Whisky for Whisky Haters: Oban 14 Years Single Malt West Highland Scotland

Posted on December 1, 2016 by waywardwine

Wine has tasted fabulous as far back as my memory (legally) allows me.  But I once hated Whisky.  It became firmly aligned with regret and college.  Coke, Sprite, or whatever fizzy high-fructose corn syrup to hand would mollify it.  But Whisky just tasted hot and gross. That is, until I went to Scotland.

glendronach-whisky-distillery-visit

Read about our palate-widening visit to Glendronach Distillery here.  Ever since, Whisky claims a special place in my heart and cupboard.

In short, cheap Whisky tastes just that, cheap.  One has to spend a bit to get skilled distillers and good quality oak barrels. Even then, as with anything new, one has to learn to like it.

Context helps. Pick a cold, miserable night. Be in a positive mood: alcohol is steroids for depression. Avoid distractions: binge watching a show or movie might lead to mindless drinking.  Also, avoid ice like the plague. Pour an ounce into a tulip glass with a drop or two of your cleanest water.

Today, we take a baby step but with an approachable spirit as complex and interesting as good wine.   Oban, 14 Year Old, Single Malt Scotch Whisky $45-$60/750ml

 

 

oban-14-single-malt-whisky-scotland

Oban is old, quirky, and small. They are one of the last surviving distilleries from the 1700s, founded in 1794. It began as a boat building yard, tannery, and brewery. Today, they are one of Scotland’s smallest (0.7 million liters per year).  Even the building is small, forcing their wooden condenser to run across rooftops. They also use the smallest legal stills. Unlike most, Oban has made Single Malts (i.e. Estate Wine) since 1880.

Its location makes it special.  Most distilleries exist in Scotland’s Northeastern Highlands.   Oban, however, survives on the brutal Atlantic coast as one of the last West Highlanders.

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How is it?

It has a clear medium intense gold color, bright straw highlights, and lean legs.  Aromas smell clean, modulated, and pleasantly complex.  Orange oil dominates a frame of juniper, cocoa powder, and died vanilla bean. A notable briney line runs through it. Flavors match aromas with ample fruit and golden delicious apple.  It feels dry, with snappy, woody tannins up front, a muscular heat, a lean, medium body, and a soft, fruity finish of medium plus length.

Oban’s 14 is very good (4 of 5), approachable for beginners, but complex and reflects its sea-swept coastal home.  They suggest pairing (yes, Whisky food pairings can work) with chicken satay or candied ginger. I just say enjoy it.

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Gaja For The Rest of Us: Ca’Marcanda Promis 2013 Bolgheri Tuscany Italy

Posted on November 28, 2016 by waywardwine

Winter closes in.  For sad psychological reasons, I now don jackets or sweaters to enjoy chilled whites.  I suppose a red will not hurt.  Also, we have guests and pizza for dinner.  So, a modern Italian seems apt.  I rummage around in my crawl space.  Why not open an $100 Chianti?  Erm….no.

I have lost all grip on reality.  My job allows me to try and collect fancy, expensive things.  The cost to retail has become my reference point.  A wine that costs a shop $25 ends up $33 to $40 on the shelf for the unwashed masses.  So all I remember is that I spent $25.  Or worse, I was probably given it.

So how do I impress guests but not blow it?  Enter Gaja.

No, really, Gaja.  Yes, a walk through Gaja on wine.com lists eye-watering prices: $90 Vermentino, $235 Barbaresco, $500 single vineyard nebbiolos, even a $500 Langhe, (go cry here). But Angelo Gaja certainly has earned it.

Born in 1940, Angelo Gaja, a fourth-generation Piedmontese winemaker, took over the family business and flipped it on its head.  He brought in 225 liter, new French oak barriques and planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc in the Piedmont: giving his dad a heart attack but launching prices in the international market. He with daughter Gaia Gaja converted to Biodynamic farming and natural winemaking.

Yet, a Gaja does exist for the rest of us.  In 1996 Gaja bought his second Tuscan property called Ca’Marcanda (“place of endless negotiations”, because it took forever to acquire) located in Castagneto Carducci in Bolgheri near the coast. 150 acres now grow a sliver of Sangiovese but French grapes dominate: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah.

For around $45, we can touch royalty’s robe.  55% Merlot, 35% Syrah, and 10% Sangiovese ferment separately and then combine in the new year to age in partially used French barriques for 12 months.

Gaja, Ca’ Marcanda, Promis, Toscana Bolgheri Italy 2013:

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The label stylizes Tuscany’s cyprus grove roads.

So, with pizza and good company, how is it?  The APPEARANCE looks a clear, moderately deep ruby red. AROMAS smell warm, young but promising, with ripe plum, tart red cherry, resin, cola nut, and cracked pepper. The PALATE feels smooth and even at first, then medium acid and touchy tannins tighten up the plumpish medium body.

Gaja’s 2013 Promis is sleek, modern, delicious, and easy but remains Italian enough with a serious edge and structure that merit a few hours’ decanting or a few years’ cellaring.  The plump Merlot core is complimented by Syrah’s spice and Sangiovese’s structure.  It is pizza perfect, but a meaty pasta or grilled meat would fly nicely.  It is very good (4 of 5) and a steal for $45 or less.

Dang. Ok. I failed. So $45 is still hardly an inexpensive daily wine for most of us. I will work on it.

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Thanksgiving Wine: Gran Moraine, Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon 2013

Posted on November 22, 2016 by waywardwine

Thanksgiving can be hell.  What wine will work?  Food pairing is not the problem. It is people pairing (read here).  In past posts, I have leaned on my French crutch of Beaujolais (here and here).  Both a good Nouveau or Village will slide seamlessly along with all that salt, fat, and regret.  But this is silly.  Just because Nouveau releases a week before Turkey Day does not merit its place on the table.  Also, most Beaujolais are too tart and lean for most guests.

Thanksgiving is an American holiday.  The food is American.  The people usually are too.  We should drink something American.  What better way to match local, bold, rustic foods than with wine from home?

I am from Oregon, but I rarely review our Pinot Noir.  Oregon Pinot can have enough complexity and concentration, without being too tannic, heavy, or alcoholic to kill the meal. So, let us show thanks this holiday with something safe.

Gran Moraine, Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon 2013

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Now, Kendall Jackson planted Gran Moraine Vineyard in 2005 . Local feeling is mixed over KJ’s invasion of Oregon.  But Gran Moraine was slated to become condos with slices of their own vineyards.  It could have been worse.

They sit on the Western fringe of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Cool breeze, rain, and classic Northwestern cloud cover keep ripening gradual.  The soil is rich, red, and volcanic.

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KJ also hires right. Winemaker and Estate Manager, Eugenia Keegan knows her Pinot. She interned in Volnay and Puligny-Montrachet, made wine at local Four Graces, and consults in Russian River Valley and the Roussillon.  She has managed to bridge the gap for Oregonian KJ haters.

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Eugenia Keegan (granmoraine.com)

2013 started warm and dry but ended with cool, wet, classic, Oregon weather. Harvest delayed into early October. After a hand sort and gravity feed into open tanks, the various lots went through tailored cold macerations and fermentations. Ten months followed in 41% new French Oak barrels.

So, what might your guests expect?

APPEARANCE Clear, medium intensity purple core, with limpid clear ruby rims

AROMAS Medium intense, young, dense cranberry syrup, red cherry, orange peel, gingerbread, dried rosemary, iron shavings.

PALATE: Dry, medium plus acidity, edgy, woody medium plus tannins, medium alcohol, medium body.

FLAVORS: dried cranberries, gingerbread, ginger, orange peel, dried tobacco leaf, rosemary that lasts a medium plus length.

Gran Moraine’s 2013 Pinot Noir is compact, young, but hardly heavy nor cumbersome.  It has food hungry acidity and tannins.  Yet it feels lush and smooth (for Oregon) enough to please most American palates.  I would advise decanting it an hour or two prior to the feast.   Its flavors scream Fall harvest.  At around $45, it is very good (4 of 5) you get what you pay for.   My wife admits, “it tastes expensive”.

So, this Thanksgiving you will not please everybody but do try. Think local. Think interesting but approachable. There will be enough to fight over. Let wine smooth out the creases.

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Her #WineStory Welcome Alexandria #MWWC29

Posted on November 17, 2016 by waywardwine

For the 29th Monthly Wine Writing Challenge (#MWWC29) on the theme WineStory, I submit the WineStory of our just born baby.

 

My wife and I had different plans for Election Day. Those plans involved drinking Champagne.  Instead, our baby was coming.  Even the local paper announced, “Today’s The Day”:

alexandria-newspaper-oregonian-todays-the-day

I dropped my wife off at the hospital at 10am to settle in. However, on Monday I had made a last minute sale of Pinot Noir.  It had to be delivered today. So, I ran to our warehouse, picked up twenty cases, blasted to town, dropped them off, then blasted back to the hospital.  My coworkers thought I was mad.  But I made it by noon, just before her water broke and contractions ramped up. After seven hours of strain, stress, and cherry popsicles, Alexandria came into the world.

baby-alexandria

Plotting our sleep deprivation…

 

A girl!  We did not know the gender beforehand. Now, Champagne was the last thing on our minds. How do we feed her? Hold her? How do we sleep? Is every toe there? When do we eat? When can we go home?

Time evaporated between feeding, burping, and pretending to nap. We traded the baby off like the walking dead. But somehow, my wife returned. Nine months of pregnancy had turned her off to any alcohol.  She even disliked its smell.  But a week with Alexandria, she looked me in the eye and told me, “I want Champagne”.

To celebrate Alexandria, I had a special bottle of Champagne. Since we had kept her gender a surprise, I had also kept a few bottles. Krug if a boy. But since we did not get our first female President, what better way to celebrate a new girl, than with the only Champagne house with a female President and female Chef du Cave: Duval-LeRoy:

Champagne Carol Duval-Leroy and Sandrine Logette-Jardin

President Carol Duval-LeRoy at center. Chev du Cave Sandrine behind the barrel.

I had suggested their regular Brut (read here) for the election, but Alexandria was more important than any election. It had to be Premiere Cru.

Duval-LeRoy, Premiere Cru, Champagne, France NV

In short, it is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, 80% of which comes from Premiere Cru vineyards and 20% from Grand Cru. It aged more than three years in their chalk cellars.

We take her on her first walk of the neighborhood, then open the bottle.

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What do you mean I look tired?

The APPEARANCE looks a mild straw color fired up with a rapid pearl of small bubbles. AROMAS smell delicate yet compact, centered on crunchy, granny smith apple, chalk dust, and blanketed by an ethereal lemon blossom. The PALATE holds eight grams of sugar per liter, so it feels dry with frisky acidity, a lean body, and fine-grained fizz for texture.  FLAVORS match the green apple, floral, and mineral aromas seamlessly with a shave of blanched almond. These last a long length.

Duval-LeRoy’s Premiere Cru drinks beautifully now.  It is outstanding (5 of 5). It is sprightly, delightful, and mouthwatering.  It begs for oysters, sashimi sushi, raw goat cheese: basically everything my post-pregnant wife can eat now (also white fish, lemon chicken or a vinaigrette salad would work).  It is the perfect way to celebrate a fabulous little lady.

So, welcome to the world Alexandria. Thank you for returning my wife’s love of Champagne.  You will find life full of challenges.  But do not despair.  We love you and there is always Champagne.

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Brie Cheese Pairing Château de Meursault Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru France 2014

Posted on November 10, 2016 by waywardwine

We itch for soft cheeses. But we hold strong and only buy two. Each is a French, triple crème cheese: Delin’s Le Crémeux de Bourgogne and Saint Angel’s cheese (I won’t go into why I can’t call them Brie, just know they are over 75% butter fat and magic).  A range of wines from Champagne, Cava, to Alsatian whites all would work.  Why?  Acidity will zip the magic fat away, while flavors will be similarly delicate.  But I don’t feel like being very creative.

I already have a Chardonnay open.  And not just any Chardonnay: a 2014 Premiere Cru Meursault-Charmes ($80) from the similarly named Château de Meursault.  The Château began making wine in the 11th century.  After a millennium of familial swaps, the Halley’s recently purchased the estate.

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This 2014 is extremely young. Tart granny smith apple, lemon peel, salinity and chalk dominate a subtler layer of brioche from the oak.  It is very good (4 of 5) but should really show its cards in five years.  How will the cheeses tame it?

Saint Angel tastes nutty, fatty, and garlicky. It brings out a softer melon, almost apricot finish to the Meursault-Charmes. It is a pairing of loveliness and expanse, breadth and luxury.

Delin’s chalkier, white mushroom, saline, high-toned, tart Bourgogne cheese softens the wine’s acidity but melds with its flavors emphasizing lime peel, anise, and lemon zest. Together they are quickness and light.

We realize there are no perfect pairings. Each cheese works wonders in its own way. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, a handful of paths will work but each will be different. Just avoid the creepy forest.  As long as each element shares a modicum of quality and does not overpower the other, at least the pairing will be interesting. It does not hurt that everything here is French.

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