January 2013 Recap

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Thank you for being patient with us this month. While there haven’t been any posts yet in February there has certainly been wine tasting…in Switzerland. Moby and I were away on a ski/food/wine trip last week and tasted some fantastic wine. Stay tuned for Switzerland blogs but for now let’s recap a fantastic month of January with some of our highest rated wines ever:

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wine of January 2012:

2007 Chateau Mont-Redon Chateauneuf du Pape – 97

Wines Rated:

2010 Domaine Bechtold Silberberg Gewurztraminer – 94

2003 Saint Cosme Saint-Joseph – 92

2009 Louis Jadot Beaune 1er Cru Anniversary Edition – 92

2010 Louis Latour Chameroy Beaujolais-Villages – 91

2008 Trimbach Gewurztraminer – 91

2010 Renato Ratti Barbera d’Alba – 91

2007 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – 89

2007 Silvio Giamello Vicenziana Barbaresco – 89

2011 Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba – 89

NV Baron D’auvergne Brut Privelege – 86

2009 Larose de Gruaurd Saint-Julien – 85

1998 Nobles Rives Hermitage – 84

2011 Barton and Guestier Vouvray – 84

2011 Bartenura Moscato – 84

What a great month! As you can see by the numbers we’d suggest trying any of these wines if you come across them. Hopefully we can keep the trend going in February!

2011 Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba

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I picked this bottle up at Wine Library our last trip down to New Jersey for $18. Moby wasn’t around for a couple nights so I decided this was going to be my evening entertainment. I ordered a pepperoni pizza and sat down to watch some hockey and drink some wine.

colonelgrape: 89. This wine really surprised me. The first bottle of Dolcetto I had was a bright, fruity, acid bomb that was very odd. It didn’t really strike my fancy and certainly not Moby’s. When I was at Wine Library I wanted to pick up a good bottle to give it another chance and it was certainly different. This was a spicy bottle with a fair amount of tannins. Black fruit and tar, yes tar, on the palate but in a good way…it tastes very earthy. Definitely a bottle that would benefit from some decanting. It actually didn’t go well with the pizza at all and if I knew the flavor profile before I tried it I definitely would have had something else. That being said I think it’s a delicious wine I just had it in the wrong setting. If you see a bottle under $20 grab it and have it with a nice big meal.

2011 Bartenura Moscato

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I picked up this bottle at Vin Bin a month or so ago when I went hunting for our usual bottle of Moscato. It was more expensive at $19 but I thought we’d give it a try. How did it compare?

ColonelGrape: 80. I gave the bottle I’ve liked the most an 85 (Soria Bruno Cascina del Santuario) so I’m going a little lower here. It was the usual Moscato being very light, mild bubbles, and big on sweetness. It’s very low alcohol content makes it easy to drink and perfect for an aperitif, desert, or even with some light meals…I’m sure Moby would even have it with breakfast. Definitely a wine you need to be in the mood for but when the time is right it’s a nice wine to relax with.

MobyGrape: 88. This wasn’t my favorite Moscato that we had, but it pretty much lived up to what I expected. Delicately bubbly (enough so you have an excuse to pull out the champagne flutes) and a very light flavor, it was sweet without being overbearing. Like if you get too ambitious and you kind of chug it because it’s delicious (not that I’d ever do that) you won’t find yourself having to try and keep an unruly burp from erupting (once again, not that I’ve ever done that) and come off as less Bond girl, and more Bud girl. I think it’s safe to say that at this point I like Moscato, it’s just a matter of finding my favorite producer.

2011 Barton and Guestier Vouvray

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The past week has been filled with some repeat wines but we’re back at it with this 2011 Baron and Guestier Vouvray. Vouvray comes from the Loire Valley and is 100% Chenin Blanc. This grape has high acidity and the levels of sweetness in the wine vary similarly to Champagne but they use different vocab: Sec, Demi-Sec, Moelloux, Doux with Doux being the sweetest version. Vouvray is also available as a sparkling wine though not as common as the standard white. In some exceptional vintages extremely sweet wines are made via noble rot (similar to Sauternes) with tremendous aging potential…sometimes over 100 years.

We enjoyed this bottle with a poached red snapper:

This was a simple recipe I saw made on TV by Alton Brown and I found the it online. It’s basically a whole snapper with cous cous, onion, artichoke heart, cherry tomato, lemon, white wine, and butter seasoned with salt and pepper. Wrap in in parchment paper, completely seal it, and allow it to cook for 30 mins until tender. It’s hard to find whole fish at the standard supermarket but if you do find it I recommend this recipe.

MobyGrape: 90. This was sort of a cross between a Gewurztraminer and a Riesling. At first I thought it was going to hit me hard with the honey-sweetness, but then it sort of settled into a lighter, crisper sweetness like a Riesling. It went down easier than I care to admit, it was just such an easy drink, with the appetizer and a lighter stir fry this wine was perfect. I don’t think it was super expensive either, it’s a good starter wine if you’re looking to make the move into the vino. And it’s fun to say. Vouvray!

ColonelGrape: 78. A demi-sec Vouvray, it wasn’t really sweet or dry…you got a little of both when you took a sip. Initially it had a floral nose with some fruit…maybe pear. On the palate more of the same, it just didn’t wow me. It seemed like a wine that didn’t know what it wanted to be so it decided to be average. Don’t get me wrong…it wasn’t bad at all, I would have liked to seen it commit more one way or the other on the sweetness. I’ve tried other demi-secs that I liked a whole lot more. The style does go well with the fish though, I’d recommend a demi-sec Vouvray with fish or cheeses…but I’d prefer a different producer.

Baron D’auvergne Brut Privelege

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Last night we had our first Champagne of 2013 and it was the Baron. We were out celebrating Moby’s birthday (21 again of course) and we decided to get sushi. UncleGrape has been raving about the pairing of sushi and champagne so we gave it a try and it didn’t disappoint. You can even see some sushi Moby snuck into the photo. I think the reason the pairing works so well is the lightness of both foods….no overpowering flavors just refreshing and light.

My last order from Wine Library was all whites and this bottle was one of them. What’s different about this bottle is the blend is 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay whereas most champagnes are chardonnay or the ratio is reversed. I have another bottle of champagne in the cellar that’s 100% chardonnay so we’ll have an interesting comparison…as was the Nicholas Feuillate we had on New Years Eve.

colonelgrape: 87. I’m still struggling to find my champagne palate but it’s coming along. I could definitely distinguish the quality in this wine vs. the Nicholas Feuilatte we had a few weeks ago. The bubbles were just right and the wine was just tighter. I like to have Brut with food and usually by the time I get 1/2 way through I’m over it but I made it almost all the way through this bottle before that happened. I could really taste the difference the pinot noir makes because it allows you to taste red berries in the background like strawberry and raspberry while the focus is on more golden fruit like pear, apple, and melon. I really enjoyed it with the sushi as they were both light and refreshing at the same time. We tried sea urchin for the first time and that even worked with the wine. All in all the Baron is a delicious bottle of champagne and I’m looking forward to trying more to compare it with. Expect sushi/champagne nights to keep popping up in the future and hopefully I’ll have more of a grasp on champagne.

MobyGrape: 84. I’m finding myself very torn writing these champagne reviews. It’s like looking at a famous work of art that you can appreciate as an incredible artistic creation….but you don’t really like. You’ll never admit that you don’t like it, because you’d then be known as the uncultured idiot who doesn’t like fine art, but deep down, as hard as you may try, it just doesn’t do anything for you. That’s how I feel about some of the champagnes we’ve had. I can appreciate them, and they make me feel fancy, but I don’t always want to hang them on my living room wall. For whatever reason, I still like my sweet bubblies for all occasions. Yes, they may be the color-by-numbers of the art world, but there’s no accounting for taste, is there. If you like dry champagne/sparkling wines, by all means have at it, I admire your style! If you’re like me though, make sure to pair those with food, they complement each other better that way. Personal preferences aside, I consider it my solemn duty to keep on popping corks until I can appreciate the Brut equivalent of the Mona Lisa.