German Pinot Noir! Ja Vol! Weinhaus Heger Pinot Noir 2005, Baden Germany

Recently, I hosted a wine night where we blind tasted a dozen Pinot Noirs. Although we correctly guessed the varietal each time (thankfully), we were often divided when we tried to determine the country or region of origin for that particular Pinot Noir.  One of the wines that particularly surprised us was this Pinot Noir or Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir in German) from the Baden region of Germany.    

Half of the room said that it was definitely old world and the other claimed it was Oregon or Santa Barbara.  Germany was nowhere on our radar when it came to Pinot Noir.  It had a classic spiced cherry and strawberry nose and a somewhat full body.  I don't think that any of us expected such a full bodied red wine from Germany.  It wasn't like some crazy Carneros Pinot Noir, but it wasn't thin and overly acidic either.

None of us knew anything about Baden save for the fact that it was a southerly wine region along the Rhine in Germany. I have learned that Baden is the third largest wine region in Germany.  More that 50 percent of the grapes grown there are Spätburgunder.  It's climate is comparable to Alsace which also produces some cool Pinot Noirs.

Maybe this region doesn't get a lot of respect because the vast majority of the wine is made by cooperatives.  Perhaps that's why it's not super popular.  However, the wine we tasted was from an estate.  The winery is Heger, it's a family winery.  They have been around since the 1940's.  They have become famous for their Pinot Noir and their Pinot Gris.  Both of these grapes grow well on the estate's loess soils.

Loess is one of those cool soils you also see in Austria, its name means "loose" in German.  It's made up of sand and clay and calcium carbonate (fish skeletons)- basically the bed of an ancient sea.  Very cool.

Basically -give Pinot Noir from Germany a try.  Keep an open mind! 

color: ruby red

nose: cinnamon spice, red cherry, wild strawberry
palate: cherry and red currant on palate, full body with balanced acidity, medium finish

approximate retail $25



Moscofilero - One Greek Word You Should Know!

I'm the first to admit that I don't know a lot about Greek wine.  I'll also be the first to admit that I am happy to drink sweet wine (when it's tasty and balanced). When I came across this Skouras Moschofilero at a tasting I was pleasantly suprised.  It was a particularly hot day (yes, this was several months ago) and the slight sweetness, coupled with the honeysuckle aroma and crisp acidity also made this the crowd favorite.

After doing a little research I found out that Moschofilero (spelled several different ways but pronounced Moscow-fee-lay-rah) is a relative of the Muscat grape.  That would explain it's striking similarity to Moscato d'Asti and other Muscat wines.  There is the rosy and grapey nose, extremely floral and delicate like orange blossom.  There is a crisp acidity and a refreshing sweetness.  There's nothing complex going on, but its intense monodimensional floral/fruity fragrance is very satisfying.

This Moschofilero is made by the Skouras family and  grown in Arcadia.  The vineyards are high in the mountains on northern Pelepennese where it is harvested at night to preserve the delicate aromas.

The grapes are fermented in stainless steel vats. There is limited skin contact because the grapes are actually "grey" like a pinot-grigio and they can give the wine a rosy hue with more skin contact.

As you are preparing your winter feasts, think about this Grecian perfumed beauty.  Not only will it please your guests (most people enjoy drinking sweet wine even if they don't admit it). It's not so sweet that it will interfere with food. I think it would be quite tasty with turkey - not unlike a Gewurztraminer or even with a handful of Chex Mix as an aperitif!

price: $18 approx.

color: lemon yellow
nose: roses, violets, orange water, grapey goodness
palate: pleasant sweetness, honeysuckle, roses, blossoms

There once was a vodka from Nantucket... Triple Eight Cranberry flavored vodka

I was first introduced to Triple Eight vodkas three years ago in Massachusetts.  You know how I love to support a local economy, so I promptly bought a bottle of their blueberry vodka for my boyfriend.  We've become addicted.  Stoli Blueberi is pretty good, but the Triple Eight is amazing.  We add a little squeeze of lime, a little seltzer and there you go!  It's a gorgeous blueberry color too.

When I saw the Triple Eight Cranberry Vodka in a Boston area store, I snatched it up.  The possibilities are pretty endless.  I think I could have probably incorporated it into a Thanksgiving meal, but I chose to go the Cosmopolitan route.  My man fixed me up an amazing cocktail (see recipe below for Three Day Weekender).  Although this is a flavored vodka (compared to the infused blueberry version), the flavors are really nicely integrated and there is obviously no addition of artificial flavorings.  You can also feel good knowing that this is an artisinal product, done on a small scale, using local ingredients.

Triple Eight Distillers is located on Nantucket Island.  Dean and Melissa Long are the owners and distillers.  They use local grains (not sure which kinds, but there was a picture of corn on their website) to make the base vodka and local cranberries to flavor the vodka.  They pick the cranberries when they are in season and cook them with a bit of sugar and hot water before sending them to be pressed in a hydraulic press... YES - just like wine!  Then they store the juice for the winter and blend it in when they make the vodka.  Pretty awesome!

Their water source is drawn from  #888 well - that's what they named the vodka for.  They've only been around since 1997 and they have been growing in popularity ever since.   In addition to the straight vodka, they have 4 flavored vodkas; orange, cranberry, blueberry and vanilla (with bean).  They also make gin,  a rum and some bourbons. 

The Three Day Weekender
2 parts Triple Eight Cranberry Vodka
3 parts Cranberry Juice
1 1/2 parts Triple Sec
dash of Orange bitters

color: orangy, salmon
nose: bitter orange, cranberry, alcohol
taste: tart, orangish, cranberry

Little BittyVerdot- Petit Verdot from Gallante Vineyards 2007 Carmel Valley, California

We just came back from California and we skipped our usual jaunt out to Napa and Sonoma, and instead headed South for Monterrey, Carmel and Santa Barbara County.  It was charming, and beautiful and I only wish we'd had more time to explore.

On one gorgeous foggy evening we ate at a place in Pacific Grove called Passionfish http://www.passionfish.net/.  The food was amazing and the wine list was equally (if not more) so.  They wine prices we basically comparable to what you would find in a wine store AND  on top of THAT, he had cool, esoteric wines along with some of the famous-er ones.  I almost went into shock there were so many outstanding bottles for $50.  I settled on a Petit Verdot from a local vineyard; Galante Vineyards.  We'd seen their tasting room in Carmel-by-the-Sea ( no we didn't see Clint Eastwood).

The bottle was super squat, like a little weapon and the label looked like leather.  Apparently it's a picture of this leather work that someone at the winery does.  Well, I had never heard of Galante, I'm not too familiar with the wines from Monterrey at all, but I chose wisely!  It was 100% Petit Verdot and perfect.  I rarely see a stand alone Petit Verdot.  It's such a powerful varietal and can often be masked with way too much vanilla oakiness (yes, Australia - I'm talking to you!) 

This one was well crafted to say the least! There was a exotic tea and cardamom spiciness that I love about Petit Verdot in general, and then it was tempered with the right amount of oak so that a lushness and velvetiness was brought out.  If you ever see a straight Petit Verdot or any PV, you should grab it. I luuurve it's black cherry, raspberry, earthy, spiciness. Soo good!

Galante is a small family owned winery with cowboy souls. They've been making wine since 1983. The owner; Jack Galante knows his Monterrey micro climates and he's just trying to grow the best grapes for the land he has and make the best wine he possibly can. His great-grandfather; J.F. Devendorf actually founded the town of Carmel!

A little 411 on Petit Verdot:   This is one of the 5 blending grapes used in Bordeaux (along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Malbec).  Winemakers tend to use this grape as chefs use seasoning. The "spice box" attribute of Petit Verdot gives a wine dense fruit, dark color, intense flavors, and heavy tannins.

Similar to Malbec and Carmenere (the 6th blending grape of Bordeaux back in the day), Petit Verdot is a late ripening grape -- so it doesn't always ripen well or consistently in cooler climates (like Bordeaux).  That's where it gets it's name too, Petit Verdot means "little green" referring to the little green berries that often do not ripen along with the other berries.  The most PV is grown in Australia now, and Chile and California also have a lot of plantings

Oh, and this was on the back label:

Cowboy Philosophy:  There are two theories to arguin' with a woman. Neither one works

color: inky violet/garnet
nose: cardamom, cinnamon, black cherry, wild raspberry, earthiness
palate: rich black cherry, vanilla spice, velvety tannins, liquorice

On the Dôle! 2007 Favre et Fils Dôle, Valais Switzerland

Rarely do I see a wine from Switzerland in a store.  Switzerland doesn't produce a huge amount of wine, so not much of it is exported.  When I saw this lone bottle of 2007 Dôle from the Valais (Favre et Fils), I grabbed it.   Unfortunately, I did not pair it with racelette, fondue, or a Swiss Colony snausage log.

A little background on Dôle.  It's not the name of a grape, it's the name of the wine.  Primarily made with Pinot Noir grapes, there is also some Gamay blended in. Yes, our little friend Gamay that is synonymous with Beaujolais.  Some of you will say... comment?  pourquoi would you mix Pinot Noir with anything, let alone Gamay?

For starters, the French have been doing it for 100's of years.  Sometimes you'll even see a bottle here; it's called Passetoutgrains (meaning literally, press all grapes).  Pinot Noir is found in Burgunday, and Gamay is the starring grape in the Beaujolais region due South. 

Back to Switzerland.  This wine is from the Valais region, in the southwestern part of the country.  Can't visualize... it's right above Northwest Italy.  Not surprisingly some of the same grapes like Pinot Noir and Petit Arvine grow well on both sides of these Alps.  At any rate, the famous Rhone river flows east to west through the valley creating steep slopes that equal awesome in wine growing terms.  It allows for maximum sun exposure in a place that can often be a little chilly.  I just got an image of a St. Bernard and a chalet.

This wine totally tastes like you think a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir would taste.  It has a medium body, a brambly, cherry, and somewhat burnt molasses nose, and on the palate there is an earthiness, a slight bitterness and a big burst of black cherry.  It's the perfect harmony of the these two grapes.  I'm just not sure I want to drink a blend of these two grapes.  This Dôle was about $24 and I think I would have preferred an Oregon Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais Cru for that amount of money.  The novelty factor was very enjoyable and it made me happy to support the Swiss wine industry.  I know that there are amazing Swiss wines out there, and I will be happy to drink them when I find them!

color: dark black cherry red
nose: burnt sugar, boysenberry, black cherry
palate: lean and high in acid, earthy and minerally, black cherry

The Sweetest Aunt on the Top Shelf; Tia Maria!

I happened to belly up to a bar in Connecticut this weekend with some friends (you know who you are).  Since I was in a sweet mood, I ordered an Amaretto Sour for myself.  My boyfriend had a Tia Maria on the rocks and I couldn't stop drinking his drink.  Sorry! 

I don't generally like coffee flavored anything.  I am not a big coffee drinker in general.  This is why my high praise of Tia Maria really a huge accolade! 

So there is a crazy story that the brand would love you to believe that involves a Jamaican uprising in the 1800's, a rich noblewoman, and a loyal maidservant who managed to spirit out an old family secret recipe for a unique coffee liqueur.  We all know that a story is very important in selling; however, what we really need to know is how it tastes and what goes in it!

Tia Maria is a coffee liqueur made with the base of a sugarcane spirit.  Jamaican coffee, roasted coffee beans, vanilla, and sugarcane also go into the mix. Kahlua seems to me to be a little more mainstream.  The difference is that Kahlua is made from Mexican coffee instead of Jamaican and the neutral spirit base is different.  Although I can't seem to get onto their website, I'm guessing that it's a wheat or corn based neutral spirit as opposed to the sugarcane spirit base of Tia Maria.  The sugarcane gives a lightness to the liqueur.  Although Tia Maria is sweet, it's not cloying.

The color is cola brown.  It has a beautiful vanilla mocha aroma.  The palate has a rich coffee flavor along with a hint of chocolate.  It's really delicious!!! 

Maybe you think of Tia Maria as a throwback to the 1950's and 1960's.  Maybe you remember Iman's commercials from the 80's hawking it as a 'dark spirit'.  Perhaps you have a bottle of Kahlua instead.  I strongly recommend that you give ole' Auntie Maria a chance to be a sweet end to your meal!  or a starring role in a cocktail!  yum!

color: cola brown
nose: roasted coffee bean, cocoa powder, Mexican vanilla
                   palate: smooth coffee, not overly sweet, vanilla fudge

Funky Furmint

I was at Clo earlier last week.  It's a cool wine bar in the Time Warner Center on the 4th floor at the doorstep of PerSe.  They have over 50 wines in an oenomatic machine and you can buy a pre-paid card and get little tastes of this and that.  It's been unacceptably hot out lately, so I sauntered over to the white wine cases.   They had some cool things; Rieslings, Verdicchio, a gorgeous Sancerre, and a little nicely-priced Austrian wine made from the Furmint grape.  It's the Heidi Schrock Furmit from Austria.

Furmint is best known for producing the amazingly complex and sweeet Tokaji wines made in Hungary.  Those are awesome, but Hungary is also producing some dry wines made with Furmint, and so is Austria.   Heidi Schrock was one of the few winemakers that re-introduced Furmint to the Bergenland (borders Hungary anyway), her part of Austria, in the 1990's.  It's name has is from the french word "froment" meaning wheat.  It often makes a wheat colored wine.

They also had some nibbly-bits available at Clo.  I suppose it was Happy Hour after all.  I grabbed a few almonds and a little hunk of Parmesan, and they were the perfect accompaniment to my Furmint!  There is a certain honey and almondy quality about the nose of this wine and a bit of spice.  The palate has more of a quince-like, refreshing zesty quality to it.  It's also not a light bodied wine even though it looks like it might be.  You really get a bit of heft.  I thought it was really cool.  It was the first Furmint that I have tried (outside Tokaji) and I will try one again!

color: straw colored
nose: quince, honey, lanolin, linden flower, spiciness
palate: somewhat weighty for a white, definitely some heft and unctuousness, more quince on palate with a little lemon and pear, lots of minerality.  Great balance - very interesting.