By Log (Flickr: Vinos) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Continue to be impressed with the attention to detail and the quality excellence of everything Vega-Sicilia does. They now have 5 wineries producing Vega-Sicilia & Valbuena since 1915 (100th anniversary next year), Alion in Ribera Del Duero 1991, Tokay-Oremus in Hungary 1993, Pintia in Toro 1996, and Macan in Rioja 2003. Another visit last week to Vancouver of my friend Export Director Puri Mancebo-Lobete was a good opportunity to catch up.  She started at the Tokay project 2001-2002. However I have been following them before that and they did a superb wine tasting in San Juan, Puerto Rico led by Don Rafael Alonso for IWFS on April 25, 1998. Many old IWFS shakers and movers were there including Angel Del Valle & Carmencita, Pedro Pumarada & Carmen Teresa, Larry Fleisher, Joe Garrigo, Alec & Irene Murray, Caryl Saunders, Bob & Ellen Gutenstein , Bob & Beth Charpie, John Avery, Ed Lazarus, John & Muffie Hoche and so many more. Vertical of Unico included 85, 81, fantastic 70 (16 years in wood), 68, and 53. Even served 1975 Oremus Aszu 5 Puttonyos wine they had purchased before starting their own label. Many other tastings with winemaker Xavier Ausas, especially their Managing Director Don Pablo Alvarez including awarding him a Lifetime Achievement Award in Society of Bacchus at their Vega Sicilia winery in May 2004 and his 5 decades presentation for the Vancouver International Wine Festival on March 30, 2011.

1. Vega-Sicilia, Unico, Reserva Especial, & Valbuena: Top of the pyramid. Just released 2004 classic Unico in the style of 1968 & 1970. 1999 Unico starting to develop but still so young. They have a long history of an ability to make wine to age and three important keys are poor chalky soil with low yields, fresh good balanced fresh acidity and special winemaking techniques in wood (21 big vats). Puri says they still have 1912 and 1917 Unico in the cellars and she just tried a sensational 1934. Three vintage blend of 1994, 1995, and 2000 in their current Reserva Especial release. Really like how they still hold back a lot of wine to top up the casks every Friday to avoid oxidation from the long time the wine spends in wood. Unico not produced every year and then goes into usually younger vines Valbuena (95% tempranillo & 5% merlot) in such vintages as I believe 1984, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001.

2. Alion: 2009 biggest release ever of about 320,000 bottles. Modern international personality of 100% tempranillo (tinto fino) with 12 months in new French oak. 2009 showing typical style priced at $79 (2001 was $95). 2010 not being released because it has shown a very fine microscopic sediment that the conscientious owners want to investigate.

3. Tokay-Oremus: Big holdings of 125 hectares in Hungary but only make about 50,000 bottles. Wonderful Mandolas fermented and aged in 100% new Hungarian oak from Furmint grapes in a dry mineral style from volcanic soils. Most wineries make 95% sweet but they are making about half dry and half sweet.

4. Pintia: “One and half hour drive from Ribera but so different”. Soil in Toro like Chateauneuf-du-Pape  and elevation altitude important. No phyloxerra here and not American root stocks but old vines. Tendency for more colour and more tannins here from this arid region. Again they are able to achieve in a hot climate some delicate tannins and elegant not overripe fruit with the spice by picking early, putting 100% tempranillo grapes (Tinta de Toro clone) in a cold room at 5-7 C for 2 days to avoid volatile acidity, ferment at a cool 26-28 C for better aromatics, and 100% malolactic in barrel here. Use some 30-50% American oak with the French. Production of 2008 tasted was at 200,000 bottles priced at $59 (2002 was $75).

5. Macan: Newest project again with old vines in Rioja Alta near San Vicente de la Sonsierra trying to make something between the lighter structured traditional style and the popular modern international one. Not using 100% oak every year because still want some delicacy of the Rioja tempranillo expression to show through. Tried interesting young 2010 Macan at $89 with only 50,000 bottles produced.

Note that Puri told me that in her opinion the 2004 & 2009 are best in Ribera Del Duero while 2005 & 2010 are best vintages in Rioja.

Are you following the exciting Spanish wine explosion market? What wine region in Spain do you prefer? Have you tried any of these quality wines from Vega-Sicilia?

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By Joseph Temple

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

Alex Sebastian, an escaped Nazi who flees to South America poses as a wealthy Rio de Janeiro socialite alongside his fellow Third Reich fugitives.  But little do people know that they are plotting revenge against the Allies by building their very own atomic bomb.  The only question is where to store the weapons grade uranium needed to detonate the bomb?

Director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 motion picture Notorious starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as American spies determined to uncover this explosive secret hidden inside a bottle of ’34 Pommard proves to be the perfect blend of wine and film.  As part of their undercover operation, Bergman’s character Alicia marries Alex and successfully steals the key to his wine cellar so she and Grant can go investigate while a lavish party takes place upstairs.

Searching for clues, Grant’s character Devlin discovers a sheet of paper located behind several vintages standing upright – an unusual position for any bottle in a wine cellar.  But while taking a closer look, a 1934 Pommard moves closer and closer off the shelf.  Delicate as the grapes that created this fine Pinot Noir, one careless mistake causes the bottle to come crashing down. Yet on impact, black sand is seen amongst the broken glass, raising the eyebrows of both Devlin and Alicia.

For Hitchcock to use a bottle of wine as the “MacGuffin” – a desired object that the protagonist pursues in a movie – is not surprising.  A passionate oenophile, the Master of Suspense was renown for giving those who visited his Bel-Air mansion a detailed tour of the custom built wine cellar he had installed.  And having purchased a vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains probably explains why many of his movies including The Birds were filmed in Northern California.  But his choice of 1934 Pommard as the bottle to store the uranium ore in reflects Hitch’s passion for French wines, and more specifically, the region of Burgundy.

While a collector of the best Bordeaux and Champagne, Hitchcock was most fervent about Burgundy’s Pinot Noir grapes. And just how one careless error broke the bottle ’34 Pommard and the secrets in it, the same rings true for any vintner who doesn’t pay close attention to detail while cultivating Pinot Noir.  As he would explain to actress Tippi Hedren in the 2012 made-for-TV movie The Girl: “It’s called the heartbreak grape. Do you know why? Of all the grapes used to make wine, these are the most fragile. It has a very thin skin, prone to disease, mould, every kind of rot and virus known to the vintner’s art. So growing Pinot Noir is a bit like making a movie – heartbreak guaranteed.”

Good evening, indeed!

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Wine labels on bottles used to be rather simple and classically similar just identifying the contents. Remember how the unique artistic Chateau Mouton-Rothschild labels really stood out from the crowd. There were exceptions like German wine labels that were very complex and hard to understand. Boy has everything changed! Now it has become a thriving industry for competing graphic designers. I understand how many wineries want their products to be progressive attention getting almost “jumping off the shelf” in telling the story that will remain in your memory. However I guess I am still old fashioned in focusing mainly on the liquid with less attention paid to the showy art.

In Canada Bernie Hadley-Beauregard has developed innovative labels that sell wine looking for ” a consumer connection via a memorable name and a compelling narrative that sparks curiosity and conversation”: http://www.macleans.ca/culture/this-wine-looks-good/ . Even Forbes has a posting of attractive bottle shots on “The Coolest Wine Labels of 2013:Part II” on their site at http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2013/11/01/the-coolest-wine-labels-of-2013-part-ii/ .

I like informative back labels and the contents listing pioneered by Ridge Vineyards and others.  I still like clear graphics to easily see the vintage. Also prefer readable alcohol levels rather than the California trend for microscopic numbers that can not be seen so the higher alcohol level doesn’t scare you off. Dislike “critter” labels whether a bird, beast or insect. Not into a display wine cellar of art objects but a workable cool humid one that protects the wine and may deteriorate the label. Encourage labels with “smart” computer technology to avoid counterfeiting. I am easily satisfied with just black labels and white printing – don’t necessarily have to have jazzy color gradients with cool fonts. Still like the plain label of Chateau Palmer. What makes a wine label attractive to you and entices you to buy the bottle?

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By Joseph Temple

After a brutal and unforgiving winter, the United States Department of Agriculture declared the Finger Lakes to be a disaster zone.  What impact this will have on the current harvest is still unknown, but with the area in the news, here’s ten interesting facts about this upstate New York wine region:

Special thanks to the New York Wine & Grape Foundation for providing most of these facts.

By Flickr user: Plutor South Boston, Massachusetts http://www.flickr.com/people/plutor/ [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By Visit Finger Lakes (Flickr: Sunrise overlooking a vineyard) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By Agne27 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By Flickr user: Valerie Knoblauch Canandaigua, New York http://www.flickr.com/people/visitfingerlakes/ [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By Bill (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The International Wine & Food Society is proud to have a strong presence across the state of New York with branches in New York City, Long Island and Buffalo.  Please click on any of the links to visit their respective websites.

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PiccoloNamek at English Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Unless you have a nut allergy I hope you are enjoying all those diverse nutritious healthy delicious nut butters. For a long time there was only the peanut (actually a bean legume not a nut) which started way back with the Incas in South America, first steam processed by the Kellogg Brothers and then later made commercially popular in a better roasted style. Now there are so many choices including almond, cashew, macadamia, hazelnut, pistachio, pecan, walnut, soybean, coconut, sesame seed (tahini), sunflower seed and others. Major brands like Jif, Peter Pan, and Skippy still dominate but shop around for pure natural unbranded products at your local farmer’s market.

My go-to on a daily basis are:

1. Adam’s (since 1922) 100% Natural Peanut Butter – just roasted peanuts! I prefer the creamy unsalted style. Maybe you like crunchy. Like how the label says “No stabilizers. No added sugar. No preservatives. No added shortening. Oil Separation is Natural. Stir before using. Refrigerate after opening.”  Don’t know why the 500 gram jar always seems to me to have a better oily texture than the 1000 gram (1 kilogram) even when both are equally stirred.

2. MaraNatha Natural Almond Butter (739 gram jar from Costco – used to be glass now plastic) – only dry roasted almonds! Double ground, small batch roasted with no sodium makes for a richer very almond experience. Label says “Gluten Free. No Added Sugar. No Preservatives. No Hydrogenated Oils. No artificial colour or flavour”.

What product do you enjoy and recommend to us?

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