I tasted this vouvray recently and thought highly of it. I love the zesty pineapple that comes through on the nose and on the palate. I was very impressed with the super long finish on this wine. I have to say this was significantly diminished when I tasted the wine chilled. I adore this wine when it is close to room temperature. The mouth feel was smooth and satiny. I would give it 89 points. You can see more in the video.
Wine from Michigan
June 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Yes, Michigan does make some pretty decent wines, especially white wines. About a year ago I was traveling through southwest Michigan and found a winery outlet just off of I-94. The Round Barn winery produced this pinot gris that was really very interesting. It had a great color, first of all. Not too dark but not too light. Definitely had some substance. The aromas of apples and honey and fruit loops greeted me when I brought the glass to my nose. It had a nice crisp acidity with flavors of pears, pineapple and bananas. The nice thing about this wine was how long it lasted in your mouth. Long lingering fruit eventually gave way to a fresh clean finish. I would score this one maybe 89 points. I liked it and now I remember why I bought it.
Spanish White
April 20, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I am a huge fan of the Albariño grape grown mostly in the Rais Baixas region of Spain. This is a grape that expresses very interesting tropical fruit qualities that I just adore. When I saw this Oriel 2004 Albariño in my local shop for $11 I had to pick it up.
The wine had a delightful golden color and the nose did not disappoint. It had aromas of pear, pineapple, mango, papaya and all the things I usually associate with this grape. Aromatically it was quite interesting. It fell flat on the palate, however, in a big way. Oh, it had a nice acidity and flavors of pineapples and honey for days. There were hints of apricot and lemon (as in lemon pledge furniture polish). It was very light and overall not as interesting as I expected. I would give this one an 85 if I were to score it.
My first Grüner
April 2, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I’ve heard about this grape but never had it before. Grüner veltliner is a grape found largely in Austria and to some extent in the Czech Republic. The 2004 Oriel comes from the foot of the Falkenstein cliffs. There the soil is a mixture of weatherd limestone and clay. The grapes were picked between October 23-28, 2004. This wine was fermented slow under controlled temperature. I have to say I’m quite impressed. It has a really wonderful pear nose with some interesting hints of spice. On the palate it is silky and smooth with a nice crisp but balanced acidity. It has pear with green apple flavors and a slight stone quality. I guess that would be called minerality. Normally about $20, I picked this up on sale for half off. Not too shabby.
The grape for sushi
February 5, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Generally I don’t usually think of wine when I have sushi. I much prefer a nice light crisp clean beer to cut through the wasabi and the vinegared rice. It is so difficult to pair a wine with all the flavors that are going on with sushi. I mean soy sauce, horseradish, ginger, fish, vinegar all together is bound to clash with wine. I know some people reach for a sweeter gewurztraminer or riesling and they are ok, but not great in my humble opinion. I would pair a crisp sparkling wine with sushi over a still wine any day. I am not the only one who thinks this way. There is a wine made especially for sushi and it comes from, of all places, Spain! That’s right. Sushi wine from Spain. What an interesting story this is. This was introduced to America by Freixenet and it is produced in Tierra de Castilla, Spain. This is a creation of winemaker Yoko Sato who spent a year developing the perfect blend to compliment sushi. She chose a blend of grapes that bring together the crisp clean qualities that would be demanded of it. It’s made from 60% airen, 30% macabeo and 10% muscat grapes. It has a lighter alcohol rolling in at around 11%. It is balanced with just a hint of sweetness to bring it off dry and it has a crisp acidity that helps cut through the spice and the oils of the fish. On my palate I found it to be quite enjoyable and yes, it did go well with sushi. It had a nose of citrus, grass and fruit that was hard to distinguish. It was crsip and light in the mouth with flavors of grapefruit and gooseberry. The muscat provided a nice lingering fruity finish. It was refreshing and clean, off dry but definitely not sweet. It actually paired very well with sushi as it was designed to do. All in all I would say if I had to pair a still wine with sushi I wouldn’t think twice about reaching for a bottle of Oroya. I still prefer beer though.