How about some Zinfandel?

Time to talk about some Zinfandel – one of my favorite wines.
This was an average bottle of zin, decent nose, good red fruits and spiciness, moderate aftertaste. OK for the price, like $12, but not one you’d seek out for a special occasion.

Here is another from Coppola, one named after an uncle or something. Better class of zinfandel, but the 2007 was near the end of its best days. It had a limited nose, but a good palate of red and dark berry flavor. Decent aftertaste, but it was on sale for $17, so a bit pricey for what it was.

This was a surprise for $16 – Primitivo is the same basic grape as Zinfandel, but usually is grown in Italy.  This wine has a nice nose of red fruit and good red berry and spice in the mouth. It was restrained, lower in alcohol and better balanced in acid then many Lodi Zinfandels. It would be a good match with food, since it is better balanced then other Zinfandels.

Just wanted to update some info - maybe another time we can talk about the Zinfandel Olympics - looking for a new place to hold them this year!

Keep popping those corks and I'll meet you out behind the grapevines!

Books and more books

I went on a little vacation trip to Kansas City and scored some “new” wine books for my collection. If I can’t be drinking wine, then I’ll gladly read about it. I nabbed Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch for $8. Oh, it’s a signed copy (to a doctor) and had his business card in it, with both the Berkley address and the France address. I scored a gently used copy of 1,001 Wines you must taste before you die, although I’ll be lucky to taste 100 of them.  I also got Penfolds, the Rewards of Patience, the history of the Australian winery and Bordeaux/Burgundy, a Vintage Rivalry, a story of the history between these famous French viticulture areas.

This adds to my 40 or 50 wine books, including Matt Kramer on Wine, which I also bought and finished recently. This excludes my cookbooks, because that is a different category. I’ve also suffered with a brief encounter with an upper respiratory affliction, and that limited me tasting anything. The coughing left me weak and the stuff in my nose stopped smelling. I’m on the mend and will post some tasting notes shortly, along with a brief discussion about what an AVA is. Later … Meanwhile, keep popping those corks and I’ll meet you behind the grape vines.

Justin Night at WWWC

Tuesday night, July 10, 2012, was Justin night at the West Wichita Wine Connection (WWWC).  Michael Garcia, representing Justin was our guest speaker for the evening.  Our meal was started with a splendid Moroccan salad, with artichoke hearts and chick-peas marinated in olive oil and spices.  Forget about problems matching artichoke with wine, both the white and the syrah went well with the salad. The entrée was a Moroccan beef dish, with carrots, summer squash, onions and couscous. Dessert was a jipna with teen, which is a cheese type confection with a fig sauce (the “teen”).  Now for the wine!

The greeting wine was a 2011 Justin Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit was from Preston Vineyards, near the Templeton gap in Paso Robles, California. There was a lot of grapefruit, some tropical flavors and a tang on the aftertaste. No wood or oak flavors, as it is kept in stainless steel.

The four table wines started with the 2009 Justin Syrah, the Rhone Ranger entry from the winery. Grapes are sourced from Hastings Ranch, with a production of around 3,900 cases. The aroma is not overly forward, some oak and berry fruit. Hint of earth on the initial taste, nice fruit carry through – red berries at the front. Good mouthfeel and lasting aftertaste - very good with the meal.

Second was the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, the regular bottling. Nice nose with red and blackberry fruit. Flavor was deep with black and red berry fruit – hint of green pepper and smoky spice in the aftertaste. Aftertaste lingered, very nice California cabernet for a decent price. (I have at least one bottle of the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon in my wine vault.)

Third wine was the 2009 Justification, a real surprising wine. Made of Cabernet Franc and Merlot (not a common blend, by any stretch of the imagination) the color was dark. Big berry nose grabbed you at the first sniff. Great raspberry and blackberry flavors with some plum and hints of spice, follow through with a long aftertaste. Really nice bottle of wine, one I would recommend for a different bottle.

Lastly, though not in flavor, was the 2008 Isoceles, one of the top wines of the vineyard. Always a great wine (I’ve had at least 4 different vintages), this bottle was typical of the class. Great berry nose, some oak lurking in the aroma. Broad mouthfeel, with red and black berry fruit with hints of cedar spice box. Easily a bottle that could age well, but is drinking very nice at this time. Less fruit forward than the Justification, but a wine that would stand to a test of time.

Actually, lastly was the fortified wine, Obtuse, a cabernet sauvignon pert style wine poured for dessert. A sweet wine, with some depth, but not like a typical Port. Very grapey, but a pleasant little item to end a meal.

All 58 folks in attendance enjoyed themselves - meanwhile, keep popping those corks and I’ll meet you behind the grape vines.

A Case for “Petite”

            There is a red that I just love to drink. It is almost always big, chewy and something you don’t worry about aging. No, not Zinfandel, the Petite one – Petite Sirah. Once a mystery grape, it has been genetically mapped to be a descendent of Syrah, where once it was considered to be an entirely different variety.  It turns out that Petite Sirah (also spelled with the y in place of the i – syrah) is a cross of Syrah and Peloursin and is known as Durif. The grape variety doesn’t do all that well in areas of high humidity where it develops grey rot. California has many growing areas that suit the growth of this variety.

            For a long time in California viticulture, the Petite grape was just labeled syrah. There are obvious differences, but no one ever worried about it.  Many were replanted over time, but it seems many may have been a blend of both grapes. Testing from the good people at UC-Davis found many vineyards thought to be Petite Sirah were mostly Durif, some Syrah and even one a type of Pinot Noir.  From the samples Dr. Carole Meredith – who also identified from the DNA the origin of zinfandel – that the Durif was a child of Syrah and therefore, related.

            Can I tell in a blind tasting which is syrah and which is Petite Sirah? I’m doubtful, although I really, really like my Petite to be as chunky and fruit forward as possible. I recently tasted a Rosenblum San Francisco Bay area Petite Sirah and it was outstanding. The color was deep and dark purple. The nose was raspberry and a touch of blackberry. The flavor had overtones of blueberry and had a wonderful “mouthfeel” that stayed with you.

            There are a couple of value priced Petite’s that you can count on for value and flavor. First is the Bogle Petite Syrah – year in and year out a best buy in the big glossy wine mag’s. It has risen to about $12 to $14 a bottle, but consistently good. The area that Bogle makes the wine is in Solano County, near Clarksburg. Worth asking for at your retailer.

Concannon is another vineyard that has started produced the variety for years and has one that is affordable and very big and chunky. Same price range, it has a silver label. They also make higher priced ones of the same variety, but if your just trying, go for the one I mentioned. This winery claims to be the first to put out a wine labeled Petite Sirah in California and has a rich history. They are across the bay from San Francisco in Livermore Valley. If you like the bottom of the line, then try the higher priced ones. Line 39 is another inexpensive favorite to try, I wrote about it recently.

The higher end petite’s are also tasty, though when I say higher end, I mean bottles in the $30 - $45 range. One such wine, available only from the winery is Vincent Arroyo, in Napa. I had an experience of tasting four different bottling (different vineyards and a reserve) of the 2004 vintage in December of 2011. These are wines that will stand up to bottle aging and provide the gutsy taste you really look for in this grape. I’ll detail that tasting later.

Any way, there is my case for Petite.  Let me know what you think at Drwineaux@gmail.com. Meanwhile, keep popping those corks and I’ll meet you behind the grape vines.