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Occhipinti SP68 Terra Siciliane Bianco 2016 An Unfiltered, Full-Bodied White From Sicily

2/8/2018

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Picture
by Patrick Ogle

Occhipinti "SP68" Terre Siciliane Bianco 2016 is a white blend that is deep golden yellow in color and a bit cloudy.
My first taste made me think of dried fruit, like a dried apple. There is a hint of dried lemon peel and pith as well.  It has nice acidity that under the surface on this  medium-full to full bodied wine.

This is one you may want to eat with. I drank part of it without food? And loved it but it is really something that will stand up to even richer foods. I'd love to try it with some rich cheese. I once had a gorgonzola gnocchi that would be perfect with this (for instance). I thought maybe there was a hint of oxidation. There was a hint of "cideriness" that you find in some wines labelled "natural." The wine is from biodynamically produced grapes, aged in concrete and is unfiltered.

This grapes here are Moscato di Alessandria (60 percent) and Albanello (40 percent). Moscato is an ancient varietal and this is one type of the grape. We often associate it with sweet wines but, like every other grape, can be made into dry or sweet wines. Moscato di Alessandria is part of the muscat family that has hundreds of different members. The most common ones are Muscat Ottonel, Muscat Blanc à Petits grains and the grape used here, Muscat of Alexandria. The family produces aromatic grapes and wines (other aromatic varietals include Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Albariño).

Albanello is another thing from the Moscato. It is the junior partner in this blend and is a rarity. There are likely less than 400 acres of it planted on earth. Most of these are in Sicily although there may be some on the mainland. There are different sources that say different things about this. To make it a little more confusing there is also another grape with a similar name, Albanella. This grape was (and perhaps is) made into a sweet wine in addition to a dry one. Most descriptions say as a varietal wine Albanello is a rich wine with floral qualities that are readily apparent if somewhat shy of what would normally be referred to as aromatic.

SP68 is made by Arianna Occhipinti, a young winemaker. Still in her 30s, she has been producing wines for well over a decade. You can find out more about here HERE. 

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Martin Texier Petite Nature 2015 Pet Nat, A Sparkler That Is A Little Funky (But Not Too Funky)

6/5/2017

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Picture
by Patrick Ogle

Martin Texier Petite Nature 2015 Pet Nat is a little funky but not too funky. This sparkler has pithiness mixed with pear and a tad of grapefruit. There are hints  of minerality and a little dirtiness lurking around. There is something like white flower/nectar in the nose and taste too. Add to this  herbal, green notes and a nice acidic backbone and you have an interesting wine.

This vino is all over the place and I mean that in the best possible way. Nothing here really overwhelms the other parts to me--no specific fruit or earth. There are a lot of subtle facets.

When I say dirty it isn't super manure funky or even that forest floor loamy-ness. It is just enough of a hint of earth to accent the wine's overall rustic nature. It is fun, which is what I am looking for in  pet nat. While I have had some elegant pet nats and that is wonderful but you can get that from champagnes. For me? bring on the fun with these wines. The bubbles don't hang around forever. Don't keep this open for  hours upon hours.

Pet nats are surprising in how they are made (which we've discussed) but they also point out that the Champagne method is not the only way to make quality sparkling wines. This wine uses unusual grapes and that is often the case as well.

Martin Texier is the son of Eric Texier, a French natural winemaker. The wine is from a vineyard that was a gift from dad to son. This was apparently an old, abandoned vineyard planted with a variety of grapes including chasselas, muscat and various table grapes. The vineyard is in Ardèche near Saint Julien-en-Saint Alban. Part of the fun of this wine is also the grapes. Who knows what is in it? It is a brave winemaker who says "OK, let's see what happens when we do (fill in the blank)."

Often this attitude leads to the undrinkable but here it is a great summer sparkler.

Find out more about Texier HERE.

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Louis-Antoine Luyt Coelemu 2014 A Chilean Muscat Reminiscent Of "Orange Wine"

2/15/2016

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by Patrick Ogle

Louis-Antoine Luyt makes unusual wines--this is another, a muscat from Chile reminisent of "orange wines." I bought this  wine in a mood for something simple, normal and that I didn't have to think about; It wasn't theright choice. This is a weird wine, even weirder than the pais grape I tried by Luyt earlier.

First of all, just out of the bottle this wine has a sharp grapefruit smell and the taste is also like a smack in the face--tart and with pronounced phenolics. It seems almost like a mead or even a cider. It is rough and weird and, at the same time, sort of charming. The wine mellows with air and should probably be decanted for an hour or more (if only to let the gunk settle).

The grape here is muscat and the style is of the "orange" wines you find in the Balkans (and even Italy). Those wines use different grapes but the common denominator is that these wines are given prolonged exposure to grape skin. This is common when making red wines; it is less common with white.

This wine is quite "farmhouse". It is pure, unfiltered. I was joking that each bottle came with one of Louis-Antoine Luyt's toenails--it sort of looks as if it has tonails floating in it. There is all sorts of gunk in the bottle.

Orange wines are usually expensive and hard to find. The cloudy nature of the wines give them a sort of orange hue. The other versions of these that I've had priced-in at over $70 a bottle. This Luyt version comes in at a hair above $20 a
bottle. It might be a little hard to find but it is worth searching for; keep in mind this is a truly odd wine. It might be one of the strangest I've tasted. What wine production NEEDS these days is more people willing to push the envelope;
discarding tradition OR looking back to old traditions. Always take a swing at wines from Luyt.

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Meyer-Fonné Gentil D'Alsace, A Crowd-Pleasing White Blend From France

10/1/2015

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by Patrick Ogle

Domaine Meyer-Fonné Gentil D'Alsace, is a crowd-pleasing
blend from Alsace,  France. The blend comes from from grapes you may associate with the region.  Alsace mostly grows white wine.

It is a blend that, to me, illustrates the difference between a tasting and sitting down and drinking a glass (or bottle)--I would have sworn this was sweeter after experiencing it in a tasting but it isn't. It is dry but there is fruit here that gives the impression of sweetness. There may be a hint of residual sugar here but if there is it is only that.


There is certainly a white table grape taste, a spiciness and a crisp acidity that rounds out on the follow up. While it lacks the viscosity of riesling it has some of that grape's complexity. It has the floral taste of a gewurztraminer and, even though this grape is a minority contributor here, gewurz characteristics stand out.

Here is a little wine trick--if you see the words "imported by Kermit Lynch" on the bottle? You are likely looking at a solid bottle of wine, whatever the price. Lynch's website notes that the denomination "Gentil d'Alsace" is reserved for AOC Alsace wines and must contain at least 50% of the noble grapes riesling, muscat, pinot gris and/or gewurztraminer. The other 50 percent can contain four other grapes but in this particular wine I believe the wine is all from the noble varieties. Another thing about Gentil d'Alsace? Each of these varietals has to be vinified separately AND they have to, on their own, qualify as AOC wines.

AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) is a certification given to geographic areas in France (in other countries the designation may be DO, DOC, AVA etc). There are requirements for each AOC; the smaller the region usually indicates more restrictions and higher quality wines.

This wine is also a crowd pleasing one--people whose "go to" wines are wildly different white varietals will find a meeting ground here. It also is a wine well-suited to spicy Asian foods. Don't hesitate to grab a bottle for BYOB Thai or Chinese.

$14-16



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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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