-By Alfonso Cevola ?
Down in Texas the heat and the drought are making for one of the hottest summers on record. That won?t wilt the locals taste for red wine though. Three reds are featured this week in the local wine press. Read on. Pass the fan please.
Wednesday Aug 10, 2011
Source: Dallas Morning News
By: Rebecca Murphy
photo by Evans Caglage
Negroamaro, literally translated as black bitter, is the grape. The wine comes from Salento in Apulia, the flat peninsula that is in the heel of Italy?s boot. IGT stands for Indicazione Geografica Tipica, literally Typical Geographic Indication, a legal term indicating a region where the grapes were grown. Pichierri is the family name of the producer.
Here, they have crafted a gratifying oak-free red wine with focus on the fruit: plenty of berry aromas dusted with savory notes and hints of violets. In the mouth the black berry and cherry fruit is round, with medium weight. It finishes with dusty tannins. The wine will be an amiable partner for grilled red meat. For any red wine in this heat, stick it in the fridge 15 or 20 minutes before you serve it.
Negroamaro is just one of the hundreds of indigenous grape varieties in Italy. You may never have heard of many of them, because like other European wine regions, the name on the label is about the area where the grapes were grown. Whenever you?re bored with the usual chardonnay or cabernet, look to Italy for something unique.
Wednesday Aug 10, 2011
Source: The Wine Curmudgeon
By: Jeff Siegel
The Wine Curmudgeon used to eat at a Dallas restaurant where the wine list was, to put it politely, pretty sad. This is not uncommon, of course, since too many restaurant owners tend see wine as an aggravation and not a way to please customers (and yes, I know I promised to write something about this, and it?s still on the agenda).
It was frustrating that the wine list had very little anyone would want to drink, since I liked the food and the prices were reasonable. Fortunately, the Pedronceilli rose was on the list, and I drank a lot of it. Like almost every time I ate at the restaurant.
And why not? The rose ($10, purchased) paired with the food that I ordered and it was cheap, especially for restaurant wine. Best yet, the wine was ? and still is ? well made, with some cranberry and currant fruit, a bit of juiciness in the middle, and even some heft. This is not a light rose, but one with body, and it?s almost as if there are tannins lurking in the back to remind you this is a dry wine and not that pinkish, sweet stuff. Pedroncelli is a fourth-generation California winemaker, and the family takes great care with what it does ? quality wine at good prices. The chardonnay is worth trying, too.
Chill this (especially this summer) and drink it on its own or with any summer food ? burgers and barbecued chicken come to mind. And be glad that one long ago restaurant owner had the good sense to have one quality wine on his list.
Monday Aug 8, 2011
Source: Houston Press ? Wine Time
By: Jeremy Parzen
?
Three years ago, when I attended a talk by Wine & Spirits Magazine editor-in-chief Josh Greene at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California, he discussed the rising popularity of Pinot Noir and its eclipse of Merlot as the by-the-glass go-to grape among young wine professionals. The ?I?m not drinking Merlot? punchline of the immensely popular 2004 buddy movie Sideways, he said, did give Pinot Noir a bump in on-premise (read restaurant) sales. The running joke was ?a gift to the California wine industry,? but it was only part of a much greater, overarching and growing trend. (You can read his notes from the now historic talk here.)
As we Americans have become more hip to the art of pairing food and wine (a trend that has paralleled our interest in farm-to-table foods, healthier and tastier eating, and a greater awareness of authentic European food products), we have also begun to reach more readily for lighter-bodied wines that do not overpower the dishes we serve at dinnertime ??wines with lower alcohol content, greater acidity, and less concentrated fruit. ?Pinot Noir makes up the most significant portion of [the growth in sales of] light reds? in restaurant data gathered between 1994 and 2006, reported Josh in his presentation.
Merlot was the grape that helped to ?introduce red wine to American consumers in the 1990s,? according to Josh. But the growth in Pinot Noir?s popularity ?comes at a time when there has been a significant development in the confidence and curiosity of wine drinkers.?
Josh?s talk came to mind on Saturday when I popped a bottle of one of my favorite under-$20 bottles of Pinot Noir, always a go-to when I need a crowd-pleaser, the 2008 Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara Pinot Noir by larger-than-life rockstar winemaker Jim Clendenen. (You can find Jim?s wines at a number of Houston retailers. I got mine at Richard?s on Kirby.)
Tracie P and I had been invited to a pool party and grill at cousins Deb and Ben?s house, and I needed a wine that would go with everything from the salad that Tracie P had made, to the fried rice that cousin Loren had prepared, to cousin Ben?s now legendary big-green-egg-smoker chicken (see below).
When sharing wine with people I love, I always try to stay under 14.5 percent alcohol content for red wines and at 13.5 percent, the 2008 Au Bon Climat was ideal (that 1 to 2 percentage point may seem insignificant, but it actually makes a huge difference in how the wine will pair with food; although there are notable and delicious exceptions, 14.5 percent is where wine starts to enter into the sphere of cocktail outer space and begins to lose its compatibility with food). The wine was light, bright, and fresh on the nose and in the mouth, and the fruit was present without overpowering the flavors of the food.
In my years as a wine professional, it has often occurred to me that one of the elements that led to Merlot?s popularity in our country is the fact that it?s so easy to pronounce. For most Americans on a first date with a potential mate, it?s probably easier to ask for ?a Merlot? than it is to order a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or a Bourgueil. Don?t get me wrong: I have nothing against Merlot. In fact, some of my best friends are Merlot (like the jaw-droppingly gorgeous 1990 Ch?teau Pavie I drank the other night, a wine made predominantly from Merlot like the 1961 Ch?teau Cheval Blanc that Miles drinks out of a styrofoam cup at a fast food restaurant in Sideways).
Nonetheless, I am happy to report that Pinot Noir is not the new Merlot.
Related posts:
- Wine(s) of the Week: Southern Hemisphere values dominate in the press round-up this week
- Wine Review Roundup: Emilio Moro, J.J. Vincent, Faiveley and King Estate
- Wine(s) of the Week: Chateau Graville-Lacoste & Marietta Old Vine Red
- Hotter than a Firecracker: Weekly Roundup of Wine Press
- Wine of the Week: Brennan Vineyards, Texas, Viognier 2008
Tags: Au Bon Climat, Dallas Morning News, Dobianchi, Houston Press, Jeff Siegel, Jeremy Parzen, NegroAmaro, Pedroncelli, Pedroncelli dry rose of Zinfandel, Pichierri, Pichierri Vittoria Negroamaro del Salento, Pinot Noir, Rebecca Murphy, The Wine Curmudgeon, u Bon Climat Pinot Noir, Wine of the Week, Zinfandel
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