October

Last month we talked about minerality in wines for our eighth Wine Workshop and while reading about that I found myself drawn into some articles about volcanic soils and the unique qualities the wines from these regions develop. So this month I’ve pulled three volcanic soil wines to dive into this topic with a glass in hand.  

Aside from those I’ve got a couple other cool things to share this month.

I can’t help my geekiness sometimes.  All times.

Anyway I am also excited to announce not one but two upcoming events in this newsletter!  First, on October 25th we’ll have our ninth Wine Workshop.  We’re finally into the red wines!  I know many of you have been waiting for this, and I strongly recommend getting your tickets as early as possible as the past few nights have sold out.  We’ll examine the fruit spectrum for red wine, ranging from strawberry to blueberry and everything in between.

Our second event happens the following week, on November 8th, which will be a Whisky Workshop!  This event will be hosted in partner with Wild Life Distillery, they’ll lead us through a number of their whisky’s, showcasing the different styles they’ve produced, what makes them different, and how that shows in the glass.  Speaking of, you’ll take home a nosing glass to enjoy future drams in.  This event is very much geared to shake the off-season doldrums out of your spirits, and I personally can’t wait to sit in on it myself!

Tenuta di Castellaro

Ypsilon Rosso

We’ll begin our volcanic journey in one of the top volcanic regions of the world, Sicily.

Now this wine is not from Sicily directly, but the island of Lipari just to the north.  It is the largest island in the volcanic archipelago created by Etna and Vesuvius.

As a generalization of wines from volcanic regions, they are characterized by sharp acidity, gritty tannins, and a saline like minerality.  Soft and fruity they are not.  

This wine is a complete embodiment of this generalization.  A blend of three grapes, Corinto, Nero d'Avola and Alicante; it does have a light fruit profile of black cherry and plum but it is not the focus.  Instead this wine grabs your attention with clean dryness, zingy acidity, and dusty tannins that you feel from your gums to your tonsils.  In spite of all that it’s quite pleasant and interesting to drink.  I tasted this on it’s own and I do think giving it a little chill and having it with some fatty cured meats, hard cheeses, and other charcuterie accoutrements would go a long way in both taking any edge off, and finding out what else it’s got going on.

$34

Clos des Fous

Cauquenina

So we’ve talked about the what, now lets explain the why.  Volcanoes are areas of shifting geological activity, allowing for ever changing soil composition.  When volcanoes erupt they introduce large quantities of nutrient minerals, things like potassium, calcium, and magnesium, into the soils.  This enrichment provides plenty of nutrition for vines, a factor for development of saline like minerality.

So with this wine, four friends did the crazy thing and sought to plant vines in Chile’s most extreme terroir.  This vineyard is located at the coastal end of the Itata Valley, comprised of granite and basalt soils.  Granite is an example of the shifting of soils, where very slowly cooling magma is brought up to the surface, while basalt is formed from rapidly cooled lava, which washed down rivers from the Andes to the coastal region.  Wines from this region are concentrated and comparable in style to the other volcanic regions of Etna and Canarias.  This wine in particular is a blend of 40% Carignan, 30% Pais, 20% Cinsault, and 10% Carmenere.  This complex blend results in a wine rich in character; red fruit shifting towards black fruit, smoky spiciness, floral black tea, and that volcanic minerality and those dusty tannins show up again.

$34

Vinatigo

Listan Blanco de Canarias

Speaking of Canarias! Located off the coast of Morocco, the Canary Islands are a paradisaical grouping of volcanic islands in the subtropical zone.  We’ll wrap up our volcanic soil examination here as the Listan Blanco grape takes on such a unique identity in these conditions.  In Spain this grape goes by the name Palomino, where it is used for sherry production because of its low acidity and susceptibility to oxidation.

This wine is not that.

Phylloxera devastated many vineyards in the late 1800s, but the pest never made it to these islands, allowing for vineyards with un-grafted, unbroken growth going back to the 15th century!  This allows for excellent expression of the unique terroir here.

Growing at 500m elevation on north facing slopes keeps temperatures manageable in this hot climate, as do cooling breezes from the ocean.  These grapes develop power and expressiveness, while remaining fresh and clean.  The wine opens on the nose with bold herbal aromas common from the palomino grape.  On the palate it’s refreshing with juicy lime and green apple, which then shifts into crunchy white peach. The finish is crisp with you guessed it, volcanic minerality.

$32

Ellena Giuseppe

Langhe Nascetta

Last month we introduced a Langhe Nebbiolo as a great budget friendly alternative to Barolo, but that is not the only trick Langhe has up it’s sleeve.  This area of Piedmont is also home to a forgotten white grape known as Nascetta.  This grape nearly went extinct due to a few factors.  First, this grape is delicate and low producing, second, the wine produced requires age to come into it’s own.  By 1950 the world had been swept by that Phylloxera pest I mentioned above, and two world wars.

Those factors disincentivized desperate growers from planting it.

Thankfully the University of Torino had a few surviving specimens which were rediscovered and cloned in the 2000s.  Now Nascetta is back and ready to impress.  Dry, with a complex floral/mineral aroma, and full body.  Regarding the requiring of age to develop, this Ellena Giuseppe spends 12 months on lees, followed by 6 months in bottle before release.  We’ve got ourselves the 2020 which will be drinking beautifully now.

$16

Clos de Luz

Massal 1945 Carmenere

Massal refers to a style of propagating in vineyards in which cuttings from successful vines are planted in the vineyard and allowed to develop into their own vines over time, with their own unique differences.  This method allows for greater diversity in the vineyard.  It’s a pretty old school, laborious practise, but the results are there that when handled with the correct care and attention the resultant crop can be more interesting and a truer expression of terroir.  This is certainly the case for this Carmenere from Clos de Luz.  We’ve been long time fans of their entry level Carmenere blend, so it was a no brainer to go after this.  Juicy black fruit shines alongside the signature note of herbaceous green bell pepper, which has an earthy quality to it.  Finishing up with firm oak presence and spice notes of licorice, cloves, and pepper makes for an impressive wine that’s BBQ ready.

$28

Time Waits For No One

Monastrell

Okay, you’ve all put up with my geeking out for far too long so will wrap up this newsletter with a straightforward and delicious Spanish Monastrell.   This wine is bold with heavy oak spice and a rich baked plum.  This 2017 was rated 95 points by Decanter, landing it in the “outstanding” category.  I rarely mention scores, but Decanter actually tastes blind with a panel of judges so there is far greater impartiality to their scores.  The elevated acidity and tannins have mellowed out and integrated really well since it’s debut, making this an ideal couch sipper.  

Let it wait no longer.

$21