Is there anything more adorable than a Weimaraner happily chomping on Barbera grapes in a Monferrato vineyard? Besides maybe a Weimaraner puppy eating grapes in that vineyard?
That’s the question that we pose (sort of) in the latest Monferrato Moves installment over at MyNameIsBarbera.com. In that video (also embedded below), I have the pleasure of sitting down with Tenuta Olim Bauda‘s Gianni Bertolino, who, aside from owning dogs and making incredibly serious, long-lived, and tasty Barbera, also happens to be President of the Associazione dei Produttori del Nizza. So, he knows a couple (of hundred) things about the tippy-top of the Barbera DOCG quality pyramid.
In this vid, Bertolino and I taste through a couple of more recent Nizza DOCG releases, and I don’t spit, which should tell you something about how good his wines are. Enjoy!
So, like, what is this stuff, anyway? 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 with you via twitter (limited to 140 characters). They are meant to be quirky, fun, and easily-digestible reviews of currently available wines. Below is a wrap-up of those twitter wine reviews from the past week (click here for the skinny on how to read them), along with links to help you find these wines, so that you can try them for yourself. Cheers!
13 Bonterra Vineyards The McNab Single Vineyard Cuvee (Mendocino County): Those who like their CA reds nice and juicy will probably want to mc-nab the McNab ASAP. $50 A- >>find this wine<<
14 Maley Brothers Vineyards Lodi Native Wegat Vineyard Zinfandel (Mokelumne River): Taming the beast, without ever really losing sight of the what makes the beast awesome in the first place. $35 B+ >>find this wine<<
14 Tommasi Ripasso Valpolicella (Valpolicella): If you feel like this chewy number perennially is on point without missing a beat, that's because it's actually perennially on point without missing a beat. $24 B+ >>find this wine<<
15 Reva Nebbiolo d'Alba (Monforte d'Alba): With a little bit of understanding, and more than a little bit of patience, you'll be in full-on contemplation mode with this little beauty. $NA B+ >>find this wine<<
16 Frescobaldi Massovino Ammiraglia Vermentino (Toscana): Not exactly flagship material, but you won't be complaining – & your glass won't stay full very long, either. $17 B >>find this wine<<
NV Graham's 20 Year Tawny Port (Porto): On the rich, spicy, and caramel-laden side. And yeah, you can go ahead and just thank it for all of that later. $65 A- >>find this wine<<
11 Chateau Bouscasse Madiran (Madiran): Clearly an impressive performer, as just about every right note is hit in an entertaining way here. $25 B+ >>find this wine<<
15 Domaine Elian Da Ros Abouriou Rouge (Cotes du Marmandais): Authenticity, ruggedness, & hipster cred, but in this case you can actually just *enjoy* it. $25 B >>find this wine<<
NV Henriot Brut Souverain (Champagne): As English Bob put it, the sight of royalty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed and you would stand… in awe… $50 A- >>find this wine<<
NV Leclerc Briant Brut Reserve (Champagne): Yellow & green apples, and white peaches – and cloud-pleasing quaff-ability – in almost embarrassingly rich amounts. $40 B+ >>find this wine<<
I’m not sure how much time I’ll have over the holiday break to post here on 1WD, so here’s my version of a Christmas-time-card-thingy. What you probably cannot see on the pic of the tree are ornaments that include Santa getting hosed on wine, a TARDIS, Yoda’s head, BB-8 (he’s a perfect ornament shape, really), a ball with the Rioja logo on it, and Spider-man carrying a bag of presents.
Anyway, thank you for being here (all year), and thank you for being you (most of the time, anyway). Please go hug someone that you love, and have yourself a safe and happy holiday season!
Cheers!
* – Yeah, I said “Happy Holidays” and not “Merry Christmas.” That’s because there are a lot of Winter holidays celebrated this time of year by a lot of different people with different backgrounds and different political, cultural, and religious affiliations, and I sure as reindeer poop don’t know which one you happen to be celebrating. If you’re offended by that, then bite my mistletoe.
When you’re within spitting distance of Kayserberg (quite literally the cutest town in France, an honor it was officially awarded in 2017), amid the picturesque shadows of a castle that dates back to the fourteenth Century (and in which harvests were celebrated), and regularly run into ruins from the early 700s AD, you might justifiably consider yourself in a sort of Western European daydream-like fantasy land. Just add fairies and elves!
Hence the “schloss” part…
While that is, indeed, the present situation of Alsace’s Schlossberg Grand Cru vineyard site and the sixty-some-odd producers who farm it (a spot I visited as part of a media jaunt earlier this year), that present situation belies a more, well, aggressive historical backdrop.
This granitic area of northeastern France has seen a revolving door of historical overlords, including the Romans, Germans, and the French. And yes, Schlossberg has the distinction of being awarded on of Alsace’s first Grand Cru classifications in 1975, but that was almost fifty years later than planned (they attempted it first in 1928, but things got sidetracked due to a World War). Actually, it’s almost 500 years late, considering that the area’s vines have been known as having serious vinous potential since the 1400s, and that the area exported twice as much wine in the Middle Ages as it does now.
Also consider that, from a farming perspective, you’re not getting much more than grapes here. The area sits on steep slopes rising up to almost 400 meters, and (thanks to the Vosges mountains) sees less than 500 millimeters of rainfall per year (which about three times less than Bordeaux). Alsace sits on the largest underground water reserve in the country, but irrigation isn’t permitted, so the vines have to work their roots down deep to get a drink.
The soil in Schlossberg has high pH levels, and so requires calcium to prevent toxicity, and its diversity is a testament to the violence of the ancient Devonian forces that formed it. Also, you need dry stone terraces (the work of Italian immigrants hired by regional monks in the Middle Ages) to keep everything in place, and they are, to put it mildly, a pain in the ass to maintain. Oh, and the climate is semi-continental, which means they get nearly the full extremes in seasonal variation, and the subsequent farming headache potential.
Finally, we should include the political and cultural vagaries that come with producing consumables in a place that has changed country of ownership more than a few times. Alsace’s major market, historically, has been Germany, since the French kind of considered Alsace as French-but-maybe-not-really.
How does all of this impact the Rieslings crafted from Schlossberg’s soils? More than one of the wine producers with whom I met described their Riesling as “thin, delicate, and like a marathon man.” You’ll understand what they mean in a minute or two…
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