WineTraveler’s Weblog

I hadn’t planned for this to be a multi-part posting, but I waxed a bit too poetic on the first part and ran out of time. Now time is running out before Thanksgiving so I’ve got to lob this out there.

I want to get back to the sampler pack I got from Wildman to see how the other options fared when considered for Thanksgiving dinner accompaniment.

So there were four wines left for consideration:

Broquel Chardonnay 2007
El Coto de Imaz Reserva 2004
Jaboulet Parallele 45 Rouge 2007
Hugel Gewürtztraminer 2007

and that is the order in which we will tackle them.

Broquel Chardonnay 2007
El Coto de Imaz Reserva 2004

We had both of these together with some various dishes. The Broquel was a very nice, simple, lightly-oaked Chardonnay. I wrote a bit about the sin of over-oaking in the last post. Luckily, the Broquel did not suffer from this. (I am actually enjoying the last of it right now as I write this…a full week in the fridge after it was opened). I have at points in my life been an avid (rabid even) member of the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) club. That was not necessarily because of a hatred of Chardonnay (I actually have a treasured photo of myself at a signpost at the edge of the town of Chardonnay in France) but rather because of a dislike of the typical treatment of the Chardonnay grape in most offerings. That is, “oak the hell out of it”. I can’t say Chardonnay is alone is this mistreatment…I’ve had Sauvignon Blanc that has suffered the same fate…but Chardonnay is a favorite grape for “oakification”. This, of course, has lead to commercial shortcuts like using oak staves or oak chips or even, gasp, oak extract instead of actual aging in newish oak barrels…and I *hate* that. (That is one of the main reasons I am a proponent of ingredient labeling for wine. If an oak extract was added, I want to see it clearly listed in the ingredient section. More natural and traditional wines would have really short lists: grapes.)

Back to the topic. The Broquel was a pleasant, easy-drinking Chardonnay. It tasted like Chardonnay and I would think it would go well with turkey and with many of the other components of Thanksgiving dinner.

That brings us to the El Coto. I have had El Coto in the past and I have loved it. Actually it was the non-Reserva form because I remember thinking that it was a reason to believe that Tempranillo and Pinot Noir were related; the wine was on the light side, with wonderful strawberry fruit and hints of horseradish…like I find with some Pinot Noirs. The El Coto Reserva I had was nothing like this. There is a tradition in Rioja of using American oak for barrel aging. Usually I am a fan of traditional approaches, but there tends to be a morphing of tradition with time. For example, while American oak barrels have always been used, in the past only a small percentage of them were new American oak barrels. Oak barrels tend to lose their effect with age and with use so the more new barrels that are used, the stronger the effect. I have found that American oak, especially when compared to French oak, imparts a very distinct buttery popcorn flavor . To me, this El Coto Reserva tasted like buttered popcorn…and almost nothing else. Maybe age will help…there was enough tannin for me to believe it will easily go another 5 years so maybe I’d be game to try it down the road.

So the verdict for this roun: the Broquel Chardonnay may work for Thanksgiving but the El Coto Reserva Rioja won’t, unless you are catching a double-feature at the local cinema. (You might want to try the normal El Coto Rioja for Thanksgiving instead.)

Jaboulet Parallele 45 Rouge 2007
Hugel Gewürztraminer 2007

Two of my favorites from the sampler for Thanksgiving. A simple Cotes-du-Rhone like the Paul Jaboulet Parallele 45 is a very versatile wine. It has some guts but generally it is a nice hearty but simple red wine. 2007 was a great year for the Rhone Valley and you should try as many of the basic Cotes-du-Rhone offerings as you can. Of course, you can try the more expensive Chateauneuf-du-Papes, Gigondas, Cornas etc. also but a rising tide raises all ships and so even the “lowly” CDRs from 2007 can be wonderful wines. Why not start with the low priced wines and work you way up?

Alsatian wines are some of my favorites for large celebratory dinners and the Hugel Gewürztraminer is no exception. Alsace is a wonderful place to grow grapes and make wine. The growing conditions are almost ideal and so many of the wines have been wonderful. I have noted a trend over recent years of the wines getting fatter and sweeter than they have been traditionally…not really a good thing but maybe its an effect of global warming. Either way, I think Gewürtz is a great choice for Thanksgiving dinner. It is a white with a certain degree of richness that will marry well with Turkey, some good acid that will work with fattier dishes (like ham), and it has spice that will, well, spice things up with all the other things you might be eating.

My Conclusions

So here’s my summary. Your mileage may (and will) vary, but that’s the fun part about wine.

Of the selections in the sampler, I thought the Folonari Pinot Grigio, Hugel Gewürztraminer, Broquel Chardonnay, and Jaboulet Parallele 45 could have spots during dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I am also a fan of Zinfandel, Barbera, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, and even on occasion, Riesling, for that special dinner. Maybe I’ll try a sampling of those for picking a Christmas Dinner wine.

So there you go…with a day left to hit your favorite wine shop.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And, if you have any particularly interesting wines or wine experiences, I would love to hear about it so please let me know.

– Dennis (A Wine Traveler)

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of joy, of gathering with family and friends to celebrate life, usually through consuming huge amounts of food, and of being thankful for that family, those friends, and the huge amounts of food. Thanksgiving can also be an anxious time for anyone charged with choosing the wine.

Think about the food spread. As a centerpiece, you have the turkey. Leaving the quality of the cook aside for now, you still have a wide range of flavors that come out of that one item. A “standard” turkey from the local supermarket can achieve a certain degree of succulence, but it usually wouldn’t be described as extremely flavorful. That’s where all the brines and bastes and stuffings come into play and widen the flavor spectrum of turkey even more. Then throw in the heritage turkeys and all bets are off.

But wait, there’s more. Just about any side dish is fair game for Thanksgiving. Family traditions usually dominate in the sides category. “We always have Aunt Mabel’s deep fried cranberry fritters…” “It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving at our house without Mom’s homemade green bean casserole”. You have your own standard fares and stories, I’m sure. That just makes picking wine that much more difficult.

On top of the variability in the food, by the tradition of the day, you are usually dealing with a large number of people, all of whom have widely varying tastes (and even tasting ability). How do you pick wine to try to cover all those variables?

I see two main approaches to choosing wine for that situation. You can have a wide spectrum of wines available and let people gravitate to the ones that they like or you can try to pick one or two that you believe will work best. The first approach is a natural one if you have an ample wine collection. You can pick a bunch of stuff out of your “cellar”, line them all up on the sideboard, and then, duties completed, proceed to get sloshed yourself. There are a few problems with that approach, though…having all that open wine means either that you’ll have a lot of overnight guests sleeping it off or you will have a lot of partially filled wine bottles at the end of the evening which you will have to consume over the following days…or both.

Here are some of my simple rules for choosing the right wine for Thanksgiving or just about any occasion:

1. Don’t worry about it

Whatever you end up choosing will be good enough. What is the worst that will happen? Some people won’t like it, some will drink more water (or beer or apple juice or whatever other choice is available). That is why point #2 is important.

2. Don’t forget yourself

Your likes and dislikes count. If you hate oaky chardonnay, don’t buy one because you think others will like it. If they don’t, you are stuck with wine you don’t want to drink. And you will tend to know the most (and care the most) about wines that you like.

3. Playing it safe is playing it boring – Expand horizons, for both you and your guests

There are times when a poorly chosen wine is a very bad thing, like maybe during critical business negotiations or when meeting the potential in-laws for the first time, but usually it just doesn’t matter that much. So just like with life, choosing the wine should be a daring adventure or it should be nothing. Have some fun with it! Choose something that will be “challenging” over something that is safe. Never had a pinot noir from Hungary? Always wanted to try South African Steen with your turkey? Go for it! Giving yourself and others the opportunity to try new and different wines is a good thing and something to be encouraged.

4. Do a “wet” run

All of these points are fine but if you want to really enjoy yourself on Thanksgiving, you will need try to eliminate as many of the unknowns as possible. This includes “knowing” the wine you will be serving. Trying new wines for Thanksgiving is great, just make sure you try the wine yourself before Thanksgiving Day. Huh? What happened to that daring adventure stuff? Well, there is adventure and then there is lunacy. There is no need to play Russian roulette with a completely unfamiliar wine on the actual day with actual guests.

I suggest you go to your favorite wine store this week, the week before Thanksgiving (if you wait for the week of Thanksgiving it will be absolutely nuts — you will actually feel the panic in the air) and ask for a few different wines that the proprietor thinks would work well with [rattle off the main dishes expected for Thanksgiving here]. Be sure to clearly state your budget, too. Any wine person worth their tannins will be more than happy to take up the challenge of providing a selection of wines that will work well with your food and with your wallet. Pick four or five and take a bottle of each home to try over the next several nights. If you can have them with dishes similar to your Thanksgiving menu, great. If not, try to approximate it. I like to try mine with different chicken and pork dishes. You will be overloaded with turkey after Thanksgiving so there is no need to eat a ton before, too. See which wines you like and which others in your household like and you will have your selection.

My Sampler

Having participated in a Frederick Wildman tasting before, I was lucky enough to receive a free Thanksgiving sampler from them a few weeks ago. Since my travels have finally calmed down, I’ve now had the opportunity to taste through these wines and I’m ready to share my thoughts and opinions.

Here’s what was in the sampler pack I received (with the suggested retail price):

Folonari Pinot Grigio 2008 $8.99
Hugel Gewürtztraminer 2007 $23.99
Broquel Chardonnay 2007 $14.99
Jaboulet Parallele 45 Rouge 2007 $12.99
El Coto de Imaz Reserva 2004 $19.99
Castello Monaci Pilùna Primitivo $12.99

(Click on the name of the wine to go to the description at the Frederick Wildman web site.)

I have had some of these wines before (like the Hugel and the Jaboulet, which have been favorites of mind in the past), but I hadn’t tried these particular vintages for any of the wines.

I tasted them in pairs, thinking that 1) my partner in wine and I couldn’t polish off six bottles in one night (without really regretting it the next day), 2) tasting different pairs over different nights would allow for more food pairings while keeping each wine “fresh”, and 3) it wouldn’t be uncommon to have both a red and a white offered together on Thanksgiving. So that is what we did…for the most part. (We ended up having the Jaboulet and the Hugel on separate nights since they were consumed on work nights.)

Folonari Pinot Grigio IGT 2008
Castello Monaci ‘Pilùna’ Primitivo Salento IGT 2007

I am a big fan of Italian wines. We have visited Italy quite a few times, each time trying to tie in as many wine-related activities as possible. I am not, however, a huge fan of Pinot Grigio. I have found that there are many insipid Pinot Grigio wines being made and consumed…which is probably why they continue to be made. When I do buy/drink one, I prefer the ones from areas like Alto Adige or, in French form (Pinot Gris), Alsace. I love the minerality that Pinot Grigio from more mountainous areas can display and I don’t care for the fat fruit that dominate Pinot Grigio from fertile farmland areas.

That said, we found the Folonari to be a pleasant quaffer. First observation: it has a screw top. This was the only wine of the six that had a screw top. I am a big fan of screw tops for wines meant to be drunk young. You can read the statistics on the web but I personally have experienced the disappointment of discovering wine to be “corked” all too many times. I served it on the cold side just so we could experience it through the full temperature range as it warmed. The color was a pale yellow with a green hue. The smell was muted (since it was cold) but it a pleasant citrus/apple/tropical fruit/grass. Taste: some bright acid up front, with sort of an apple-pear-grassy flavor. There was a touch of minerality, which I appreciated. Even more so, I liked that there was no oak flavor or creaminess. Some wines are ruined by the overuse of oak, something we will experience later in the tasting lineup.

I noticed that the Folonari carried the IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) designation. That is neither bad nor good but just something to note. For me, it can be an indication of how tightly the wine adheres to local wine guidelines. The most strict guidelines are DOC and DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata / e Garantita). Those wines are typically the classic Italian wines (like Chianti, Barolo and even Soave), made in traditional ways from traditional grapes in very specific geographical areas. They can be thought of as the officially “sanctioned” wines for a given location, which is named in the DOC/G (like Barolo or Brunello di Montalcino). IGT is a looser classification; it allows for more creativity in, for example, using atypical grapes for the region and employing different vinification processes. Unfortunately, I think it also sometimes allows for shortcuts and laziness in the grape growing and wine making processes as well, like allowing too many grapes to be grown and harvested or reducing the amount of ageing a wine gets before it is released. But wine classifications are a topic for another day and another blog. IGT in this case likely just indicates that the grapes were sourced from a wide area of the Veneto which, among other things, allows the wine produced to be more predictable and consistent vintage to vintage.

We had the Folonari with a smoked salmon appetizer (which worked ok) through to our main course of roasted chicken legs (also an decent pairing). While I think it wouldn’t clash with anything you might serve on Thanksgiving, it probably won’t be a very interesting match for anything either. It is a safe wine that you might enjoy as an aperitif into the beginning courses.

The Castello Monaci was an interesting wine. Primitivo has been shown by DNA testing to be genetically identical to America’s Zinfandel. For me, Zinfandel is a wonderful grape for Thanksgiving wine. Because Thanksgiving is an American tradition, it made sense to me that a truly American wine would be an ideal accompaniment. Not being a fan of wines made from Vitis labrusca grapes (like Concord), I thought Zinfandel was the best choice. That said, I like my Zinfandels to exhibit a high degree of fruit “purity” rather than to be “classed up” with oak. What I got from the Monaci was too much oak. There was some dark fruit and black licorice on the nose and some carried through to the taste but everything was masked by the oak. The fruit was there but I had to try too hard to find it. I concluded that this Primitivo is trying to be something it just isn’t…or shouldn’t be. Castello Monaci offers a very high end Primitivo/Negroamaro blend called Artas that has achieved critical acclaim (like receiving Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri award) so maybe Castello Monaci is trying to raise the pedigree of its lower end Primitivo, too, through the heavy use of oak. Don’t get me wrong — drinking the Pilùna wasn’t painful (we’ve all had wine experiences like that) but it was tiring. We found that the oaky vanilla creaminess dulled our palates and necessitated occasional sips of something brighter and more acidic (the Folonari worked well for that) to cleanse our mouths. I look forward to trying the Artas one day and I may even try future (or past) vintages of the Pilùna — I just wasn’t a big fan of this one.

Wow, this posting has taken way too much time and space! I’ll have to leave the other pairings for next time. Stay tuned for Part 2…

Wine is a passion but not my occupation (right now). I have a real job in high tech that pays the bills. Recently that job has called for me to do some traveling to some major U.S. cities and even to London. This past week it was a visit to Washington, DC. Most of my trips involve dinners with large groups. Being wine-savvy, I am usually called upon to choose the wine or to provide suggestions. Sometimes that is not as much fun as it may sound. I can’t tell you how many times I have picked up the wine list only to be rather disappointed by 1) the selection (or lack thereof), 2) the prices, 3) the format 4) the accuracy, or all of the above. That is certainly not meant to be an indictment of restaurants as a whole or of the particular cities I’m visiting but it is more just bad luck (or judgment) in picking the restaurants we visit. Throw in the diverse tastes of a large group and picking a wine that everyone will enjoy gets to be a real challenge.

Washington provided me with very enjoyable wine experiences. We hit two restaurants, PS7 and Zola’s, and I was pleased by the wine at both (for different reasons).

PS7 had a limited wine list. What bothered me about it (at first) was, since we were few in number this time and I wasn’t sure everyone would drink wine, I first looked to the “wines by the glass” section. As I had a hankering for steak, my mind went to cabernet sauvignon or syrah. But I found neither available by the glass. The only red I thought might be interesting was a Jovino Pinot Noir but I didn’t think it would go very well with the Sirloin au Poivre I had in mind. Still, I wanted to try it and we were having appetizers (flatbreads), so I ordered a glass. Nice! Wonderful bright light fruit, good acid…almost like fresh raspberry juice. It went very well with the selection of flatbreads we were trying.

On to the main course. Others were going to have steak, too, and they wanted wine so back to the list I went. There were some nice options by the bottle. I settled on the Baileyana Syrah (Firepeak Vineyard). Delicious! Thick, chewy with a wonderful deep spiced fruit core…it went beautifully with my steak. And the chamomile grappa to close was delightful. Happy camper…er, traveler.

Zola’s was at a different point on the wine spectrum but also very enjoyable. The wine list was huge. We had a very large party so I didn’t get to examine the “wines by the glass” section…there were too many full bottle pages to wade through anyway. One thing I found extremely helpful was that they had added some descriptive comments about some of the wines. Two such comments caught my attention. One was for Groom Shiraz and the other for Miguel Torres Cordillera.

When out to dinner with a large group, particular salesmen, I tend to choose Syrah/Shiraz or Ripasso/Amarone. These are my “low risk” wines. I find that those kinds of wines can have the power and richness that many people like in their wine while missing the tannic bite or green flavors you find in some cabs and merlots that some people just don’t like. The descriptions on both the Groom and the Cordillera intrigued me. I had not tried either one before but I was pretty sure the Groom would be enjoyable to all and I remembered reading something about the Cordillera before so I ordered both to try. They were both hits with the group. The Groom was as expected, a powerful, juicy, almost over-the-top Australian Shiraz. It had a touch more restraint and elegance than other Shirazes I’ve had recently but it was still a brute. The Cordillera was a bit lighter in flavor and intensity but it had a similar boldness and bright fruitiness. It also had a touch more “earthiness” to it which I enjoyed. The food was good, the conversation was good, and the wine was good…another successful dinner.

I have a few more trips over the next month or so. I am just hoping these are as enjoyable wine-wise as this last one was.

We opened a bottle of Allan Scott Chardonnay tonight. It took me back to a trip a few years ago to New Zealand. Well it was actually a work-related trip to Australia with a two week prelude we were able to build into it that we spent in New Zealand. I loved New Zealand!  We focused on wine (which we do on most vacations) and were able to visit most of the major wine areas of both islands and good sampling of the wonderful wineries. One of those wonderful wineries was Allan Scott’s in Marlborough.

I had met Allan twice during visits he had made to the Boston area. I was struck by how nice and how genuine he was. (You just need to spend a few minutes with some of the self professed star winemakers to know how refreshing that really is.) It seemed like his roots lay in growing grapes and he showed a great passion for making the best wines possible from those grapes. So it was a treat when our group tour just happened to stop at Allan’s beautiful winery and restaurant for lunch. I went by the hostess desk and asked if Allan was there that day. They responded that he was working in the winery and that they would pass along my message. After the main course and before dessert, Allan appeared. I recognized him right away and he greeted me with a hearty handshake. We spoke of his work in the winery, upcoming visits to the United States, his new property and venture in Central Otago (Mount Michael) and many other things in the short time.

So if you haven’t tried an Allan Scott wine yet or recently, I would encourage you to do so. Some are simple, some are complex, but I have never been disappointed by one. The unoaked Chardonnay we had tonight (2007 unwooded Marlborough) went very well with our salmon pasta with cream sauce and peas. The acidity was a wonderful and welcomed counterpoint to the richness of the cream sauce. I think Allan’s Sauvignon Blanc would have been an interesting match as well, but I was fresh out of that one.

A big part of my fascination with wine comes from the thoughts and the memories that each wine evokes. The wine we had tonight brought back memories of a fabulous trip and thoughts of visiting again some day soon.

We enjoy a bottle of wine every night. It is a civilized respite from the craziness of the day. Tonight was a Gemstone Shiraz…did it match perfectly with the eggplant parm? No, but it didn’t matter either. Both were new for us (Trader Joe’s for the eggplant, a local wine store for the Gemstone), so it was worth trying together. The shiraz was less intense than I had expected and the eggplant parm a bit more so, so they were decent together. Tomato sauce is tough to match but this dish had little.

I’m liking Trader Joe’s. I’m not a Charles Shaw kind of guy but TJ’s has lots of different wines, some at incredibly low prices. I may just buy a mixed case of some of the $6 wines just to try.  I’ll keep you posted.

Short and sweet.

I love wine. I like to talk about wine. I like to write about wine.

The travel part, well there’s the rub. I like to visit wine areas during my travels whenever possible. The last trip I took was to France, starting in Provence and working my way up through the Southern Rhone, Northern Rhone and then Burgundy. Absolutely fabulous.

Most of my wine activity, though, is tasting wine and enjoying wine.

I twitter (http://twitter.com/WineTraveler), but that darned 140 character limit is just too, well, limiting. I hope to use this blog to expound/expand on those thoughts…and others.

 

\\ A Wine Traveler