Albarino | Notes From The Cellar

August 23rd, 2010

Hot Summer, Cool Wine, Vivo Portugal!

2008 JM Fonseca Twin Vines Vinho Verde

They say the summer’s been hot. Has the summer been hot for you?

Here in the Bay Area, the summer of 2010 will end up going down as maybe the coldest in a half-century. No 100+ degree days, only a handful of days over 90, even in the East Bay valleys, notorious for their triple-digit July and August heat waves.

But still, you don’t all live here. More likely than not, you, the person reading this, does not live in the greater Bay Area, and perhaps your summer has been really freakin’ hot. If that’s the case, read on. If it isn’t, read on as well.

What? I’m not about to suggest you go read someone else’s wine blog.

2008 JM Fonseca Twin Vines Vinho Verde

That’s the bottle. Pretty, yes?

So’s the wine. If you haven’t had a Vinho Verde before, you probably should. From Portugal’s Minho region, in the northern part of the country, these light white wines are blends of alvarinho, treixadura, loureiro, and other local white grape varieties. They’re crisp and refreshing, generally. And for the people tired of reading my reviews of wine that costs over a hundred dollars a bottle, Vinho Verde tends to be rather cheap.

So what’s the deal with JM Fonseca’s Twin Vines? It’s a very light yellow in the glass, pretty and almost clear. On the nose, pear and a pleasant grassiness match up with a light nuttiness, perhaps almond? It’s nice, and subtle, whatever it is.

The wine is light-bodied and crisp, and features a touch of frizzante. What is frizzante, you ask? It’s a light bubbliness. This isn’t sparkling wine, of course, but there is a touch of sparkle on your tongue when you drink it. The finish is short, and the pear and nuttiness from the nose round out the palate.

This isn’t mind-blowing wine. Nor is it meant to be. On a hot day, this kind of bright, crisp, flavorful white wine is just what the meteorologist ordered.

Oh, and the cost? Not bad at $5-$10 per bottle. Not bad at all.

Verdict: B

Tags: 2008, albarino, B, JM Fonseca, loureiro, treixadura, Vinho Verde

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July 22nd, 2010

Growing Portuguese Grapes in Monterey County

2009 Bonny Doon Vinho Grinho

I like Portuguese wine.

I like Randall Grahm.

So it’s no surprise that I like this wine. I don’t love it, not yet, but there’s so much to like about it, I’m still pretty excited.

By now, chances are you know the tale. Maybe you’ve even heard me tell it. The tale of the Rhône Ranger, Randall Grahm, who twenty-some odd years ago starting really going to town growing Rhône varieties in California, which had been dominated by the noble species of Bordeaux and Burgundy to that point.

But now, everybody’s growing grenache and syrah. OK, maybe not everybody, but still, the two grapes—especially syrah—are incredibly easy to find in California wine now. Randall doesn’t seem the type to do much laurels-resting, so where’s he headed next?

Portugal.

I don’t know of anyone in California—and please, please correct me if I’m wrong—making wine that is over 50% loureiro. Besides Bonny Doon, that is.

At 56% loureiro and 44% alvarinho (I use albariño’s Portuguese spelling here for obvious reasons), Bonny Doon’s Vinho Grinho (VEEN-yo GREEN-yo) is California’s first attempt¹ at Portugal’s venerable Vinho Verde white wine. The grapes hail from BD’s Ca’ del Solo estate vineyards in Monterey County.

And it’s pretty damn good. It will kind of depend on what you’re looking for in a white, of course, but this was something I enjoyed, and my wife actually kind of raved about.

The wine is almost clear, light yellow in the glass. Kind of sauv blancish if you’ve never seen a Vinho Verde before, and kind of Vinho Verdesque if you have. The nose features pine and green herbs, but not heavy, very light in the air.

The wine is actually a bit fuller-bodied than I expected, but I would still characterize it as “light-to-medium” bodied. Minty herbs that reflect the aromas on the nose are greeted by a pleasant green apple note on the palate. The wine is not particularly acidic, and finishes pretty short, but it’s not meant to be big or bombastic.

I hope this is an example of things to come for California winemaking, just as Randall’s adoption of the south of France was in the 1980s. The world could use more wine from Portuguese grapes.

Verdict: B

2009 Bonny Doon Vinho Grinho

Footnotes

again, that I know of ↩

Tags: 2009, albarino, B, Bonny Doon Vineyard, loureiro, Monterey County

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May 7th, 2010

Spain Keeps Surprising Me

2008 Bodegas Vina Mein Ribeiro Blanco

I’m still working my way around the world.

I think when you start drinking wine, if you’re like me, you start with the domestic stuff. It’s simply always been easier for me to get ahold of Californian wine here in California than anything else.

Easy first stop is, of course, France. They’re just known for wine, the French (oh, you knew that already? sorry). I found my way next, to Italy. Then Portugal. Then Spain. Spanish wine is still something I’m wrapping my head (palate, actually) around.

For instance, I really don’t like Priorat. At all. But whenever I try it, I keep feeling like, somewhere out in my future is the Priorat that will turn me on to Priorat. Aren’t I supposed to like high-alcohol powerbombs? I am American, after all.

This Vina Mein from D.O. Ribeiro is a good example of something I don’t fully understand. It’s a blend of a half dozen grapes that, until trying this, I had never had before, plus azal tinto. I feel like that’s almost criminal. The wine is 80% treixadura, 10% godello, 5% loureiro, and “1% to 2% each” of albarino, torrontes, albillo, and caino (aka azal tinto).

The wine is almost clear in the glass, but there is a bit of yellow, and the lightest hint of green. Yeah, green. The nose of the wine is outdoors… it smells like flowers after a spring rain, like wet stone and like linens drying on a line. The palate doesn’t offer up a lot that stands out immediately. There’s a bit of fresh mint and other herbs in here… all bright and clean. The wine is light-bodied and smooth, but not particularly crisp.

Mostly mineral and herb, the wine is something I hope to like better in the future. It’s hard to tell in situations like this whether the wine is good or bad, or if it’s just something too new to me.

To be fair, how many people have had wines made predominantly of treixadura (aka trajadura)?

Verdict: B