Wine & Words

Summertime has hit us with a vengeance. Down here in Eastern NC everybody's firing up lawnmowers and boat motors...and grills. Seems most people down here do their chillin' with ice cold beer or cold white wine and their grillin' with hearty California Cabs. Well, I've been suggesting a different strategy for some years now -- do your chillin' with cold rosé wine while you're out in the heat doing the grillin'. When the meat is nicely done is the time to serve up a hearty red that goes with the occasion. Herein, some wines of both styles. Welcome, summer!
 
Vineyards on the Scuppernong Girls of Summer Blush (Columbia, NC) Regular Price $13.25/ Feature Price $10.60
Last November I introduced you to the wines from Vineyards on the Scuppernong. I told you a little about their semi-sweet blush wine called "Girls of Summer," but November is no time for such girls, so we kept them chilled, ready to make their entrance at the proper time. The time is now. If you like your summer wine a little sweet and the taste of Scuppernong carries you back to childhood summers on the Pamlico, this wine's for you. Whether you're grillin' or just chillin', this is an informal wine that won't hurt anyone's feelings by un-winesnob behaviors like...adding some fruit, or a spritz of soda, or even pouring it over ice. Hey, the Girls of Summer are fun loving good time girls. You'll enjoy hanging out with them.
 
Charles & Charles Syrah Rosé 2009 (Columbia Valley, Washington) Regular $15.50/ Feature $12.40
Back in February, I introduced you to Charles Smith and his high-attitude Washington State wines. Now, aging hippy bad boy Charles (Smith) meets up with young French-roots bad boy Charles (Bieler) to make a rosé wine with both irrational exuberance and joi de vivre.
     The younger (in his mid-30's) Charles grew up between Montreal, Provence, Vermont and the New York area. His father, Phillipe Bieler bought, in 1992, the French estate Chateau Routas,in the Var region of Provence, the bleeding pink heart of world rosé. But despite the fact that Provencal rosés are known around the world and the jet-setting beach bistro crowd swigs gallons of it every year, Phillipe Bieler wanted to sell his product in America, known for its sweet blush wines. In 1998, Charles got the call from Bieler, pere: We've got lots of great Provencal rosé...I want you to sell it in America.
     Charles Bieler, fils: “I've always felt U.S. wineries do such a poor job at dry rosé. How do they miss the mark so badly?In the '90s in the U.S., rosé was not on the map. People see rosé and they think white Zinfandel.”
     Young Charles' time in Vermont made him a great fan of the prankster marketing of neighbors Ben & Jerry. He bought a pink 1965 Cadillac Deville and drove around pouring rosé. “I had a lot of rosé to sell,” he said. “We had to make a splash. The wines were beautiful, but we had to get on a soapbox, give people courage to taste it.” Fast-forward a decade and Charles Bieler now makes Provencal rosé with his father at their Bieler Pere et Fils winery, as well as in partnership with Charles Smith, Syrah provocateur of Walla Walla, Washington (whose 2006 Royal City Syrah got 100 Points from Wine Enthusiast magazine). Vive la difference!
     Charles Bieler is also weighing in on the recent controversy that arose when the European Union proposed allowing the blending of red and white wines to make "rosé." Such blending, common in the U.S. for making cheap bulk pink wines, is a sacrilege to the traditional saignée (say-NAY from the French "to bleed") method wherein the wines are made of red grapes and spend just a short time with the dark colored grape skins during fermentation. Beiler said,

"I think the whole thing is hogwash. Seriously, over the years with leaner vintages, I've considered adding a touch of red wine to my rosé to pick up a little color, and the results are almost entirely negative. Above about 0.5 percent addition of red, you start picking up tannin and bitterness, which is not a good thing. The idea that an interesting wine can be made by mixing red wine and white wine is nuts. A consumer may buy a bottle once, but they will almost surely not go back, so the market will decide that it doesn't work."

     You can see from the label, a stylized American flag, that Charles and Charles Rosé comes from the US of A. Then you chill a bottle, open it and you might hear strains of Bruce Springsteen or Aaron Copland. The nose will immediately give you notes of raspberry and fresh watermelon. Now, raspberry is the principal fruit flavor of the great Syrah-based wines of France's Rhone valley (Cote Rotie, Hermitage) but there it's the staid raspberry of an intelligent cordial. In this exuberant rosé from America, the raspberry frolics with the notes of watermelon, and a zippy, refreshingly dry wine of summer is the result. Don't miss that word "dry." This is as bracingly dry as your favorite summertime white wine but with the addition of those red fruit notes that add a joyous complexity. Hurrah for the red, white and...pink!
 
Domaine Saint André de Figuière Grand Vieilles Vignes Rosé 2008 (Cotes de Provence, France) Regular $24.50/ Feature $19.60
Now for the serious, classic rosé that will produce raptures in even the most discriminating wine connoisseur, the French wine that gave us the word for pink -- rosé. I'm talking about the rosé of Provence. Domaine Saint André de Figuière is ideally situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif of the Maures, between Toulon and Saint-Tropez, in southeastern France. This is rosé country. Half of the rosé wine made in France comes from Provence. And 80% of the wine made in Provence is rosé.
     Saint André de Figuière winemaker Alain Combard was raised in Chablis, in northern Burgundy, almost as far north as the Champagne region. This is the home of exhilarating Chardonnays that are known for their dry minerality. When Combard bought the 44 acre Provencal vineyard in 1991, he had no worries for the white wine (from Rolle, Semillon and Ugni Blanc grapes) as he put his ‘chablisien’ expertise to work. However, for the rosé, he had to work twice as hard. He rapidly became aware of one thing: that a Provence rosé was as worthy as a great white and worth the extra effort.
     Of course, Alain Combard doesn't work the wine magic all by himself. Domaine Saint André de Figuière is a family affair, and their website has a lovely notebook of all the family members who are involved in the process.
     Many Provence rosés are made with a majority of either Grenache or Cinsault grapes, the former giving a fruitier style and the latter a floral, fuller bodied type. In this blend, Alain Combard follows the style of the classic Bandol rosé, bringing to the fore a red grape, Mourvèdre, that is known for it's great character, as well as its capricious and demanding nature. This is the grape that in Spain is known as Monastrell or Mataro and in the warmer regions of Rioja or Jumilla produces powerful reds of spice and musk that have to be softened with oak aging. Used as the backbone of this rosé, the Mourvèdre gives those same notes to a wine that is light and graceful, clean and dry.
     Starting with old vine grapes that have been farmed organically for over a quarter of a century (and certified by ECOCERT, the European organic agency), each grape variety is harvested and vinified separately to bring out its best characteristics. The fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks at very low temperatures in order to preserve the delicate subtleties of flavor. Only 4500 cases are made, a very small production that reflects the extreme care that is taken with this gem. This is a wine of finesse, of elegance, of...je ne sais quoi. A good Provencal rosé is one of the great joys of the world of wine. Don't miss it.
 
Marietta Old Vine Red Lot 51 (Sonoma County, California) Regular Price $18.50/ Feature Price $14.80
We've been carrying this wonderful California red blend almost since we opened the first Wine & Words store (which is coming up on 8 years...more on that later). The blend is based mostly on Zinfandel, which is Marietta's signatue red; then other grapes are added to get the characteristic flavor that has made this wine a huge hit year after year. Instead of vintages, they give the blend a Lot number. I think the first one we carried was Lot 36.
     Marietta Cellars is located just outside the little town of Geyserville in one of California’s premier wine growing regions, Sonoma County. Owner and winemaker Chris Bilbro initially founded Marietta Cellars in 1978 in a rented cow barn in the Dry Creek Valley. The winery is named after Chris’ great aunt. Marietta was a tough Italian immigrant who was known for always having a stock pot on the stove, a bountiful garden, and a plentiful table. Not having any children of her own, she took Chris under her wing and taught him how to cook by hand and taste which is a direct correlation to Chris’ winemaking style -- How does the wine taste? Chris himself says it well:

In recent years, wine for many consumers has become too much of a symbol of status. In our opinion, an inordinate amount of emphasis is placed on what appellation a wine comes from, what score it got and from whom, or how much it costs. It seems that a lot of wineries have followed the same path; little to no emphasis seems to be put towards the challenge of producing consistent quality or genuine value year in and year out. What’s in the bottle should taste good and what’s on the bottle should tell you what you’re drinking. Wine tastes good, goes great with food, and is relaxing after a hard day’s work. In short, it is little thing that makes life better.

     Robert Parker calls this "One of California's iconic value wines..." (08/09) That's no secret. Each new Lot of Marietta Old Vines Red sells out quickly. In fact, I found this note on their website:

Due to the continued high demand of Old Vine Red across the country and in order to maintain as consistent a supply as possible, we will no longer be selling Old Vine Red on our website. We would like to stress how much we appreciate the support we've had on Old Vine Red and we have made this decision in an effort to keep as many markets, and consequently people, in stock as possible.

     Fortunately for us, the North Carolina distributor of this wine is one of our principle vendors. Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy this treat all summer long...but try it now, just to be sure you don't miss it.
 
Ben Marco Malbec 2008 (Mendoza, Argentina) Regular Price $24.95/Feature Price $19.96
     Here at Wine & Words we've long been a fan of Susana Balbo for her Crios line, the wines with the imprint of hands of a mother and two children on the label. We've had her Crios Torrontes, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rosé of Malbec. Susana Balbo is reputed throughout Argentina and the world for her incredible winemaking skill, experience, and passion. She has been making wine since she earned her enology degree in 1981, and she has probably produced a wider variety of wines than any other winemaker in Argentina. She has made wine in Australia, California, Chile, France, Italy, South Africa, and Spain, and she spends a month each year in a different wine region of the world studying with local winemakers and growers.
     In 1999 Susana and her husband, Mendoza winemaker Pedro Marchevsky, started a line of wines to showcase the ripe fruit expression of her sustainably-farmed Mendoza vineyards. Susana and Pedro, who are known as the "power couple" of Mendoza winemaking, decided to name these wines in honor of Pedro's father, Marco. "Ben Marco" is "son of Marco" in Hebrew. The philosophy of Ben Marco wines is a simple one: grow great grapes and make wines that are true to the flavors of the grape and the nature of the place: Mendoza.
Some Argentina Wine Facts (from their website)

• Argentina is the world's 5th largest producer of wine. 80% of Argentina's wine comes from Mendoza, South America's largest wine producing region.
• A wide range of varietals grow well under the sunny Argentine skies. The most important wine varieties are (Reds) Malbec, Bonarda, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah; and (Whites) Torrontes, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. Other varietals grown include Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, and Sémillon.
• The growing areas of Mendoza receive less than 10 inches of rain per year, but irrigation water is plentiful from year-round snow melt in the Andes so that water yields are in complete control of the viticulturist. Soils vary from sandy to clay, but are predominantly loamy. Many areas also have pebble and river stone subsoil. Drainage tends to be excellent. Most soils are low in organic material due to elevation and climate, creating additional desirable vine stress.
• Vineyards in Mendoza enjoy over 300 days of sun per year. Nights are usually cool, which brings a crucial day-night temperature amplitude that allows the vines to create rich flavors during the day and to respire without losing beneficial acidity during the evenings.
• Grapes there have the longest "hang-time" in the world, which creates balanced wines with ripe fruit flavors and smooth tannins. The geeky term for these flavor compounds is "polyphenols". Argentine wines like Malbec have the highest polyphenal counts of any place in the world. That's good.
• Due to the high altitude and desert-like climate, vineyards rarely face the problems of insects, fungi, molds, phylloxera, and other diseases that affect grapes in other countries. Pesticides and herbicides are barely needed and are used sparingly.
• Mendoza was voted Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine (2008). "Today Mendoza is a wine region on par with many of the best in the world."

Some Malbec Facts
Malbec is Argentina's signature red wine grape and one of the five major red Bordeaux grape varieties. Malbec was first grown in Cahors in southwestern France, and was at one time the most prized wine of France (yes, even more than Bordeaux).Growers in Bordeaux did little replanting of the grape after the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century, and two disastrous frosts in Cahors during the 20th century doomed the varietal in Europe. Malbec was brought to Argentina by French agricultural engineer Michel Pouget in 1868, and it found a home in Mendoza where the grape seemed to thrive during the long, sunny, phylloxera-free growing seasons.
     Malbec's tannins are normally far smoother than Cabernet Sauvignon, the fruit flavors are slightly fruitier, and it can be consumed when relatively young, although many higher-quality Malbecs will also age beautifully.
     The Ben Marco Malbec is mixed with 10% Bonarda, an Italian grape that lightens the fruit flavor. Then it spent 11 months in 50% new French oak and 50% new American oak. Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate gave the wine 90 Points, calling it "round, ripe, medium-bodied, and savory...this layered effort has a lengthy, fruit-filled finish."
     I say it reminds me of one of the things I like about Counter Culture coffee...you can brew it strong without it biting back. That's what a good Malbec does. It has big fruit, smooth tannins and the punch to go with smoky, meaty flavors but it is very well behaved in your mouth...a big wine that doesn't bite back.
     Another interesting fact about Argentina is that Argentines consume the most beef, per capita, of any people in the world. Carne asada, the gaucho barbecue that features slaps of grilled beef is just made to go with this deep purple wine. Pair it with something from your own grill and raise a toast to our southern hemisphere neighbors.