The Long and Winding Road

As strange as it may sound,  planning Thanksgiving dinner makes me think of Chaddsford Winery.  Every November, Chaddsford holds what they call "Turkey Tastings" on Saturdays leading up to Thanksgiving. 

The idea is cool - sample Thanksgiving food items with different wines and see what works for you.  Now, according to my PIC, anyone in their right mind knows that Zinfandel goes with turkey - and Pinot, if you run out of Zin - but one year, we found ourselves with a free weekend and we signed up for one of these sit-down tastings.

Six wines were poured along side of a sampling platter of traditional holiday fare - among them the Proprieter's Reserve White, Dry Riesling, Dry Rose, Pinot Noir, and two other reds that escape me at the moment but I think one of them was the Due Rossi. We began the exercise with anything but an open mind; we knew exactly which wine we would prefer and that would be, perhaps our favorite Chaddsford wine, the 2007 Pinot Noir. 

That was a long story to get here but all of this came back to me, not so much because of Thanksgiving dinner, but because we opened a bottle of the 2007 Due Rossi.  I have to admit that I was a little hesitant as we had a bottle of the 2007 Pinot a few weeks ago and it's currently sitting in the cooking wine section of the refrigerator.  That's not necessarily a knock to Chaddsford but more that we may have held it too long.

Anyway, back to the Due - 80% Barbera, 20% Sangiovese and ten months in French and Hungarian oak.  Somewhat light in color and medium bodied, it was soft and round with cherry, licorice and violets with beautifully refined tannins.  It was wonderful, just as I remembered!

By the way, we chose the Riesling and the Rose to go with our turkey dinner.  Go figure......

Plant a Seed and it Will Grow

Our Saturday trip to Va La was postponed due to, as Thefarmer Va La would say, "stupid poopy weather".  Fortunately for us, Sunday was a beautiful blue sky day, the perfect kind for a drive, and...my PIC can't think of a better place to drive than Va La!

Not that we need one, but the reason for this particular trip was to check out the just released Seed.  We were intrigued after hearing about it on our last visit and there was no way we were going to miss out! 

Sunday's line-up was 2009 LPD; 2008 Silk, paired with Honey'd Goat Cheese; 2008 Siranetta, paired with Focaccia and Goat Cheese; 2008 Seed, paired with Bouchde; and 2007 Mahogany, paired with Pennsylvania Noble.

We did our requisite tasting before settling into the comfy purple leather chairs with a glass of Seed to enjoy the fine Autumn sunshine streaming in through the French doors.  In French oak for 24 months, only two barrels of this experimental cross of Carmine and Cab Franc were produced.  I kept trying to come up with a succinct description of a very complex wine.  My PIC called it a toned-down Carmine - in a good way.  For him, it tamed something in Carmine that he sometimes finds objectionable.

During our lazing in the sun, I jotted down four words - mint, blueberry, nuts, and mocha.  There's a hint of mintiness on the nose with a huge burst of blueberry at the back of the palate that evolved into this lovely nuttiness that moved on to a mocha finish.

Plant a seed and it will grow - into something awesome!  I remain intrigued and I think we may need to try it again this weekend, maybe with some pizza!

The Owl and the One-Eyed Cat

You may think you know where this one is going but unless you're thinking about something that includes a tetanus shot and a week of antibiotics, you're way off base.  We're talking cat bite on the day before our planned trip to the FLX.  Aside from the fact that it makes a really cool title, it did not affect our trip - the bite was on my non-wine glass-holding hand so not a problem!

We started out on Cayuga Lake and on a whim, stopped at a winery that we have not visited for several years.  Our last experience included a pleasant man who rhymed all of his wine descriptions.  He did our tasting and was so enthusiastic that I felt kind of guilty that I didn't really enjoy the wines.  He did everything he could to persuade me, including opening new bottles and making up new rhymes but alas, it was to no avail - they were just not to our liking.

But here we were, at Thirsty Owl Wine Company, bellied up to the bar and about to start a tasting.  Little Rhyming Man was gone but apparently replaced by Younger Singing Man.  More about that later, perhaps.

There were seventeen wines on the tasting menu and we were asked to choose five.  It wasn't that difficult, because of the nine whites, seven were listed as semi-sweet or sweet.  I passed on the Chardonnay and started with the 2010 Dry Rielsing.  A pleasant surprise, it had nice acidity with tropical fruit and a crisp, clean finish. 

The reds started with the 2008 Pinot Noir.  It didn't show a lot of fruit, it had firm tannins and a spicy finish.  The toasted oak of the 2008 Syrah jumped out of the glass.  The caramel nose of this medium bodied wine led to a fairly smooth palate, firm tannins and a black pepper finish.

Ok, at this point I expected that I would be ready to jump off a bridge but not yet.....what's next?  The 2008 Meritage.  Velvety mouth-feel with slight black pepper and fruit with soft oak on the finish - nice!  The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon was drinking really young.  The fruit was trying to emerge but for the most part, it was over powered by oak and spice.  It needs time, for sure.  Finally in this line-up was the 2009 Cab Sauv, Syrah,  Malbec.  (18, 60, 22% respectively)  We have tried this before and have been less than excited - it should be freakin' awesome!  The 2009 blend showed grapefruit and black pepper but had some spit-sucking tannins.

To finish, we were serenaded through a tasting of the 2007 VINTE, a port-style wine from Cab Franc and Chancellor.  We're not huge Chancellor fans but we tasted with an open mind.  At 8% RS, it was soft and silky and not overly fortified.  It retained its wine characteristics and had that dessert-replacement  sweetness.

All in all, we found the wines a bit more approachable than in the past and the absence of the Little Rhyming Man was a relief.  There was, however the issue of Singing Man.  Nonetheless, we grooved our way through the racks, grabbed a Meritage and a VINTE and boogied for the door before our ears started to bleed.  It's not that his singing was bad, it just got old....fast.

We All Remember Our First Love...

I don't know about you, but I still remember my first love.  I'd say it was a summer love kind of thing but it was more than that.  It was my first FLX Riesling love...it may be the one responsible for sucking me into the whole Rielsing thing.

We read a few things online about the new kids on block so when we found ourselves at the northern end of the east side of Seneca Lake, we couldn't pass up a chance to visit Zugibe.  We had a great tasting with Brendan and we have made it a point to stop in any time we're in the area - but that's fodder for another day.  This one is about the rock star - Zugibe 2008 Dry Rielsing!  It had everything I love - acidity, minerality and lime...lots of lime.

We opened our last bottle the other night and the gripping acidity has mellowed over the past year.  I got a wet slate kind of minerality on the nose with no petrol at all.  It was light and refreshing with citrus and lime; it was beautifully balanced with lovely acidity leading to a crisp finish...and it was awesome with slow roasted shrimp!  I keep telling you I'm fickle!

Easy and Affordable, But NOT a One Night Stand

After years of proclaiming that we are not white wine drinkers, I keep finding more and more empties in the recycling bin.  I guess it should come as no surprise that this lovely, warm Fall day, and some beautiful, incredibly fresh wild caught shrimp, and humongous sea scallops had us reaching for a white. 

The white-of-the-night was Shaw Vineyard 2008 Sauvignon Blanc.  We're not huge fans of Sauv Blanc; in many we find a grassiness that makes it somewhat unpleasant to our taste.  We were very open to tasting this one while visiting the winery but I have to admit that I felt a split second of hesitancy when my PIC brought this one out of the cellar.  We love all of the Shaw reds, so I ask myself, what's not to like?

As it turns out, nothing!  It is light, crisp, and refreshing with a minerally, wet slate nose.  It's beautifuly balanced with green apple, melon and a hint of pineapple on the palate.  It is easy drinking but not just a simple summer sipper.  I can see a lot of this in the Fall lineup!

You can say meri-TAHJ, but you would be wrong!

Meritage.  French, right?  Not so much.  Merit + Heritage = Meritage - rhymes with heritage.  Now that we have the wine-speak down, what does it mean to us as consumers?  Not much.  The term Meritage refers to New World wines blended in the tradition of Bordeaux and...hold on to your hat...they can be red or white. 

It really means more to the producers.  In order to use the term Meritage on their label, a winery must join The Meritage Association, which was was formed by a group of American vintners in 1988.  Their goal - to "identify handcrafted wines blended from the traditional "noble" Bordeaux varieties".  Producers pay something like $1/case produced to a maximum of $500 per year for the privilege of using the name.

Strictly speaking, a Red Meritage is a blend of two or more of the red “noble” Bordeaux varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and the rarer St. Macaire, Gros Verdot and Carmenère.  A White Meritage must be a blend of at least two of three specific white “noble” varieties  - Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon or Muscadelle du Bordelais.   Neither can include any other grape variety and no single grape variety can make up more than 90% of the blend.

What brought this on, you ask?  I'm not really sure except that we opened a bottle of Ravines 2005 Meritage and the wheels started turning.  The growing conditions in 2005 were almost perfect and this blend of 45% Cabernet Franc, 32 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 23 % Merlot is a fine example of that.  It is deep ruby in color, with tons of fruit and spice and a hint of cocoa.

MERI-tidge, meri-TAHJ....."if we ever part, that would break my heart"!

Rendezvous with Clark and Judy

Every now and then, we get a yearning for some Virginia wine country.  That's not to say that we don't get the same feeling for the FLX, but with cousins in Northern Virginia, it's an easier, and less expensive, getaway.  They enjoy the occasional glass of wine but are not as into it as we are.  Mobility issues limit them to one, maybe two wineries and Pearmund Cellars has been one of our usuals. 

It's been a great place to stop by with them on a Sunday morning before heading home and we have always had a great experience there.  Not only have we enjoyed the wine but they have always been so considerate to my cousins who don't do a tasting but love to sit at the tables in the tasting room and just enjoy each other's company.  From time to time, they will taste one of the white wines that are on the tasting menu, but mostly, they cherish their time together...they are so in love and so I want to be them when I grow up.

Our last visit found us there on a Saturday afternoon.  We've been so spoiled going on Sunday that we forgot how crazy these wines trails can be on the weekends!  I say trails because this phenomenon is not unique to Virginia, we find the same thing everywhere.  The first bad sign was a bus in the parking lot and you can pretty much bet that it's filled with ridiculously dressed, soon to be married, drunk people and their drunk best friends and drunk relatives.  Sadly, that was the case this time but fortunately, they were at the end of their tasting so normalcy was quickly restored upon their departure. 

I thought about all of this when we opened the Pearmund Cellars 2008 2 Principals Vineyard Petit Verdot .  It is deep garnet, almost inky in color with a nose that is earthy and mushroomy with some foral notes.  It's got great structure with some dark berries - blackberry, blueberry? -  and a dusty, cocoa finish.

I sure hope that bus load of party people took some PV home with them because they should be very, very happy right about now!