The $10-ish experiment continues. This one varies in price so some of you may find it for $9 and some for $13 but at any price below $15 or even $20, I think this wine is a steal. It's my standby for Barbera.
Barbera is native to Italy's Piedmont region in the Northwest. It's been around since at least the middle ages and has served as the basis for everyday drinking wine in the region for thousands of years.
The best places for the grape are around the provinces of Alba and Asti, especially around the hills in Monferrato. Barbera often gets booted out of the best sites in favor of Nebbiolo, from which high priced Barolo and Barbaresco can be made (especially in Alba).The styles vary based on place but the grape is pretty consistent in flavor. It has this great contrast between ripe cherry fruit, sharp acid, and a little bitterness that is so typical of Italian wines. This power trio makes Barbera amazing with pizza and all manner of Italian food.
I do have one criticism to share: Despite my love for the grape and its ability to pair with one of my favorite cuisines (Italian), I've watched the prices of it skyrocket through the years. You can barely find one for less than $20 normally and even if you pay up, it can be just bleh. With the exception of one standby: Michele Chiarlo "Le Orme" Barbera d'Asti. A family run winery, managed by the larger conglomerate Kobrand, they churn out the goods consistently. This is a phenomenal wine at a phenomenal value. I can confidently say it's one of the best bargains in Italian wine.
The Wine: 2009 Michele Chiarlo "Le Orme" Barbera d'Asti Superiore
Where it's From: The province of Asti in the Piedmont of Italy
Alcohol: 13.5% (moderate)
Price (Slight Cheat on the <$10 but I had to do it): $10.49
Color: This is a great wine to look at! It was light and transparent, with a beautiful raspberry color. It's elegant looking which mirrors the taste profile.
Smell: Typical Barbera but so much more fragrant than many of the more expensive versions. The wine smells like ripe cherries with a touch of sour cherry. Against the oh-so-pleasant fruit smells, there is this very dark earthy, dirt smell. This is a wine of the land -- it smells like minerals and wet potting soil, which I love, especially when it's contrasted against such juicy fruit smells.
Taste: I don't know how Michele Chiarlo is making this wine for so little money -- this wine has so much flavor. It tasted more like dark cherries and a touch like raisins, but then had a rich black licorice, cinnamon, and cola flavor. The wine's texture is perfect for food -- very dry, with strong acid, and a touch of tannin.
Pairing: We had this with pizza and it was perfect. Nothing overpowers anything in the pairing and the wine calms tomato's acid. This wine should go with anything in a tomato sauce but it can go with mushrooms and earthy dishes too. It's medium weight so it was a good pairing with the sweet, bready garlic knots we pigged out on before the pizza. The acid cuts through the butter but the cherry flavor highlights sweetness of garlic.
Drink or sink?: Drink. All day long. I don't want to ruin future posts, but I have to say this is one of the best wines for this price point, period.
Have you had this wine? Do you like it? Drop a comment below and let me know!
January 29, 2013
Our $10-ish Bottle Experiment: The Excellent Michele Chiarlo Barbera d'Alba
January 25, 2013
Wine for Normal People Radio: Episode 68 -- California
California is a huge state and makes up 90% of wine production in the United States. This week we tackle this great state that put U.S. winemaking on the map. A special thanks to Magnus, a listener from Sweden, who brought it to my attention that we had to get on it and tackle California.
Here's a link to the show: LINK
...and the show summary:
- We start with a story about a corked wine we had and M.C. Ice explains his experience of it.
- We tackle an excellent listener question about why high alcohol wines don't age well.
- Then we hit the major quality winemaking areas of California from north to south, giving an overview (or maybe a little more than an overview) of each:
- Mendocino
- Sonoma
- Napa
- The Central Coast
- And then we touch on the Sierra Foothills, the Central Valley, Southern California, and a mention a few others.
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| Source |
January 24, 2013
Intro to the $10 and Under Project and Wine 1: Zolo Malbec
We're all on a budget.
My budget usually includes wines that are around $15 -$20. On special occasions I stretch (I don't spend on clothes, I spend on wine!). But as I've said about a million times on the blog and in the podcast, I love a bargain. Who doesn't? No one I know. I get the question all the time: "I'm on a tight budget. Are there any good wines for $10 or less?"
Since I don't always shop for wines at $10 and under, the answer I would usually give was "not many" and list a few I knew. Well, that's not good enough. I decided to go to my favorite wine shop that has a big international selection (some of the best deals are from abroad) and get a case of wines in that price point.
I'm working my way through it and will post at least weekly with a quick review of each of these gems and duds. I want to give us both an arsenal of inexpensive wines that we can stand behind! Some are around $10, some less than $10 and some a bit more. No matter what, they can fit into a tight budget well.
We start out the project with a total win! Yay!
The Wine: 2011 Zolo Malbec
Quick note on the producer: Zolo makes great value wines. The winery likes to point out on the bottle that their wines are made from sustainably farmed land. If you're a regular reader/podcast listener, you know I think this is complete crap but I do think if they are this dedicated to the marketing strategy promoting good environmental/social stewardship that they may eventually pursue organic farming, which could make the wine even better. I'll be on the lookout for any changes and keep you posted.
And now to the wine:
It is from: Mendoza, Argentina
Price: $9.99
Alcohol: 13.8% (on the high side)
Color: Lighter than many Malbecs I've had, this was more a raspberry, cherry color. Just by looks I expected a lighter style wine, but color is such a poor indicator of flavor, I couldn't make a judgement.
Smell: For $10, this packed a HUGE punch. The wine had so much going on. I had to check the receipt to make sure it was actually $10. It was spicy as hell. Cloves, nutmeg, baked plums, baked cherry, baked raspberry, baked blueberry -- it was like a berry crumble. A second sniff and I got a good hit of vanilla, licorice, a little wet earth, and cumin (think Indian food or Mediterranean style lentils).
Taste: A very well made wine. It tasted like it smelled -- like a baked berry pie with cloves. It had a strong hit of black licorice, and was a little spearminty. And the fruit was juicy -- there was lots of bursting flavor but it wasn't over the top. The wine had a medium level of mouth-drying tannin, noticeable acidity, and although it was on the high side, the alcohol was in check -- a fabulous balance with everything there, but no one component dominated.
This may be the first Malbec I've had for this price that tasted very obviously like it was from a mountain vineyard (link is to a video I made explaining) -- a perfect blend of fruit, tannin, and acid with nothing competing. I usually find inexpensive Malbecs to be over-the-top fruity and hot from the high alcohol. Not so with Zolo.
Drink or sink?: We're starting this project off right! This is a new standby. It was spicy, complex and better than some $20 Malbecs out there. I highly recommend this, will be buying it regularly, and will bring it to people's houses as a crowd-pleaser. A great wine for the money.
For more about the grape, listen to the podcast on Malbec. We go into detail on the grape and on Argentina.
January 17, 2013
Amador Foothill Winery "Clockspring Vineyard" Zin: A Tale of Two Wines
Post Summary
1. A little about Amador County -- not just for gold miners
2. Some info on Amador Foothill Winery
3. Instructions of what do with this wine -- it needs a little time.
4. The review of the "Clockspring Vineyard" Zin
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Amador County is a little slice of Americana located in interior California, kind of equidistant between the two amazing natural sites: Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe.
Two hours from San Francisco and a little out of the way, you have to know there's wine in these foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to hop off the main highway and head to this small but pretty damn good wine region. In the heart of the gold rush territory and named after Jose Maria Amador, who set up a successful gold mining operation in the area, vines have been grown here since the mid-1800s.
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| Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute |
The Sierra Foothills, which is much cooler than other non-coastal wine growing regions in California (like the Central Valley and Lodi, for example) due to elevation, makes some kick-ass wines.
This wasn't a secret a century and a half ago -- the California Shenandoah Valley viticultural area (not to be confused with the Virginia one) was once a THE hot winegrowing region in California. Wine was made there to quench the thirst of the gold miners. The crowning glory of it all was Zinfandel. Although the end of the gold rush and the beginning of Prohibition killed the wine industry there, the vines kept growing on their own.
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| Credit: Amador Vintner's Assoc |
I picked up a bottle of Amador Foothill Winery's "Clockspring Vineyard" Zin for around $17. A small winery, with a female winemaker at the helm -- Katie Quinn -- Amador Foothill does a variety of wines but Zin seems to be the jewel in the crown. Clockspring is known in the region for its higher elevation and the balanced, rich, fruity, full wines made from its grapes.
Before I start the review, I need to address the title of this post. There was a little Jekyl and Hyde that went on with this wine. I can't believe the transformation it made in 24 hours. The first night it was thin, bitter, and not at all fruity. I sensed a little pepper and some dried out fruit but I thought it was terrible.
I didn't want to give up though, so I saved it and drank it the next night. I am SO glad I did. The wine changed completely and became what I describe below. It's well worth the wait. You could decant this for a few hours as well and probably get similar results, BTW.
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The Wine: 2007 Amador Foothill Winery, "Clockspring Vineyard" Zinfandel
Where it's from: Shenendoah Valley, Amador County, CaliforniaGrape: 100% Zinfandel
Alcohol: 14.7%
Price: $16
Color: Although I'd read that the wine was characteristically dark, I found this one to be light in color and very shiny/reflective. It almost look like a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir! I had thick, gloppy legs that ran down the glass after a swirl from that nearly 15% alcohol.
Smell: Lots of black pepper, ripe blackberry and plum fruit, and a little prune note. It smelled a lot like a horse too...or maybe just the saddle!
Taste: Tons of black pepper and the wine was very textural. It had nice, noticeable but not overpowering tannins, and a great hit of mouth cleaning acidity. The fruit was bold: black cherry, candied plums, and a toasted bread flavor with a little bit of dill and dried coconut made this a super interesting wine. The wine stuck around for a long time -- it had a strong candied blackberry and toast flavor that lasted forever. My only criticism: This was a very HOT wine. The alcohol made a strong impression and was almost too much, but the presence of so much fruit flavor kept it from going over the top.
Drink or sink? On day one definitely sink. It wasn't good at all. Day two it was a total drink -- rich full, bold, just like what a Zin should be. The color was deceptive but I love the pepper spice and the lasting candied fruit. This is a great Zin for cold weather, stew, mushrooms, and comfort. Fireplace memories start with this baby. Great wine.
January 14, 2013
Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 67 -- The Grape Miniseries, Tempranillo
Facebook friends voted and the Grape Miniseries won for the topic this week! So for the first podcast of 2013 we tackle the King of the Spanish reds: Tempranillo. It has more...and less... to it than meets the eye.
After lots of wonderful thanks and fun comments, we get to this fascinating, native Spanish grape. A few notes on it...
- The grape is from northern Spanish and gets its name from “Temprano” which means early, since it ripens 2 weeks before Rioja's other important grape – Garnacha
- The wine is deep-colored, lower in acid and alcohol, and has amazing ageability but a lot of times it's kind of bland on flavor. If it's got any flavor it's kind of like berries, plum, tobacco, vanilla, leather, and herbs. It can be a lot better in a blend, as the folks in Rioja can tell you.
- Climate and elevation is everything for Tempranillo -- it does best in cool climates and at elevation. Yields HAVE to be controlled to produce a good wine.
- We say it a few times, but the Tempranillo grape itself often lacks character, but it's lower alcohol, lower acid, great color, and earthy notes contribute great things to a blend.
- We cover some history -- from the Phoenicians to the Conquistadores, from jug wine to pilgrimages.
- Spain: Rioja, Penedes, Valdepeñas, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha, Toro
- Portugal: Douro, Alentejo
- Argentina: The grape is called Tempranilla and it's kind of lean and mean
- California and it's highs and lows
January 11, 2013
A Sort of Essay: Wine goes global…But is something lost in translation?
For me, one of the best things about wine is how it can
transport you to another place with just a sniff or sip. Crack open a Bordeaux or a Riesling from
Mosel, Germany and voilà! you’re there. If you think about what the wine really
tastes like, you’ll notice the taste of soil, slate, or chalk. You may then
notice that it can make you feel like you know a place without ever having been
there. 
As I've said before, I was once a brand marketer for a very large winery. I
remember sitting in meetings where consumer research folks presented a “taste
map” to my manager and me. They circled the spots that indicated which flavors
people liked and which they didn’t (as if most of us can even pinpoint that
while being drilled about it!). The wines we subsequently made fit into the
profile for the price point, even if it meant that other brands we made also
fit into that profile. Any extreme flavors or unusual character were disguised
with the help of oak barrel aging and extreme filtering. 
Although this was a huge winery with the ability to hire a
team of people to make a “taste map,” I’ve noticed that in the last 5 to 7
years, many, many wines I’ve had, regardless of origin have a neutral,
“pleasant” profile with no sense of “somewhere-ness” at all. That dirt taste I mentioned is often absent
in a Bordeaux, and the juicy fruit is tempered in Napa Cabernet (and not just
because of vintage). Everything seems to be moving to a center point. Or to put
it more bluntly, more and more, a lot of the wines that are available to most
of us just lack character.
Lots to think about. So I’ll try to bottom line it: What
does this mean for us, the normal wine consumer? When we’re
traveling, we need to order local wines and remember how they taste. And when we buy a wine from that region at the wine shop when we
return home, we need to evaluate whether or not it transports us back to our
travel experience. Because if it doesn’t, if it’s “just red wine,” or lacks the
essence of what brings a smile to our face as we think about the Brunello di
Montalcino we had while watching the sun setting over the Ponte Vecchio in
Florence, as the bridge turned from yellow to vibrant orange to blue, then we
need to keep hunting for the wines that bring us there. 
Globalization has its benefits, as we have access to wines
that we many never have had before, but the downside is real. For those of us
seeking authenticity, even on our dinner tables, we need to work to get there. January 8, 2013
Laurel Glen Vineyards: Sonoma's Mountain Wine
I've had a few wines from the mountains of California in my time. I've even reviewed one recently and have a few more in the queue. That's a great thing because, as I mentioned in my post and my video about mountain fruit versus valley floor fruit, elevation matters. Wine from the mountains has a very different quality from wine from the valley and I won't be shy in saying, I dig the more subtle, complex flavors from these vineyards on high.
Napa mountain vineyards have been my wines of choice in the past (Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mount Veeder) so I was excited to have a little Sonoma in my life. When Laurel Glen Vineyards, located on Sonoma Mountain, southeast of the Russian River Valley, sent me two bottles of their Cabernet to try I was excited to dig in (the wines were gratis but I will review them honestly, as always).
Laurel Glen has been around a long time for Sonoma. The vineyard was planted in the 1880s, had an up and down history, and then it was purchased by Patrick Campbell in 1977. He was a real pioneer. With his 11 acre vineyard and small winery, the guy had a dedication to quality that helped prove that mountain winemaking wasn't just something Napa could do.
An advocate for Sonoma and for the small guys, Campbell also was a huge consumer advocate: he was instrumental in getting the Supreme Court to allow direct-to-consumer interstate shipping of wine, which has become essential for smaller wineries who can't get their product out through the traditional distribution systems.
It's a score for us too -- in many states (the fight against free trade continues) we are finally being treated like adults, who can buy wines we want, when we want them. Ridiculous that it has ever been otherwise and still is in some states, but I digress (see freethegrapes.org for more info on this).
After 34 years of making wine and fighting the good fight, in 2011 Campbell felt he'd taken Laurel Glen as far as he could take it so he sold it to Bettina Sichel, the Chief Marketing Officer at Quintessa, which is a prestigious, very luxurious, fancy winery on the Silverado Trail in Napa (I have never been there. A place that charges $50+ for a tasting is far from normal) and a few investors. The only plans that were immediately revealed were that the winery would double its capacity from about 3,000 cases (36K bottles) per year to its maximum allowed, 6,000 cases (72K bottles). If it were a larger quantity, I'd say the wine was doomed to become corporate, homogenized nastiness, but even double capacity is pretty small, so I think this wine remain true to its roots.
I was mixed about these wines, but I think they've got great potential. I'm looking forward to what the new team churns out. For now, here's what I thought of the two wines:
Wine 1: 2009 Laurel Glen Counterpoint Cabernet Sauvignon
Where it's from: Sonoma Mountain
Grape: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 13.7%
Price: $30
Quick Note: This is a "second wine" made from grapes that didn't make the cut for the estate Cabernet. A good effort. Here are some quick notes:
Ruby colored with a watery rim and decent legs from the nearly 14% alcohol. The wine smelled earthy and dusty, a little floral, and like blackberry and mint. A little light to taste, with strong tannins and acid with lots of vanilla and black plum fruit flavors. It was a good Cab, but nothing really special.
Wine 2: 2009 Laurel Glen Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
Where it's from: Sonoma Mountain
Grape: 100% Cabernet SauvignonAlcohol: 14.3%
Price: $70
This wine, from estate grown fruit, is worth a more detailed note. This was a solid Cabernet and is worth a try.
Color: A deep, dark ruby color -- very pigmented. Thick legs that stained the glass as they dripped down were cues about the 14%+alcohol level and the ripeness of those grapes.
Taste: Surprisingly, the wine didn't taste like all that delicious natural earth. Instead it had a fruit punch flavor -- like cherry and strawberry. There was a nice vanilla and mint flavor and the acidity was great. The mouthdrying tannins helped balance the fruitiness and gave the wine more complexity. Drink or Sink? This is a very good Cabernet. It's different from a lot of Cabernets I've had from Sonoma and it has peaked my interest in Sonoma Mountain and the Glen Ellen area, which I haven't really explored. Do I think this is a $70 Cab? No. But if you can get it for $40- $45 (which is just a little less than the average price on Wine-Searcher), do it.
Thanks to Laurel Glen for the wines, and for opening my eyes to another part of Sonoma that I need to explore. I'm heading out in the spring, so Sonoma Mountain and Laurel Glen will be on the list!
January 5, 2013
One of My Top Picks of 2012: 2010 Domaine de Souch Jurançon Sec
I start the year off with one of my best wines of 2012. It's not a regular, run-of-the-mill, easy to find or even easy to drink wine but it's interesting, full of life, and is part of a region of the world that is making awesome, non-mainstream wines.
I'm talking about Southwest France. Home of Cahors (which churns out amazing Malbec), Bergerac (a more rustic version of Bordeaux), Madiran (the very tannic Tannat thrives here), and, of course, Jurançon, this area of France is definitely worth exploring if you're looking for "something else."
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| Map courtesy Terroir France |
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| Petit Manseng |
As I alluded to above, Jurançon comes in a few styles. I'm going to talk about the dry version of Jurançon (sec) but you should know that the area makes a lightly sparkling (Moulleux) wine and is famous for its sweet stuff, which is made mainly of Petit Manseng, which is picked when the grapes have raisined on the vine.
Before I get to the wine, let me tell you -- this ain't Jurançon's first rodeo, even if it's the first time you've heard of it. This place has been churning out wine for centuries. The Oxford Companion to Wine offered some cool facts:
- The first documentation of wine being produced in this area was in the middle ages -- like in the 900s.
- Wines of Jurançon had a heyday from 14th - 19th century. The wines, made from the same grapes that are grown today, were shipped all over Europe and to America, and were very popular.
- The wine hit its peak in the mid-1500s when future King Henri IV had his lips rubbed with it as part of his baptism. Can't ask for better PR than that.
Sadly, from these great heights, Jurançon and neighboring regions took a great fall. Phylloxera, the Charles Manson bug of the wine world, destroyed the vineyards of the area and instead of re-planting with the quality grapes that had been there for centuries, vignerons (the French word for winegrower and winemaker), planted cheap French/American hybrid varieties that made crap wine. The area hasn't fully recovered from that mis-step but there are producers who are trying. And Yvonne Hegoburu, a nearly 90 year old woman who was featured in one of my favorite movies, "Mondovino," about the dirty side of the wine trade and what it does to smaller wineries, is one of them.
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| Yvonne Hegoburu: Link to an Interview |
Having owned Château de Viaud in Bordeaux (Pomerol), Ms. Hegoburu was experienced in the business management aspect of wine, but didn't know anything about viticulture. She figured it out and experienced success.
But after about 10 years of conventional farming she wanted a better life for her vines and wines, so she joined a local Biodynamic growers "support group" and converted her vineyards. By 1994 her work was complete. Today Domaine de Souch is one of the most revered Biodynamic producers in France.
If the wine is an indication of how these very natural, in-tune-with-the-earth practices affect the wine, I wish everyone would get on board. Here's the review of one of the best wines I had in 2012.
The Wine: 2010 Domaine de Souch Jurançon Sec
The Grapes: 70% Gros Manseng, 20% Petit Manseng and 10% Corbu
Price: $32
Alcohol: 12%
Color: The juice of Gros Manseng is actually grey when pressed, which translates to a really rich green-golden color when blended and produced. This wine was dark gold -- a rich color, like a brass horn.Smell: So complex and interesting. I got excited smelling this wine because it was unlike any glass I'd ever stuck my nose in. At first, it was a little like Sherry -- a strong, musty, almost nutty smell. On a second whiff a lot more came through -- tons of green apple and honey and an herbal taste like oregano. The wine smelled like crushed up rocks and had a tiny bit of gasoline smell to it but against all the fruit, herbaceousness, and honey it was pleasant and a great counter to the rich fruit smells.
Taste: Just like it smelled but with excellent mouthwatering acidity. All those complex aromas came together in a full feeling yet bright, medium feeling wine. It was a wine to think about and one to keep sipping because each sip brought new flavors.
Drink or sink? Drink. One of the most interesting, delicious wines I've had in a long time. I loved it for its complexity and ability to keep giving as it warmed up and changed with more time in the glass.
This wine is not for everyone. You have to approach it with an open mind and know that it may take a little getting used to before you reach a conclusion. I struggled a bit at first sip but after the third or fourth try I wanted more. (And as a pairing note: I really wish I'd had it with scallops, although it was damn good with an avocado, tomato, and mozzarella salad dressed with olive oil, salt, and pepper too).If you've had this wine, let me know what you think. It's a rare one, but a memorable standout in my book.
