Another exciting edition of Tales of the Purple Monkey, in conjunction with Wine Blogging Wednesday?  Why the hell not, baby!

WBW #55 has an interesting theme, chosen this month by Rémy Charest over at the Wine Case Blog.  The theme is North vs. South, and while it implies a battle of epic bloody proportions with fundamental winemaking beliefs at stake, it’s really just meant to highlight the different wine styles that can result by cultivating the same grape in different regions, weather, and growing conditions.  For example, arid and hot (South) vs. temperate and chilly (North).

But since I’m incorrigible, I tried to line up an epic battle, and I failed miserably.  For starters, the wines I chose have a price point differential of about $50 USD.  Not a good start…  So, my contribution to this month’s WBW is more like an educational minor skirmish played out by a Cival War reenactment than it is a battle to the death.  Just as well I suppose, since the Purple Monkey is a child’s toy, so best we keep things PG…

Anyway, let’s get this party started.

I raided the sample boxes for this WBW and they yielded a great grape comparison (if anyone knows of a synonym for “comparison” that begins with the letter “G” please let me know immediately… thanks…).  Having a sweet tooth, I decided to compare late-harvest style Rieslings from the icy Great White North (Canada’s Niagara Peninsula) and the much warmer conditions of Chile’s Curico Valley. I figured that I couldn’t get any more extreme, at least in terms of winemaking geography, anyway.

Let’s start with the North, since, as I love to remind all of the relatives and in-laws from the South, deserves respect as the winning side in our little Cival War engagement.  I went with Canada’s most luscious of bounties, icewine – specifically, Inniskillin’s 2007 Riesling Icewine.

This is a wine driven by citric acidity, but saying it’s nuanced is sort of like saying that Niagara Falls is a small leak.  The Inniskillin is a bit like some sort of not-too-alcoholic, crystallized-sugar-coated candied apricot that you wish you could pop into your mouth and savor all night long.  If you were offered sex while in the middle of a glass of this, you would pause at least momentarily to ponder whether or not you should finish the glass first.  Icewine is more or less a late-harvest concoction, the grapes achieving concentration on the vine in the winter months through periods of freezing and thawing.  Once it gets cold enough, and the grapes are more or less frozen, the labor-intensive work of picking the grapes starts, usually in the middle of the freezing cold night.  Because the ice draws out the remaining water in the grape, you’re left with some very concentrated stuff at press – about 15% what you’d normally get if harvesting a dry table wine from the same amount of grapes.  All of this means that icewine can get very expensive – upwards of $100 per half bottle.  If it’s any consolation to your wallet, 2007 marked one of the best Niagara icewine vintages in recent memory.

A few thousand miles of southbound travel from Niagara will get you to Curicó, Chile, the home of our next wine: the 2007 Miguel Torres Vendimia Tardia Riesling.  Like it’s icy northern counterpart, this Riesling is also the result of late harvesting, but the primary means of concentrating the flavor of this wine comes via the help of the Botrytis fungus that raisins the grapes while on the vine.  It’s a deeper gold color than the Inniskillin, and it’s a damn sight cheaper as well.  It’s nowhere near as nuanced a wine as its northern relative, and it’s several degrees higher in alcohol, but it offers floral aromas and very concentrated and focused honey lemon flavors.  At $18 USD, it’s a good buy, but it’s not a sweet as the icewine and needs more careful thought for pairing with food, since you don’t want your dessert to be sweeter than the dessert wine.  You’d do just fine sipping this on its own after dinner, of course.

There you have it.  Not so much a battle as a study in contrasting elements of climate.  Matchups like this one are fun, and easily done.  Typically, they’re also surprising or insightful, and the major insight this little WBW experiment gave me was additional reinforcement to the notion that Riesling is simply the greatest of the world’s “noble” white wine grape varieties.  No other grape can come close to matching its versatility while maintaining its striking flavor profile across wildly different wine styles and growing conditions.

That’s my story anyway, and I’m sticking to it!

Cheers!

(images: winebloggingwednesday.org, 1winedude)

Little sweet one…

I’m not talking about me.  Or Plumboo (that’s the monkey – who, now that my daughter is old enough to play with her toys, has been M.I.A. somewhere in her bedroom).

I’m talking about a grape from Piedmont. More on that in a minute.  Or two.

Plumboo (in spirit) and I (physically) are taking part in the 54th edition of the venerable blog carnival Wine Blogging Wednesday – this month hosted at fellow Philly-area blogger David McDuff’s Food & Wine Trail.

David has picked an exciting theme – “Passion for Piedmont.”  It’s not just exciting because I get to return to Tales of the Purple Monkey and drink Italian wine – which is exciting in and of itself, to me at least – but because David has decided to focus on what is arguably the most exciting wine region in Italy right now.

It wasn’t always like that, though.  Piedmont wine-making began sometime before the 13th century (started by the Etruscans or the Greeks – no one knows for sure which – followed by monks after the fall of the Roman Empire), but the wines weren’t considered to be particularly good (Piedmont doesn’t even get a mention in Pliny the Elder‘s list of best Italian vino).

My, how times have changed…

Tradition, geographical diversity, and modern wine-making techniques have combined to make Piedmont one of the most varied wine regions in all of Italy. As you will no doubt find from other wine blogger’s choices of wine reviews for this edition of WBW, Piedmont offers a staggering choice of wine styles from sparklers to everyday sipping reds to age-worthy, must-own-your-own-yacht priced Nebbiolo-based reds to sweet Passito dessert ‘stickies.’  This doesn’t account for the wide variety of styles within those styles, either.

Sure, Tuscan wines, especially the reds, are sexy.  But so much of Tuscan red wine (Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and Brunello di Montalcino) are not so much variety as they are variations on a single theme – Sangiovese.  Now Piedmont – that’s variety!

Since I can’t try all of Piedmont’s various offerings in one night (believe me, I thought about it), Plumboo (in spirit) and I (physically) opted for Piedmont’s answer to everyday red wine – Dolcetto.

Dolcetto is one of the few low-acid Italian varietals, but it’s high-octane fruit delivery makes it easily accessible early (even in the versions that are built for longer aging).  It’s not sweet, despite the moniker, but most offerings (there are seven different production areas within Piedmont) fall into a category that is probably best described as a cross between French Beaujolais and jammy California Zinfandel.  Some are made as more serious fare, but Dolcettos are primarily fun wines, if a bit lacking in the sophisicated structure of other more “serious” Piedmontese reds.

For this WBW, Plumboo (in spirit) and I (physically) went with a high-production, readily available example: Pio Cesare’s 2007 Dolcetto d’Alba.

Our review:
It’s dark, like most Dolcettos, and on the nose offers alternating waves of candied fruit and black cherry, with some floral and spice elements to keep it interesting.  On the palate, the wine is agreeable, with a very drying finish.  Not really integrated or focused, but pleasing on the whole.

Fun and accessible, but not mind-blowing.  What do you want for $18, anyways?  Instead of Merlot, try picking up some Dolcetto party-making magic for your next get-together, and enjoy the long stares of approval at your sophisticated wisdom from your dinner guests.  You’re welcome!

For more on Piedmont wines, check out Bastianich & Lynch’s Vino Italiano.

Cheers!
(images: 1winedude.com, justerinis.com, dotcomwines.com)

Before Plumboo (the purple monkey) I get started on our contribution to Wine Blogging Wednesday #53, this month hosted over at Twisted Oak’s El Bloggo Torcido, I should note that we don’t necessarily condone the consumption of alcoholic beverages before 10 AM.

But the theme this month is “Wine For Breakfast” (they don’t called it Twisted Oak for nuthin’!), and we certainly don’t discourage early AM alcohol consumption – we just don’t find ourselves doing it unless we haven’t yet gotten to bed from the nightbefore, if you catch my drift.

The real twist on this WBW is that the only eligible contributions are dry white or red wines. This eliminates pretty much all of the “standard” brunch picks (rose, bubbly, mixed wine concoctions).

Plumboo and I are totally undaunted, however. That’s because we know a secret about a fruity, expressive, food-friendly, and (importantly) inexpensive wine. Sounds like near-perfect late morning fare, eh? Did I just say “eh”? I’m not even Canadian…

Anyway, our little secret is the other dry red wine of Burgundy: Cru Beaujolais.

Note that we are not talking about the popular but much-maligned Beaujolais Nouveau, which is released in the Fall and is meant to be quaffed up while very, very young. We are talking instead about the cream of the Beaujolais crop, which can produce suprisingly age-worthy and downright elegant wines.

Some background: Romans probably first planted grapes in the Beaujolais region, just outside of Burgundy, but “modern” Beaujolais wine probably began in the late 14th Century when Phillipe the Bold, obviously a big Pinot Noir fan, outlawed the Gamay grape from being planted in Burgundy proper; Beaujolais, as far as a place to cultivate wine from Gamay, was thus born (though the Appleations weren’t official until the 1930s).

Beaujolais itself dwarfs any single Burgundy district in size, with more than 50,000 acres of vines. The best sites sit atop granite, schist, and limestone soils on hillsides, and these constitute the Cru Beaujolais, of which there are ten areas, most with their own distinctive wine characteristics. Who knew Beaujolais could get so complicated, eh? (damn, I did it again…).

My favorite Cru Beaujolais wines come from the neighboring areas of Fleurie and Moulin-à-Vent:

• Fleurie produces wines with an almost candied fruit character, but they are also so floral you’d think you had a flower shop in your glass. What makes them a winner for me is that their texture is so smooth, it’s like wearing some kind of tasty satin underoos for your tongue.

• Moulin-à-Vent is the serious wine of Beaujolais. They still have the candied fruit character that is unique to Gamay, but many of these wines see oak aging that gives them a more refined character. The soil in Moulin-a-Vent is also a bit poisonous to the vines, as it contains manganese. It’s not enough to kill the vine, but some cite the soil as one reason why the Gamay vines there struggle and as a result produce lower yields of more concentrated grapes, resulting in more complex wines. So, Cru Beaujolais is both complex, ageworthy, and comes from diabolical soil. Who’d a thunk it?

So there you have it – dry wine to brunch by from an area outside of Burgun-dy. Just try to avoid bathing in it, as some of the Chinese appear to enjoy based on the pic below. Who’d a thunk that, eh?

For more on Cru Beaujolais, check out the books Wine, The Wine Bible, Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, and the World Atlas of Wine.

Cheers! (images: 1WineDude.com, thefiftybest.com, wills-burgundy.com, showchina.org)

This exciting edition (is there any other kind?) of Tales of the Purple Monkey has Plumboo (that’s the monkey) and me taking on one wine, but in three slightly (but importantly) different ways.

Last week, I participated in several Twitter Taste Live events, one of them being co-hosted by BinEndsWine.com and DrVino.com titled “Drink Local!” in which we reviewed local (to the reviewers., that is) wines. My previous post on the event has more background detail (and a recap of the twitter conversations).

Because I’m a homer, and I’m lazy, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I reviewed Penns Woods’ 2004 Ameritage Reserve (a Bordeaux style red blend), but with a twist – I presented the wine in three different “formats”:

1. Poured directly from the bottle
2. Decanted 3+ hours before serving
3. “Decanted” directly from the bottle using a wine gadget called the Wine Soiree.

The Soiree looks like a glass Christmas tree ornament, or a sex toy for the very, very adventurous. Or an elegant alien spacecraft for extraterrestrial fleas…

Anyway, according to the Wine Soiree website and promotional materials, it is supposed to function somewhat like a decanter, using the principle of aeration. Wine contains many volatile chemicals that impart aroma, flavor, and also help to integrate a wine’s components so that it tastes better. Exposing those volatile components to air starts the process. This is one reason why decanting hefty red wines for a time before drinking them helps to make the wine more accessible and softer.

I poured all of my “versions” of the Penns Woods Ameritage into identical ISO tasting glasses (because I’m a nerd and I do own those, thank you very much) and had a go at each in comparison.

The result? Check out the following excerpt from my twitter feed during the Twitter Taste Live event:

10:41

1winedude: #ttl Yo yo YO! I’m tasting 2004 Penns Woods Ameritage Reserve. Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, Sangiovese, & whatever other reds the winemaker (Gino Razzi) wants

10:42

1winedude: #ttl From the Brandywine valley of SE PA

10:42

1winedude: #ttl I did a little experiment. I have 3 glasses of the same wine, but each is different…

10:43

1winedude: #ttl #1 was poured directly from the bottle. #2 was decanted 3+ hrs. #3 was poured using that in-bottle Soiree decanter thing-y

10:44

1winedude: #ttl #1 direct from the bottle: smoke (a LOT of it); cedar; black currants; a little rough around the edges on the tannins; good finish

10:44

1winedude: #ttl According to Mrs. Dudette: “It’s like licking a chimney there’s so much smoke! But in a good way.”

10:45

1winedude: #ttl #2 decanted 3+ hrs: MUCH smoother, with more dark cherry; the oak is more integrated and the finish seems to go forever…

10:46

1winedude: #ttl I might be still tasting this finish tomorrow when I brush my teeth in the morning!!!

10:47

1winedude: #ttl #3 ‘decanted’ via the soiree: has the currant & cedar elements of #1, but not as integrated as #2; finish is la bit onger than #1

10:48

1winedude: #ttl This Soiree does something… and it seems good to aerate a wine in a pinch or when a decanter is not available.

10:48

1winedude: #ttl but it ain’t quite like decanting!

10:50

1winedude: #ttl As for the wine itself – very good, not his best vintage tho. The 2005 has more promise; 2002 is… well… freakin’ sublime!

10:51

1winedude: #ttl This 04 is a bit too expensive for what it is, but it’s a very, very well made Bord’x style blend. And YES it is from PA!

10:53

1winedude: #ttl So in summary: Penns Woods make a kick-ass wine, and the Soiree does actually do… something; but not as much something as a decanter

As it turns out, the Soiree does indeed seem to aerate the wine… somewhat. For me, the Soiree doesn’t compare to actual decanting, which in this experiment I found to be far superior. Still, I think the Soiree could work in a pinch if you are desperate to decant and/or to take the edge off of a serious red, but can’t wait for proper decanting (winery tasting rooms come to mind).

It you can get past the sight of a Christmas tree ornament sitting on top of your wine bottle, that is.

Cheers!
(images: 1WineDude.com, drvino.com)

In this exciting edition of Tales of the Purple Monkey, Plumboo (that’s the monkey) and I take on some wine samples provided in Tetrapak packaging. And narrowly survive!

During the Wine Bloggers Conference earlier this week, one of the event sponsors, Tetra Pak, supplied us with samples of wines from wineries that are using their packaging for their products…

Specifically, Plumboo and I tried juice-carton portions of French rabbit‘s ‘petit’ Merlot/Cabernet blend, and Three Thieves‘ “Bandit” Chardonnay, assisted by Mrs. Dudette who was hankerin’ for some vino when I cracked them open. Er, I mean, popped them open. Or peeled them open, actually.

Before I pass judgment on the wines (warning: it won’t be pretty), I should bring some positive karma to this post by giving some attention to what Tetra Pak is all about.

I can really get bahind what Tetra Pak is all about, which is making coin in a green, sustainable way. Their manufacturing is officially carbon nuetral. The packaging that they produce (think milk cartons) requires less material and less weight than glass to hold the same amount of liquid – which also reduces the carbon footprint needed to ship whatever liquid is in the Tetra Pak container.

So… I do NOT blame Tetra Pak for what Plumboo and I had to endure, because their packaging is neutral and theoretically shouldn’t be imparting any flavor or odor qualities to the wine inside.

Qualities like an aroma of bug spray – which was in such prevalent quantity in the French Rabbit ‘petit’ red blend that I expected to find the words “Contains DEET” on the back of the carton.

As for the Bandit, we found it one-dimensional. And that dimension was astringency.

Green is Good. But it doesn’t change the time-tested rule of “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”

Cheers!
(images: 1WineDude.com, quiktechsaz.com)

In this exciting edition of Tales of the Purple Monkey, Plumboo (that’s the monkey) and I brave the wilds of Africa, don’t actually taste any wine, and then urge you not to buy a wine that I will recommend. Sort of. Then we end with an exciting announcement that I promise will be wine-related!

Plumboo and I are once again taking part in the ongoing super-cool blog carnival Wine Blogging Wednesday, this month (its 50th!) hosted by Russ Beebe over at his fine Winehiker Witiculture blog.

Russ’ theme for WBW’s 50th is a novel one: in summary, a favorite hike and a favorite wine to sip after that hike.

The Wine
I’m going to start with the wine, just because I’m incorrigible. I don’t know about you, but Mrs. Dudette and I really dig vigorous hikes and we’re fond of taking our dog out on said hikes with us, in order to have him tire out and later suitably calm down to the energy level of a normal canine.

I don’t know about you, but Dude is usually thirsty after a vigorous hike. So I want something crisp, cold, and refreshing at the end of it. Crisp, cold, and refreshing makes Plumboo and I immediately think of Sauvignon Blanc – specifically, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc…

The great thing about NZ SB is the balance. Mouth-watering Acidity? Check. Tasty Citrus fruit? Check. Pleasing Grassy aromas & complex minerality? Check, and check. In fact, my mouth is watering just thinking about NZ SB. If Plumboo had a mouth, his would be watering, too.

A kickin’ example of the awesomeness that NZ SB has to offer is Cloudy Bay. It’s not difficult to find, and is reasonably priced if you get the latest vintage early enough. Cloudy Bay hails from the Wairau Valley in Marlborough (in the north of NZ’s South Island), where the grapes get the most sunshine of any area in NZ – and it shows in the hint of exotic fruits that you get from a typical Cloudy Bay.

Now, what Plumboo and I kindly request that you do is to set aside enough cash for 2 bottle of Cloudy Bay, and then only buy one bottle. Which will make sense after we tell you about the hiking portion of this WBW.

The Hike
The coolest hike I’ve ever taken was in Kenya, Africa, just outside the Maasai Mara. This hike took Mrs. Dudette and I from Alex Walker’s Serian Tented Camp through the arid bush, to a local school.

Our hike was brilliant and largely without incident, unless you count a fellow Serian guest from the U.K. and I running around with spears and “dispatching” a few large termite mounds during our trek. We did run into a not-so-happy male giraffe who wasn’t sure if he wanted anything to do with us or not – which doesn’t sound threatening until you realize that a) an adult giraffe could kill you instantly with one kick (though your grave would be in multiple locations, because whatever body part its leg touches first would undoubtedly be disconnected ungraciously from the rest of your body), and b) your puny spear is more of a walking stick than an actual means of protection against an animal roughly 5 times your size. And yes, you do thinkk about those things when you encounter a giraffe in the wild…

Anyway, what really blew us away on this hike was the school. Or, more specifically, the children at the school. The conditions that these children and their teachers deal with on a daily basis is shocking, which makes their dedication to learning and teaching all the more impressive. If you’re a parent, you’d probably have a hard time contemplating sending your child on a hike that might take hours through countryside that contains dangerous animals to a school room illuminated with one light bulb, where they rely on rainwater collection systems for their fresh water needs.

The children were mostly just happy and grateful to be there. That’s because there are many children nearby in Kenya who can’t go to school at all – they spend their entire day gathering potable water for their home and community, leaving no time to attend school.

Which brings me back to our little request:

Instead of buying two bottles of that Cloudy Bay, please consider buying one bottle, and DONATE the funds of the ‘other bottle’ to help relieve the water crisis in Kenya, and get potable water into Kenyan communities.
You will be ‘turning wine ito water’, in a way, and helping to bring relief to your other human brothers and sisters who are sorely in need. And, you still get to drink one bottle of kick-ass Cloudy Bay.

Just watch out for those pissed-off evil giraffes…

Exciting Wine-Related Announcement
And finally… assuming no giraffe incidents between now and then… the next Wine Blogging Wednesday will be hosted right here on 1WineDude.com! Stay tuned to 1WineDude.com this Friday for the official announcement and WBW #51(WineDude) theme!

Cheers!
(images: 1Winedude.com, telegraph.co.uk)