Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Wine Review: J Wilkes 2012 Pinot Blanc
Pinot Blanc is kind of a forgotten varietal and those that are unaware of its existence automatically think of Pinot Grigio when they come across it. That's a shame. Let me tell ya: Pinot Blanc and Pinot Grigio really couldn't be any different. Pinot Blanc is full bodied, silky, sometimes oily, and full of character. Pinot Grigio is... well... let's just leave it at that.
The J. Wilkes winery was established in 2001 by Jeff Wilkes, who has since passed away. It's located in Santa Maria Valley, which is within Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, California. The current winemaker is Vidal Perez. He was born in Mexico, graduated from Fresno with a degree in Viticulture and Enology, and worked his way up through the industry starting as a vineyard worker.
The Beverage Tasting Institute gave the 2012 Pinot Gris 92 points.The grapes were grown by Bien Nacido Vineyards, one of the oldest and most respected in the Central Coast.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling Wine - Part 2: Italy and The New World
Welcome back to the history of sparkling wine! Part One: France and Spain was about the emergence of intentional carbonation, the creation of methode champenoise, and the people who made it happen. Part Two: Italy and The New World is about the charmat method, partial fermentation, and the people who spread sparkling wine to new places. Part Three: Sekt and the Future will be about about what lies ahead.
As stated in Part One, sparkling wine can be naturally occurring. Hell, I'm having an issue with Big Fire Pinot Gris going through a secondary fermentation at work right now. The pressure being created is loosening the caps and it's dripping! Give it a little help and it starts spraying out like I just won the Stanley Cup! WTF! But I digress...
It's been happening since wine has been made with no real explanation of why other than the gods made it happen, or it was the alignment of the moon, or there were jerk-face spirits messing with us. The Greeks ran into bubbles in their wine often. The Etruscans, Romans and other ancient civilizations of Italy, being the land of vines, experienced it often as well. Then in the Limoux and Champagne regions of France. It took some time for the reason behind the carbonation to be realized and created purposely. And when it was, Italy embraced it like no other.
The first sparkling wine on the list is actually red! It calls the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna its home and it was first cultivated by the Etruscans. I'm talking about Lambrusco. The name of the grape family is called Lambrusco as well as the wine and there's various varieties in that family, the most famous being Grasparossa di Castelvetro.
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| "BACCHUS" BY THOMAS DODD |
It's been happening since wine has been made with no real explanation of why other than the gods made it happen, or it was the alignment of the moon, or there were jerk-face spirits messing with us. The Greeks ran into bubbles in their wine often. The Etruscans, Romans and other ancient civilizations of Italy, being the land of vines, experienced it often as well. Then in the Limoux and Champagne regions of France. It took some time for the reason behind the carbonation to be realized and created purposely. And when it was, Italy embraced it like no other.
The first sparkling wine on the list is actually red! It calls the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna its home and it was first cultivated by the Etruscans. I'm talking about Lambrusco. The name of the grape family is called Lambrusco as well as the wine and there's various varieties in that family, the most famous being Grasparossa di Castelvetro.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
November Wine Pick: Casa Agricola Santos Jorge 2007 Herdade dos Machados Reserva
This WINE PICK of the month was written for the Luke's of Cape Cod website.
The wines of Portugal, outside of Port, don't get their due and it's time that they should. On the label of my wine pick you'll see that two places in the country are named: Alantejo and Moura. Alantejo is a rather large portion of southern Portugal and is famous for their cork oak forests. Moura is within southeastern Alantejo, bordering Spain.
The 2007 Herdade dos Machados is a red blend from the native grapes of Aragonez (AKA Tempranillo), Trincadeira, Alfrocheiro and Castelao. It's been awarded wine competition silver medals in France and Germany, and received 91 points from Wine Enthusiast.
