WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Spoooky Announcement for the Spoooky Halloween Tasting at the Spoooky Wine Shop of Spoooky Carpe Vinum! This Spoooky Halloween tasting will be sooo spooooky, that it’ll be practically spooooooky! So what do we have in store for us this time around on this most spoooky holiday? Wiiiine! Mwahahahaha! (Enter clap of thunder and eerie Scooby Doo sound effects.)

Okay, that’s about as spooky as it gets, as we are technically about 5 days out from Halloween. The spookiest things about this holiday, anymore, are the thoughts of all the highly-caloric candies that will be tempting us, and the fact that while the kids are out trickertreating, the retail stores are already setting up artificial evergreens covered with sparkly ornaments. That’s right. It’s that other holiday just around the corner. I’m trying not to think about it either.

So what is a spoooky wine tasting, anyway? Well, really . . . it’s an opportunity to create a tasting just for fun, rather than the structures of region or grape variety; Some things that just don’t fit into other tastings, oddball labels, blends and such. But for this year, I did my best to find the spoookiest bottles of wine that I could without resorting to that Vampire wine that’s stacked in every store this time of year. And I tell you what, though . . . there aren’t very many spoooky wines out there . . . unless you look at it from the right perspective.

Firstly I have the Norman Zinfandel appropriately named “The Monster” because, hey . . .  what’s a Halloween party without a few monsters? And speaking of monsters, what about clowns? Clowns are scary. Most people I know are afraid of them. And for good reason. They’re not really so spoooky, but more creepy. Thankfully clown wines don’t exist, so I didn’t have to do the world injustice by ordering them, but I did get the Peachy Canyon “Jester Red”. I know, I know. A Jester isn’t exactly a clown, but it’s close enough. A jester is just a clown that’s sober enough to juggle. And to me that’s just a bit more threatening than a regular clown.

Speaking of clowns (and not for very much longer, thankfully) remember that movie Killer Clowns from Outer Space? Wasn’t that great? A friend mentioned that I should feature a tasting of wines-from-outer-space or sci-fi themed wines. To make a long story short, there aren’t that many. But about as close as I could get to “It Came From Outer Space” was a wine from Shooting Star! And to make it spookier, I got their Lemberger! Mwahahaha!

“Aaaah! What’s a Lemberger?” you may ask, frozen with fright. Well . . . It’s a grape. Not really spoooky, but sounds like it could be.

After that we’ve got one of my old favorites, the Shinas Estate Shiraz called “The Guilty”. Is guilt spoooky? Ever see I Know What You Did Last Summer? Actually, I haven’t. Just seen the trailers. It looks like there could be some spoooky guilt going on there. Well, if not, the photo on the bottle looks a little spooooky.

Next we’ve got a wine from Boekenhoutskloof called “The Wolftrap”. How is that spoooky? Well, maybe it’s spoooky to people afraid of wolves. Or traps. Or wolftraps. Or really long unpronounceable names like “Boekenhoutskloof”. Or maybe the spoooky element of that wine is the fact that it is named after a 250-year-old Wolftrap on the Boekenhoutskloof property . . . in an area that has never had any wolves!

Finishing out the lineup, we’ve got Red Head Studio’s Barrel Monkeys Shiraz. What? Monkeys? Everyone loves monkeys, right? Nope. They kinda freak me out. Imagine a monkey with a knife. Who’s the cute little monkey now? See my point? They’re like fecal-flinging little hairy humans. But insane. Speaking of insanity, that brings us to the last spoooky wine of the lineup. It’s Bacio Divino’s Pazzo “Call Me Crazy”. How spoooky is craziness? Ever seen The Shining? Enough said.

Speaking of which, the shop will be closed on Halloween (Tuesday), as I will be up on Mt. Hood at Timberline lodge, where The Shining was filmed, to watch a screening of . . . you guessed it . . . The Shining. Sounds spoooky, yes? Indeed.

What’s not so spoooky, though, is that tomorrow night we’ll be having a bit of live music again. This time it’s bringing back Pete Krebs who is being joined by Tracy Kim. They’ll be here playing at 7:00 to serenade the delicious wine spoookiness!

So Friday, October 27th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Spoooky Halloween Selection!!!
Norman 2004 “The Monster” Zinfandel, Paso Robles, California
Peachy Canyon 2004 “Jester”, Paso Robles, California
Shooting Star 2004 “Blue Franc” Lemberger, Columbia Valley, Washington
Shinas Estate 2003 “The Guilty” Shiraz, Victoria, Australia
Boekenhoutskloof 2004 “The Wolftrap”, Franschoek, South Africa

Spoooooky!!!
Red Head Studio 2004 Barrel Monkeys Shiraz, McLarren Vale, Australia
Bacio Divino 2003 Pazzo “Call Me Crazy”, Napa Valley, California

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Big California Reds!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the next stop on our never-ending tour of the world of wine with the Carpe Vinum Never-ending Tour of the World of Wine Newsletter and Announcement of the Theme for the Never-ending Tour of the World of Wine Tasting! Tomorrow for the Never-ending Tour of the World of Wine Tasting With the Seemingly Never-ending and Totally Superfluous Name it’s another of the best regions in the world of wine: Spain’s Old Castille!

Spain’s Old Castille is situated in the North-Central part of Spain, just North of Castille (New Castille, I suppose), and South of the green Galicia. The region is responsible for a number of great wines, and home to quite a few of my favorite regions in the world. The most notable regions include the quintessential and exquisite Ribera del Duero, the white wines of Rueda, the pink wines of Cigales, and the up-and-coming-and-hot-on-the-heels-of-the-Ribera-del-Duero-popularity regions of Toro and Bierzo. For the purposes of this tasting, we’ll just be focusing on the Reds. I mean . . . nothing against the whites and pinks or anything. It’s just . . .y’know . . . red wine and autumn. I think you feel the same way, right?

Anyway, we begin with the Ribera del Duero! This was the first region outside of Rioja that proved that Spain could be a major player in the worldwide wine trade. These are Tempranillo-based wines of finesse and complexity. The region is experiencing a boom right now. As a result, although many of the wines from the area weren’t cheap to begin with, there are quite a few upstart wineries offering tremendous wines at great value. I don’t recall ever having a wine from the region that I didn’t like.

Toro is neighboring Ribera del Duero just to the West, and although it also features Tempranillo as the dominant grape, the quality remains consistently good, but without the overinflated prices. This is a region that many people have their eyes on as being the next major contender. Further Northeast of there is the region of Bierzo, just outside the Galicia district of Valdeorras. This places the style of Bierzo wines somewhere between the fruity Galicia wines and the Old Castille heavy-hitters. The dominant grape is Mencia, a rather obscure varietal making wines that have been surprising critics for years.

Also featured is a wine from Castilla y Leon, which is a more generic designation for a wine that comes from outside the designated regions I’ve mentioned. Someday they may make it to their own D.O. status. But for now they’re just delicious. And good. And delicious and good. Speaking of which, here they are! It’s some of the best in the world, and some of my favorite!

So Friday, October 20th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Old Castille!!!
Arrocal 2004 Ribera del Duero
Aurodos 2004 Prima, Toro
Bodegas Leda 2003 Mas de Leda, Castilla y Leon
Descendientes de J. Palacios 2005 Petalos, Bierzo
Liberalia 2004 “Tres”, Toro

More Old Castille!!!
Condado de Haza 2003 Ribera del Duero
Quinta de la Quietud 2004 Corral de Campanas, Toro

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is The Spooooky Halloween Tasting! With some live music from Pete Krebs and Tracy Kim!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

It is time, once again, for the Ultimate in Linguistic Decadence: It’s the Carpe Vinum Newsletter of Wine-y Importance and the Tasting Announcement of Wine-y Decadent . . . um . . . Decadence! This week we’re going where we’ve never gone before, (at least in these weekly adventures in the world of wine). We’re headed to Italy’s Piedmont! “Why have we never done one of these before?” you may ask. To which I may respond, “Uhh . . . becauuuse . . .Hey what’s that over there? It that Elvis?” And make a daring escape from an unanswerable question. Whew! But, no. Not this time! There’s no hiding from the impending goodness that is Piedmont!

Piedmont is located in the Northwest part of Italy. If the peninsula of the Italy is the “Boot”, then piedmont is located somewhere around the “Garter” region, which feels a bit naughty, really. I was initially intimidated by Piedmont like many of the Italian wine regions. The wine laws in Italy are designed to be extra-inclusive, but after studying other European wine regions, it comes off just as extra-confusing. Many Italian wines are labeled after the region from which they come, and that determines what grapes are used to make that particular wine. That’s simple enough, as much of Europe operates under the same conditions.

The most important thing to know about the wine regions in Piedmont, however, is that the names usually reflect the village that the region is closest to, and also usually, the grape varietal that the wine contains. For example, the Barbera d’Alba is a wine made from the Barbera grape somewhere in the vicinity of the town of Alba. Make sense so far? Good! So these names also represent distinct boundaries of terrain, where a Barbera d’Alba is always grown somewhere within the boundary that the wine law says a wine labeled “Barbera d’Alba” may be released from. Now, here is where these things get confusing, since the wine laws may be a bit too inclusive, and the boundaries of all these areas are overlapping. The aforementioned Barbera d’Alba region also has, within its boundaries, at least 10 separate wine regions. That doesn’t mean these regions are ALSO Barbera d’Alba, as well as their own designation. It just means they come from the same area. Confused now? Good! It makes sense if you stare at a map and study the colorful boundary lines for a while.

So what you also find are many obscure wine regions within these other regions. As a self-proclaimed wine geek, and a lover of obscure and rare wine varieties, this can get to be a bit much to deal with. To keep things simple, we can just concentrate on the most prominent wines of the region. The names infer that they are near and around the cities of Alba and Asti. And we’ll concentrate on the prominent grapes of the region: Firstly there is Arneis, one of my new favorite white grapes, which makes a dry, fruity white wine. Next, there’s Barbera, the most widely grown red grape of the region of which there are many fine examples. Dolcetto is another red capable of both lighter Beaujolais-styles wines and fuller fruity and juicy reds. Finally there’s the powerhouse of the region: the weighty and full-bodied Nebbiolo, the grape responsible for the hearty, long-lived, highly sought-after and way-expensive Barbaresco and Barolo. I found a less-expensive example of both of those, and also another Nebbiolo from the Langhe region. Also popular in the region is the Moscato, but I did not have room for it in the tasting this time.

I consider this a Piedmont primer, since Italy appears as one giant vineyard in my own mind, and there are a greater number of wines produced there in a year than there is time enough to try them all. If you’re interested in more of the Barbaresco and Barolo wines, let me know. (The prices range higher than I can carry in the shop, but I’m happy to order anything.)

So Friday, October 13th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Piedmont!!!
Tre Donne 2003 Roero Arneis
Pio Cesare 2004 Dolcetto d’Alba
Prunotto 2004 Barbera d’Asti
Boroli 2004 Quattro Frateli, Barbera d’Alba
Pideri Ruggeri Corsini 2003 Langhe Nebbiolo

Barbaresco and Barolo!!!
Ca del Baio 2003 Barbaresco “Valgrande”
Monchiero 2001 Barolo “Rocche”

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Spain’s Castille!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to another weekly edition of the Carpe Vinum Weekly Edition and Addition of Tasting Announcement! This week it’s one of my favorite tastings of the year. And it’s one I found I’ve done about this time of year, every year. It’s Grenache, the superstar grape of the French Rhone and other international points of interest. “And why Grenache this time of year?” you may ask. Well, it’s something about the autumn, when there is a crispness in the air (just before it heats back up to 80 degrees during the day) and the turning of the leaves that just asks for a wine of bold, spicy, rustic character. To me Grenache just says “October”.

And just what is a “Grenache”? It’s a grape. Pronounced “gren-AASH”. (I don’t know how to type those dictionary letter-symbol thingies, like the accents and the little hats. Sorry.) Apparently Grenache is the world’s most widely grown grape, but not the most widely known grape. The place where it is best known is in the Southern Rhone of France as the backbone grape of the regions of Gigondas, Chateauneuf du Pape, and Cotes du Rhone. In fact, if you ever hear anyone refer to a “Rhone Blend”, or a “Rhone-Style”, they’re mostly referring to a Grenache-based blend (usually blended with Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and some 20-or-more other grape varietals.)

Although the French Rhone is where the grape is best-known, the most likely origin of the grape is actually Spain, where it is known as Garnacha (not much of a stretch linguistically). Spain does grow about 3 times as much of the grape as France, and it is the major player in much of the Northern Spanish reds, as in Catalunya and specifically in Priorat. I’ve read in places that it is the major player in Spain’s quintessential region of Rioja, but most of the Rioja I’ve experienced has been dominated by Tempranillo, so that “fact” remains disputable.

Speaking of disputable, and to confuse the matter further, the grape is known as Cannonau on Italy’s island of Sardinia. The Sardinians then claim that the grape’s origin is theirs, and that Spain acquired it during the four centuries when Spain controlled Sardinia. Maybe they should have written that stuff down so they wouldn’t have to argue about it. Ah, well. But to simplify things a bit, it’s also grown in California, Oregon, Washington and Australia, as well as elsewhere in the world, and there’s little dispute of where THEY got it from. They just grow it.

So for my Grenache tastings, I like to do a tour of the world, and feature Grenache/Garnacha/Cannonau from the many places where it is grown to showcase the different styles and versatility of the grape, and the potential of it in good hands. I’ve got two from Spain, including one from the legendary Priorat. There are two from the French Rhone, one of which is a Cotes du Rhone from Chateauneuf producer Rayas (I’d have poured his TRUE Chateauneuf du Pape, but it retails for about $140. For that cost, it better TASTE like gold. So for the rest of us not on a Bill-Gates-type-budget, Rayas’ Cotes du Rhone ought to be tasty enough.) I also have an Sardinian Cannonau, and a Grenache each from Australia and California. It’s going to be a delicious set of wines!

So Friday, October 6th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Grenache/Garnacha/Cannonau!!!
Vinos Sin-Ley 2005 Garnacha, Terra Alta, Spain
Scala Dei 2004 Negre, Priorat, Spain
Ross Estate 2003 Old Vine Grenache, Barossa, Australia
Domaine la Garrigue 2004 Vacqueyras, Rhone, France
Argiolas 2004 Costera Cannonau, Sardegna, Italy

Grenache!!!
Rayas 2003 Cotes du Rhone, France
Opolo 2003 Grenache, Paso Robles, California

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Italy’s Piedmont!

M