I’ve been a big fan of Joseph Phelps wine for a long time and I was pleased as punch to see Wine Spectator name the 2002 Insignia wine of the year for 2005. The insignia is a great wine. I have a bottle of the “off year” 2000 in my cellar. I’m waiting for a special occasion to drink that 92+ point wine. Perhaps not quite the same caliber but certainly a perfectly quaffable wine is the Phelps Innisfree cabernet sauvignon. I recently opened a bottle of the ’04 vintage. For about 1/4 to 1/5 the price of the insignia you can spend only $25 for this really excellent wine. I’ve had several vintages of the innisfree and have enjoyed them all. I generally love this wine but I have to say I was a little disappointed in the body on this one. The nose was very nice with presentation of mocha, cherry and a hint of smoke. It was medium bodied on the palate with sweet strawberries and cherries. It had a lot of new world red fruits, soft tannins, and the mocha flavor came through nicely on the upper palate. It finishes long and smooth but it was a little bit awkward on the end. There were slight hints of maybe rotten tomatoes? I guess I just was expecting a heavier, satiny body that I’ve had before in the innisfree. Still, it’s a 90 point wine for sure and we didn’t waste a drop.
Innisfree
A hit and a miss
I’ve been a little lax about posting lately. You know, life gets in the way sometimes of the fun. It’s not that I haven’t been tasting. I have lots of tasting notes to share. I just haven’t got around to putting them up here. So let me tell you about a couple of wines I had recently.
First let’s talk about the miss.
I had high hopes for this Artesa 2003 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. A $40 bottle of wine on sale for $30. Not a bad deal, I thought. And it might have been good. It had a gorgeous deep dark color. On the nose aromas of dark red fruits and caramel wafted in. It almost reminded me of rollo candies. It also smelle of dusty wood. On the palate it had initial big red fruits and beautiful cherries, firm tannins, and a nice acidity. The big fruit dissipated quickly leaving a rather thin mid to end palate. However, it did linger for quite a while teasing you. I rate this wine a little bit lower because the alcohol was out of balance. It was noticeably hot. The label says 14.5% but it tasted like it was even higher. For $40, or even $30, I expect a balanced wine. I don’t think I would spend that money again for this wine.
Now, for the hit I had to go across the pond to France.
The 2005 Domaine Grand Veneur Côte du Rhône Village I found to be extraordinary! Just what I like in a French wine. It had a really nice, dark, ruby red/purple color. The nose was amazing to me. On my first sniff my mind thought – “Hmmm, chokecherries!” It had bright red fruits, chokecherries, red licorice and raspberries on the nose. It was even better when I tasted it. Super balance of the red fruits, raspberries, cherries, licorice, and hints of like roasted green vegetables. It had smooth but firm tannins, a balanced acidity and a lingering long finish. Just delicious! It didn’t taste hot at all, though the alcohol was the same 14.5% as the previous wine. This was one excellent bottle!
Let’s Talk Turkey
Archeological evidence suggests that grape growing, and subsequently wine making, originated in the middle east. Asia MInor is thought to be the birth place of the grape. Traces of red win in King Tut’s tomb have been confirmed showing that wine making has been around for a very very long time. However, it is Europe, and now the “New World” that gets accolades for producing oustanding wine. Well, that may be changing as wineries in the middle east take back their once lost heritage from Europe.
By far the greatest wine production in the middle east occurs in Israel. However, other countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Cyprus and the Georgia Republic are making their marks. Although wine making is quite old in these regions of the world, prohibition of alcohol in Islamic societies have kept them from truly reaching their potential. Several “noble” varieities of grapes that we know today as being developed in Europe are now making their way back to the Middle East.
In ancient Turkey, winemaking began in the region between Thrace and the Caucasian mountains. There are now about ten wineries in Turkey producing independently. Two of the best knowns are the Doluca winery and the Kavaklidere Winery. In the early 1990’s the Doluca winery, under the Sarafin label brought the noble grapes of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot back to Turkey and planted them in the Gallipoli Peninsula on the shores of the Aegean Sea near Saros Bay. In 1996 they produced their first vintage and sold their first bottle from these grapes in 1998. They now offer five noble varietals (they added Fumé Blanc) and their wines are carefully produced by Doluca winery in Mürefte. The Doluca winery was established in 1926 and is one of the oldest in Turkey. They produce several red and white varieties from grapes local to Turkey as well. They produce red wines from the Karasakiz grape as well as from French Cinsault in the Marmara region. Another grape from eastern Anatolia is the Bogazkere grape. White grapes include Sultanina from the Aegian region and Semillon from Thrace. The Emir and Muscat grapes grows in the central Anatolia area. These and several others make for the production of distinctive Turkish wines.
Recently I had the great fortune to taste some Turkish wines from the Turasan winery in Cappadocia. My dear friends carried them back from Turkey and served them last weekend with a Turkish feast (thank you guys). It was a very memorable evening and the wines were quite impressive.
The first wine we tasted was a 2004 dry red wine made from a blend of okuzgozu and bogazkere grapes. This had a light red color. Bright red fruits were presented on the nose. It had a forward acidity that was quite sharp and an interesting blend of light black raspberries and cherries. There was something else in there that is hard to describe so I’ll just say it reminded me of a mineraly dirt. I guess this would be the Turkish terroir influence. It was a light bodied wine that actually paired well with tomatoes and eggplant and olive oil in some of the Turkish food.
The 2004 pure okuzgozu had a lot of similarities with the blend. However, it was much smoother and had less of the mineralness that I detected in the first wine. The acid was softer and the bright fruits came out a little bit more. These had minimal tannins and were easy drinking wines.
The 2000 Senelar took me by surprise. It was much more earthy than the previous wines. It had a darker color and a little more body. It really tasted like an old world European wine. Imagine cherries mixed with olives, earth, and a touch of maple syrup aroma (not sweetness). It reminded me of a light sangiovese or a lighter French wine.
By far the most intense and full bodies wine we had was the 2004 cabernet sauvignon. It had a deep red color. On the nose among the red and black fruits I detected wisps of watermelon rind and leather. It also had a woody smell reminiscent of cedar planks. It had vegetable flavors mixing fruits with tomatoes and greens. The tannins were present but smooth and at the end of the palate I got dark chocolate and espresso. An interesting and unusual wine. I would say that Turkey can produce wines of excellent quality.
From CA to Australia
I’ve got three wines to talk about tonight. The first is from Australia. Everyone has heard of Yellow Tail. I find their mainstream wines to be rather boring and one dimensional. However, if you pay just a couple bucks more you get something actually worth drinking. Their “reserve” line of wines tend to be a significant step up from their regular fare. I like their reserve shiraz the best I would say. The 2006 had a gorgeous deep dark color. On the nose I got a complex mixture of vanilla and spice mingling with blackberries and coffee. There were nice big dark fruit flavors and cocoa on the palate and the wine had solid tannins. The only flaw I detected was that the alcohol was out of balance a bit. You did notice the hotness of the ethanol. Other than that for it’s 12 buck price point it is not a bad wine at all.
I also got a taste of California recently. The first is a cabernet sauvignon from Napa valley. This is also a step up from their average “California” cabernet. I had the 2004 vintage last evening. It had nice plum and cherry aromas that carried through on the palate. There were chocolate flavors mingling with the fruit. The chocolate mostly came out on the mid palate. The finish was a little bit short but it was certainly a solid cab for $12.
This evening I made a wonderful garlic, ginger, soy, mirin glazed fish for dinner. I was looking for a crisp fruit sauvignon blanc to go with it. I was first thinking of one from New Zealand but I stumbled across a bottle fo the 2005 Kenwood from Sonoma county. This one paired very nicely with the steelhead trout tonight. It had a very pleasant nose of pears and grapefruit. It tasted of green apples and citrus. It had a nice silky texture and a reasonably long finish. There were also very nice grass and herbal components that married with dinner. It had a crisp enough acidity to cut through the fish. Overall I’ve had 3 for 3 this weekend.
A couple for the weekend
I just acquired a case of the 2005 High Trellis cabernet sauvignon from d’Arenberg and I had to pop a bottle open this evening. I liked it! It was one of those Australian fruit bombs that didn’t taste fake. It was not cloyingly sweet. It had structure and complication and interesting flavors. It also had a deep deep red color that I can only describe as blood with a bit of a purple hue. See the picture below. It had fantastic color.
Of course you need to know how it tasted. d’Arenberg is a favorite of mine. I like most of the wine they produce and this one was no exception. On the nose I smelled chocolate covered dark cherries an blackberries. There were wisps of black current and a hint of leather. On the palate you were immediately attacked by huge dark cherry flavors that mingled with leather, tobacco, wood and cocoa. The mid palate was exciting and the wine had a rich flavor that weighted heavily on the palate. Currant and mulberry flavors danced along on the lingering finish. There was an interesting note of cowhide that reminds me of chewing on a leather shoe lace on a pair of work boots. It was a big fruit bomb but nicely balanced. If I were to score it I’d say it was a 90 point wine.
We opened another bottle this evening from California. The 2004 Bogle Phantom. This is a meritage blend of 54% Petite Sirah, 43% old vine zinfandel and 3% old vine mourvedre. If you like petite syrah you’ll like this wine. The zin gives it a spice that is very interesting. It displayed black currants, raisins and spice on the nose. On the palate it was big, jammy and spicy. It had a lush dried fruit component that reminded me of chocolate covered raisins, dried figs, currants and prunes. The chocolate really came out on the mid palate. One the end there were flavors of mocha, black dirt, vanilla, a tiny trace of cumin and coffee. A quite interesting wine. It developed more as it was allowed to breathe. Definitely worth the $17 I paid for it.