Tag Archives: tasting note

Apr 03 2014
10 Comments
2006, Italy, Montepulciano

Revisiting the 2006 Cantina del Redi Vino Nobile Riserva

2006 Vecchia Cantina Vino Nobile Redi Argo et Non Briareo Riserva

2006 Vecchia Cantina Vino Nobile Redi Argo et Non Briareo Riserva

About a year ago, we tried the 2006 Vecchia Cantina Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Redi Argo et Non Briareo Riserva. I had picked it up on sale at WTSO because I remembered liking this cooperative’s wines when I first tried them during a trip to Italy in 2005. We tried the first bottle soon after it arrived, and both Nina and I were raving about it (see here). In short, the wine was really good, took quite a while to open up (we decanted it) and was a lot of fun…I finished that post by stating that I wished I had bought many more bottles to follow the wine for at least ten more years.

Last week, we opened the second bottle we have. Upon opening, the wine showed itself very closed off, almost harsh. There were a ton of hard tannins, so I decided to decant it again. After an hour, the wine showed a perfumed nose of raisins, prunes and chalk, but it still seemed quite closed. So we waited another half hour and then finally gave it a try: It showed good acidity, with prevailing aromas of leather. The tannins were gripping, leading to cherry and flower aromas (probably violets). The finish showed some bitter aromas and was definitely shortening compared to last year.

This tasting was a bit of a mystery: This bottle was way less expressive than the one we tried last year. It did not seem to me like the wine was on its way downhill. It felt more like it was asleep. I am aware that wines can go through these cycles and I wonder whether I hit this bottle at a weird moment in its development. Like I said, the aromas were still fresh enough to indicate it is not on its way out, the wine still was firm and fresh. We left some for the next day to see whether it opened up more, but there was barely any budging. Nina was very disappointed with the wine, but I have not given up hope for the next bottle which we’ll try in a couple of months…

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Feb 25 2014
8 Comments
2012, France, Loire

2012 Domaine des Aubuisières Cuvée de Silex Vouvray

Different vintage, same bottle (Photo taken from Peter Weygandt, the importer’s, website – click the photo to get there)

I don’t know about you, but I am getting so sick of this winter weather in Michigan. The other day we had rain/snow/thunderstorm conditions resulting in slush everywhere. I come from one of Germany’s warmest regions, and am not used to these several month long winters that just drag on and on…

On the wine front, winter also means more red wine consumption for me. It comes naturally, but I am also realizing I am getting a tad tired of drinking mostly reds. Always a sure sign winter better be over. I do drink whites during winter as well, but especially the lighter, easy to drink Rieslings often don’t quite feel right, and our treasure chest of good, deeper, heavier Rieslings has been dwindling as of late. The more I relished Nina’s find from a few months ago: The 2012 Domaine des Aubuisières Cuvée Silex, a wine from the Vouvray region. This is definitely a first on this blog: A French white. OMG, what’s wrong with me??

Let me give you some background on Vouvray: It’s an AOC region in the Loire valley in Western France, just east of Tours. The region is France’s largest producer of Chenin blanc grapes, which are naturally high in acidity. Its climatic conditions are favorable to noble rot (botrytis) which is usually helpful in producing very sweet, age-worthy wines (like BA or TBA in Germany, or Sauternes in France). Vouvray also produces sparklers for those so inclined.

Our bottle from Domaine des Aubusières is owned by Bernard Fouquet with 28 hectares under vine. Apparently, Fouquet is a younger guy and has garnered some praise for his wines (see his importer’s page, and there is a pretty cool portrait about the winery from 2009 on the Jim’s Loire blog). He makes single vineyard and cuvée wines. The wine we had, the Cuvée de Silex, grew on clay soils, and has 9 grams of residual sugar per liter (at low end of medium-sweet when you look at German wine law), 6.85 gr/l of acidity, and ticked in at 13% ABV. Nina had discovered it at a tasting hosted by Village Wine Corner, a local wine shop with tons of charme and tastings every other month, and loved it for what she described as “cinnamon wine”. Now you see why this wine could make sense in cold weather, right?

Here are my tasting notes from when we tried it the other day: The color a bright yellow, the nose showed lightly smoky aromas, citrus, and hints of cinnamon (not as much as Nina seemed to remember). The alcohol was noticeable, but not oppressive. On the palate, the first thing I noticed, was how good it felt in the mouth. It had the right amount of – I don’t want to say silkiness, because that wasn’t it; I want to use the word woolly, do you get what I mean? It was heavy enough to warm me, yet showed great acidity which kept it fresh. The feel of this wine had a soothing quality, it made me want to cuddle up with it. Maybe that’s why I am thinking woolly. There were aromas of grape and again, slight cinnamon. The wine tasted dry, the sugar was no issue whatsoever. It paired exceptionally well with some soft cheeses we had (particularly with a Délice de Bourgogne, a triple cream brie type cheese). We shared the bottle with friends and it went down in no time…I am not sure it would drink that well in the summer, but to me, this was a great, great winter white. They exist. We just have to find them!

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Jan 24 2014
6 Comments
Cider

Woodchuck Farmhouse Select Hard Cider Original ’91

Woodchuck Farmhouse Selection Hard Cider Original '91

Woodchuck Farmhouse Selection Hard Cider Original ’91

I wasn’t going to write a post about this cider, but then again, it was really tasty so I decided to go ahead. As some of you may remember, I have a weak spot for cider (not for $20 a bottle ciders, but that is another story) and have written about some in the past. While I initially drank it in summer as a refreshing beer alternative that actually had flavors I appreciate, I have been discovering more and more ciders that are well suited for winter time as well.

I found this Woodchuck Farmhouse Select Original ’91 at Costco, where our Ann Arbor store had set up a craft beer section in late 2013. While it mainly consisted of Belgian and American craft beers, it also had this cider which I decided to grab while I stacked the cart with beers for Nina.

Woodchuck is a familiar name, being one of the big cider producers from Vermont. With this “Farmhouse Select” line, apparently they want to go more craftsy, hence also their placement with the craft beers. The ’91 is alluding to the year Woodchuck started in a small garage in Vermont. Woodchuck claims they were trying to recreate the early flavors with this cider. Not sure whether that worked out, but I do have to say I found the Original 91 pretty tasty. It has 6.9% ABV and comes in a 1 pint 2 fl.oz. bottle (that’s 750 ml for my rest of the world readers).

It poured in a golden color and the first noticeable trait was its reduced carbonation. There was barely any, which I found great. Flavors of tart apple paired with honey and some wood combined to a tasty experience. It did have the feeling of a craft cider, although I doubt this would actually fit the definition coming from a big cider mill. Still, totally worth experiencing and not hitting your bank account like some of those craft ciders going for over $20 a bottle. This was $8.99, I think. I’d drink this again any time.

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