Frankly Go Bragh: ST.PATRICK'S DAY - BEYOND THE BEER #2

On St. Patrick's Day, we're all Irish. Unless we're Italian....

IRISH CREAM - ITALIAN-STYLE

Averna Cream Liqueur (Italy): St. Patrick was apparently a British citizen of the Roman Empire. So he was Italian. Which is all the excuse we need to suggest you drink this ridiculouly good Italian cream liquor on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s cream blended with Averna Amaro and my goodness, it is delicious: lush and silky, with a very subtle bitter note on the finish. You may think Bailey’s is tasty (and I won’t disagree) but once you’ve had Averna’s version, you’ll be looking for excuses to celebrate Italian-style St. Patrick’s Day everyday!

Price: $23.99  (Click to buy)

Frankly Go Bragh: ST.PATRICK'S DAY - BEYOND THE BEER #1

Yes, St. Patrick's Day is typically thought of as a beer-drinking sort of holiday. So we've thought of some beer-ish suggestions. Yes, theyre made from grapes and they don' really taste like beer. But they don't taste like your typical Chardonnay either. But like beer, they're foamy, refreshing, and fun.

And of course, you can buy there at Frankly Wines.

ALTERNA-BEER #1

Ca dei Zago Prosecco Fondo NV (Valdobbiadene, Italy): No we can’t sell beer. So this isn’t exactly beer. But it is our “sort of beer-like” substitute. It’s actually prosecco, but unlike your typical prosecco, it’s not made in a pressurized tank. Instead, it’s fermented in the bottle, ‘col fondo’ (with sediment), the old-school, pre-tank method.It’s bone dry, very refreshing, slightly cloudy, more foamy than full-blown bubbly and tastes a little like…. beer.

Price: $19.99



ALTERNA-BEER #2

Donati Camillo Malvasia Dolce Frissante 2010 (Emilia Romagna, Italy): This wine comes off like a crazy cross between cider, beer and cream soda. It’s considered a sparkling wine, but it’s more foamy than full on sparkling. And yes, we have to tell the truth and admit that it’s the tiniest bit sweet. But don’t be scared. Because pretty much everyone who tries this stuff likes it.  Not just likes it, but loves it. Even becomes ridiculously addicted to it.
Admit it – you’re curious.

Price: $19.99

Signs of Fall: Portfolio Tastings

‘Tis the season for distributor portfolio tastings.  These always seem very glamorous – I get to leave the confines of the store and head to a restaurant, a bar, or a cool event space and drink wine! During the day! While other people are toiling away in their offices!

Except it’s not so glamorous. I’m not drinking wine… I’m tasting it. Which means I’m constantly angling for a straight shot at the spit bucket. Which often involves bobbing and weaving and trying to time the spit stream so it doesn’t land on someone’s head as they go in for the bucket without noticing that I’m just about to do the same. And that assumes there’s a bucket in spitting distance. If there isn’t, the successful spit requires you to pick up the bucket, bring it near enough to spit, and then maneuver it back to its original spot. Which is especially fun when the bucket is dangerously full. And you’re trying to hold your tasting book, your glass, your pen, your tasting book… and maybe check your email messages. Definitely not glamorous.

Except sometimes, it is.

Like today, at the Wineberryr held at 5 Beekman. This is an old, fabulously decaying downtown building that was recently sold and will soon begin conversion into luxury hotel status. I could say more, but we’ll go straight to the pictures – because this was easily the most photographed portfolio tasting site in the history of all portfolio tastings.

Stepping off the elevator, this is the first thing you see:

 

Pretty much every person in attendance took a picture of this:

 

 Then we all looked up and took a picture of this:

 

 Five stories above:

 

And at the bottom, a piano.... 

A baby grand piano, to be specific.

The wines were arranged in the rooms that surrounded this courtyard. The piano below was being played, so music would waft up through the atrium. You just sort of wandered from room to room, tasting as you went. There was a separate room for sweet wines and spirits, a food room, a room with video playing of winemaker interviews. And there were plenty of spit buckets.

I arrived late, as the tasting was wrapping up. So while the oysters (yes, there were oysters) had just run out, there was still plenty of wine to try - and I had some of the back rooms pretty much to myself. Like the Champagne room...

.... I wandered into this set up at the very end: a table of half empty bottles of Champagne, sitting on ice, just begging to be tried. Who was I to resist? Chilled Champagne, a view of the city, music drifting in from the rooms beyond...

OK, ok...I will admit it. Sometimes, just once in a while, these tastings can be fairly glamorous.

The Civilian Series: Thursday

An afternoon bottle and an evening bottle.

The Sweet One: Mac Forbes Riesling RS37 2008 (Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria, Australia)

My Thoughts: Most of my experience with Australian Riesling has been with the dry variety. Achingly, almost bone-crunching dry. In Riesling tastings where I line them up from dry to sweet, it’s usually an Aussie various that leads off – and I get a kick out of the “all Rieslings are sweet” people puckering up when they take a sip. But the Mac Forbes is sweet, a very well-balanced sweet, but definitely, noticeable sweet. It’s got a great texture, the very beginnings of a petrol note, some exotic, melony, fruit notes and a really long finish. Maybe it was the combination of texture, sweetness, and that petrol note, but it somehow reminded me of the Cazin Cour-Cheverny. I was writing the note for that wine as I was drinking the Mac Forbets, and I had to keep reminding myself which I was drinking. Vacation brain, or something more?

Civilian Commentary:
Aunt J: I like this one. It’s sweeter than the rest

Kid #2: 80%, maybe 90% (He’s really into precision.)

Dad: It’s not my favorite. It’s reminds me of something my parents would like. I don’t not like it (because he doesn’t not like anything) but maybe it’s a little too sweet? (He’s my father, so I had to remind him that just because it’s sweeter than he likes it doesn’t make it “too sweet.”)

SIL: This is nice.

Mom: It’s sweet! (But do you like it?) Yes I do.

Husband: I like it. (He’s a Riesling man, and he likes well-balanced sweetness, so this was not a shock.)

The Consensus: This one had a bit more actual and perceptible sweetness than the Cazin we had on Tuesday. But not that much. And it’s very well-balanced. But it’s the sweetness is what everybody fixed their attention on. Whether they liked it or not.


Now…wine people often get all hung up on civilians and their seeming focus on sweetness (Is it too sweet? It’s too sweet. I want sweet. I don’t want sweet. I don’t want it too dry…but I don’t want it to be sweet.)… But as the next wine proves, they notice acidity as well. They may not call it by its “proper” name (although below they do, because I trained them!) but they certainly notice it. And it can be as polarizing as sweetness.

The Dry One: JC Garnier Chenin Blanc Generik 2010 (Loire Valley, France)

My Thoughts: When people ask for “the driest white wine you have,” I’m always tempted to give them something like this. This is dry, dry, dry – super racy acidity tempered by a hint of spiced apple. This is the first time I tried it – it was one of Nick’s suggestions. And as he said it would, it reminded me of the wines of Jo Pithon and Rene Mosse. Which is not surprising given they all have vines near the little village of Saint Lambert and are all working quite naturally. So… surprise…I love this wine! But I wasn’t expecting anyone else to.

Civilian Commentary:
Mom: (Making a face) Too much acidity. Not for me.

Aunt: (Making a face.) Nope. Not this one.

SIL: (Making a face.) I liked the Riesling more than this one.

E: I like this one. (Major surprise!!! Someone likes it!)

Husband: That’s a lot of acid. Not my favorite.

The Consensus: Not that I was surprised, but this was not much of hit among the civilians. They did like it a little more as it opened up, but not much. Honestly, I was surprised and happy that E liked it – an acidhead in our midst!

The Civilian Series: Wednesday

Another beer night.

We went to a Japanese grill place with lots of flaming shrimp, which the kids love. But the wine list was one of those that only lists the grape variety, and nothing more. No worries, they had Sapporo. I really don’t know if this is considered “good” beer or not, but I’m a sucker for the silver can. I reminds me of my year living in London when the first Wagamama’s noodle bar had just opened (google it yourself, I’m not going to willingly give away my age!) and the lines were long and you could drink big cans of Sapporo in the queue (remember, this was in London, so it was a queue, not a line.) 

So beer it was – exactly the thing to drink when shrimps are flying and you’re trying to keep your kids’ hair from catching fire.

The Civilian Series: Tuesday

Tonight was a two wine night. A pre-game white and a red to go with tomato sauce and turkey meat balls.


The White Wine: Cazin Cour-Cheverny "Cuvée Renaissance" 2008

My Thoughts: Love this wine. I love it at its new price of $29.99, but I really really really loved it when it was $24 - $25. At that price, it was always one of those wines where I was double checking the price, because I just couldn’t believe a wine that was so lovely, so relatively rare, didn’t cost more. Not to be confused with Cheverny, Cour-Cheverny is a wee AOC in the Loire Valley and is always made from the Romorantin grape. I could never remember how to pronounce this until New Nick pointed out it’s the same as Morantin, as in Noella Morantin, which doesn’t help you unless you’re familiar with her wines.

I always find this wine difficult to describe. It’s got some sweetness to it, which I never like to mention, because it’s so subtle and so balanced by the acidity. There’s a sort of pineapple note, but mention it, and it sounds all tropical and fruity, which it isn’t. There’s a hint of petrol, or something oily, but that usually doesn’t turn people on when you say it out loud. And it’s very much about texture, which doesn’t mean much to most people until they try it.

Civilian Commentary:  If I had taken a video, it would be more useful than writing down what everyone said. The general reaction was a sniff of the glass, followed by a pleasantly surprised, sort of confused look. Then a sip and some sort of comment like, “Wow.” Or “That’s really cool.” Or “I’ve never had anything like that.”

The Consensus: Very much enjoyed, but as always, hard to describe… by civilians and the professional alike. Maybe it’s just me, but if anyone who knows this wine has a good way to describe how it actually tastes to unsuspecting civilians, let me know!

The Red Wine: Peterna Il Rosso Tuscan Red 2010

My Thoughts: Clearly I stacked the deck with the wines I’m drinking this week, because guess what… I love this one too! This is a classic, old-style Tuscan red – mainly Sangiovese with a few white grapes in the blend. It’s not supposed to age forever, it’s not supposed to rock your world, it’s just supposed to be a tasty, delicious, keep-you-company wine and that’s exactly what it is.

We initially tried this one at kitchen temperature, meaning a little warmer than it should be served. So I…gasp!....put an ice cube in each glass. Is the proper way to chill a wine? Not really. But sometimes you just want a drink, at the proper temperature, and quickly! So I did what had to be done and I’m fine with that.

Civilian Commentary:
Cousin #1 to GFJ: You’ll like this one. I know you’ll like this one.

GFJ: I do! You definitely know what I like. (Yay!)
Mom: I don’t like this one so much… it’s a little sour. (That’s the acidity talking.)
Mom after it had chilled a bit: I like it better now that it’s colder… but I still like that one we had the other night more. (The one we had the other night was a big, fruity, velvety wine. Let’s just say she’s had more “training” in white wines than red wines.)

Dad: I like it, but I think I like white wine more.

Kid #2: 20% (His rating scale apparently involves %’s. But remember, he’s not yet 6, so he doesn’t really know what a % is.)

The Consensus: I was pretty certain this wouldn’t be a universal hit. I find that lighter, higher acid wines that are fruity, but more tart-fruity than super-ripe-fruity aren’t always big winners among the civilian set. I tread lightly at the store, using words like zesty/zippy vs. velvety to get a reaction and try to figure out how far I can push people in the direction of a wine like this.

The Civilian Series: Monday

Monday we went out to Captain George's Seafood Restaurant. An all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, with the focus on crab legs. The wine list was not so good - a few steps below "meh" with not a single bottle I wanted to test out on the table. There was one bottle of higher end Cali Cab with a bit of age and a reasonable mark-up, but it wouldn't have gone too well with the crab legs. 

So I did what any wine lover does in such a situation....

I ordered a beer.

The Civilian Series: Sunday

My continued adventures in drinking semi-geeky wine with non-wine geeks. This is Day #2. 

The Wine: Leonard Oakes Estate Winery SteamPunk Crackling Cider NV (Niagara, New York)

My Thoughts: I’ve been craving more of this stuff ever since we opened a bottle at the shop a couple weeks ago. It’s made by the Leonard Oakes guys in upstate New York and they deliver it themselves in their truck. We’ve been seeing a lot of them and their truck this summer, because this wine has been doing very well. They call it “crackling” but that’s just a clever word for “sparkling” – and it’s a great idea because sometimes civilians read “sparkling” and think “only for special occasions.” And this is not just for special occasions. I could drink this everyday. I could even drink it for breakfast, if the occasion for a breakfast wine presented itself (which is hasn’t since my senior year at Cornell.) The label is a little love-it-or-hate-it, but the wine (I mean cider) is always a hit so I was pretty certain my own civilians would love it.

Civilian Commentary:
Mom: I like it.

Aunt J: I like this one. It’s a little sweeter than last night.

SIL: I like it. Apples again… but not as crunch. Like Gala apples. (To get all technical, there are about 13 different kinds of apples in this cider, and none of them Gala. But Gala apples have a juicy-crisp, sweet-tart quality that’s very similar to the SteamPunk taste.)

Cousin #1: Can you sell this at the store? Is this covered by your wine license? (Full disclosure: Cousin #1 is in the wine business… he’s not really a full civilian. So while he liked the cider, he was especially interested in how/why some ciders fall under beer licenses and some under wine licenses. The verdict on that one: I have no idea.)
 
Kid #2: It hurts my tongue  (He’s referring to the sparkle, which is actually quite gentle. But then Kid#2 has a small, kid-sized tongue. And he’s partial to the very fine, gentle bubbles in Champagne. What can I say… the kid has highly sensitive taste.)

Dad: I like it. It goes down easy. I could drink a lot of this. (This last comment kicked off a conversation about alcohol levels (7% for the SteamPunk) and how much alcohol is in a glass of wine versus a can of beer. There was a lot of confusion over typical pour sizes and average abv’s for beer vs. wine. We stopped just short of pulling out calculators.)

The Consensus: Universally liked. I would have been shocked if it wasn’t.vvv

Price: $10.99

The Civilian Series: Saturday

Ah, August. This is when summer really starts to set in and half the neighborhood seems to head off to the beach. Which means business slows down a bit and I can also head off to the beach. Which is where I am now, down in Virginia, at the beach, trying to convince a roomful of kids and cousins that going to sleep would be an excellent way to end the day. 

Along with a minivan full of stuff, I managed to bring along a case of wine. Lots of bubbles, some cider, a couple end-of-stock snags, a coveted bottle of Ledru Coteaux Champenois…nothing too too geeky (except maybe for the bottle of Montbourgeau l’Etoile.) At least I don’t consider most of my selections too geeky… but then most of my wine drinking tends to happen in the company of wine geeks. So this vacation, I thought it would be fun to have my non-wine geek family give their thoughts on my selections.  I'll let the civilians do the talking - at least most of it.

So here we go:

The Wine: Domnaine La Grange Tiphaine Rosa, Rose, Rosam 2011

My Thoughts: I love this wine. It reminds me of a juicy bite of watermelon with a bit of the rind included, giving it a refreshing tanginess. Sort of like a watermelon-lime rickey, if such a thing exists. It’s made from grolleau, a very old grape variety still kicking around the Loire Valley. You don’t see much of it – unless you frequent certain NYC wine stores where it’s usually in good supply. This one is a sparkling grolleau – a petnat, which you’ll just need to google if you want more info… because like I said above… I’m on vacation!

Civilian Commentary:  

Mom: Fruit, cherries or something, it’s good for a nice summer evening at the beach watching the sun set. (Or in this case, a nice summer evening at the beach spent pacing around looking for a sheet of paper to put up over the bedroom windows so the sun won’t come in and wake up five kids before 6AM, which is really not what you want on your vacation.)

Cousin #3: I’m trying to figure it out but just can’t get it. There’s a funky finish.

C3F: Flowers

SIL: Apples. (Which kind?) Green ones. Granny Smith, my favorite.

Kid #2: Too sour (Don’t worry, he only got a drop. But this commentary is surprising given that this is the kid that likes to suck on lemons.)

Dad: I like it. (But he likes everything.)

The Consensus: Roughly a 50/50 split. Some really liked it, some not so much. I tend to notice the juicy-watermelon quality of the wine, and the foamy sparkle, so I was surprised that it was the tangy, zippy, green-appley acidity that stood out for most everyone else. When I sell this wine at the store, I’m usually worried that customers are going to think it's “too sweet” even though there’s only the tiniest bit of sweetness to it. Clearly that’s not the case. It's the green apple acid bits, that refreshing tang, that I should be highlighting as a make-or-break feature of the wine.

Price: $21.99