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POSTED: May 6th, 2009 |
CATEGORIES: Wine Reviews
We were recently given a bottle of Root: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon (the original ungrafted) and are excited to review it. Root is a Cabernet from the Colchagua Valley in Chile. While I do not know much about wines from Chile and don’t experiment outside of the U.S. much, I found this to be a very nice reasonably priced Cabernet. We were given the bottle with the instructions to decant the wine as it is still very young being a 2007 vintage. In our haste to try it one evening, we each poured a glass of this deep purple majestic looking wine with a fruit nose that could knock you over, thus the reason for decanting. We enjoyed the wine very much that evening, and much to our surprise enjoyed it even more the next evening when we finished the bottle. Yes, if we followed instruction and decanted it, we would have achieved the same all in one evening, but who does what they are told anyway. In doing some research about Root 1, I have discovered that Chile is one of the few places where original European rootstock is used, having survived Phylloxera (the disease that caused grape growers worldwide to graft vines on generic rootstock). This provides the intense flavors and character seen in this wine. In addition to the Cabernet, Root 1 also offers a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay and a less known wine Carmenere. Carmenere is sometimes used for blending, and is called the lost grape of Bordeaux.
POSTED: May 3rd, 2009 |
CATEGORIES: Napa Times
You already know if you follow our Napa times page that we always plan a day trip outside of Napa. Last year we traveled out to the pacific coast to complete a long term goal of mine which was to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean. Well, that trip quickly turned into a disaster as the visiting tourists never checked the weather and therefore failed to realize there was a high wind warning in effect that day. Needless to say that wrecked our plans for a fire and picnic lunch on the beach. Our choice of clothing for that day attracted attention to the fact that we were indeed tourists, as we wore shorts and light shirts with temperatures having dropped from the 70’s when we left Napa to the low 50’s when we arrived on the coast. Regardless of all the mishaps I did still get my toe into the Pacific Ocean which was pretty darn cold. Anyway enough of the memories, fast forward to our 2009 trip planning and this year we will stick to a wine related only day trip suggested by our brother-in-law aka wine travel partner. Our tentative plan is to travel to Lake County and visit some wineries there. The little research I have completed so far shows me there are over 25 wineries in Lake County, with vineyard acreage in the 8,800 range that is expected to double in the next few years. I am already in love with this plan as my wine education will continue to improve! The wineries in Lake County include small family operations and medium size facilities. Those are just the kind of wineries we look for when trying out new areas in wine country. The county boasts Clear Lake which is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in California. With rugged mountains including Cobb Mountain measuring 4,722 feet at the southern end of the county within the Mayacamas range, and Snow Mountain at 7,056 feet in the Mendocino National Forest at the northern end of the county there is a very broad range of elevation. Warm days that average in the mid 90’s with low humidity, cool nights, rich soils in the Clear Lake basin, along with the rugged mountain terrain and you have some great grape growing potential. This is shaping up to be a great wine tasting adventure, so stop back for some more Lake County day trip wine information.
POSTED: May 3rd, 2009 |
CATEGORIES: Wine Education
Both the seeds and grapes contain tannins, a bitter tasting substance that causes astringency or more accurately described as the dry puckering mouth feel associated with red wine. Both red and white wine contain tannins, though they tend to be more noticeable in red. Skins and seeds of red grapes are left in contact with the juice longer, during the maceration and subsequent fermentation process. Alcohol then acts as a solvent extracting color, aroma and tannin giving the wine its deep red color, body and that dry feeling in the mouth. As tannins decompose the wine will mellow and improve with age helping the wine survive longer. Wine makers may blend tannic Cabernet Sauvignon with lower tannin grapes such as Merlot or Cabernet Franc diluting the tannins so the wine may be drunk younger. Tannins are also found in the stems of the grape bunches though the practice of de-stemming is widely followed
POSTED: May 2nd, 2009 |
CATEGORIES: Wine Babble
Ah, spring is finally arriving in the Northeastern part of the country, New Jersey to be exact. Actually, not only has spring arrived but we had a taste of summer already as well. We had some extreme heat a week or so ago that prompted us to take a look at our white collection in our cellar. Being the huge red wine fans we are, we really don’t touch our white wines until the weather heats up. Since white wines do not typically store as long as red wines, I was careful in selecting which whites we took out as the first bottles of the 2009 white wine season. I knew we had a lot of whites, but to my surprise we had some Napa Valley treasures from our trip two years ago in July. It is always exciting to me to try wines I have not sampled in a while and there is something so outstanding about the crisp cool flavors of white wine on hot day that makes me wonder sometimes why I am not more of white drinker. Then when the temp drops at night and I crack a bottle of red following the crisp white, it all comes back to me. Not to take anything away from the whites, trust me they are wonderful, but for me it is all about the temperature. It must be hot for me to drink cool wines. As they say to each his own. Anyway, back to the Napa Valley treasures…I pulled out a few bottles of Saddleback Cellars. I had forgotten just how brilliant these wines were, however, I should know as we visited Venge Vineyards last year and loved all of their wines and Saddleback is in the family. Nils Venge produces Saddleback wines, while his son Kirk Venge produces the Venge Vineyards wines. I guess in my mind I knew the connection, but I really had forgotten how good the Saddleback wines were as we had devoured the reds almost immediately upon returning that summer, but luckily for us, we still had some whites hidden down there. As I tasted the Viognier that hot afternoon, it all came rushing back. We happened upon Saddleback Cellars by accident on a hot July afternoon while riding around in our rental car. As is our typical MO we looked for winery names we did not know so we could discover new wines. We sat at a picnic table at the edge of the vineyard with our host and one after another enjoyed each wine we were poured. We enjoyed each one to the point that we had a difficult time deciding what to order to be shipped home. Yes, I remember it well as while there are so many good wines out there, a trip to both Saddleback and Venge will definitely be on our list for this year’s trip.
