From the unusual grape files: Carignane

Carignane is one of the most widely planted wine grapes in the world. It’s best known as a blending grape used in inexpensive table wines such as jug wines from California’s Central Valley. It’s also a staple in French and Spanish table wines. In fact, at one point in the 1980s there were more Carignane vines in France than any other varietal. 

Despite its global popularity, you don’t often find Carignane as a stand-alone varietal. It can be a tricky grape for winemakers because it tends to be very tannic and doesn’t have a lot of fruit flavor. It’s kind of funny that a grape so popular is also so rare.

We have a few bottles in our collection but they’re often overlooked because we don’t really know what to pair them with. Even our favorite wine pairing resource, What to Drink with What You Eat, makes no mention of Carignane. That leaves us with just one tried and true pairing strategy – open the bottle, taste it, and then select the meal.

Terra American Bistro is a perfect place to implement this strategy. Their seasonal menus offer a little bit of everything and all of it is very, very good. We recently decided to pay them a visit with a bottle of 2009 Seghesio Carignane in hand.

The wine’s inky purple color really stood out when our server opened our bottle. Sally’s first reaction to the aroma was “It’s so big, it smells big! Put me in a cigar room.” The taste was fig and dried fruit and the trademark Carignane tannin quickly made an appearance. This is a wine that needs meat!

Sally paired it with a pappardelle short rib dish while I paired it with Terra’s bistro burger. Both were garnished with gorgonzola cheese which was a perfect flavor companion.

Discovering Chardonnay

“I don’t care for Chardonnay”.  When I hear this statement, my response is typically to ask which type ~  crisp and acidic? smooth and buttery? Or both?  … “uh, Chardonnay”.    

Chardonnay is one of the most diverse white wines out there, with flavors ranging from crisp (lemony citrus, green apple, passionfruit) to creamy (buttered popcorn, pie crust, crème brulee), and everything in between.  It took a lot of tasting to determine what I like, and don’t like about Chardonnay.  But, along the way I learned that asking a couple of key questions helps determine the likelihood of enjoying it. 

Oak or No Oak?

Oak: wines aged in oak typically have rich, intense flavors of butter, vanilla, and even caramel. 

No Oak:  wines processed in steel tanks, or neutral oak tend to be more crisp and acidic, with flavors of green apple, pear, lemon, and pineapple. 

Malolactic Fermintation (MLF)?

MLF is a winemaking process in which tart-tasting malic acid is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid.  It’s what gives the wine that smooth, rounder, creamy feel.  Chardonnays with larger amounts of MLF are your butter bombs. 

I’m sure you are thinking…those are great questions if I’m at a tasting.  But, when I’m staring at a wall of Chardonnay how do I know if it was done in oak or not, or has been through malo-whatever? That is a little more difficult to do. Another quick tip, take a look at what region the wine is from ~ this can be a good indicator as well:

Like crisp and acidic?  Look for wines from cooler climate regions like Sonoma Coast and Oregon

Like smooth and buttery?  Look for wines from warmer climate regions like Napa Valley and Paso Robles

So, for those of you who “don’t care for Chardonnay”, I challenge you to keep drinking!  You may discover one that hits just the right balance for your palate.   

Here’s some of our favorites:

Cuvaison S-Block

Domaine Drouhin “Arthur”

Simi Alexander Valley

Grgich Hills 

Wine tasting notes demystified (sort of)

Sally enjoying a glass of 2009 Benessere Black Glass ZinfandelWine tasting notes can be tough to decipher. Seriously, what the heck is cassis? Or pencil box? Or barnyard funk?

We’ve seen all of these included in wine tasting notes.

These weird flavors can confuse or even intimidate drinkers. Even folks with moderately sophisticated palates can have difficulty picking out the blueberry compote from the hints of leather, tobacco smoke, and wet concrete.

Wet concrete?! Yes, we’ve seen that one too.

Why have wine tasting notes?

The purpose of wine tasting notes is to describe the taste of the wine so people can decide whether or not to drink it. It’s not enough to simply say, “It’s good” or it “tastes link grapes” since that doesn’t explain the differences between one wine and another.

For example, if one Chardonnay on the wine list is described as “buttery” and the other Chardonnay has “citrus notes,” you can make a choice based on your preferences.

These notes can also be misused. One pet peeve is when you are tasting wine and your host gives you their wine notes before you have a taste. How about if I taste it first and then we compare notes?!

If I don't taste it, am I wrong?

There are no right or wrong tastes when enjoying wine. Just trust your palate and have some fun.

Here’s a little test we did last night with a bottle of 2009 Benessere Black Glass Vineyard Zinfandel. We compiled our own tasting notes and then compared them to the winemaker’s after we enjoyed our bottle.

Our notes: Earth, and plum on the nose. Jammy plum flavors up front give way to a little pepper, grilled plum and light tannin on the finish.

Winemaker notes: Spicy cherry and bright blackberry aromas that are complemented by clove and allspice tones that carry through to the palate. (You can read the winemaker's full overview here.)

We stand by our tasting notes, even as we’re sure the winemaker stands by his. Why is there a difference? Here are a few possibilities:

• Different palates. Each person has their own unique palate, so we may be tasting something the winemaker didn't and vice-versa.

• Different vocabulary. We might be using different words to describe the same taste. For example, cassis = black currant, pencil box = cedar, and barnyard funk = disgusting.

• Different bottles. The same wine can have a slight different taste when it comes from different bottles.

Create your own notes

Try to create your own wine tasting notes the next time you enjoy a glass of wine. Here is a basic strategy:

1. Aroma. What does the wine smell like?
2. Front palate. What does the wine taste like when it first enters your mouth?
3. Back palate. What does the wine taste like as it moves to the back of your tongue?

Remember - there's really no right or wrong answer though you may find it helpful to purchase a wine wheel. It's a sort of job aid for wine tastes. Our preference is Ann Noble's Wine Aroma Wheel which can be purchased online for $6.

2009 Rombauer Zinfandel

When I hear Rombauer, the first thought I usually have is, “Jeff’s favorite chardonnay”. On one of our recent trips to Napa, we had a chance encounter with their tasting room manager and were encouraged to pay them a visit. My thoughts now no longer immediately jump to their buttery chardonnay. I also think about their excellent reds.  One new discovery during that tasting room visit was their 2009 Napa Valley Zinfandel.

This wine not only looks great in the glass, it tastes great, too. It is bright purple, with aromas of dark fruit to match it.  A jammy zin with rich blackberry flavors, and a splash of pepper.  The berry flavor stays strong throughout the lingering, smooth finish. You’d never know it was 15.9% alcohol.

We enjoyed this wine with honey glazed pork chops, sweet potato mash and a fig & goat cheese salad. The wine notes recommend pairing with a rib-eye steak with bleu cheese, or Cajun spiced sausage. Sounds good to me ~ where’s that second bottle?  

The Wine Trifecta

Last Wednesday, Sally and I had a trifecta of great wine experiences. We explored new wines, enjoyed some great food, and shared a bottle of wine with a friend.

Can it get any better on a Wednesday night?

We met our friend Yolanda after work at Village Vino to taste some Spanish wine that had been brought in by wine importer Valkyrie Selections. For $15, we each got to taste five wines ranging from a light Rosé to a robust red blend. The wines had all received a rating of 90 points or higher from wine critic Steve Tanzer, the editor and publisher of International Wine Cellar. It was a good learning experience since we're not very familiar with Spanish wine.

Here were our favorites:

2012 Raventos I Blanc Rosa 100% Pinot Noir.

2011 Tomàs Cusiné “Auzells.” 31% Macabeu, 27% Sauvignon Blanc, 16% Riesling, 16% Chardonnay, 5% Albariño, 3% Müller Thurgau, and 2% Muscat.

2007 Joan Simó “Sentius.” 48% Grenache, 15% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah, and 10% Carignan.

The Sentius was the consensus top pick, so we purchased a bottle to share. Village Vino has a nice selection of finger foods that are perfect for pairing with wine and we decided on a cheese plate and their salumi flatbread. 

The wine tasting was a little too successful because Village Vino had sold out of several of the wines by the time we wound down our evening. We did pick up a bottle of the 2011 Tomàs Cusiné “Auzells and plus a 2011 Domain Girault Le Grand Moulin Sancerre to replace a bottle we had recently consumed. (The Sancerre was a discovery from another Village Vino event.)

One of the nice things about the event was your tasting fee was refunded if you purchased a bottle. Village Vino's wine prices are already very reasonable, so this was just icing on the cake.

We've had several posts this year about events at Village Vino. I highly recommend checking out their events calendar if you happen to live in San Diego to see if you can score a wine trifecta of your own.

Enjoying Spanish wine at Village Vino with our friend Yolanda.