Category Archives: Wine of the Week

April 30, 2013 · 1:11 am

Wine of the Week: Quimera 2009 from Achaval Ferrer

Malbec at Met

During the past month I have had the opportunity to taste wonderful Italian wines from the Alto Adige and Chianti but the tasting that most impressed me, certainly in terms elegance and splendor was the Wines of Argentina event for Malbec Day on April 17.

The tasting offered wines from 20 producers as well as gorgeous views of the Charles Engelhard Court in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Malbec Day

Oddly enough, two of my former tango teachers were star dancers that evening, Angeles and Michael.

The star of the Wines of Argentina show for me was the Quimera 2009 from Achaval Ferrer. The wine is not 100% Malbec but is a blend of 31% Malbec, 20% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot. I am probably a little biased because I know the winemaker, Roberto Cipresso and the first time I tried this wine was with him in Argentina at the winery, tasting from the barrel, using a wine thief. I wrote a very long post about that experience here. Roberto loves blending and this wine is a perfect example of his signature style.

I tried a number of 100% Malbec based wines that evening which I enjoyed, including one from Kaiken and Finca Flichman. Malbec is a great go to wine both at home with a meat dish or to bring to a party. Easy to pronounce and almost always easy to drink, I find it to be a real crowd favorite.

Ambassador + Nora

I am not alone apparently. During the press conference at the event, Ambassador José Luis Pérez-Gabilondo, the Consul General of Argentina in New York, said that Argentina was, for the second consecutive year, the 4th largest exporter of wines to the U.S., both in terms of volume (with more than 61 millions of liters) and in terms of value (with exports reaching $297 million).

Metropolitan Museum

Income from wine exports increased to $741 million in 2012 with Malbec a key contributor to this overall growth. Argentina has 1300 wineries and is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. Argentina’s signature grape arrived in the country from Cahors in France in 1853 thanks to Michel Aime’ Pouget, an agronomist who was hired by the President to run the Quinta Agronomica de Mendoza.

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March 6, 2013 · 5:54 pm

Wine Wednesday: Drinking Bubbly From Lazio – Mottura Brut Millesime’

As I get over my lastest bout with the flu, I am remembering with a smile the last glass of sparkling wine I had in Italy one week ago, Sergio Mottura‘s Brut Millesime’. I discovered this wine some time ago in Rome and recently was reminded of the family when I saw one of the twins at the Tre Bicchieri tasting in New York in February. Very famous for their Grechetto based wines, this sparkler was a surprise. It is made from 100% Chardonany grapes and is made using the traditional method, meaning it undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle.

The wine remains on its lees for five years before being released into the market and is complex, minerally and has luscious toasty, yeasty notes on the nose and palate. The family tenuta is located in Civitella d’Agliano (VT), betwen Rome and Florence. The 130 hectare farm has 36 hectares of grapes planted and the grapes are cultivated organically, following the European Union legislation in this sector and the Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica.

I wish they served it at PJ Bernstein’s in New York where I just had breakfast. It would have been a great pairing, smoked salmon and this sparkler. I had to settle for the tea. Just not the same…

When mentioning Mottura’s wines I must mention the Latour A Civitella made from 100% Grechetto which once again was a favorite at the Tre Bicchieri. Full bodied and rich on the palate with notes of citrus and white fruits, I would drink this wine with a whole host of dishes including Indian food which I am craving for lunch as I write this.

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February 9, 2013 · 9:22 pm

Wine of the Week: Baglio di Pianetto Ficiligno 2010

Baglio di Pianetto

I had this wonderful wine from Baglio di Pianetto a few weeks ago at Salumeria Rosi. I was impressed with the blend of 50% Viognier, 50% Insolia. Viognier grows beautifully in this part of Sicily, relatively close to Palermo and at an elevation of 500-600 mt above sea level.

The wine was foral and rich with interesting nutty character as well that I imagine comes from lees stirring. The high tech winery built by the Marzotto family uses gravitational forces in the four story winery for their grapes, both those going into steel as well as wood.

I was really taken with this wine and remembered having met someone who worked at Baglio at a New York event last year. Doing some research I discovered that Tom Hyland has visited the winery and posted about Ficiligno here. Here rightly suggests this is a wine that can age. I agree with him and would love to taste it in a few years so see the evolution.

This winery is located in the Monreale DOC area. My mother and I visited the Cathedral in 2003 and I still regret not buying the large and heavy book with reproductions of the exquisite mosaics.

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December 12, 2012 · 5:12 pm

Wine of the Week: Monte Rossa Prima Cuvee

Monte Rossa

This week’s pick is Monte Rossa Prima Cuvee from Franciacorta. I’ve always been a big fan of Franciacorta since I first discovered it in a wine class in Milan in 1997. I had never had this particular one until Sunday evening at an event at Eataly to celebrate Giovanni Soldini, Italy’s most famous sailor.

795

Soldini and his Maserati team are going to be competing for a world record for New York-San Francisco route around Cape Horn. At the event it seemed that they mentioned 57 days as the existing record to beat although research shows that there are other records as well.

In any event, a thrilling voyage. I was so happy to get to the event at Eataly because the wine was better and the event at the Manhattan Sailing Club was totally booked.

I have seen Maserati docked at North Cove where the sailing club is located but I never met Soldini. The boat itself is gorgeous and so exciting to think of sailing on it. For anyone who sails, Soldini is such a legend, especially in Italy.

Cape Horn fascinates me and the Drake Passage and a desire to go to Antarctica have been on my mind since a trip to Chile in 2008, around this time.

I was thinking of all of this while tasting that delicious Franciacorta with all the minerality, acidity and white fruit flavors I associate with a good Franciacorta. The wine is made from a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and Pinot Nero. The wine is widely available in the US for about $30.00 a bottle.

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December 4, 2012 · 1:07 pm

Wine of the Week: Pierre Frick Riesling 2000 Vendange Tardives Grand Cru Vorbourg

Pierre Frick

This week’s wine of the week is this delicious riesling vendanges tardives from Pierre Frick in Alsace. I thought this riesling was gorgeous filled with minerality, floral notes and flinty undertones. It was elegant and polished and the perfect end to a lovely dinner to celebrate this year’s group of graduates from the WSET Diploma program at the International Wine Center. On the first Monday in December for the last four years I have attended this dinner. It signifies the beginning of the holiday season in my mind and is a lovely way to see friends, old and new from the wine world. I got my diploma in 2008 and I was about as proud of that achievement as I was of getting my Master’s degree.

As part of the dinner, generously held each year at I Trulli, diploma graduates from past years bring wines to taste. We all try to sample as many as possible but it just isn’t possible when you see the amount of wine on offer.

Wines at Diploma Dinner

I was thrilled to see May from In the Grape and taste an Armagnac that she brought with her. May is the Armagnac ambassador for this region and is my go to person for information about this spirit and many other wines. Seated at my table was also the lovely Stephanie Mcdade from the International Wine Center. Other wine friends and partners in crime, Eileen Lemonda, Rodolphe Boulanger of Lot18 , Sasha Smith of Spin the Bottle, Tracy Ellen Kamens of Grand Cru Classes, Mary Gorman, Eileen Duffy, and Lisa Granik who provided my table with an amazing wine from Georgia, a 2007 Mukuzani made from the Saperavi grape, located in the northeastern corner of Georgia in the Kakheti region. Thanks to this wine, I found a great blog this morning called Exalted Rations. There were many men at the dinner but for once it seemed that women were the dominant force in the wine industry.

I’m sure I left someone out but it was such a lovely evening and a long one that I hope I will be forgiven. Additionally, I live in NYC where the movie industry reigns and they are shooting a new movie on my floor. The fourth in six years….I’d rather the incentives given to the movie industry go to hire 5000 new teachers as discussed in this article but alas I didn’t go into politics.

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November 10, 2012 · 11:37 pm

Wine of the Week: The Seeker Malbec from Argentina

This week’s pick for my wine of the week is a Malbec from Argentina from a “global wine brand” called the Seeker. The wines are distributed by Kobrand and they have very extensive information about the wine on their site.

What can I add to this description of the wine? A perfect pairing for it and the perfect restaurant to try this Malbec – Bonarda – Cabernet Sauvignon blend, Picnic Market on the Upper West Side. It is an Alsatian Bistro with a very relaxed Columbia University faculty crowd and the best steak frites I have had in a long time. They have a special every Wednesday and Thursday night and this week, I tried the steak with the Malbec. Last week, I paired it with a Beaujolais Village, also a lovely pairing. The spicy notes from the pepper on the steak matched perfectly the spice in this juicy Malbec which spends one year aging in oak barrels.

Bonarda is a grape which I have always more or less ignored but I recognize the fresh fruit and floral notes that it brings to a wine. I usually associate Bonarda with wines from the Colli Piacentini, not with Argentina.

It has been ages since I have had a wine with a majority of Malbec, some 85%, that I enjoyed from Argentina. I wrote about Argentina some years ago in this post after I came home from a visit to Mendoza. It was a special trip and I haven’t been back since but I am hoping to change that soon.

The Seeker is friendly and pleasing, easy on the palate and the wallet, always a winning combination. I’m back to all things Argentinean lately after having finally been able to go back to dancing tango and studying Spanish. It all works together in my mind – Malbec, Tango and Spanish – just like this wine and the steak frites.

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September 12, 2012 · 11:30 pm

Wine of the Week: Ballestero del Maestre Malbec 2009

The year has started with a bang for me and for many others. To make the start of the year a little easier, I have been sipping, yes sipping some wines that has taken me on a long viaje…this time to Argentina.

I haven’t been back to Argentina since 2007. I wrote this post about that trip. That said, Argentina has always remained a country that has me “encantada.” I’m never sure if it is the people and their “Italianized” Spanish, the country, the food, the wine or the tango. Yes, I’ve gone back to tango after many years of sitting on the sidelines.

To toast my recent foray back into the dance, I bought this bottle of Malbec at one of my favorite wine stores, Maslow 6 in Tribeca, NYC, from one of my favorite wine guys, Ken Abel. Ken and I study Spanish together as well so it seemed quite fitting indeed.

This Malbec, nicely priced at under $17, really held its own against a nice steak I made. The tannins were soft and juicy without feeling as if I had put a 2×4 in my mouth While that doesn’t sound very elegant, I am sure you all know exactly what I mean.

The wine was made by Roberto de la Mota, according to my research on the wine. A man to be admired for his wines no doubt and for his resilience.

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September 5, 2012 · 9:07 pm

Wines of the Week: Rocca dei Mori Line (Apollonio) From Puglia For End of Summer

Summer has ended. I know I am feeling it and I am sure you are as well. I just returned from a lovely trip to Cape Cod. While there, I drank lots of fun summer wines including some wine from Puglia from Apollonio.

The wines that I chose for this week are from the Rocca dei Mori line, the Only Bianco and the Only Rosso. The former is made with 100% Garganega and the latter with 100% Negroamaro. Both were easy to drink fresh and fruity wines that made me happy on a summer day.

I’ve met the brothers who run this winery many times and have visited them at their winery in Puglia as well, in 2010. They are located in an exquisite part of Puglia, the Salento.

I love Puglia, the people, the food, the wines. I spent a week in the Salento in 2002 and it was truly memorable. I felt as if I was swimming in an emerald. I have never seen such green water in my life despite sailing in many parts of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Turkey.

My last trip in 2010 was more wine focused, visiting among other wines, Apollonio. I find that many of the best wines from Puglia don’t make it to the USA and those that do, at times have too much oak. Some of the Apollonio wines from their other line are heavily oaked but the wines from Rocca dei Mori, less so.

It’s all about your personal palate at the end of the day and mine tends to try to stay away from oaky wines, especially if I am having light fare or I am at the beach. As you can see from these pictures with my nephew and my niece, these wines did bring a happy glow to my face. Despite their smiles, I swear I did not give them any wine…

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August 6, 2012 · 11:00 pm

Wine of the Week: Offida Doc Pecorino From Le Caniette – Le Marche

One Italian region that never gets enough attention whether it be for its wonderful cities – Ascoli Piceno and Urbino for their buildings, Pescara and the Conero for the beaches or Loreto for its’ Sanctuary – or for its’ great wines is Le Marche.

In some ways I’m glad because it means it is less touristy than other parts of Italy which at times can seem like an Anglosaxon vacation colony or a German one, depending on where one is staying. That said, Le Marche really does deserve our attention.

This week’s wine of the week is a Pecorino Offida DOC from a winery called Le Caniette. I had it at a recent lunch at Giorgione and it paired beautifully with my fish and salmon tartare. I actually really loved the wine made from this indigenous variety and drank it happily at lunch.

The wine was full bodied with a nice toasty note and mineral tones. It had both acidity and alcohol which made it a good match with the salmon with just a touch of sweetness in the mix. Apparently Pecorino is a grape with a certain amount of sweetness inherent in its flavor profile.

Le Caniette is a winery with 16 hectares of vines and it is certified organic, somewhat of a novelty in Italy in general and in this area in particular. The wine does spend a bit of time in oak, about one year, so it isn’t the fresh minerally white that one might expect. It also goes through considerable battonage. It can actually stand up to heartier fare than what I paired it with as well.

I also tried their Offida DOCG Passerina called Lucrezia from the same winery with a delicious lobster last week on my return from California. This wine spends no time in oak but it also has that toasty nut flavor that you get from lees stirring. I really favor that flavor profile so both of these wines were right up my alley.

I haven’t been to Le Marche in a few years but whenever I go there, I always want to buy a piece of land. It is the perfect combinaton of farmland, vineyards and the sea. I’ve spent a few lovely vacations there at seaside towns such as Recanati and I can highly recommend it for your next excursion.

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August 1, 2012 · 9:45 pm

Wine Wednesday: Sweet Sipping – Late Harvest Zin from Dashe

It’s Wine Wednesday and I’ve decided to write about a Late Harvest Zinfandel that I tried last week in California. This sweet wine with 9% residual sugar was made by Dashe Cellars. It was savory and sweet at the same time.

I actually like Zin in the right context and this was the perfect moment to drink a late harvest wine, after a morning visiting wineries with good friends, driving on the California freeways listening to the Rolling Stones and a great lunch at Willi’s Seafood. I know, I drank the cool aid, I repeat.

I like sweet wines alone or with cheese and I also like to find ones that are just on the cusp of sweet with balance, elegance and acidity holding up. This Zin had all of that in my book. It also was a novelty which is always fun and the location couldn’t be beat. I’d like to try this wine again in New York, maybe even in a bad neighborhood. Why you ask? I want to assure myself that the location factor isn’t affecting my palate although inevitably context matters.

This Zin was done with minimal intervention according to their website. I like that. One problem I had with the California wines I tried last week was that many seem to be “creations of man” rather than a product of the earth. Too much winemaking went into many of them and I am not that keen on it. That said, this wine tasted like grapes, soil and sun to me, in other words terroir, that of Dry Creek Valley. That’s what I want to taste – dirt. Not in the wine mind you but the dirt where the grapes were grown.

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