The UnCorker

Weird Wine of the Week-2006 Re Manfredi Basilicata Bianco

Basilicata is an isolated and obscure region, second to only the Molise as the smallest in wine production in Italy. Known primarily, and only really recently for Aglianico del Vulture (the region’s only DOC wine), Basilicata doesn’t seem a likely place for a cutting edge weird wine- its like stumbling on haute cuisine in your grandmother’s kitchen- at first, it seems so unlikely, its suspicious- but when you try it, it makes delicious, perfect sense.

So, some mad genius at Re Manfredi looked around Mount Vulture and saw something maybe nobody else had even considered; that the potential for northern white grapes was huge, and that taking a chance might pay off. And why not? German grapes have thrived in the Alto Adige for centuries; the Adige valley is searingly hot during the day, but the nights, nice and cool. As you have read in these pages, the Aglianico in Basilicata is one of the latest harvested grapes in all of Italy- the slopes of Mt. Vulture have vineyards planted up to 800 meters, giving a huge temperature differential between day and night. Traditionally, what white grapes there are in Basilicata are the ubiquitous malvasia and moscato, dry and sweet, still and sparkling, and with the rare exception, uninspiring, and not much exported.

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2007 Descendientes De J. Palacios Bierzo ‘Petalos’

The soils of the Bierzo DO, in the northwest of Spain, are primarily slate, granite and schist- not its only parallal to Priorat; there were also old neglected hillside vineyards full of low yielding mencia, showing potential for terroir driven wines. And like Priorat, ambitious quality minded producers flocked, much to our benefit.  Of course the rush was followed by those that planted mencia on unsuitable, fertile soils, producing light and often insipid wines with no character and lots of dilution. The similarities don’t end there-the Palacios name is one of the giants in Priorat, and they have done for Bierzo what they did for that region, reclaiming small old vineyards and making deep wines.

The 2007 Petalos is the entry level wine from Descendientes De J. Palacios and is The UnCorker’s vote for best wine under $20- just a touch of new oak before being put in big old tonneaux this wine is concentrated, with dark berries and accompanied by some smoky, crunchy minerality. Blackberry on the nose accompanied by smoke and flowers, fields of flowers! Violets and white flowers- a well integrated and sweet tannic bite on the back end adds complexity and a tautness that surprised us- really, the pleasure this wine provides is immense- the kind of wine that makes us UnCorkers gush.

2005 Vinos Pinol Terra Alta Sucra Natura Organic Red

Deep garnet-purple in color. Aromatic with dark cherry, cassis, rosemary, and kalamata olives.  Northern Rhone-like terroir – with minerality and chalky tannins from the poor, calcerous soils. Great extraction – but a bit stewed & raisiny on the finish. Moderately enjoyable with some spicy, oily salami to cut the tannins – but the flavor is not there and the wine does not present an integrated whole. At $14 a decent play for a certified organic wine and peaked our interest in the obscure D.O. – “Terra Alta” – which is yet another up-and-comer from Northeastern Spain.  DO Terra Alta is a poor-man’s Priorat – throw it in with Montsant and Tarragona – in that it has a similar arid, windswept, scrabbly mountain landscape and limestone soils, and a predilection for foreign-style blends (mostly the indigenous Garnacha and Carignena with the imported wonder grapes Cab. Sav. and Syrah thrown into the mix).

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Weird Wine of the Week- 2004 Pugnitello San Felice

When we think of the world of wine, we think of dinners, varietals, wine shops and producers. The business of wine is complex and competitive- sometimes headspinningly so. Grasping modern vinification and the seemingly endless variety of grapes being produced causes profound anxiety for many. Yet wine is, we believe, fun- lots and lots of fun. The choices we have as consumers is vast, yet the wine-world we inhabit is practically brand new. In the U.S. we have access to the produce of almost every wine region in the world- even the French are drinking wine from South America, the French! There was a time though, when there was even more diversity in the vineyards of the old world and more varietals than modern marketing and tastes could contend with.

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2004 Establecimiento Juanicó Familia Deicas Preludio

Juanicó is Uruguay’s largest and oldest winery, by some margin. Their Don Pascual and other labels dominate local supermarket shelves and restaurant wine lists. Their mid-century modern winery facility in Canelones looks like a place a Bond villain might be planning something grand and megalomaniacal – a massive, Eero Saarinen-esque, spider-like concrete structure with buzzing trucks and conveyor belts, industrial hose by the mile, and a winery staff of well over a hundred at harvest time. Size is not necessarily a bad thing. This wine-loving country is basically fueled on Juanico’s Don Pascual label Tannat – which is a steal for $10 (USD) retail- and when the plebes splurge, they go for the Don Pascual Tannat Roble, an oaked version of the same wine that comes in about $20. They also slurp up well-made, modestly priced bottles of Cabernet Savignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, and every other wine grape you’ve ever heard of in both single varieties and blended combos. But sometimes you’ve got to make the crowd pleasers to free up the opportunity to make your labor of love – the ambitious, expensive, hand-crafted blend that makes a winemaking family proud.

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Weird Wine of the Week-NV Bermejo Brut Nature

These are boom times for the Canary Islands, emigration to the U.S. and E.U. has slowed, meaning the depopulation of the archipelago has stopped, the government has started subsidizing the wine industry in an effort to move it forward, and has had a measure of success, and most importantly, Anthony Bourdain has visited with his show, No Reservations, making the world aware that the place exists, and that people live and work there.

Traditionally, viticulture in the Canary Islands was focused on sweet wines, often called Malmsey, for export; Shakespeare called it “an absolutely penetrating wine,” in Henry IV. Robert Louis Stevenson writes that “a little good canary will comfort me the heart of it.” The Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, drowned in a barrel of Malmsey in 1478. With modern tastes turning from sweet wines, vintners in the Canaries had mostly focused on crappy mediocre dry wines for the tourist trade, and almost none of their production was exported anywhere. The last decade has seen some big changes, modernization, and the number of denominated zones(do’s) making wine of real character. Lanzarote, the island farthest east is where our WWOW hails from. It is on the forefront of the Canaries wine revolution, and Bodegas los Bermejo is one leading the charge.

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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.

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2006 L’Ecole No 41 Columbia Valley Semillon

Washington state, the best worst promoted wine region maybe in the world. Eastern Washington is a viticulturists dream; moderate heat, loads of sun, cool nights, and poor, sandy soils. The reach of irrigation systems determines the limits of viticulture. Not to say one place in Eastern Washington is as good as the next, its a region on the move with several American Viticultural Areas(AVA’s) known for very high quality red and whites, though it seems few even realize that the state has AVA’s- maybe its because the Washington wines most people know are reasonably priced, massed produced wines from the state’s giants, Chateau Ste Michelle(a subsidiary of American Tobacco Company) and the huge Columbia Crest. Both produce some fine wines, some in conjunction with the Loosen’s of Germany, and Antinori, of Tuscan fame.

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Weird Wine of the Week-2005 Domaine Philippe Tessier Cour-Cheverny “Les Sables”

Cour-Cheverny is a weird appellation created for a weird grape, romorantin. Just east of Touraine is where romorantin has its last redoubt. Why? That’s what we at The UnCorker wondered- is it because it is sandwiched between Vouvray and Sancerre and is being pushed out by those giants, chenin and sauvignon blancs? Is it not commercially viable? Its an ancient vine, and it has been cultivated in the Loire for centuries, some vines dating back to the 1850’s somehow escaped phylloxera. There are two producers of note in Cour-Cheverny; Domaine Philippe Tessier, and Francois Cazin, who claims that in bad or mediocre vintages, romorantin produces harsh, angular wines- so maybe thats it; after all a producer can make an insipid, mediocre Sancerre, and it will still sell itself.

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2005 Bodegas Almanseñas Almansa La Huella de Adaras

Almansa has a tough reputation.   A windswept and battered landscape, it was the site of a crushing defeat for the British army in the War of the Spanish Seccession in 1707.  There is a saying among the Valencians, their neighbors to the north-east – Quan el mal ve d’Almansa, a tots alcança (“Evil things spare no one when they come from Almansa.”)  Up until recently, this maxim would accurately describe the (mostly bulk) wine exported from this D.O.   However, Almansa is sitting on a viticultural sleeper – the Garnacha Tintoera varietal (also known as alicante here) – which is, itself, a bad-ass muscle car of a grape and is the main focus in this region.  It’s not even related to regular Garnacha (Grenache), so don’t try too hard to compare it.  So thick-skinned is this varietal that in the 19th century, during its American heyday,  it used to be grown in California and vinified in New York (after a 7 day unrefrigerated train ride through the American south and west).   But in Almansa, the grape has been a key part of their post-phylloxera replanting strategy because it is high-yielding, a vigorous grower, and is scrappy enough to get a wine industry quickly up and on it’s feet again.  And unlike neighboring Jumilla, whose focus is on the softer and more finessed Monastrell variety, Almansa is committed to working with this problem child.  They don’t even grow much alicante in Alicante D.O.  That’s just how loco these Almansans are!

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