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With Wine Turns "Five" America's
Artisanal Outreach In the last few weeks, I visited two regional wineries, Monteagle Winery & Arrington Vineyards in Tennessee. Yes, the home state of "Tennessee Bourbon" producer Jack Daniel's has wineries--lots actually. Monteagle's wines have a ways to go, but at least they have some good gossip going for them. It seems the previous owner murdered his wife at the winery and then tried to burn the place down, but he didn't know how to start a fire very well. After leaving Monteagle, we stopped at Hatcher Family Dairy to buy half gallons of their legendary whole milk, non-homogenized. For you city-slickers this means you gotta shake it since the cream settles on top. My three children purged them of all of their chocolate milk on hand. Arrington Vineyards was typical of the new-age wineries which have the capital to pick the right place, and build a rustic-elegant structure that serves as winery and event facility showcase. (Stat: Did you know most wineries are averaging 40% of revenue from non-wine sales?) This capital was likely contributed in part (if not whole) by Kix Brooks of country-music sensation, Brooks & Dunn, one of the three partners. Every Saturday they fire up their hillside rock firepit and Kix is known to pop in once in awhile to share wine. Thanks to Michael Diehl's American Culinary Federation event, Georgia Grown--an annual festival of Georgia farmers--I was introduced to some of our state's tastiest. Decimal Place Farm of Conley, GA, is up and coming with their own feta, mozzarella, cheddars, milks and butters--all from goat. Yep, downed a glass of cold goat's milk--pretty good. Jubilee Organic Creamery is located not far from Reynolds Plantation and will be Georgia's first certified organic dairy farm and creamery. This means low pasteurization temps and non-homogenization of their milks. Their butter was fantastic on some home-hearthed bread, while popping meatballs made of grass-fed Georgia beef. And of course, our good folks from Habersham Winery (Steve Gibson) and Frogtown Cellars (Cydney Kritzer) were there pouring their Georgia wines. The same frost that killed at least half of all continental climate vines last April (think every wine region but West coast) took a toll on their wines, as well as other Georgia wineries. Which meant their selection of GA wines during the "Georgia-grown" festival was limited this year. If
you like the way all this local agriculture thing sounds,
you can get more info at GeorgiaOrganics.org
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Just
Another Day in a Wine-Centric Life The only thing I enjoy more than the people, the wines, and the travel in this profession is having some pictures to remember them all by! Here is a compilation of snapshots from Jan/Feb of this year. And some of the shots are contributed by our wine-loving subscribers! |
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WE TAKE CARE OF THE TRADE! Do you make your living in a wine-pouring capacity--as a server, banquet manager, or within the wine distribution chain? If so, we have preferential pricing on all of our events & courses for YOU! Please contact us and state your professional affiliation for a promotional code you can use anytime. |
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Certified
Specialist of Wine Training Program |
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Wines
& Cheeses Artisanal cheeses are no less labors of love than their wine counterparts. Location of pastureland, seasonality of milks, and aging all weigh heavily on the final taste experience. Join us for 8 pairings of wine & cheese. For this class we are shipping in 100% of our cheeses from small American Farms! >>>> More Info |
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School
Nights @ Park Tavern: Zin & Syrah/Shiraz Monday, March 17th (The Piedmont Room @ Park Tavern) Speaker: Lauren DeLuca Two big 'ol wines, made in varying styles, are explored. These events are fun to bring friends, lovers, spouses, or just jump in with both feet and make new wine friends. >>>> More Info |
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For
Beginners ONLY |
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Jane's
Monthly Dozen Tasting: Bubbles & Baubles |
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For
Beginners ONLY |
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School
Nights @ Park Tavern: It's All About Napa! |
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Introduction
to Wine, Level I (Now an 8-week program) |
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World
of Reds |
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| Jane's
Monthly Dozen: The Subject of Sauvignons For
many consumers, Cabernet Sauvignon ranks as the summum bonum
of all wine, the grape type to which one should pay all homage.
The grape operates as the foundation of much (but not all!)
Bordeaux red wines, but invariably is blended with some of the
other Bordeaux varieties, namely Merlot (sorry, Miles), Cabernet
Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec. (Carmenere once was grown too,
but fell from favor following phylloxera except for a few scattered
plantings.) In Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines exhibit less primary fruit character than do Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines produced in California, Australia (Margaret River), South Africa, or South America. (It's even grown in Moldova, one of the former Soviet republics, and China.) That evolved fruit vs. primary fruit character separates enthusiasts into two camps: Old World vs. New World. The former also produces wines that typically are lower in alcohol than the latter. Some California Cabs can come across like drinking liquid matches, but one can't go by the numbers, as high alcohol wines sometimes can taste beautifully balanced, high numbers notwithstanding. While some enthusiasts, and indeed some professionals, prefer wines made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon, such wines, in my view, typically lack complexity and interest. The final wine benefits enormously from being blended with some of the other Bordeaux varieties. In Oregon, where minimum percentage requirements are higher for other grapes, the state maintains the Federal 75% requirement for Cabernet Sauvignon allowing producers some playing room with the balance. And some of the blends go beyond the traditional Bordeaux varieties: Taking a page from Australia's GSM blends (Grenache, Syrah and Merlot), Washington State's Hedges produces a CMS--Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Thus, it is NOT a Meritage, as Syrah is not a Bordeaux variety. Typically, blends are crafted from wines that are vinified separately and then assembled. Sauvignon Blanc, one of the parents of this viticultural lovechild, is a greenish-skinned grape whose wines range widely in flavor depending on where the vines are planted as well as on aspects of canopy management. It is the foundation of white Bordeaux, along with Semillon and Muscadelle. White Bordeaux from Graves, Entre-deux-Mers and the most famous of all, Sauternes, are well-known. But the grape also rules in parts of the Loire Valley, namely Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume and Menetou-Salon. It's also planted in Spain in Rueda, where it's often blended with the native Verdejo grape. Old World Sauvignon Blanc yields substantial white grapefruit characters, and, depending on canopy management and, thus, sun exposure, may also show a decided herbaceous character. New World Sauvignon Blanc is generally more exuberantly aromatic, with characters ranging from grapefruit and tomato vine (New Zealand, a global rock-star for this grape) to passion fruit, grapefruit, and star fruit (Australia); to canned green peas, asparagus and bell pepper (South Africa). In California, where Robert Mondavi coined the term Fume Blanc for his Sauvignon Blanc, the fondness for exaggerated herbaceous characters has yielded to more tempered flavors ranging from freshly cut grass and herbs (achieved by not pulling off leaves) to fig/melon flavors (achieved by pulling off leaves to admit more sun). With the exception of sweet white Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc is not made for aging, although in 1999 I experienced a vertical tasting of Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa) that reached deep into the 1980s, and was amazed at their still-fresh character. Finally,
little known but up and coming is Sauvignon Gris. Mention this
one, and you'll likely get a puzzled look on the faces of most
wine enthusiasts and even professionals. It's from the Loire
Valley, and now is planted to some extent in Chile. We see two
in Atlanta: Cousino-Macul and Casa Silva. Visiting the former
a few years ago, I was delighted with the wine, and dismayed
that it was not being exported to the States. I went on to Casa
Silva and found they made a Sauvignon Gris also, and that it
WAS being exported to the States. That one made it into Atlanta
ahead of the Cousino-Macul, but both are here seasonally and
sell between $12-$16. They're crisp, fresh tasting and bright,
and work beautifully for shellfish and fin fish. The Cousino-Macul
now is out of stock until the spring, and the Casa Silva is
undergoing some distributor difficulties that hopefully will
be resolved in time to get some of the new vintage.
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| How does Jane rate these wines? Where is the archive of her
reviews? It's all HERE. |
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