The Official Wine Thread

[Piobaire]

which location, Lytton or Montebello?

Monte Bello. I'm looking at it out my window now, perhaps two miles off, but it's going to be a 45 min drive.

Also, Tablas Creek has some Tannat as well.

Think I had Tannat in multiple wines when I was in Paso. It really is the CA Rhone.

 

[Cary Grant]



Isn't it funny how you've never seen a wine from a certain grape and then suddenly it's everywhere? I think I've tasted three of four wines this year with Tannat.

With some of the behaviors changing about revealing what's truly in a blend, I'm seeing many more obscure grapes showing up on labels.

 

[Quatsch]



Think I had Tannat in multiple wines when I was in Paso. It really is the CA Rhone.

If only there was more limestone.

 

[Quatsch]

[/quote name="Cary Grant" url="/t/129315/the-official-wine-thread/13665#post_5663140"]
With some of the behaviors changing about revealing what's truly in a blend, I'm seeing many more obscure grapes showing up on labels.[/quote]

Counoise is another one that came out of nowhere. A big reason for this sort of thing happening is that most winemakers/growers are major grape geeks.

 

[Piobaire]

Isn't it funny how you've never seen a wine from a certain grape and then suddenly it's everywhere? I think I've tasted three of four wines this year with Tannat.

With some of the behaviors changing about revealing what's truly in a blend, I'm seeing many more obscure grapes showing up on labels.

Agreed. I've even seen some Pinot makers admit to putting some Syrah in recently.

I just posted a pic of a wine that's 1/3 Counoise and was absolutely killer.

 

[Cary Grant]

A winemaker once told me some in Cali were adding Counoise to iffy Syrah/Shiraz to make it "spicier".

 

[Quatsch]

Well I don't think there's anything wrong with adding 5-10% of something like Counoise to Syrah to change it up unless you've got a bottling from a cooler climate that you're billing as a Cote Rotie/Hermitage kind of thing.

I'm not saying that stuff like adding Syrah to Pinot never happens, however, in the last two years one of the clearest lessons that I've learned is to take wine industry gossip, at least where it concerns winemaking practices with a grain of salt. Gossip about the shenanigans going on in the personal lives of wine industry folks, however, seems to be extremely reliable.

I'm working for a winery now thats been accused of adding Syrah to their Pinot, and its probably motivated by jealous thoughts like "how could pure Pinot be so ___? they must be adding Syrah."

 

[Piobaire]

I was invited to a lunch with some industry friends that were getting tasted through a notable Oregon winery's line up by their rep. They put out a Pinot blend this year and admitted to putting some Syrah in. The rep was saying how it's mighty mysterious when a winery buys several tons of Syrah grapes but not one of its bottlings has "Syrah" listed.

Friday night one of the (many ugh) wines I tried was a simple Zin, Klinker Brick from Lodi. They have old vines, 75 years or more, and for a retail of $16 the 08 is a steal. I hear the 09 is not as good but that 08 was very, very good.

 

[HansderHund]

My wife and I just finished a nice Styrian wine earlier, so I opened a bottle off from California that was give to us as a gift...the cork says Gallo (?). What in the hell is it? It's terrible!

 

[Manton]

Sorry to laugh but ... ha ha!

Gallo is jug wine from Lodi.

 

[mgm9128]

 

[HansderHund]



Sorry to laugh but ... ha ha!
Gallo is jug wine from Lodi.

This is what we were drinking...

This is what I opened....

It's terrible. It's about €9-10 a bottle here, which is just plain sad. What does it cost there?

 

[Quatsch]

As mentioned, went tasting at Ridge and also at Big Basin.

My thoughts:

'07 Monte Bello - Much more approachable at 5 years old than I'd have thought. Has "Wow-factor." Great wine, still quite primary, but the other stuff is there somewhere. Not a ton of evidence of the American oak barrels.

'10 Chardonnay - Just a really classy and well put-together Chardonnay. I didn't pick up that much diacytel acetate, so thats a plus. I like to keep my buttered popcorn and my wine seperate.

'09 Merlot - very nice, has "stuffing," or in layman's terms, good structure and plenty of tannin and acidity, which are prerequisites for aging. Tasty fruit now, however.

'09 Estate Cabernet - Very nice, tastes like a much more expensive wine.

'08 Petit Syrah - TANNIN!

Buchignani Carignane - Didn't like it - they've somehow transformed perfectly good Carignane into pure juicy fruit. The acid and some tannin are still there, but the fruit overwhelms any interesting secondary characteristics it might have.

Buchignani Zinfandel - Very nice. Very earthy, Mourvedre-like nose.

East Bench Zinfandel - Lively, pure, fresh fruit with enough tannin and acid to give it a nice structure.

Mazzoni Zinfandel - Tastes kind of iike port. Stewed figs and raisins.


Big Basin makes some really nice pinots and Syrahs. Pinots are very very good. Lester Vineyard and Alfaro Vineyard are both very nice. The Syrahs are young, and in my opinion Syrah needs time more than almost any other varietals, but I didn't get much in the way of pepper or any of the other usual stuff, though the bacon fat is there in spades. Very tasty fruit flavor, not terribly light but not terribly heavy either.

 

[Cary Grant]

Under that name and label I believe that's named as such just for Europe? But it's $5 crap either way.

 

[HansderHund]



Under that name and label I believe that's named as such just for Europe? But it's $5 crap either way.

That's a good possibility. The Napa section in the average store is small and includes tons of crap that isn't worth packing to ship. I know the same thing happens in reverse, but this is terrible. Of anyone is looking for a bottle to hold onto, grab something Austrian. We have the only region the Grüner Veltliner is grown and it's getting popular world-wide. The problem is that we export a small percentage outside of Austria. Not too many places in the US import Austrian wine as it's difficult to get.

That being said, if you live in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico or Arizona, let me know! I'll be there in a couple of weeks and I'd be happy to bring extra bottles.