Florida “winters,” warm as they are, often suggest white/pink wine and lighter meals. For those rare days when we hit the 40’s, we break out the reds. By the predominance of white/pink noted below, you can pretty much guess how mild our January has been.
Red:
2010 Achaval Ferrer, Malbec Mendoza:
14.5% alcohol; a big wine, quite concentrated, round, rich and bordering on overdone, but it is saved by the absence of apparent oak and a fairly complex flavor profile. Not a wine for anything but the rarest steak; not even assorted cheeses paired well.
About $15.
So, on another day, I grilled a porterhouse (rare) and tried again; good pairing. There is an aroma that I think smells like wet nori but is probably oak related; it’s not unpleasant but unusual; the wine seems to lose some of its weight and richness and gain complexity with the steak. And it’s a more balanced pairing. No doubt, this wine was made for rare beef.
Thanks Tom.
(Aside: For the style of wine this is, it is well executed. But this is not a style of wine that I have much use for as I eat very little rare beef and find this kind of wine overwhelming in its absence.)
2008 Calluna Vineyards, Calluna Estate:
14.9% alcohol; a blend of 35% cab. sauvignon, 32% merlot, 18% malbec, 12% cab. franc, 3% petit verdot, from the Chalk Hill AVA; too much new oak at this young age but considerable spice on the nose and palate sourced therefrom; concentrated, rich and weighty but has plenty of acidity, plush tannins, some complexity, and good sustain. We had this with a red-sauced pasta with egg plant and chicken sausage and it went very well. But by itself, this is simply too young and big for me. No overt evidence of the alcohol but identifiably CA. Decant and have with food unless you like ‘em BIG.
About$50.
(Aside: In the rarified world of CA Cabernet, $50 is well under the norm. But $50 doesn’t sound inexpensive to me. Everything is relative, I suppose, but when I think of what else I can buy with that much money . . .)
Pink:
2010 Dom. Fontanyl, Côtes de Provence Rosé:
13% alcohol and a bottle that is similar to Dom. Ott; pale salmon color; strawberry and mineral nose; much the same in the mouth, bone dry with good cut and a touch of bitters at the end; clean finish. Fleshes out as it warms but never gets heavy. Pleasant with cheese and crackers on a warm winter’s day here in the sunshine state.
About $13.
White:
2010 Salandini Pilastri, Pecorino Offida:
13.5% alcohol, from the Marche; smells and tastes a great deal like Greco; its rich and oily but has a bitter note that keeps it from becoming cloying, even refrigerator cold this has weight and concentration. Went well with pasta primavera. About $13.
2010 De Angelis, Lucrima Christi del Vesuvio:
13.5% alcohol and 60/40 caprettone/falanghina; white fruit and flower aromas; sappy flavors of white peach nectar (unsweet), resin and citrus; dry, intense, concentrated texture, good cut and quite persistent; a touch bitter on the finish. More complexity than expected and it becomes even more so as it warms in the glass; I like this and will buy it again. Good with white pizza but a pairing to remember with Caesar salad (and I eat a lot of Caesar salad).
About $18.
2010 Taburno, Fiano:
13% alcohol; a distinct vanilla note comes through with a touch mineral and clear white fruit scents; rich, almost full bodied in the mouth with an oily texture and plenty of cut to keep it in balance; medium finish. A big, concentrated wine with intensity. Not something I want to have a lot of but certainly attention getting; better, very cold.
About $20.
2009 Knoll, Grüner Veltliner Federspiel;
12% alcohol; smells of unripe pineapple, flowers, sassafras, warm rocks; medium weight, excellent cut, flavors follow the nose with concentration, intensity and balance, some mouth-watering jalapeño hints; excellent sustain and balance on the finish. Perfect counter-point to a salad with Russian dressing and toasted English muffin. About as precise and correct a Grüner as one could ask for but with an intensity and breadth that gives one a glimpse of what the grape can do at its best.
About $22.
(Aside: There are a few (very few) labels in the wine world that I will buy without consideration to vintage, appellation or pradikat; this is one of them. I have purchased wines from this producer for over twenty years and have yet to be disappointed. From the sonorous and powerful Schutt Vineyard rieslings to this charming and yet still arresting federspiel grüner, I have yet to run across a bottle that has not thrilled. Some more than others, I grant, but up and down the line-up, nobody does it better, year in, year out.
A label (despite its Baroque visage) to be trusted; and that is extraordinary.)
Best, Jim