WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Super-Special Wine Newsletter Thingy and Tasting Announcement Doohickey for Carpe Vinum’s Friday Flights! This week, the week of Friday the 23rd of February, we are going no further (or farther) than our own doorsteps. It’s a little thing called Oregon Pinot Noir! Ever heard of it? I’ve heard it’s the coolest thing around! As such a wonderful thing as it is, I think we should talk about it. Shall we talk? We shall.

Of course, not everyone on this list, or visitors to the website, are as lucky as we Oregon residents. We with such an ample supply of Pinot Noir as we have. I mean, I bet we’ve all heard stories from friends who have gone to Europe and remarked about the bountiful wine that people fill into big plastic jugs for just pennies (or Euros, rather . . . wait, what’s the breakdown of a Euro? Ah. Eurocent. Thanks Wiki.) All reports say this free-flowing juice is delicious and cheap. Well, we’ve got it better than that! We’ve got so much Pinot out here, that it’s piped into everyone’s houses. We’ve got the tap for Hot, the tap for Cold and the tap for Pinot. (And within the Portland city limits, also the tap for Espresso.) We don’t call a plumber, we call a sommelier!

Ah, perhaps someday. In actuality, at this time it seems there isn’t enough of the stuff to go around. Over the last decade or so the rest of the world has been discovering the wonders of Oregon Pinot noir, or because of some odd independent film, people are just discovering Pinot Noir in general. From our perspective here in the “brain” of wine country*** it seems that the streets are running red with the stuff, what with the number of wineries doubling every year. But all these wines also seem to be disappearing just as quickly. All this demand drives the prices up and it seems more and more difficult to find affordable Oregon Pinot. But, hey. That’s my job.

To me, “affordable” generally means a wine under $20. All the ATMs spit out $20s, so to drop one piece of paper on a bottle of wine still seems reasonable. And easy. Simply stated, then, the goal is to find Pinots under $20. The last Oregon Pinot Noir tasting I did here I featured 5 Pinots retailing under $20 and the two premiums under $30. And it was good. It’s amazing how quickly any halfway-decent Pinot Noir under $20 will sell out. But never fret! I’ve found 5 more of them! Plus, it’s all new wines we’re trying this time! Oh, happy day! But be sure to grab some now. all these are sure to sell out within a month or two, like all the wines before them.

And one final note, just for the interest of the screwcap-haters: One of the bottles in the lineup, Kudos Pinot Noir, features the NEW enclosure: the glass “cork”. This is the first one I’ve seen, so I’m definitely interested to see the next wave of wine enclosures. But then again, I’m a bit of a geek, and excited by that kind of thing.

So Friday, February 23rd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Oregon Pinot Noir Under $20!!!
La Bete 2004 Pinot Noir, Selection du Cave, Oregon
A to Z 2005 Pinot Noir, Oregon
Spindrift 2004 Pinot Noir, Wilamette Valley
Kudos 2005 Pinot Noir, Oregon
Major Creek 2004 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

Oregon Pinot Noir Under $30!
Roots 2005 Pinot Noir, Crosshairs Cuvee, Washington County
EIEIO 2001 Pinot Noir Cuvee I, Willamette Valley

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

Seize the Wine!

***I’ve always considered that if the Willamette Valley is the “heart” of wine country, then Portland would be around the “brain” area of wine country. But perhaps I think too much.

Next Friday tasting is California’s Rhone Rangers!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

It’s that time! Time for the Words of Winedom of the Carpe Vinum Newsletter of Supreme Importance and Tasting Announcement of Superb Indulgence! Tomorrow it’s going to be 7, count ‘em SEVEN, of my newest favorite varietal: Cabernet Franc! Once relegated to obscurity as the backing player in Bordeaux, and the less-oft praised Loire reds, now it has taken on a new life as a cult varietal, especially in our beloved Northerly neighbor, Washington. Come and join the Cab Franc cult!

So what is it, then, this so-called Cabernet Franc? To begin with, I don’t know how many people in the last week had misread my posting of “Cabernet Franc” as “French Cabernet”. This is certainly not the case. That misreading did bring up a good question to me, though, about the origins of the name “Cabernet Franc”. After doing some searching in books and online I came up with: Nothing! The “Franc” part of the name probably does have something to do with the French. But what or why, I have no idea. And neither does anyone else, apparently. The “Cabernet” part of the name is what it seems, considering Cabernet Franc is one parent of the Cabernet Sauvignon, (the other being Sauvignon Blanc). This seems like an unlikely combo to make the powerhouse grape of Cabernet Sauvignon, but that’s another story, and another tasting altogether.

Historically, Cabernet Franc has been and continues to be a major player in the French Bordeaux, mostly as a supporting role to the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but composes a majority of the famous Bordeaux appellation of Cheval Blanc (which you may remember from the movie Sideways as the ultra-expensive and ultra-rare wine Miles drank from a fast-food drink cup). Cabernet Franc is also the main red wine varietal of the French Loire in the regions of Chinon, Bourgeuil, and Saumur-Champigny. Also in Europe it can be found in Italy’s Friuli, and more plantings of it can be found in California, Washington and Australia. Also, it is one of the most widely-planted red grapes in East-Coast wine regions like New York and Virginia. I’d love to give these a shot sometime but they remain unavailable out here on the West Coast and I have never heard of a decent reason why that is the case.

Traditionally the Cabernet Franc can wear many faces. In France and in cooler climates when the grapes don’t get quite as ripe, the wines tend to be more herbacious and vegetal with tighter tannins and lower acidity. In some of the New World locations the Cabernet Franc is taking on riper characteristics like the Cabernet Sauvignon, with larger fruit flavors, but with intense floral notes.

So why am I blabbering on about this grape and this relatively obscure wine? Well, in my travels (and I don’t travel much, so that pretty-much limits it to a yearly trip to Walla Walla) I’ve visited a number of wineries, and been surprised at the explosive qualities of these Cabernet Franc wines I’ve had in the tasting rooms. I found that it was that wine that came home with me most often, and the ones I lamented over the most for dwindling supplies. It seems many of these wines were experimental lots that have become increasingly popular, and we may yet see the Cabernet Franc boom, in much the same way Syrah did a few years ago. The sad thing for right now is the fact that many of the Cab Francs I wanted to feature were tasting-room-only offerings that we can’t get here in town, or just such small lots that they are sold out already.

So what DID we get, then? In Washington we’ve got one of my favorites by Colvin Winery in Walla Walla and then one of the best values out there with the Chinook from the Yakima Valley. From there we head to California for the crowd-favorite of Writer’s Block, with a brief stop in Southern Oregon for the Cab Franc offering of Spangler Vineyards. It wouldn’t be a Cabernet Franc tasting without a few of the French examples. We’ve got Mark Bredif as one of the more affordable examples of Chinon and Roches Neuves as a delicious example of Saumur-Champigny. (Sorry, but the aforementioned Cheval Blanc retails at about $250. If we implemented a $15 “Hedonistically-Expensive” pour, we might be able to swing that. Served in a glass, not a fast food cup.) And finishing out the lineup is the Hanenhof Cabernet Franc from Australia, which has gotten rave reviews, if you pay attention to that kind of thing. Robert Parker gave it 92 points. I give it a “Whoo!” (as well as the rest of ‘em.)

So Friday, February 16th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Cabernet Franc!!!
Chinook 2004 Cabernet Franc, Yakima Washington
Hanenhof 2005 Cabernet Franc, Barossa, Australia
Writer’s Block 2002 Cabernet Franc, Lake County, California
Domaine des Roches Neuves 2005 Saumur-Champigny, Loire, France
Marc Bredif 2004 Chinon, Loire, France

Even More Cabernet Franc!
Spangler 2005 Cabernet Franc, Umpqua Valley, Oregon
Colvin 2004 Cabernet Franc Chelle den Pleasant Vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington

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 Oregon Pinot Noir! (And the infamous Pinots-Under-$20 Selection)!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Weekly Words of Wonder and Wonderful Missives of the International Publication That Is the Carpe Vinum Newsletter and the Tasting Announcement for Which It Exists! It’s now 5 shopping days to that one Holiday in February. What’s that called? Valenwine’s Day? Something like that. It’s that one on the 14th followed by the unofficial holiday on the 15th: The National Apology Day, also known as the “Holy Crap I Can’t Believe I Forgot Again” Day. So for what� it’s worth, here’s your reminder. Why not get your “Someone” some wine? Even if your “Someone” is yourself. Someone has to be someone’s someone, right? At any rate. I’ve got some wine here, and this week we’re heading to a warm place to sample some. It’s Italy’s Sicily!

Sicily is the big island just off the “boot” of Italy. It’s the largest island in the Mediterranean. Its position in the Mediterranean has always been a good strategic launching point for any military force invading countries around the Mediterranean. Therefore Sicily has been conquered by different military powers an average of once every 50 years for the last 2 or 3 millennia. I guess we could consider it the “Revolving Door” of the Mediterranean. This translates to a varied culture, and in relation to the wine world, varied viticulture.

Although Sicily is part of Italy, most Sicilians probably don’t consider themselves Italian by any stretch of the imagination. At least so I hear. In much the same way, Sicilian wine is not exactly Italian wine either. The climate is different. The terrain is different. And the grape varieties are way different and generally unknown elsewhere. Well, most of the grape varieties, anyway. The king of the Sicilian grapes is Nero d’Avola, which accounts for a good majority of the wines produced in the region. Other such varieties we find are also-native Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, white varieties such as Grillo and Inzolia, as well as the “international” varieties of Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah.

We’ve got quite a selection of wonderful reds for the tasting tomorrow. I’ve tried a number of these and they’re all quite the prize-fighting knock-outs. Keep in mind the Nero d’Avola is often referred to as being like the Syrah grape, so that will give you the idea of weight and power of these wines. Upon tasting a few of these, I felt what they needed was a bit of pancetta or hard salami with some harder cheeses. Just a suggestion.

Also, we have a new art show in the shop. It’s the newest installment of the Oregon College of Art & Craft’s children’s classes’ works. Many of you may remember the last showing, as it was one of the most popular we’ve had. Unfortunately none of these works are for sale, but it’s worth the look!

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

Italy’s Sicily!!!
Cusumano 2004 Benuara (Nero d’Avola/Syrah)
Tasca d’Almerita 2003 Lamuri IGT (Nero d’Avola)
Ajello 2004 Furat (Nero d’Avola, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah)
Antichi Vinai 2000 Koine (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio)
Morgante 2004 Nero d’Avola

Even More Sicily!
Donnafugata 2003 Tancredi (Nero d’Avola, Cabernet Sauvignon)
Baglio di Pianetto 2002 Ramione (Nero d’Avola, Merlot)

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 Cabernet Franc!

M

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Happy Groundhog’s Eve! Yes, we must prepare for the most joyous of all holidays of February! It’s where we . . . well, I guess there isn’t a whole lot we can do on the holiday. In fact, it never really made sense to me, the choices being either six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Now, all the places I’ve lived throughout my life, six more weeks of winter after February 2nd WAS an early spring. Besides, isn’t it weird that if a groundhog sees his shadow it’s supposed to be a longer winter, but isn’t a shadow an indication that it’s sunny outside? Doesn’t sun generally mean it’s more “spring-like”? Heck, I think it’s time to get a new meteorologist. But that won’t stop the Carpe Vinum Groundhog Day Wine Extravaganza and Celebration, and this Groundhog’s Eve Newsletter! What are we tasting to celebrate this day dedicated to this oversized rodent? It’s the wines of South America!

So what do Groundhogs have to do with South American wines? Nothing! They don’t even have any groundhogs in South America. Heck, we don’t have any in Oregon either. But South America DOES have penguins. That fact, and I can’t emphasize this enough, has GOT to count for something, right? So if a penguin sees his shadow on February 2nd in South America, does that mean there will be 6 more weeks of summer? (Shrug.)

So there is a spectacular lineup already in the works for tomorrow night. We’ve got a little surprise ready as well. Up to this point, we’ve only seen wines from Chile and Argentina. Chilean wines are often lauded for value, but scorned (by me) for variable and questionable quality, and Argentina is a veritable wine empire just waiting to take over the world, if they could only stop drinking all that juice themselves and share with the rest of the planet. So the rest of the South American continent remained a mystery, although I had heard of vines grown in all the other South American countries. Well we can mark one more of those countries off the mystery list since we now have a wine from Uruguay!

“What the heck is an ‘Uruguay?’”, you may ask. It’s the country just below Brazil, on the coast. And yes, they make wine. We now have proof. The name is Casa Luntro and the wine is a Tannat. You might remember the Tannat grape as the key player in the Southwest French district of Madiran. Heck it was just two weeks ago I was mentioning the fact that I’ve never seen it grown anywhere else. So that’s like killing two birds with one stone. Perhaps I’m too easily excited about these things. At any rate, we’ll be debuting the Tannat from Uruguay tomorrow. (And Tannat is a palindromical word. Isn’t that cool?)

The rest of South America, as far as we’re concerned here, is Chile and Argentina. The wines represented from these regions reflect the areas from where the vines originated. Much of it looks like Bordeaux. In Chile there are the last remaining Carmenere vines, a variety that was practically wiped out by Phylloxera in Europe but survived in Chile. In Argentina, Malbec is king and all of the other Bordeaux varietals its royal subjects. I’ve been increasingly impressed with wines of South America, as a whole. The quality for the price is perhaps the best anywhere. It must be the exchange rate. Or, and I reiterate, the penguins.

So Friday, February 2nd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

South America!!!
Casa Luntro 2000 Tannat, Montevideo, Uruguay
Vina Maquis 2005 Calcu (Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Carmenere), Colchagua Valley, Chile
De Martino 2005 Carmenere, Maipo Valley, Chile
Luna Benegas 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, Argentina
Joffre y Hijas 2004 Grand Malbec, Valle de Uco, Argentina

Even More South America!
NQN 2004 Malma Malbec Reserva, Patagonia, Argentina
Alvaro Espinosa 2003 Kuyen (Syrah, Cab Sauv), Maipo Valley, Chile

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 Sicily! And 4 (-ish) shopping days to Valentines Day!

M