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By Chuck Hill
LAST
WEEK'S REVIEWS
The Game of Gewürztraminer EARLIER COLUMNS
Cabernet
Sauvignon & Meritage Wines
Oyster-Friendly Wines
Meat Merlot
Summer Zinfandels
The Mystery of Viognier
Versatile Pinot Noir
Wines of the Week REVIEWS BY VARIETAL
Chuck's Wine Reviews
OTHER STUFF
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Italian
Varietals and Chef Ted Earns His Toque Great wines and great food - life rarely gets any better than that. This week we tasted many premium Italian varietals from Italy and the U.S. with great food accompaniments. Chef Ted went all the way with a glorious antipasto plate and savory lamb chops served with artichoke relish, featuring prosciutto, garlic, shallot and truffle butter – and sautéed polenta. My recommendations this week include many of the wines we enjoyed plus some additional selections.
From Oregon’s northern Willamette Valley comes this rich and complex Pinot Gris which is fermented half in stainless and half in neutral barrels with sur lie contact and frequent batonage (lees stirring). Citrus and pear notes are hallmarks of both nose and palate with enticing nuances of baking spice and mineral adding to the wine’s food friendliness.
Maryhill Winery
Pinot
Gris (or Grigio) is an almost perfect accompaniment for antipasti –
light cheeses, salty olives, marinated mushrooms, salami and artisan
bread with kalamata olives. Maryhill Winery’s Pinot Gris offers aromas
of stone fruits, green apple and floral perfume. The palate adds
flavors of Asian pear and mineral notes.
Barefoot Wines There is always room on my table for a quality wine with a bargain price. Give this baby a light chill and pass the antipasto – even the pasta! Crisp acidity embraces flavors of green apple, white peach and floral components enticing the taster to venture further afield, foodwise, to fish and fowl. If you want your nose tickled too, grab a bottle of Barefoot Bubbly Pinot Grigio Champagne at $10, the featured wine’s effervescent cousin.
Ruffino
The Ruffino winery was founded in Tuscany in 1877 and has since been known for quality Chianti for more than 130 years. The Riserva Ducale is blended from 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It is aged for more than three years in cask and bottle before release. Receiving the highest score of red wines this day, the wine offers aromas and flavors of ripe cherry, dried plum, earth, smoke, herbs and pepper – complex and great with food. Also in the lineup was Ruffino’s Greppone Mazzi 2003 Brunello di Montalcino, which was elegant and complex, but not enough to justify the $80 price tag…still, it was a Brunello…
Leonetti Cellar This wine is crafted from 85% Sangiovese, 12.5% Merlot and 2.5% Syrah. It is a big wine and comes across as something more than a Sangiovese – perhaps a toasty super Tuscan in Chianti clothing. Aromas of ripe plum and cherry with notes of toasty cedar and smoke lead to a palate of cherry, caramel, cocoa and leather. It is very tasty with lamb chops, and quality suggests that further bottle age will be rewarded.
Sangiovese from Walla Walla is moving forward into powerful new directions, as evidenced by Matt and David Huse’s 2007 bottling. Vineyard sources include Pepper Bridge, Seven Hills and Blue Mountain – all in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. The aromas and flavors include blackberry, smoky cassis, tobacco and anise. Superb with rich and hearty meats and sauces.
Pedroncelli Winery With a family name like Pedroncelli, it is no wonder that this winery makes a standout Sangiovese. The wine is aged in neutral oak to let the varietal flavors come through, yielding a juicy wine with cherry, plum and berry components balanced with warm spice and herbs on the finish. An excellent food wine, Pedroncelli’s Sangiovese is also a very good value.
Miner Family Winery Miner Family Winery was founded in 1998 along the eastern hills of Napa Valley’s Oakville AVA. This Sangiovese from Mendocino fruit was aged in 40% new French oak and 10% new American oak, lending toasty cedar notes to the ripe plum and cherry flavors. A tasty wine with meats from the grill. Check out the winery’s energy savings online at: http://www.minerwines.com/solar.html
Stella Fino Our tasters were once again intrigued by the quality of Barbera produced in Washington. An excellent companion to both antipasto and lamb, the Stella Fino Barbera offers aromas and flavors of strawberry, cherry, earth, herbs and pepper.
Yellow Hawk Cellar Last week we enjoyed Yellow Hawk’s super Tuscan Solstice blend, and this week we admire its 100% Barbera bottling from grapes grown both in the Columbia Gorge AVA and Walla Walla Valley AVA. Bright cherry, tangy cranberry and light herbal notes on the nose invite a taste-revealing and lip-smacking wine that accompanies a wide variety of favorite Italian cuisine.
Monte Volpe Greg Graziano blended Sangiovese with Primativo and the southern Italy varietal Negroamaro to create this unique, tasty wine. Look for aromas of cherry, earthy plum, bacon and toasted walnut. The palate features dried plum and Bing cherry flavors with notes of cedar. The unique flavors of the Negroamaro grape add intrigue to the comparative tasting and interest to the food pairing. Congratulations to the winemaker for looking to the old country for inspiration. # # #
One-year
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