Notes from Wine Country

What we're tasting: Pic-Chapoutier

I am very pleased to announce the addition of Pic-Chapoutier wines to the ABC portfolio of fine wines.

From Burgundy: It's all in the dirt

I don't believe the French term "terroir" is more important anywhere else in the wine world than it is in Burgundy, France. Terroir is used to describe all aspects of nature that influence the growing of the grapes, i.e., sun exposure, soil composition, wind, rain, etc. Burgundy is made up of myriad micro-climates that can change not just from vineyard to vineyard, but from row to row. We drove through  some of the most expensive patches of dirt in the world, trying to understand why this piece of land produces wines that can sell for a thousand dollars a bottle and the land thirty yards away can "only" get ninety-five dollars per bottle. Terroir!

   These wines of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay separate themselves from wines of the same grape varietals solely on the fact that their terroir cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. The wines we have been tasting from Lequin-Colin, Paul Pillot, Ballot and others are wines full of subtle nuances that confound those looking for big, bold wines of extract and alcohol, but bring great pleasure to those who enjoy the intricate flavors that only a great Burgundy can produce.

 

  We will be visiting properties in Chablis where the chalky soils and absence of barrel aging produces a very true expression of the Chardonnay grape. I will be writing a much more indepth report on the trip through Burgundy and the Rhone in the next few weeks...

 

Ken Amendola

Wine Supervisor, N. Florida

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena

On the Road Again

I'm heading back to "wine country". This should be a familiar theme in the near future to those readers of our wine blog because I am not alone in this endeavor. In fact all six of my fellow wine bloggers [wine supervisors] as well as a dozen of our top wine consultants will be traveling to the vineyards of France and Italy in the next few weeks.

Shayne Hebert, Ken Amendola and Jim Greeley will be traveling to France to visit producers in the Rhone Valley and Burgundy. Atanas Nechkov, Bill Stobbs and yours truly will be traveling to Italy to visit producers in Piedmont and Tuscany. Marie Griffin decided she didn't want to travel with the boys so she will be off to France shopping in Paris as well as visiting wine makers in the Loire and Rhone Valleys [wish we were together, Marie]. This should make for some interesting reading, especially if you have grown tired of reading some of our recent articles about cat food and duck fat.

On the Italian tour we will be visiting some great estates whose wines are imported by Jonathan Shiekman, owner of Margate Wine & Spirits Company. I will be reporting back on Fattoria Querciarossa, Tenuta Casuccio Tarletti and Tenuta Poggio Il Castellare, as well as some estates we do not yet have in our stores. I will also be staying on a few extra days with our main wine buyer, Brad Lewis, to visit some lesser known estates like Altesino, Castello Di Bossi, Falesco and Tignanello.

It would be hard to say what I am most looking forward to but if pressed it would have to be my visit to the picturesque hillside town of Montalcino. We have appointments scheduled at two classic estates; Poggio Il Castellare and Altesino.  Montalcino has several great vintages [2006, 2007, 2010] that will be in our stores in the coming months and years [for the 2010]. I look forward to reporting back on as many vintages that I'm allowed to taste.

Please stay tuned as I'm sure there will be a plethora of news for you.

Paul Quaglini, SE Florida Wine Supervisor

 Follow me on Twitter @abcwinepaulq

 

 

Something for everyone: the world beer tour continues in Copenhagen

Today I am in Copenhagen, Denmark, at Carlsberg Breweries tasting Carlsberg “Elephant”, a European strong lager.  This is the European equivalent to an American malt liquor.  This type of beer is usually meant for a quick buzz with very little flavor.  Very few microbreweries produce this style for that reason.  Rogue offers “Daddy’s Little Helper,” but mostly you will find those 16 to 40 ouncers like Colt 45, Olde English, Mickey’s, and Steel Reserve.  Rice and corn are heavily used to lighten the body and give a smoother drinkability to offset the high alcohol taste.  I am almost tempted to get a little brown bag for this one--to be honest, it's not my favorite style, and your mileage may vary.

Appearance: I am serving this ice cold in a regular tumbler.  It is a big 7.2% ABV.  A menacing bull elephant stares me down from the silver label.  It pours a light ochre color with a sizzling white head.

Smell: musty wet cereal and alcohol solvent.  The hops are probably Pilsner style Saaz to keep bitterness to a minimum.

Taste: cloying malt sweetness with almost a seltzer water quality and an astringent finish.  The alcohol solvent taste shines through and sits heavy in the stomach.

It is much as to be expected from a strong lager/malt liquor in a convenient twelve ounce size.  Many beer drinkers will probably want to use this in a drinking game for quick inebriation.  It's not to my taste, although there are people who prefer this style. I believe this is the only Euro strong lager ABC has to offer unless there is any Efes or King Cobra is out there.  Break out the beer pong and get to tossing!

 

beer blogger Adam Shugan is the manager at our Silver Springs Blvd, Ocala, store

Godello, At Long Last...

I’m preparing for another sojourn across “The Pond”; bag half-packed, checklist in-hand, dry cleaning to pick up, loose ends to tie before departure etc.  Heading home, I swung by the Port Charlotte ABCFWS to retrieve the extra pack of business cards I had squirreled away in my office desk drawer and to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner.  The store staff was feverishly putting away the latest delivery, when I glanced at the new wines that just arrived.  And then I saw it…..

Could it be?  Godello!!   Yes!!!

Specifically the new Atalaya do Mar Godello from the Monterrei DO.  Hello, you crisp, white Galician beauty!  Where have you been?  Took the long route home, did you?  I've been worried.  What took you so long?

OK, “worried” might be a bit of stretch.  “Pleasantly surprised” probably sums it up better.  I thought we ordered this new wine eons ago (we did, about seven months).  I'd have bet the farm that it would've been delivered just after the holidays.  February rolled around but no Godello.  On more than one occasion, I checked with our Orlando office for a status report.  Several times I heard the phrase “it’s not coming”.

Ah, the vagaries of wine importing.

As a company, we literally scour the world for our Direct-to-You exclusives.  The wine team collectively selected this little gem in a tasting of Spanish wines last September.  I had been bitten by the Godello bug after first enjoying a glass at my favorite tapas restaurant early in ’11.  I then had the pleasure of sampling more on a trip to Galicia last July (blog post on Jan 5, 2012). About the same time, Bill Stobbs and Shayne Hebert became Godello converts too.  We lobbied our buyer, Brad Lewis to add one to our growing Spanish portfolio. 

And there you have it, albeit a little later than anticipated.  One man’s quest for Spain’s most exciting white wine grape ends tonight in a glass of juicy, slate and talc tinged, exotically fruited, complex white wine.  Cheers!

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida

Follow me on Twitter @AbcWineJimg

A little wine, a little history...

While attending the Dusseldorf Wine & Spirits trade show in March (Prowein), I experienced a number of great new wines. What a fantastic event! Wines from so many countries to try. But even though the event itself was a wine lover's dream, a visit to the Mosel afterwards completed the dream. We visited one of my favorite estates, Weingut Thanisch.

This story-book estate's vineyards overlook the medieval city of Bernkastel, on the Mosel River. It was founded in 1895 by Dr. Hugo Thanisch, a Prussian politician and his wife Katharina. The Riesling wines from the great "Berncasteler Doctor" vineyard are some of the most famous white wines in the world. According to a legend of the 14th. century, Bishop Boemond II (1354-1362) cured himself by drinking this wine and gave it the name "Berncasteler Doctor". Today the estate is managed by Sofia Thanisch, the great granddaughter of the founders, and the fourth generation of women to run the estate! ABC carries a variety of Thanisch wines at great retail prices.

Marie Griffin, Central NW Florida Wine Supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinemarieg

Black Bush Whiskey from Bushmills: spice up your drink

Color: golden orange both clear, brilliant, and deep. Polished pennies. Thick layer of tears upon gentle swirling. Nose: spiced boozy sweet apricots and peaches followed by oak and cracked pepper. Saffron wafts by upon a gentle breeze. Touch of flambéed banana in the middle – bananas foster comes to mind. Candied pineapple chunks. Heat is a gentle tease in the back. Palate: sweet then oily then spicy and hot, with the heat growing softly and slowly in the back of my throat and just before it becomes too much, it levels out. Peppercorn and embers. Bananas foster and flambéed banana peel. Saffron and cracked pepper in the breath. Boozed, stewed, succulent peaches and apricots. Finish: long, lingering, and mischievous. A dry spiced raw oak heat warms the chest and invites long lingering nights lounging in a lazy chair by the fire before finishing with a soft soothing honeyed kiss. Certainly not the black sheep of the Bushmills family by any means, the venerable spunkerific Black Bush was welcomed into the family fold in 1934 as the “Old Bushmills Special Old Liqueur Whiskey”. That tongue twister has since been shortened down to the aforementioned Black Bush. Featuring a generous malt whiskey content, the finished distillate is aged in specially selected previously used Spanish Oloroso oak casks mature to add further complexity to the malt before it is blended into a much lower ratio of sweet single grain whiskey, hence the nice spicy kick to one’s tastebuds. Yowzum! Innovation. Tradition. Soul. Pride. Many more prophetic adjectives could be used to describe the enduring legacy of Bushmills with my words being yet another offering to the angels share and everything in-between and after. It is privilege to savor Black Bush and every time I pour a dram and share a dram, the great legacy of Bushmills lives on. Liquid history. Know it. Share it. Drink it. Cherish it.

 

Kristyn Lier, Vero Beach (20th St. ABC Fine Wine and Spirits) -- read more of her reviews and musings on her website: beerambassador.net.

Rare finds: Weyerbacher Quad

Weyerbacher is one of those breweries that has never let me down, and I have no doubt that their Quad will be of similar blessing. A Belgian-style quadruple and one of the first ever brewed in America, she has won many accolades since her inception. Weyerbacher also ages a limited quantity of their Quad in oak-barrels each year, and we all know my love for beery things aged in oak. The standard Quad from Weyerbacher may not be aged in oak, but she screams decadence nonetheless. With nary a reservation, I happily surrender myself to her will.

 A thick, viscous pour almost threatens to upset the balance of gravity as she slowly meanders her way into my awaiting chalice. Deep, burnt orange with shades of khaki and leather, she sports only a minuscule head which disappears almost as quickly as she appeared. Compared to other Belgian quads, she is the palest one that I have seen visually; I am used to deep russet browns with fluffy tan heads planted firmly atop their murky wealth. Intrigued by her seemingly light clarity, I raise my glass to my nose and am immediately smitten by her massive nose. She may be pale in color, but her nose bursts with a rich bouquet of yeasts, cinnamon, ginger and ginger bread, nutmeg, orange, mango, melons, red apples, bananas, and bubblegum. Thick, rich, and succulent; I can almost touch it. As I lean in for a more intimate experience, our lips touch in an explosion of thick, mouth-coating yeasty ecstasy. Her high ABV is front and center with almost immediate warmth that permeates and lingers long into the finish. Bananas and spice add to her heavy nature while mango, melons, and oranges are drizzled with chilled honey, thick, sticky, and sweet. A touch of dryness settles on top of my tongue like a gentle dry rub of cinnamon and nutmeg while the ginger adds a playful punch. As she warms, her viscosity increases along with the overall intensity of her palate. It is a good thing I am sitting down, for I am feeling a bit weak in the knees in beery ecstasy. Luckily, I am able to retain my senses, and savor each sip of my Weyerbacher Quad up until the very last one.

 If a quadruple and tripel were to have a scandalous tryst and bear a child, she might be a lot like the Weyerbacher Quad. But quadruples, like all Belgian “styles” are a kind of enigma; a denomination more for strength of palate and alcohol than taste, color, and aroma which is why the Weyerbacher Quad is as much of a quad as St. Bernardus Abt. 12 or Chimay Grande Reserve. Mm, mm, tasty.

 

Beer blogger Kristyn Lier can be found at our 20th Street, Vero Beach store, and more of her writings can be found on her personal blog: beerambassador.net

Great wines of Oz: d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz

Continuing my occasional look at some great Australian wine, I’m sitting here with a bottle of d’Arenberg ‘The Dead Arm’ Shiraz in front of me.

There are literally hundreds of great d’Arenberg wine stories that are still regularly told when wine lovers get together. The vineyard itself, located in the McLaren Vale, was purchased exactly one hundred years ago this year by teetotaler Joseph Osborn. The winery truly came into its own when third generation family member Francis d’Arenberg Osborn – universally known as d’Arry – launched the d’Arenberg (his mother’s maiden name) label in 1959. Now in his eighties, d’Arry is a much loved and respected figure in the wine industry and is still involved in the wine-making process along with his son, the dynamic and decidedly individual Chief Winemaker Chester d’Arenberg Osborn.

Great finds in Bordeaux

As you may know, the 2011 Bordeaux Futures campaign is now open. Here are some insider tips from the Bordeaux Futures tastings I was at two weeks ago.

 

Highly recommended:

 Inexpensive: Domain de l'A 2011- saturated ruby red, great fruit, red berries and black cherry, nice middle and balance, long finish.

 

Moderately priced: Chateau Franc Mayne 2011 - deep ruby color, freshness, elegance and power, long finish. Great effort; sleeper of the vintage.

 Expensive: Chateau Troplong Mondot 2011 - one of the best St Emilion estates and very consistent in recent vintages. Another great effort, this 2011 exhibits saturated  ruby red color, aromas and flavors of blueberry and blackberry fruit, great balance, elegance and depth, long lasting finish.

 

Atanas Nechkov, Wine Supervisor Central Florida

Follow me on Twitter @abcwineatanas