WHINE # 44

 

LESSER KNOWN REGIONS:    This time I thought I might briefly describe a couple of wine-growing areas that may be less well known to you.  Both of these areas; one New World, one Old World offer delightful wines that won’t break the bank.

 

Washington State:  After California the state producing the greatest number of wines in the United States is Washington.  Most of the wine is produced on the eastern slopes of the mountains where the air is very dry and sunshine abounds (two hours per day more sunshine in growing season than in Napa or Sonoma). 

As wines from Washington are not available to me in Nova Scotia I didn’t discover them until a recent cruise where several wines from Washington State were on the dinner wine list.  Because Oregon is famous for its Pinot Noirs and because Washington State is farther north I had assumed that long growing season wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon would not do well there.   Certainly I was dead wrong.  Washington State produces lots of good full-bodied wines.  In addition to Cabernets there are excellent Syrahs, and even some Malbecs.  The largest winery in Washington is Chateau Ste. Michelle, but there are scores of others that I would love to try if only they were available to me.

Aglianico del Vulture: Italy has a number of indigenous varietals that are rarely grown elsewhere.  Perhaps the best known are Sangiovese and Nebbiolo.  However, the Aglianico grape makes a wonderful wine that is not very well known outside of Italy.  The best comes from the slopes of Monte Vulture (Aglianico del Vulture) and I drank this wine for the very first time at St. Martha’s annual and wonderful wine show in April.

Basilicata is a mountainous region in the south of Italy that is west of Puglia, east of Campania and north of Calabria.  The area has very high unemployment and is rarely visited by any of the millions of tourists who flock to Tuscany or Sicily.  About the only visitors are Italians who go there just for the wine.

Aglianico del Vulture is a heavy, muscular, highly tannic wine that bursts with flavour.  Rough in its youth, once the tannins have softened it is a wine that will stand up to your best T-bone. 

Although produced in very limited quantities, this wine is not expensive and can be found in both LCBO and NSLC stores.  I strongly recommend you pick up a few bottles, and lay them down for a couple of years.  You will not be disappointed.

 

IN DEFENCE OF MERLOT:  Many of us enjoyed the 2004 Academy award winning comedy “Sideways”, in which two middle-aged men travelled through the Santa Ynez Valley of California in search of the perfect bottle of Pinot Noir.  The main character, played by Paul Giamatti, frequently denigrated Merlot.  After the movie was released sales of Merlot apparently dropped about 2% in the United States while sales of Pinot Noir increased by 16%.

One might even postulate that wine snobs think drinking Pinot is di riguer and that serving Merlot is pedestrian.

Recently Betty and I spent a week tending two of our grandsons while their parents took a short work/holiday trip to Madrid.  One night Betty asked me to raid my son’s wine cellar for a bottle of Merlot, which she needed as an ingredient for the sauce she was preparing.  In my surprise there was not a single bottle of Merlot on the otherwise reasonably well-stocked shelves.    Having known for a long time that it is unwise to argue with the Chef, I was forced to take a trip  through rush-hour traffic to the nearest LCBO.

 

Merlot, despite its bad rap, can be a wonderful wine for many occasions.  It is the most frequently planted grape in Bordeaux and it is grown in almost all of the world’s wine-producing regions. 

 

What separates Merlot from other common varietals such as Cabernet or Shiraz is its low levels of both acids and tannins, as well as it abundant fruit flavors.  The term that perhaps best describes Merlot is smooth.  For that reason Merlot is one of the first red wines that is found pleasing to those who are new to the wine world.  Merlot is the red wine that is much preferred by those who normally drink only whites.  For those of us who drink a lot of red wine Merlot is a great choice for sipping when the wine is not being accompanied by food.  While I would never choose a Merlot to match with a high protein meal (like steak) it is a very good match for fish and white meats.

Finally, because of its strong fruit flavors is a very good choice for cooking.  Conventional thinking suggests that one use the same wine in the sauce as one plans to drink with the meal.  Alternately, some cooks, my wife included, add Merlot whenever a red wine is called for in the recipe. 

 

CELLAR OFFERING # 219:   I must confess that I was slightly disappointed by this Offering as many of the California wines are quite pricey and the ones that are less expensive are not ones that I choose to recommend.  However, if price is not an object you might try any of the wines from Burgess Cellars (7200, 7201 or 7202). 

There is, however, one wine in this offering that I most strongly recommend.  Number 7249 Farina Gran Colegiata Crianza.   I am never disappointed in this Toro winery.