Oyster & Wine--a "Shucking" Experience!

Yesterday I went to an Oyster & Wine "Shuck Fest" at Gordon's Wine & Liquor in Waltham. They had Island Creek Oysters shucking local oysters from Duxbury, MA and paired them with 23 different wines. I do have to admit that oysters are a recent like. I tried them for the very first time in the middle of the Kalihari Desert during a trip to Namibia. Wow! So, when I saw the notice for the Oyster & Wine tasting, I jumped at the chance to go.

It was a walk-around tasting event so I had to balance a plate of oysters, a glass of wine, and my tasting notes all at the same time. The oysters were delicious, but the line for the shuckers was so long that I gave up after a couple and focused on trying the wines. We were supposed to vote for which wine paired best with the oysters, but I had to abstain from judgement! I tried to focus on specific varietals at a time so I could make good cross comparisons.

First up was the champagnes & sparkling wines. I tasted three excellent French champagnes side by side:

Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial (mostly Pinot mineur) $45
Ruinart Blanc de Blanc (100% Chardonnay) $65
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (mostly Pinot noir) $40

My overall favorite was the Moet. Crisp, slightly sweet, nice creamy nose and mouthfeel. Tasting all three in a row allowed me to really pick out the differences in the nose and taste. The Ruinart had more toast notes from aging on the lees, while the Veuve had an interesting smokiness to the nose. But let's face it, I'm getting picky with three very good French Champagnes!

The second round was the sauvignon blancs:
Chateau de Sancerre (France--Bourdeaux), $26: restrained minerality, less fruitiness
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand), $31: Classic NZ sauvignon blanc, big citrus & lemongrass aromas. Two thumbs up!!!
Sauvion Muscadet Haute Culture (France--Loire Valley), $15: Nice & fruity
2007 Goisot St. Bris (France--Burgundy), $18: Limp & tasteless
Croney Estates Three Ton Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand), $15: Excellent, crisp, big citrus nose.

Overall favorite--Cloudy Bay was the hands down winner. But, the Croney Estates was excellent for the price. Greg Crone, the winemaker, was there pouring. The 3 ton thing refers to the grape yield restrictions that he places on the vines to concentrate the flavors. I was very impressed with his wines. I bought a bottle!

Third round was chardonnay:
Croney Estates Three Ton Chardonnay (New Zealand), $15: More like a sauvignon blanc than a chard. No oak. Big fruity flavors. Clean
2006 Billaud Simon Chablis (France--Burgundy), $30: Smooth, nice crisp, mineral finish.
2006 Billaud Simon Chablis Premier Cru (France--Burgundy), $50: Even better!

I liked the Premier Cru the best, but again, for the money, the Croney Estates was excellent. I bought another bottle.

I also tried a couple of random varietals. The 2007 Stafford Hill Riesling ($15) from Oregon was one tart wine! And the Bartenura Moscato ($16) was a nice sweet wine to finish the whites. Too sweet for me to want to drink a bottle, but would make an excellent date wine. And I finished the day on the Croney Estates Two Ton Pinot Noir ($20). A little austere & restrained, but still a very nice pinot noir.

As you can tell, even though I didn't get to have many oysters, the afternoon was a smashing success! It was a lot of fun to try the champagnes together and the two quality levels of Billaud Simon Chablis side by side.

I highly recommend the classes and events at Gordon's. A good time is always had by all!

Salute,
a Wine Student

A German Reisling Experience, Part I

Last month I took a MUCH needed vacation and went to visit my brother in Namibia. Where's that you ask? Well, it's on the western coast of Africa just north of South Africa, or about as far away from Massachusetts as I could get! My brother and his family have been living in Namibia since January, 2009 while he teaches wildlife ecology & conservation at the Polytechnic University of Namibia. For more details on his adventures, I'll refer you to his blog.

But getting from Boston to Namibia is half the fun of the trip. There are no direct flights from the US, so I had to hop a plane to Frankfurt, Germany and then switch to Air Namibia for the flight down south. Namibia used to be a German colony and it still serves as a big vacation spot for Germans and other Europeans. I was facing a 7.5 hr flight to Germany followed by a 10 hour flight to Namibia, so I decided to break it up and spend a few days in and around Frankfurt in between flights. Since Frankfurt is on the edge of several German wine regions, I wanted to try as many German wines as I could during my stay. The first evening in Frankfurt, I went for the beer experience with dinner and had a very nice local Pilsner and Dunkelbier at one of the touristy restaurants in the Aldstadt (Old City). The second evening, I found a wonderful fish market/restaurant called the Fisch Franke and had a wonderful broiled plate of salmon, tuna, and pike perch along with a Rheingau Reisling Kabinett. Don't ask me the winery because I didn't have my notepad with me during dinner, but it was a very nice wine with an acidic bite in the finish. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped into a local wine shop and found a very helpful salesman (who fortunately spoke English) who gave me a good recommendation for a bottle of premium riesling to sample back at the hotel.

Weingüter Wegeler Geiheimrat J Riesling 2006 QmP
Country of origin: Germany
Appellation: Rheigau
Varietal: 100% Riesling
Stats: 12.5% ABV, Spätlese Trocken
Cost: 16.80 Euros (~$24)

Appearance: Light straw yellow
Aroma: Light floral, pears, apricots, strawberries, and delicate citrus
Taste: The nose repeats on the pallate with a lightly crisp finish

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the bottle and the winery seems to be constructing their webpage, but here's a link to a German wine site with a LOT of information on the winery. I really enjoyed this wine. For those of you who don't know much about the German AOC system, QmP is the highest level of quality. There are additional quality designations that are based on the sugar content of the grapes at harvest. Kabinett is the lowest level of sugar allowed at harvest, while spätlese is a late harvest when the grapes are more fully ripe and have higher sugar levels. There are about 3 more levels beyond that, but they quickly soar into the dessert wine arena, while kabinett and spätlese wines are often finished dry (trocken). This wine still has a low level of residual sugars (1.5 g/L glucose and 5/4 g/L fructose) but well within the dry category.

The Rheingau region is probably considered Germany's highest quality wine region and lies exclusively along the banks of the Rhine River between Kelsterbach in the east and Bacharach in the west. The Rhine River cuts almost straight east-west between these towns and the vineyards are almost exclusively on the north bank of the river where the steep, steep hillsides catch the most sun. I took a train ride along the Rhine and these are steep hillsides! I blatantly stole this photo from the web, but it shows how steep these vineyards are. Amazing!





Salute,
a Wine Student

Kaz Vineyard & Winery Machismo 2006

Kaz Vineyard & Winery Machismo 2006
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Sonoma Valley
Varietal: 100% Counoise
Stats: 13.8% ABV, dry
Cost: $40 at the winery

Appearance: Light medium garnet, good legs
Aroma: Initial burst of vanilla & cherry with some black pepper and vegetal notes around the edges. A little dark cassis in the end.
Taste: Upfront sharp cherry fruit with a fairly tart cedar finish. Medium body.

I was rather intrigued by this wine when I visited Kaz Vineyard & Winery earlier this year. I can't say that I've ever heard of the grape varietal Counoise before and had to try it. Kaz describes it as a "studly" Pinot Noir with sharper fruit plus leather and cedar. I agree with the sharpness and cedar, but I'm not getting much leather in this wine. Wikipedia claims that the dark-skinned, but low tannic grape is grown almost solely in the Rhone Valley region of France (1580 acres), where it is allowed as a blending varietal in Chataueneuf-du-Pape wines. The Rhone connection is not a surprise since a Google search indicates that another Rhone Ranger winery, Tablas Creek, is the only place that admits to growing (5 acres) and using Counoise.

I've tasted this over 3 evenings. Night one was in a classic Bourdeaux-style Riedel glass, which did not showcase the wine. The flavors seemed tight and very in my face. I tried a Burgundy-style Riedel glass on the second night due to the pinot reference and found that much more to my liking. Granted, the wine had had an additional 24 hrs under vacuum to breathe, but the larger glass bowl seemed to give the aromas room to move and not deliver a concentrated punch to the nose.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Loxton Cellars 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

After getting off the plane from Germany, I felt like a nice glass of wine before heading to bed to sleep off the jet lag. I chose a bottle that I had picked up on a recent visit to Loxton Cellars earlier this spring. A relatively new winery, winemaker Christopher focuses on syrah and zinfandel (although he obviously makes a cabernet sauvignon, too!).

Loxton Cellars 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Buffalo Bluff Vineyard
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: North Coast
Stats: 14.3% ABV, dry
Cost: $26 at the winery

Appearance: Inky garnet with just a hint of brick along the edge. Massive legs.
Aroma: Massive fruity blast of cherries and blackberries. Hint of chocolate and coconut.
Taste: The blast of fruit in the nose repeats in the mouth along with a tannin chaser. Big, massive cabernet that wakes up your senses. Relatively nicely balanced considering the alcohol levels.

Notes from the winemaker:
Buffalo Bluff is a steep hillside vineyard north of Calistoga. It gives me some of the smallest grape berries I’ve seen and the challenge of this dry-farmed hillside fruit is to tame how big the wine wants to be. Aged two years in barrel and one year in bottle, this is a full-throttle mountain Cab that screams for a good steak. Big wine, sweet fruit, grippy Cab tannins; it’s like chocolate covered cherries and should age well. 187 cases produced.

Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery Tour

I just got back from spending a very rainy day visiting the Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery in Westport, MA with ~20 other friends from my social club. Thanks to Tropical Storm Danny, we did not get to wander through the vineyards or taste on the lawn, but we did get a very nice in-depth tour of the winemaking facilities. Our tour guide, Craig, also gave us a very detailed walk-through of the winemaking process.

Those of you in New England (and other sparkling wine fanatics) may have heard of Westport Rivers. They are probably the best quality winery in Massachusetts, and are well known and regarded for their sparkling wines made from 100% estate grown grapes. I can hear the outcry--"It's too cold to grow grapes in MA!" Well, yes, the growing season for MA is short and is not well suited for the ripening of red vinifera grapes, but is actually quite similar to the climate of northern European grape growing regions like Champagne, Alsace, Chablis, and the Mosel & Rhine valleys. So just as those regions specialize in wines from white grapes that ripen faster, Westport Rivers grows only colder climate vinifera grapes, such as chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot noir, & meunier. Ah ha, you're sharp eyes correctly identified that pinot noir is a red grape, but Westport Rivers uses it to make sparkling wine and róses, not red wine.

Their sparkling wines are made in the "Traditional Method", or "fermented in this bottle." Since they ain't in Champagne, they can't legally say that the wine is made in the "Méthode Champenoise", but it's the same thing. A still base wine is made and bottled, along with a shot of sugar and yeast. The wine bottles are then tiraged, or allowed to rest for 3-14 years while the wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Once the winemaker determines that the flavors are what he's looking for, then the bottles are riddled (slowly turned) to allow the yeast solids to fall into the neck of the bottle. That solid plug is then disgorged and the champagne is ready for consumption.

After our tour, we tasted 6 wines. Unfortunately, 4 of their sparkling wines were sold out, so we only got to taste the 2003 Westport Brut made from 73% pinot noir & meunier and 27% chardonnay. A delightful crisp, drier sparkling wine with a lot of apple & pear aromas. We then moved on to the still wines and tasted the 2006 Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, 2007 Rosé of Pinot Noir, 2007 Rkatsiteli, and the Pineau de Pinot. All were quite good, but the Pinot Gris was my favorite. It's a blend of the 2006 & 2007 vintages with a big full body, wonderful aromas of pear, honey, and citrus, and a long fruity finish.

This was the first time that I've ever tried a Rkatsiteli wine. It's a white vinifera grape that was originally native to the Georgian region of Asia. Similar to a reisling or gewurztraminer, but not quite as floral. Big aromas of lemon and kiwi that ends on the tongue with a crisp citrus note.

The Pineau de Pinot was also an interesting wine. It's fortified wine of about 18% ABV almost like a sherry that's made by distilling a pinot noir wine. The distillate is then mixed with fresh pinot noir juice and aged in old French oak. Definitely a sipper along side a créme brulée.

I've wanted to get down to Westport for awhile and I'm very glad that I had the chance today. Fortunately, we were indoors during the worst of Tropical Storm Danny while we enjoyed some very nice wine. I like the wines so much that 6 bottles followed me out to the truck! I'll report on each of them in turn.

Salute!
a Wine Student

VJB Vineyards & Cellars 2007 Gabriella Ranch Chardonnay

I had an opportunity to stop at the VJB Vineyards & Cellars winery on a business trip this past February 2009. Hey--there's only so many hours in the day for work! I was glad I did because 6 bottles of their wine followed me home. I popped in on a fairly slow Saturday morning and had a chance to talk with the pourer. This is a fairly new winery, having been started in 1999. The Belmonte family had been running a restaurant in the Kenwood area, and the sons, Victor & Henry, decided to start making their own wine to serve in the restaurant. Victor passed away shortly after the winery was started, so it was renamed as VJB in his honor. Ten years later, it is still a smallish operation with only 4000 cases of annual production. When I was there, they had just gotten the permits to start construction of a new larger wine production & tasting facility next door.

VJB Vineyards & Cellars 2007 Chardonnay
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Sonoma County
Stats: 13.5% ABV, dry, stainless steel fermentation.
Cost: $18 at the winery

Appearance: Crystal clear, light straw yellow, good leg structure
Aroma: Initial aromas of pears and white peaches, with a light pineapple finish at the end.
Taste: Clean & crisp. Muted fruit flavors of pears, melons, white peaches, & apricots. Slight butteriness & minerality on the finish.

Since summer has finally hit the Boston area, I thought this would be a good summer wine for dinner last night--and I was correct. The grapes from this wine were sourced Sonoma County and fermented in 100% stainless steel to produce a European style wine with clean, crisp fruit flavors. I've been trying to decide if a malo-lactic fermentation was performed, and I think so (rounded mouthfeel & slight buttery notes), but this is not your massive over-oaked, buttery chardonnay that used to dominate the California chardonnay scene. Very delightful wine that paired well with grilled BBQ chicken & brocolli last night.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Lone Oak Vineyard Estates Vin du Roi

For you faithful blog readers, you'll recall that I blogged about visiting Laurel Lake Vineyards on Long Island, NY last spring and a tasting report of their 2003 Cabernet Franc. I have the distinct pleasure of reporting on another of their wines, the 2004 Merlot.

Lone Oak Vineyard Estates Vin du roi
Country of origin: USA
Region: Michigan
Appellation: SE Michigan (not an official AVA!)
Stats: 13% ABV, dry, blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, & Petit Verdot
Cost: $25 at the winery

Appearance: Dark garnet
Aroma: Toasted oak, black pepper, green pepper, hint of dark stone fruit in the background
Taste: Overwhelming burst of vanilla, caramel, and oak. Green pepper in the quick to dissipate finish. Not a lot of fruit flavors to bind it all together.

Another entry from my back-log of tasting notes. I was a frequent taster of Lone Oak Vineyard Estates when I used to live in MI since the winery was only about 20 miles down the road outside Jackson, MI. Some wines I liked, some missed the spot. This is one that missed the spot. The oak simply overwhelmed the stone fruit flavors.

Salute,
a Wine Student