by Patrick Ogle

BLANKbottle's Orbitalfrontal Cortex (2016) is a crisp, tasty wine from South Africa that starts with a white grape juciness that gives way to acidity, followed by floral hints. I hate using the word "tasty" for some reason but I wrote it in my notes. I also wrote "I am not really sure what to say."

Of course I didn't leave it there.

The acidity on the finish sort of leaps up and smacks you. It perhaps seems stronger than it is because the first sensation is fruit--white grape juice or maybe melon is likewise boisterous. What you get out of this wine seems to change with every taste. Is it changing with air or am I just noticing different things? This is a wine you may need more than one bottle to sort out. It is peculiar but not in any way that makes it hard to approach. It is quite easy-drinking.

The blend is Clairette Blanche and Verdelho with smaller amounts of Palomino, Chenin Blanc and Grenache Blanc. To say this is an unsual blend is an understatement. Find more information on South African grapes HERE.

Clairette Blanche is a moderately common grape in the South of France (including Southern Rhone, Provence and Languedoc-Rousillon). Historically it has been used in making vermouth. It produces wines with lower acidity and often finds its way into blends with higher acid wines. It is one of the main varietals used in white Chatteau neuf de Pape. It is also used in sparkling wines. It is grown in relatively small amounts in various other places, including South Africa where there are less than 500 acres planted.

Verdelho is a white Portuguese grape grown both on the mainland and on the Madeira Islands. In the latter instance it is mostly used in fortified wines. It is also grown in Galicia in Spain and is making inroads in the New World in South
America, Australia,California and Virginia.

Palomino is the major grape used in making Sherry (Spain), Grenache blanc is grown extensively in France and Spain. Chenin Blanc is a native of France and is the signature grape France's Loire Valley. There are actually more acres planted of Chenin in South Africa than there are in its home country.

I haven't seen them all blended together before but this is probably because, as far as I know, they only grown in the same vicinity in South Africa.

by Patrick Ogle

Merriman 2014 chenin blanc, from Columbia Valley, has a the nose has an unmistakable honey scent to it along with hints of white flowers. I think of that spring like first flower smell you get here in the midwest but not like the white flowers from the tropics. Flowers are something that sounds esoteric when it comes to wine but when you stop and smell and taste? Trust me it becomes something you sense. Honey, by the way, is the big thing on the nose here but the nose doesn't always tell you what you are going to taste.

The wine itself is wound up tight, tart and has a blazing acidity. Any "honey" you might taste is subsumed under lemon and if you let it warm up, some plum (I confess I initially thought "melon" but changed my mind as I thought on it). This wine has a  big mouth feel, it is substantial. I sort of felt maybe I had opened it too soon. While you could certainly hang onto this wine for some time and it would improve? It is sort of hard to resist now.

It is a wonderful food wine and can cut through rich foods but can also pair with lighter food and even spicy foods. I had it with spicy food as I consider eating food that isn't spicy akin to drinking bourbon without alcohol. It has the body and acidity to work with a variety of foods. Acidity, among other qualities, can make a wine "cut through" rich food.

Forget food for a moment; it is just a great wine to drink. All the descriptions and saying "this fruit or that fruit" or "the nose is this or that" is just yapping compared to the joy you get from a wine. This is a wine you will have fun drinking with or without food and with or without thinking about it deeply. You CAN examine this wine's complexity far more than I have but you need not.

The grapes from this wine come from Columbia Valley in Washington. The wine itself is made in Carlton, Oregon. Is chenin blanc a "surprising wine"? Perhaps not but recently I asked wine drinkers I know and it is less widely embraced than I thought. It is hardly in danger of extinction be examples from the Pacific Northwest are not terribly common. This wine comes from 40 year old vines. Merriman make their wine at The Carlton Winemaker's Studio.

by Patrick Ogle

Les Tetes Les Parcelles Tete Nat Petillant Naturel (2015) pours a bit cloudy--which isn't shocking with a pet nat. I am sometimes a bit apprehensive about these sparklers; not because they are bad but because you don't always know EXACTLY what you are getting. There is bottle variation with some petillant naturals. Sometimes, if you are in the mood for something fun and easy to drink a pet nat is just the thing; other times they are oddball and funky. Know your pet nat!

This one wasn't too odd or funky. But it also isn't a Champagne (they are never that).

There is some mild grapefruit on the nose but not really showing in the taste. There is also a hint of some sort of citrus pith here, not citrus but the fleshy, pith of the fruit. The wine is floral with a hint of of pear. Again, this isn't really your face but it is there. The wine has tiny, delicate bubbles. It is an  elegant, easy to drink, pet nat rather than a funky one. I am not knocking funky ones mind you;I love those too but what you want on a given day may change based on your mood or menu.

This wine is from Loire and is all chenin blanc pet nats from the area tend to be chenin. Tete Nat is the result of certified organic viticulture and is created using native yeasts, no dosage as well as small vats with controlled temperature. A pet nat (as we have discussed before) is a different method from that used in Champagne (and used by many other sparklers).

Find more info HERE.

by Patrick Ogle

Arizona Stronghold's Fort Bowie chenin blanc 2014 is "surprising" mostly because of where the grapes are from and he wine created. Chenin blanc is far from an oddball grape.

This wine has definite hints of citrus but my expectation was for more fruit than you'd find in a French chenin. Yet, it really wasn't there in the way I expected. There is fruit but it is far from overwhelming. There is a little
honey here (how I found this out is by going to sniff the wine and actually sucking some INTO MY NOSE. I then noticed the honey! I do not recommend this method.

This chenin has a silky mouthfeel. Mouthfeel is what you think it is, how the wine feels in your mouth. This definitely has a heavy silky feel.

You imagine that a wine from a hot area like arizona wouldnt have the acidity of a cooler are like the Loire. But it has the pronounced acidity you expect from the grape. The wine seems to get a little bit "rounder" with air but it doesn't collapse. I may take a sip tomorrow to find out (No such luck. I drank it all).

When the wine gets some air the fruit does come out and you find more than just citrus. There are fuller more orchard-like fruits--Peach or apricot perhaps. But even so the acidic backbone remains. this would be a great food wine. A bottle of this would rock with a Thanksgiving dinner.

Since this is a chenin I can compare to Loire examples and the world's biggest chenin producer, South Africa. It has more in common with the latter than the former. There is minerality but not anything I would call earthiness. This wine
is unique from either the Loire or South Africa, lying somewhere between the two both in acidity and fruit.

The only problem with this wine might be finding it outside the great state of Arizona. They do have distribution outside Arizona but, at least in Illinois, they did not carry the chenin.

y Patrick Ogle

Les Capriades is a sparkling chenin blanc from the Loire Valley in France. Chenin, sparkling or not, coming from the Loire is not particularly surprising but this wine is an opportunity to talk a little about "pet nats" (aka petillant naturels).

This wine has a very yeasty smell (the "nose) but this isn't as apparent in the taste. There is a
tart, almost lemony taste to Les Capriades. It also had pretty intense, tiny bubbles and a slightly bitter finish. This "bitterness" doesn't linger; it is there and then it is gone.

This wine is notable for some things it didn’t have too--there was none of the cidery taste some pet nats have. This isn't as funky as some petillant naturels either. It is clear where many are cloudy and while it does not drink like a Champagne (or another Traditional Method sparkler) it has more in common with something from Rheims than some of the more "out there" pet nats.

Now the name pet nat comes from, as noted petillant naturel, and the Loire Valley has a good number of these but they have also become pretty hip here in the USA. When you see "traditional method" on a bottle of sparkling wine it means that wine was made using the same method used for Champagne. Basically they ferment a wine to dryness then bottle it with added yeast and sugar, then it ferments INSIDE the bottle again. They then "disgorge" the bottle taking out the sediment (dead yeast etc) and cork it.

In a petillant naturel (you may also see other terms like methode ancestrale/ancestral method) the wine is NOT fermented to dryness before it is put into the bottle. It resumes fermentation and the sediment is usually left in the bottle (I cannot swear it is in all cases!). Fermentation givesb off alcohol of course as yeast breaks down sugar BUT it also gives off carbon dioxide which give sparklers their fizziness.

Les Capriades is a nice introduction to the world of the pet nat. Be careful when opening it; it has a sort of weird cork. Take it slow or you may wind up with a glass worth of wine on the floor!

Find out more at the Selection Massale website.