2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo Bianco

Gargawhatnow?

The whole concept of the Wine Century Club is one that fits right into my Type A personality. It’s a list to complete, a set of ever-increasingly difficult checkboxes to check off. It’s like Xbox360 Achievements for winos.

And certainly, you’re going to need help to do it. I’d wager that most people who drink wine and don’t think much of it have probably had wine from no more than 20-30 varieties of vitis vinifera. I know when I first discovered the Club, I started checking varieties I know I’d had off their application, I landed at 28. There is a long way to go from 28 to 100.

And since I’d already experienced numerous cabernet sauvignons, merlots, and chardonnays, something like (and this is just a guess) 50% of the wine sold in this country wasn’t going to be any help to me in this endeavor.

Entrare Italia.

This wine is a perfect example. I had never even heard of its primary grape variety before drinking the wine itself. The 2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo white wine is 80% garganega, 15% chardonnay, and 5% trebbiano.

Garganega?

I don’t know much about the grape. Couldn’t comment on its typicity here or any of that. All I can do is tell you what I found out. The wine is bright in the glass, like light golden straw. On the nose is a bouquet of aromas centered mostly around the tropical family: pineapple and mango and banana mingle with a light, bright, ripe strawberry note.

The wine is medium-bodied, and might be too sweet for some who are looking for a white table wine. Honeysuckle, banana, and pineapple dominate a slight minerality.

It’s almost like garganega is the Italian viognier, with even more tropicality (that really doesn’t sound like an actual word). I can check another grape off my Wine Century Club application (I’m up to 55 now), thanks to the garganega-based 2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo.

Verdict: B+

2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo

2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo

Sparkling Pink

NV Domaine Carneros Brut Rose

My wife and I are big fans of California sparkling wine. Not to say we don’t like Champagne, but I think that some of the Napa outposts of the big houses of Champagne make some really spectacular sparkling wine with California grapes.

We’re members at Domaine Chandon, the Napa camp of Moet & Chandon, famous for its Dom Perignon prestige cuvee, and this wine comes from nearby Domaine Carneros, outpost of Comtes de Champagne’s Tattinger.

First off, I tend to really like rose sparklings. Leaving just a little of the Pinot Noir skins in contact with the wine–just for a bit–adds a little kick that I find less common in regular brut or blanc de blancs sparkling.

The color on this brut rose is not a bright, or even a light pink, but something much more peach, with a hint of orange. It looks much more masculine than other brut roses I’ve seen, to be honest.

The wine smells kind of like it looks. Like peach, but also like a light floral bouquet, featuring rose petals. A bit of apricot in there too.

On the palate is more of the same, flowers and apricot, and a touch of peach, and orange peel. All very subtle, and the wine is very much a brut–very dry, not sweet in the least. A nice minerality helps keep the floral and fruit flavors in line.

A very pretty, very celebratory wine. If you haven’t tried brut rose before, if you’re afraid of (or look down your nose at) “pink” sparkling wine, this is one to try. It won’t disappoint.

Verdict: B+

Domaine Carneros Brut Rose

Domaine Carneros Brut Rose

Passover Wine You Actually Want To Drink

2007 Yarden Mount Hermon White

First up, full disclosure: I am a Gentile. Not having had the good fortune to be born Jewish, I have to live vicariously through my Hebrew friends. Quickly becoming a tradition for my wife and I is joining our friend’s family for Passover seder each year (this year’s the second time we’ve enjoyed the holiday with them).

Last year, during my first seder, I was introduced not only to traditions like the seder plate, the Four Questions, and leaving the door open (the cold be damned!) for Elijah, but also to Manischewitz wine, that kosher mainstay at Jewish holiday dinners (and, apparently, at just about every 13-year-old’s B’nai Mitzvah), made primarily from Concord grapes (which, as we know, aren’t even vitis vinifera!), and sickly sweet enough to give you a toothache and stomach rot… or tooth rot and a stomach ache, I’m not sure which is worse.

So, this year, leading up to Passover, I decided to track down an affordable bottle of kosher-for-Passover wine to bring to the seder that would be more drinkable (and, frankly, made from actual wine grapes). To add to the task, I decided I wanted a wine specifically from Israel, and my friend requested that it be a white, since her parents don’t drink red wine (apart, it seems, from the Manischewitz).

From the Golan Heights Winery in Israel, made from 50% Chardonnay and 50% Sauvignon Blanc grapes from vineyards in Galilee, comes the Yarden Mount Hermon White. Costing between $10-$15 and marked “kP” on the back of the bottle (kosher, and specifically kosher for Passover), it was something I was more than happy to bring along to seder this year. It was something of a hit, as well, as the host, who usually drinks no wine, had himself a second glass. Mazeltov!

The wine is almost clear in the glass, but what color is there is a pleasant golden glow. The nose is very clean, and the Sauv Blanc elements seems to stand out here more than the Chardonnay elements: the nose is rich with apple and floral notes, and even have a hint of honey (it seemed, actually, more Viognier-like than anything else).

On the palate the wine is crisp and light-bodied, and the predominant notes are the honey and floral notes from the nose. It’s a pleasant quaffing wine. Nothing to write home about, but certainly light years beyond Manischewitz, and a decent QPR to boot.

Verdict: B-

2007 Yarden Mount Hermon White

2007 Yarden Mount Hermon White