Methode Ancestrale - an ancient way of making sparkling wine - involves fermentation in the bottle. This method has been gaining popularity in the last decade primarily in the southwest area of France.
The color is palest yellow with plenty of effervescence. Scents include ripe melon, vanilla and peach. The taste is a bit sweet with a burst of acidity, green apple, and lively melon and peach. This is a fun, tasty sparkler that is great for sharing before dinner, with appetizers and friends.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Louis M. Martini Monte Rosso Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
The Martini family has been making wine at the Monte Rosso vineyard since 1938. At 1,000 feet above Sonoma Valley, this vineyard produces beautiful Cabernet grapes with depth, complexity and authenticity - and this wine is a great example of the fruits of the winery's labor.
With a color like black cherries, this Cab hits all the classic aroma notes: Leather, spice, roasted Autumn fruits and a bit of smoke. The full-bodied and sensual flavors follow the nose with added blackberries and black cherries, with surprisingly mild tannins that ease into a gentle and long finish. It reminds me of strong-brewed black tea.
This wine is great right out of the bottle now, or it could easily age for a few years while the alcohol mellows out a bit more. Pair it with, say, a pan-roasted filet mignon and Cabernet sauce (using this wine, of course) with roasted potatoes.
With a color like black cherries, this Cab hits all the classic aroma notes: Leather, spice, roasted Autumn fruits and a bit of smoke. The full-bodied and sensual flavors follow the nose with added blackberries and black cherries, with surprisingly mild tannins that ease into a gentle and long finish. It reminds me of strong-brewed black tea.
This wine is great right out of the bottle now, or it could easily age for a few years while the alcohol mellows out a bit more. Pair it with, say, a pan-roasted filet mignon and Cabernet sauce (using this wine, of course) with roasted potatoes.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Event: "Tapas and Wines Around the World"
Inverness Hotel and Conference Center: http://www.invernesshotel.com/
Baca presents "Tapas and Wines Around the World"
When: 12/11/2009
Baca presents "December Tapas and Wines Around the World"6:00 pm Reception
$85 per person / $75 per person for WineStyles Members (non-inclusive of tax and gratuity)
Reservations Required. Call (303) 397-6303 or ereynolds@destinationhotels.com.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Fattoria Rodano Poggialupi Toscana 2007
Let's pretend for a moment that wine is alive - a living, breathing female creature.
She's a dark red beauty: Full and round and showing off her ruby brick colorful self. As I swirl her around, she clings tightly to the glass only to yield slightly in showing off her legs. Her perfume is deep and sensual with fresh earth, forest floor, dried rose, plum and blackberry mingling with oak and cedar. She smells so sweet and earthy I stop here for a moment, indulging my senses. Pepper? Spice?
Then I take my first sip and enjoy a Tuscan sunset in late Autumn surrounded by rolling hills and olive trees. I taste smoke, spice, rich oak on a full dry palate that finishes long with roasted cherry, fig, cocoa and a bit of ripe raspberry. It leaves my mouth watering ever so slightly. And so I sip again.
A blend of Sangiovese and Merlot from the Chianti region, this gorgeous wine is a bargain at under $20. Pair it with roasted meats if you must, but it's perfectly enjoyable on its own.
She's a dark red beauty: Full and round and showing off her ruby brick colorful self. As I swirl her around, she clings tightly to the glass only to yield slightly in showing off her legs. Her perfume is deep and sensual with fresh earth, forest floor, dried rose, plum and blackberry mingling with oak and cedar. She smells so sweet and earthy I stop here for a moment, indulging my senses. Pepper? Spice?
Then I take my first sip and enjoy a Tuscan sunset in late Autumn surrounded by rolling hills and olive trees. I taste smoke, spice, rich oak on a full dry palate that finishes long with roasted cherry, fig, cocoa and a bit of ripe raspberry. It leaves my mouth watering ever so slightly. And so I sip again.
A blend of Sangiovese and Merlot from the Chianti region, this gorgeous wine is a bargain at under $20. Pair it with roasted meats if you must, but it's perfectly enjoyable on its own.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
(not so) Weird Wine Question: What's in a nose?
Ever notice how wine reviews expound on the "nose" of a wine - and for that matter, any alcoholic beverage that costs more than a few bucks? Why go to such lengths to describe this?
Well it's just not enough to say that wine smells like wine. What does wine smell like? Does a Cabernet smell just like a Sauvignon Blanc, and if not why?
First, our olfactory senses are intricately woven with our other senses such as taste and sight. Beyond that, scents tie in to our experiences like Grandma's apple pie on Christmas Day.
Second, like everything we eat and drink, we smell a thing before we taste it. Often, a wine will smell much the same as it will taste. Sometimes not.
It's all part of the experience of tasting and enjoying wine.
Well it's just not enough to say that wine smells like wine. What does wine smell like? Does a Cabernet smell just like a Sauvignon Blanc, and if not why?
First, our olfactory senses are intricately woven with our other senses such as taste and sight. Beyond that, scents tie in to our experiences like Grandma's apple pie on Christmas Day.
Second, like everything we eat and drink, we smell a thing before we taste it. Often, a wine will smell much the same as it will taste. Sometimes not.
It's all part of the experience of tasting and enjoying wine.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Prunotto Fiulot Barbera d'Asti 2006
I'll be flat-out honest. There are some days that wine just smells and tastes like wine. I struggle to find complexity, work to pull out scent profiles, and wonder when red isn't just red. When that happens, I ask a trusted friend who spent a couple years working with wine and the rest absorbing an encyclopedia of facts about it. We have yet to figure out how to make money off his brain, but until then his descriptions of wine are pretty darn useful. But I digress.
Barbera is an Italian grape variety. D'Asti refers to the hilly areas of the provinces of Asti and Alexandria (as you can imagine, Barbera is grown in several different regions with their own provincial designation). Prunotto Fiulot is - you guessed it - the producer and name of the wine respectively.
Why should you care about this lesson in Wine Label Reading 101? Oh I dunno... just in case you want to find it again someday and you want to know what you're asking for and who makes it.
But anyway, back to the wine. The color is a deep, clear garnet. The scent reminds me of a mixture of juniper berries, sage and leather with a bit of plum just for fun. With a bright wash of acidity, this medium-bodied red tastes of woods and eucalyptus with dried blackberries and a bit of smoke and spice.
All in all, a quaffable (read: drinkable) everyday red that should nicely accompany a weeknight pasta dish with a red sauce.
Barbera is an Italian grape variety. D'Asti refers to the hilly areas of the provinces of Asti and Alexandria (as you can imagine, Barbera is grown in several different regions with their own provincial designation). Prunotto Fiulot is - you guessed it - the producer and name of the wine respectively.
Why should you care about this lesson in Wine Label Reading 101? Oh I dunno... just in case you want to find it again someday and you want to know what you're asking for and who makes it.
But anyway, back to the wine. The color is a deep, clear garnet. The scent reminds me of a mixture of juniper berries, sage and leather with a bit of plum just for fun. With a bright wash of acidity, this medium-bodied red tastes of woods and eucalyptus with dried blackberries and a bit of smoke and spice.
All in all, a quaffable (read: drinkable) everyday red that should nicely accompany a weeknight pasta dish with a red sauce.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Roshambo Syrah 2002
I think this wine is wearing a clever disguise.
The nose, for instance, reminds me of an Oregon Pinot Noir - round aromas of plum and spice with a hint of strawberry - but the taste is far different. A full-bodied mouthful of smoke, oak, leather and slate eases into plum and blackberry flavors and finishes quicker than a horse race. An hour or two in the decanter mellows it out a bit. With some mild lingering tannins on the back end, I call it an enjoyable if unexpected wine.
The nose, for instance, reminds me of an Oregon Pinot Noir - round aromas of plum and spice with a hint of strawberry - but the taste is far different. A full-bodied mouthful of smoke, oak, leather and slate eases into plum and blackberry flavors and finishes quicker than a horse race. An hour or two in the decanter mellows it out a bit. With some mild lingering tannins on the back end, I call it an enjoyable if unexpected wine.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Chateau Pesquie Terrasses Ventoux 2007
Terrasses is a 70/30 blend of Grenache and Syrah from the Rhone region in France. But nevermind all that. The wine is ruby red and smells of a heady mixture of red plum, baked cherries, oak and earth. Taste follows the nose bright, clean and full with a lovely blend of spices.
At around $10, this is a great everyday wine that goes well with a couch and a movie. Especially if you have a grilled portobello mushroom sandwich on hand.
At around $10, this is a great everyday wine that goes well with a couch and a movie. Especially if you have a grilled portobello mushroom sandwich on hand.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Aglianico Del Vulture Vultui 2003
Dark. Earthy. Old-world. Somewhere between brick and blood. That's the look of this 100% Aglianico, an ancient grape (over 2,600 years old) born on the old vines that grow on the slopes of Mount Vulture in southern Italy.
A complex whirl of oak, tobacco, chocolate, plum and fig race through my nose and open me to its mystery. What, you don't think a wine can smell or taste mysterious? Swirl it around in the glass to give it plenty of air, then try closing your eyes... that's it.
Roasted plum. Baked cherries. Dried roses. Leather. Dry earth. A rich, smooth, sensuous wine with just enough tannins to make you thirsty for another sip, the Vultui is nicely structured with great depth. Drink now or save for a dark night with herb-encrusted beef tenderloin.
A complex whirl of oak, tobacco, chocolate, plum and fig race through my nose and open me to its mystery. What, you don't think a wine can smell or taste mysterious? Swirl it around in the glass to give it plenty of air, then try closing your eyes... that's it.
Roasted plum. Baked cherries. Dried roses. Leather. Dry earth. A rich, smooth, sensuous wine with just enough tannins to make you thirsty for another sip, the Vultui is nicely structured with great depth. Drink now or save for a dark night with herb-encrusted beef tenderloin.
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