Two New World Music Releases from Putumayo
September 26th, 2010 | 
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We were more than a little surprised when we received an email a while back from the World Music recording label Putumayo, asking us if we’d like a review copy of their latest release, Tribute to a Reggae Legend which they described as, “A global celebration of the music of Bob Marley, featuring five new, exclusive recordings by exceptional international artists.” Why Putumayo decided to put us on their list of reviewers, we have no idea. It’s not like we do a lot in the way of music reviews, but maybe they saw our account of our adventures at Rothbury in the summer of ’09, in which we had good things to say about King Sunny Ade and his African Beats . Who knows?!
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Alan Kerr’s September 18th 2010, Vintage’s Release – Tasting Notes
“The buzz on what we do best” is the theme of this week’s Vintages release that promotes indigenous wines of Ontario. However, wine makers in Lake Erie North Shore have no representation whatsoever and there is a mere one bottle from Prince Edward County. So, here are my notes on the wines of Niagara. There are some good Niagara wines available, but one should remember many of the wineries here in Niagara that make superb wines make them in very limited production and can’t supply enough for Vintages inventory requirements. All the more reason to spend time in Niagara and find out for yourself, yes?
Dinner and Wine with Friends
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For being the 500th person to “Like” Gang of Pour on our Facebook page this summer, our friend Stacey Lind won a casual dinner with Adams/Heritier and Associates at Gang Central. So, armed with some delicious home made apple dumplings with maple sauce and accompanied by her husband Jim, Stacy braved the cross-town traffic recently to join Kim, this taster and our longtime partners in crime Martha and Gary Shea for an evening of food, wine and stimulating conversation. We got things started with some nice rosé.
2009 Domaine du Pellehaut Côtes de Gascogne Harmonie de Gascone Rosé, 12.5% alc., $8.99: Raspberry pink color, with ripe raspberry, strawberry, rainwater and mineral flavors and aromas; medium bodied, smooth in texture, with good acids and length. Riper than many southern French rosés, but not unduly so, and a worthy successor to the previous model that we liked so well. Find this wine
Imported by J & J Importers, Ltd., Bloomfield Hills, MI
Five Rosés
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Rosés aren’t just warm weather quaffers for Adams-Heritier and Associates, we drink and enjoy them all year around. For instance, these five little pinkies provided some good-to-excellent swigging lately as the air turned rather Autumnal.
2009 Yellow + Blue Spain Rosé Alicante, 1 L Tetre Pac, $9.99: Raspberry pink color; Kim calls this wine “dangerous,” because it’s so quaffable. Rich, ripe and almost pungent, but rather earthy at the same time, which helps balance things out for me. Intense dusty black cherry, strawberry and raspberry flavors and aromas, medium-full bodied, with some structure and tannins to it. This will probably hold and develop for a few years. Almost, but not quite, too intense for the kind of rosé that I prefer, this stays just this side of over-the-top and offers good value for the price, and the tetra pac makes it versatile in that you can take it where glass isn’t practical. Find this wine
Imported by J. SOIF, INC., Chester Springs, Pennsylvania
We were pleasantly surprised at how good the following wine is when we first tried it at the Michigan Food and Wine Showcase last spring, so we’ve been picking up more since and our opinion hasn’t changed one bit.
Alan Kerr’s September 4th 2010, Vintage’s Release – Tasting Notes
Relief from this heat wave is on the way and with cooler temperatures forecast for this, the last, long weekend of this glorious summer, there will be no better time to sample a few of the 2007 “Red Rhones” soon to be found on the shelves of this September 4th release. From a price point, the wines are well priced even when compared to those in the US. Several tasty ones are under the $15.00 mark. In addition, I really like the way the Vintages catalogue breaks down the region, dividing sub appellation by sub appellation and giving good information on each one. Well done to the board. I also have a tasting note on one of the best Viogniers I have tasted, one that should not be missed. Enjoy the weekend.
Wines from the Cotes du Rhone
Cowan Cellars Beginnings – August, 2010 update
Jim Cowan and Russell Bevan (Photo by Bruce Leiserowitz) Click to enlarge
(See August, 2010 update below)
In the fall of 2005, Russell Bevan gave me a call. Russell and I had been friends for almost a decade, wine buddies from the start. I had visited countless times and been a guest at his house on several occasions. But this call wasn’t about a party or a tour; this was a request to come out and help work the harvest for his new enterprise, Bevan Cellars. I am retired so I had the time. As it turned out, it was the beginning of my interest in starting my own label, Cowan Cellars.
Six from Doña Paula
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South American entrepreneur Ricardo Claro, winemaker Stefano Gandolini and viticulturist Edgardo del Popolo continue to turn out very good to excellent wines at the Doña Paula Estate in Argentina’s Mendoza region, and their second label Los Cardos is also a solid performer in the value-oriented category. Doña Paula owns 1,878 acres of vineyards and the state-of-the-art winery facility is capable of producing over 1 million liters a year. Our friends at Vineyard Brands sent us 6 of their latest efforts to try, and here are our impressions of what we tasted.
2010 Doña Paula Mendoza Sauvignon Blanc Los Cardos, 12% alc., $8.99-9.99: Medium straw color, with a good dose of boxwood/cat spray dominating the flavors and aromas, along with some underlying minerality; medium bodied, with ample acids and a slightly bitter finish. A solid everyday Sauvignon that would be even better with a little more depth of fruit. I’m pretty sure that this is the first wine from the 2010 vintage that we’ve had. Find this wine
5 From Cornerstone Cellars
We got our first taste of wines from Cornerstone Cellars‘ second label, the mid-range priced Stepping Stone brand, last October, and we liked what was in those two bottles. So, when I got an email a few weeks ago from Cornerstone General Manager Craig Camp telling me that five new releases were on their way to us for review, I perked up and took notice, looking forward to seeing what these would have to offer. As previously reported, pretty much everything these folks turn out has been first rate, and for the most part, the new batch lives up to that standard. Here are our impressions:
2009 Stepping Stone Napa Sauvignon Blanc Cuveé Musqué, 13.9% alc., $16.00: Clean, somewhat intense medium straw color, with creamy grapefruit flavors and aromas shaded with herbaceous, grassy undertones; medium-to-medium-full bodied, with good acidity and length. A nice expression of this distinctive sub-variety. Find this wine
2009 Stepping Stone Lake County-Red Hills Corallina Rosé, Grenache/Syrah, 13.9% alc., $16.00: Strawberry pink color; rich and fairly ripe, with strawberry and raspberry flavors and aromas, some subtle mineral underneath and just a hint of wood from the 132 gallon mature puncheons. Medium bodied and then some, with ample acids and good length. A little more fruit forward than many of it’s southern French cousins, and perfectly enjoyable, this offers good value for the price and is welcome at our table any time. A blend of Grenache and Syrah from a vineyard at an elevation of 3000 feet in the Red Hills appellation of Lake County. Find this wine
Alan Kerr’s August 21st, 2010, Vintage’s Release – Tasting Notes
“New World Wonders,” ten iconic varietals is the theme of the August 21st release. Often this time of the year the wines at Vintages tend to be on the blah blah side, but this Saturday, there are several tasty wines worth seeking out. Some fit the pocket book with ease and for some, one has to dig deep. Sadly not all the wines were sent for the tasting, but I did get notes on a good many of them. In addition to the new world wine, there is a sub release entitled “Germany decoded.” Naturally this features mostly white wines which will indeed make tasty summer sippers. Oh, and I should mention that I tasted one of the best new wines I have sampled in a long, long time? Well better read on then yes?
Florida Jim Cowan’s 2010 Tasting Notes Archive-Part One
Jim Cowan - photo by Allan Bree - Click to enlarge
The 2010 archive is presented by date the notes were compiled and submitted. This is Part 1 of the archive. Part 2 may be found here.
August 7, 2010
2007 Francois Cotat, Sancerre Rose:
Very slight residual sugar, pleasant aromas and flavors of strawberry and melon, good acidity and balance and a medium finish. A nice wine but not even in the same world as the 2009 Tempier, Rose. 13% alcohol. find this wine
2002 Francois Chidaine, Montlouis Les Choisilles:
Sour to begin with but it comes around with airing; a nice balanced chenin with good fruit, light complexity and decent length. Nothing to write home about but better than quaffable. find this wine
2005 Rochioli, Pinot Noir Little Hill:
Although obviously a fine wine, this did not open completely over the course of an evening; so if you have it, hold it. 14.2% abv with a slightly sour but very expansive nose; excellent fruit flavors with gentle oak, some finesse and good length. It will be more than it is now. find this wine
2006 Overnoy, Arbois-Pupillin (rouge):
What it always is – a conversation stopper. Served to a bunch of CA wine geeks that initially didn’t like it – “where’s the fruit?” By the end of the evening, three out of four were converts. Looks and smells old, more savory than fruit driven with both elegance and rusticity and a fine grained finish that lasts. I love this wine and to see such CA centric folks wind-up digging poulsard – ‘gives me hope. find this wine
