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Chehalem Gruner Veltliner (2014), Austria's Main Grape Has A New Home In Oregon (And It Is Mighty Welcome)

4/29/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Gruner veltliner is the most commonly grown grape in Austria but the vines have spread a bit from Vienna. This particular--and excellent--gruner comes from Oregon. This wine is from the Ribbon Ridge area of the Chehalem Valley from Chehalem Wine’s Ridgecrest Vineyards.

When you put your nose in the glass and inhale I feel confident that grapefruit will spring to mind. There is something of that “citrus pith” that I’ve made fun of as a description but if you go and grab yourself a grapefruit  (or a lime for that matter) and bite into a wee piece of the pith? It actually makes some sense.  This wine has some tartness but it isn’t excessive but rather adds to the sort of complex mélange of flavors and sensations you experience while drinking it.  It is a rich wine and it doesn’t seem to WILDLY differ from wines from its home country. Some grapes seem to conform more to where they are grown than gruner (this is my off the cuff observation which people can feel free to gainsay and even ridicule).

Trying to avoid jargon with this wine and using too many fruit or flavor terms that don’t always resonate with wine drinkers is tough. Suffice it to say that there is a great deal going on in this wine beyond grapefruit and citrus pith! There are numerous lighter fruit notes here.


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Is there a bad wine from Oregon? I swear it seems like it is more difficult to find something bad than something good from the Beaver State. This Chehalem gruner is no exception, except that it might even be better than most whites from the state.

Gruner is, to me, a great summer wine for people who want a change from pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. I have often recommended the varietal to people who want something a little different but who maybe don’t want to get TOO weird with their wine. I think this one will appeal to drinkers of American sauvignon blancs and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand versions. This one has less of the “grassiness” that people seem to love/hate about the New Zealand wines. People who LIKE that flavor say “grassy” while those who don’t like the flavor often say “cat pee.” We will leave be, for the time being, how they know what that tastes like. There is SOME grassiness but, again, it is mixed with numerous other nuances.

Gruner veltliner isn’t some weird grape no one has ever heard of; you will find it in many grocery stores.  As noted Austria grows it aplenty. You probably have already seen Fred Loimer’s Lois (a nice Gruner for around $13).  Do not be afraid of it because the varietal produces excellent low cost versions and some truly brilliant, complex wines higher up in price range.

This Chehalem gruner is one of the latter.

$21-24

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Juan Gil Monastrell (Mourvedre) A Bit Peculiar At First Taste But You May Learn To Love It

4/21/2015

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by Patrick Ogle
When you taste Juan Gil Monastrell your first thought may well be; what a unique flavor!  You may also think; this is PECULIAR. Monastrell is mourvedre, a grape mostly used in blends, notably in GSM (grenache, syrah, mourvedre) that originate in the southern Rhone Valley in France.

This is a wine that is all over the place taste wise and this isn’t a bad thing…it is big and complex and you will notice the sweetness first then the tannins will take over. The finish has something musty maybe even gamey to go along with the oakiness (the wine was , according to their website, fermented in steel then transferred to French oak barrels for a further 12 months).

Speaking of tannins, there are lots of them in this particular wine and also dash of sweetness. This is a big wine with a ton going on—big alcohol lots of black fruits flavors in an almost innumerable mix of other flavors; Red fruit flavors are apparent too.  It is also spicy and a little smoky.  Often, when discussing wines with lots of flavors you refer to the wine as subtle; that isn’t the case here. The mélange of flavor and tannins and alcohol is all sort of right in your face here.  A sniff of the wine will make pretty much everyone think “jam”.

This is big and complex wine. The finish has something musty maybe even gamey to go along with the oakiness (the wine was , according to their website, fermented in steel then transferred to French oak barrels for a further 12 months).  I wish there was a better term to use than gamey, which conjures up roasted possum or road kill for some people. It isn’t that but it is something some people will love and others will not. It is also a wine that you could probably hang onto for a few years to its benefit.

And that is the important thing—are YOU going to like this wine? Maybe….or maybe not. Yes, I know that really clears things up. It is a peculiar taste combination and it is not really like other varietals. It is a wine that a) might take some getting useful b) might be best with food c) shows why Mourvedre/Monastrell is often used in blends. This would add much to a blend which would also ameliorate some of the weirdness.


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Do not think because you love GSM blends that you will love this grape as a varietal. It is much heavier by itself.

As I’ve noted this wine would be good with food. I was thinking something smoky—maybe barbecue. I don’t eat meat myself so I am just talking about the sauce!  Some sorts of stew—red sauce based—would work well with this. Perhaps even Indian food would be complemented by it as well.

Even though we know this grape mostly from GSMs, which are produced in many locations these days, it does stand alone as a varietal which is not always the case with blending grapes. Mouvedre as a varietal is produced in the USA in Washington and California (as well as some other states with less of a reputation for wine). Keep an eye open for pieces on some of those.

$14-19



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Anne Amie's Müller-Thurgau, From Oregon, May Change Your Mind About The Oft-Maligned Grape 

4/10/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Anne Amie Vineyards might make you take a second, or a first, look at the oft-maligned müller-thurgau grape and the wine that comes from it. The Oregon winery does a great job with the Swiss creation that is the second most grown grape in Germany.

Müller-thurgau is a grape purposely created by crossing riesling with another less known grape, madeline royale. Hermann Müller, a Swiss doctor, was the man behind the cross back in 1882. He apparently wanted a grape that ripened earlier but kept many of the other qualities of riesling. In the former he was rewarded and in the latter he was not.

This is a grape that has often inspired disdain from wine snobs, in part, because it has often been used to make bad wine. I would point out the same is true of numerous other grapes but in a general sense  I would tend to agree with the disdain because, up until now, I haven’t liked the wines made müller-thurgau —except in blends . A nice example of a blend, also out of Oregon, is Montinore Estate’s Borealis. Sometimes blending wines just do not make good varietals.

Up until now I’d only found müller-thurgau as a varietal to be, at best, tolerable. This wine from Anne Amie Vineyards in the Yamhill-Carlton district of Oregon has made me rethink MY snobbery.

The first fruit flavor you taste is reminiscent of pear. Literally every review--to say nothing of the winery notes--lists a different fruit from apricots to key lime to citrus pith; when is the last time you tasted citrus pith?  I think the gist here is that the wine is crisp and reminiscent of lighter fruits. It is smooth with minimal acidity. It is a crowd pleasing, easy-drinking, wine.   There is no hint of oakiness which isn’t surprising since this grape isn’t usually oaked. This wine is, in fact, ages in stainless steel.

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If you are a fan of sauvignon blanc this wine totally lacks the grassiness of the ones from down under (Australia/ New Zealand). It has a little more body than many mid priced American sauvignon blanc. I often think the American and Aussie/New Zealand sauvignon blanc wines benefit from being served very cold. You can serve this wine quite cold but it has a little more to it and opens up at a slightly higher temp. By that I mean you can taste MORE in this wine at a higher temp (generally true).

Fans of un-oaked chardonnay will appreciate this while those who like big oak or butteriness may or may not be fans. I like variety in my wine so I will go big oak and no oak on a whim, a mood or depending on what I am eating. This has some analogs with dry riesling except it lacks the acid. It is a less “simple” wine than most pinot grigio/pinot gris.

Again, if you grab a DIFFERENT, müller-thurgau do not expect the above to hold up. Even a different year from the Anne Amie Vineyards may well be different. I would expect subsequent things (weather being favorable) to improve.

Anne Amie is also a wine maker well worth more examination. Oregon produces some truly great wine.

$14-18

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Forty Winks Cabernet Frank From Michigan May Change Your Mind About Wines From The Wolverine State

4/7/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Michigan isn’t a spot that usually springs to mind when thinking of wine. And if you, like me, seek out wines from offbeat areas you may have had some truly vile wines from the Wolverine State. This Forty Winks cabernet franc will wash any bad taste from Michigan out of your mouth.

This cabernet franc has some acidity; which is not uncommon with the grape, one of the parent grapes of cabernet sauvignon. It has some tannin to it too and the fairly young wine mellows a bit with some air.

This wine, to me, improves with air and when it gets that? It mellows and is a nice medium bodied wine that doesn’t have much in the way of fruitiness (perhaps you can detect cranberry). I’d drink this with food. As a pretty much life-long vegetarian I am not going to recommend meat but something in a red sauce—from Italian to a red curry—might be good with this wine.  A sauce with some acid is a good match for this wine which
is an especially good one for the price.

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wine diamonds
Suggesting a wine is tannic and acidic both raises the question; how do you tell the difference?

Trying to figure out what is acid and what is tannin is something you will often be told is “easy.” That is a little bit of glibness perhaps. It may not be difficult but it isn’t intuitive either.

The best way to put it (I hope) is that tannins create the same sort of feeling you might get when eating pomegranate (my favorite example).  When you taste a wine and immediately after drinking you may feel a sensation of drying in your mouth; that is the tannins. This is sometimes described as bitterness.

Acid is, well, acidic, like biting an orange skin. But since acid in wine is balanced by other factors than JUST the acid the sensation isn’t generally as unpleasant! This wine had what are called “wine diamonds” on the cork when I pulled it out; if you see this, do not despair! It does not mean the wine is bad. It is the result of tartaric acid becoming solidified. Usually this means the wine gets less acidic but it also means there was acid present. There are a number of different acids in wine but let’s not get into that.

Tannins are affected by air and wine changes with exposure to it.  Up to a point, with certain wines, this is a good thing (more important with red). As noted this wine needs some air.  Does acid change with air? Some do, the chemically volatile ones, but others are more reticent to change.

I would note that when I drink and write about these wines I purposefully do not try to do it like it is at a wine tasting. Is that how YOU open a bottle of wine and drink it? Keep in mind I am not criticizing wine tastings. When most of us pop out to the store and grab a bottle we don’t follow wine tasting protocols either. We may be noshing on something while we open a bottle without thinking about it. We don’t sniff and slurp small amounts of wine—we crack it open and drink it.  How I do this might change how I interpret a wine—and it would be different from how I might interpret a wine in a formal wine tasting environment.

You often see cabernet franc grown in colder, sometimes even hostile, climates. Michigan qualifies as that for grapes. The grape also adapts well in different soils—something more finicky grapes often won’t do. The cab franc grape also is known as one that ripens more reliably than most other reds. This is far from the only good Michigan wine by they way--they grow some truly good rieslings as well.

$14-15
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Ravines Dry Riesling A New York State Gem From The Finger Lakes--For Under $20

4/2/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Ravines Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes area of New York is the wine that will prove the benefits of riesling to the unbeliever. We often do not think of New York as a wine producer but it is number 3 among U.S. states.

This riesling is dry, which is not exactly the norm for the varietal, but it also isn't all that unusual. Riesling is an acidic grape whose acidity is often masked by sweetness. In a dry riesling the sugar is gone and the acid is more apparent. It is a wine that experts often recommend for Thanksgiving dinners in the USA (it pairs well with turkey). When you walk into a grocery store and ask for dry riesling you are likely to be met with a) a blank stare b) be brought to the sweet rieslings or c) be told your best bet is a chenin blanc.

I've done "c" myself.

Sure the average grocery store purchase of a riesling can be cloyingly sweet. Sweet is not a bad, never say "I do not like SWEET wine" as if that makes you a connoisseur; it just makes you sound ill-informed. You are allowed to not like sweet but there are a lot of great sweet wines. A better way you can put it is to say that sweet wines are not to your taste.

Riesling is the main grape planted in Germany. It thrives in colder climates and it is often planted in northern areas: Germany, Upstate New York and Michigan. The grape also grows in more temperate areas but they seem to wind up planted more in northerly climates.

The grape found a home in the Finger Lakes area in the 1950s, in part due to Dr. Konstantin Frank, who started a winery of his own. The area produces some wonderful wines and Ravines is among them.


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When you think of fruit flavors with this wine? Think of green apples. It also has that sort of almost carbonated feeling you get with some rieslings--although it isn't nearly as prominent here as in many. Also, be sure to note, that even a dry riesling can still be a little sweeter than super dry whites. This is not a bad thing. Repeat after me; sweet is not bad!

One of the interesting things about riesling is that it is a white that benefits from aging--sometimes for as long as a decade. It is often sweet and it frequently complex. The first time I had Ravines Dry Riesling I thought that maybe it would benefit from some age (keep in mind this aging VERY rarely happens in oak, although some wine makers are experimenting).

If you are looking to find a way to expand the wines you drink? Even as dry wine drinkers? Try some rieslings. More on Finger Lakes soon (and Michigan!)
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Blaufrankisch From Kobal Family Estate In Slovenia A Surprising Tannic Treat From The Former Austro-Hungarian Empire

4/2/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Blaufrankisch isn’t the most widely known grape in the USA but it is widely grown in Central Europe. It is a bit surprising that it isn’t more popular given that it is an accessible wine taste-wise. The grape is also called Lemberger, Frankovia, Kékfrankos and other names.

I had not one but two bottles of this Blaufrankisch from the Kobal Family Estate in Slovenia (Just shy of 10 percent of Slovakia’s vineyards are planted with this grape).  It is a great buy at around $20 a bottle (sometimes a bit less).  There are only 3800 bottles of this wine available.

After drinking the wine I read various tasting notes for this particular wine that I felt were a tad wrong. They had this wine as being a sort of “Bordeaux light.” That part of it was, to me, off. This is a lighter wine with, as mentioned, tannins but was otherwise not a wine with the same complexity of good Bordeaux; this is not an insult.  It is a wine more than worth a taste and with a different sort of complexity than a Bordeaux blend.

Several notes also said it was “peppery,” one of those imprecise terms that pervade discussion amongst wine experts. To some it means literally the kinds of pepper we all think of: black, white, chili. It is accurate to call this wine peppery, even if the term is a little imprecise.  It is a bit less obvious than when you read fruit comparisons to say the least. We won’t even get into “leathery.”

The tasting notes I saw noted various dark fruit tastes—perhaps more accurately but I sit here reading notes while drinking wine? And I am, it is a wine where the fruit is definitely more blackberry than cherry. But any fruit here is subtle and underneath the tannins (more on tannins in a second).

The reason I bring up tasting notes is that, when you look up wines you will often see these. When I disagree with the ones I see it may well be the equivalent of a movie fan disagreeing with a seasoned movie critic over the relative merits of Citizen Kane (or Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, as the case may be).  What this means to you, as a wine consumer, is that you should find specific wine reviewers whose views jibe with your tastes.

The second time it seemed to be tannic than the second time. It probably wasn’t—it just seemed that way. There are a lot of reasons why a why the same wine might taste different when you crack open a new bottle. What you are eating can be a big part of this or if you are not eating at all can make a wine taste different. This is why some wines go with one type of cheese and some with another. It is why some wines go with a pork chop and others go with chicken cacciatore.

But that is a side note!

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Blaufrankisch is sometimes called the “pinot noir of the East” and with justification yet, it is its own creature and is not related to pinot noir. It is a lighter wine but it is certainly more tannic than any pinot I’ve ever tasted. And the tannins here are what might make you think “acidic” at first taste.

The best way to describe tannins in wine is that they give the wine a certain bitterness and astringency. But what does that actually mean?  Think of a raw fruit like a pomegranate—it has a slightly astringent taste. You don’t really “taste” tannins rather you feel them—they leave certain bitterness in their wake.  Tannins come from a variety of chemicals. I’d love to tell you about all the possible chemicals but I have no idea what they all are. The tannins found, naturally in grapes are called proantocyanidins and you can find out more about them HERE.

Tannins also react with oxygen—when this wine sits in your glass awhile (or any wine really)—it changes with contact to the air. This is why you see wine decanted (put into a different container from the bottle and allowed contact with air). These days you also see aerators that you pour your wine through to give it contact with air and “soften” tannins. To me? I sort of like to taste the wine change. I like to pour it into a glass and taste it thinking; “wow this is pretty tannic.” Then I periodically taste it as it changes with contact to the air. This is just me and you do not have to be me but there is something else to consider; if you decide to decant a wine how long should you leave it before you drink? If you let it sit too long? It is sort of like those beautiful roses you sent/received for Valentine’s Day…but on March 8th.

When you see this  Blaufrankisch? Do not be afraid! At first taste you may think it is too acidic but that is the tannins; swirl your glass around and give it a minute. You will not be disappointed.

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    WINE!

    There are thousands of wine grapes and many places that grow great wines. Why not find out about some surprising wines from surprising places?

    NOTE-Until recently I did not capitalize the names of varietal grapes (as a matter of style) but for a variety of reasons as of February, 2018 we will capitalize but I am not going back and altering the previous style!!!


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