Little has filtered, as of yet, about what went on at the incredibly ambitious WineCreator meeting that was held in Ronda, in Jérez country, last weekend. Yet a lot of people are surely curious about knowing what the “greatest” minds in winemaking and wine journalism came to discuss during this ” tribute to creativity in a world where the signs of globalisation are becoming increasingly evident”.
Jancis Robinson, a key participant in the meeting, (more…)
This Chianti was a classic indeed. Bearing the old vertical, Swiss Bank Note style label (a lot more interesting than the very classy current sepia version), my 1998 Badia, made from a 50-hectare vineyard on an estate bought by Piero Antinori in 1987, was brought out to celebrate an anniversary – and it was worth it.
Right from the opening, (more…)
I’m a huge fan of a great number of biodynamic wine producers, and several “natural wine” producers, this last category essentially meaning that they are not only made from organic grapes, but also totally free of added sulfur, a widely-used stabilizer (For a quick description of the various types of bio wines, click here). Very often, wines made according to these methods have incredible character and individuality. You’ll probably read many raves from me about the artisan winemakers who promote that sort of viticulture and winemaking.
What strikes me, however, is that the promotion of biodynamic winemaking is presented in two ways. Some producers simply acknowledge that they work their vineyards that way – some do it only when they are asked – while others promote the fact that they are biodynamic producers almost as an end in itself. For example, you can’t tell, when looking at a bottle of Petalos, by Alvaro Palacios, (more…)
The Cellared in Canada wine category, as I’ve written previously on this blog, is a marketing category whose first aim, it seems, is to create confusion with actual wines from Canada, since in fact, it can contain practically no Canadian wine, as opposed to the 100% homegrown VQA wines. Which doesn’t stop the LCBO from selling them side-by-side and mixed together on the shelves.
Apparently, the category has reached its goal perfectly. Now, even the LCBO is confused.
As an article in the St. Catharines Standard stated, last week, (more…)
My good friend and winemaker extraordinaire Tom Lubbe is hopping over the Pond, next week, to showcase his wines in Montreal and New York City. I’m an absolute fan of Matassa Wines, a Domaine I had the chance to visit. A great week walking through the (biodynamic) vineyards, tasting the grapes, packing bottles into cases, pallets into trucks, and to stomp those gorgeous grapes with my own bare (clean) feet (see here and here for details of my stay and, more importantly, to learn more about Matassa).
In Montreal, Tom Lubbe will be hosting (more…)
They’re no longer a Château, but the wine is still as good. I’ve loved Tahbilk’s Marsanne for years and years, and I’ve even laid down a few bottles over the years, to see how this inexpensive, well-made, original wine evolved over time. I had great fun drinking a 1994, two or three years ago, and found its nutty, candied orange flavors quite seductive. I still have an orangey 1995 and an pale gold 1997 in the cellar, which I’m waiting to be surprised by… someday.
With vines dating back to as far back as 1927, Tahbilk is a rare Australian producer of this lovely Rhône varietal, and I was amused to read on their web site that they recommend aging it – something I’d started doing well just out of curiosity.
The 2004, which is starting to turn to a lovely pale gold colour, displays rich and plentiful aromas, with notes of honey, star-fruit, apricot and a touch of toasted bread on the nose. On tasting, the bright acidity and light but smooth texture immediately strike you, before nutty, honeyed flavors emerge and roll around for a nice, long time around your mouth. At 13% alcohol, it is remarkably balanced and restrained – and here, the word restrained hardly means that you are missing out on anything. I found it lovely with some cheese, and would recommend it with salmon or poultry dishes.
The Marsanne’s great balance also means that the wine indeed has a good aging potential. At just over 15$, around these parts, I’m surely going out to get some more, and setting it in the cellar. If I can convince myself to wait.
Though they generated a fair bit of discussion, about whether or not they were representative and valid, the American Wine Blogging Awards were announced this week by Fermentation blog’s Tom Wark. I have to congratulate Alder Yarrow for the two awards won for his blog Vinography, well-deserved indeed. I’m also glad about Tablas Creek’s Winery blog Award for… best winery blog: I started getting interested in Jason Haas’ blog after a really great post about the great cork debate, and have been a fan since (the wines are pretty great too).
No award process is perfect, but after reading Tom Wark’s discussion of the whole thing, I have to say the AWBA seem about as good as it can get, for a world as fluid as wine blogging. Points were awarded both for public vote and for judge’s votes, nominations were open to the public, while the finalists were selected from this open list by the judges. Could the Awards be improved upon? Probably. Should they be back next year? Tom Wark seems to be hesitating (perhaps from all the criticism), but I certainly think it would be worth it.
So here I am, this morning, recovering from my shift at the paper last night, deciding to hop on the Wine Blogging Wednesday bandwagon, for edition number 44, and I check out when in April it’s going to take place, and when I look at Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck’s Wine Library to get details, I find out that it’s supposed to be done on April 2nd. Oh Great. I’m late and I haven’t even started.
But hey, the theme was irresistible: French cabernet franc, which I’ve always loved. So I just flew to my neighborhood SAQ store and immediately looked for (more…)
One of the ongoing bones of contention within the wine world has been the use of natural or cultured yeasts in winemaking. Yeasts are an indispensable part of the winemaking process, since they are responsible for fermentation, which converts the sugars in the grapes into alcohol, and thus grape juice into wine.
As is well-explained in this article, many winemakers will use cultured yeasts to inoculate the tanks where the grape juice, with or without the skin and pips, have been placed for fermentation: adding cultured yeasts ensures a reliable, predictable fermentation, and even predictable flavor patterns, through selection of specific yeast strains that encourage fruity or spicy notes. It’s a clear advantage when you’re looking for precise results, especially when you’re making millions of bottles of, say, Yellow Tail.
Traditionally, though, wine has been made through spontaneous fermentation, meaning that the process starts through multiplication of the yeasts that are found naturally on grape skins, in the vineyard environment and, over time, in the winery itself, as fermentation cycles leave behind yeast spores that are only too happy to go to work year after year, just as they do daily in bakeries. The specific and complex set of yeasts found in each given winery contribute to giving the wine its personality and distinctiveness. Like the specific minerals found in the soil, which combine with enzymes to provide particular aromatic components and give a sense of terroir, the yeasts are part of a wine’s sense of place. Something which completely goes out the window if you start using a spoonful of ICV-D80 or Lalvin T306.
But the frontier between cultured yeasts and natural yeasts is less clear than you’d think. For instance, researchers from the University of Auckland are making a specific kind of natural yeast available for commercial use, to help make New Zealand sauvignon blanc more “typical”. Thanks to this research:
Saint Clair, Delegat’s, Pernod-Ricard New Zealand, Nobilo, Kim Crawford’s and Forrest Estate wineries will be using a newly discovered, naturally occurring New Zealand yeast to ferment grapes from this year’s harvest.
Where does this yeast strain come from, pray tell? From the very successful Kumeu River Wines‘ vineyard. So essentially, this lovely family winery has just handed a distinctive component of what makes its wines special to Pernod-Ricard and Kim Crawford, so that these big players could make wines from more generic places more like Kumeu River wines… To me, that feels as if you had just handed your grandmother’s award-winning secret recipe for cherry pie to ACME bakeries Inc. Here’s another quote from the article on this:
“Kumeu River has a philosophy in winemaking which uses the yeast that occurs naturally on the vines to ferment the grapes,” says Dr Matthew Goddard of the School of Biological Sciences. “By working with this very successful vineyard, we have managed to isolate a yeast which adds to New Zealand Sauvignon’s distinctive characteristics. This trial will let us see if the yeast will also work in a commercial setting.”
Oh great. Soon enough, winemakers in Chile, Virginia or the Niagara Valley will have more tools at hand to join in the great Kiwi/Grapefruit overdose. I’m not sure congratulations are in order.
