The UnCorker

Niebaum Coppola Claret Commemorative Label 2006

Oh, how we’re looking forward to getting our hands on Coppola’s fun-sounding new Encyclopedia label - geared at educating younger drinkers in world varietals - with the nifty edutainment website and test-tube bottle design only sweetening the deal for us. Did we mention the uber-convenience of handling distribution through retailers such as Seven-11 and Walgreens? After all, it’s a lot of trouble to go out and find and understand such off-the-beaten-path varietals as  Tempranillo and Torrontes by drinking the actual indigenous wines on which their reputations were built - so we’re glad Francis and his people are making things easy for us. After all, the Godfather I, II, and, ok-even III, let us experience Mafia life without actually putting ourselves at risk of catching a stray bullet. But, alas, these wines are not yet available in the state of New York, so in the meantime we’re forced to stray up-label and drink Coppola’s “Diamond Collection” series of wines - including the best-selling of these, the Niebaum Coppola Claret - which is as good of $19 bottle that powerhouse marketing efforts are likely to ever land in front of you. We won’t bother to review it when Benito has done such a nice job here.

Our real question is - where is the commemorative label version of this wine? It somehow made it’s way into Snooth.com - where it sits unadorned with tasting notes or availability information and unrated. And we know Snooth wouldn’t clutter up the Internet with less-than-useful wine ratings, so we’re intrigued. Is Snooth posting phantom wines, or is this some inside California cognescenti thing that only a few Hollywood A-listers know about? And is it really a two-headed monster like the photo implies - sort of like a Diamond Collection version of conjoined twins? We love Coppola - and we especially love it when the guy commemorates. So if anyone knows where we can find this wine - please let us know. Of course, maybe it’s still in oak barrels somewhere, ahead of it’s release, and the publicists are just getting a jump on things. Either way, we wait with baited breath.

Close Up: Viñedos De Los Vientos

We were very excited to wake up Sunday morning and see one of our favorite winemakers, Pablo Fallabrino, profiled in the New York Times travel section.  Having drunk our way through many a bottle from Pablo’s winery, Viñedos De Los Vientos, and having recently visited him on his home turf in Atlantida, Uruguay - we thought we’d provide some additional context to some of the wines mentioned in the article - not to mention Pablo himself.

Uruguayans are a relaxed, gentle people.  And if you can picture young Pablo (he’s in his mid-thirties), walking the vineyards in flip-flops, baggy shorts, and ponytail - you will see that he personifies the national character.   It’s a country of understatement, where nobody is in a hurry.   When we last saw Pablo, in late February, he was debating whether to harvest the last block of Tannat on the vines or head down to Punta Del Este to catch the big swell that was forecast in the surf report.  Contrast this to the image of the scientific winemaker with his refractometer, carefully measuring the brix levels and obsessively tasting grapes to decide the exact moment to call in the pickers - and there you have what’s special about this place.  Pablo is no slacker mind you - he’s a serious winemaker who was one of the first in the region to modernize.  His combination of intuition and experience creates some of the best valued, most interesting wines you will find from any region.

Continue reading Close Up: Viñedos De Los Vientos…

Wine on The Web: Wine Podcast Round-up

The UnCorker reviews five top wine-related podcasts!

What better way to learn about wine than with free media that’s accessible while you commute, workout, or jog. Or heck, listen along from your couch with a glass of vino in your hand… it’s all the same to us. iTunes has a plethora of wine related content at varying quality levels. The UnCorker sorts it out for you.

Continue reading Wine on The Web: Wine Podcast Round-up…

2006 Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux- A Vintage Report

Every year, the Chateau owners of Bordeaux travel the United States, touring five or six major cities for the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux, giving a preview of the new vintage to be released. For those in the trade, this is a big event- in New York, it takes place in the Waldorf-Astoria’s Ballroom, a grand room, which gives one the decided sense of being absolutely nowhere and anywhere. The 2005 event was mad, the wine magic; who’d be crazy enough to spit that 2005 Chateau….whichever, the wines were extraordinary- 2006 brought us all back down to earth, the wines from this vintage, being described as “classic” by the Bordelaise. Your UnCorker correspondant was cynical about the description, though reflecting on it now, it seems to be the case. Unlike last years celebration of the 2005 vintage, where the wines were drinking fabulously already, the 2006’s were tannic and closed, barely giving a whisper of what their future holds(with the exception of some of the St. Emilion’s, notably the Chateau Angelus, and some beautiful Blancs from Graves and Pessac-Leognan.

The First Growths; Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Mouton, and Haut-Brion, as well as Yquem and Petrus tend to not go tour as their production is snapped as futures no matter what the vintage is like, nor how astronomical their prices. Lots of other classified Chateau show up, despite their predictable high volume sales, whether they show up or not, certainly Angelus, Canon, the Barton’s , and Pavie could skip the whole dog and pony show and still sell every drop. Bordeaux however, is so much more then a wine region, a wine, or a simple identity- Bordeaux is a marketing behemouth, and a wine region in trouble.

Continue reading 2006 Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux- A Vintage Report…

Wine on the Web: Kami no Shizuku (The Drops of the Gods)

Shizuku is approachable, a bit scruffy and rebellious, but with a pedigree inherited from his deep family roots in the wine business.  He is modeled after Bordeaux.  Issei inherits his personality from Burgundy - tight and complex, arrogant, and, well, ok let’s just say it - anal.   These are the dueling protagonists in the Japanese wine themed comic - Kami no Shizuku.  This is a wine nerd’s fantasy - a place where a cultured young lad can score babes with a bit of daredevil decanting:

The comic series is so insanely popular in Japan and Korea that the wines it mentions sell out immediately.  Obtaining a copy of this manga has become an obsession - but unfortunately nobody at the UnCorker reads Japanese.  So what to do? Spend hours with a Kanji dictionary just to experience a 2001 Chateau Mont Perat compared to the ’sweet and husky’ voice of Queen lead singer, Freddy Mercury?   Apparently there are no plans for an English translation - even though the French now have one.  The manga market in the US & UK is focused primarily on minors, who legally aren’t allowed to experience a ‘99 Richebourg in “full bloom” even if they could manage Shizuku’s high-wire aerial decanting technique - so it’s no wonder there are no plans in the works for an official published version in English.   Kami no Shizuku targets young-ish men (mostly) and women, many of who are in their thirties - with the express goal of educating them on the basics of being an insufferable old-world wine snob.   Only one option remains if you want to read this in English translation… enter the nerdy counter-culture of online comic book traders and find a “scanlation” (or unauthorized translated copy.)

Continue reading Wine on the Web: Kami no Shizuku (The Drops of the Gods)…

The Great Whites of Campania

It’s 60 degrees today, and we at The UnCorker are looking to spring and all that means to us; grilled seafood, warm days and cool nights, the end(for now) of slow cooked heavy meals with big warming reds, and the chance to drink white wine all night long. The whites we’re thinking about right now; the bright, focused, unoaked whites from sunny Campania. The Romans knew Campania, with its capital of Napoli as the premier viticultural spot of the isthmus, if not the whole Mediterranean world. The region offers endless hillside sites, volcanic soils, plenty of sun, and temperature variations from day to night extreme enough to allow grapes to ripen over a very long growing season(Aglianico grown here is often not harvested until November) without cooking the grapes.

When the Northern Italians were producing oxidized whites that could only be characterized as drinkable at best, Campanians were making bright, focused white wines of real character. While Campania saw a decrease in quality and consumption in their whites for a time, the 1980’s saw investment in the cellar, and a lot of hard work in the vineyards; together, these factors have brought recognition and a big market for these remarkable, well-priced wines.

2007 Fiano Di Avellino Colli Di Lapio Clelia

Pale yellow. Intense nose opens slowly to offer  aromas of green apple, minerals, thyme and a bit of minty herbacousness. Green pear and stone fruit, menthol and a bit of brinyness typical of these southern whites  emerge on the palate, with strong, bright acids giving them focus. Finishes very long and clean, with lingering flavors of lemon, pine needles and powdered stone.

The Romans knew Fiano Di Avellino as Vitis Apiana, meaning the bees were all over it, prized for its almond hazelnut nuttiness and its fresh green pears, there are plenty of producers to be on the watch for; Ocone, Matroberadino, Terredora to name a few.

Falanghina is another ancient grape, the name deriving from the phalanges the Greeks would use to train the vine. Falanghina is bright and juicy like Fiano, with fewer savory aspects, but often with more bright tropical, zesty fruit.

2007 Falanghina Cantina del Taburno

Bright yellow with green tints, zesty lemon and stone fruits- beautifully fresh and appealing, with hints of almonds and white flowers. Acid and crisp minerality balance the fruit perfectly- a wine for sipping with shellfish, or a light meal, or sitting out in the sun on a warm afternoon.

Other good producers are abundent, just remember that these are wines to be enjoyed young-  We at The UnCorker even found a Puglian Falanghina (a real oddity) that knocked our socks off; from Alberto Longo, worth seeking out.

Greco di Tufo is believed to be the ancestor of Siciliy’s Grecanico, and Umbria’s Grecchetto- grapes that don’t really resemble Greco all that much, but show how long its been around, and how over time, vitis viniferia can mutate and change. Greco di Tufos have that typical Campanian brightjuicyacidity, on a slightly leaner frame then Falanghina or Fiano; they can be racy with a mineral delicacy that is quite refreshing.

2007 Greco di Tufo ‘Loggia della Serra’ Terredora Dipaoalo

A single vineyard Greco di Tufo from one of Campania’s premier producers, this is a powerful Greco di Tufo with aromas of white peach, green fruit and an herbal almost minty quality. Very precise delineation on the palate, with a great deal of focus, and the typical juicy acidity and pronounced minerality one expects from Campania.

Coda di Volpe is not a wine you’ll bump into many shops or restaurants, small production and small demand adds up to not much imported, and thats a shame, because Coda di Volpe is capable of producing memorable wines with real character. The name means foxtail, a reference to the shape of the elongated bunches on the vine, sometimes used in blends, Coda di Volpa can be a bit fuller and fleshier then Greco, Fiano, or Falanghina, but still has ample Campanian traits.

2007 Coda di Volpe ‘Bianco’ Perillo

Bright straw yellow with green tints, the Perillo Coda di Volpe has bright juicy green pear and an almost lifted nose with a hint of chamomille and white flowers and vanilla. With a layer of fat richness underneath all that fruit, its followed by a long liltingly acidic finish- a real beauty that makes us think about fat shrimp coming right off a grill.

Skip the Champagne This New Years! Try These Alternative Sparklers…

In case you hadn’t heard, the price of French wines, always on the rise is going to be shooting into the stratosphere. Champagne is already at historically high prices due to huge demand from new markets and a successful re-branding effort by the industry (no longer just for special occasions, just drink it up like any still wine). That already too expensive glass of Vueve Clicquot you’ve been enjoying is going to cost $30 at your local wine bar.

With that in mind, its high time to take another look at American sparklers- and why not, its been a tough year for a lot of us, the times feel ugly, we have to work all the time, the rest of the world hates us, our currency is virtually worthless abroad- but we have something to be proud of- hope is in the air, and a burgeoning American wine industry is producing loads of quality sparkling wines at good prices. So this New Year’s Eve, remember- Buy American, Drink American!

Now, without ado, here’s some to consider.

Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs
This is a methode champenoise*,100% chardonnay grapes sourced from Napa, Sonoma, and the North Coast and man is it good stuff. Nice citrusy smell, grapefruit and key lime, crisp, mildly yeasty, clean-as-can be flavors, some green apple in the mix. This energetic sparkler hits all the right notes as Blanc de Blancs and has an added measure of complexity by way of its toasty, yeasty finish, with great lasting little bubbles. Schramsberg makes them all, Blanc de Noir, Rose, brut, Demi-Sec, all method champenoise, so keep an eye out.

Gruet Brut NV/ Gruet Rose NV
New Mexico! These friggin wines are from New Mexico! And they’re good- real good.
Both produced in the methode champenoise, Gruet makes the whole line, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noir, Demi-Sec, Brut, Roses, just like Schramsberg, but keeps it on the real budget minded side.

The Brut NV has pleasant apple and citrus aromas with creamy flavors that end on a spicy note; This Brut offers a crisp, full-bodied sparkling wine. The Brut spent some time on its lees, giving it a nice doughy mouth feel. Brilliant with ultra fine bubbles.  The Rose NV has It has a lovely, bright floral bouquet with hints of strawberry, raspberry, and cherry. On the palate, it is rich and fruity in a dry, brut style. The flavor of berries continues on the palate, revealing more strawberry, raspberry, cherry. This sparkler is loads of fun and very festive.

Chateau Frank
New York’s Finger Lakes region has a rich viticultural history, and since 1962 Dr. Frank has been a big part of it. Taking advantage of a climate similar to Germany’s Pfalz and Mosel regions, Dr. Frank makes wines from cool climate grapes- Pinot Noir, Pinot Muenier, Chardonnay, and Riesling. Still wines are the bulk of production, but the sparklers take pride of place. A Cremant is made from Riesling, but it is the Blanc de Blancs, and the Blanc de Noirs that can be compared to fine Champagne; the Blanc de Blancs 2002 has complexity and delicate flavors, this wine exemplifies the traditional Blanc de Blancs style. A crisp acidity accompanied by complex aromas of yeast, citrus, lemon, ginger, floral and hazelnut makes this medium-bodied sparkler very pleasant. Extended lees aging gives it earthy and toasty notes with a tropical finish.

The Blanc de Noirs 2002 is a rich and complex sparkling wine with great structure and length. With aromas of pear, apple, peach, vanilla and hazelnut that combine with the toasty yeast character, persistent foam and tiny bubbles, this style creates a full-bodied sparkling wine which makes for a perfect accompaniment to a fine meal.

Argyle Blanc de Blancs
Argyle is at the fore of fine Burgundian varietals in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, so it makes sense that they would take that Pinot Noir, and that Chardonnay, and make fine sparklers in the traditional method- the 2000 Blanc de Blancs, a single vineyard cuvee, is elegant, creamy and refined, balancing delicate citrus and pear flavors against a judicious level of toasted brioche and a fleck of white pepper as the finish lingers gently.

* For this and other terms needing explanation, please, see the glossary.