A little late for Ontario’s family day, but the think tank of the Vintages releases has come up with a theme entitled “Putting family first”, Wines from Europe’s “Primum Familiae Vini and California’s Wagner Family”. There are some gems to be found on April 18th, but sadly few of these wines fall into the “pick up a couple tasty wines for the weekend” category. However, for those with deep pockets will be like kids in a candy store. (Click images to enlarge.)

Wines of “BodegasTorres Influential Spanish globetrotters “

381046 MIGUEL TORRES ALTOS IBÉRICOS CRIANZA 2012 Rioja, Spain $16.95
Torres does produce an array of wines at all price points and these two are affordable. This 100% Tempranillo has clean fruity aromas, but with an odd plastic note; the palate, carries strawberry and red berry flavours. Tannins are low and the soft acidity renders it drinkable now. Find this wine

210872 TORRES CELESTE CRIANZA 2011 Ribera del Duero, Spain $20.95
Bacon fat, thyme, dark chocolate combine with a mix of red and dark fruit on the nose. A tasty palate shows dark fruit enhanced with mocha while tight tannins grow powerful on the finish. Give it a little time in a decanter and this will show well. Find this wine

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Alan Kerr aka Canadian Zinfan rode into town to hang out with us at Gang Central for some Easter “holiday hijinks,” a weekend that Kim would describe afterwards as “epic.” It was certainly all that and more. Before his arrival, Madame L’Pour (Kim’s old Gang moniker) asked Chef Kerr what he wanted to do during his stay, and he replied, “Eat lunch at Johnny Noodle King, and cook, eat and drink wine with you guys,” and so we did. (Click images to enlarge.)

Our exercise of glorious excess took place over two days and nights; on Friday, it was just the three of us, and on Saturday, we were joined by our rad girlfriend, Rebecca Poling. My original plan had been to couple similar pairs of wines with whatever plates Alan and Kim might come up with and do not-so-quick-and-dirty snapshot blogs of each, but once the dust cleared, it seemed obvious to me that only two reports need be filed; this one with the pairs and what, if anything they were paired with, and, in the next few days, the single bottles that we insinuated into just the right spots throughout both evenings. This was a classic Gang of Pour weekend, and we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
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Nobody does a better job of promoting Michigan wine online than our very good friends Cortney and Shannon Casey (pictured below), with their Michigan By The Bottle blog.

Nobody.

The State of Michigan should give these two a stipend for their tireless promotion of our wine industry here in the Mitten State, but since that ain’t gonna happen, these two bloggers-turned-entrepreneurs took a big leap when they partnered with six Michigan wineries a little over two years ago and opened their first Michigan By The Bottle Tasting Room in Shelby Twp. The plan was to sell customers flights of three and five two ounce tastes, with light snacks, from a generous selection from said partners (Chateau Aeronautique, Chateau de Leelanau, Domaine Berrien Cellars, Gill’s Pier Vineyard & Winery, who are closing their doors as of April 15th, but have a good deal of inventory still available at MBTBTR, Peninsula Cellars and Sandhill Crane Vineyards), and it has succeeded brilliantly, so much so, that they’ve recently added a second location in Royal Oak, and partnered with two more wineries for that location, 2 Lads Winery and Verterra Winery. Both locations also offer a wide range of Michigan food products from producers such as Beau Bien Fine Foods of Detroit and Leelanau Cheese from Suttons Bay. (Click images to enlarge.)

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It had been almost a year and a half since I last attended one of Plum Market’s Thursday night wine events, and more than four years since my last J et R Selections tasting. J et R specializes in importing some of our very favorite wines in the world, those being from the southern Rhône Valley, and I was a big fan of their portfolio long before I interviewed head honcho J. C. Mathes back in 2003. Mathes retired several years ago, and his place was taken by Dan Farley, who has continued to shepherd these excellent wines to the U.S. They have been distributed here in Michigan for years by Wines of Distinction, located in Troy, and during my time in wine retail, they were one of my favorite vendors. The business changed its name to Woodberry Wines a few years ago; not long after that, there was a change of ownership as well, but the high quality of their products and staff has remained consistent. (Click images to enlarge.)

So it was that when I caught wind of the “Complete Southern Rhône” tasting scheduled for April 2nd at Plum’s West Bloomfield location, with Farley himself on hand to talk about the ten wines being poured, I blocked out the time on my schedule to make sure I didn’t miss it. It was great to reconnect with Dan; I also enjoyed renewing acquaintances with Michael Korn, who has not only been with Wines of Distinction and Woodberry for many years, but is also a musical colleague of mine. Best of all, it was a pleasure to taste through the selections presented on this evening, as all but one of the wines being poured were from producers that feel like old friends to me. Here are my snapshot impressions of what I tasted.
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It’s been two years since I named Charlie Edson’s Bel Lago Auxerrois as one of my two favorite Michigan wines, along with Left Foot Charley’s Island View Pinot Blanc, and I promised to file a follow-up report on the Auxerrois at that time. I didn’t promise how long it would take me to get around to filing said report, and while I wish I would have gotten to it sooner, I do feel that this blog entry is a “better-late-then-never” kind o’ review. (Click image to enlarge.)

(Disclaimer: My original statement should now be amended to these two being my favorite still wines, given my recent revelations as to just how fine our northern Michigan sparkling wines are, and I doubt that Charlie or Charley aka Bryan Ulbrich will take issue with that.)

I first learned to love Bel Lago Auxerrois back in 2009, during a remarkable November tour of Leelanau Peninsula vineyards and wineries. You can see what Charlie had to say about his version of the variety in the following video that Kim recorded and edited at that time:

I had originally intended to do a comparison tasting of the 2011 and 2012 vintages, and, in fact, we did so about four or five months ago, and what stuck with me then was the contrast between those two vintages. The 2011 was in a prime drinking window, being very mineral-driven, with perfectly balanced acids; it would make a good “ringer” in any number of blind Alsatian (or perhaps even Loire) white wine tastings. The 2012 was racier, with a little less mineral and a big hit of lime that differentiated it from the earlier vintage. It was a great demonstration of how both different vintage conditions and an extra year in the bottle can impact this consistently fine wine.
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This release showcases some interesting juice from Italy’s famed Verona region. There are some tasty wines, but the French contingent impressed me far more in terms of value and drinking quality. My advice is to just read on…

Wines of the Month

990440 KENWOOD CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2012 Sonoma County, California $23.95
Nice aromas of forest floor, ripe black fruit, mostly currant, Chinese black mushrooms, spice box and cedar. Good concentration, a little spicy now, but decanting will help, tannins are medium. Fun wine. Find this wine

672931 ALLEGRINI PALAZZO DELLA TORRE 2011 Veronese, Italy $24.95
Oozing notes of blackberry, cassis, cherry liqueur, mocha, pressed flowers and lavender. A little fruit forward on the palate, but bitter chocolate helps to balance, finishing with cherry and anise. Find this wine

WINES FROM THE VENETO RELEASE

403840 LE BERTAROLE PODERE CARIANO AMARONE DELLA VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO 2009 $44.95
Very tight in its youth, teasing with notes of hay, straw and with much coaxing, hints of chocolate, caramel and dark fruit appear. It is sweeter than anticipated, as raspberry liqueur takes centre stage accented by cinnamon and anise. Quite disjointed right now, but time will render good stuff. Find this wine

332403 DONATONI MASSENÀ APPASSIMENTO 2011 $16.95
Very fruity, bolstered with mint and floral aromas and coffee grounds; an odd sweetness hits the palate along with cough candy, blueberry and blackberry. Down side is it finishes rather stickily. Find this wine

Editor’s note: For  more on the Appassimento method of winemaking, go here.

181446 FEUDI SAN PIO RIPASSO VALPOLICELLA CLASSICO SUPERIORE 2012 $17.95
Enticing floral aromas complete with cake spice, dark fudge, balsa and sweet vanilla bean; lovely sweet flavours of cherry and currant. Some grip and the solid tannins do suggest time. Find this wine

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April is Michigan Wine Month, and I can’t think of a better way to start the celebration than with a dandy sparkling wine from up north. Michigan is probably best known for the fine Riesling produced here (although one observer has proposed that Pinot Blanc “could be the wine that provides Northern Michigan with an opportunity to create a global brand name”), but I was struck by the following thought as I prepared this blog entry: Michigan could very well make as much a name for its wine industry with sparkling wine as with Riesling. I wonder if Larry Mawby would agree with that?

Think about it; the finest sparkling wines in the world are made in the northern-most wine region in France, Champagne. It’s a cold climate where grapes can have a hard time ripening. Sound familiar? It seems like every time I turn around, I’m trying another delicious Michigan sparkler. Mawby has been spearheading the movement for three decades, but there are other producers making fine bubbly as well. A few that come to mind are Shady Lane Cellars’ Sparkling Riesling, Left Foot Charley’s Chapter Nine Sparkling Pinot Blanc and 2 Lads Sparkling Pinot Grigio. Now, add to that list the one that I tried just this Sunday, bigLITTLE Tire Swing. (Click image to enlarge.)
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We’ve always been upfront about the fact that we receive samples for review from various wineries and importers. These are almost always shipped to us from different parts of the country, and they always go straight down to rest after their journey for at least a week in the infamous “Cellar from Hell,” which is now actually much more tidy and organized than when it was given that dubious designation. We don’t do clinical tastings when we review wines, we like to evaluate them in natural settings, enjoying them with food and/or friends. There have been more than a few occasions when some of these samples end up spending as long as a few months down there, because we like to wait for the right occasion to pull the cork or twist that stelvin enclosure, but sooner or later, the deed gets done.

Such was the case last week when we enjoyed the following two wines. Both had been sitting patiently for several weeks, when I got it in my head that it might be interesting to open them with dinner and see how they sized up against each other. We’re very familiar with Bonny Doon’s Le Cigare Blanc and Tablas Creek’s Esprit de Tablas Blanc; they’re two of the very finest white Rhône blends made in California, and we’ve had multiple vintages of each. It was a decidedly unscientific setting; the blends were somewhat similar, but from different vintages. We weren’t looking for one to show that much better than the other, it was more a case of just wanting to compare them and taste what both had to offer with some good food. (Click images to enlarge.)

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Considering the fact that this is my 4th blog entry about sparkling wine in a little over a month, one might get the impression that I’m getting somewhat obsessive about my bubbles. I don’t know that it’s gotten quite that bad (yet), but, truth be told, I am almost to the point where I prefer sparklers to still wines, even when it comes to my beloved red Rhônes or Mr. Ridge. Not quite, but almost. I will say that I’m now actively and regularly seeking out new things to try and to share impressions of here in this blog. (Click image to enlarge.)

Case in point: Last week, while perusing the wine selection at our friendly neighborhood Costco, I lamented the fact the two Rotaris I’d been so taken with for several months are no longer available there. Then, I took note of the Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut Rosé that had been waiting patiently to catch my attention during the same period, and this time I bit.

Mirabelle is Schramsberg’s non-vintage label, and this was my first time trying one. My experience with this storied producer goes back to the late ‘70s, when I enjoyed a ’76 Blanc de Noir with friends (you can see the actual label on this page). I also loved the ’99 Blanc de Blancs Brut 5 County and ’03 Brut Rosé 4 County in 2006, but have had nothing from them since, so I was quite looking forward to finding out just what was in this particular bottle. It turned out to be very nice indeed…
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Back in the late ‘90s through about 2005, while Australian wines were still quite popular hereabouts, there was a curiosity making the rounds known as “sparkling Shiraz,” which, of course, was, and still is, Shiraz with bubbles. I tried a few back then; I sold some of the stuff as well, during my time in wine retail, and if they never really caught my fancy, I didn’t actually dislike them either. As stated above, they were more a curiosity than anything else. One example that still stands out in my memory is a 1990 Lindemanns Sparkling Shiraz, which we enjoyed at our very first Toledo gathering 15 years ago. This particular “spurgle,” as the Aussies call them, had spent a decade or so in the cellar and showed similar qualities to that of an aged still Shiraz or Syrah, with secondary meaty and leathery characteristics that were quite enjoyable. (Click images to enlarge.)

I hadn’t thought much at all about “spurgles” lately, until we received a new batch of wines for review from our friends at Bonny Doon Vineyard, and, lo and behold, there was a California Sparkling Syrah included in the shipper. Now, we’re used to Randall Grahm and company coming up with off-the-wall bottlings; constant readers will remember how much we loved their Sparkling Albariño, and we found their ¿Querry? Pear Apple Quince Cider quite to our liking as well, so I was more than a little intrigued to see what this little number was all about.

“It’s my favorite Bonny Doon wine.” - Randall Grahm

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