I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2012 Ella Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc (Judean Hills): An elegant, herbal, and spicy tug-of-war between gritty earth and silky plums. $28 A-
- 2015 Ella Valley Syrah – Petite Sirah (Judean Hills): Mineral, meaty, and mostly relying on its powerful force of ripe fruit complexity. $NA B+
- 2012 Ella Valley 32/35 Vineyard’s Choice Red (Judean Hills): With your eyes closed, you’ll think that you just walked out of a CA grocery with a bag full of blackcurrants, violets, & freshly-sharpened pencils. $NA A-
- 2017 Bat Shlomo Rose (Galilee): Grenache in zesty, peppery, pithy glory; you’d better be into strawberries, though. $28 B+
- 2016 Bat Shlomo Chardonnay (Judean Hills): Moving from floral reticence to peachy, toasty flashiness in almost record time. $42 B+
- 2015 Bat Shlomo Betty’s Cuvee (Judean Hills): Leathery elegance that could probably pass for Bordeaux; or, at least, will give you ample reason to look forward to the future of Bord’x reds in Israel. $69 A-
- 2014 Psagot “Peak” (Judean Hills): Rhone visits the Middle East, shows off its modern, lush, sexy side in the process. $48 B+
- 2014 Yaffo Winery Heritage (Ella Valley): Power, concentration, and enough red and black currants to fill your cornucopia basket. $NA B+
- 2015 Covenant Wines Syrah (Israel): Making a masculine, meaty, and mineral covenant with your Rhone-loving tongue. $75 A-
- 2016 Gva’ot Winery Merlot (Shomron): Merlot takes to higher altitude with chocolaty, vivacious and, well, plummy aplomb. $33 B+
[ Editor’s note: Following is a piece that a wrote for a magazine, but after waiting over a year for them to publish it and pay me, I’m giving up and putting it here so that it can see the light of day and you can get some insight into a region that doesn’t see a lot of media play. Enjoy! ]
Northern Spain’s “Small California”
Why your next favorite Cab, Merlot, or Gewürztraminer might just be coming from Somontano
Take a second or two, and think about your favorite Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, your go-to Chardonnay, even your last Gewürztraminer.
What region was emblazoned on the labels of those tasty wine? Paso Robles? Washington? Chile?
Chances are very good that the word “Somontano” was not the area printed on the label. And yet, chances are also very good that this relatively small northern Spanish Denominación de Origen has been growing those same fine wine grapes longer than the more famous regions that produce your favorite versions of those same wines.
Somontano’s ancient Alquézar
Like most of the wine regions in Western Europe, viticulture in Somontano was probably established by the Romans, and also probable predates reliable written history, extending back to the second century BC. That it took the region until 1984 to become an officially recognized Denominación de Origen (DO) is, in a way, indicative of the minor identity crisis that defines the modern Somontano. At a time when “uniqueness” is the marketing battle cry of most luxury fine wine regions, Somontano is the odd man out.
Of the grapes officially permitted in the DO, only three (the white Alcañón, and reds Moristel and Parraleta) are indigenous. A few others (such as Garnacha and Tempranillo) are Spanish in origin but not native to Somontano. The rest are a hodgepodge of some of the wine world’s most famous – and decidedly not Spanish – grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and Gewürztraminer.
What makes Somontano such an awkwardly difficult topic in marketing meetings is the same thing that makes many of its wines so good: the place has a great climate growing famous international grape varieties. As winemaker Jesús Artajona Serrano, from Enate (one of the founders of the Somontano DO) puts it, “we are in a small California…”
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I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2015 Brotte Domaine Barville Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Rhone): Exactly what you signed up for – black cherries and earthy funk – only without having to pay over fifty bucks. $37 A-
- 2015 Les Dauphins Cotes du Rhone Villages (Cotes du Rhone Villages): Bright, pretty, peppery and capable; just don’t expect much more than delight and you’ll be fine. $14 B
- 2014 Marco Felluga Molamatta Collio Bianco (Friuli-Venezia Giulia): Fresh, nutty, tangy, and food-friendly; I think I might be in love. Seriously. $24 B+
- 1991 Caves Sao Joao Quinta do Poco do Lobo Arinto (Beira): Everything about this is completely crazy, in all of the better senses of the word. $55 A-
- 2015 Trinity Hill Black Label Syrah (Gimblett Gravels): You’ll bitch about this being on the lighter side, then you’ll pour yourself several more glasses of it. $30 A-
- 2016 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast): Juuuuuuust the right mix of sultry and energetic to get most of your own juices flowing. $49 A-
- 2015 Stewart Cellars ‘Tartan’ Red Blend (Napa Valley): “This wine is so self indulgent.” [ Proceeds to finish the entire bottle on his own ]. $50 A-
- 2016 Heitz Cellar Chardonnay (Napa Valley): How in the f*ck are they not selling this for over $50? Shhhh! Don’t tell them!!! $26 A-
- 2014 Chateau Montelena “The Montelena Estate” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Pretty much everything that’s right about Napa, including its mystique, in bottled form. $160 A
- 2015 Cowhorn Vineyard “Moonraker” (Applegate Valley): Gritty, grippy, brambly, linear, floral Grenache/Syrah/Tempranillo blend that’s the wine fun equivalent of eating really good spicy food. $55 B+
One could be forgiven for expecting an overdose of “yes, I did in fact write those checks” bullsh*t when visiting Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden in Oregon’s Applegate Valley, based solely on the facts that
a) it takes its name from the most infamous preparation (#500, which involves burying a cow’s horn full of manure) in wine’s most infamous set of farming practices (Biodynamics), and
b) founders Barbara and Bill Steele are former CFO/CFA financial types who, after leaving Wall Street and before establishing Cowhorn (despite not having a single lick of winegrowing experience) lived what they call a “homeopathic lifestyle in Marin County.”
Cowhorn co-fouder Barbara Steele
One’s skepticism about the Steele’s seriousness regarding their 25-or-so acres of vines and 4,000-or-so case production could be forgiven, but one’s skepticism would also be quite wrong. I mean, you’ll want to be skeptical about, for example, the earnestness of Bill Steele’s long hair, but then you’ll find out that he makes his own sulfites. And that the Steele’s spent two years researching the right place to plant vines before breaking ground on Cowhorn in 2002, planning on Biodynamics viticulture from the get-go (with Alan York consulting), and despite its under-the-radar status and various environmental challenges (ripening is actually the main challenge there, as they are farming Rhône varieties, and the cold air from the surrounding hills makes this a cooler spot by Applegate standards) chose Southern Oregon anyway.
And then there’s the farming mentality employed at Cowhorn, which feels downright legit when the Steele’s are waxing philosophic about it; as Barbara put it, “It’s the people behind it that makes this kind of viticulture possible for the Applegate Valley.” Even their yeast situation is kind of endearing; Bill mentioned that that six unique strains were identified there, primarily due to the 100+ acres of property having been left isolated so long before the Steele’s bought it.
And then… then you’ll taste their wines, which all have a consistent and defining element of being well-crafted and yet still characterful; not overly polished, showing their edginess and angularity while still retaining a sense of elegance. In other words, the only thing full of bullsh*t will be your own silly preconceived notions about their outfit…
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