Just Another Day at the Office

Dinner at Chateau Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux and a tour of the private cellar:

With my foie gras ravioli and main course of sauced turbot I drank a 1990 Lafite. Diane Flammand, one of the winemakers at Domaines Barons de Rothschild, explained that it was an unusually opulent vintage for Lafite and one of her personal favorites. (She‘s a fan of California wines, too) The 1990 Lafite was amazingly fresh for a 21-year-old wine and the feature I was most entranced with was its mouthfeel: so silky you hardly need to swallow, it just glides down your throat.

Had the rare opportunity to descend stone steps to the private wine cellar of Baron Eric de Rothschild in the main chateau he calls home when he’s in Bordeaux and was astounded to find dusty, cob-webbed bottles dating as far back as 1797. Besides its heady aromas, stimulating tastes and mood-softening properties, wine provides an amazing link through time. In the same room with me were wines that survived Napolean, The French Revolution and WWII when Nazis occupied the Lafite grounds and plundered most of the recent vintages. The family, knowing that the Germans were coming, hid many of the historic bottles.

　

The Sweet Life

The setting: Chateau Rieussec in Sauternes, France, next door to Chateau D’Yquem and considered second only to Yquem among Sauternes producers. It was a beautiful, bright May morning and the vineyard property -- a chateau for receiving guests, a wine production facility and more than 300 acres of neat, orderly vines with vibrant red rose bushes edging the vine rows -- all spelled quality with a capital Q. I tasted the 2002 and 2010 vintages to see how the latest vintage -- a stellar one according to reports -- tasted, and to see one that has been evolving in the bottle. The 2010 was luscious and heavily concentrated in the mouth with firm acidity but lacked distinct flavors and aromas that will emerge during the planned two years in the barrel before it is released. The ‘02 had a powerful honeyed nose with flavors of apricot , white flowers and that sumptuous mouthfeel Sauternes fans luxuriate in. Michel Negrier, export manager for Les Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), which owns Chateau Rieussec among other properties in Bordeaux, Languedoc and around the world, told me that Europe is still the main export market for Sauternes, but Asia -- especially China, South Korea and Japan, is the real emerging market for Sauternes.

Spring for Rosés

Spring has sprung in many parts of the U.S. or will soon, so it is time for wine lovers to break out the dry rosé. I’m a firm believer that dry rosés can, and should, be drunk all year round, but spring is when the new vintage is traditionally released and the bottles usually don’t last long – at least not in my house.

They’re getting popular in other houses, too. Rosé sales grew at five times the rate that total table wine sales in the U.S. did last year. A pair of studies shows dry rosé wine growing rapidly as a category. Provence, in France, is the birthplace of dry rosé wine, the world’s leading rosé region and the fastest-growing French region in exports of wine to the U.S. market.

Dry rosé wines are often made from Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and other red grape varieties in much the same way red wines are, except their skins are allowed to soak with the grape juice for a short time – just enough to tint the juice a pink or light red color. They are not for aging, but for drinking fresh and young. Rosés are also known as rosado in Spain and rosato in Italy.

Here is a sampling of some roses that have crossed my tongue in the recent past. I recommend them all (or I wouldn’t list them). All reasonably priced, these wines possess another feature I love: they are all moderate or low in alcohol (13 percent alcohol or less). Enjoy.


* * * * Albrecht Brut Rosé, Non-vintage, from northern France. 100% Pinot Noir, dry, crisp, soft coral color. Sparkling wine made the same way as Champagne. $19.99


* * * * Lombardo Salvatore Nero D’Avola Rosado 2010. From Sicily.


* * * Cotes du Rhone "Belleruche," M. Chapoutier. Lovely, delicate, pale pink color. Made from Grenache grapes, medium weight, with red fruit flavors. Somewhat spare and lean, great palate-cleanser food wine. $12.99


* * * Bieler Père et Fils Rosé 2010 . Pale salmon color, medium weight in the mouth, substantial, yet restrained, palate. From Provence. $12


* * * Jaja de Jau Rosé 2010. The color of cranberry juice with flavors as bold as its hue. Juicy, vibrant fruit, tempered by acidty. From Southern France. $9.99


*** Gran Feudo Rosado 2009 From Grenache grapes, bright and fresh taste, lively acid, from Navarra, Spain $10

* * Les Deux Rives Rose 2010 From Southern France, pale in color, and lean and delicate. $9.99

* * Torrecilla Rosado The region this wine comes from, Navarra, Spain, is famous for its rosés. Lean and a bit steely. $10

* * Benessere Rosato 2009 Almost a red wine in color and weight, big palate, a touch of sweetness. Napa Valley. $16

Vino from Sicilia

Americans love Italian wine -- in fact, many things Italian. So I was excited to venture for a week to Sicily, where I am writing from now.  My first day, I attended a wine tasting in the capital, Palermo, with dozens of Sicilian wine producers gathered under one roof. I did not know this until I arrived here, but Sicily is the largest wine-producing region in the largest wine-producing country in the world (virtually every inch of Italy is a wine region) so I shouldn’t have been surprised at the number of wineries (more than 200) in Sicily alone or the quality I was tasting. From luscious whites to deeply-colored and intensely-flavored reds, especially made from the predominant red grape here, Nero D’Avola, the wines were interesting, enjoyable, and in many cases exceptional. Some are in the United States, but hopefully, many more will come.

The best whites I tasted were made from three indigenous grape varieties: Grillo (pronounced Gree-low, and my personal favorite), Insolia (In-so-lee-ah) and Cattarato. But I also tasted Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier, so-called “international” grape varieties that Sicilians sometimes like to blend with their local grapes. Some even make stand-alone Chardonnays, with mixed results. All of the Grillos listed below are bright and fresh, with sensuous mouthfeels, medium-weights and because of their palate-cleansing acidity are excellent with shellfish, fried foods and light fish dishes.

The pink wines (rosato in Italian) below are dry, with bright strawberry and cherry flavors, lovely salmon colors and would match well with almost any fish dish, plus chicken and pork.

The star among red grapes here is Nero D’Avola (pronounced Nero Dav-o-lah), a fruity, juicy, somewhat spicy wine reminiscent of Australian Shiraz, but more toned down. Many local Sicilian producers bottle a fresher version that’s not aged in oak (I tended to prefer those) as well as ones that are oak-aged and often these bottling are blended with Syrah, Merlot and/or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Among my favorites, here are some recommendations of wines available in the United States, most under 13% alcohol and under $15:

Feudo Montoni Grillo 2010 and Nero D’Avola 2009

Firriato Alta Villa Grillo 2010

Rizzuto Piconello Bianco 2010 (100% Grillo)

Castel Venus Rosé di Nero D’Avola

Fondo Antico Nero D’Avola 2010

Lombardo Salvatore Nero D’Avola Rosado 2010

Lombardo Salvatore il Nero D’Avola 2010

Caravaglio Salina Bianco 2010 (organic)

Donnafugata Tancredi 2007 (Nero D’Avola and Cabernet Sauvignon)

Caruso & Minini Marsala Superiore (dry)

Curto Eloro Nero D’Avola 2010

Ottoventi Passito 2007 (sweet dessert wine made from raisined grapes)

Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito 2008

For Your Liquor Library

Did you know that the cocktail is an American invention? Or that the phrase "D and D" (for drunk and disorderly) dates back to the 1600s? 

The newly revised Everything Bartender's Book teaches you this and more, and if you're looking for an inexpensive, compact guide to drinks and bartending, the book may be for you. A $10.95 paperback, it's the perfect book for keeping on your bar and consulting frequently -- you won't care if you accidentally splash the pages with Maraschino cherry juice or Scotch.  Author Cheryl Charming (I am not making that name up!) gives us the usual cocktail recipes, bartending terms, and information about bar supplies and tools, but the best things about this guide are the offbeat offerings, such as the first chapter, "A History of Alcohol and Bartending," and an appendix of "Drinking Words Through Time."  A nice gift for a novice or yourself.

Also just out is the Everything Guide to Wine by Peter Alig, the wine educator at the Robert Mondavi Winery. This is an up-to-date, well-organized primer on wine with some informative chapters on topics that don't usually get covered in wine guides, such as "The Cost of Wine: What Goes into the Bottle,"  "The Power of Packaging" and "Strategies for Buying Wine."  The book is $16.95 and both "Everthing" guides are available from Adams Media, http://www.everything.com/.

Bartending For Dummies

The chapter on wine in this recent release of the "Dummies" series is lame -- 7 pages long and containing nothing interesting or terribly instructive. A sample of its wisdom: "Winemaking dates back roughly to 3000 BC and it's here to stay." Well, that's comforting!
But wine lovers will like this guide for all the other things it has that we may not be so informed about, like how to conjure cocktails, from classic to contemporary, and how to set up a basic bar at home. Plus, there are over 200 pages of cocktail recipes, all in a handy, inexpensive paperback. $16.99 from Wiley.

Do You Know the Way to Beaujolais?

I had the pleasure of sampling some lovely wines from Beaujolais last week at a luncheon in San Francisco, and I was stunned by how good the wines were, and at $13 to $20, what great values they are. Having previously been acquainted with Beaujolais Nouveau as a sort of gimmick in my younger years when I was a casual wine drinker, this was close to revelatory. Not only did the quality and value of these wines stand out, but the different styles of wine impressed me, from light, fresh and floral to much more dense and age-able -- and they are all made from the same grape, Gamay. By the way, 2009 was an outstanding year for Beaujolais.
All of the wines were ripe with fruit (without being too intense) and boasted soft tannins. Some of my favorites from the luncheon:

2009 Domaine de Colette Beaujolais Villages $13
2009 Domaine Dupeuble Pere et Fils $13
2009 Christian Vergiers Tours de Tanay Morgon $17

2009 Chateau de Raousset Grille Midi Fleurie $20

Beaujolais producers are working to get the attention of American wine consumers, so these and other good examples of Beaujolais shouldn't be hard to find. Ask your favorite wine merchant.