Wine Tasting

This Wednesday February 8th, 2012 we will be tasting new releases of Spanish Tempranillo, for inclusion on our list. Keven Ring of Artisanal Cellars, will be on hand to discuss the wines and answer any questions. With nearly 1.16 million hectares under vine (of which 97.4% is for wine) Spain continues to be the country with the largest area of vine cultivation in the European Union and the world (it accounts for 30% of the total EU area, followed by France and Italy with approximately 22% each). Spain’s geographical position, its climatic differences and its wide variety of soil types makes it a privileged place for producing wines with very different characteristics. Vines are grown in all 17 of the country’s autonomous regions, even though nearly half of the total acreage is found in Castilla-La Mancha (540,000 ha) which is the geographical region with the largest area under vine cultivation in the world. It is unclear precisely where vines were first cultivated in Spain or who brought winemaking techniques to the Iberian peninsula. Various sources believe the first vineyards were cultivated on the southwest coast of Andalusia, which may also have been the entrance point for the first vines reaching the peninsula. Given the presence of the Phoenicians there approximately 3,000 years ago.

They were a trading culture and founded a port in the southwest, which they called Gadir (now Cádiz). Later they moved inland, founding another city they called Xera (now Jerez), where they planted vines in the surrounding hills. Spanish winemaking really took off after the Reconquest of Spain by the Catholic Kings. The re-established religious communities and monasteries played a significant role in this process; the monks and friars of various orders worked to recover the winemaking tradition. Wine was vital for their religious rituals, and they also filled their cellars, supplying wine to pilgrims and local taverns. Thus, the vineyards flourished once again in areas surrounding the monasteries and abbeys, and later in other regions. Tempranillo aromas and flavors often combine elements of berryish fruit, herbaceousness, an earthy-leathery character, and good minerality. It needs only a short growing season and this early ripening tendency is the source of the name tempranillo, which translates to "little early one".

The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.

The wines featured will be:
Tres Osos, 85% Tempranillo/15% Cabernet Sauvignon, Valencia 2009
Casa Gualda, Tempranillo, La Mancha 2009
Cueto Tendencia, “Cosecha”, Rioja 2008
Monte Toro, “Roble”, Toro 2008
Fescenino, Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero 2007

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.

This Saturday, February 11th, 2012 we will be tasting new releases of Chilean Pinot Noir, for inclusion on our list. Chile with its enormously long coastline occupying a 2,610 mile tract of South America's western seaboard, and the spectacular mountain range of the Andes which runs as a boundary down the entire eastern edge of the country. These two monumental forces serve to cool the air. In the Andes case, they also provide a supply of irrigating water which drains down off the mountain and is channelled to the sea via an ancient system of canals built by the Incas. Chile has a terrific diversity of climate and geography. With the Atacama desert to the north and the desolate ice-fields of Patagonia to the south, the scope for winemaking is confined to a small central belt of the country with a more moderate climate.

Wine has been made in Chile for centuries. Indeed, there was a European heyday for its wines in the late 19th century as the phylloxera louse ravaged the vineyards of the Old World and consumers and merchants turned to Chile for a reliable supply of good wine. Chile's winemaking techniques also are undergoing a revolution. Ancient redwood aging vats are being chopped into kindling, replaced by smaller, top-quality French and American oak barrels. Computerized stainless steel fermenting tanks are providing the temperature control to preserve the intense, natural fruitiness of Chile's grapes. The tremendously broad range of bouquets, flavors, textures and impressions that Pinot noir can produce sometimes confuses tasters. In the broadest terms, the wine tends to be of light to medium body with an aroma reminiscent of black, and or red cherry, raspberry and to a lesser extent currant and many other fine small red and black berry fruits. Modern winemaking techniques, and new easier-to-grow clones have favoured a lighter, more fruit-prominent, cleaner style. The wine's color when young is often compared to that of garnet, frequently being much lighter than that of other red wines.

The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.

The wines featured will be:
Puerto Viejo, “Reserve”, Curico Valley 2010
Hacienda Araucano, Reserva”, Valle Central 2009
Cono Sur, “Visión”, Colchagua Valley 2009
Llai Llai, Bio Bio Valley 2009
Montes, “Limited Selection”, Casablanca Valley 2009

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.

We will be tasting new releases of Argentine Malbec, for inclusion on our list. Anthony Wagner of G. Housen, will be on hand to discuss the wines and answer any questions. One of the traditional "Bordeaux varietals", Malbec has characteristics that fall somewhere between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. A midseason ripener, it can bring very deep color, ample tannin, and a particular plum-like flavor component to add complexity to claret blends. Malbec truly comes into its own in Argentina, where it is the major red varietal planted. Much of the Malbec vines there were transplanted from Europe prior to the outbreak of phylloxera and most is therefore ungrafted, planted on their own roots. Sadly, over the years, phylloxera has infested Argentina, too, and vineyards are now being replanted on resistant rootstock.

Argentines often spell it "Malbeck" and make wines from it that are similar in flavor to those made in Europe, but with softer, lusher structure, more like New World Merlot. Another difference: where French examples are usually considered short-lived, Argentine Malbecs seem to age fairly well. Successful Argentine Malbec growers claim that, in order to develop full maturity and distinction, Malbec needs "hang time" even after sugar levels indicate ripeness. Otherwise, immature Malbec can be very "green" tasting, without its characteristic notes of plum and anise.

The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.

The wines featured will be:
Ruta 22, Patagonia 2010
Massimo, “Prestige Vineyards”, Mendoza 2010
Argento, Mendoza 2009
Punto Final, “Reserva”, Mendoza 2008
Navarro Correas, “Alegoría Gran Reserva”, Mendoza 2007

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per Person.

We will be tasting new releases of Washington, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, for inclusion on our list. Think about the greatest floods ever documented on Earth—about a wave 500 feet high bursting through the ruptured ice dam of Glacial Lake Missoula, sweeping south across Eastern Washington at 50 miles an hour. Think about the brunt of 2,500 cubic kilometers of water rushing with a flow 10 times greater than the combined flow of all the rivers in the world, scouring the land to its bedrock bones—not just once, but as many as 90 times, as the ice dam repeatedly formed and failed, over intervals of 35 to 55 years, beginning some 15,300 years ago—creating an enormously complex geological riddle and hundreds of publication topics for scores of geologists since J Harlen Bretz first realized how the tortured landscape of the Channeled Scablands was formed.

The prevailing southwesterly winds, which still prevail and still continue the geologic process, lifted the glacial sediments, the loess deposited by the floods, carrying it back north, distributing it approximately along the floods’ path, relinquishing finally what remained as the thick loess dunes of the Palouse. This windblown silt deposited over the underlying volcanic basalt, layered with the ash of intermittent eruptions of Northwest volcanoes from Mazama to St. Helens—this is the literal grounding of Eastern Washington’s terroir. Washington’s wine regions mostly lie in the flat, rural, southeastern part of the state (the miniscule Puget Sound appellation, with a mere 80 acres of vineyards, is the lone exception). The largest by far is the Columbia Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), which covers almost 11 million acres, nearly a third of the state. While Washington produces an abundance of both red and white wines, including some of the country’s best Rieslings, its growing reputation is based on its reds.

The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.

The wines featured will be:
Mercer, “Dead Canyon Ranch”, Horse Heaven Hills 2008
Barnard Griffin 2009
Chateau Ste. Michelle, “Indian Wells” 2009
Chateau Smith 2008
Sharecropper’s 2010

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.

 We will be tasting new releases of Spanish 90+ Rated Reds, for inclusion on our list. Robert Boehme of Vermont Wine Merchants Company will be on hand to discuss the wines and answer any questions. With nearly 1.16 million hectares under vine (of which 97.4% is for wine) Spain continues to be the country with the largest area of vine cultivation in the European Union and the world (it accounts for 30% of the total EU area, followed by France and Italy with approximately 22% each). Spain’s geographical position, its climatic differences and its wide variety of soil types makes it a privileged place for producing wines with very different characteristics. Vines are grown in all 17 of the country’s autonomous regions, even though nearly half of the total acreage is found in Castilla-La Mancha (540,000 ha) which is the geographical region with the largest area under vine cultivation in the world. It is unclear precisely where vines were first cultivated in Spain or who brought winemaking techniques to the Iberian peninsula. Various sources believe the first vineyards were cultivated on the southwest coast of Andalusia, which may also have been the entrance point for the first vines reaching the peninsula. Given the presence of the Phoenicians there  approximately 3,000 years ago. They were a trading culture and founded a port in the southwest, which they called Gadir (now Cádiz). Later they moved inland, founding another city they called Xera (now Jerez), where they planted vines in the surrounding hills. Spanish winemaking really took off after the Reconquest of Spain by the Catholic Kings.  The re-established religious communities and monasteries played a significant role in this process; the monks and friars of various orders worked to recover the winemaking tradition.  Wine was vital for their religious rituals, and they also filled their cellars, supplying wine to pilgrims and local taverns. The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.

The wines featured will be:
Senda 66, Tempranillo, La Mancha 2008
Cellar Malondro, “Besllum”, Montsant 2008
Dominio de Tares, “Baltos”, Bierzo 2007
Manga del Brujo, “Old Vine”, Calatayud 2007
Mas Igneus, “Barranc dels Closos”, Priorat 2009

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.

We will be tasting new releases of Cru Beaujolaisn, for inclusion on our list. The Gamay grape, more accurately known as Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, is the most widely planted grape in Beaujolais accounting for nearly 98% of all plantings. Basic Beaujolais and Beaujolais nouveau are meant to be drunk within a year of their harvest. Beaujolais-Villages are generally consumed within 2–3 years and Cru Beaujolais has the potential to age longer, some not even fully developing till at least 3 years after harvest. Premium examples from Chénas, Juliénas, Morgon and Moulin-à-Vent can spend up to 10 years continuing to develop in the bottle and in very good vintages can take on Burgundian qualities of structure and complexity. Cru Beaujolais, the highest category of classification in Beaujolais, account for the production within ten villages/areas in the foothills of the Beaujolais mountains. Unlike Burgundy and Alsace, the phrase cru in Beaujolais refers to entire wine producing area rather than an individual vineyard. Seven of the Crus relate to actual villages while Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly refer to the vineyards areas around Mont Brouilly and Moulin-à-Vent is named for a local windmill. These wines do not usually show the word "Beaujolais" on the label, in an attempt to separate themselves from mass-produced Nouveau; in fact vineyards in the cru villages are not allowed to produce Nouveau. Their wines can be more full-bodied, darker in color, and significantly longer-lived. From north to south the Beaujolais crus are- Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly. The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.  

The wines featured will be:
Georges Duboeuf, Fleurie 2010
Georges Duboeuf, Château des Capitans, Juliénas 2009
Château de La Chaize, Brouilly 2009
Château Thiven, Côte de Brouilly 2008
Château des Jacques, Moulin-À-Vent 2009

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.