Question: Is there a wine to celebrate Groundhog Day?
Answer: Unusual request. February 2 is always Groundhog Day when people in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania from 1887 are watching out for that furry marmot Phil. If he sees his shadow that means 6 more weeks of Winter. The local wineries in Penn. will be busy including the aptly named Groundhog Winery serving their 26 different wines. Similarly in Canada we have Nova Scotia Sam and Ontario Willie who in 2022 have reached conflicting opinions. Sam predicts a long cold winter while Willie says an early Spring is on the way. However, Phil agrees with Sam so be prepared for more wintery weather. Any celebratory wine will do but perhaps start your own February 2 tradition tasting the next new vintage of your go-to libation. Groundhog Day is also the name of a funny movie starring Bill Murray.
Alsace is a fascinating wine region with a long history of dedicated winemaking families. Your scribe has been a devoted fan of their wines since way back in the seventies. Got quite familiar in identifying the different grape varieties grown there through the availability in Vancouver of Alsace wines particularly from Hugel (rich full style) and Trimbach (balanced dry style). Always admired the clear definition shown in the wines produced from the different varieties and on visits to the region successfully passed their fun tasting test to become a member of the Confrerie Saint-Etienne. This northern region is situated in a valley between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine Valley and is much drier and warmer than most people recognize. Most of their wines are reasonably priced, friendly drinking young, and match so well with food. Yet there is another level of key sites recognized since the 9th century but formalized by the INAO in 1975 now with 51 AOC Alsace Grands Crus (only 4% of the region). Interesting to examine the dominant geological soil characteristics of each of these vineyards. Note that only Rangen (check out Clos Saint Urbain from Zind-Humbrecht) in the most southerly area of Thann has volcanic soil. Riesling is always a favourite of mine among the 4 varietals (with a few exceptions) that are allowed Grands Crus status with Gewurztraminer, Muscat, and Pinot Gris. Collected and enjoyed lots of Alsace Riesling over the years. Tried whenever I could the top standard of Clos Ste Hune from Trimbach, a tiny 1.67 hectare plot of Rosacker on “dolomitic limestone” that rewards a deep, full, most complex and ageable treasure. Lucky to try some memorable bottles of Hune with avid collector Jean Joho of Everest restaurant Alsatian cuisine in Chicago which just recently closed. More available to me were bottles of Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling from Trimbach, particularly the 1981 vintage that I purchased throughout the eighties at $11.95/bottle. In May 1989 BCLDB put the remaining slow moving inventory on sale for $7.95/bottle. Your scribe astutely bought those 62 bottles and has been delightfully monitoring the progress of 1981 ever since. It is composed of 2 Grands Crus at Ribeauville of Geisberg (marl-limestone-sandstone) & Osterberg (marl) from high elevation steep S/SE exposure of older vines. Trimbach also has another leased site for making Geisberg Vignoble du Couvent de Ribeauvillé (check out 2009, 2016, and 2019). An outstanding Riesling from Hugel is Jubilee 2001 (own vineyard 100% Schoenenbourg Grand Cru from Riquewihr) called by the late Etienne Hugel their “best one since 1990”. On January 28, 2022 we drank our last bottle of that 1981 cache at 40 years of age compared with the same vineyard & producer of top vintage 2001 at 20 years. These paired so well for courses of smoky roasted eggplant with ricotta wrapped in shredded phyllo pastry (kadaifi) plus “gourmet” Bretagne sardines Vintage Year 2015 by Rodel (bought in Paris) with fresh dill potato salad. Both worked magically. 2001 was 12.5 abv fuller richer floral ginger mineral notes while 1981 was an easy lower brilliant 11.2 abv so bright elegant petrol well structured acid vibrancy. Perhaps some of the earlier 62 bottles had more fruit left (if you prefer that) but this last one is really lovely now – ethereal and so beautifully drinkable. Wish we had more bottles left. The Trimbach website says “potential is for aging 20+ years”. They might want to change those notes to read at least “40+ years”!
Question: What’s the latest news on Champagne consumption?
Answer: Volumes are up like for most alcoholic beverages during these continuing days of the Covid pandemic. More at-home drinking is mainly responsible. However, it is surprising that Champagne shipments rebounded so substantially in 2021 over 2020. This causes some concern for increased pressure on selling price plus there was reduced vineyard crops last year because of bad April 2021 frosts. Check out a more detailed report by the Drinks Business here. Prudent to buy a few bottles of bubbles now.
Long time follower of the wines of Italy. Back in my early learning days of the seventies focused mainly on their reds with so many excellent value wines flying under the radar. Tried many whites but often found them rather soft, simple, early oxidizing, and generally disappointing. My earliest favs were the lively Pieropan Soave Classico from their own Veneto vineyards of Garganega & Trebbiano and first vintages (from 1975 on) of Jermann “Dreams” Vintage Tunina from Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In the late 70s & early 80s visited each April at Vinitaly in Verona and was exposed to so many “new” Italian wines. It was around 1979 that Tony Terlato first imported into the USA that popular Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita. By the mid eighties many beacons of hope were shining brightly including among others the first vintage 1985 of Cervaro Della Sala Chardonnay (with that fresh touch of Grechetto) from Umbria by Antinori and balanced 1985s from Mastroberardino in Campania of Fiano di Avellino & Greco di Tufo. Also check out Falanghina from Campania. Today there are a plethora of white wine choices across the 20 regions of Italy all so well made from designated vineyards using state of the art winemaking. Enthusiast about so many from the Northeast those lovely crisp wines from Alto Adige (Alois Lageder), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (try versatile Friulano), and Veneto (Soave), Northwest for solid Roero Arneis DOCG and Cortese, Passerina and Verdicchio from the Marche, to the South for Sicily with Carricante, Catarratto, & my fav structured Grillo, to another Island for Vermentino di Sardegna. A wealth of value priced treasures to explore.
Nostalgic home dinner on January 17, 2022 full of great memories as we enjoyed our last bottle of 1985 Greco Di Tufo from Mastroberardino beautifully paired with a fresh black cod plus a farro vegetarian dish. Worked magically. We were delighted with our earlier 11 bottles (purchased at BCLDB in May 1989 at $8.55/bottle) but kept this one an extra long time to see the longer aging potential of Greco. Remember learning so much from my wonderful late friend Antonio Mastroberardino (passed away in 2014 at age 86) a true wine visionary. Antonio dined at our home in Vancouver and kindly gifted to me his outstanding legendary red Taurasi Riservas of 1968 – a wow Castelfranci. He stated that aromatic Fiano di Avellino usually had the higher acidity and balance for aging longer. However, this Greco (a clone brought from Greece in 1st century BC) is from Tufo (volcanic rock subsoil) DOCG and has aged beautifully. Look at the still young colour in the glass at nearly 37 years of age. Some minerality there but that defining “cheesy” character (like Parmigiano Reggiano) with rich smooth complex flavours. What a statement it made! Probably my best bottle of it yet. Amazing.
Lots of reasons – including ageability – to be excited presently about the quality status of Italian white wines. Recommend you try some and experiment with cellaring a few.
Question: My Whisperkool wall mounted wine chiller just failed. Do you have recommendations for a replacement?
Answer: Difficult question to answer specifically here without further detailed information as to what you actually need for your space and desired size capacity. Lots of competition out there for wine cooler refrigeration units. Probably fewer available in Lake Tahoe but on line shipments are easy across the USA by many online suppliers including a wide selection on Amazon. Recent article on 12 best units at www.lovecraftwines.com that you could check out. A great benefit with WhisperKOOL is the wonderful humidity feature for helping to keep the corks from drying out. Why not continue with WhisperKOOL if you were happy with them? However I suggest you first shop around online to see which one best fits your space. Good luck.
