Wine Infographic: New and Improved Chianti Cheat Sheet

I've been making cheat sheets for several years now, and some of my old ones just weren't up to par. Chianti is the latest to get a facelift.

See the full collection of wine cheat sheets here.

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
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…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”


You may also be interested in:
Italian Wine Cheat Sheet
Top 4 Things to Know About Super Tuscan Wines
Wine Altitude Cheat Sheet

Wine Infographic: Merlot Cheat Sheet

Next in the wine cheat sheet series:  Merlot!

The full collection of wine cheat sheets is here.

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
…in Chrome, right click on it and select “open link in new tab.”
…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”  


You may also be interested in:
French Wine Cheat Sheet
Bordeaux Wine Cheat Sheet
California Wine Cheat Sheet
Washington and Oregon Wine Cheat Sheet
Chilean Wine Cheat Sheet
The Big 6 and Where They're Hiding

Wine Infographic: Italian Wine Cheat Sheet

Next in the wine cheat sheet series:  Italy!

I've covered Chianti before, here.  The full collection of wine cheat sheets is here.

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
…in Chrome, right click on it and select “open link in new tab.”
…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”  

Top 4 Things to Know About Super Tuscan Wines

If you’ve explored much Italian wine, you’ve heard the term “Super Tuscan,” but you may not have known what it means. It doesn’t mean a really good Tuscan wine...although it might also be a really good Tuscan wine.  

Getting to know a new grape: Arneis

I love tasting grapes I've never had before! Arneis is a white Italian grape which is not often seen outside of Italy. Even within Italy, it's not often seen as a varietal wine.  Seghesio Vineyards in Sonoma County, California specializes in Italian grape varieties and makes a varietal Arneis which I tasted recently. 

The Arneis grape, also called Bianchetta, comes from the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, and has been used historically as a blending partner to soften wines made from the red grape Nebbiolo. This is not as common today, but Arneis does appear in the white wines of the Roero and Langhe regions.

In the United States, Arneis is mainly found in Sonoma County, California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The Seghesio bottle says that Arneis translates to "little rascal," because it is challenging to grow. Seghesio currently has about 20 acres of Arneis in the Russian River Valley.

I tasted the 2012 vintage. It has aromas and flavors of lemon, herbs, and tart peach, along with strong minerality. I suspect, but cannot verify, that it gets a little oak aging. It is dry, with high acid and medium body, and an alcohol content of 13%. This Arneis is refreshing and tastes like an Old World wine, in that it's less fruit-forward and more earthy in its flavors. I'd recommend this wine for people who like old world Sauvignon Blancs and dry Rieslings. It's reasonably priced at $22 and is well worth it for the opportunity to try this rare grape. And it happens to taste good too.

I drank this Arneis with a vegetarian Thai green curry and it paired very well. The wine had enough flavor and body that the curry didn't overpower it, and the flavors complemented each other nicely. Many times you'll see a white wine with residual sugar recommended with spicy Asian food, but this dry white did a great job. I could see it pairing well with many dishes, anything from fish to a well-seasoned pork chop.

I'm not sure whether the Seghesio Arneis is available in the Houston area, since I ordered it from the web site. However, they do ship to Texas! Or if you want to find an example of Arneis locally, I believe Spec's carries a few options that come from Italy.

Meet Ferrari (not the car, the sparkling wine!)

Lately, I've been interested in learning about wines from higher altitudes (as you may have noticed from the Wine Altitude Cheat Sheet and the article on wines from San Juan, Argentina), and an invitation I received to taste the wonderful sparkling wines of Ferrari fit perfectly with that theme.

Giulio Ferrari founded the company in 1902, and in 1952 handed it over to the Lunelli family, which still runs it. Fun fact:  by law the name Ferrari may be used in Italy only by the car maker and the wine maker - no one else. 

Ferrari is famous for its sparkling wines made in the traditional method (though it also makes mineral water, Prosecco, grappa, and non-sparkling wines). Only 10% of sparkling Italian wines are made using this method, and Ferrari is the most well known producer. The traditional method is the same as the method used in Champagne and is called Metodo Classico in Italy. (See the details of this process here. Most Italian sparkling wines, like Prosecco and Moscato d'Asti, are made using the tank or Charmat method.)

The sparkling wines of Ferrari have several things in common with Champagne, in addition to using the same process. A second similarity is the grapes, as the wines are made primarily from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A third is the soil:  Ferrari's grapes grow mainly on limestone, while Champagne is famous for its chalk, which is a type of limestone.

Ferrari's vineyards are located in the Trento DOC area, within the larger winemaking region of Trentino-Alto Adige in far northern Italy. Altitudes range from 985-2300 feet (300-700 meters). You can read about the potential effects of higher altitude winemaking here, but in this case the most important effects are that it helps the Chardonnay grapes to maintain their acidity, slows the grapes' ripening so the flavors can become more complex, and creates very gentle tannins in the Pinot Noir. Some say the altitude also helps the resulting wine stay younger and fresher longer.

Ferrari's grapes are both estate grown and supplied by local growers in close partnership. No herbicides or pesticides are used, and all the growers are either already organic or transitioning to organic.

Ferrari's sparkling wines come in 3 categories:

• The Classic Range, including Ferrari Brut and Ferrari Rosé
• The Perlé Range, including the regular Perlé, the Perlé Rosé, and the Perlé Nero, with about 5-6 years of aging
• The Riserva Range, including the Lunelli and Giulio Ferrari wines, with 8-10+ years of aging

Despite the similarities with Champagne, these wines do come across quite differently. They give a younger, fresher impression, with less of the richness, heaviness, or breadiness that some people don't like about Champagne. But they maintain the great flavor and complexity that you want from a good sparkling wine. The prices are attractive, with the Classic Range starting at below $30 per bottle. The upper level ranges are also competitive with the prices of top quality Champagne.

I tasted Ferrari's delicious wines at Houston favorite Tony's restaurant, paired with wonderful food, and I've included some of my notes below. I hope you'll try Ferrari for yourself this holiday season. I love these wines, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Ferrari Perlé 2007, 100% Chardonnay, $35

Aromas of brioche, apple, peach, floral. Tastes crisp, young, and fresh, despite being 7 years old. This was served with a salmon tower with cucumber, granny smith apple, avocado, and mango. Try it with any seafood or poultry that's light, fresh, and not too strongly flavored.

Ferrari Perlé Rosé 2006, 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, $59

The wine is a beautiful pink-salmon color, with most of the aromas mentioned above, plus ripe strawberry (and maybe candied orange?). It was served with lobster risotto with mushrooms and lobster roe. This is for your seafood or poultry that's rich and a bit more flavorful.

Ferrari Perlé Nero 2006, 100% Pinot Noir, $78

This is similar to the rosé described above, but richer and heavier. Accordingly, it should be paired with food that's one step heavier and richer as well. We drank it with heirloom beet and foie gras soup. The soup was possibly the most surprising dish of the meal, rich and delicious. I like beets, but I had no idea they could taste like this. I ate it all before I even thought about taking a picture...


Moving on to the Riserva Range...

Ferrari Riserva Lunelli 2006, 100% Chardonnay, $59

This wine goes back to Chardonnay, but has more tartness and minerality than the Perlé made from Chardonnay. It's quite rich, with vanilla aromas that come from the 1st fermentation in oak.

Giulio Ferrari 2001, 100% Chardonnay, $100

Due to the age, this wine was a dark yellow color, almost gold, and smelled of roasted pineapple, brioche, honey, pastry, and almond. Amazing.

With the previous 2 wines we ate halibut with caviar, raisins, and kale.

Giulio Ferrari 1995, 100% Chardonnay, $100

I felt so lucky to get to try this one. It was still amazing after 19 years, with aromas of almonds, honey, vanilla, floral, a maybe a little raisin?

For dessert we had a pineapple and white chocolate "candy bar," which was even more decadent than it looks.

Wine Infographic: Wine Altitude Cheat Sheet

Altitude is an important factor affecting grapes and wine. Here's your cheat sheet for what it does, why it matters, and which wine regions are impacted by it.

See the full collection of Wine Cheat Sheets here.

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
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You may also be interested in:

Wine Infographic: Botrytis (Noble Rot) Cheat Sheet
Wine Infographic: Texas Wine Cheat Sheet
Acid 101
Tannin 101

How to Host a Chianti Tasting Party

Recently I received 3 Chiantis to try (full disclosure: these were sent to me as samples), so I set up a tasting party with some friends who are Chianti fans. We paired all 3 wines with a variety of appetizers and snacks – the kind you might serve at an informal party. If you're hosting a holiday party this year, make it a wine tasting! Chianti pairs well with Fall weather!

THE SETUP

It's always a good idea to start with a little background information about the wines. We used the Chianti Cheat Sheet to familiarize ourselves with what we were drinking.  I find this extremely helpful for answering the basic questions that everyone has at the start of a tasting, like where the wines are from, what the names mean, which grapes are involved, etc.  All my Wine Cheat Sheets are designed for easy printing on standard 8.5 x 11 paper, so you can easily print a few to have on hand.

  

We also used wine aroma wheels to help us figure out what we were smelling and tasting in the wine. It’s a good idea to provide pen and paper too, in case people want to record their impressions.

Offering a separate glass for each wine is a great idea, if you have enough glassware, and if it’s a sit-down event. (More on choosing glassware here. I use these.) It really helps to be able to compare the wines next to each other. For a walk-around party, one glass per person would work. To help everyone keep track of which wine is in which glass, I find a numbered tasting placemat helpful (though not essential). I made these myself using PowerPoint, then printed and laminated them at a local office supply store. 

 

To make your own tasting placemats, view the picture below in full size, then print.

 

A new addition to my table was the chalkboard table runner. It did quadruple duty by numbering the wine bottles to match the placemats, showing basic information about the wine, letting people share their impressions creatively by writing (or drawing?) them on the runner, and protecting the table from spills. I am officially in love with it. (Items made from chalkboard fabric have been appearing online and in craft stores a lot lately. Buy chalkboard markers to write on them, and then you can erase using a damp paper towel.)

  

THE WINES

We tasted 3 Chiantis:  1 basic Chianti DOCG, 1 Chianti Classico, and 1 Chianti Classico Riserva. A combination like this is a good choice for a tasting, because you’ll get three fairly similar wines, but they’ll also have noticeable differences, due to slightly different requirements (see below). The ability to compare and contrast creates the most interesting tasting (for more about that, see "Building a Better Wine Tasting").

Wines from the Chianti region of Italy have to meet different requirements based on how they are labeled:

• Chianti requires 75% Sangiovese grapes and 3 months of aging.
• Chianti Classico requires 80% Sangiovese grapes and 10 months of aging.
• Chianti Classico Riserva requires 80% of Sangiovese grapes and 24 months of aging.

Here's what we tasted:

1) Bolla Chianti

Bolla Chianti has bright, tart cherry flavors with a bit of blackberry mixed in. Medium acid and tannin levels make it easy to drink and easy to like. It's 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo (remember that Chiantis must be at least 75% Sangiovese, but many exceed that minimum). 12.5% abv

It paired especially well with spicy salami (more about the food in a minute).

2) Banfi Chianti Classico

Banfi Chianti Classico is a bit deeper in color and flavor than Bolla, with black cherry and tobacco aromas. The acids and tannins are both a bit more intense, but the alcohol is the same at 12.5% abv. Chianti Classico is typically a bit more rich and intense than Chianti. As required, Banfi Chianti Classico is predominately Sangiovese, but is mixed with small amounts of Canaiolo Nero and Cabernet Sauvignon.

This Classico paired especially well with sheep's milk cheese, raspberries, and apricot jam.

3) Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva

The main difference between Chianti Classico and Chianti Classico Riserva is additional aging, which imparts more vanilla and smoke aromas. This wine is heavier, richer, higher in acid, higher in tannin, and higher in alcohol (at 13% abv) than the previous two. Riservas are built for aging, and I think this one, which was already the favorite of the night, would be even better after a few more years in the bottle.

The Riserva paired especially well with strong cheeses and the saltier foods.

True to style and as expected, tasting the 3 Chiantis in this order revealed a progression from lighter and fruitier to heavier and richer. Our group, comprised mostly of lovers of big red wines, preferred the wines in that order with the Riserva being the overall favorite. The general sentiment went from “this is good” (Bolla Chianti) to “this is even better” (Banfi Chianti Classico) to “this is REALLY good!” (Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva).

Because these wines are all reasonably priced, you could drink them as an everyday red to go with dinner, or serve them for a group at a tasting party without breaking the bank.

On this particular week night, when most of us had to get up early for work the next day, 3 bottles were more than enough for 4 people. Of course, on a weekend that could vary. Keep in mind that each bottle holds 4 full glasses, so for larger groups you may need more than 1 bottle of each wine you want to taste.

THE FOOD

Here are some recommendations for foods to serve at wine tasting parties, and with Chianti in particular.

Herb bread:  Herb bread is always yummy, but it goes particularly well with Chianti, which tends to have a more herbal, savory quality than many other reds.

Sliced Meats:  For Chianti, I recommend things like salami, pastrami, or prosciutto.  You’ll find that some wines will hold up better against a spicy sausage, and some not as well, but the experimentation is half the fun.  Foie gras (or any another type of paté) is another good option, which provides a rich, mellow contrast to Chianti’s strong favors.  (These days you can even find tasty vegetarian styles!)

Selection of cheeses:  Go for a mix of styles – sharp, creamy, soft, hard/aged.  Not only will you have something for every person’s taste, but you’ll discover that they pair differently with the different wines.

Fresh fruit:  We had raspberries, which went very well with the Chianti.  Cherries and blackberries would have been great too.  Try to pick fruits that will match some of the fruit flavors you expect to find in the wine.

Raw veggies:  Baby tomatoes and sliced red and yellow bell peppers went well with the Chiantis.  I tried raw jicama for the first time and learned it’s a fantastic palate cleanser between wines, as well as being delicious on its own – sort of the texture of an apple, but with much less sweetness and tartness. Of course, carrots are always crowd-pleasers.

Olives:  These are just a great addition to any appetizer plate, but sometimes they play nicely with wine and sometimes not.  Chiantis have a good chance of standing up to the strong flavors of olives.

Jams/preserves/honey:  A bite of something sweet is always welcome when you’re serving so many strong, savory flavors.  Again, try to pick a flavor that will fit with the flavors of the wine.  In our case, we had apricot-rosemary preserves.  The rosemary echoed the herbal flavors in the bread and the wines and kept the preserves from seeming too sweet.

Dessert:  Speaking of dessert, chocolate and red wine are a match made in heaven.  We happened to have dark chocolate ice cream, but anything dark chocolate would do nicely – brownies, a good quality chocolate bar, etc.  (If you’re making brownies and happen to have some Port handy, use it as part of the liquid ingredient in the recipe!)

If you throw a Chianti tasting party, or any kind of wine tasting party, I’d love to know how it went. Did these ideas work for you? Did you think of better ones? Send pictures!

  

An eclectic list of good white wines under $15

I usually drink more red wines than white, but in the summer I like the cooler, lighter whites to combat the Houston heat.  Summer may be over (at least according to the school calender - the autumnal equinox won't arrive and officially bring fall with it until September 22), but we all know Houston will be sweltering for another month at least.  So I figured it wasn't too late to share a list of good white wines under $15.  This is a very eclectic list, based solely on what I happen to have tasted lately, so it's by no means exhaustive or even well-rounded.  But hopefully it will point you to something new to try!  

If I've written about the wine before, I linked to that post.  I also added a few words about the flavor profile.


DRY

• Buchegger Riesling, from Austria
• very fruity
• Pewsey Vale Dry Reisling, from Australia
• lemon, apricot, and minerality
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Dry Riesling, from Washington State
• green apple and lemon with some minerality
• (link to buy online)
• Sartori Pinot Grigio, from Italy
• citrus, mineral, and floral notes
• Fontana Candida Terre dei Grifi Frascati, from Italy
• citrus, pineapple, with a hint of toast
• Abadia de San Campio Terras Gauda Albarino, from Spain
• citrus and pear, little-to-no oak
• Vignerons du Pallet Muscadet, from the Loire Valley in France
• simple citrus flavors, with bready qualities from sur lie aging
• Gerard Bertrand Picpoul de Pinet, from Coteau de Languedoc in France
• simple and fruity, little-to-no oak
• McPherson Viognier, from Texas
• tropical fruits, floral notes, balanced by earthiness

DRY SPARKLING

• Anna de Codorniu, Brut Cava, from Spain
• fruity and toasty, a bit like Champagne
• (link to buy online)

DRY, HALF-SPARKLING (petillant/frizzante)

• Blanc Pescador, from Spain
• citrus and minerality

OFF DRY

• Sauvion Vouvray (Chenin Blanc), from the Loire Valley in France
• apple, lemon, peach, and earthiness

OFF DRY, HALF-SPARKLING (petillant/frizzante)
All of these are Vinho Verdes, and though they vary a bit in sweetness and flavor profile, they share the same crisp, refreshing, citrusy qualities.

• Casal Garcia Vinho Verde, from Portugal
• Esteio Vinho Verde, from Portugal
• Anjos Vinho Verde, from Portugal
• Opala Vinho Verde, from Portugal

MEDIUM SWEET

• Chateau Moncontour Vouvray (Chenin Blanc), from the Loire Valley in France
• fruity with earthiness to balance

Drinking Barolo and Eating Rose Petals

I've written before about how long to store and age wine (the question of "when to drink") and admitted that I often wait too long to drink wines, because I'm saving them for the perfect occasion.  Well, recently I opened a wine that I'd been saving, and I think I got the timing just about right (if not early), so I thought I'd share my experience.

I purchased a 2003 Prunotto Barolo about 6 years ago and had been storing it in a wine fridge.  A Barolo is a type of wine (DOCG level) from Piedmont in northern Italy which is made from the Nebbiolo grape.  Many Barolos can age and improve for decades.  They can be very expensive, but Prunotto is mid-range.  To decide when to drink my bottle, I did a little research online.  Some sites recommended aging this wine for a few more years to reach its peak, while quite a few of the personal reviews from those who had tasted the wine suggested it was time to drink now.  Since I had the right occasion coming up - the birthday of a friend who loves big, red wines - I decided to go ahead and open it.

The typical aromas of Barolo (and Nebbiolo) are roses and tar, and they usually have a lot of acid and tannin.  This Barolo had aromas of fresh and dried cherries, along with floral and earthy qualities.  The flavors basically matched the aromas, with an earthy, savory finish.  It tasted great.

As wines age, their characteristics change:

• fresh fruit aromas/flavors turn to dried fruit
• fruity aromas/flavors diminish, while non-fruit aromas become more prominent
• acid levels diminish
• tannin levels diminish (the tannin molecules join together and precipitate out of the wine, creating sediment)

So, did I drink this wine at the right time?  Yes and no.  I could have waited longer, because the wine still had lots of fruit aromas, lots of acid, lots of tannin, and surprisingly little sediment.  This tells me it could have aged longer and developed more complex aromas.  On the other hand, 11 years is a decent amount of bottle aging, the wine was delicious, and it was a good choice for the occasion.  I don't regret drinking it, but the next time I have a bottle of Barolo, I'll probably give it a few more years.

Here's what we drank it with:

Fresh bread and sharp cheese are always a good idea.  The espresso rind on this cheese made it especially good with the earthy flavors in the Barolo.

Sundried tomato tapenade and sausage are great options with Italian wines.

 Of course, cherries went well with the cherry aromas in the wine.

Because of the typical rose aroma, I thought it would be fun to smell/taste with actual, edible rose petals.  I bought these candied rose petals online, and they paired really well!  (The ingredients are just rose petals and sugar.)

Dark chocolate is usually good with big red wines.

We also had a few other cheeses, some wine crackers, and fresh tomatoes with balsamic vinegar.

The full spread:

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Is your wine over the hill?

Burgundy, Bottle Aging, and Tertiary Aromas

A Tuscan wine with simple, Tuscan-inspired food

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Wine Infographic:  The Chianti Cheat Sheet

Rosa Regale: Fresh, Crisp, Juicy, and Sweet

If you like sweet wines, either for everyday drinking or just on occasion, and you have felt disappointed that most of your options are white (and many of them are of questionable quality), then I have good news for you!  I recently got to taste Rosa Regale and found it charming.  It's a high quality, light, red, semi-sweet, sparkling wine.

Rosa Regale comes from the Piedmont region of northern Italy and is classified as a Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG.  This places it at the top of the Italian wine quality system, so it has a reliable pedigree.  Rosa Regale is 100% Brachetto, a red grape.  Skin contact during fermentation is brief, so the wine gains some red fruit flavors, but remains light and low in tannin.

Here are the details:

Color:  Pale ruby.

Nose:  Fresh red fruits, especially cherry and strawberry, with a hint of melon, and some floral characteristics.

Palate:  Semi-sweet, high acid, low tannin, with fresh, juicy red-fruit flavors, and a hint of earthiness.  7% abv.

I drink very little sweet wine, but I have to admit this one is nice.  The sweetness and the acidity balance well, as do the fruit characteristics and the hint of earthiness.  It's sweet, but not syrupy or desserty - just light and crisp and easy to drink.  At about $18 per bottle, it's not an everyday wine, but it does occupy a niche with few players (that I know of).  There aren't that many good quality, sweet, red sparklers.

I'm fairly new to the world of Brachetto d'Aqui, but Rosa Regale reminds me of a red version of Moscato d'Asti, a semi-sweet, sparkling white wine.  After all, they both come from Piedmont and both have their own DOCGs.  In fact, some friends of mine, who recently got married and are big Moscato d'Asti fans, asked me to recommend a celebratory wine for them.  This meant something they would like that they hadn't tried, something a bit out of the ordinary, and a few dollars more expensive than what they would normally spend.  If you like sweet and semi-sweet wines, I'll tell you what I told them:  you need to try this!

A Tuscan wine with simple, Tuscan-inspired food

This week I planned to write about Banfi's Rosso di Montalcino.  As usual, I was tasting it on a weeknight, after a long day of work, having given very little thought to what was for dinner or whether it would go with a Tuscan wine.  Following the general rule that "what grows together goes together," I figured I needed some classic Tuscan flavors.  Following my rule that if I get home from work after 6pm and intend to do a serious tasting I will not spend more than 30 minutes making dinner, I needed simple food that would come together quickly.  A 2-minute Google search confirmed my expectation that marinara sauce and salami were good options.  It turns out that truffles are classically Tuscan as well, which worked in my favor since I happened to have truffle butter at home. With the addition of bread to dip in the marinara, spinach to saute in the truffle butter, and some roasted onions for good measure, we had a meal that would pair nicely with the wine.

3 things I should probably mention:  1)  Roasting onions in the oven is the greatest thing ever, and I can't believe I went so many years without knowing that.  2)  I love the taste of salami, but I don't like greasy foods, so I always cook mine to remove some of the grease.  (Confession:  when I say "cook" I mean "microwave for a minute in between lots of layers of paper towels."  It's not classy, but it works like a charm.)  3)  Cheese would have been an obvious and delicious addition to the spread, but I'm lactose intolerant, so I don't have cheese around the house very often.  (The small amount of truffle butter for the sauteed spinach was not enough to be an issue.)

Finally time to drink!

Rosso di Montalcino is a DOC region in Tuscany, just south of Chianti Classico.  It's made in the same area as its bigger brother Brunello di Montalcino, but Rosso requires less aging, so it is lighter, fruitier, cheaper, and less tannic.  Both are made from 100% Sangiovese grapes.

Here are the details on the Banfi Rosso di Montalcino from 2011:

• Color:  Medium ruby with a hint of garnet.
• On the nose:  Cherry, cranberry, plum, leather, and spice, with more subtle floral and mineral qualities.
• On the palate:  Dry, with flavors that generally match the aromas.  High acid, medium+ tannin, 14% abv.

This wine has a nice balance of fruity and savory characteristics.  The tannin is higher than it seems at first, since the mouth-watering acidity (this is a compliment) masks the tannin somewhat.  It opened up and mellowed out in the glass, so I think you could either drink this now or hold it for another 3-4 years easily. If you're impatient, you could decant it, but you'd miss experiencing the gradual in-the-glass evolution.

All the food paired just fine.  The standouts were the tomato sauce and the salami - no big surprise. Sangiovese really can't be beat when you're eating tomato sauce.  The spices in the salami brought out the spice notes in the wine.  The earthiness of the spinach, truffle butter, and onions were good too. 

My local Spec's on Bay Area stocks this wine and sells it for $20.  At that price, at least in my mind, it's not meant to be a regular weeknight thing, but it doesn't have to be saved for a special occasion either (like you might do with its big brother Brunello).  This is a great in-between wine for when you feel like indulging a little, and not regretting it later.

Italy in Spring on the Cheap: Fontana Candida Terre dei Grifi Frascati

This week I sampled Fontana Candida Terre dei Grifi Frascati, 2012.  It comes from Frascati Secco DOC in the province of Lazio, Rome.  It's a simple weeknight wine, so I paired it with something simple I made for a weeknight dinner.  More on the food in a minute.  First the scoop on the wine.

Grapes:
50% Malvasia di Candia
30% Trebbiano Toscano
10% Malvasia del Lazio
10% Greco

Vinification:  Fermented in stainless steel, then allowed to rest on the lees (dead yeast cells) for 4 months.

Color:  Pale yellow with a hint of green

On the nose:  Citrus with a little pineapple and some minerality.  Just a hint of that slightly "bready" aroma you get with Champagne, due to the lees aging.

On the palate:  Dry, medium body, high acid.

Alcohol:  13%

Now for the food pairing!  I'm a big fan of making random leftovers into something new.  We had hamburger buns leftover from Memorial Day, some eggplant, onion, and spinach in the fridge that were threatening to get funky, some leftover marinara sauce, and basil growing in the yard.  Time for a roasted veggie sandwich! 

I was happy to match an Italian wine with Italian-ish food, and white wine is often a nice choice for a vegetarian meal, but I was worried about the marinara.  I would normally go for a red wine with marinara sauce, because the strong tomato-and-herb flavor can overwhelm white wines.  I needn't have worried.  The amount of sauce on the sandwich didn't phase this wine a bit.  The wine's strong acidity came through, and this ended up a lovely pairing.  The earthy sweetness of the roasted veggies with the brightness of the basil and the fresh crunch of the spinach worked really well with the bright-fruity-earthy qualities in the wine.

To see how far I could push the tomato sauce match-up, I ate a spoonful by itself and then took a sip of the wine.  The wine's flavors were muted, but not totally obscured.  If you're a staunch white-wine-only person (it makes me sad to even type that), you could have this with spaghetti in a pinch.

So here's a recommendation for an inexpensive, weeknight wine, which can pair with all but the strongest of flavors.  It's $8 at the big Spec's on Bay Area Blvd.

(And for those of you with very sharp eyes, yes that IS a Messina Hof tasting glass!)

2 Affordable Italian Reds from the Whole Foods Twitter Tasting

If you've missed the Twitter Tastings organized by Whole Foods Market, you're missing some fun. People from all over taste the same wine and tweet their thoughts. This time around, I was particularly interested in the 2 Italian reds they featured:  Monrosso Chianti (2010) and Verrazzano Rosso, a red blend also from Tuscany (2012).

Cue the Chianti Cheat Sheet:

These 2 Italian wines, Monrosso Chianti and Verrazzano Rosso, come from the same region - Tuscany. Chiantis rank at the highest level of Italy's wine classification system, DOCG.  The Verrazzano Rosso is ranked lower, at the IGT level.  A lower ranking can be both a blessing and a curse, because even though it's ranked technically as lower quality, there are fewer regulations at the IGT level.  DOCGs are strictly regulated in terms of grape variety, alcohol content, aging, etc.  Whereas, the IGT-level winemaker has more freedom to experiment.  For instance, the Monrosso Chianti has to use at least 85% Sangiovese grape juice. The Verrazzano website tells me that their red blend mixes Sangiovese with Merlot (but doesn't give the percentages).

But how do they taste??

Monrosso Chianti 2010 -- Aromas/flavors of cherry, cranberry, and vanilla, with some earthy qualities. Medium, rounded tannins.  Medium-plus acidity, 13.5% alcohol.  Surprisingly smooth and easy to drink for a Chianti.  Chiantis are known for pairing well with food, but this wine could easily be drunk on its own.  It could go with anything from roasted chicken with herbs, to mushroom risotto, to spaghetti and meatballs.  It's totally all-purpose.  It even paired well with an apple-berry crumble that I made, based on this recipe (I used cranberries).

Verrazzano Rosso 2012 -- Earthier, spicier, richer than the Monrosso.  Aromas/flavors of red and black fruits, cocoa, and spice.  Higher in tannin than the Monrosso, but a bit lower in acid.  13.5% alcohol. Heavier, but could still be drunk on its own or paired with food.  This really opened up nicely after it had a chance to breathe in the glass for about 15 minutes.  I'd pair this one with something a little richer and heavier - pot roast, roasted lamb, or something with tomatoes and herbs.

I liked both of these wines.  The best part:  they are less than $15 at Whole Foods.  They are a great value at that price, and versatile enough to go with whatever weeknight meal you're cooking.  Give them a try!

Whole Foods Twitter Tasting Tonight!

Whole Foods has organized another Twitter tasting of Italian wines this evening from 7-8 pm.  Head to Whole Foods and taste these 4 featured wines, which are all under $16.  Then join the conversation about them on Twitter using #WFMwine.

• Caposaldo Pinot Grigio
• Monrosso Chianti 
• Verrazzano Rosso 
• Presto Prosecco

I'll be tasting the reds with some of my favorite wine drinkers, and tweeting my thoughts from @ClearLakeWine.

Here are Whole Foods' notes on the wines I'll be tasting:

Monrosso Chianti – Lavender and cranberry aromas blend in this soft, rich ruby red wine. Gentle tannins, abundant fruit, and a well-balanced finish characterize this textbook Chianti.
Suggested Pairings: Parmigiano Reggiano, grilled salmon, roasted lamb chops, pasta carbonara, pizza, and Puttanesca Pasta

Verrazzano Rosso – This red has complex aromas of fresh fruits and violets followed by Tuscan herbs, black currant and pomegranate flavors that move to a smooth finish.
Suggested Pairings: Pecorino Toscano, osso buco, gnocchi, hummus, rosemary flatbread, and Sun-Dried Tomato and Salami Couscous Salad

Join us tonight!

Whole Foods Market Twitter Tasting

Tonight from 7 - 8pm people from all over the country will be tasting Italian wines from Whole Foods and tweeting about them using #WFMwine.

Come join the conversation with me @ClearLakeWine!  These are the wines we'll be talking about:

They all cost less than $16.  I've included the descriptions provided by Whole Foods below.  Come see what the Twitterverse thinks tonight!

Ruffino Orvieto Classico – Fresh flowers and citrus on the nose are followed by ripe green
apple up front, sassy acidity and a characteristic touch of mineral. The finish is long and
fragrant with almond notes.

Pairings: Piave, shrimp scampi, egg dishes, and Mango Quinoa Salad

Banfi Principessa Gavia Gavi – Vivid aromas of pineapple and tangy green apple are on the
nose, and there is a lovely balancing act between juicy ripe pear notes and bright acidity with a
clean, delicate finish.

Pairings: Robusto, spicy jerk chicken, garlic scallops, and Pineapple-Chicken Kabobs with
Quinoa

Donnafugata Sedàra – Fresh cherry and strawberry aromas give way to cascading notes of sun-
dried cranberries, then black olive then peppercorn. The finish is rich, deep, and rustic.

Pairings: Sottocenere, lamb, mushroom risotto, crusty artisan breads, and Smoky Mushroom
Gratin

Gran Passione Rosso – Ripe blackberry and chocolate-covered cherries distinguish this
delicious aroma. This rich red is juicy with notes of black fruit and a satisfyingly long, dense
finish.

Pairings: Taleggio, dry-aged steaks, shepherd’s pie, chocolate covered strawberries, and Lamb
Stew with Spring Vegetables

Tasting and Comparing 3 Chiantis

A friend in the industry recently sent me 3 Chiantis to taste (this was the original inspiration for the Chianti Cheat Sheet).  So I had a few friends over, and we tasted the wines side by side with some snacks - whole grain bread, herbs in olive oil for dipping, feta, turkey pepperoni, and giant green marinated olives.  Here's what we tasted and what we learned...

#1:  First we tasted a basic Chianti DOCG, 2011, made by Cecchi.  It had aromas of tart red fruits, like cherry and cranberry, and some herbal qualities.  Typical of Chianti, it had high acid, medium-plus tannin, medium body, and medium alcohol (13%).  

This was the underdog of the night.  No one disliked it, but it was the least favorite until we realized how well it went with the food.  Chianti is usually food-friendly, but this wine's strong flavors, acid, and tannin could even hold their own against the marinated olives.  This is a wine that will not get lost when served with strongly flavored dishes.  It's available at the Bay Area Spec's for only $9, which is a good value.

#2:  The second wine tasted was the Banfi Chianti Superiore from 2011.  Remember from the cheat sheet that "superiore" means that this wine, by law, has a higher minimum alcohol requirement than basic Chianti.  (This doesn't always mean that it has a higher final alcohol content - in this case the alcohol level for the Banfi was the same as for wine #1, the Cecchi - 13% abv.)

Compared to the Cecchi Chianti (#1), the Banfi Chianti had more black fruit aromas, richer fruit character, more vanilla aromas (which means more oak aging), slightly less tannin, and was generally smoother and more approachable.  

The richer fruit flavors and easy-drinking quality of this wine made it the initial favorite of the night.  If you're drinking a glass of wine without a meal, this is an excellent choice.  It would be good with food too, but couldn't stand up to the strongest flavors that the Cecchi could.  I'd confidently serve the Banfi with most Italian dishes, but if I were having puttanesca sauce, I'd grab the Cecchi.  The Downtown Spec's sells the Banfi Chianti for only $10, which is a steal, because this stuff is delicious.  

#3  The third wine was Villa Cerna's Chianti Classico Riserva from 2010.  Remember from the cheat sheet that "classico" indicates this wine is from the oldest and most traditional part of the Chianti region, which often indicates better quality.  "Riserva" indicates a longer aging requirement.

As expected from a "classico," this wine was the most concentrated and full-bodied of the three.  It had darker, richer, earthier flavors, more evidence of oak aging (where the "riserva" comes in), and the strongest tannins.  This makes sense because this wine was built to age longer than the other two - you could drink it 10 years from now with no problem.  If you drink it now, consider aerating or decanting.  The alcohol level, at 14%, was slightly higher than the other two.  

Everyone liked this one too, and for some it was the best of the three.  Unfortunately, I'm not aware of place in Houston that sells it, but the internet tells me the average price is $22 - quite reasonable.

I made my friends guess the prices after tasting the three Chiantis.  Everyone correctly predicted that #1 was the least expensive and that #2 and #3 each stepped up in price.  However, for each wine they guessed they would have had to pay about 5 to 10 dollars more than what the bottle really cost, which is basically the definition of a successful wine purchase, right?

Wine Infographic: Chianti Cheat Sheet

This is an older version of the Chianti Cheat Sheet.  The new and improved version is here.

============================

I've been reading up on Chianti this week, and for me, part of studying anything is always making a 1-page cheat sheet of all the most important information.  It helps me learn and remember things better, and also makes a good reference for the future.  Here's the Chianti Cheat Sheet:
(clicking on it should give you a larger view)

See the full collection of wine cheat sheets here.

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
…in Chrome, right click on it and select “open link in new tab.”
…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”   

Ancient Ale on Tap in Houston!

A few months ago I wrote about ancient beers and wines, including a collaboration between Dr. Patrick McGovern (a molecular archaeologist, "the Indiana Jones of wine") and Dogfish Head brewery.  What I didn't realize was that Dr. McGovern and Dogfish Head have collaborated several times over the years.  The full list of their creations is here.

Most recently they have crafted Birra Etrusca Bronze, which is now on tap at Nobi Public House in Clear Lake, as well as The Hay Merchant on Westheimer.  Birra Etrusca recreates an ale found in a 2800-year-old Etruscan tomb in Italy.  Here's the full description from Dogfish Head:

The backbone of Birra Etrusca comes from two-row malted barley and an heirloom Italian wheat. Specialty ingredients include hazelnut flour, pomegranates, Italian chestnut honey, Delaware wildflower honey and clover honey. A handful of whole-flower hops are added, but the bulk of the bitterness comes from gentian root and the sarsaparilla-like Ethiopian myrrh resin.

I tasted Birra Etrusca at Nobi last night.  It is amber in color, has a fruity aroma with hints of honey, and a rich, full-bodied mouth-feel (not surprising with 8.5% alcohol).  There is a bit of sourness at the finish, probably from the pomegranate.  It's a lovely, complex ale and will be more pleasing to modern palates than Midas Touch, which I previously reviewed.

Try some!

Building a Better Wine Tasting

Recently I was invited to the best educational wine tasting I’ve ever experienced, and I wanted to pass on some great lessons we can all use when planning wine tastings at home.

This seminar and tasting event was hosted by Banfi wines and their winemaker Rudy Buratti.  He explained Banfi’s research into the various clones of the Sangiovese grape which are blended into their Brunello di Montalcino wine.  Sangiovese has many different clones, and each one has different characteristics.  Mr. Buratti explained that in order to produce the best quality Brunello, Banfi has spent 30 years researching these clones to isolate which characteristics each clone would bring to the final blend, and how each clone would perform in each of their vineyards’ different soil types. (By the way, many Banfi wines are available at Spec’s, including their excellent Brunellos.  Try some!)

To illustrate the research and testing, we tasted 3 wines made from 3 different clones, grown in the same vineyard in the same year.  This way the only difference in taste was due to the particular clone.  Then we tasted a blend of all 3 clones from 3 different vineyards from the same year.  Finally, we tasted 3 vintages of the final Brunello blend, combining the characteristics of all the clones and all the vineyards.  (Another attendee wrote a nice summary of the experience here, including some tasting notes and a picture.)

Here’s a diagram to help this make sense:

When I attend a wine tasting, I want to learn something beyond whether or not I like that particular wine.  I also love organizing wine tastings at my house for friends.  The key to creating an educational wine tasting is comparison and contrast.  Notice how each round of the Banfi tasting kept 2 elements the same and isolated 1 factor impacting the wine.  That way when you taste, you know which differences in the wine are due to which factor – whether grapes, vineyard/soil, or vintage.

Most of us can’t organize a tasting like Banfi's because we don’t have access to those building blocks of wine that winemakers use to craft their final products.  However, we can use this same technique to organize better wine tastings ourselves.

To use this concept to create your own unique, educational tastings, focus on the main factors that make 1 wine different from another:  climate, soil, grape, vintage, and winemaker style.  (I’ve written about these factors before, here.)  Try to find several wines that have most of those factors in common, isolating just 1 or 2 differences, for example:

• Wines from one producer in one region which are made from different grapes – This helps to isolate different grape characteristics.
• Wines from one producer, made from the same grape, from different years – This is called a vertical tasting and allows you to see the influence of weather variations from year to year.
• Wines from the same grapes in same region, but from different vineyards and producers, such as Pinot Noirs from Sonoma or Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand – This shows you soil variation and winemaker influence.
• Wines from one grape produced in regions all around the world, such as Cabernet Sauvignon from California, Washington State, France, South Africa, Australia, and Argentina – This demonstrates the effect of regional climate and soil differences.

It’s amazing what you can learn from these types of tastings.  When I attended a French Wine Scholar prep class, we tasted several different Beaujolais Crus (the Crus are the top 10 winemaking areas in the French region of Beaujolais), and noticed significant differences between them, despite the fact that the area encompassing all Beaujolais Crus is only about 6,500 hectares, or roughly 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles.

If you taste this way, I guarantee you will learn something interesting.  Please let me know if you try this at home – I’d love to hear what you did and how it turned out!