Tag: wine


May
2020

ChardonNay or ChardonYay: Tasting Through Talley Vineyards New Releases

categories: Booze, Wine

I decided to play a fun game with myself. Having received the newest Chardonnay releases from Talley Vineyards, each of which highlights a separate vineyard in California’s Central Coast, I wanted to see if I could taste the difference between each. The short answer to that question: yes, yes I can.

This post is entitled ChardonNay or ChardonYay because, in case you haven’t picked up from previous posts, I personally have a hard time with the variety. Chardonnay is like putty in a winemaker’s hands—it will mold or melt, form or fragment depending on how much he or she wants to “do” with it. It easily picks up on oak barrel spices; delivers the toast and bread-y notes from lees aging; and if ever there was a variety that can speak to the aromas and flavors from malolactic conversion, it is Chardonnay. Indeed, the grape can be easily manipulated and, oft times (especially in the new world), over-worked.

So, I was not only curious if I could taste the difference between the various vineyards, I was curious if I’d have a preference between them. The short answer to that question: yes, yes I did.

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May
2020

What the Falanghina? Clime Wines 2018 Falanghina

categories: Booze, Wine

I had no idea what a Falanghina was before Byron over at Clime Wines sent me one. So, what better place to turn than the glorious pages of the Oxford Companion to Wine? (A must for anyone going through the WSET Diploma program. Or self-proclaimed super-wine-nerds…)

Falanghina: “…It produces attractive, unoaked, fragrant wines of real interest. Modern fermentation enabled producers to preserve its aromas, which gave it a new lease of life from the mid-1990s.”

The grape, if you can’t tell by the name, traces its heritage back to Italy. According to the Oxford Companion, there are two varieties: the less common Falanghina Beneventana of Benevento province and the “leafy-smelling” Falanghina Flegrea of Campi Flegrei, “Campania’s signature white wine grape…and is now the base for Falerno del Massico and Sannio DOCs.” It’s noted that the 2010 Italian vine census did not distinguish between the two when it counted more than 7,500 acres planted to the grape.

Well, there you go. But what about here in California? Well, if you do a search for it in the 2019 California grape crush report, you won’t find it, which means there’s probably so little planted that it falls into that “other white” category. But El Dorado County’s Viani Vineyard has some planted in a plot just overlooking the American River. The altitude, along with decomposed granitic soils, gives this wine a bit of a steely minerality mixed with its innate floral aromatics. And, contrary to what my encyclopedia says, winemaking utilizes a touch of neutral French oak as well, lending a bit of roundness in the mouthfeel to the very light-bodied wine, while lees aging adds a touch of complexity and structure.

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May
2020

Winemaker Larry Brooks Launches Website Highlighting Scholarly and Creative Writing

categories: Uncategorized

One thing I often find I have in common with the winemakers I come into contact with is an affinity for art—be it literary, historic, fine, or—dare I even say—performance art. Indeed, I know one of the things that draws me to study wine is that to understand it, one must simultaneously utilize the scientific and creative sides of the brain, for wine is not solely one or the other. No, it straddles the border of fact and fiction, data and mythos, what one can experience tangibly and those feelings that cannot be put into words. Winemakers, passionate winemakers, understand this and work everyday to iterate that through the liquid in the bottle.

“I fell in love with the word “voluptuary” when I first discovered it many years ago.” says winemaker Lawrence Brooks. “The literal definition is ‘a person devoted to luxury and sensual pleasure.’ To me, being in Nature is luxurious. The lovely scent of jasmine is a profound luxury.”

Brooks has a wine industry resumé that includes work on some of the most well-known wineries and wine brands; he also teaches at Cal Poly and Fresno State. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting or interviewing him (yet), but when I received the press release announcing his new website, I had to take a look. Talented in the cellar, he certainly is—and I dare say his writing both teaches and entertains, is scholarly and creative. What better topic to prove the artistic-science/scientific-art that is wine than with a discussion of terroir?

The full press release with links below. You can see his first full post here. I, personally, am looking forward to many more.

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May
2020

Clos Du Val 2019 Sauvignon Blanc

categories: Booze, Wine

Tis the season for digging into some refreshing white wines and Sauvignon Blanc is probably the stereotype of that sentiment. But what kind of Sauvignon Blanc drinker are you? (Assuming you like it at all.) Are you in the New Zealand super-grassy, overtly passionfruit camp? Or are you in the Loire with its steely minerality? Perhaps you prefer you SB with a bit of Semillon for texture and body.

There are so many different ways Sauvignon Blanc can be expressed based on climate, soil, and of course winemakers’ decisions. The Clos Du Val Sauvignon Blanc, for me, falls somewhere in between the NZ fruit fun and the Loire’s steely gaze, and ultimately balanced with just a touch of “something” extra that I’m going to equate with the Yountville terroir. It’s a Sauvignon Blanc that I look forward to each vintage.

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