Whoa…..bad wine blogger

Well I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth; it just seems that way and I profusely apologize. I blame the economy. That’s a pretty safe fallback, but in truth, it’s totally the reason why this blog has been silent for so long. Wine costs money, and I haven’t been spending much on wine because those dollars are needed elsewhere. A bottle to review here and there simply got lost in the shuffle.

We did have a recent Grape Nutz event, but there are no pictures to prove it. Just trust me. It was grand, and resplendent with good wine, good company and the ever-important good food. I mean, you can’t go wrong when the first bottle opened upon the guests’ arrival heralds the familiar yellow label of Veuve Clicqout champagne. The presence of such goodness always bodes well for the remainder of the evening.

There was another oh-so-light sparkler that night; the Cresta Azul Cava. The blue-label one on the right.

The Vino de Aguja Afrutado, from Catalogne Spain, a blend of macabeo, moscatel, parellada and xarel-lo was fruity, soft and almost shimmered; it was delightfully spritzy, fresh and invigorating. It was like a good spring rain, or a cool drink on a hot day. And it was ridiculously easy to drink. Way too easy.

We were able to try two wines from the Pecorino grape. Pecorino is a white wine grape that brough back from the brink of extinction and thought to be the unproven parent to all white Pinot varieties. It’s a thin-skinned grape with a medium yield and is somewhat inconsisten from harvest to harvest, ripening early in the season sometime in September. The two bottles we sampled held vastly different flavors and were beautiful representations of the nature of this grape. The 2006 Barone di Valforte, Abruzzo was full-bodied with moderate acidity and a whisper of minerality; it was yellow fruits with some ginger and white pepper notes, and also nut flavors like almond and hazelnut.  The second variation, a 2006 Aires Pecorino, Colline Pescaresi, Ciavolich was the richer of the two, golden yellow with the pronounced taste of ripe peaches, elegant floral notes and definite hazelnut qualities. The taste was smooth and velvety, rich with honey.

The other white we sampled was Molly Dooker’s only white varietal, ‘The Violinist’ a 2008 Verdelho from McClaren Vale in Australia.

It was fresh and lively, aromatic with the ripe taste of pineapple and citrus with a creamy easy texture. It’s definitely a good summer wine.

There was a dessert white too, which I bravely partook despite my known disdain for the mouth clenching sweetness of them. It was a 2004 Chateau Fayau Cadillac (not like the car…more like CA-de-YAY)  from the Gironde in France, a blend of 90% Semillon, 5% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Muscadelle. Although it was not a true Sauternes, it held it’s own against the acclaimed dessert wines of the area, showing a bold brilliant gold color with a characteristic botrytis nose of honeyed apricots and spice alongside the ripest peach flavor. It had a rich and lustrous taste in the mouth, but alas, was still much too sweet for this girls tongue. Other Nutz who love the sweet stuff were swooning.

The reds were well represented too. We had a Red Guitar Tempranillo Garnacha blend that I’ve had before. It’s a good balance of the two grapes in a reasonable bottle, but nothing special to write home about. There was a beautiful Blaufrankisch, also known as Lemberger, a medium bodied red wine with low tannins and light acidity. The grape originated in Austria but some of it’s best representation these days is coming from Washington State in the Yakima Valley. We sampled the 2004 Facelli Winery Lemberger.

The wine is a lovely reddish purple with warm tastes of plums and raspberries, a short finish that tastes a bit like a sour cherry. This is the second Lemberger we’ve had at a Nutz gathering. The very first meeting where we convened we shared a Shooting Star Lemberger that impressed me a great deal. There’s lots more to be found with this delightful red.

The last red was a 2005 Dos Por Ciente, First Drop from South Australia, a blend of 98% Shiraz and 2% Albarino- a most unusual combination. The presence of the Albarino, like another of Australia’s common blends of Shiraz and Viognier, helps to soften the edges of the red grape and offer a bit of fruitiness to the dark berry profile. This wine has a strong cherry nose with a soft tannin that isn’t at all heavy and a hearty blackberry flavor. To sip it with a sweet bite of strawberry made the Albarino shine; a bite of something more savory brought out the Shiraz. You wouldn’t think that 2% of something would even be noticeable, but we were all pleasantly surprised to discover that we could all taste it with the right accompaniment.

Hopefully I’ll be a little more verbose on the blog in the coming months; it isn’t for lack of desire. I’m wishing to be drinking and enjoying the Nutz far more than I am. Damn economy.