Wine Focus for July: Hot Weather Reds!

Naked Wines Lodi Merlot. Limpid and not identifiable as Merlot; and there's another in the cellar. Drank it with pasta and Italian sausage.

[Robin Garr]

La Vieille Ferme 2013 Rouge ($9.99)

Very dark ruby with reddish-violet glints against the light. Simple, a bit rustic, with undifferentiated black fruit and a hint of fennel; black plums, a whiff of black pepper, and tart, mouth-watering acidity on the palate, with a buzz of soft tannins joining in the finish. A Rhône-style blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Cinsault in undisclosed proportions, it's good with food, nothing you'd call "elegant," but - in the tradition of La Vieille Ferme - a versatile, inexpensive red table wine that offers plenty of pleasure for the price. U.S. importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, Ala. (July 14, 2015)

FOOD MATCH: Serve it with just about any grilled red meat or roast poultry or meatless bean-and-cheese dishes, or drop it in place of a basic Chianti with Italian red-sauce fare. It was just fine with Martha Rose Shulman's Zucchini Parmesan] from The New York Times.

WHEN TO DRINK: Chances are that it would hold up for another few years, but honestly, with a reliable new vintage every year, I'm inclined to drink it up and go for the youngest available.

VALUE: That's the point here today. At $10 or less in 2015, it has maintained its status as a value wine for 45 years.

WEB LINKS This fact sheet from importer Vineyard Brands] covers the basics about the 2013 Rouge.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Find sources and check prices for La Vieille Ferme Rouge on Wine-Searcher.com.

[David M. Bueker]

Gamay of course

2010 Marcel Lapierre Morgon - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon (7/22/2015)
Elegant, fresh and complex. That about sums it up. It's amazing that a wine this light can have so much flavor. The red fruit is still quite prominent, but I really loved the brown tobacco element that kept popping up on the nose and palate. Beautiful wine.

Schiava works well after 30 minutes in the fridge. Great with grilled chicken or salmon.

Porta Dos Cavaleiros (Dao) 2009. (13%)

I enjoyed this wine more than I expected, particularly given the $8.99 price tag. I think I was almost expecting a Vinho Verde Tinto, with high acidity and a thin, greenish style (well, the ones that haven't bothered with malolactic fermentation anyway - which seems to be ALL the Vinho Verde Tinto's I've had).

But no. This was certainly on the lighter end of the scale, but quite soft, medium bodied, with good fruit that wasn't too forward. Just a nice, tasty, well behaved wine that was exactly the tonic I needed on a Friday night after a long week of work.

Wifey liked it too, of course. Irish + 13% abv, y'know. That's all it takes.

Dao nice one here! Problem is that a few I have tasted have a chocolate flavor that I detest.

[Jenise]

Naked Wines Lodi Merlot. Limpid and not identifiable as Merlot; and there's another in the cellar. Drank it with pasta and Italian sausage.

You poor thing. We opened one of our last four bottles tonight, a California Viognier. Once again, would guess sugar added to make it more pleasing to the American palate because it wasn't fruity, or ripe or even overripe, it just tasted like an extra spoonful of sugar went into the bottle. And I suspect it did. .

[Jenise]

Just a nice, tasty, well behaved wine that was exactly the tonic I needed on a Friday night after a long week of work.

Wifey liked it too, of course. Irish + 13% abv, y'know. That's all it takes.

Sometimes that's not only all you need, it's exactly what you need. I love deep, intellectually challenging wines that spawn a ton of notes, but sometimes that's actually tedious when life just wants an easy wind-down. A lot of the inexpensive Portugese wines I've had fit that bill perfectly, so you called it.

At the moment, almost any red we drink during sunlight hours, we chill. It has been so warm here in the New Sahara that I've not been interested in most reds of late. Those we have drunk, we've chilled. I was thinking that this effort would produce a slew of discoveries to report to this thread but unfortunately they've mostly not arisen. The wines have generally shown too much sweet, saturated fruit and the chill has completely retarded the acidity needed to make the aforementioned palatable. Only the lightest, least tannic and least concentrated wines show well. Which they would do even if they weren't chilled So, no new discoveries from me to report here at almost the end of the month--but hey, it was fun.

The weather has cooled and, though we were still able to dine outdoors, a guinea fowl stew and this wine were reasonable fare for the conditions. I think that this would be a classy barbecue wine and the fact that it has undergone considerable alcohol inflation since the excellent 1998 (14.5% cf 13% ) would not be a disadvantage with spicy meats and strong sauces. It would, however, need to be kept reasonably cool (c.16°C = 61°F) which is not always easy in hot weather without over-cooling.

This cuvée is Mourvèdre dominated which IMO gives it a distinction which most Grenache dominated cuvées lack. I compared my last bottle of '98 to a well matured and harmonious traditional Rioja minus the vanilla traces, but this '05 was quite a bit below that level.

2005 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne Haut-Coustias - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne (7/23/2015)
Fuller and darker in colour but showing less finesse and harmony than '98, '00 and '01, it was in fact more like the '03 with rather less sombre fruit. Rose petal notes dominated the aromas on both nose and palate, the fruit was of the darker kind with slight blackberry notes, there were less secondary notes and complexity than on the '01 earlier this year, acidity was smooth, tannins well covered but there was some alcoholic burn on the finish (14.5%) which receded after food. No hurry to drink up but I am not sure than it will achieve the harmony of those earlier vintages. Good+.



Posted from CellarTracker

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[Robin Garr]

Fattori Col de Bastia 2012 Valpolicella ($19.99)

Dark ruby, with reddish-violet glints against the light. Good Valpolicella fruit, red fruit and dried cherries and currants on the nose carry over on the palate in a fresh, dry and acidic flavor, mouth-watering and palate-cleansing, 13% alcohol. Dried red fruits and soft tannins linger in a long finish. Very good wine, typical of higher-end, higher-quality Valpolicella, but the $20 price point is pushing my comfort zone for this rustic country wine. A typical Valpo blend of 65% Corvina, 15% Corvinone, 10% Rondinella, 10% other varieties. U.S. importer: Vanguard Wines LLC, Columbus, Ohio. (July 25, 2015)

FOOD MATCH: Day one: Roasted okra with garlic butter, very nice match with the deep veggie and garlic flavors and rich butter. Day Two, surprising with elotes, Mexican-style corn smeared with a mayo-cheese-chile mix. (Hard not to grease the glass after eating that stuff, though ... )

WINERY FACT SHEET:
http://www.fattoriwines.com/en/our-wine ... -bastia-2/

Our summer has disappeared (temporarily I hope; only about 17°C max yesterday = 63°F ) but PN seemed appropriate with a brioche with fluffy foie gras inside and smoked herrings were starters. For about a couple of decades there has been a vogue in Paris brasseries for light PN from the central Loire SB country (mainly Sancerre) served cool like this one (c.14°C = 57°F), which make excellent summer wines. However lately the PNs from some Sancerre producers, e.g. A.Mellot, have been putting on weight and have been acquiring a more serious reputation as well as Burgundian level prices. It is this last factor which means that I have sampled very few of these and, of course, they would be less summery.

2012 Henri Bourgeois Menetou-Salon Le Prieuré des Aublats - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Menetou-Salon (7/29/2015)
This is a pretty example of quite lightly coloured and bodied Loire valley PN with nice bright cherry tinged PN fruit, minerals and lively acidity but somewhat simplistic at this stage. However, its aromas were mildly affected by typically reductive notes, which I don't consider a flaw as they disappear with age and attenuate with air and certain remedies. Went surprisingly well with smoked herrings and even seemed less reduced with them. Mediocre QPR at €18.

Posted from CellarTracker

Not sure if the 2013 Texier Brezeme is a classic 'hot weather red' but it is crisp and lively and fine with a little chill, so it qualifies in my book. It may not send me waxing lyrically, but it's also a great dinner party wine because it's delicious, it marries well with food and doesn't require much fuss. (So that's what we did tonight)

The 2012 St Julien en St Alban VS Pergaud that I opened after dinner has a lot more depth and material and flavor. But to each wine in its own time.

I didn't chose this mature Chinon specifically for dinner on a warm evening (c.26°C) outdoors but it worked very well in the circumstances with a veal Marengo. Although far from a heavy weight it stood up well to the sauce and, very importantly in warm weather, it kept its focus and refinement through the inevitable warming.

1996 Charles Joguet Chinon Clos de la Dioterie - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (8/2/2015)
Like its stable mate, Chêne Vert, from the same vintage, this wine was absolutely enchanting. (BTW, this was allegedly an "off" phase at the Joguet estate .) Colour was of medium depth with some bricking. The nose was enchanting with notes of red fruit, especially raspberry and strawberry, and discreet flowers with a sprinkling of fine minerals. The palate was barely medium bodied but had some depth and showed deliciously mature fruit with an ethereal overlay of the aromas from the nose together with still fresh acidity and faint notes of clay and leather, but less of the latter than on Chêne Vert. Tannins had almost completely disappeared but there was enough backbone to hold the wine together and give a respectably long finish. Supremely elegant right now but hard to see that it can go anywhere but downhill, so I am strongly tempted to finish off my remaining two bottles quite soon. Excellent.


Posted from CellarTracker

Good for you Tim. Never quite sure when to open these Joguet reds, mine are mostly `09s.

Good for you Tim. Never quite sure when to open these Joguet reds, mine are mostly `09s.

It depends what you've got, Bob. IMO good quality only starts kicking in at Clos de la Cure upwards. The 2009 of that should be drinking very well by now. If you have Dioterie, maybe you'll catch it like my 1996 by 2028 .