and the length of time the wine stays in the barrels.

The minute amount of oxygen that barrels allow in also affects wine, dulling its bite while developing richness and even nutty tones to whites.

For those who prefer wine crafted for balance, the oak can be problematic.  A grape needs to have powerful natural aromas and flavors to integrate any oak characteristics it is exposed to or oak just overwhelms all the nuances.  Without high-quality grapes, oaky flavors dominate or just taste disjointed from the natural character of the wine.

The overuse of oak barrels has marred a lot of otherwise decent wines and left me suspicious of oak.  Some whites benefit from judicious barrel aging and oak can give balance to wine.

Recently, I tasted wines from the Nueford Winery in Nelson, New Zealand.  Unlike many of his Kiwi colleagues, John Kavanagh, the winemaker at Neudorf, has made his reputation with Chardonnay rather than Sauvignon Blanc.

The Chardonnays crafted by Kavanagh have a rich hazelnut frame from the oak they are aged in.  The oak doesn’t suffocate the fruit, rather the intense fruit and minerality of his Chardonnay is given better definition through judicious barreling.  The natural intensity of the Chardonnay has been tempered just enough to add complexity to the wine.  The zip on the finish makes this wine food-friendly as well, a delight with cream sauces.

Perhaps even more surprising is the Neudorf Sauvignon Blanc.  New Zealand makes incredibly intense Sauvignon Blancs that can have over-the-top grapefruit and grassiness.  Kavanagh uses a limited amount of neutral barrel-aged wine to give texture and weight to his Sauvignon, the result being a surprisingly satisfying weight for a Sauvignon Blanc.  But the time in barrel also transforms the sharpest edges of the grape’s flavor into a more unique and nuanced experience – grapefruit and grass morphs into ginger and honeydew.  Delicious.

To oak or not to oak – the problem is not the answer but the question.  Oak aging can be beneficial for those grapes that need weight and taming.  The natural flavors of a wine can also be smothered when barrel aging and oak flavors are handled poorly.  The question should be when and how oak improves a wine, and any honest winemaker will tell you the answer is as nuanced as great wine.

More good reads on this topic

Dave McIntyre from the Washington Post on Chardonnay and oak

(add hyperlink http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501339.html

This title needs explaining.  Montepulciano is one of those incredibly confusing names in Italian wine that can be applied to a grape, village, and style of wine made by the eponymous village.  The village (in southern Tuscany) and style are Montepulciano and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, respectively.  This blog is not about those, even though they delicious in their own right.

No, this blog is about the grape Montepulciano, which I have become a big fan of over the years.  Perhaps it is because I imagine this grape to be the perpetual underdog, full of potential but struggling against the better-hyped heavyweights to make itself a name.  In my mind Montepulciano is the Rocky Balboa of Italian wine.

Hear me out on this one. Montepulciano, like Rocky, is no lightweight; it has the plumy richness of a cab and a meaty/spicy animal side like syrah, all balanced out by a bit of the edgy zip that makes Sangiovese such a good food wine (also like Sangiovese, and perhaps Rocky, Montepulciano has an affinity for tomato-based sauces).  What set it apart are the naturally soft and sweet tannins of the grape – its charming nice guy side.

Wine writers often use words like soft, juicy and generous to describe their reactions to the wines made with Montepulciano.  They are referring to the lack of bite or drying roughness in Montepulciano and the full, easily likable flavors (think spiced blackberries or cherry compote).  Montepulciano’s supple sweet tannins can be made bolder in higher end bottlings with time in oak barrels and careful grape selection, but in general this grape is carries little of the bite you get from other full-bodied reds.

Better yet, Montepulciano in general is also generally very affordable, as its regional variations do not have the name cache of others like Chianti (main grape: Sangiovese) or Barolo (Nebbiolo).  Montepulcian  The vast majority of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo is consumed in Italy as the table wine of choice.  There’s good reason for the Montepulciano’s more often than not the name is an indicator you are getting a good buy on decent wine.  Higher-end Montepulcianos are also made in Abruzzo and can often be well-priced for the quality of wine they represent.

Montepulciano also features in some serious blends from Le Marche, a region which extends northward from Abruzzo along the Adriatic coast (Le Marche could be imagined as the hamstring of the Italian boot).  This region has been something of a favorite of mine recently, and part of the reason is the fabulous wines hailing from the Rosso Piceno and Rosso Conero areas (both DOCs).  Both generally contain  Montepulciano and the better ones can age well and take on greater complexity.

Why isn’t Montepulciano a superstar grape?  Is it because the name is shared with a wine-producing Tuscan village?  Who knows?  The grape has all the potential of a star performer but has yet to break it big.  Perhaps it will some day.  In the meantime, ignore its second card status and seek this grape out on your next trip to the wine shop.

Don’t just take my word for it – click the links below for some newer and older discussions of Montepulciano and Abruzzo:

Mike Ricceti – Houston Examiner

Eric Asimov from the NYT

A snippet about the region and its wines from Delicious Italy

More about the region and some top producers from IntoWine

What’s your favorite thing about wine?  There are innumerable answers to that question but for me the clear winner is that wine presents endless opportunities for exploration.  Wine is fascinating because it is always changing, growing and being driven forward by adventurous growers and up and coming regions.  The last few decades have seen a remarkable expansion of the varietals, styles and regions available.  Just think, who would have ordered Malbec off a menu ten years ago?

The so-called New World of wine has been at the forefront of this expansion, with South America (especially Chile and Argentina) picking up what Australia, New Zealand and South Africa began and now leading the charge.  Several New-Old World countries have also made their presence felt in the US and are adding their unique flavors to the dizzying expansion of wine choices.  Good examples of this include Portugal, Spain and Austria, whose Douro, Rioja and Grüner Vetliner have worked their ways into any respectable multinational wine list.  Many are now looking to Eastern Europe for the next wave of hot-new-regions.

A surprising result of all this growth has been the prolific growth in the number of grapes available from one of the oldest producers of wine in the world – Italy.  Italy has more grape varietals being produced for wine than any other country.  The truly exciting part of this is that more and more of these varietals are becoming available here in the US.  Italy has practically become a world of wine to discover unto itself.  That’s what has made working in Italian-focused wine shop like Potenza Wine such a great adventure.  There always seems to be a wonderful new something for the adventurous soul.

So what about those who have found the vino equivalent of their special someone – whether that be New Zealand Sauv Blancs or California Cabs – and who loathe to move on?  I say, great.  Relish that confidence in your own tastes.  But don’t let that hold you back from exploring.  There just might be something else out there for you.  Within the ever-growing world of wine chances are, there is.

Where to begin?  The NY Times recently had an article on obscure grapes you should know and so much more information exists for the wine lover online.  Books can be helpful as well – anything from Jancis Robinson, Hugh Johnson or Matt Kramer is a good bet.  However, the best and most straightforward way is to go to your local wine shop and ask a wine seller you trust.  Let them know what you like and then tell them you are feeling adventurous.  If they are worth their salt they’ll love the opportunity to introduce you to the next special someone.