Tag Archives: white wine

Wine of the week: Ipsum 2010

image from ei.isnooth.com Sometimes, wine doesn't taste the way we want it to taste. When the Wine Curmudgeon first tried the Ipsum, a Spanish white blend, two years ago, it was a revelation — fruit forward in a New World style, but crisp and with lots of minerality. It was a sure thing Hall of Fame selection.

The 2010 vintage, sadly, is not up to that standard. The Ipsum ($10, purchased) is still a more than adequate wine, and there is still lots of tropical fruit. You could do a whole lot worse, and the Wine Curmudgeon has. But the extra something that pushed previous vintages over the top is gone. The minerality isn't there, and this year's wine doesn't have the freshness and clarity that the others did.

How does this happen? Who knows? The winemaker had an off day, the weather didn't cooperate, the grapes weren't up to snuff. So drink this, well chilled, with seafood or grilled chicken, and hope that the 2011 Ipsum returns to its previous standard.

? Ipsum 2008 review: "… much better than I expected it to be."

Mini-reviews 23: Shoofly, Primaterra, Stag’s Leap, Bella Sera

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

? Shoofly The Freckle 2008 ($14, sample): This Australian white Rhone blend is starting to show its age, but does have pleasant honey floral aroma, sweet apple fruit at the back, and a peach pit finish.

? Primaterra Primitivo 2008 ($10, purchased): This Italian red has an Old World beginning and a sweetish black fruit New World-style back. There's nothing really wrong with it, but it's not the Layer Cake.

? Stag's Leap Artemis 2003 ($40, sample): This is classic and elegant Napa cabernet sauvignon at a time when consumers expect trendy and pushy Napa cabernet. That those consumers don't appreciate it is their loss.

? Bella Sera Pinot Grigio 2009 ($8, sample): Simple, decent, and surprisingly pleasant Italian white wine. This won't offend anyone, which is saying a lot for pinot grigio at this price.

Wine review: Souverain Sauvignon Blanc 2009

2008 Souverain Sauvignon Blanc Alexander ValleyThe Wine Curmudgeon has never felt comfortable with sauvignon blanc that has been aged in oak. Too often, the oak covers up the varietal character and the sauvignon blanc ends up tasting like chardonnay. Which seems to be defeating the purpose of sauvignon blanc.

Plus, Souverain inhabits one of those gray areas in the wine business that often makes it difficult to figure out what its wine will taste like. It's a grocery store brand owned by one of the multi-nationals scrambling to shed expenses, so one never knows what the bosses will tell the winemaker about how much he can spend.

So I was not expecting much. But the Souverain ($14, sample) reminded me, as wines so often do, not to judge them before I drink them. It was much better than I thought it would be, with a bit of richness missing from most California sauvignon blanc. In addition, the oak doesn't obscure the Bordeaux-like sauvignon blanc fruit (less citrus and more citrus zest). Nicely done; serve it chilled on its own or with white meat dishes that have light sauces.

Wine of the week: Falesco Est! Est! Est!!! 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon does not approve of exclamation marks. If Hemingway didn’t need them, no one else does either. Which should give everyone an idea about the quality of this wine, since it has five exclamation points in its name.

The Est ($9, purchased) is a white blend of trebbiano, malvasia and roscetto (yet another obscure Italian grape, something that it seems all interesting Italian wines must have). In less capable hands, that grape combination can produce a wine that is all sweet and fruity. But Falesco, the producer behind Est, is one of the most capable hands in the world, and the Est lives up to Falesco’s long-standing tradition of cheap and well-made wine.

Look for a lemon/lime zest sort of flavor, more structure than a $9 wine should have, and some spice on the finish. Drink this chilled on its own, or with anything resembling fish. This wine would make even tuna casserole, made with cream of mushroom soup, taste better. And look for this in the 2012 $10 Hall of Fame, with Falesco’s Vitiano wines.

Wine review: Araldica Vini Piemontesi Gavi La Luciana 2009

Gavi is one of those mysterious Italian wines that is made with one of those mysterious Italian grapes, the cortese. It's a white wine that comes from the Gavi region in a corner of Piedmont, there isn't a whole lot of it, what there is usually doesn't make it to the middle of the country, and it's often quite pricey. If I see Gavi at all, it's on restaurant wine lists, and even then it usually takes a back seat to the Super Tuscans and the rest of the publicity hounds.

So when I found the Araldica ($14, purchased) at a Dallas shop that specializes in Italian wine, and at a price about two-thirds of what most quality Gavis cost, I bought it. And I'm glad I did. The Araldica was much better than I had any right to expect, especially for the price. It had a bit of spice and some lemon fruit, and though it wasn't very sophisticated — no sun-drenched Italian beaches, which is what a great Gavi brings to mind — it was fresh and clean.

I took it to dinner with a wine rep friend of mine, and it was much better than the tired, chain-style Italian food that the restaurant served. Serve the Araldica with any seafood and especially shellfish, and I'm going to buy another bottle to have with spaghetti with clam sauce.

Mini-reviews 21: Bin 36, Simmonet-Febrve, Moncontour, Rodney Strong

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

? Bin 36 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($16, sample): A good example of what can be done to make affordable California cabernet in the style of Avalon and 337. This is rich and fruit forward, and though there isn’t much more than that, it also isn’t as simple as something like the many popular grocery store cabernets.

? Simonnet-Febvre Chablis 2008 ($20, sample) This French white had lots of acid, but also quite fruity (green apples?) for a Chablis. Though $20 is probably too much to spend on it, it was still quite nice to drink.

? Ch teau Moncontour Vouvray Brut NV ($18, sample): Would that someone in Texas (hint, hint) made bubbly of this quality. This French sparkling wine is made from chenin blanc, and has lots of acid balanced by sweet apple fruit at the back.

? Rodney Strong Pinot Noir 2009 ($18, sample): Another excellent effort from Rodney Strong — varietally correct, with cherry fruit, an almost cola-like aroma, some earthiness and pinot tannins. Given the silly prices for pinot noir, a decent value.

Wine of the week: Volteo Viura + Viogner + Sauvignon Blanc 2008

This wine should really be called Volteo Blanco, since it's a Spanish white wine blend. I'm assuming that the three grapes used to make it are in the name because most Europeans think that Americans only buy wine that has the varietals in the name. That most of us have no idea what viura or viogner are probably never occurred to the folks behind Volteo ($10, purchased).

Having said that, it's quite well made and (with its tempranillo cousin) was in consideration for the 2011 $10 Hall of Fame. That it didn't get in speaks more to its newness; this is one of the first vintages, and I'd like to see what happens next before I elevate it to the Hall.

Viura is a traditional Spanish grape used to make just this kind of wine. Look for a crisp, fresh, clean effort with a bit of lemon fruit and Spanish minerality and acid. Don't expect a New World citrusy wine — the Volteo is much more balanced. Serve this with salads, almost any kind of grilled fish, and even boiled shrimp. And, like the tempranillo, it has the "Smart Label:" A blue frame appears around the label illustration when the wine is at the correct serving temperature. Which actually did work.