Yalumba is a very-well established Australian brand of which most of you have never heard.
While Australia has been foisting “critter wines” featuring cute animals on the label to the wine buying public - certain winemakers have continued to hone and perfect their craft. This is where Yalumba comes in.
Yalumba is a hand-crafted wine and has been such for over 160 years producing a wide variety of reserves, single vineyards, and interesting blends. I first became aware of the brand a few years ago when one of our wine reps brought in a bottle to sample. I’d never heard of Yalumba at the time and didn’t know quite what to expect - what I sampled was one of the Yalumba blends (not sure which one) which nocked my socks off. The brand has remained on the wine list since that first tasting.
My impressions: Dark purple in the glass with an expansive nose of raspberries. Busy, in a good way, with crushed red fruit giving way to a certain earthy wet-rockiness reminiscent of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The earthiness grows as the wine opens up. Strawberries arrive late. Medium-long finish with soft tannins reaching the stage just as the curtain falls - a pleasant ending. Highly recommended.
While there is a significant amount of fruit in this wine it also has sufficient tannic structure to stand up well with food - and you know that I think that is crucial. It is not fat, nor flabby: it is a food-friendly Shiraz which I’d recommend with the typical pairs for medium reds: would be PERFECT with rack of lamb.
It was some weeks ago that the braver Johnson brother endured several low-priced port wine offerings to disastrous results. I recall that he had to open another bottle of wine to clear the long lingering effects of the overly-sweet drain cleaner which he'd sampled.
Truth be told: many low-priced port offerings are nothing but bulk wine which has been fortified with a little additional alcohol and sweetener. So, I offer my respects to Brad for his personal sacrifice, and taking one for the team.
So imagine my surprise when I stopped by Restaurant 213 last Friday. Chef Hughes says, "You gotta try this!" In his hands was a bottle of the Graham's 2007 Vintage Porto. He pulled a couple
red wine glasses from the bar and poured a short serving in each glass: one for him and one for me.
My impressions: Nearly black in color as it ever-so-slowly pours from the bottle. Raisins, cocoa, prunes and ripe fruit on the nose. Intense fruit perfectly balanced - not too sweet - with the tannins for an other-worldy sensation in the mouth. Extraordinarily mouth-filling. Long, long, long finish whose warmth stayed with me for HOURS afterwards. Epic.
This wine is being handled carefully by it's distributors with maximum allocations going to even the finest restaurants. It is available now and if you want to know what a perfect porto tastes like, be prepared to pay upwards of $80 for the privilege (available here). Buy it. You'll thank me later.
I am not going to lie and tell you that this wine is of the caliber of a Puligny-Montrachet. Besides, no one would believe it. What I will tell you is that Domaine du Bernier continues to deliver outstanding value with their Chardonnay wines.
I know it isn't much of a review when the reviewer starts gushing over the wine in the first paragraph. Sorry.
My impression: Oak and flowers on the nose when first poured with the flowers fading as the wine warmed in the glass. Citris with crisp, mineral-like, qualities reminiscent of a French Chablis but minus the cold steeliness. Long crisp finish. Wonderful.
I would drink this with typical Chardonnay pairings of cream and butter sauced meats. I would also drink this with cooked shellfish: steamed clams comes immediately to mind.
100% Chardonnay. $7.99 to $9.00 retail. This budget priced French white packs a lot of enjoyment into a very reasonable price. Highly recommended.
It would have been sometime around 1987 or 1988 when I was still living in San Diego that my wife and I drove up to Temecula to spend a long weekend at a Bed & Breakfast. While In Temecula we visited several small wineries including Callaway.
At the time, Callaway was a boutique winery producing somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 20,000 per year. A nice size to be sure, but nowhere near the production of the giants in Napa and Sonoma.
I have very fond memories of the weekend there and my two enduring memories of our get away weekend there were the fabulous Callaway on-site restaurant and their spectacular wines.
Time and corporate acquisitions have diluted the Callaway brand. Between then and now the company was acquired by a multi-national beverage company and production increased ten-fold. Several years ago the winery was reacquired by local interests and they are working to decrease production and increase quality. I wish them every success.
My impressions. Lovely purple hue in the glass. Uncharacteristic (for a Cab) muddled fruit on the nose and across the tongue. The label is mute on the point, but this cannot be a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon - and I suspect there is a healthy dose of Merlot in there to round-out (overly so) the edges. Profoundly fruit forward with virtually no backbone. Brief finish.
Your appreciation for this wine will be determined by how you choose to use it. If you want an fruity, easy to drink Cab (blend) for a reasonable price - this is a very good selection. If you want a hearty Cab to serve with food - you'll be less pleased: the fruit will overwhelm almost any dish with which it was paired.
The Two Wine Brothers were invited to Tassel Ridge Winery, located near Pella in central Iowa about an hour southeast of Des Moines, for a program touted as a “Red Wine Lovers” event. A gorgeously sunny day followed us as we drove for 90 minutes through a landscape of gently rolling farm fields enshrouded in brilliant snow white. Acres of vineyard announced our arrival as we neared the winery, and snow drifts piled roof-top high encircled us as we drove into the visitor friendly parking lot.
We were warmly greeted by the Tassel Ridge staff, including owner (Bob Wersen), winemaker (Rhonda Taylor) and vineyard manager (Steve Richardson) and after an impromptu tasting at the expansive tasting bar we were whisked away to the cellar for the program. Modeled after premium California wineries, Tassel Ridge Winery created an impressive and impeccable winery sparing no expense. Upon exiting the main Tasting Room level we were offered a brief glimpse of the winery below as we made our way down the stairs. Immediately upon entering the chilly cellar floor area you could tell this winery is poised for success. In front of me were two large format oak barrels (containing several hundred gallons of Marquette wine each), to my left an automated Bottling Line, to my right several two-thousand gallons stainless steel tanks filled with aging wine. And next to the large format barrels a mini-tasting bar and interspersed with samplings of food for our wine-food paring.
The “Red Wine Lovers Event” purpose was to provide a level of education for those of us with a deep interest (some would say passion) for red wines. In addition to providing an education of red wine making given by the winemaker, the vineyard manager (also a wine educator) provided insight into food-wine pairings and answered any wine growing questions to the 30+ visitors on hand. A lively and interactive red wine making tutorial was presented by the head winemaker who stood teasingly in front of the large oak barrels. Two red wines, Marquette and Merlot, were on tap for barrel sampling, a process where the winemaker using a “wine thief” retrieves a small sample from a barrel and gives all in attendance a tantalizingly small portion to taste. (Times like these I have to remind myself it is a tasting, it is a tasting, it is a tasting – not a drinking).
In our large semi-circle, wine glass in hand, swirling, sniffing, looking, and sipping the Tassel Ridge staff guided us through a casual tasting asking us to describe the wine as best we could. Throughout the process questions about fermentation and wine treatment were asked and answered. The two grape varietals for the tasting represent very different wine grapes. The Merlot, a “noble” or traditional vinifera grape of France and California fame is brought to Tassel Ridge via refrigerator trucks, from CA, in bins of whole grapes and processed on site. The Marquette, a new hybrid grape created by the University of Minnesota, was developed to survive and thrive in cold-climates like Iowa. Marquette is related to the regionally familiar Frontenac and internationally recognized Pinot Noir and is grown and processed by the winery.
As an advocate and vocal supporter of non-vinifera grapes, namely cold-hardy grapes grown in the Midwest, I was most interested in the new Marquette wine. New being the key! This grape, for the most part, has only been in the ground for about 4 years and this vintage represents one of the first plantings and harvests in Iowa. Heartland wine growers continue to seek the “holy-grail” of red wine grapes (i.e., fully ripens, good sugar, manageable acidity and pH, and no funky off-flavors) and much hype and hope rests on the inky purple shoulders of this new grape varietal. In the vineyard, according to the wine grower, Marquette is a pleasure to work with ripening to an amazing 28° Brix (that’s 28% sugar – huge for Iowa!) and harvested at 11.5 g/L total acidity (bright and lively but manageable), and 3.3-3.4 pH (perfect). On the downside the birds really love them; so much, in fact, that nearly half of the anticipated 21 tons were eaten by the grape-loving birds. Total harvest: 10.5 tons.
Fermentation: The Marquette was crushed-destemmed and left to cold-soak (e.g., to aid in color extraction without fermentation taking place) before being pumped into the new, large-format French oak barrels. The macerated Marquette was warmed to appropriate temperatures and transferred to the oak barrels where fermentation was allowed to occur for nearly a week. Twice a day pump-over’s took place and Malolactic Fermentation (MLF) was started midway through alcoholic fermentation. Then the wine was pressed and filtered and returned to the clean large French oak barrels for aging. Projected barrel contact time: 2-2.5 years.
Tasting Notes: The wine thief delivered a small sample to my glass, yet it was obvious, at first impression, Marquette is a penetratingly attractive garnet hued, medium intensity wine. After a couple of gentle swirls around my chalice, fascinating aromas of black cherries, spice, fig and a hint of leather suggested something interesting was awaiting me. Hopeful but wary of disappointment I took my first sip. Hopeful. My taste buds were happy to first encounter black raspberry, then underneath a subtle buttery signature of secondary fermentation, smidgeon of vanilla, and a light smoky quality. Tasty. The family tree (i.e., Pinot Noir and Frontenac) is well represented with bright acidity and modest body, evocative of a young Pinot Noir. Impressive. Marquette, very youthful (about 5-6 months old) and exciting, will benefit from extended maturity and barrel time.
Post Tasting Notes: This was the fourth Marquette wine I have tasted over the past year – all have been extraordinary. On the vine it is delicious and now, it appears, in the glass equally sublime. Not to oversell or overstate the importance of the grape program at the University of Minnesota or the potential of this cold-hardy grape varietal, but Marquette could quite possibly become the signature red wine of Iowa (and the Midwest) if these samplings are any indication. Any grape capable of surviving at -35F and make wine like this deserves acknowledgement. Lastly, the staff and owner of Tassel Ridge Winery were incredibly hospitable and friendly and special thanks to Derek for the invitation and the sample of the 2006 St. Croix. Tassel Ridge Winery is a state of the art, modern winery with a big vision – tremendous production increases are on the way.
Whether Marquette will ultimately become the signature red of Iowa (or the Midwest) or fulfill an almost prophetic position as the “holy-grail” there can be little doubt great wines are being made in Iowa now!
For this tasting we chose two sparklers, one made using the Traditional Method (i.e., Méthode Champenoise) and the other using a less labor intensive production process (i.e., stainless steel pressurized tanks) known as the Charmat Method. For the first time during the course of this semester there were only two of us tasting. Here are my notes:
This bottle did not want to give up its cork! After fighting with the heavy bottle for about 5 minutes I was finally victorious and was awarded with a lovely light, golden hued effervescent tulip glass of “bubbly”. Attractive aromatics welcomed me with a subtle touch of apples, grapefruit, hint of yeast, and what can best be described as apple blossoms. Nice and unexpected. On the palate this California Sparkler was bright, lively, dry, and slightly acidic. Food friendly. Mostly pleasant lingering aftertaste with just a bit of bitterness. There was a trace of grapefruit pithiness after swallowing but overall, a very nice and affordable sparkling wine. Very drinkable.
Richly saturated with gold, this traditionally styled California Champagne sparkled with delight as I took my first sniff. The bouquet announced something special as I delved in deeper to a complex of apple orchard blossoms, fermentation tank, and yeast notes. The complexity grew as I transitioned from olfactory to gustatory appreciation, with rich layers of lively yeast, creamy caramel, eliciting round earthiness reminiscent of mushroom. Intriguing. Full and interesting. What makes this wine truly remarkable is the long and incredibly fascinating finish. An amazing finish that lasted and evolved, first with satisfying creamy textures and then transforming into sweet strawberry fruitiness. Delicious.
Post Tasting Notes: what a pleasant tasting! We had two very different exemplars of sparkling wine, one (Barefoot) that emphasized the fruity character (aromatically-driven) and the other (Korbel) highlighting winemaking techniques (bouquet-driven). If I had to pick a favorite it would have to be the Korbel…but, the Barefoot Bubbly is a close-second!
Terry post:
