Wine without BS

A quickie with two Italians

Both wines above are sub $20 Italian IGT red wines. The 2010 Spolverino from Carpineto is a blend whereas the 2009 Farnese is 100% Sangiovese.

I didn't bother with tasting notes for either of them as neither was absolutely fantastic but given they share many key elements I'd thought I'd whip something up.

My pick of the two is definitely the 2009 Farnese Sangiovese. I enjoyed it with a few mates over a pizza and none of us had anything bad to say about it. The Spolverino on the other hand I found to be a bit watery and weak. 

While I am not sure I would buy either of them again I definitely wouldn't bother with the Carpenito Spolverino again when for a few extra bucks that same producers makes some pretty decent Chianti!

Outpost 2004 Howell Mountain Zinfandel

Californian Zinfandel has to be as close to American red wine royalty as it can get! It is after all as close to being ‘American’ as are a Burger & Fries. Originating from Italy where it is known as Primitivo, Californian Zinfandels are known for being big on fruit, alcohol and oak. The Outpost 2004 Zinfandel doesn’t lack any of those elements yet with the benefit of eight years bottle age this one is likely to be more palatable to some than a much younger vintage.

In the glass an ageing cherry red colour has an aroma that is full of cedar and oak with hints of subtle fruit and spice. This wine is drinking pretty much at its peak now and I can’t see it lasting more than another two years so no need to buy this for the cellar. It is however a great guide to how long a good Zin should be kept for as they have nowhere near the life of other premium reds. On the flip side of that though is that at least it doesn’t take 15-20 years of patience before you can enjoy a good Zin at its best. Some may even prefer them more youthful and, being a fruit and oak driven wine, they pair best with BBQ’d meats, Burgers and Ribs as well as some sharp cheeses! 

Outpost 2004 Howell Mountain Zinfandel
Price - $63 from Grand Central Cellars
Region - Howell Mountain, California
Final Sip - Given the lack of good California Zinfandels here in Australia the ability to get one that even the locals love, with some bottle age, for less than some premium Aussie Zin's are going for is a rare treat! 

Best's Wines 2010 Pinot Meunier

If you're a Pinot Noir fan then get ready to be blown away. Even if you are not a huge fan I strongly suggest you try this as while closely related to Pinot Noir, what I experiend while drinking this wine was unlike any Pinot Noir I've had to date! Pinot Meunier is more commonly used as one of the three grape varieties used in a traditional Champagne blend. Seeing it as a single varietal red wine is rather rare and Best's Wines are the only winery in Australia that I could find making such a wine. It is thought that their plantings of the variety in the Great Western region of Victoria are the oldest in Australia and possibly the oldest Pinot Meunier vines in the world! 

It has a nice, transparent cherry red colour that will appear similar to many Pinot Noirs. In the aroma I actually got a noticeable hit of olives, along with some fruits and oak. When it comes to describing the experience of drinking this wine below is word for word what I wrote in my notebook at the time I was drinking it.

"It's smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth. Did I say smooth? It is like nothing I have ever had before"

Another line that I will never forget came from a guest at my recent Odd & Rare varieties tasting event who took one sip and said "oh that is naughty... just so naughtily smooth" 

So we can pretty much summarise that this is an incredibly smooth wine. It has blended flavours of fruit and oak and is a wine that lovers of red wine simply must experience!

Best's Wines 2010 Pinot Meunier
Price - $60 from Best's Wines
Region - Great Western, VIC
Final Sip - 'Noir' may mean black, but once you go Meunier, you'll never go back!

Mandoleto 2009 Sicilia Nero d'Avola

This wine was introduced to me by Fourth Wave Wine Partners and was the only international red wine available for tasting at my recent Odd & Rare Varieties tasting. Experience has taught me not to get overly excited about imported red wines under $20 but I've finally found an exception!

The colour is a perfect cherry red and the aroma reminds me of dark fruits and includes a slightly, but not unpleasant, musty, mushroom like smell. It is lovely to drink, fruity and faintly oaky with some savoury elements and nothing over the top. Very easy drinking and as a reference point for those unfamiliar with the variety, it is not unlike some Aussie Shiraz. 

 

Mandoleto 2009 Sicilia Nero d'Avola
Price - Normally $15 but my friends at Fourth Wave Wine have been kind enough to offer a special 'NoBS' price of $10 a bottle Simply download and complete this order form
Region - Sicily, Italy
Final Sip - Before the special offer was made I would of said it was hard to think of a better sub $20 imported red. At $10 a bottle it is definitely one of the best reds for the money I can think of, imported or local! 

Bull Paddock Wines 2011 Sangiovese Cabernet

Want a no fuss pizza and pasta wine? We'll here it is! The Bull Paddock Wines 2011 blend of 65% Sangiovese and 35% Cabernet is the perfect Pizza and Pasta companion. It has a nice ruby red colour, aroma of red fruits and a touch of oak with nice, light, cherry and red fruit flavours.

 

Bull Paddock Wines 2011 Sangiovese Cabernet
Price: $19 and available in lots of 6 or 12 from Bull Paddock Wines
Region: Sangiovese came from Beechworth, Victoria, Cabernet from North East Victoria and the winery is located in Rutherglen, Victoria.
Final Sip: A no fuss, easy drinking wine that is pleasant with or without food for under <$20 is always worth a shout out.

By Jingo Wines 2006 Montepulciano

 

Before I start, I need to confess that I somehow lost my tasting notes for this wine but am pressing ahead anyway as this wine more than deserves a spot on my blog and easily earned its place in my 'Most Memorable Wines of 2011'

Australian made Montepluciano's are few and far between but coincidentally I had recently tried another Aussie Monte's a week or so before trying the By Jingo. It took but one sip of the 06 By Jingo Montepulciano to know I was drinking something pretty bloody awesome. There was definitely a 'wow' moment after sip number two and the bottle didn't last as long after that! It has such a gorgeous flavour that I can't relate back to any other wine I've tried before. It was completely different to the other Montepulciano I had the week before that is also from a South Australian producer. 

Being lucky enough to have a bottle of the 08 also around at the time I took it along to a staff tasting I held for Google Australia, as part of Google Wine Week+. I remember a staff member yelling out to me 'What is this?' pointing to the bottle of By Jingo 08 Montepulciano, then saying 'It's fantastic!'.  I only got a tiny taste of the 2008 vintage before the staff polished it off, but it would seem the reaction to it from several Googlers meant they had just as high an opinion of the 2008 as I do of the 2006. As a result of that tasting I'd also like to ad that this wine is vegan friendly and apologise to the staff member who missed out given I only learnt of this fact the day after the tasting.

I should add that it was actually days after I had tasted it that I learnt it's price and admit to being somewhat surprised to see it was over $100. After pondering the price point for a while I realised that I've had plenty of $100+ wines that I cannot even remember... but I'll remember this one for a long time to come I am sure!

By Jingo 2006 Montepulciano
Price - $120 from By Jingo Wines
Region - Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Final Sip -  Do yourself a favour and try this wine before the 30 cases made have sold out. If the price is still getting in the way then try the 2008 as it is less than half the price! Alternatively keep an eye out for my upcoming Rare and Odd varieties wine dinner, as you can bet your Montepulciano it'll be there!

Lowe Wines 2009 Zinfandel

Zinfandel is hardly a common variety in Australia and many wineries that make it cannot boast about doing it all that well in my opinion. Amongst other consumers here in Australia I hear everything from 'Zin is a Sin', to 'You have to try the one by XYZ wines... theirs is different!'. It is a totally different story over in California though as Zinfandel is made by hundreds of wineries and your local supermarket will feature whole shelves of the stuff where even a reasonably priced drop is likely to fare well against our best attempts.

However, David Lowe, from Lowe wines in Mudgee, can boast that not only does he make a great Zinfandel, but he has a stack of medals for his latest release and that the vast majority of critics and consumers that try it give it rave reviews, myself included. No suprises then that David spent time during his career in the heart of Californian Zin country, Sonoma County, just next door to Napa.

The 2009 Lowe Zindandel has a lovely aroma of stewed fruits and even licorice becomes noticeable after a bit of time in the glass. As soon as you start drinking this wine it becomes an experience. It is 'full-on' in its flavours and creates a warm sensation on the back of the throat. The tannin creates what I wrote in my notes as a bit of a 'Mr Ed' effect, as your gums dry instantly and you lift your lips up and down to re-moisturise them. After a glass or two I noticed a really pleasant fruit cake like after taste building on the palate and it wasn't too long before I found myself with an empty bottle and wanting more. The price point is likely to stop many over indulging in this drop and as much as I wish you could grab two bottles for $100 or less, David talked me through the vast efforts he goes to in the vineyard for this varietal and any comparisons to Californian Zinfandel prices are simply unfair if you consider our much higher minimum wages in Australia and sheer economies of scale when California alone has a population of 35 million.

 

Lowe Wines 2009 Zinfandel
Price - $75 from Lowe Wines
Region - Mudgee, NSW
Final Sip - I really enjoyed this wine as it is exactly what I find myself looking for these days when I look upon a wine rack full of predictable Shiraz's, Cabernets and Chardonnays. Something different!

Did you know? Zinfandel is the genetic equivalent to the variety grown in Italy known as Primitivo and Crljenak Kaštelanski in Croatia.

Oak Works 2008 Tinta Molle

Now here is a grape that I had never heard of, let alone tried until I recently visited Wine Odyssey in Sydney. It turns out Tinta Molle is a Portuguese variety that is often used for making port but a handful of wineries in Australia are now using it to make full bodied, dry red wines. Oak Works seem to specialise in rare varietals with a range of wines including a number of grape varieties I haven't yet come across.

This wine has colours of cherry red and plum purple with a rich and pleasant aroma of jam like fruit. It is also a lovely wine to drink, definitely a full bodied wine with big flavours of dark fruits and finishes with just the faintest hint of sweetness. The wine reminds me of some Grenache and even GSM wines I have had from South Australia and I was thoroughly impressed!

Oak Works 2008 Tinta Molle
Price - $20 if ordered from winemaker, Peter Rogers, via email by clicking here or $26 at Wine Odyssey (while stocks last)
Region - Renmark, South Australia
Final Sip - If GSM and Grenache are your thing then it is rather safe to say you stand a great chance of enjoying this too. Just don't go around saying Tinta Molle is your favourite variety as you'd then sound like a total wine wanker!

Kenneth Volk's Heirloom red varieties

 

I recently took a road trip up to Santa Barbara county from Los Angeles and stayed in the Santa Ynez Valley where many of the wineries that had been recommended to me were located. While I went to a lot of lovely wineries and tried many great wines, it was what was referred to as the 'heirloom' varieties by Kenneth Volk that became a highlight of this trip.

These four varieties, that I had never seen or tasted before, were Negrette, Aglianico, Touriga and Cabernet Pfeffer. All are red grape varieties with varied origins based within or near the Mediterranean. In the case of Cabernet Pfeffer, information is scarce but it seems to be a name born out of California for a variety that was not recognised in the United States, known in France and Argentina as Gros Verdot. If anyone has further information to share on the origins of Cabernet Pfeffer please leave a comment.

I purchased one bottle of each variety and over the course of a week tried each wine on at least two separate occasions. My thoughts on each variety are below.

Negrette 08 - A lighter bodied red wine that is said to have properties of both Pinot Noir and Syrah/Shiraz. It is purple in colour with perhaps a dash of raspberry-like red that had fruit and herb like aromas, fruit driven flavours and just the slightest hint of sweetness left on the palate upon finish.
Price - $24

Aglianico 08 - Light blood red in colour with a tiny hint of purple to the edges. The aroma was full of red berry fruit and had a small touch of oak/wood. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that the Italian variety is full bodied, highly tanic and perhaps not the most enjoyable variety on its own at this age. My least favourite of the four wines but throw in a fatty piece of meat or give it ten years and it is likely to be a much more enjoyable experience.
Price - $28

Touriga 09 - Cherry red in colour with a hint of purple with an aroma that was not all that alluring and came across as 'dusty' for lack of something more descriptive. The flavour was rather unique but some more familiar juicy fruit flavours did come through and I found the after taste of the wine very pleasant and reminiscent of a candy I loved as child known as Hooley Dooleys, which Skittles seemed to replace.
Price - $36

Cabernet Pfeffer 07 - A rather light, but attractive scarlet like red in colour with a floral aroma and noticeable red berry fruit and a touch of pepper. On the palate it was mainly those red berry fruit flavours and a bit of spice that remained but it was all well balanced. There was a rather subtle but odd salty aftertaste that I found unusual but not overly unpleasant.
$34

NOTE: The Cabernet Pfeffer and Negrette are grown in San Benito County while the Touriga and Aglianico are grown in Paso Robles.

I would like to give a more than an honourable mention to the fact that the Tempranillo, Mouvedre and Zinfandel from Kenneth Volk. All were also fantastic wines that I highly recommend and show that red varieties are clearly Kenneth's strength and probable preference.

 

Niner Wine Estates - 2006 Petite Sirah

One of the first things I did when I arrived in United States back in May was to take a road trip up from Los Angeles through the Central Coast of California and I was advised that Paso Robles was a great place to make my first stop. Paso Robles is approximately three hours north of Los Angeles and is a sub-region of the California Central Coast area that boasts over 250 wineries. On a trip to the popular tourist destination, Hearst Castle, I noticed the Niner tasting room and randomly stopped in to check them out.

The tasting room is a really beautiful open plan space that instantly makes guests feel at home and even with over a dozen guests you won't feel cramped as there is plenty of space inside and out. Of all the wines I tried it was the 2006 Petite Sirah that stood out to me. Made with 14% Syrah/Shiraz, this wine is  very dark red in colour with a nice aroma of dark fruits and blackcurrent. Lovely and smooth this was one of the first fruit driven wines I had experienced after a dozen or so reds from the Californian Central Coast that were much more savoury in style.

Niner Wine Estates 2006 Petite Sirah
Price - $28 plus taxes from Niner Wine Estates
Region - Paso Robles, California Central Coast, United States
Final Sip - A really great wine that I thoroughly enjoyed and it paired very well with a Lamb Ragu with Parpadelle!

(Below: The Exterior and Interior of the Niner Tasting Room)