#418 Halloween Wine Hell

Halloween - the day of nightmares and recently I've been trying some nightmarish wines.  Here are my top (or bottom) five hellish wines that I've tried recently.

2009 Arlewood Marsanne Roussanne
From Margaret River, this wine has a grassy, lemon aroma with hints of white pepper and some spirity element.  The palate is quite commercial, shows some grape characters with peachy and tropical fruit aromas.  The problem is the alcohol and acid that come through in abundance and bother you quite a bit.  The finish is pretty ropey, quite acidic and a bit boozy.  79pts

2009 Chilcas Single Vineyard Pinot Noir
Initially it had a bright cherry and raspberry aroma with a touch of poopy farmyard coming off.  It then fell apart on the palate, starting off savoury with some spice coming off, but then nothing but dirty, confected and acidic.  74pts

2010 SAAM Sauvignon Blanc
Lots of pepper and green grassy elements.  It starts of with light gooseberry, some pepper coming off and then you have a bundle of acid and green vegetal elements.  Horrible.  72pts

2010 SAAM Cabernet Sauvignon
Sweet, meaty aromas.  A veggie element comes off with some raspberry but then you get horrible weak, thin element.  It is pretty poor.  70pts

2010 Stellenrust Pinotage
Slurry and tastes of slurry.  This is a farmyard in a glass.  Really really terrible.  60pts (unless you are farmer and like slurry!)

Happy Halloween folks

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#417 Pinot Noir from Chile

If you fancy a Pinot Noir, where would you go?  Burgundy, certainly, and places like New Zealand and Oregon have established reputations for producing some quality wines as well.  But where else?  The Alto Adige in Italy can produce good wines, indeed Franz Haas has dedicated his life to trying to beat Burgundy at its own game.  But Chile?

By Peter Wood with No comments

#416 The Cardinal's Grapes - Cabernet Franc

The history of the grape starts in southwest France, and it was Cardinal Richelieu, immortalised in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers, who transported the grape to the Abbey of Bourgueil in the Loire Valley in the 17th Century.  By the 18th Century the grape was widespread between the Libournais region and the Loire but it's popularity was short lived as Cabernet Sauvignon  became increasingly popular.  Now Cabernet Franc is a grape that often plays second fiddle to Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, being blended to give a finesse and peppery note to these bigger grapes, but this is vastly unfair to this grape. 

Due to it's earlier ripening, Cabernet Franc has had the ability to shine is cooler climates like the Loire, but this advantage has also made it even more under rated in Bordeaux, as it has been used as an 'insurance policy' in case there is bad weather that ruins the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest.  It is now grown in Italy and Canada (where it is made into Icewine), but if it is going to gain international recognition, it is likely going going to be through the grape being grown in the USA's cooler states such as New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

I tried three Cabernet Francs from different regions.  Firstly, and Italian wine, followed by a Saumur from the Loire, and finally, a wine that showcases Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux.

2008 La Tunella Cabernet Franc (£10)
In the third generation of the family that found it, La Tunella is a producer that I'm not familiar with, and I don't want my comments on this wine to be a reflection on the company's portfolio.  It was an international style 'wine', not showing any characteristics of the grape, nor the region.  A little bit of clay on the nose, some big brambley notes up front. The palate has a green, vegetal note with some sweet candied elements on the back end.  It is not balanced, but is drinkable and you could polish off a bottle.  It is just boring and big and blousy.  79pts

2009 La Cabriole Saumur (£10)
This is what I'm wanting from a Loire Cabernet Franc.  Soft vegetal aromas with some cherry stone and cranberry aromas.  The palate is well balanced with nice crisp veggie elements, a little crisp acid on the back end.  I think that this is a good example of what Cabernet Franc should be, simple, very drinkable and showing both the cooler climate of the region, and the grape's characters well.  88pts

2004 Le Dome (£100)
From a vineyard less than three hectares in size, this is a Cabernet Franc dominated blend (the other part being old vine Merlot) from St Emilion in Bordeaux.  It is the tricky one of this trio.  Bottom line, it is a well made wine, very tasty and does taste like Cabernet Franc.  The problem is that it is horrifically expensive and appears to be going for an American Cabernet lover's palate.  Rich, dark liquorice and with lots of toffee and chocolate mixed with some dark, pruney, leafy aromas.  the palate is dark, well balanced, firm tannins and with lots and lots of tobacco and coffee.  Some cabbagey elements on the front end, a bit of heat on the back end, but a good wine and I do like it, but is it proper Bordeaux? No.  85pts

By Peter Wood with 2 comments

#414 Six Questions with... Jewel Staite

Canadian born actress, Jewel Staite, is best known for her role as Kaylee Frye in the space-western television series Firefly, created by Joss Whedon, and as Dr Jennifer Keller in Stargate Atlantis. What isn't so well known about her is that she writes a blog called Happy Opu "an indulgent blog about indulgence"!

Staite spent a lot of her younger years on Maui, and the phrase "happy opu" was a nice way of describing someone's expanding stomach.  Her blog is her gastronomic diary, with restaurant reviews, recipes, drinks reviews - basically, anything that she, and her opu, experience together!

Having just finished filming a new television series and taking a well earned vacation, I asked Jewel six questions....

Your blog, "Happy Opu", is about indulgence and the gastronomic journey you are on.  What is your earliest memory that food was more than just about fuel?
Growing up, my mom was the one who was at a 9 to 5 job everyday, and so my dad would always be the one to pick me up from school. We would spend literally hours dreaming up ideas on  what to cook for dinner, and so talking about food brings back a lot of fond childhood memories for me. Funny enough though, the person who taught me to cook was Rachael Ray. I became totally obsessed with her cookbooks years ago, and she taught me not to be so intimidated in the kitchen and not to take the whole cooking thing so seriously. I could honestly talk about food for a very unhealthy amount of time. 

What is the best wine you have ever had?
My favorite wines change a lot, since I'm always discovering new and better wines when I'm traveling. My favorite red is the 2005 Harmonie from Blackjack Winery in Santa Ynez Valley. It's absurdly good, and it goes well with just about anything. Plus, the winemaker Roger Wisted is always wandering around the winery looking like a crazy country bumpkin mad scientist, and how can you not love that? I love everything he does.   

Aside from wine, what other drinks are you fond of?
There are other drinks besides wine?! Sometimes I really enjoy a little cognac at the end of a meal, especially with some really stinky cheese to go with it.

What is your favourite wine shop?
My favorite wine shop is called Silverlake Wines in my neighbourhood in Los Angeles. It's this very unpretentious, very friendly little store that has tastings every Monday and Thursday nights where the whole neighbourhood comes together to hang out. Every tasting flight's different every week, and they're always out of this world. Plus on Thursdays the Lets Be Frank hot dog truck parks outside. And let me tell you-- hot dogs go GREAT with wine! 

Who or what got you into wine?
I've always had an affinity for wine, which is kind of crazy since no one in my family'll touch the stuff. I went wine tasting for the first time in New Zealand and had my mind blown a little bit. I just think everything that goes into the making of the wine is so fascinating and so difficult, and it's just such an impressive thing to me to be able to produce a really great bottle of wine. I always say if I wasn't an actor I'd be a winemaker. Maybe not a good one, but still. 

Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?
My dream dinner party guests would be Meryl Streep so I could pick her brain and demand that she teach me everything she knows, Mark Twain because he's my favorite author, and Channing Tatum just for a little eye candy. (His wife's not invited.) We'd start with a Perrier Jouet Grand Brut, followed by a bottle of Joie: A Noble Blend, and then finish off with one of those Harmonie's from Blackjack. And Meryl would be soooo drunk.

Happy Opu Blog
Jewel Staite Official Website
Jewel Staite on Twitter

By Peter Wood with 3 comments

#413 Wine Web Watch: Mateus Rose Advert

 

Just listen for the jingle, just near the end. You thought the cheesiness of the advert couldn't get any worse, but then they take it to a new low!

By Peter Wood with No comments

#412 Austrian Reds

Austrian Wine, no longer under the cloud of the 'antifreeze scandal' of 1985 when some wine brokers were found to be putting diethylene glycol in their wines, they have become renowned for their quality, mainly due to the controls put in place after their reputation took a hammering. 

Gruner Veltliner has become synonymous with the country, but I took a look at three red grape varieties that could be the next big thing from Austria.  Blaufrankisch is a late ripening grape that is quite tannic and spicy.  Indigenous in central Europe, and predating medieval times, it goes by numerous names depending where it is grown, but those of you of senior years will have tried it before as it was a major component of Bull's Blood.  from an old grape, to a young one, Zweigelt, a wine developed by a chap called Fritz Zweigelt in 1922.  It is a crossing of the Blaufrankisch and St Laurent grapes, and despite being less than a century old, it has become the most widely grown red varietal in Austria.  But to start off, that famous Austrian red variety... er... Pinot Noir.

2008 Pittnauer Pinot Noir
Bright cherries with a little bit of raspberry juice coming out.  Some subtle spice elements emerging, but really this is all about the bright, fresh, slightly tart, red berry fruit.  The palate has a savoury note up front, some aggressive spice and alcohol comes through.  It has a dry, lean element to it with a lot of hard, overly tart fruit.  A shame really, because the nose is nice.  81pts

2007 Little J Zweigelt by Jurtschitsch
Soft, sweetened cherries with a little bit of plum jam coming off.  There is a little boot polish mixed with some cocoa and just a touch of herb coming off.  The palate is bright, has a hardened vegetal structure to it, but some nice soft fruit backs it up, a little sweet berry and some hot spice (aniseed) comes through.  Good finish, nice balance and tasty.  88pts

2009 Moric Blaufrankisch
Big and spicy with some deep, dark meaty aromas.  A lot of sweet, pungent fruit and just a slightest touch of clay and violets coming off too.  It is really appealing.  The palate is dark and rustic, lots of steely flavours and then a bundle of rocks.  There is a lovely cherry stone mixed with some tar and leathery notes.  Some more violets on the finish that are really lovely, and it leaves you with a crisp, acidic, apple and cranberry flavour in your mouth.  91pts

By Peter Wood with 1 comment