Chardonnay, Sevastopol Winery “Krimskoye” Semi-Sweet, “Premium Crimean White Champagne” NV

Posted on April 18, 2011 by waywardwine

Quietly poking into the US market, like an accidental cellphone call, is the sparkler from Sevastopol Winery. It comes from Crimea: today a sub-republic of Ukraine.

Sevastopol, wine region and Russias only beach for millenia.

This peninsula, provides a funny hat for the Black Sea. If the name Crimea doesn’t ring a bell, the first modern war (arguably) with rail, telegraph, photography, trench warfare, conical bullets etc. destroyed the place in the 1850s.  It has been occupied (for at least a century each) by Cimmerians, Scythians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, Kiev Russians, Byzantines, Kipchaks, Turks, Mongols, Genoans, Venitians, Tartars, Ottomans, Russians (again), Nazis (briefly) Communist Russians (again), and now Crimeans…sort of.

Confused like Crimea’s past is this sparkler’s label. Behold its brilliance…

I have no clue.

First, the anchor logo with bubbles in its top repeats twice on the label, the cork and foil (that’s six times for you maths majors). O.K. Sevastopol is a port. We get it. Blurred award medallions flank what I thought was this wine’s name, “Krimskoye”: but that just means Crimean. They memorialize winning the Paris Grand Prix of 1900 (or 1990). Next is the claim “SEMI-SWEET”, which labels many of Sevastopol’ wines even the hyper-sweet Muscat. The white banner, “PREMIUM CRIMEAN WHITE CHAMPAGNE” would anger and bewilder the French. First, “Champagne” is a region not a style (say sparkling). I have no idea what “premium” means (aside from affectation), especially on a $10 bubbly. “Crimean” just re-translates Krimskoye for us (but now you know). “White”, upon further research, refers to the fact this is chardonnay. Great!

The net (mostly Ukrainian tour guides) reveals that this wine’s chardonnay comes from Crimea’s “golden” valleys: Alma, Bhelbek and Bulghanak. Wherever those are. Somewhere on latitude with Southern France. Wines like this age in cask “butts” for two to three years in old quarries in Inkerman. They are bottle fermented and riddled akin to Champagne. I think.

But you should just ignore my struggling ignorance and just pop the thing.

In glass you’ll find an odd wine, nearly as confused as Crimea’s past. The bubbles meander. The nose reeks of confected icing, musk, licorice, even plastic. Yet on the palate it works. Sweetness and acidity fix each other from overbearing your senses. White pear and golden delicious apple dominate, with musk, nut and honey-like petrol carving niches for themselves. These flavors hang around for quite a while.

With enough exposure, I learned to appreciate this bubbly. Its differences make it worth the $10 risk. Just don’t expect Champagne or anything reminiscent of other sparkling chardonnay. Whether it’s the soil, climate, yeasts, equipment, bacteria or methods, Sevastopol has made something very interesting, neither lovable nor bad. Once dinner’s dishes are done, let this wine take your evening to the edges of the Black Sea.

http://ua-traveling.com/en/article/crimea-wines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_wine

http://ukrainianguide.com/winemakers-reveal-their-secrets-deep-below-inkerman/

http://www.kozaktravel.com/English/tours_Crimean_Wine_Tours.php

http://lk-wines.com/katalog/23/40/

Posted in Chardonnay, Sparkling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cabernet Franc, Raffault “Les Galuches”, Chinon, France 2009

Posted on April 11, 2011 by waywardwine

Cabernet franc: the parent you wished you had. Not to be confused with its bombastic child, cabernet sauvignon (born from pollen swapping with sauvignon blanc). The cabs do share similarities: strong tannins, notes of cassis, berry, pepper and herbs. Yet franc can be lighter and subdued, due to thinner skins, and in cold vintages gains bell pepper.

Papa franc also ripens a week before cab sauv. That means colder places can pick it before early frosts. Bordeaux grows it as insurance for when cab and merlot don’t ripen and blends it for tannic and acidic structure. Northern climes love this supportive parent, since it is one of the few reds worth bottling alone.

Raffault’s Les Galuches is exemplary of this.

The Raffaults have made wine in the Loire Valley of northwestern France since 1693. Today, Rodolph Raffault blends bright, structured rosés and reds with cab franc grapes from multiple sites in the region of Chinon (below). These cost rarely more than $15.

Chinon: turquoise at center. Les Galuches sits at the region's top left on the Loire River.

But Les Galuches is something special. Its grapes come from one vineyard, named for its gravel soil. It’s their only vineyard along the Loire River (the others sit beside the Vienne tributary). No chemical fertilizers or herbicides are used. The gravel provides drainage and retains heat, warming the grapes into the cool evenings. This means harvest starts here. That warmth, especially in balmy 2009, shows through in the wines lush texture and up front fruit.

But site is only the start.

Instead of dressing up cab franc with spices from new oak barrels, Raffault follows tradition with neutral, ten year old casks. Wine ages in them for eighteen months, tucked away in dark, cool, humid caves in nearby limestone cliffs. This softens acidities. Solids are then siphoned off from barrel to barrel. Egg whites fine out remaining compounds but no filtration occurs.

All this adds up to an honest wine from a great site and a great vintage for under $20. Its rich red color betrays 2009’s warmth and Raffault’s handling. Ripe dark fruits, florals, minerals and pepper are present but comfortable, like your favorite armchair. Acid, tannin and body sync up with a straightforward balance.

I want to sit down with this wine, as if it’s a parent, and hear about its day at work. Nothing sensational happened, it just dealt with one problem at a time. It brings order back to the table, reminds your siblings to put away their cellphones, chew with their mouths closed and talk in turns. Most meals won’t perturb its steady presence. Age will only improve it.

http://www.vosselections.com/Domains/1063.html

http://jean-maurice.raffault.pagesperso-orange.fr/index.html

http://www.californiawinemagazine.com/Library/Wines/cabernet_franc.html

Posted in Cabernet Franc, Red | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Malbec-Merlot, Mission La Caminade, Cahors 2007

Posted on April 4, 2011 by waywardwine

Already tired of malbec? Branch out from Argentina and take a twelve dollar trip to the grape’s ancestral home: Cahors. Upriver from Bordeaux, the village of Cahors rests on a kink along the Lot river in the center of southwestern France.

Cahors is the pink one in the middle.

Here they grow malbec. Alot of it. 10,000 acres worth. Regulations require that any Cahors bottle at least 70% of it. They don’t make white (you’ll have to find a Vin de Pays du Lot for that).

Nevertheless winter and spring frosts can shatter malbec buds and ruin crops. Not very profitable. So Bordeaux mostly gave up on malbec after the phylloxera aphid and frost wiped out their vineyards. In Cahors, even the epic frosts of February 1956 gave them another chance to regraft reliable grapes like cabernet. Instead, they threw their lot in with malbec.

Mission la Caminade’s 2007 blend of Malbec and Merlot reflects this Cahorsin obstinacy but bends to more modern trends. First, the label flaunts “MALBEC – MERLOT”. French pride in place would prefer that region -not grape- says enough on a label. If it’s Cahors and red, you should expect a rich, tannic blend of mostly malbec supported by merlot and tannat. Hell, natives don’t even call the grape malbec (that’s the downstream competition in Bordeaux). Instead, malbec is known as auxerrois.

Yet Caminade’s 2007 tastes modern, balanced and fruit driven. Plum and berries dominate. It lacks the traditional tannic edge or gaminess found in Cahors such as Clos la Coutale’s 2008. Yet Caminade is not any less interesting. It reflects French tightrope walking. It wants to please palates trained on Argentina, while reminding them that fruit isn’t everything, with its line of pepper and mineral.

And why not ride on Argentina’s growing coattails? Cahors has lived beneath the shadow of Bordeaux for centuries. Malbec’s moment in the sun might as well reward Cahors’ choice to hold fast for eight hundred years to such a tricky grape.

Caminade pours a fine and affordable introduction to this other malbec. Enjoy it alone or with chocolate, molé sauces, or ripe blue cheeses. And when you feel more adventurous, try Clos la Coutale’s 2008.

http://www.quercyblancvilla.com/#/links/4534113931

http://www.uncork.biz/tidbits18.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahors_wine

http://www.french-malbec.com/

Posted in Malbec | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Port, Warre’s Late Bottled Vintage, Portugal 2000

Posted on March 28, 2011 by waywardwine

While bitter winter still slips through window seams, turn to Port. Nothing warms an evening’s end better. Styles range from cheap and charming non-vintage Ruby to decades-old Vintage Ports. Somewhere in the middle are Late Bottled Vintage Ports, like Warre’s 2000 LBV.

British shippers create Vintage Ports only when an exceptional harvest and a willing market coincide. The best fruit gets fermented and fortified, goes into barrel for two to three years, then bottle, after which Americans forget to let it age for the needed thirty years.

Late Bottled Vintage Port is different. It’s cheaper than Vintage, potentially as rich and you can drink it now. Whatever brilliant wine didn’t make it into the Vintage is kept in barrel and released later as an LBV.

Warre’s LBV was harvested in 2000, fortified with spirit to 20% alcohol, which stopped fermentation and retained its sugars. It was matured in cask for four years and in bottle another four, hence the name Late Bottled. This barrel and bottle time means you can drink it now. But let it rest upright and then pour slowly: because Warre obsesses about not filtering or fining, there will be sediment.

Warre’s LBV is a belly dancer: athletic yet alluring, its dark eyes dart at you but leave as quickly. Let this LBV lure you with woven notes of violets, blackberries and spice. The balance of body and brightness is pitch perfect. This is what so many wines want to be. Yet this LBV is far too complex for competition. It will wear away these last dreary nights of winter with its warm berried curves and spiced staccato dance.http://www.warre.com/

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Grenache Blend, Bonny Doon Vineyard, Le Cigare Volant, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, Earth 2004

Posted on March 21, 2011 by waywardwine

One should never drink and vlog, but considering that half the bottle is gone, my memory served me decently here. To clarify, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC has allowed 18 grapes since 2009, although 13 has been industry standard since 1936.  Cigare Volant’s official blend for the insatiably curious: 38% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 35% Mourvèdre, 8% Carignan, 7% Cinsault.

Posted in Grenache Blend, Red | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments