Vinosseur.com

Date tasted:  June 2nd, 3rd & 5th, 2009

Located in the Anjou region of the Loire Valley in France, the Domaine Griottes is a natural wine maker making very interesting wines.

This wine is a Vin de Table, or Table wine,  made with 40% Pineau d’Aunis, 30% Grouillot and 30% Gamay.  The Pineau d’Aunis grape was more widely planted in the Loire in the past but has been largely ripped out to make more room for commercial grapes.  Dating back to medieval times,  this individual variety bears small black grapes.

The grapes for this wine are picked entirely by hand.  The maceration period is between 60-70 days in fiberglass.  No treatments, no sulfur, no filtration nor fining.  Only indigenous yeast – spontaneous fermentation.  This wine was bottled around August of 2007 and is totally without any additives.  It’s totally natural.

First tasting (June 2, 2009 15:00):

Appearance: Light Color. Dark pink rose pedal, light red. See through like a Pinot Noir. In a blind tasting, the Pinot Noir would be the first grape I would think of.

Nose: Incense, white pepper, black tea, musk, cherry and raspberries. With some air, hints of blackberries also emerged.  Very complex for a light & fresh wine with only 11% alcohol. Hints of saddle or baseball mitt and hints of licorice also emerging.

Palate: Light and fresh with medium plus acidity.  Medium fruit tannins with precise, focused fruit shining through. Red plums and plum pits.  Long, fruity finish with persistent well-integrated tannins.  The alcohol is extremely well integrated.

Second tasting (June 3, 2009 23:56):

Appearance: Only slightly darker, but not much color change noticeable.

Nose: Less of the exotic spices, more dark plums and hints of blackberry. Seems a bit more closed tonight then it did yesterday afternoon..With more glass swirling, more of the pepper and licorice emerged again.

Palate: Tannins are firmer than yesterday, but still only at a medium minus to medium level.. Some roasted meat aromas and rosemary. Dark plums.  Acidity still medium to medium plus.   Some hints of pepper, smoke and minerals in the background.

Compared to yesterday, less aromatic and spicy on the nose.  Not as exotic.  A bit more focused and serious.  Good concentration while still remaining light and fresh with a 30 second finish.  The alcohol is a bit more noticeable than yesterday.. Will retaste tomorrow.

Third tasting (June 5, 2009 00:49):

Nose: Again, less exotic and less “spicy”.  More perfumed and floral.  Dark plums and morel cherries.  Hints of red fruit and anise.  A bit nutty.

Palate: Superb concentration with hints of hazelnuts.  A bit darker fruit, plums and some blackberries, with supporting red fruit like raspberries.  Mild plus tannins. Medium acidity.  Quite elegant and long with a smoky aftertaste.  Surprisingly structured and still drinking well.  A bit more serious than yesterday with very well integrated alcohol.  Drinking very well today.

Open for almost 3 days and stored in the cellar at around 16°C, and still beautiful, in fact perhaps better than when I opened.  Who says you need to add sulfur to wine to keep it once opened.  In my opinion, natural wine is alive and with a little air and some days exposed to oxygen, the wine fully comes alive and expresses itself.  In contrast, conventional wines made from grapes with pesticides and then manipulated in the winery, are dead and once opened and exposed to oxygen, only decline…

I will continue to focus on wines made naturally and I will hopefully also eventually have the will power to keep a bottle open for a longer period.  Please stay tuned.

Date tasted:  June 2nd, 2009 15:00(3pm)

Frank Cornelissen owns about 12 ha on Mt. Etna in Sicily. He’s a non-interventionist who says “Consequently this has taken us to avoiding all possible interventions on the land we cultivate, including any treatments, whether chemical, organic, or biodynamic, as these are all a mere reflection of the inability of man to accept nature as she is and will be.”

Frank & Alberto at the top of 'Rampante', the pre-phylloxera vineyard at 1010m altitude located above Solicchiata on Mt Etna after the devasting forest fire of 3 full days & nights.

On a postcard I recently received, he goes on to say  “To produce a bottle of genuine, natural wine, the recipe is simple:  take large quantities of dedication, determination, intuition and coherence.  To these ingredients throw in a strong dose of masochism in order to physically and emotionally survive the difficulties and downsides of this ‘Art of Wine’.  Finally, enjoy a glass (or more) of this wine, before sending the rest around the world to good homes.”

Of all the “natural” wines I have tasted, Frank’s are always the most interesting.  I am not saying that his wines are the most well-made of the natural wines I have tasted, but his are always the most engergetic.  And, definitely the most natural tasting compared to his counterparts.  From the very rustic labeling, to the almost opaque  wines that are very obviously not filtered nor fined.

This “orange” wine is no exception.  Made from the local (white grapes) Grecanico Dorato, Coda di Volpe, Carricante and Cattaratto grapes, this orange wine is barely see through.  This cloudy wine is so packed full of sediment that I swore I could see chunks of grapes floating towards the bottom of the bottle.  Of course this is a “slight” exaggeration, but it sure made me happy knowing that this wine was made from something (grapes) that was growing wild in the vineyards, and nothing else.   His wines are the most natural of the natural wines I have tasted, and this wine was no exception.  His wines have a certain “energy” about them which is hard to put in words, but they make you feel good.

The grapes for this wine come from various vineyards on Mount Etna owned and cared for by Frank.  Frank harvests the approximate 13ha/hl of grapes totally by hand.  The bunches of grapes are put into a destemmer and crushed, not pressed at this time.  This machine is more of a crusher than a destemmer as it hardly removes any of the stems at all.

The must is then placed into plastic containers in his backyard (no temperature control here) which are then covered with a tent-like plastic material to keep the rain out.  Of course only indigenous yeast here.  The wine is left to spontaneously ferment and macerate with the skins for about 4 months giving the wine it’s apricot-hued glow.  The wine is then pressed into Amphorae with the help of gravity and then bottled.  Absolutely nothing else is added to this wine. Nothing.  Not even SO2 (Sulfur Dioxide).  The wine is not fined nor filtered before being bottled and this is evident.  Since Frank bottle’s his wine without filtration, the last wines bottled have more sediment than the first ones.

First tasting 1500 (3pm):

Appearance: A very cloudy, unfiltered appearance.  Loads of sediment which are very visible to the naked eye.  In the glass, the wine has an apricot juice hue with a medium intensity.  It is hard to analyze intensity with an unfiltered wine of this type (wine with high intensity glows can indicate a high level of intensity and vice versa).

Nose: Apricots with hints of minerals and loads of farmyard (those of you familiar with red Burgundy know what I am talking about).  The distinctive (for me) Cornelissen pickle juice.  Dry hay and flowers.

Palate: Wild just like the other Cornelissen wines.  Typical.  A little tingle at the front of the tongue initially from the slight residual CO2, which quickly burns off with a little swirling of the glass.  Medium minus tannins.  High acidity, but not harsh, just mouth watering and mature.  Pickles and smoke.  Kumquats.  Essence of apricots and peaches, but not sweet.    Bone dry with around 2g/liter of residual sugar according to my palate.

Second tasting 1809 (609pm):

Nose: Much more pickles and farmyard.  Less distinct apricots.  The apricot aromas I do get are of unripe apricots.

Palate: Medium minus tannins.  Rosemary, sweet yellow fruit at the back end, apricots.  Finish is long and persistent with mild tannins, great acid and smokey flavors.  The wine sits and sits.

Interesting to note that although the wine was dry, it paired well with sweeter dishes.  It worked well with my honey and lemon marinated chicken.  It was also working surprising well with my Mexican Cactus Fruit.. Strange….

I’m always fascinated with the fact that the few bottles of natural wine that I manage to keep open a few days seem to only improve.

Please check out my video wine tasting of Frank Cornelissen’s Rosso del Contadino! Click below and forgive the quality:

Wine Tasting with Vinosseur – 2007 Frank Cornelissen Rosso del Contadino 5 from vinosseur on Vimeo.

Date tasted:  May 19th, 2009 23:40 (11:40pm)

Dr. Bürklin-Wolf is the largest family owned estate in Germany with just over 110HA of vineyards all located in the heart of the Pfalz.  The vineyards are located in Wachenheim, Forst, Deidesheim and Ruppertsberg including the monopol sites “Wachenheimer Rechbächel” and “Gaisböhl” in Ruppertsberg. They were the first non-French member of the well-known French organization “Syndicat International des Vignerons en Culture Bio-Dynamique” with the label BIODYVIN.  In the beginning of 2005 all 83 hectares of Bürklin-Wolf’s vineyards were converted to bio-dynamic methods. Dr. Bürklin-Wolf has passed with success all necessary controls by the EU control agencies and is certified as a bio-dynamic winery.

Gaisböhl 2007 BA harvest

This wine has a special place in my heart.  On September 12, 2007 a friend and I arrived in the Pfalz where I would remain for the following 10 days to take part in the harvest.  The very next day we had our very first harvesting experience.  We were to (hand) harvest grapes (Riesling) in the Gaisböl vineyard, and those grapes were to be at the Beerenauslese level!  Beerenauslese (BA) directly translated means “selected grapes”, which simply meant that we were hand selecting grapes that were going to be used in this wine.  The grapes in a BA wine are normally effected by Botrytis (the basis for the worlds greatest sweet wines like Sauternes and Tokaji).  The minimum required Oechsle value (of the grapes) in the Pfalz to qualify as a BA is 120 (the Oechsle scale is a hydrometer scale measuring the density of grape must, which is an indication of grape ripeness and sugar content.  The higher the value, the higher sugar content, the higher the potential alcohol).  This wine also had a small percentage of “fresh” grapes; grapes not effected by this “noble rot”. At analysis, the grapes that went into this wine had an Oechsle reading of 145!  This Oechsle reading puts this wine at just a few degrees under the Trockenbeerenauslese level of 150!

It is quite unusual to be picking grapes of this level so early in the harvest season.  Many of the other Bürklin vineyards weren’t even going to be harvested for fresh grapes for another couple of weeks.  I have to say that it was a challenging first day of harvesting!  There are many types of rot and you have to be very selective to assure that the good rot is the one you are harvesting, the rest goes right on the ground!

The Gaisböhl vineyard is solely owned by the Bürklin estate.  This vineyard is considered a “Grand Cru” (according to the Bürklin-Wolf’s own strict vineyard classification system dating back to 1995).  The vineyard covers 5,7ha and was planted in 1977.

As many of you may know, 2007 is heralded as an excellent vintage in Germany.  A vintage which has the potential to age for decades.  This wine was no exception.  It was immediately approachable but had the potential to age, well probably longer than you or I.

Wine analysis/details:

Grape:  100% Riesling

Oechsle measurement before fermentation:  145° Oe

Price:  € 70,00 per 0,375l, double for 0,75l (this  bottle was a 0,375 l)

Production:  about 500 liters

Residual Sugar:  188g/liter

Residual Acidity:  16g/liter!!

Alcohol content:  7%

Appearance: Poured like liquid syrup!  Golden orange with amber hints.

Nose: Orange marmalade, apricot nectar, honey, lemon with mineral undertones.  “cool” chalky smell with hints of eucalyptus.  Lots of apricots!  I could smell this wine all night!

Palate: Pure, apricot syrup with extreme, mature acidity!  The finish has hints of dried apricots and sour fruit.  The wine really coats the mouth and the texture is mind-blowing.  The finish is extremely long, at least a minute or more..

This has got to be one of the finest sweet wines I have ever tasted, because it had extreme focus of both fresh and dried fruits with amazing acidity giving this wine lift and freshness!

For those of you that don’t enjoy sweet wines, this one is worth a try.  The secret with sweet wines is the acidity.  Sweet wines need acidity to balance out the sugar.  When the acidity is in balance,  the wine will seem fresh no matter how sweet it is.  In other words, the higher the residual sugar, the higher the acidity needs to be.  If there is a lack of acidity, which unfortunately is too often the case, the wine will seem cloying and will sting at the back of the throat.  This is why cool climate countries have the advantage in the sweet wine world. The cooler climate produces grapes with higher acidity and typically the sweet wines made from these grapes are fresher.

Suggested music pairing:  Blank & Jones “Butterfisch” from the album Relax Edition 4

Date tasted:  May 16th, 2009

I have tasted a few Chianti’s from the Colli Senesi DOCG and they are often fresh and light. This wine seemed more like a Brunello di Montalicino than a Chianti or Chianti Colli Senesi.  With some digging I found out that Azienda Agricola Pacina is located in Castelnuovo Berardenga, but his vines are in the Colli Senesi DOCG (which I am told you can see from the kitchen window).  I should also add that on a clear day, you can see Montalcino from the estate (home of the afore mentioned Brunello di Montalcino), which could be part  of the reason why this wine was more like a Brunello to me.

The 10ha vineyard for this wine is made up of sand, clay and oyster fossils and is farmed organically, leaning towards biodynamics.  The blend is 97% Sangiovese and 3% Canaiolo/Ciliegiolo.  The grapes are hand harvested, crushed and the alcoholic fermentation takes place utilizing indigenous yeasts.  The wine is left to macerate for around five weeks in concrete tanks (the long skin contact could be another reason why this wine resembled a Brunello).  The wine is then aged for one year in (5-10 year-old) 500 liter barrels and botti of 17-25hl.  The wine is then bottled without clarification nor filtration.  Very little sulfur is added at this time ( I’m told 15-20 mg) and aged a further 6 months before release.  25,000 bottles are produced.  Alcohol:  13.2%  Total Acidity:  5.5%.  Price in Norwegian Kroner is 200 ($31).

Appearance: Dark brick-red with good color depth.  Medium intensity.  Still nice dark edge suggesting that this wine is younger than it really is.

Nose: When first opened, slight hints of onion, suggesting that there was slight reduction.  This very quickly burned off.  Hints of mineral emerged along with dark cherries and dark plums.  Hints of herbs like rosemary.  Some dried fruit notes on the back end.

Palate: Dark cherries and cherry pits.  Medium plus acidity and medium plus tannins which actually increased and began to over power the wine a bit once in the glass for 10 minutes.  It was difficult to distinguish weather the tannins were coming from the fruit or the 500 liter barrels.  I am quite sure that most of the tannic structure of the wine came form the fruit itself.  Very rustic style of wine with secondary aromas that emerge about 10 seconds after the initial impression on the palate.  Those secondary aromas sat for 30 plus seconds.

I tasted this wine again on the 19th of May, after the bottle had been open for 3 days and stored in the refrigerator.  It had actually improved considerably.  The tannins were better integrated and the fruit more precise.  It’s my opinion that this wine is a wine that could benefit from 5-7 years of cellaring.  A reliable source reported to me that he had recently tasted a 1995 and that it was, to quote him directly “fantastic”!  I suppose that at this price, one might expect that a wine with the Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG can be aged.

Date tasted:  May 7th, 2009

Not only is this wine certified organic, but it’s also somewhat of a rarity of the wine world.  In the Rioja region of Spain, wines have traditionally been aged in oak (with exception are the Joven wines which may not see any oak at all).  And I am being kind here because not only have wines from Rioja been traditionally aged in oak, but often wines were aged for many many many years in oak.  It wasn’t uncommon to see wines, including whites, to be stored in oak for 20 years, although 2-5 years was more usual.  On top of that, American oak was often used imparting in my opinion, well you know, unwanted flavors in the wine often covering up the beautiful fruit.

The fruit in this case being the very underrated (by some) Tempranillo grape. “The little early one” as it’s called due to the fact that it usually ripens a few weeks earlier than other Spanish varieties, is a grape that can produce full-bodied wines with a huge aging potential.  Not only can they age for decades, but they do so gracefully.  At a “blind” wine tasting that I attended last year with fellow enthusiasts, half the group mistook a 1982 Rioja for a Burgundy (Pinot Noir) while the other half mistook the wine as a Barolo (Nebbiolo)!  No joke, and we were a pretty talented bunch!

Now on to this wine.  The bodega Biurko Gorri is a family run estate with one aim “they use their wine-making tradition and great care of their vineyards along with very modern installations to produce and age high quality wines“.  The vineyards are found on the sunny slopes in the area at an altitude that  give the grape an excellent balance of acidity and ripeness.  The fruit grows on old vines (15-20 years) and most of the 30ha are organic; organic fertilizers are used, not herbicides nor synthesized chemicals.  The wines made from these grapes go on sale under the Denominación de Origen Ecológica as well as the D.O.C. Rioja.

This Arbanta wine comes from organic vineyards in carefully chosen well-ventilated areas at high altitudes.  The vineyards are located in the small town of Bargota in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria Mountains.  The grapes are destalked.  Fermentation is with natural yeasts in stainless steel vats at controlled temperatures between 20 and 28ºC. Natural fining through decanting and racking.

Appearance: A very youthful reddish purple.  Good color concentration with a medium intensity.

Nose: Wild strawberries and other berries.  Plums and flowers.  Mineral undertones.  Hints of orange peel and anise.

Palate: Plums, blackberries and hints of sweet licorice.  Nice gripping tannins with a long mineral aftertaste.  Great concentration.  Light & fresh with medium acidity.

A wine to be enjoyed young.  No sense aging this wine as it’s so good and fresh now.  I would enjoy this wine with some grilled light colored meets like chicken, or some aged hard cheese.  If you like fish with red, this could be an option as well.

I am extremely happy to live in a time when new wave Rioja wine makers are reducing oak use to such a degree that some are skipping the oak all together.  It allows us to better understand the fruit as the fruit becomes clear without the clutter of artificial (oak) additives.

Date tasted:  May 5th, 2009

Cantina di Nomi is a cooperative situated in the heart of the Vallagarina, between Trentino and Rovereto in the far North in Italy.  The cantina was formed in 1957 by a group of farmers and, according to the website, the almost 200 hectares are harvested by hand.

This wine is part of the Antichi Portali line and is made with the Rulander grape, also known as Pinot Grigio. The grapes for this wine are harvested by hand and come from a single vineyard called Castel Pietra.  Once harvested and crushed, the skins are macerated with the must for 18-24 hours at a temperature of between 6-8°C (43-46.5°F).  The wine is aged for a short period in stainless steel.

Appearance: A very light bronze/rusty color. Medium intensity with good clarity, most likely this wine has been filtered.

Nose: Not very floral nor fruity.  Under ripe lemons.  Light aromas of gooseberry, with slight green notes (some similar aromas to Sauvignon Blanc, but less intense and green).  Hints of under ripe melon.  Not a terribly intense nor complex wine.

Palate: Very dry, medium acidity.  Dry orange peel.  A bit steely and saline.  Crisp with a medium long finish.  Medium alcohol.  Very slight oxidaton on the palate.

I tried the wine again the next day and there was no evolution.

Overall this wine was OK, but not great.   I expected greater complexity due to the skin contact, but the short time on the skins didn’t add much to the wine. It is quite a typical Pinot Grigio.

It’s suitable for an aperitif or just to refresh yourself on a hot day.

Date tasted:  April 14th, 2009

Azienda Agricola Unterortl was established in 1992 in Alto Adige, Val Venosta, in the Northern tip of Italy close to the boarder of Austria.  Located about 750m up on Juval Hill, they make only 30,000 bottles per year from around 4ha. According to the May 2009 issue of Decanter magazine, Martin Aurich of Unterortl is one of Italy’s stars of tomorrow, and is producing one of Italy’s finest Rieslings.  Aurich was born and raised in Germany and studied oenology in the 1980’s.  Aurich says “Unterortl’s proximity to the glaciers gives the wines their high acidity and freshness.  The well-draining granite and sand is similar to Wachau in Austria”.  Aurich vinifies as naturally as possible.

Appearance: A light golden yellow with high intensity indicating high acidity.  A bit darker than I expected. Looked like a warmer climate Riesling, which would indicate that 2005 was a warm vintage in the area.

Nose: At first, the aromas reminded me a lot of wines from the Pfalz in Germany, in particular, Bürklin-Wolf. Ripe lemons, very light petrol and minerality. Some fruity notes, seemed to have lactic aromas suggesting that perhaps this wine went through malo-lactic fermentation.  I could not find any information validating this, but it’s just a hunch of mine.

Palate: Dry but fruity, with high acidity.  Medium alcohol which was slightly apparent on the palate.  Ripe lemons, but slightly lacking fruit in my opinion.  Quite rounded with good acidity, but not terribly focused and lacking some freshness.  A slightly fat Riesling.

In my opinion, this was a pretty good Riesling, but not great. I believe I paid around 14 euro and I feel that it was a decent value at that level.  I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. If I had another bottle, I think it would be interesting to taste it again in about 5 years. I believe this will age well and actually improve.