An Argentina Sauvignon Blanc

Hello Wine Lovers!
I thought today's entry would not only be a very nice Sauvignon Blanc but I would also recommend a few books to read on wine. Not just technical blah blah blah, but fun reads, books that you actually enjoy reading. So here are my picks worth reading:
Judgement of Paris (This was made into a movie "Bottle Shock") and a certain friend of mine and restaurant owner in the NW Suburbs was actually at this tasting and is mentioned in the book. Now, do I have cool friends or what?
Merlot Murders
House of Mondavi
Wine and War (My favorite)
Billionaire's Vinegar
This should keep you busy for a while...have fun!
Now for the wine! Today's pick is a Sauvignon Blanc from Argentina from Dona Paula, at $7.99 a bottle at your neighborhood Binny's is a steal. Fill up your trunk with as much as it will hold and head on home! This fresh, attractive and vigorous Sauvignon Blanc shows intense aromas of grapefruit, lime and passion fruit, that are well integrated with soft herbal notes. On the palate is a wine of great freshness and and an intense, long finish. Now for a little history.
Doña Paula was founded in 1997 by the respected South American entrepreneur, Ricardo Claro. The backing of this important enterprise allows Donã Paula to establish itself as a well financed, innovative winery seeking to produce world class wines. Most of the vineyards that were purchased by Mr. Claro are planted with 30 year old, low yielding, top quality vines. The style, quality and value are directly focused on export markets. Great quality is offered at very reasonable prices.
Winemaking is handled by the experienced Stefano Gandolini and Matias Michelini.
Doña Paula enjoys new, state-of-the-art technology, with over 1 million liters of capacity in 100% stainless steel tanks, and French and American oak barrels.
Doña Paula owns 1878 acres of vineyards in the Lujan de Cuyo and Tupungato regions of Mendoza. The Lujan de Cuyo vineyards are adjacent to the Andes Mountains and are thought by some to be among the most beautiful in the world. Tupungato is among the highest altitude terroirs of the most renowned of all wine growing regions of Argentina. These districts of Mendoza are producing intense yet elegant aromas and flavors. Vineyard management at Doña Paula emphasizes maximizing the best varietal characteristics, with extensive care taken to achieve perfect ripeness while maintaining balance and freshness. Grapes are all hand picked and are farmed using sustainable practices.
The bottom line is this, you will not be disappointed in this wine or any wine they produce!
Cheers!
J

A Pinot Saved is a Pinot Earned

Hello Wine Lovers!
Today's entry is a beautiful little Pinot Noir from the lovely state of California from a producer that knows his way around a vineyard and a movie set... Francis Coppola and his "Sante" Pinot Noir. This wine is available for $7.99 (with the Binny's card) at, you guessed it... Binny's. I know some of you are thinking that a Pinot is just too light and boring for your liking... well get over it! Pinot Noir is what you drink when you grow up! Cabernet drinkers are all alike, big bold, high tannic and high alcohol wines that dry your mouth and permanently stain your teeth dark purple. Pinot Noir on the other hand is soft, elegant (not that Cabernet can't be elegant) and full of finesse. Pinot Noir is also an extremely difficult grape to deal with from the vineyard to the bottle. It is thin skinned and very temperamental. (Like some woman I know) Whoaa... where did that come from, I was thinking that and I wrote it! Anyway... back to me.
Behind every Coppola wine there is a very personal story. Our Votre Santé wines pay tribute to Francis Coppola’s grandmother, Maria Zasa, who would toast with the traditional French phrase, ‘à votre santé,’ each time she raised her glass. So, it seemed only fitting to craft our new wines in the classic French manner. A nod to the great wines of Burgundy, Votre Santé presents delicate expressions of two classic varietals. Grown along the cool Sonoma Coast, Votre Santé Pinot Noir crafted in a refined, graceful style, light in body and very food-friendly.
Profusely aromatic and elegantly textured, our 2008 Votre Santé Pinot Noir offers a nose of cherries and spice with vibrant flavors of raspberries, cloves and cranberries in the mouth.
Over the years, California winemakers began using Dijon clones to produce wines in the classic Burgundian style. We use a mix of Dijon and California clones, along with similar wine making techniques and barrels from classic Burgundian coopers. Fermentation begins with cold-soaking the grapes, followed by gentle crushing and punch downs to minimize phenolic extraction and preserve the grapes’ fresh fruit character. A portion of the blend is oak-aged, to impart subtle nuances without overwhelming the purity of the fruit.

We truly aspire to the highest quality in all we do, and nothing is more important to these goals than what we do in the wine industry" - Francis Ford Coppola
At the end of the day, you will find this wine very pleasing and you can;t beat the price!
Cheers!
J

Unknown Italian

Hello Wine Lovers!
After the week of spring we have had here in Chicago what better wine to talk about than a lesser know grape from Italy, (At least here in America) Aglianico[ah-LYAH-nee-koh]. The wine is Aglianico del Vulture 2007 from the Bisceglia Region in Southern Italy. This baby is full and luscious with nuances of plums and dates with a long smooth finish with a touch of chocolate flavor. For $9.99 at the Wine Discount Center or at Binny's this wine will make you write a bad check! It is made up of 100% Aglianico grapes and fermented in stainless steel vats and subsequently bottled and the aged for four months. Mount Vulture is a volcano in the district of Lavello, known as "Wine Town", in the farming community of Bisceglia. The picture posted in this blog is of the volcano, the grape picture is that of Aglianico.
One of the higher-quality red-wine grapes found in southern Italy, primarily in CAMPANIA and BASILICATA. Aglianico is thought to have been planted in this region as early as the seventh century B.C. The wines from this area are notably rough when young due to high tannins noticeable acidity and a dense concentration of flavors; they're definitely built for aging. As these wines mature, they can exhibit great balance with subtle fruit flavors and earthy characteristics. Unfortunately, much of the wine produced from Aglianico grapes is low-quality and unexciting.
Most of the vineyards are located on higher altitudes in the region, typically between 450 to 600 meters. The Aglianico grape ripens late and is often one of the last, non-dessert wine, grapes to be harvested in Italy being picked from late October to early November. When yields are kept low, the grape will produce intensely flavored wines.In recent years there has been movement towards the use of new French oak barrels for aging the wine instead of large chestnut casks.(Although this wine was aged in stainless) If the wine is labeled vecchio (meaning "old") it will have been aged for least three years with wines labeled riserva being aged for at least five years-two of which must be in wood.

Ok Ok... I rambled on a bit! Have Fun with this wine, it is a winner!

Cheers!
J

Impress Your Friends!

Hello Wine Lovers!
I know I just posted an entry yesterday but I could not help myself. My lovely Bride brought home a bottle of Sparkling wine for Valentine's Day for us to share Saturday afternoon. She went grocery shopping at Fresh Market and decided to surprise me with a bottle to drink. Now, my lovely certainly knows her way around a wine shop, but due to the fact she is a designer, she typically will buy a bottle of wine based on the appearance of the label and the cost. So she comes home with a bottle of Sparkling from France with a bright egg yolk yellow (see what I mean) label called Saint-Hilaire Brut. Now for the next crazy thing... I did not know of this wine! For me not to know a wine is like Abbott not to know Costello! Any way, back to the wine. It came from a grocery store, it was not from Champagne France and I had never heard of it. Not very promising I thought. So we sat down to watch a movie and I opened the bottle and poured us a glass. Nice bubbles, nice color and a nice nose, I thought, now let's taste it. I brought the glass up to my lips and took a mouthful, I swirled it around my tongue and held it just slightly and then swallowed... I could not believe it! This wine was awesome! It definitely drank like Champagne from some of the best producers, I was completely blown away! This stuff will make you out to be a super hero the next time you want to pour the bubbly. Now for the best part... $12 a bottle! (I know it is over my $10 rule but trust me... this stuff will floor you)It has a yeasty start with green apple and a creamy, not too many bubbles, mid section with a nice long finish with pear and apricot.
I did a little research for you and here is what I discovered.
More than a century before champagne, the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire in the Southern foothills of Limoux had created France's Very First Sparkling Wine.
By 1794 Blanquette de Limoux was well known and appreciated throughout France. At about that time it was discovered by a famous American, Thomas Jefferson. The Third American President was an expert on French wines and Blanquette de Limoux was an integral part of his wine cellar. Few people realize that Jefferson was an avid collector of recipes and wine. With his knowledge of Europe's finest vineyards, Jefferson was the wine advisor to several presidents and, at George Washington's request, selected the first wines to be stocked in the White House. Though he didn't actually cook, he passed recipes along to friends and gathered them for his own chefs. In Jefferson's writings, researchers have found grocery lists, wine inventories and recipes.
They discovered receipts for hundreds and hundreds of bottles of wine. As president he spent about 10 percent of his salary on wine; Jefferson estimated that he needed about one bottle of wine for every 3.5 people served. Blanquette de Limoux was a favorite of Jefferson's and when he died in 1826 his last known cellar inventory dated February 1, 1826 listed 49 bottles. Today, over four and a half centuries later, SAINT-HILAIRE Blanquette de Limoux is made in the very same foothills of Southern France...."It is probably the least-known well-made sparkling wine of France..." "Made primarily from the Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Mauzac grapes, the wines are qualitatively close to a high quality non-vintage Champagne at one-third the price." Robert Parker

An Old Grape Standby

Hey Wine Lovers!
Before I get started on this entry I would like to share Superbowl Sunday with you, and most importantly, the wine of Superbowl Sunday! I can't give them a "write up" here due to the cost of the wines, but I do want to share the complexity of them.
First of all, I invited a few friends over for dinner with the game as a second position. (I know, I know... how could we look at the game as second position? That's because you have never experienced dinner at my house) Anyway... moving right along. One of the guys is a big Cabernet freak, key word being freak. The bigger, juicer, ripe, over the top, tannic Cab from California, the better. No disrespect for that type of wine mind you, this guy is just crazy about it, to the point that is about all he drinks! He brings a Flora Springs Napa Cabernet... beautiful example of what California can produce! Upfront fruit, with lots of jammy dark berries with a somewhat tannic finish. My other friend brought a classic from his cellar. A 1998 BV Latour Reserve Cabernet. The history of this wine is crazy, but for you, I'm going to sum it up in a few words. It is one of the original wineries in Napa with a very gifted German wine maker that understood what the Cabernet grape and the region of Napa could do... enough said! This wine was spectacular! Soft suttle tannins, dark fruit with a slight chocolate nuance and just enough oak aging to say it was there. A good time was had by all! What was the score of the game?
Now for today's wine to review. Primaterra 2009 Primitivo. What a bargain! This wine will cost you about $9 a bottle and drinks like it is twice the cost!
A ripe and fruity wine with notes of plums, blackberries, and cherries with good concentration, balance and length. Well worth the price. Primitivo is the original grape DNA to what is modern day Zinfandel.

Cheers!
J

Passion for Wine

Hello Wine Lovers!
More snow here in Chicago! Enough already, I have had enough. Now that I got that out of my system, and before I sit down to watch the Super Bowl, lets talk about wine and passion and maybe even a little Cabernet I discovered over the weekend.
Passion (from the Ancient Greek verb πάσχω (paskho) meaning to suffer or to endure) is an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love. Passion can be expressed as a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion towards a subject, idea, person, or object. A person is said to have a passion for something when he has a strong positive affinity for it. A love for something and a passion for something are often used synonymously. That is the definition of passion according to wikipedia. Why do I bring this up you ask? Well I have been fortunate enough to travel to some of the most beautiful and certainly world class wine regions in the world. Including France's Burgundy Region, Champagne Region and the Provence Region. I have been throughout all of California's growing regions as well as Missouri (Yes, you read correctly... at one time it may have been larger than California but prohibition stopped it's growth). I have visited many Illinois Wineries and also Ohio's many wineries. I have traveled throughout many of Italy's wine growing regions and many more. The one thing I am always fascinated by on all of my visits is the passion that each and every wine producer, grower, owner, wine maker, and the list goes on and on possess! Everyone involved has this unbelievable desire to create and love for the grape! Talk to someone involved and you will soon discover his or her passion, their love and their total commitment to the cause. It is this passion that drives them each and every morning to get out of bed in the morning and go to work! Think about it... when is the last time you felt so strongly about a cause or work or friend or significant other? Things that make you go hmmmmmm.
Now for the jewel of a Cabernet I found, Trapiche Cabernet from Argentina.Trapiche Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza 2009 - Noble wine of a bright red color. Aromas of black fruit and spices. Soft and balanced on the palate, with a pleasant, long-lasting tannic sensation. For about $6.99 a bottle at both Binny's and Wine Discount Center, you can't beat it! They also make a Cabernet that is Oak Cask for about $5 more but that doesn't meet my criteria to write about (less than $10)

Cheers!
J