2016 Le Coeur de la Reine
What: 100% Gamay
Who: Rudolphe & Ludivine Marteau; Vincent Leclair
Where: Cher Valley, Touraine AOC, Loire Valley, France
Tastes Like: Bright berry aromas dominate in this light bodied red. On the palate, ripe red fruit flavors (strawberry and raspberry especially) are accented by a delicate spicy note. Smooth and mellow, delicious with just a bit of a chill.
Pairs With: Mild cheeses; Spag Amatriciana; Red Sauce Sunday; Summer; Good Times.
The Who:
A collaboration with Rodolphe & Ludivine Marteau and Vincent Leclair - both fourth generation families in Touraine. The Marteaus took over their family’s estate in 2010 which is a 29 hectare property is located on South bank of the river Cher, on siliceous-argilo (clay and flint) soils. Vincent assumed leadership in 2014 at his family’s 45 hectare estate in Pouillé, in the Cher Valley.
The Where:
The Touraine AOC stretches from the outer limits of the Anjou region to the gateways of the Sologne, in an area of confluence formed by the Loire river and its tributaries. The soils in the Touraine are very varied, with “perruches” (clay mixed with flint), “aubuis” (argilo-calcareous on a chalky subsoil) and sands on clays in the East. The influence of the sea in the West gradually takes on a continental character as you proceed Eastwards. These climatic differences combined with the different soils determine the selection of grape varieties grow
The Wine:
The vines average 30 years in age and are meticulously tended by the family. Short-cane pruning, selective ploughing, spring de-budding, deleafing, grass cover throughout the vineyard and green harvest practices all lend to limited yields and best quality fruit at harvest. Harvested by hand with vinification in stainless steel tanks including 8 days carbonic. Elevage in tank until release.
2017 Vietti Barbera d’Asti
Who: Lucca Currado
What: 100% Barbera
Where: Asti, Piedmont, Italy
Tastes Like: Barolo Light! Strong but integrated tannin with a light to medium body. Dried fruits and purple flowers, hint of barnyard.
Pairs With: Pates and terrines; Conchiglie with rabbit sugo; Rigatoni and mushrooms
The Who:
The history of the Vietti winery traces its roots back to the 19th Century. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, however, did the Vietti name become a winery offering its own wines in bottle.
Patriarch Mario Vietti, starting from 1919 made the first Vietti wines, selling most of the production in Italy. His most significant achievement was to transform the family farm, engaged in many fields, into a grape-growing and wine-producing business.
Then, in 1952, Alfredo Currado (Luciana Vietti’s husband) continued to produce high quality wines from their own vineyards and purchased grapes. The Vietti winery grew to one of the top-level producers in Piemonte and was one of the first wineries to export its products to the USA market.
Alfredo was one of the first to select and vinify grapes from single vineyards (such as Brunate, Rocche and Villero). This was a radical concept at the time, but today virtually every vintner making Barolo and Barbaresco wines offers “single vineyard” or “cru-designated” wines.
Alfredo is also called the “father of Arneis” as in 1967 he invested a lot of time to rediscover and understand this nearly-lost variety. Today Arneis is the most famous white wine from Roero area, north of Barolo. Setting such a fine example with Arneis, even fellow vintners as far away those on the west coast of the United States now are cultivating and producing Arneis!
The Wine:
The vineyard is located in the Scarrone area, from the oldest portion of the vineyard, facing south-east. We can count approximately 4300 plants per hectare.
The naturally low yields, due to the age, are further reduced by a strict selection of the grapes.
Vinification starts with a short period of cold maceration followed by 2 weeks of alcoholic fermentation in steel vats, with regular pumping overs. After this, the wine macerates for another week, then it is racked and it is moved to oak for malolactic.
Ageing: 18 months in big oak cask, barriques and steel tanks.
2015 Inama Piu Carmenere
Who: Matteo, Alessio, and Luca Inama
What: 75% Carmenere, 25% Merlot
Where: Soave Classico zone, Veneto
Tastes Like: Vivid purple, with a strong nose of dark cherry, cocoa, and violets. Fresh and lively on the palate, elegant tannins, and bright fruits characterize this medium plus wine.
Pairs with: Grilled pork, sopressa and other italian cured meats, anything smokey. BBQ.
The Who & Where:
The winemaking philosophy of Inama is guided by three points: one, that terroir is the most important point in determining a wine’s style; two, a wine’s caliber is determined by the strength of the ecosystem it is grown in, particularly the soil; and three, improvement is a difficult and continuous journey. The Inama estate is family owned, and is now being run by the third generation. The first plot of land on Monte Foscarino was purchased in 1965, but the Vulcaia Fume label did not enter the market for another 30 years.
The family’s holdings are nestled in the Veneto, between the two provinces of Verona and Vicenza. The region is marked by gently rolling hills, often forming natural amphitheaters perfectly suited to growing grapes. They own vineyards in both of the nearby territories: Soave Classico, birthplace of ancient and mineral white wines, and the Colli Berici, wild home of red wines.
The Wine:
Carmenere is a new grape to the Veneto, and the winemakers strive to make an alternative to the Valpolicella. Inama is the first estate to create an important project with the Carmenere in the Colli Berici area and to give an identity to this variety with a new DOC: Colli Berici Carmenere Riserva (see: Oratorio di San Lorenzo). This product, at the moment, has no competitors in Europe. All the vineyards are set up to produce reserve wines, and each season the winemakers decide which plot will be used for the reserve wines and which for the entry-level wines.
Più’ means ‘more’ in Italian and there’s more than just Carmenere in this typical blend from the Colli Berici, a line of gently rolling volcanic hills in Italy’s north-east. Merlot is a civilising influence, the plummy accent and refined tannins marry well with a touch of French oak. The iron-rich clay soil of the vineyards over a limestone base is perfect for Bordeaux varieties, of which Carmenere is the long-lost cousin. A southerly exposure ensures ripeness.
All varieties are 100% destemmed. After 12 days’ maceration in upright stainless fermenters with internal paddles the must is racked and malo occurs in steel. The wine is aged in 2nd fill French oak barriques for 12 months.
2012 La Rioja Alta, S.A. “Viña Alberdi” Reserva
Who: Julio Sáenz
What: 100% Tempranillo
Where: Haro, La Rioja Alta, Spain
Tastes Like: Rich, smokey, and lush, with raisinated fruits and tobacco notes.
Pairs With: BBQ, pasta, grilled vegetables and meats
La Rioja Alta and the Winery:
Rioja has a long tradition of winemaking stretching back thousands of years. The arrival of the phylloxera blights of the 1800’s contributed to the elevation of Rioja into the internationally recognized region that it is now. La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 by 5 enterprising Spanish and Basque families, in part to capitalize on this shift in demand: with Bordeaux devastated, full bodied reds needed to be found elsewhere. Mindful of the nature of impermanence, the five families drew up a constitution formalizing the creation of the Sociedad Vinícola de la Rioja Alta and signed it on July 10, 1890.
The document, which set out how they would pool resources, craft their wines and make decisions on growing the company, would guide them and future generations. The company’s first president was a woman and its first winemaker a Frenchman. Today, representatives of the fifth generation of all five families are still shareholders in the enterprise and among the social issues it presses today, with its considerable clout, are equal rights for women and the industry’s responsibility for the care of immigrants working its vineyards, and caring for the environment.
Though the region suffered from a drop in reputation mid-century from less scrupulous winemakers flooding the market with mediocre wine, La Rioja Alta has never let their standards of quality or adherence to local tradition slip.
Few dispute that La Rioja Alta S.A. is the leading quality-oriented producer in the Rioja. With more than 50,000 casks and 6.4 million bottles stored at any one time, the equivalent of about 8 years sales, La Rioja Alta S.A. is unique in its ability to supply large quantities of fully mature wines of world class quality. They currently own 400 hectares of estate-grown vineyards, believing that great wine comes from an understanding of the terroir and annual experience in the vineyard. The majority of their plantings are tempranillo, with limited cultivation of other local varietals Graciano, Garnacha, and Mazuelo. Yields are kept low. The winemakers take a very hands-on approach to winemaking, embracing modern technology to maintain control over the fermentation process.
Oak aging is a signature part of the local style, and Vina Alberdi embraces it. They have an on site cooperage, importing American oak and producing all necessary barrels by hand, using artisan techniques, in the 100-year-old winery in Haro. All wines spend the the first year in new oak, and the following year in barrels that are 2-3 years old. Every six months they manually rack the wines (transfer the wine from 1 barrel to another barrel to leave behind unwanted sediment) by candlelight. Final aging takes place in the bottle.
The Wine:
Plots for the Reserva are selected from Las Monjas, El Palo and Las Cuevas vineyards in Rodezno and Alto del Rey in Labastida and then manually harvested in late September. After carefully putting the grapes in boxes, they are transported to the winery in refrigerated transport for destemming and light crushing. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation took place naturally in tanks and the resulting wines were prepared for a new blend in January 2013. The wine was aged for two years in American oak barrels manufactured in-house; the first year in new oak and the second in barrels averaging three years in age. The wine was manually racked four times by the light of a candle and was finally bottled in December 2015.
2015 Chateau Val-Joanis Luberon
Who:
What: 100% Syrah
Where: Luberon, Rhone, France
Tastes Like: Dried cherries & roses, barnyard. Hint of poopoo on the nose. Earthy, full, brambly on the palate but very much in balance.
Pairs With: Cocoa Linguine; roasted meats. Give me a ribeye any day.
The Who:
Situated on the site on an ancient roman villa, Château Val Joanis was originally the property of Jean de Joanis, secretary to King Louis III of Naples. The chateau dates back to at least the 16th century, but fell into ruin from the 1800’s onward. The property was purchased in 1977 by Jean-Louis Chancel, who over the next 20 years planted 185 hectares of vines on the property. Today the estate covers approximately 990 acres of Luberon countryside and is filled with picturesque gardens, olive groves and rolling hillsides covered in vines. 310 acres of vineyards are planted on clay-limestone slopes, which benefit from the hot sunny days and the cool nights of this part of the Rhone. The nature of the soil and the favorable climate allow Château Val Joanis to produce powerful, yet elegant red wines and fruit-driven rosés made from Syrah and Grenache. The vineyards at Val Joanis are at an altitude only matched by Chateneuf de Pape and Condrieu, two of the most sought after red wines in the world, never mind the Rhone. The grapes are organically farmed.
The Where:
Located in the southeast corner of the Rhône Valley, the Côtes du Luberon is a wild and untamed mountain appellation where vines grow at an altitude between 650-1,500 feet. The terroir is rich in clay and limestone soils, giving the wines freshness. The climate is a mix of Rhone influences and benefits from the cooler temperatures of the high Provençal plateau. Here, Château Val Joanis sits on a 1,000 acre estate and features one of the oldest operating vineyards in the Luberon area.
