WINE GEEKS AND RIESLING…LIKE PEAS AND CARROTS.

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Stan The Wine Man

I wasn’t long in the world of wine geekdom before I realized the common denominator that held wine geeks together…Riesling. Riesling? Yes, I said Riesling and I’m not talking the everyday stuff that comes from the likes of Chateau Ste Michelle or Fetzer (nothing wrong with these wines, they just don’t fit into this story as you will see). What I have observed over the past ten or so years, is that anyone that is passionate about wine and absorbed in its world (a wine geek) adores classic, old world style Riesling.

Now, when I say old world style, I’m talking (as wine geeks will attest), petrol, rubber boot, stone fruits, minerals and in some cases razor-sharp acidity. As far as sweetness goes, it doesn’t even have to be sweet. If it is sweet, we are not talking cane sugar sweetness here. No, like some of the best sweet German Riesling they show a sweetness that is both decadent, elegant, honeyed and shows top quality fruit sourcing. It’s kind of like the difference between Brachs chocolates and Sees chocolates…Does that help?

But why Riesling? Aside from being such a wonderful accompaniment to many food dishes, it is simply one of the most compelling whites you can find. Riesling is a terroir-expressive grape showing in it’s flavor profile the influence of the place of origin. Another words, it wears the dirt it was grown in on its sleeve. Having a high acid content, it can be razor-sharp on the palate and mouth-watering. And then there’s the petrol, diesel, rubber boot or whatever comes across on your palate. This can be off-putting to some, but for us wine geeks it is quite interesting (as you explore Riesling, I think you will come to the dark side). On top of all of this, there are Rieslings that are capable of aging for fifty years or more! Are you starting to feel the geekiness creeping into your blood? Seriously folks, Riesling is the bomb!

There is no better time to think about Riesling then now. Why? The traditional Thanksgiving meal lends itself perfectly to Riesling. Consisting of primarily savory dishes, is there anything better to match with the meal then a white wine with an edge of sweetness (or more than and edge)? Another good thing about choosing Riesling for your holiday meal is that you can find great quality juice for a prayer. With that in mind, I have a couple of suggestions for you to look for from your local merchant.

2012 Montinore Estate “Almost Dry” Riesling (Willamette Valley, Oregon)… $16.

Mouth-watering on the palate with notes of peach pit, tangerine and petrol. The acidity is there in spades, but never over-powering bringing the fruit notes into sharp focus and pulling them into a lingering finish. My mouth is watering as I write these notes, thinking about the deliciousness and focus of this wine as it kicks your palate with a rubber boot. (A-)

2011 Vin Du Lac “Lehm” Riesling (Lake Chelan, WA)… $18.

Petrol and rubber boot all over the nose with underlying peach notes (love it baby!). Very bright and steely on the palate with notes of quince, minerals, petrol and lemon grass. Intense and clean with a finish of grapefruit and lime pith. I encourage you to look to the Lake Chelan appellation out of Washington state, because there are some outstanding Riesling coming out of there. (B-)

2012 Barnard Griffin Riesling (Columbia Valley, WA) … $9.

Aromas of apples petrol and melon with an edge of dust and honey. A little edgy on the front of the palate with minerals, petrol, pears and a hint of honey. Stays relatively dry across the palate with minerals, pear and hits of honey and petrol on the finish. It could use a touch more acidity, but I love the petrol and fruit, and especially the price. It’s hard to find this kind of quality for nine bucks. (B+)

2012 San Juan Vineyards Riesling (Les Vignes De Marcoux-Yakima Valley, WA)… $11.

This baby steps outside the petrol theme a bit, which makes it a nice break-in Riesling for you doubters. Aromas of apples and white flowers with a peach and sugar hit. Sweet green apples come through on the front of the palate with a little sugar and peach juice thrown in. There is a nice bright back-bone to this Riesling with a touch of creaminess on the mid-palate showing notes of peach and apricot. The flavors flow into the finish which dries out on the back-end. This is a great Riesling for those who have not been baptized into wine geekdom, but I think the wine geeks will like it to. (B+)

2011 Monchhof Riesling (Mosel_Saar-Ruwer, Germany)… $17.

Aromas of petrol with a slight hit of peach and apple. Nice acidity on the palate with a hit of crisp, sweet apples and peach followed by a hit of rubber boot on the finish. Simple yet effective, leaving your palate thinking where a delicious Riesling like this disappeared to so quickly. (B)

2012 Waitsburg Cellars Riesling (Columbia Valley, WA) … $16.

Wine writer and critic Paul Gregutt, has ventured out on his own in the wine making scene with his Waitsburg Cellars label. He has a couple of really nice Chenin Blanc a Pinot Gris, and this outstanding Riesling. Again, this Riesling doesn’t fall into the “petrol” category, but it has a lot of things I like.
Aromas of sweet peaches, apricots, white flowers and a little cane sugar coming through. There is sort of a reductive element that comes through on the nose. It starts out sweet on the palate and finishes dry with a nice beam of acidity coming through. Apple notes are prominent backed by citrus and grapefruit notes that linger for some time. Excellent Riesling from a man who is no doubt buried deeply in wine geekdom. (A-)

2012 Clean Slate Riesling (Mosel, Germany) … $11.

Aromas of tangerine sorbet, honey and a hit of petrol. Very clean on the palate with notes of tangerine, honey and orange coming through. This baby gets creamy on the mid-palate with the petrol notes showing up, and finishing clean and on the drier side with tangerine notes lingering. The acidity is there and in nice balance with the fruit notes giving them a steely edge. This is a really nice Riesling for twelve bucks and it’s from Mosel no less. (B)

If you are not on the Riesling train yet, I encourage you to go out and find a couple and see how they do with food. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with how well it compliments spicy or savory dishes. It is not only versatile, it is a delicious and interesting white wine. If you are one of those folks that don’t drink whites (I can never figure that one out), and you fancy yourself a wine geek, I think you may be in the wrong room. I true wine geek will try any wine at least once or twice. They have a diversified interest in wines both red and white, and they most certainly are on the Riesling train.

Happy Holidays & Cheers! Stan The Wine Man

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WORD OF THE DAY… POLISHED.

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Stan The Wine Man

There are words we use (not all of us of course) that at times seem like an odd way to describe a wine’s character. Polished is one of them, and it’s a word I like to use.

Polished in many cases refers to surface appearance such as the shiny look of silver or brass after it has been rubbed vigorously with a cloth. I often think of the floors of a bowling alley when the word polished is used (you know… those shiny, slick alleys the bowling ball rolls down). However, the word polished is also defined as to render finished, refined or elegant. We all know you can’t rub a wine to bring it to a high sheen, so it is the second definition of this word that I will focus on (there are more than two definitions of course, I am only referencing the two that I mentioned here).

I have to say that nine times out of ten I use the word “polished” as an adjective with tannins. For a wine to be refined and elegant it most have polished tannins. When I say polished tannins, I mean to convey the idea that the wine glides over the palate without any rough edges. It is as if someone actually did take a cloth to those stubborn tannins and polished them to a high sheen so that they glide effortlessly across the palate without any friction. Very similar to using the words slick or silky, except that by saying polished, I am suggesting structure also.

A wine can certainly be slick or silky on the palate and not have a lot of structure. It can be a simple wine that is very tasty and goes down quickly and easily. I think that most of us have had a wine like that. We pop it, pour it, and then it’s gone before we know it. However, a wine that has polished tannins, makes us pause and think a bit about what we are putting in our mouth.

We might look at it from this angle. Let’s say we pick up a rock and at first glance there is nothing special about it. However, we start rubbing the rock with the sleeve of our shirt and notice that there is a shiny element beneath the seemingly rough and unappealing surface. After running it through a tumbler and polishing it up, this once ugly, rough stone turns out to be a beautifully stunning agate.

Tannins in a wine can be like that stone. They can be rough and edgy, or smooth and shiny, depending on the methods used in the wine making process. Some wine makers choose to have rougher tannins in their wines perhaps by allowing more skin tannins to be extracted during fermentation, or by using a healthy dose of new oak (which gives it a lot of wood tannins). The idea is that after several years of aging, the tannins will soften and integrate with the fruit, giving the patient buyer a fantastic experience when they open the bottle a few years down the road. The tannins in a wine like this will never reach the polished stage. They will soften, and certainly become more approachable…But they will not be polished.

On the other hand, there are wine makers that strive to have their wines beautifully drinkable (sorry, I couldn’t think of another way to put it) from the start, yet well structured and certainly ago lie. Without getting into a geeky, technical dissertation about the differences in wine making techniques, there are ways to do this and get excellent results without cheating. Certainly fruit quality and the type of oak treatment used have a lot to do with it. The point is that the wine certainly has tannins, but they are polished, elegant and refined so that the wine flows across the palate seamlessly. There are not rough edges of grip on the finish.

I hope in some way this has helped you understand the word “polished” when used as a wine descriptor. Some like their wines polished and some don’t. Either way a wine can shine, polished or not

Cheers! Stan the wine man

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STAN’S PICK FOR OCTOBER 2013…

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Stan The Wine Man

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2012 TILIA MALBEC (MENDOZA, ARGENTINA)… $10.

Tila winery is part of a top quality producer out of Argentina, Bodega Catena Zapata. They are responsible for some seriously good juice that gets a lot of press. Catena Zapata and Catena Alta make up their top wines (I’ve had the Zapata and it rocks!). They also have several other brands (wineries) under their umbrella including, Alma Negra, Bodega Renacer, Bodega Nieto Senetiner, El Enemigo, High Note and of course Tilia. It was very intriguing doing some research on the Catena Zapata Winery.

The founder, Nicola Catena planted his first vines in Mendoza in 1902 (crazy!). The vineyards and winery stay in family control to this day, making it one of the few family owned wineries in Argentina in Argentine hands. The current third generation owners are Nicolas Catena and his daughter Laura. They own 900 planted acres of estate fruit, so this is no small operation. Their chief wine maker is Alejandro (love that name) Vigil, who took that position in 2007. He is both a wine maker and viticulturist, which means he knows something about the vines and farming as well, and I believe this is very helpful in the wine making process itself.

I also discovered that they make one of my long-time go-to wines, Renacer Punto Final Malbec. Like many wineries, they produce a value brand, and that is the Tilia line-up. They have been making wine for a long time and the 2012 Tilia Malbec is evidence of their wine making prowess. Although I find a lot of malbec that is somewhat one-dimensional, this ten-dollar gem shows a lot of character.

Aromas of mocha, vanilla, beauty bark, and boysenberries which are slightly perfumed. There is also a hint of worn leather and tobacco (a lot going on with the nose here). On the front of the palate, mocha and chocolate are married with notes of currants and boysenberries. Very smooth and almost plush with those typical malbecean (sorry, I made that word up and I think it sounds kind of cool) chalky tannins. The chocolate tones permeate front to back, and there is a hint of leather and tobacco with lingering spice on the finish. In my book, this is a lot of wine for ten bucks and if you are on the Malbec bandwagon like so many others, this is where I would go to satisfy the need. And by the way, this would be a nice compliment to the T-Day meal, pork or fowl. (B)

Distributed by Noble Wines (Seattle, WA)

Cheers! Stan The Wine Man

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PUNCH DOWNS, PUMP OVERS AND WINE STAINS…FOUR DAYS AS A STEELE WINERY PEEP.

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Stan The Wine Man

Jed Steele is a people person. That is something that hit home with me when I went down to Lake County to be a part of the Steele Winery “Crush Crew” the first week of October 2013. For the last ten years, Jed Steele wine maker and owner of Steele Winery in KelseyVille California (Lake County), has invited folks in the trade both on the wholesale and retail side to come down to the winery and be a part of the work crew during crush. It is a great way to build brand loyalty, but as Jed told me…”I love to see people learn how things work on the winery level.”

When I got the invite to go down, I was eager to be a part of the wine making process, even if it was for a short period of time. Through reading, I have learned a lot about what it takes to make a bottle of wine, but there is nothing like getting your hands dirty with the crew and seeing things first hand. In the four days I was down there, I came away with sore abs, dirty clothes, and a clearer understanding of what it takes to get the grapes from the vine to the bottle.

I have long been a fan of Steele wines. The winery produces three labels, Steele, Shooting Star and Writers Block. Jed, who is responsible for putting Kendall-Jackson on the map is a wine savvy dude. He knows his stuff, and as he put it…”Wine making isn’t that difficult. Just get good fruit, and don’t f#@k it up.” Well, he not only doesn’t f#@k it up, he makes some killer wines.

During the trip, Jed took the Peeps as we were called (there were actually only two of us on this trip…The other guy, Kylie was from Savannah, Georgia) on a tour of the vineyards where he sources a lot of his fruit. There were two vineyards that blew my mind. Catfish Vineyard (which was only about a 1/4 mile from Jed’s house) had Zinfandel vines dating back to 1901. It was a field blend vineyard with predominately Zinfandel, but also some Syrah, Viognier and Alicante-Bouschet vines thrown in the mix (wild!). The soil the vines were feeding on consisted of deep red volcanic material (from nearby dormant Mount Konocti), and there was no doubt the vines were digging the environment. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have stayed so long. Talk about good fruit! The other spot was the Dorn Vineyard, from which you could catch a glimpse of Clear Lake. This vineyard rested on some rustic and dicey terrain. Huge rocks littered the Zinfandel vineyard which sat on a steep slope that required hooks attached to cables so the pickers could send the buckets of grapes to the top of the hill. This is known as the Home Ranch Hillside Vineyard and is also a source for Viognier. I was deeply impressed by this vineyard, and all I could think was that this had to be one of the most awesome sources of fruit I have seen. So, there is no doubt in my mind that Jed gets his hands on some quality grapes.

Once the grapes hit the winery, the attention to detail and cleanliness was obvious. The crew at Steele Winery was awesome to work with and they embraced Jed’s approach to wine making with passion and loyalty. Sure, there were jokes thrown around about Jed’s constant use of the fax machine (so 1990’s), and his insistence on certain requirements. But there was an obvious deep respect for Jed’s experience and proven track record. The fact that they embraced the “Crush Crew” program with such enthusiasm underlined the respect they had for their boss.

As part of the crush crew, I had the opportunity (along with Kylie) to partake in many of the duties the cellar crew performs on a daily basis. I did punch-downs (which are really hard on the abs if you don’t have the balance to stand on top of the bins) and pump-overs. I helped with the press and the sorter as well as cleaning them up afterward. I had a chance to do some lab tests with the field,bin and barrel samples which involved some technical stuff about ph, sugar levels and temperatures. We had a chance to use the hydrometer, a really cool tool that measured sugars by looking through a lens, and a ph reader that I did not really like to use, because I sucked at it. Kylie and I were both amazed with how much water is used in the winery. Not only water, but “hot” water. They used so much hot water that the winery had its own boiler room. To keep things clean, you have to use a lot of water. Steele Winery is a clean winery and now I no why…Lot’s of hot water.

At the outset of this article, I said that Jed was a people person. He was an awesome host. He opened his house to us and took care to make sure that we were well taken care of. He has a loyal crew and he in turn is loyal to them. He reaches out to help those who need it and at the same time expects them to return the favor by giving him their best. He may not have all the latest gadgets and top of the line equipment, but he makes some pretty awesome wine and he has some pretty awesome folks working for him. He knows how to do it without f#@*~ing it up!

I want to give a shout-out to Jason (you were awesome dude, sorry for not coming through with donuts), Dave, Joe, Jeff, Kamlin, Chewy, Marco, Renauldo (thanks for the great meal), Bobby, Janice,Brian and the many others that made the experience fantastic. I gained a greater appreciation for the wine making end of the spectrum and if I had a chance to do it again…Hell yeah!

Cheers! Stan The Wine Man

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