Oinos Nervosa

A two braces and a half of Ohio wines

2010-04-21T20:37:00.002-04:00

2007 Hermes Vineyards Tempranillo - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (4/21/2010)
Started off very nice with red fruit nose backed with light chervil-ey notes. Nice round body and good acids. Not complex, but some side elements of leather and orange. Easy drinking and nice. Alas, the charms faded very quickly and the wine grew flabby with no Temp character. Dropped very fast and was not enjoyable.

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Noir Pinot Vista - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/21/2010)
Nice stemmy Pinot nose with some earth and wet stone. Good stance on the body which is good thin. Bright fruits with a nice bitters quality and a bit of chew. Nice succulence on the finish, mineral and tonic elements. Very pretty balance here and a zingy vibe. More than very nice.

2008 Kinkead Ridge Révélation - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/21/2010)
Not much nose. Elements of grapefruit peel and pith. While these might provide complexity, the structure and depth wasn't there. Not bad, but lacking interest or pleasure.
2008 Kinkead Ridge Riesling - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/21/2010)
Nice Riesling fruit nose with apple pie elements. Light body, clean and simple structure with that nice fruit hanging off of it. Slightly starchy plantain elements on the finish. Quite nice.
2008 River Village Cellars (Kinkead Ridge) Traminette Rock Springs Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/21/2010)
Medium Tram nose with more soapier elements. Light sweet upfront, medium body. More soapy elements on the finish. Lacked any precision. So-so.

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Full Tasting Notes from National Wine Marketing Conference (74 wines / 14 states)

2010-04-18T00:57:00.001-04:00

This is the full summary of pretty much everything I tasted at the National Wine Marketing Conference. There are a few other things I tasted, but didn’t properly note. My dominant interest is in wines that express their place of origin, so I have no tasting notes (and usually didn’t try) wines whose grapes did not come from the winery’s state.

A few brief comments about my notes :

- I am a tough grader. ‘OK’ means a pretty decent wine, but I am ever more stingy going above that. To be ‘good’ or better, a wine has to express something beyond its mere fruit.

- I don’t like apparent oak. I don’t like un-apparent oak where the treatment has clearly been to the detriment of the fruit and, most importantly, structure of the wine. Particularly in cold-climes or with high-acid grapes, I find way too many of the wines ruined by the intrusion of oak. A word to the wise – the fashion for oak flavors is a trend well on the wane.

- While my notes reflect my personal tastes, I also try to remove that and note where wines that I may like are not going to other’s tastes.

- Given the nature of the conference, most of the notes are brief and dominant impressions. In general, I look for and write about structure, balance and integration far more than the usual litany of taste descriptors.

In a further post, I will make more general comments about the wines, the states and my collected impressions from the two years I’ve attended this meeting.

Lastly, a big thanks to all the states and wineries for being so generous of their wines and their time. It is always the biggest treat to talk with them and feel their passion for what they do.

Idaho

2009 Cinder Viognier - USA, Idaho, Snake River Valley (4/13/2010)
Odd. Fresh cabbage nose and palate which has a charm, but also is not typical or even expected at all. I liked it, but it is tough to recommend.
2008 Vale Riesling Idaho - USA, Idaho, Snake River Valley (4/13/2010)
Crisp and transparent fruits. Nice quality here and remarkably consistent with a year ago. Well done.
2008 Cinder Syrah Snake River Valley - USA, Idaho, Snake River Valley (4/13/2010)
Modern in body and nose with plush extracted too-ripe fruit. Noticeable oak. Underneath is a charm and vibe though.
2006 Bitner Vineyards Shiraz - Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, Idaho, Snake River Valley (4/13/2010)
Modernly sculpted. Jammy fruits.

Illinois

2009 Lynfred Winery Seyval Blanc - USA, Illinois (4/13/2010)
Fresh, ripe veggies on the nose, high-toned Sauv B-like. Slight sweet on the palate. A bit thin on the body. Nice.
2007 Fox Valley Chardonnay Reserve - USA, Illinois (4/13/2010)
Oak and malo on the nose. Palate follows suit. Can't escape it. No.

Indiana

N.V. Butler Vineyards Cayuga Vineyard Select - USA, Indiana (4/13/2010)
Correct and does dry Cayuga well. Nice enough.
2008 Butler Vineyards Chambourcin - USA, Indiana (4/13/2010)
Thin, but correctly Chambourcin then oak intrudes. OK.
N.V. Easley Traminette - USA, Indiana (4/13/2010)
Nice floral nose. Hits an odd wheaty sweet vibe. Some floral on the palate. Medium finish and persistence. Nice.
N.V. Mallow Run Winery Traminette - USA, Indiana (4/13/2010)
Muted floral nose with some bitters that follow on the palate. Good balance and middle. Slight medicine on the finish. OK.
2009 Oliver Winery Traminette Creekbend - USA, Indiana (4/13/2010)
Nice volume on the floral nose. Granny Smith apple crispness on the palate. Vanishing finish, but a good overall presence. Very nice.

Iowa

N.V. Tassel Ridge St. Croix In The Dark - USA, Iowa (4/13/2010)
Messy and lacking structure or a center. Poor fruit. No.
2009 Tassel Ridge LaCrescent - USA, Iowa (4/13/2010)
Sickly sweet with no acids or body. No.
N.V. Summerset Winery Caba Moch - USA, Iowa (4/13/2010)
Pink apple juice on the nose and palate. Good acid spine gives this some interest. Well done in the style and deserve note for hitting its mark very well.

Kansas

N.V. Holy-Field Chambourcin - USA, Kansas (4/13/2010)
Does the variety well with nice fruit and good acids. OK + .
N.V. Holy-Field Cynthiana - USA, Kansas (4/13/2010)
Has much of the failings of the variety and doesn't deliver the charm.
N.V. Holy-Field Seyval Blanc - USA, Kansas (4/13/2010)
Starts nice with good fruit then falls into an iffy finish - thick and off-floral.

Maryland

2007 Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Comus - USA, Maryland (4/13/2010)
So-so. Heavy hand of treatment dulled out the fruit.
2005 Fiore Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Maryland (4/13/2010)
Raw nut skins on the nose. Light with a good bite and dusty notes. Nice.
2004 Fiore Cabernet Franc - USA, Maryland (4/13/2010)
Interesting. Oddly medicinal bitter notes which I liked - in a tasting amount - but are not going to appeal to many.

Michigan

N.V. Fenn Valley Vidal Blanc 42˚ Ice Wine - USA, Michigan, Lake Michigan Shore (4/13/2010)
Nice mangoes and flowers. Kind of trails off on the finish and a little weak on acid structure. Still a nice dessert wine at a great price point.
2005 St. Julian Winery Chancellor Braganini Reserve - USA, Michigan, Lake Michigan Shore (4/13/2010)
Of type with correct fruit. Nice.
2006 Black Star Farms Pinot Noir Arcturos - USA, Michigan, Leelanau Peninsula (4/13/2010)
This wine exceeded its 2006-ness in the past, but that has caught up now. Thin, hollow, acidic. Some bits of nice fruit left.
2007 Longview Winter Ice - USA, Michigan, Leelanau Peninsula (4/13/2010)
Sweet honeycomb on the nose. Maple syrup and orange elements. Way sweet. Not my thing, but undeniable quality and charm.
2008 Forty Five North Pinot Noir Rosé - USA, Michigan, Leelanau Peninsula (4/13/2010)
Better than in tastings last fall. Nice crispness followed by softer fruit. Good bead.
2007 Gill's Pier Cabernet Franc - Merlot - USA, Michigan, Leelanau Peninsula (4/13/2010)
Nice nose with brambles and fruit. Great cut and persistence. Some mocha notes. Brawny structure. Really good.
2007 Brys Estate Pinot Noir Artisan Series - USA, Michigan, Old Mission Peninsula (4/13/2010)
Nice nose with flower dust and dark fruits. Good body, nice integration and a sappy appeal. Yummy. Much improved from Fall '09.
2007 2 Lads Cabernet Franc Reserve - USA, Michigan, Old Mission Peninsula (4/13/2010)
Has grown in stature with deeper strains of dark fruit, a nicely-rounded body and an overall integration. Lurking power and a perfumed-finish.

Missouri

N.V. Les Bourgeois Vidal Blanc Late Harvest - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
Nice interplay of floral, sweet and fruit. Enjoyable, nice clarity. Good.
2008 Mizzou Cellars Norton - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
True to type in the fruit. Solid. A little too much on the treatment though. Too bad.
2008 St. James Winery Chambourcin - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
Sour Patch on the palate. Interesting and charming.
2008 Les Bourgeois Vidal Blanc - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
Nice nose with a good floral depth. Very clean and precise. Nice stuff.
2005 Stone Hill Brut - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
Simple and square, but nice and correct. Definitely enjoyable.
2007 Les Bourgeois Norton Premium Claret - USA, Missouri (4/13/2010)
Nice balance of tart and inner sweet on the top, but the treatment reared its ugly head.
2005 Mount Pleasant Norton - USA, Missouri, Augusta (4/13/2010)
Good kind of volatile nose. Some EtOH. Cool funk. Some annoying oak, but restrained. Good delivery. Nice.
2008 Montelle Vignoles Dry Vignoles - USA, Missouri, Augusta (4/13/2010)
Good funk on the nose. A little disappointing on the palate as too inert. OK.
2006 Stone Hill Chambourcin - USA, Missouri, Hermann (4/13/2010)
Nice age-y nose with dusty cherries and clay. Expressive of variety. Medium finish continues. Solid and good.

New York

2008 Red Newt Cellars Riesling - USA, New York, Finger Lakes (4/13/2010)
Correct off-dry Riesling though simple and somewhat flat. OK.
2008 Heart & Hands Wine Company Pinot Noir - USA, New York, Finger Lakes (4/13/2010)
Really nice cold climate Pinot with floral undertones, slight stemminess and light finish. Nice + .
2007 Red Newt Cellars Gewürztraminer Sawmill Creek Vineyards - USA, New York, Finger Lakes (4/13/2010)
Lovely nose of oranges. Nice interplay of the bitter and spicy of the varietal. Solid structure and orange-peel charming finish. Very good +.
2008 Knapp Seyval Blanc - USA, New York, Finger Lakes (4/13/2010)
Gunsmoke on the nose. Thin, extruded. No.
2007 Knapp Vignoles Estate - USA, New York, Finger Lakes, Cayuga Lake (4/13/2010)
Nicely done with good acids and restrained vibe. OK +
2008 Damiani Cabernet Franc - USA, New York, Finger Lakes, Seneca Lake (4/13/2010)
Basic colder-clime CF without going outside or above. OK.
2008 Leonard Oakes Estate Winery Blanc d'Orleans - USA, New York, Niagara Escarpment (4/13/2010)
Nice. Crisp, a little sweet. Slight vegetal. A bit thin on the end.

Ohio

2008 Debonné Riesling Reserve - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/13/2010)
Nice apricot on the nose. Clean, mineral and slight edge of sweet. Balanced. Nice.
2008 Ferrante Chardonnay Signature Series - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/13/2010)
Melon on the top. Creamy and thick then oak just totally blasts it. Shame as there is some nice stuff inside.
2008 Debonné Vidal Ice Wine Express Estate - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/13/2010)
Hits exactly the vibe and presence this style of wine should. Nice in small doses.
2008 Ferrante Riesling Grand River Valley - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/13/2010)
Good nose with peaches and citrus. Lighter body. Overall nice.
2008 Hermes Vineyards Nebbiolo - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (4/13/2010)
Slight florals on the nose, but too anemic body. Some good fruit. Disharmonious finish.
2008 Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Nice vegetal aromas. Plums. Nice stuffing. Persistent oak spicing annoys. OK, could have better.
2008 La Vigna Proprietary White Wine - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Previously experienced nice cut which has faded on this now. Some good fruit. Lack of precision and somewhat mute though.
2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Consistent with previous - dark fruits, some earthy veg notes. Dark. Licorice too.
2007 Meranda-Nixon Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Estate - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Very consistent with previous notes - dark fruits, mocha edges softened, velvet textures and a nicely brooding presence. Very good.
2008 Valley Vineyards Vidal Blanc Ohio River Valley - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Nice for what it is and hits it mark, but not exceeding that.
2006 Kinkead Ridge Révélation - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (4/13/2010)
Also showing the signs of 2006-ness with a thinning middle and seams showing. Opened bottle was better next day with some of the acids sloughed off and the overall muting helped. Still some nice fruit.

Oklahoma

2006 Chapel Creek Winery Muscat - USA, Oklahoma (4/13/2010)
Toothpaste nose. Slightly sweaty sweet. Florals. Good.

Pennsylvania

2007 Galen Glen Chambourcin Stone Cellar - USA, Pennsylvania (4/13/2010)
Nicely done in the context of the variety. Clean and well-delineated. OK + .
2007 Crossing Vineyards Cabernet Franc - USA, Pennsylvania (4/13/2010)
Nicely correct and holds a center. Good green. OK.
2007 Chaddsford Winery Chambourcin Miller Estate Vineyard - USA, Pennsylvania (4/13/2010)
Starts with nice Chambourcin dusty cherries on the nose and palate, but then the oak blasts it apart. (Oak flavors boasted on the label - always a bad sign.) Ultimately a no which is a shame as the fruit behind had promise.
2008 Penns Woods Traminette Penns Woods - USA, Pennsylvania, Central Delaware Valley (4/13/2010)
Resolutely Traminette with floral aromatics, light body and zero finish. Still nice.
N.V. Conneaut Cellars Pinot Noir - USA, Pennsylvania, Lake Erie (4/13/2010)
Good funk on the nose. Light and transparent in color and character. (11.5%abv). Some woody and green notes. Elegant. Hits a good vibe for me.
2008 Presque Isle Sauvignon Blanc - USA, Pennsylvania, Lake Erie (4/13/2010)
Decent nose with some herbal. Nice enough overall.

Texas

2008 Inwood Estates Palamino - Chardonnay - USA, Texas (4/13/2010)
Light leather on the nose. Nicely tart with crispness. Short on the finish and a bit mono-dimensional. Good.
2007 Alamosa Wine Cellars Scissortail High Valley Vineyard - USA, Texas (4/13/2010)
Light floral and more acidic than expected from white Rhone varieties. Very linear and straight forward. Nice.
2007 Inwood Estates Tempranillo-Cabernet - USA, Texas, Texas High Plains (4/13/2010)
Good. Nice open structure, some oak apparent. Good fruits and balance. Good.
2006 Inwood Estates Magellan - USA, Texas, Texas High Plains (4/13/2010)
Plums and spice on the nose. Good tannins. Tight. Very good.
2005 Alamosa Wine Cellars Syrah Tio Pancho Ranch - USA, Texas, Texas Hill Country (4/13/2010)
Nice meaty nose. Good Syrah fruit with some treatment. Good + .
2004 Alamosa Wine Cellars El Guapo - USA, Texas, Texas Hill Country (4/13/2010)
Nicely evolved from a year ago with leather, orange peel. Good structure and textures. A bit of funk. Nice finish. Really good stuff.
2006 Stone House Vineyard Norton Claros - USA, Texas, Texas Hill Country (4/13/2010)
Nicely on the vibe of the variety. Good.

Virginia

2006 Veritas Vineyard Othello - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/13/2010)
Light on the nose and palate which lifts the sweetness. Good acids and a slight leather and mocha element. Very nice.
2007 King Family Vineyards Meritage - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/13/2010)
Solid Meritage with structure, nuts and properly moving fruit. Really good stuff.
2007 Barboursville Vineyards Cabernet Franc Monticello - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/13/2010)
Nice ++ . Solid fruit, round structure with a plushness. Soft finish with some edges. Balanced.
2008 Pollak Vineyards Viognier - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/13/2010)
Acceptable white with resolutely middle tones and doesn't deliver Viognier special qualities.
2005 Albemarle Meritage - USA, Virginia, Northern Region, Blue Ridge Foothills (4/13/2010)
Light nose with good fruit. Light weight, slight EtOH intrusion, some spice. Good finish with fruit that grows. A nice basic red.

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License to Steal / National Wine Marketing Conference

2010-04-16T19:20:00.001-04:00

Last year, I attended License to Steal, a national conference for marketing wines and wineries from non-traditional areas of the United States. It was a fascinating experience both from the diversity of wines I got to try as well as the difference in mindset from my own, a theme I will explore in depth later. Since tasting notes are my usual schtick, today I will highlight the best and most interesting wines I tried this year.

The real stand-out wine was top red from the Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2009 , 2 Lads Cabernet Franc Reserve 2007 (Old Mission Peninsula, MI). Since tasting it last in during the Clash, the wine has grown in stature with deeper strains of dark fruit, a nicely-rounded body and an overall integration. Lurking power and a perfumed-finish. Several people commented to me on the wine and the bottle emptied quite quickly. This wine makes a case to be one of the best bottles of wine I have ever had from non-traditional states and would not be way down the list on the best young domestic wines I’ve had. 2 LadsWinery

Last year, one of my favorites was Alamosa Cellars 2004 El Guapo, a Tempranillo from the Texas Hill Country. This year, I used the power of Twitter to make sure they were bringing it again and I was glad for a chance to re-taste. I am happy to report that I liked it again. A lot. A year has taken off the oak notes (which were correct and balanced before - “well into being absorbed” was my statement last year and born out) and added some nice earthy funk. Orange-peel tinged fruit receded even more. Lots of brick, leather and other great non-fruit playing a central role. Good stuff. Their Alamosa Cellars Tio Pancho Syrah 2005 was noteworthy enough to merit inclusion in my top wines. The white Rhone blend Alamosa Cellars Scissortail 2007 was also of merit. More acidic than typical of the varieties (not a bad thing) and some florals. Alamosa Wine Cellars.

Idaho has a fascinating agricultural environment across the board, but I am really intrigued by both the idea and the actuality of wines coming out of there. The incredible volcanic-tortured soils of the area just have to be able to produce something unique and special. What remains is to see exactly what and – the tough part – how.

A big special shout-out from the design-side of my mind to Cinder Wines for the hands-down best bottle design. For my tastes, the Cinder Wines Syrah 2008 (Snake River Valley, ID) was too modern in style with extracted-plush fruit and too much oak. While the latter is correctable, the former may very well be exactly correct for the terroir and climate. That said, the wine was well-made and could well-absorb the treatment. While in the style of big Shiraz/Syrah, it exceeds most. Excited to see where this wine and winery go. Cinder Wines.

Also props to Vale Wines Riesling 2008 (Snake River Valley, ID). It was not so superlative as to warrant special notice last year, but it captured my attention for of the same nice quality with crisp, transparent fruit again this year. (Yes, I did have my notes from last year to which to refer.) Vale Wine Co.

My surprise pick of the year – Summerset Winery Caba Moch (IA). This unique blend of Catawba and Marechal Foch was a nice, slightly sweet rosé which was made pleasant by a nice acidic spine (the Foch, I suspect). Definite pink apple juice qualities and not a “fine wine,” but I have to respect the bead this wine held and the quality. Summerset Winery.

Red Newt Cellars Gewurztraminer Sawmill Creek Vineyard 2007 (Finger Lakes, NY) was a very nice example of the variety. It both played off the bitter/spicy of the variety with a nice orange-peel finish and a solid structure. (My peep Lenn Thompson of the New York Cork report has also given this 4/5 stars.) Red Newt Cellars.

Finally, the King Family Meritage 2007 (Monticello, VA) affirmed my appreciation for Virginia wines. Just a solid Meritage with structure, nuts and properly moving fruit. This wine won the VA Governor’s Cup in 2010. King Family Vineyards.

Wines from Virginia and Georgia

2010-04-11T10:35:00.000-04:00

Spring Break took us South with an yen for some of the best dining in the United States. Town House in Chilhowie, VA has become a destination dining spot for diners looking for a combination of local and seasonal ingredients combined with immaculate and modern technique. Prior to dining there, I contacted the sommelier, Charlie, to arrange a flight of VA wines. He responded incredibly with a beautiful flight.

Charlie deserves a special shout-out here not only for being so willing to oblige, but for being passionate and knowledgeable about them. The regular restaurant wine list does feature the wines and the first wine listed below was complimentary bottle in their Riverstead farmhouse where we stayed. I often rant about restaurants which brag about their local roots and fail to follow through (looking at you, Greenhouse Tavern in CLE!) – this was a big exception and win.

I was impressed with the overall quality of VA wines (and had enjoyed some before.) While some things are stylistically not to my liking, the quality was definitely there.

2008 Villa Appalaccia Winery Pinot Grigio - USA, Virginia, Northern Region, Blue Ridge Foothills (4/1/2010)
Slightly saline-y nose. Very crisp and light with nice persistence. Clean, slight peach and citrus-acidity. Balanced. Very pleasant.
2005 Kluge Estate Brut Blanc de Blancs SP - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Albemarle County (4/1/2010)
(Townhouse Grill, Chilhowie VA) Light and crisp with a really nice minerally persistence. Blossoms. Balanced and complete in a light vibe. (I think this wine is ill-served labelled as BdB as it gives rise to an expectation of more body and power.) Edges of fresh cheese notes and very clean finish. Really well-done in its style and delightful. (It say something about this wine that we kept drinking it even in the company of the more robust Selosse Substance.)

2009 Jefferson Vineyards Chardonnay - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/1/2010)
(Town House Grill, Chilhowie VA) Really nice. Light nose with apricot and slight vanilla. Leafy elements too. On the palate, a delightful balance of tropical fruits with kiss of vanilla and a subtle creaminess. Harmonious. Very impressed.

N.V. Villa Appalaccia Winery Toscanello - USA, Virginia, Northern Region, Blue Ridge Foothills (4/1/2010)
(Townhouse Grill, Chilhowie VA) Pretty color. Nice nose w/ fruit and stems. Svelte, heading to lean. Green elements which grow to dominate. (Blend of Sangio and Cab Franc.) Never harmonized.
2005 Barboursville Vineyards Octagon - USA, Virginia, Central Region, Monticello (4/1/2010)
(Town House Grill, Chilhowie VA) Good stuff. On the cusp of modern for me, but holds very resolute with a nice square structure. Solid dark fruits, good backbone of acids and tannins. Holds a really good vibe and expresses the Meritage blend in a clever fashion. Quite enjoyable.

Our son, Top Chef fan extraordinaire, insisted we visit runner-up Kevin’s restaurant, Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. His schtick is very much local and seasonal and the wine list does have several Georgia wines embedded in it. I was intrigued especially since some of the varieties listed were ones I rarely see domestically. I had hoped to arrange a flight, but the sommelier there was less obliging. I decided to bite the bullet, order three bottles, sample lightly (I was driving) and take the remainders. I do have to say the sommelier was knowledgeable about GA wines, but I do wish he had been more accommodating as I suspect (and his conversation confirmed) that interest in GA wines is not so common.

One aside here is that the price points are not very friendly (40-55$ / bottle). The restaurant mark-ups were typical – I do wish a locally-focused restaurant would take a bit less to make the local wines more available – so the retail price point is still steep (20-30$). Even the wine I did like a lot is comparable to wines at half that price. I appreciate that the difficulties and factors that go into making wines in places like GA and that will reflect in pricing, but there has to be a break for consumers there somewhere. Desire to ‘go local’ aside, it just becomes irrational consumer behavior to pay double for an equivalent.

2008 Persimmon Creek Seyval Blanc - USA, Georgia (4/6/2010)
(Woodfire Grill, ATL) Really nice. Lovely nose of grass and vine cuttings. Crisp and bright on the top with a nice lingering citrus leaf and fruit. Light, balanced and really on point. Blind, would swear it was Sauv Blanc. Lovely sipping wine with apps and cheeses. A very nice wine all around. Well done.

2005 Frogtown Touche' - USA, Georgia, Lumpkin County (4/6/2010)
(Woodfire Grill, ATL) Dark color. Nice nose with a start of dark fruits which sadly get washed away by mocha and vanilla. Palate follows suit though there is some good structure and balance but the overall effect is the treatment and latent elements of extraction. In this style - which will appeal - it is a good effort and has merit. Airing just accentuated the treatment elements and the structure failed to stay apace. Just too "avant-garde" (their term) for me.
2006 Tiger Mountain Vineyards TNT - USA, Georgia (4/6/2010)
(Woodfire Grill ATL) Interesting wine. A unique mix of Touriga Nacional and Tannat. Nice color. Light in body. (11.5% abv). Nice nose with earthy edges, slightly mushroomy. Acidic fruit on a nice vibe, but lacking structure and body. Plummy on the finish with some leather and mineral edges, but again just not enough overall to carry the wine. Certainly not a bad wine, but has the unfortunate aspect of making me wish for more of what was there.

Villa Appalaccia

Kluge Estate

Jefferson Vineyards

Barboursville Vineyards

Persimmon Creek

Frogtown Cellars

Tiger Mountain Vineyards

Ohio Wine Tasting Notes

2010-04-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

A big lazy way to generate some content? Sure, but I do have a lot of tasting notes on Ohio wines going back to preparing for the Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2009.

Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2010

First and foremost, I have to mention a unique experience at the winter Ohio Grape Grower’s conference. Not a great wine, but something memorable :

1992 Valley Vineyards Seyval Blanc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (2/20/2010)
Incredible nose of potpourri and old perfume (Coty?). Acidic and tart, very fleeting on the palate, but an amazing nose that evolved and developed cinnamon spicing as well. Super cool to experience a hybrid at this age. Still can recall that nose two month later when I got around to transcribing this note.

A couple of bottles also of Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve too.

2001 – Smokey and reductive/rubber on the nose. Thin and off-flavors. Not bad, not good either.

2002 – VV nose with dusty elements. Nice tart cherry, good kind of thin, light body. Nice tart finish though persisted into a Ludens-like vibe. Overall good stuff.

At the same conference, I got to taste a bunch of wines from the OARDC’s test vineyards. To put in proper context, these wines are not meant as finished products for consumers but as experiments with the variety, winemaking, grape-growing or other factors.

- 2008 Traminette (Wooster) Lovely nose typical of Tram then a nice follow-through with a touch of sweet. Nicely handled.

- 2008 Chardonnay (Wooster) Clean and nice. Precise.

- 2008 Riesling (Wooster) Also clean and correct. Nice.

- 2008 Frontenac Rosé (Wooster) Nice rosé with good acid and touch of sweet structure.

-2008 Cabernet Franc (Lake Erie) Tight and trim with restrained fruit. Good stuff.

-2008 Late Harvest Vidal Nice florals and crisp, though got bitter and bite-y potpourri elements too.

Also had the interesting experience of having an OARDC version of a Lake Erie Cabernet Franc alongside a commercial version from the same vineyard. The OARDC version was better for a reason I keep harping on – less use of oak.

Prelude to the Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash

As part of selecting the wines for the Clash, I held a group tasting of Ohio wines to help in picking Ohio’s representatives. The wines are listed in the ranked preferences. With the Ohio wines are ringers from other areas. As you can see the Ohio wines did quite well.

Whites

2008 Kinkead Ridge Riesling - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Soft nose. Bland and flat on my palate with acids not being bright. My tasters wholly disagreed. Top white. (1/5)

2008 La Vigna Proprietary White Wine - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Lemon poppy seed nose. Nice dry precision and a mineral dusty finish. Very nice. Tasters agreed and very tiny variance in scores. (2/5)

2007 Ferrante Riesling Golden Bunches - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/26/2009)
Nice lime notes and slight oil on the nose. More going on that usual here with a good depth on the finish. Minerality backing as well. Not as liked by my tasters (3/5)

2007 Left Foot Charley Riesling - USA, Michigan, Old Mission Peninsula (9/26/2009)
A fakey-petrol aspect on the nose. Seafood aspects. Very disharmonious and hard to figure out. Tasters also. (3/5)

2006 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Estate Riesling Dry - Germany, Rheingau (9/26/2009)
Heavy petrol - just too-too as it overpowers lime and dulls the wine out. Not liked at all by tasters. (5/5)

Pinot Noir

2005 Maple Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (9/26/2009)
Nice funk on the nose with cured cherries. Really tight and coil with cherry juice. Unwound with a lovely structure and precision. Held a really nice vibe even expressing some soil and blood. All but one taster concurred. Top Pinot (1/7)

2007 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Russell Family Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (9/26/2009)
Very Loring with loaded berries and a nice Ruebenesque body. Good power and balance. Well-liked by tasters. (2/7)

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Noir Pinot Vista - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/26/2009)
Neat tarry and strange flowers nose. Lots of good fruit and a nice structure. Generally like by tasters with a couple of exceptions. (3/7)

N.V. Ferrante Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/26/2009)
A bit soft. Nice, but dull. Middle of pack for tasters (4/7)

2008 2 Lads Pinot Noir - USA, Michigan, Old Mission Peninsula (9/26/2009)
Consistent with 8/27 note. Nice dark fruits came a bit more to the fore. I liked this more than my tasters. (5/7)

2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Pinot Noir Reserve - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/26/2009)
Smokey-oak nose. Some good structure underneath, but too suppressed and not delivering enjoyment. (6/7)

2004 Faiveley Bourgogne - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne (9/26/2009)
Harsh and yukky. Tasters agree. (7/7)

Meritage Varieties and Blends

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Lots of juicy fruit on the nose and dominating the top palate. Very broad. Really well-like by my tasters - top of the Meritage flight. (1/8)

2005 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Very nice overall. Well-rounded Cab fruit with balance. A slight off-edge to me, but still a really nice wine. Tasters concurred (2/8)

2007 South River Winery Karma - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/26/2009)
Yammy nose and oak prickles. Hot. Disjointed. My tasters generally liked it though. (3/8)

2004 Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Not unlike the 5/5 notes, but dirtier and less sculpted. Liked by tasters in general. (3/8)

2003 Markko Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (9/26/2009)
Slight oxidative nose. Dried fruit, leafy notes. Held together by a charming vibe. Back and forth between yes and no. Top Meritage for one taster, but generally middle of pack (5/8)

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Nice fruit but really bound in a mocha and structure cage. Hard to evaluate. Tasters felt the same (6/8)

2007 La Vigna Proprietary Red Wine - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Like 9/8 note, but less enjoyable and more loose. Panned by tasters (7/8)

2004 Roth Cabernet Sauvignon Estate - USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley (9/26/2009)
Naptha elements on the nose. Yukky on the palate. Tasters agreed. (8/8)

Off-dry Whites

2008 Meranda-Nixon Winery Traminette - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Consistent with 5/09 note.

2008 River Village Cellars (Kinkead Ridge) Traminette Rock Springs Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/26/2009)
Some nice Traminette qualities, but feels very artificial and confected.

Local Matters sponsored an Ohio wine tasting.

2007 Ferrante Riesling Golden Bunches - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/8/2009)
(Local Matters Wine Tasting @HouseWine) Consistent with 9/26 with more mineral water/sweet on the finish. Nice.

2007 Firelands Winery Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio, Isle St. George (10/8/2009)
(Local Matters Wine Tasting @HouseWine) Interesting nose reeling in raw/green to almost flawed. Nice acids, a lot of vegetal elements which many will loathe, but barely kept on the near side of acceptable for me. OK, with those caveats.

2005 Firelands Winery Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Ohio, Isle St. George (10/8/2009)
(Local Matters Wine Tasting @HouseWine) Totally consistent w/ previous note.

2008 Firelands Winery Gewürztraminer - USA, Ohio, Isle St. George (10/8/2009)
(Local Matters Wine Tasting @HouseWine) Really pretty aromatics. Light body, good crispness. Solid overall.

2007 Ferrante Chardonnay Signature Series - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/8/2009)
(Local Matters Wine Tasting @HouseWine) Dominated by the oak. Flabby Chard fruit underneath. No.

And all the rest …

2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Pinot Gris St. Fiacre - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/9/2010)
Slight spritz. Very consistent with 4/20/09 note though less crisp and lighter on the elements.

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Fume' Blanc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (4/9/2010)
Hmm. Muted compared to previous though certainly not bad. In a place between strong varietal SB and where mineral/secondary/terroir would emerge ... except I am not sure what there is to emerge from GRV.

2008 Harpersfield Vineyard Cuvée de Deux - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (3/28/2010)
Consistent with previous notes. Really nice aromatics.

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (1/31/2010)
Nice juicy fruit with currant-y elements and a clove-y underpinning. Well-knit, a touch of fruit sweetness but acids in balance too. Very enjoyable.

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (1/31/2010)
Overwhelming sweetness and viciously candy. Lashing of the treatment give vanilla/rock candy. Some volatile elements too. Certainly gobs of fruit and structure there as well. Neither of us able to drink a glass, but this may go somewhere.

2008 Valley Vineyards Syrah - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (12/27/2009)
Oak notes overwhelm a pretty decent Syrah fruit. A little better than OK.

2007 Ferrante Riesling Golden Bunches - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/31/2009)
Nice lime notes and slight oil on the nose. More going on that usual here with a good depth on the finish. Minerality backing as well. Not as liked by my tasters (3/5)

2008 Raven's Glenn Traminette Autumn Spice - USA, Ohio, Tuscarawas River Valley (10/14/2009)
Nice Trammy nose on the good restrained side. Nice acids upfront with a solid fruit character. Very nice middle which grows and holds a good bead. Medium finish w/o the abrupt Traminette fashion and some orange bitters. Really nice - a top notch Traminette.

N.V. Heritage Vineyards Traminette - USA, Ohio (10/14/2009)
Slightly soapy nose (two glasses, so not it) with over ripe melon aspects. Cheap floral perfumes on the palate. Light sweetness and the finish improves the floral qualities. So-so.

2007 South River Winery Exodus - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/14/2009)
Vanilla and raw sugar nose. Nice solid fruit underneath layers of treatment. I fear the worst...
But am proven wrong. Day two brought a more integrated wine with the fruit taking over the middle and the treatment being only a sidelight and mellowed.

2007 Firelands Winery Merlot - USA, Ohio, Isle St. George (10/14/2009)
Stemmy nose. Nice clear color. Light body. Pretty cherry fruit and a little chewy grip. Nice finish with some acids and a little mocha hint. Light overall, but nice.

N.V. Laurello Vineyard Muscat Muscat Blanc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/14/2009)
Peach and floral nose - on the dimmed side. Nice freshness and orange flower aspects. Light on the palate. Lacks cut and precision, but nice.

2007 Laurello Vineyard Josephine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/14/2009)
Soft, but nice aromatics - like a steel needle backing a light potpourri. Bright citrusy fruit upfront, but smokey/leesy rasp in the middle and finish. Nice dry down elements and a nice fruit left. Would be much more pleasant w/o that rasp.

N.V. The Winery at Otter Creek Corot Noir - USA, Ohio (10/10/2009)
(Twice w/ consistent notes) Basic fruit with slight touch of treatment. Some plastic notes. Soft, medium finish. Not bad.

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Noir Pinot Vista - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/9/2009)
Tight Pinot fruit on the nose with side florals. A but choppy on the palate but correct structure. Tight, coral notes. Nice restrained elegance on the finish with the fruit central. Really nice.

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (10/9/2009)
Mulled spice fruit on the nose. Nice currant-y notes on the top. Very bold and bright with solid ripe fruit and a licorice backbite. Well-integrated. Not to my liking in styling, but overall fine quality.

2008 Ferrante Pinot Grigio - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/9/2009)
No nose. Slight maple syrup note. Thin, a bit reedy. Develops floral/talc aspects on the nose and palate. More peachy later. Has nice qualities, but also doesn't hold a vibration.

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/9/2009)
Odd oak and burnt notes on the nose - like burnt fruit pie. Some reduction elements. Time sent it more off-kilter with oak being 2x4 and putty-like. Not enjoyable.

2008 Harpersfield Vineyard Cuvée de Deux - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/9/2009)
Consistent with 9/2 with a little thicker texture and slightly sloppy finish to start. Time knit it somewhat. Really lovely delicacy on the top is the take-home element.

2008 Kinkead Ridge Révélation - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (10/9/2009)
Much different than previous. Very shrill on the palate and little nose. Flat and dulled finished. No.

2008 Kinkead Ridge Riesling - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (10/9/2009)
Nice nose with honey and apple elements. Bright on the palate with a nice crispness and subliminal sweetness. Nice dried herbs on the finish and mineral-lite.

2007 Ferrante Vidal Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (10/8/2009)
Sweet nectarine juice with Looza-like elements. Not bad, but not at a really interesting place either.

2007 Ferrante Chardonnay Reserve Peter Sr. Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/16/2009)
Oak and butter notes more predominant on the nose. Follows up with less balance than previous bottles. Has a nice vibe and persistence. Good bitters notes. A bit disjointed overall, but still good.

2008 Firelands Winery Riesling - USA, Ohio, Isle St. George (9/16/2009)
Apple/malic on the nose and palate. Some sugar. Thin and reedy too. Doesn't carry itself well. Not balanced.

2008 Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc Rosé - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/15/2009)
Same qualities as 6/09, but still marred by imprecision and flab.

2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (9/14/2009)
Dark fruits and a slight smoke on the nose. Big fruit rush. Short on the finish. Really disjointed. Plenty of good stuff in the mix with a slight green pepper and flannel aspect. Hard to evaluate.

A visit to Ravenhurst / Busch-Harris

2010-04-05T12:51:00.000-04:00

The Lake Erie shore and the Ohio River Valley tend to dominant discussions about Ohio wines. There are quality producers in central Ohio ( Quality in my backyard? ) and I have been equally guilt in giving them short-shrift. One of the oldest is Ravenhurst Champagne Cellars (no website). There wines are on the list at one of the top restaurants in central Ohio ( The Refectory ) and I have very much enjoyed their top of the line sparkling for its aged-Champagne-like qualities.

I have never taken the opportunity to visit and rectified that when returning from a snowboarding trip at Mad River Mountain. They were not open for tasting, but I did purchase a case of their wines (they are not commonly for sale at retail) and, since they were sold out, the last bottle of their Terre Riche at a local drive-thru. I then invited some of my usual gang of local, local wine-tasters for a tasting. The notes are mine and there was a rare degree of uniformity with my tasters.

RAVENHURST / BUSCH-HARRIS - (2/27/2010)

First off were the sparkling wines.

N.V. Ravenhurst Blanc de Blanc - USA, Ohio
Good mousse. Slight funk on the nose. Very light and short on the finish, but a good finesse and some fruit. Just on the positive side of enjoyable and will likely knit together some more. (Liked less by my tasters. )
N.V. Ravenhurst La Terre Riche Brut Rosé - USA, Ohio
Ugly color - candy pink. Nice body and structure with a good persistence. Slightly lemonhead fruit and nice crispness. Good. (Very liked with a couple of exceptions.)
N.V. Ravenhurst Petit Rouge - USA, Ohio
Cruciform nose. Some good fruit and body, but also displaying that same funk and not in balance.
N.V. Ravenhurst Chambourcin Brut Noir - USA, Ohio
Cough syrup on the nose and palate. Or maybe cheap cherry lambic according to a friend. Just not correct.

N.V. Ravenhurst La Terre Riche Grande Cuvee - USA, Ohio
Damn. Nice sherried character on the with a full body, beautiful tiny mousse. Develops a kettle corn nose and a cider-y aged Calvados aspect on the finish - in a very good way. Stylish and perspicacious. Really loved it. (Greatly like by the tasters and really revelatory.)

It is a shame they are not making this anymore.

Under the Busch Harris label, they make a series of still wines.

2007 Busch Harris Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio
Not much nose. Thin, some berry elements. Metallic grill grate cleaning scent/taste. Stems. Not integrated and overall lacking.
2008 Busch Harris Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio
Odd nose with garden elements. Nice berry juice quality on the palate. Dr Pepper aspects. Very tight and tannic. Overall good. (My tasters liked it more than I.)
2006 Busch Harris Cabernet Sauvignon Second Son of Hammer - USA, Ohio
Not good. Oak, alcohol. Off-tannins. A mess.

In years where conditions are right, they make botrytis-ized sweet wine. Two of the vintages in particular were really good and worth special consideration. Greatly loved by the tasters.

2007 Ravenhurst Deux Corbeaux - USA, Ohio
Oatmeal on the nose. Slight cognac element from alcohol. Liqueur and honey elements. Odd finish with artificial element. Nice legs and overall good.

2006 Ravenhurst Deux Corbeaux - USA, Ohio
Green, herbal bitters on the nose, slightly acrid. Good sweetness and acidity and white pepper on the finish. Green bitter elements do overwhelm and this doesn't work.

2004 Ravenhurst Deux Corbeaux - USA, Ohio
Nice honeyed nose with some poire and spice. Really pretty textures with a delicate finish. Balanced and on point all around. Very nice.

Posted from CellarTracker

Hiatus

2010-04-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

Oinos Nervosa went on a long hiatus after the effort to produce the Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash. A desire to drink less combined with too much work to be done elsewhere. I plan to be posting more regularly now.

Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2009

2009-11-10T08:04:00.001-05:00

I’ve been a slack on updates here as I have been getting ready for my main Ohio wine event, the Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2009. Just a quick update with the results and I will write up a more narrative account the wines and the organizing of the Clash.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Congratulations to the winners of the Ohio vs. Michigan Wine Clash 2009

(Columbus, Ohio – November 5, 2009) Ahead of the legendary gridiron clash, wine lovers in Michigan and Ohio assembled to determine whose wines would triumph in a head-to-head clash. Eleven of the top wines were chosen from each state and judged in both Columbus and Ann Arbor by panels of wine lovers, writers and professionals.

The State of Michigan reigned supreme in 2009 with the overall winning wine (Longview “Winter Ice” 2007) and four of the top five ranked wines. In order of ranking with number of first place votes:

1. Longview Winery and Vineyard “Winter Ice” 2007 (Dessert Wine) Leelanau Peninsula MI (4)

2. 2 Lads Cabernet Franc Reserve 2007 (Dry Red) Old Mission Peninsula MI (2)

3. Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc 2007 (Dry Red) Ohio River Valley OH (2)

4. Gill’s Pier Meritage 2007 (Dry Red) (1)

5. Wyncroft Avonlea Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007 (Dry Red) MI (1)

Jump to full results table

“I am honored and excited to win this award, our first regional award,” said Alan Eaker of Longview Winery and Vineyard from his vineyards in the middle of 2009’s harvest. “This is a great time for wines and wine lovers.”

The real winners are the consumers of Michigan and Ohio who have an array of quality local wines to enjoy. “The selection process was very hard and rigorous this year with so many quality wines from both states,” said organizer Andrew Hall, “Any of the entrants would be welcome on my table.”

Both Ohio and Michigan share a century-old tradition of viticulture which was wrecked by Prohibition but has re-emerged in recent times. From the Ohio River Valley to the upper shores of Lake Michigan, growers and winemakers are working hard to create unique and quality wines. This event was created in 2008 to showcase these local efforts and in the context of our storied local football rivalry. This is the only purely consumer-selected judging of wines in either state and is limited to wines from grapes grown in their respective state.

“There were a lot of good wines from both states,” commented one of the judges, “and I hope that people will give them a chance. Restaurants and consumers are starting to care a lot about local produce and wines should follow.” Another commented that it was a treat to taste the wines as neither state's distribution system currently offers consumers any wines from the other state.

For further information, please contact Andrew Hall

Slow Food Columbus sponsored this event as part of its Taste Education series.

The Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2009 greatly appreciates the support of Twisted Vine in Columbus and Vinology in Ann Arbor.

Ohio Wines at Retail : Statehouse Museum Shop is Fail

2009-09-24T20:12:00.001-04:00

In a previous entry, I lauded the Ohio Statehouse Museum Shop for having a pretty good selection of Ohio wines. I take that back now. I was told that they were due for a major restock in July which has clearly not happened. Except for a reasonable amount of the latest Kinkead Ridge releases, there is nothing new on the shelves and the shelves are pretty barren.

Since I visited, the Ohio Quality Wine program has anointed over a dozen wines, none of which can be found on the shelves. I even found the sad sight of a bottle of Pinot Noir labeled ‘American.’ Big fail.

This is just pathetic. I recognize that the Gift Shop at the Statehouse is never going to be a prime mover of Ohio wine, but there is no excuse for this dismal display. If budgets are tight (the excuse I’ve heard), it is better to just stop selling wine rather than tarnish the image of Ohio wines with an anemic selection as well as the debatable storage conditions for wines that linger.

This venue is a chance for Ohio wine to put its best foot forward and possibly capture mind share from the myriad of people who pass through. Honestly, they should be pouring and pimping. At minimum though, this should be a showcase and a memorable (often first) encounter with Ohio wines. The Museum Shop at the Statehouse gets a major FAIL.

Ohio Quality Wine Seal : Good Idea with some really bad execution

2009-09-22T20:15:00.001-04:00

In a (mostly) good faith effort to stand the ground for Ohio estate-grown wines, the Ohio Grape Industries and OSU’s Agricultural Research and Development Center run a program called Ohio Quality Wines. (Good faith in contrast to the Sham of the Ohio Wine Competition.) Twice a year, a tasting panel convenes and evaluates the wines submitted for this program. Only wines with at least 90% Ohio grapes are eligible. While this process is marred by the fact the objective roll call of top producers is absent from this list (submission is voluntary and these producers don’t find it worth their time), it is worth noting the most recent batch of wines awarded this Ohio Quality Wine Seal. I have tasted a couple of these and my notes are below the list. Some are not released yet. I may have to do a full tasting of these soon …

I have one specific problem with their methodology though – if they want to help Ohio consumer’s, stop awarding the seal to wines w/o vintage labelling!!! The reason for this strong admonition – and I find this a big problem – is to be found at the end of the tasting notes.

Ferrante Winery & Ristorante

2008 Gewurztraminer Grand River Valley
2008 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine Grand River Valley
2008 Signature Series Riesling Grand River Valley
2008 Signature Series Cabernet Franc Grand River Valley
2008 Vidal Blanc Grand River Valley

Maize Valley Winery

NV LaCrescent Ohio
NV Traminette Ohio

Raven's Glenn Winery

2008 White October Ohio
2008 Scarlet Raven Ohio

Terra Cotta Vineyards

NV Country Ridge Ohio
NV Chambourcin Ohio

Valley Vineyards

2008 Syrah Ohio River Valley
2008 Ice Wine Ohio River Valley
2008 Cabernet Franc Ohio River Valley

My notes :

2008 Ferrante Vidal Blanc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009) Light floral nose. Nice overall with good acids and a blowsy feeling of summer grasses. Simple wine, but delivers.

2008 Raven’s Glenn White October – USA, Ohio (7/10/2009) (Chardonel ) Past vintages of this have been compelling, but this was flat and held little interest. Disappointing.

2008 Maize Valley Traminette – USA, Ohio (7/10/2009) Really nice. Captured the Traminette wild florals and maintained a good finish. Upper tier of Tram.

N.V. Terra Cotta Vineyards Chambourcin - USA, Ohio (6/20/2009) Chai-like spice on the nose. Dark color. Nice fresh juicy acid fruits - red currants, but treatment elements really come across. Soft on the finish with mocha overpowering some nice currant and licorice-tinged fruits. I suspect a different bottling than what I had in Feb. Not good - room to improve if it can correct itself over time.

February’s short note: Nice fruit, a good smoothness to the textures. Nice.

Here is the big problem and why there should be no recognition for non-vintage labeled wines. How is a consumer to have any idea what wine they are getting? It could be any batch and even if the winery is not highly variable (many are and some are duplicitous about it), who knows how long this wine has sat on a retailer’s shelf or if the horrible distributors in Ohio are sending out older product w/o telling the store? If the OQW seal is to help consumers, confusion must be eliminated. There is just too much variability and lack of control in the system for the Quality Seal to mean anything in this context.

Article on Shamrock Vineyards

2009-09-16T19:56:00.001-04:00

Nice article on Shamrock Vineyards in the Marion Star.

Haven’t been up there in a long time, but it is always an interesting visit.

RIP Peter Ferrante Sr

2009-09-16T14:15:00.003-04:00

I am sad to report that Peter Ferrante Sr of the eponymous winery has passed away. Ferrante is the largest family-owned winery in Ohio and it was his drive and passion that made it so. His family carries on his work, but he will be missed.

Winery Patriach Dies

Grand River Valley Visit - Thanks

2009-09-10T22:47:00.001-04:00

I was inexcusably remiss in not thanking Jim at Ferrante and Doreen at St. Joseph for spending time with us and sharing their wines and insights.

Thanks to Doreen for opening up the tasting room and sharing your wines. It was a pleasure to meet you finally and learn more in depth about St. Joseph.

Thanks Jim for traipsing around the vineyards and taking us ‘backstage.’ Always fun to spend time with you and learn from your depth of experience in the non-vinous aspect of the business.

I didn’t catch the name of the person at Harperfield’s tasting room, but she was also extremely helpful and gracious - that pizza got us through to dinner! Thanks to you as well.

Ohio River Valley 2007 Cabernet Shoot-out

2009-09-09T23:12:00.001-04:00

The year 2007 ended up kindly for the Ohio River Valley where a warm and dry Fall blessed the vines whose fruit survived the frosts and stresses of the Spring. Red wines were particularly blessed and the grapes produced wines across Ohio with beautifully ripe fruit. Red wines from structured grapes like Cabernet tend to spend about a year in barrel and are often released 18-24 months after the harvest. Labor Day, with harvest about a month away, has been a traditional day for open house and release parties at the wineries. With the current releases now all on retail, this was a good time to taste and compare the wines from the top three wineries in the Ohio River Valley.

With the help of a local restaurant, all three wines were blind-bagged and poured for myself and three companions. We tasted and re-tasted all of them and compared impressions before revealing the wines. (The only problem, solely mine for pulling the wines from the cellar too early, was all were really too warm.) We re-tasted and compared them again during and after dinner to get an impression of how the wines held up and worked with food.

Before I get to the details, here is the take home point : All three wines were quality not just for Ohio, but on a larger scale. It would be very interesting to throw three Cabernets from more renown regions up against these three wines. If we keep the price points similar, I have confidence that these three wines would not be out of place.

Wine #1 Nice nose of fruit. Developed menthol and mocha with time. Slight sour edge, light body. Nice side view of fruit. A bit tart in a nice way. Good balance. Very smooth finish initially. Time gave oak and imbalance more prominence. Three votes for favorite. Less enjoyed by end of evening with the oak really dominating. [ 2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley) ] 18.99$

Wine #2 Dark, bruised fruit nose. Big and brassy textures. Very broad and sloppy on the palate. Peppery notes and spice.Fighting tannins. Crushed leaves and tea finish. Got very imprecise over time and overly styled. One vote for top from a taster who really like the peppery aspects. Started as most complex wine, but also faltered and treatment aspects took over. [2007 La Vigna Proprietary Red Wine (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)] (Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon blend) 23.99$

Wine #3 Oak and sour on the nose. Palate follows, but not dominantingly so. A shaky edge. Light mouthfeel initially, but grows with grip and slashy edge. Definite alcohol heat (needed to be cooler in temp.) Goes a bit glycemic and way primary. More time rounded it out and the wine recoiled into a nicer, more restrained and fruit-centric package. Consensus best wine with the food after about 1.5 hrs open. Held a good bead. [2007 Meranda-Nixon Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)] 34.99$

All three wines were of very good quality and the overwhelming consensus was that it was pleasurable to drink any of them. The Kinkead Ridge, most preferred to start with, was also clearly young and not settled. Nancy, from Kinkead Ridge, recommends waiting until at least November to drink this. Absolutely concur. This will be a perfect companion to Thanksgiving dinner.

LaVigna proclaims this red wine to be easily ageable for 20 yrs. I am skeptical. The vineyards themselves as well as the region just doesn’t yet have the track record and self-knowledge to make these predictions. Layering up oak and very ripe fruit isn’t enough and the imprecision of this wine makes me very skeptical. Not to say this wine doesn’t have merit.

I (and one of my companions) had had the Meranda-Nixon the night before as well. This bottle was way more primary and alcohol-apparent than the previous night’s. Time resolved this out to a certain extent, but I suspect the wine being warmer had a lot to do with it. While I am not sure about the higher price on this wine, I am consistently a fan of it (now sold out at the winery.)

Grand River Valley Visit Tasting Notes

2009-09-09T08:26:00.001-04:00

The Grand River Valley AVA in Northeastern Ohio is one of the most vineyard dense in Ohio and one of the centers of quality. It has a nice combination of the climate-buffering feature of Lake Erie as well as valley’s geography. A deeper exploration of the terroir of this area will have to wait for another time though. I was going up to a wine dinner in Cleveland and decided to make a quick day trip to visit some of the top producers in the Grand River Valley.

This post is just the tasting notes from the visit. A few words about the wineries will follow another time.

One bit of serious business : Of the four wineries we visited, ONE (St Joseph) had a spit bucket available w/o asking and water ready to go. Come on, people! That is truly unacceptable. The guest who ~~wants~~ – NEEDS to spit should not have to wave dramatically with a full mouth. Wine drinking is fun, but the default option should be to taste and spit. The last thing the beautiful Grand River Valley needs is a dead cyclist or motorist because winery visitors are not encourage to spit. Get it right!

St. Joseph Vineyard

2006 St. Joseph Vineyards Cabernet Franc Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Strawberries on the nose and palate. Nice lightness and persistence.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Merlot - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Lush blackberry nose. Tannic and tight, both pushy and grippy. Finishes off with tobacco and tar. Way primary. Has good potential based on the stuffing.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Gris Pinot Vista Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Funky nose with nitro/bomb elements. Thick body, but really nice acids on the finish. Texture from slight residual sugar, guava elements. Medium finish.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Pinot Noir Pinot Vista - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Bramble and stemmy nose, fruit and some pork-like meat. Very primary and not resolved - bitter tannins and fruit with red pepper tinges. Good elements, hard to see if arrayed correctly, but potential is there.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Riesling - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): (Been open 2 days.) Nice crystal and structural nose. Light, apple-y and honeycomb. Texture like flower powder. Nice restraint on the fruit. Nice.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Sangiovese - USA, Ohio (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): (50% Estate / 50% Sonoma) Nice orange peel and liqueur nose. Muddled fruits. Good intensity and a scribble-y texture. Drying finish, short.
2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Fume' Blanc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Nice grapefruit and lime zest nose. Upfront with citrus and a very nice cut. Good persistence and zip, but soft on the finish. Ups in intensity with subsequent sip. Nice. (Some Semillon in there.)

Harpersfield

2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Nice fresh green herbs on the nose. Bleeds to medicinal on the palate. Very short finish. So-so. Could be closed and go somewhere better.
2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Gewürztraminer - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Peaches and musk melon on the nose and palate. Nice spice. Reasonable acids. Overall good effect.
2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Pinot Gris St. Fiacre - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Gunpowder and acrid notes here. Wispy on the palate, then thick. No.
2007 Harpersfield Vineyard Pinot Noir clos mes amis - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Light color. Nice fruit and spice. Earth tones provide a backing. Very light in structure, but carries an appearance of solidity. Nice slippery fillip on the finish. Very nice.
2008 Harpersfield Vineyard Cuvée de Deux - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): (Muscat Ottonel and Kerner) Pretty nose of fruit flowers. Very sharp and crisp with peach tones and Chanel 5 top note (ylang-ylang). Nice balance. Good stuff.

Ferrante

2008 Ferrante Vidal - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Light floral nose. Nice overall with good acids and a blowsy feeling of summer grasses. Simple wine, but delivers.
2006 Ferrante Reserve Red - USA, American (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Nice fruit on the nose, hints of the oak. Very tight and reserved. Good structure and tight lines. Nice fruit in there. Solid.
2007 Ferrante Cabernet Franc Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Strawberry in a light form with a nice little tannic grip. Enjoyable.
2007 Ferrante Chardonnay - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Chard-lite like previous note, but in a more positive way. Creamy integrated and better balance.
2007 Ferrante Chardonnay Reserve Peter Sr. Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Slight oak on the nose and palate - not on the bad side. Nice limestone and rubble-y elements. Almost a fruity pebbles take on the fruit (though dry). Nice dry-down with acids and a lingering complexity. Solid. Very good.
2008 Ferrante Pinot Grigio - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Light nose of fruit and wax. Good peachy fruit and some stone-y backing. Light finish with nice persistence. Crisp and clean. Good.
N.V. Ferrante Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): (Local purchased fruit, all 2007, preparing for own fruit in subsequent vintages) Hummus and forest floor nose. Stemmy note on the palate. Some good textures, but pushed aside for too soft and plush - no edge or vibe. A good effort and not bad, but an incomplete wine.

Grand River Cellars

2008 Grand River Cellars Riesling - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Poir cidre on the nose and follows through on the palate. Nice clean and bright, short finish. The poire thing is pretty cool and gives this a different vibe.

N.V. Grand River Cellars Austin's Red - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/2/2009)
Grand River Valley (Ohio) Winery Visits (Ohio): Yammy and oxidative smell. Soft and pale on the palate. Dull. Not so much.

Soine Vineyards : Quality in my backyard?

2009-09-01T21:49:00.003-04:00

When we think of Ohio’s wine-growing areas, we tend to leave out the middle. Both the Ohio River Valley and the Lake Erie shore have long histories of viticulture and our stout middle just seems more suited for corn. My experience tends to affirm that wines this perception is accurate when it comes to quality. I was surprised to learn about a relatively new producer just North of Columbus and right off of one of my favorite cycling routes. Soine Vineyards.

I visited the winery back in June (and have been a real slug about writing this up. The winery and vineyards are located off a typical Central Ohio farm road. These are young vineyards, not fully up to producing all the wines for the winery.

The line-up of wines, mostly estate, were of pretty good overall quality. There is one standout wine which merits special note:

Serenity. NV Ohio This is a blend of Vidal, Traminette and Riesling with a gorgeous nose redolent of heritage roses. Too oft Traminette makes these promises with aroma, but doesn’t deliver. This wine follows through on the palate. Definite sweetness, slightly short on acids and structure. Good persistence and very pleasing interplay of the floral and sweet. Very impressed at the winery and two subsequent bottles at home were equally good. Loved by members of my family and guests.

Terravino NV Ohio. Grapey nose with some minty and oak spice. Tart cranberry. A slight chill helps this round out, but nothing particularly noteworthy. Blend of Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc.

Chambourcin 2008 Ohio. Tart and oak. Some berry notes, but goes shrill. Had potential, but a second bottle at home a couple months later was not good at all.

Marechal Foch 2008 Ohio. Nice plummy notes. Low acid, but tight and very nice body. Good expression of Foch, a tough grape to handle. Made from 20% Estate grapes, if my notes are correct. Look forward to what can be done with this down the road when the estate vines mature (and survive.)

Soleil NV Ohio. Nice fruit with definite oak perceptible. Stone fruits and slight spice. Dry. Good quality in there, but I am not a fan of oak treatment on this grape. 100% Seyval Blanc.

Seyval Blanc 2008 Ohio. (100% Estate) Lovely perfume which follows on the palate. Contrast to the Soleil where Seyval’s charms are hidden. Slightly off-balance, but charming. Second bottle at home shows crisper acids and structure. Didn't hold well for long though.

Cayuga 2008 Ohio. Bland. Slight oxidation notes.

Riesling 2008 Ohio. Strong citrus on the palate. Not much nose. Neat finish with grapefruit bitters and an herbal edge. Light body. Nice balance. Good overall.

Fusion NV Ohio. (blush blend of Rosette and Catawba). Sticky and flat. Not good.

I look forward to seeing where this winery goes.

Recent Ohio Wines

2009-08-26T21:37:00.001-04:00

Summer has been busy and I have been training for Pelotonia more than drinking wine. (If you like to support a great cause…) I did attend the North Market Ohio Food and Wine Festival and Vintage Ohio. There are also a few bottles from other situation, but pretty much all of these tasting notes are sample glasses at the events. I focus almost exclusively on wines where the grapes were grown in Ohio. Call that my thing.

One of the highlights of Vintage Ohio is usually the Ice Wine Tent, but this year the wines were almost uniformly not very interesting or dynamic.

At these events, I also skipped or didn’t take notes on wineries where I was familiar with the current releases. Meranda-Nixon’s lineup was showing very well at the North Market event, for example. No order to the presentation, but I highlighted some wines of particular note.

La Vigna

Proprietary White 2008 Ohio River Valley (Petit Manseng) Really, really nice. Grassy nose with herbal edge. Great cut and acidic spine. Tropical fruits. Slight treatment edge, but not problematic. Good stuff.

St. Joseph

Shiraz 2007 Grand River Valley Nice profile to the wine. Oak treatment noticable. Good acid cut and a nice plum character to the fruit. Not bad.

Pinot Noir Reserve 2007 Grand River Valley Very nice Pinot fruit. Good body. Nicely done.

Pinot Noir 2007 Grand River Valley Some reductive notes, tar-like on the nose. Good fruit and a nice finish. Not as complex as Reserve, but solid.

Merlot 2006 Grand River Valley Very Ohio 2006-ish meaning thin and weak.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2006 Grand River Valley On the thin side. Good aromatics though.

Cabernet Franc Ice Wine 2006 Grand River Valley Very nice. Good intensity and dark grape-y notes. Liked it.

Slate Run

Premcess White 2004 Good funk on the nose. Definitive oxidation with some bitter notes, but not enough acid to balance.

Raven’s Glenn

White October Chardonel 2008 Past vintages of this have been compelling, but this was flat and held little interest. Disappointing.

Maize Valley

Chardonel 2008 Nice character from the aromatics. Solid. Second tasting showed crisper, biting notes. Both times short on the finish.

Traminette 2008 Really nice. Captured the Traminette wild florals and maintained a good finish. Upper tier of Tram.

Markko

Riesling ‘Off-dry’ 2007 Really solid and nice. Pear sweetness backed with some minerally power, leading off to petrol. Good balance. Consistent across two tasting.

Riesling “Dry” 2006 Apple and some oil on the nose. Solid apple fruit, mineral. Very taut. Thin body, though not in a bad way. Hard to gauge.

Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005 First flush Darjeeling on the nose. Load of herbs. Light fruit with strong acidic spine. This wine tricks people expecting CA expression of Cab, but is really good on its own terms.

Majestic Pinot Noir 2005 Nice Pinot fruit, definitely on the lean and stemmy side. Good grip. Proper expression of Pinot in a cool climate.

Homage Chardonnay 2006 Nice stuff. Pollen-y nose which plays off the creamy side of the fruit. Addition of 13% Pinot Gris helps the Chard. Nice bitters sides on the finish.

Chardonnay Reserve 2006 Really nice pop of lime stone and crisp fruit. Good linearity.

Stoney Ridge

Editorial : These people bragged to me about the duplicity of their labelling in deliberately not putting origins so they can use whatever. Fucktards.

Marechal Foch 2007 Not awful. Not good either.

Laurello

Cabernet Franc 2007 Grand River Valley Nice fruit. Very clean and taut. Good.

Henke

Vin de Rouge 2008 (not Ohio fruit) Very young and showing too much treatment. Fruit didn’t seem up to it.

Wyandotte

Our Heritage NV (Chambourcin) Very Chambourcin character - for good and ill. Makes it true which is commendable.

J Christ Winery

Cayuga NV Properly Cayuga-y and not bad.

Vin Gris NV Called medium-sweet, but lack of acid makes it go beyond that. For a White Zin drinker. Blah

Grand River Cellars

Pinot Gris 2007 Grand River Valley Slight bitters note. Dry apricot. Nice notes, but alcohol also shows.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine Grand River Valley 2006 OK. Not special.

Buccia

Agawam NV That is the variety, a new one for me. Really beautiful aromatics of floral. Light acid and a nice finish. A little bitter pippy note. Alas, a bottle purchased and opened at home was universally reviled as having grape bubble coating nose and sickly sweet imbalance. Hmm, don’t know what to make of it.

Baco Noir NV Odd fireplace smell and elements of brewer’s yeast. Very thin and acidic non-fruit. Huh.

Reflections of Lake Erie NV Harsh lemon acid like Warheads candy. No.

Klingshirn

Cabernet Franc NV Awful. Thin and green – all the bad sides of Ohio CF.

Debonné

Pinot Gris 2007 Grand River Valley Nice with a good finish. Varietally correct in a very good way.

à Cab NV Grand River Valley (Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon and Chambourcin) Light nose. Really drying tannins, fake like added. Has a nice bite and character, but off balance.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2007 Grand River Valley Very honey essence on nose and palate. Some good cut and vibration too. Best of the Vidal Ice Wines.

Candelight Winery

Riesling NV Innocuous.

Ferrante

Vidal 2008 Grand River Valley Very nice. Not complex, but clean and precise.

Pinot Noir 2007 Grand River Valley Bottle-y tasting. Nice fruit and a good spicey overtone. Needs to settle though.

Gewurztraminer Signature Series 2007 Grand River Valley Light nose with characteristic aromatics. Definite bitter notes. Short finish.

Long Island Bordeaux Blend 2007 Long Island, NY Nice fruit and structure. Oak treatment noticeable, but integrating. Good stuff.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2007 Grand River Valley Nice intensity and sweetness, but lacking the cut I’ve experience from this before.

Firehouse

Chardonnay NV Lake Erie Foul.

Emerine Estates

Pinot Noir “WINE” 2003 Dill and iron skillet nose. Nice body and graceful fruit. A bit short on the finish. Had a nice character and vibe though.

Hermes

Rose 2007 OK. Falls on the sweet side.

Syrah 2007 Solid fruit and very juicy. Nice.

Chardonnay 2007 Tight. Good purity and a mineral edge, though lacking some acidic spine.

Old Mill Winery

Geneva Blanc NV Simple, nice and basic.

Spring Hill

Riesling NV OK. Of type.

Recent Ohio Wine Tasting Notes

2009-06-22T19:53:00.001-04:00

My last post covered a visit to two treasure troves of Ohio wines at retail. While I have been cutting down on wine drinking while training for Pelotonia, I did sample several of the wines over the past week or so. I have plenty more to evaluate and will over the rest of the summer as well as several winery visits planned.

I think this first wine comes from Ohio grapes. It is unlabelled either way which is disappointing. I will say that I love the label which is why it gets feature billing.

N.V. The Winery at Wolf Creek White Lies - USA, Ohio (6/9/2009)
Not a lot of nose. Grapey with pip notes. On the sweet side of the balance. Not complex or deep but has a charm.

White Wines

N.V. Quarry Hill Vignoles - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (6/20/2009)
Medium dark gold color. Slightly tangy nose. Starts off with apple cider character which rapidly becomes almost vinegar in character. I will consider this flawed and/or a shelf relic - which the NV makes impossible to know. NR (flawed)

2007 St. Joseph Vineyards Riesling Pinot Vista Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (6/9/2009)
Nice clean Light sweetness – spatlese-level, maybe. Good acidity. Mineral and a nice persistence with citrus, acacia honey. Good balance and harmony. Well done.

N.V. Rainbow Hills Chardonel - USA, Ohio (6/9/2009)
Lemonheads / Warheads on the tongue. Mild nose, white plum, generic wine. With time, assault recedes. Nice balance of acids and some sweet. Bitter notes. Tangerine notes. Balance slightly off to acids. Nice stuff though. Has its own vibe and groove.

Red Wines

1998 Slate Run Vineyards Premcru - USA, Ohio (6/9/2009)
Browning colour. Light. Bottle stink and slightly dirty feel. Has some rustic and bouncy character. Mature character which held for some time. Generic old Pinot, but that is kind of cool.

N.V. Laurello Vineyard Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (6/9/2009)
Definite contrast previous note - solid juicy fruit. Soft, but clean and vibrant.

N.V. Laurello Vineyard Pinot Noir - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (6/9/2009)
Medium color. Smoke/coffee on the nose. Nice fruit, treatment notes grow over time and it can't keep up. However, it does come back with good Pinot red fruit, nice tart and tea notes. Angular and not much depth, but some nice cold-clime Pinot character.

N.V. Terra Cotta Vineyards Chambourcin - USA, Ohio (6/20/2009)
Chai-like spice on the nose. Dark color. Nice fresh juicy acid fruits - red currants, but treatment elements really come across. Soft on the finish with mocha overpowering some nice currant and licorice-tinged fruits. I suspect a different bottling than what I had in Feb. Not good - room to improve if it can correct itself over time.

N.V. Viking Vineyards Chambourcin - USA, Ohio (6/20/2009)
Nice dark. Not much nose. Black fruits with a pippy core. Nice grip with good tart finish. Slight spice and Chambourcin edge - in a good way. Soft structure, decent weight. Hold a good vibe.

Ohio Wines at Retail : Two Winners

2009-06-12T19:32:00.001-04:00

Last month, I ranted that it was easier to buy a car made in Ohio than a wine made in Ohio. I will stick by that assertion, but need to acknowledge two standouts. I’ve been meaning to make another journey to Gateway Place which I knew about as a serious retailer of Ohio wines, but hadn’t had a chance. Then I learned about Heini’s Gourmet Market’s Buckeye Wine Gallery which is nearby.

Heini’s is a long-established name in Ohio’s Amish country of Holmes/Stark County. A tourist destination for the “Cheese Chalet,” they opened the Gourmet Market in Sugarcreek a few years ago and added the “Buckeye Wine Gallery” soon after.

Right when you walk, there are several racks and shelves, all filled with wines from Ohio producers. These are all laid out by producer and it is clear an effort has been made to stock as many wines from each producer as possible. Walking around to the left side, there is an impressive tasting bar with a huge array of wines. I think nearly every wine in the store is available to taste! More shelving rings the dining tables in the middle of the store and it is all stocked with Ohio wines (and a single shelf of others.) Well done.

We spent some time chatting with Craig who is in charge of the Buckeye Wine Gallery (and was on Cleveland TV to talk about it and June as Ohio Wine Month. ) He has been working hard to establish the Gallery as a destination and source for Ohio wines. The major obstacle is that very few of the these wines are handled by distributors and he has to arrange for these wines from most of the individual producers. Response has been very good, including a brisk trade in shipping these wines.

I like Craig and love his enthusiasm for this venture. Sugarcreek is positioned right in the heart of the Amish country tourist venturing and this is a great opportunity to educate people on Ohio wines. I will call him out a little though – there are way, way too many fake Ohio wines there. About 2/3rds of the producers he is stocking are not producing wines from Ohio grapes – something I keep exposing and will continue to do so. There is certainly a market for the wines and there is no reason not to sell them, but I would like to see more prominence and special place given to those producers who are not faking it.

Gateway Place was an amazing discovery I blundered on to last fall while cruising around Wilmot. I just kind of killing time one afternoon and suddenly saw the side of this barn. One skidding U-turn later and I was parked in front of this combination antique shop / wine store. The entire first floor is filled with Ohio wines. The proprietor, John Switzer (alas was not in when we visited recently), is extremely knowledgeable about Ohio’s wine. One room is stocked with an impressive array of wines to taste and the shelves stock interesting finds like older vintages of some wines.

While there are more than a few of the fake Ohio wines, the majority are grower/producers. On my first trip here, I purchased what became the nucleus of the Ohio v Michigan Wine Clash.

It is just fantastic that there are at least two resources where one can not only buy Ohio wines, but have a chance to taste them and interact with knowledgeable personnel.

Ohio Wine Tasting @ Cotter’s

2009-06-05T00:11:00.001-04:00

June is Ohio Wine Month. There are events and tastings all over the state. I should try to compile a list since I can’t find one anywhere (hint hint). Here in Columbus, Cotter’s in the Arena District stepped up and, with Heidelberg Distributing and representatives of the Ohio Grape Industries, did a very nice event tonight.

One of the tables was set up on the patio and it was a beautiful evening. Good crowd, skewed young – both good things. Cotter’s provided small bites which were specifically matched to the wines and I will note them with the wines. OGI also provided a gift of a really nice Schott-Zwiesel Tritan® Riesling glass. All in all, it was a well-organized, well-run event. The buzz was all positive and this was a very good event. We need more like this – fun but organized seriously, upscale but accessible – for Ohio’s wines. Big props to all – Cotter’s, OGI, Heidelberg.

Three producers were represented. Whether by design or coincidence, they formed a triangle across the major wine regions of the state – Firelands in the NW, Ferrante in NE and Valley Vineyards in the S.

Ferrante

    * 2006 Ferrante Chardonnay Signature Series - (USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley)
       Vanilla-spice (oak) nose with some melon behind. Slight bitters on the top, more oak notes. Lush fruits peak out and a pinch of salted butter. Holds good structure and presence. Far more positive than my previous note of recent. Paired with Proscuitto and Brie w/ Cranberry Sauce
    * 2007 Ferrante Gewürztraminer Signature Series - (USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley)
       Consistent with previous. Light floral aromatics with a nice touch. Touch of bitters and a clean finish. A bit squared-off for the finish, but very enjoyable. Paired with Thai Chile Calamari
    * 2007 Ferrante Riesling Golden Bunches - (USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley)
     I retract my previous concerns. This was knit well and very lush with an à point body. Honey on the nose. Pineapple-y fruits. Light mineral to the finish with a sweet water effect. Refreshing and delish - couldn't ask for more sitting on a patio watching the world. Paired with Seared Tuna on a Wonton w/ Wasabi Drizzle

Firelands

    * N.V. Firelands Winery Riesling Champagne - (USA, American BooHiss for that.)
     Not bad, but lacking dimension of a Rieslingsekt or the body of a traditional sparkling. Clean, mildly pleasant. Paired with White Chocolate Berries
    * 2005 Firelands Winery Cabernet Sauvignon - (USA, Ohio, Isle St. George)
       Slight oxidation note on the nose. Blowsy and soft with no spine. Blah. Paired with Strip steak cubes topped with Blue Cheese

Valley Vineyards

    * 2005 Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc - (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)
       Oak treatment obvious right away. Some fruit, but torqued and dried. Rust. Had a core of good fruit once. Airs a little better, but fundamentally whatever quality was in the starting point has been ruined by the treatment. Pork Roulade w/ Spicy Cornbread
    * 2008 Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc Rosé - (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)
       Nice fruit and rose hips on the nose. Tart strawberries leading to a creamy finish. Has a nice vibe and refreshing qualities. Betrayed by a little heaviness and imprecision. Overall effect is nice and as it is just bottled, will likely knit together. Good. Paired with Shrimp Cocktail with Berry-Jalapeno Glaze

And a bonus wine, picked up at the store today and opened at home :

2007 South River Winery Temptation - (USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley)
This is 50/50 Cab Franc and Riesling. Green flower elements on the nose, maybe like a floral tea blend. Medium sweetness on the top. Odd is the main feeling I get as the floral aromatics are grounded by the earthy, green points. Rose hips, dried strawberry. Not much structure or precision. There is a charm here and the wine is almost too eager to please. The finish is sticky and has a dulling effect which pulls down the whole effect.

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Recent Ohio Wines Tasting Notes

2009-06-02T06:18:00.000-04:00

These are not from my recent sojourn down to the Ohio River Valley wineries, though some of them are bottles purchased at the wineries and opened later. Ordered by producer.

Ferrante

Samplings from a mixed-case I bought from them recently, all wines I had before and want to follow up on except for the vineyard-designate Chardonnay.

2007 Ferrante Chardonnay Reserve Peter Sr. Vineyard - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (5/15/2009)
Surprisingly complex and compelling. Mild oak and ghee on the nose. Creamy textures with a really pointed bitters notes holding the center. Nice acids, Meyer lemon fruit and a good dry down. Well done.

2007 Ferrante Gewürztraminer Signature Series - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (5/29/2009)
Floral aromatics really heading into the musky, fleshy and tropical night flower zone. Good zip, but even more of those fleshy elements pushing into too much. Less square than a few months ago. Very persistent on the palate. I liked it in the end.

2007 Ferrante Riesling Golden Bunches - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (5/29/2009)
Alas, this wine is starting to show some seams which I felt but didn't express in my past two tastings of it (2/09 and 4/09). Nice aromatics with those peaches and limestone, but on the palate there is now a disconnect between the acid and the sweet with the mineral not playing well. Still really good and really enjoyed by my guests for the refreshing acidic qualities and the nice fruit. Not sure what to make of it.

Vinoklet

Based near Cincinnati, this was a new winery to me. Seem to be more interested in pimping their restaurant, so I really don’t know much about them. From the shelves of Jungle Jim’s.

N.V. Vinoklet Cincinnatus - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/27/2009)
Blah. Yammy nose. Flat, generic and dull red. Not actively bad or flawed, but soft and uninteresting.

N.V. Vinoklet Tears of Joy - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/27/2009)
No nose to speak of. Flat acids on the front. Not much to it elsewise. Not actively bad or flawed, but generic white, just sub-carafe level.

N.V. Vinoklet Traminette - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/27/2009)
Nice Traminette aromatics, potpourri-ish. Very light in colour. Medium sweetness on the top, lemonade-y crispness w/ bitter notes following. Very Traminette. Short finish. Nice balance and delineation. Does have an after-finish which is like flat Sprite though.

Kinkead Ridge

Purchased at the winery release party on 5/23.

2008 Kinkead Ridge Revelation - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/25/2009)
Really nice. Clean mineral and herbal nose with nice precision. Good lines and cut. Bright on the palate with brush and soft mineral. Good finish. All around very nice wine.

2008 Kinkead Ridge Viognier-Roussanne - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/25/2009)
Cork had definite TCA smell, but not overtly present in wine. Wine did appear clipped and displayed more fat and raw alcohol than tasting a couple days before. NR (flawed)

Meranda-Nixon

Purchased at the winery on 5/23.

2008 Meranda-Nixon Winery Catawba - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/25/2009)
Watermelon on the nose and palate. Sweet, but in check with some acids and body. Refreshing and summery. Unlike most Catawba, this actually tasted like wine instead of grape juice.

2008 Meranda-Nixon Winery Traminette - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (5/25/2009)
Nice florals on the nose like citrus blossoms with a lightness. Light body, slight sweetness at edges. Typical Traminette bitter elements and clipped finish. A little more ragged than previous taste, but a good expression.

Burnet Ridge

Another winery I had not tried anything from before. Also off the shelf at Jungle Jim’s, this was the only wine in their line-up thre that came from Ohio.

2007 Burnet Ridge Cabernet Franc - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (5/27/2009)
Readily apparent oak aromatics. Palate infringed by same. Underneath is some good dark fruits with medium backbone and clean lines. Hard to read, but suspect that the treatment is dominant and will strip the interest away .

Markko

The godfather of Ohio wine. Found this bottle on a retail shelf in N. Ohio and decided to give it a whirl. The note is a little more clinical and misses that there was a certain charm to a 10yr Pinot from Ohio.

1999 Markko Pinot Noir Reserve - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (5/25/2009)
Old bones on the nose. Acid with some funky old perfume notes. Remnants of a body make this drinkable and not unpleasant, though it does require a mindset to look for the charm. Quickly fell off.

Ohio River Valley Visit

2009-05-30T13:48:00.001-04:00

The Ohio River Valley was once the epicenter of the American wine industry. Circumstance put an end to that, but the area has seen a rebirth through diverse efforts like a family farm converted from tobacco to ex-Oregon growers looking for a new challenge. I took advantage of a bare calendar day the Saturday before Memorial Day to check out the latest. A big thanks to Ron and Nancy Barret of Kinkead Ridge and Seth and Tina Maranda of Meranda-Nixon for their hospitality.

Kinkead Ridge holds their annual release party for their white wines each Memorial Day weekend. All fun to chat with Nancy and Ron. Before visiting the winery in Ripley, I wandered around their vineyard a few miles outside of town. Despite several encounters with ticks, it was a pleasure to see the tiny little nubbins that will become – weather willing – gorgeous grapes come September and October. Nice sighting, but I still can’t get over my cognitive dissonance at seeing vineyards situated in such verdant settings when I am more used to Mediterranean climes.

Kinkead Ridge (all estate, Ohio River Valley AVA) :

2008 Revelation White. Predominantly Sauvignon Blanc, this was the clear winner in the 2008 white line-up. Crisp mineral and herbal nose with nice persistence. Good lines and cut. Nice intensity of the acidity and mineral. Nice integration which carries its 14%abv well. A revisit showed an elegant side to this wine. Very good, best white Revelation I’ve had. Wide open for business as well.

2008 Viognier/Roussanne. Nice light, haunting aroma with orchid and paste notes. Too thick for me on the palate. Nice acids help some. Good persistence, but doesn’t carry the alcohol well and ends up flabby. A lot of this is preference – there are fans of white Rhone varieties where the alcohol gets up (14.8% here), but I am not one. Needs time according to Ron and I concur. It should develop some depth, but based on my experience with Rhone whites will never be a wine in my wheelhouse.

2008 Riesling Good nose with some verve and apple blossom notes. Nice citrus fruit notes here, but lacks the mineral verve and spine I want from Riesling. Like the V/R, ripeness of the ‘08 vintage doesn’t work for me in whites, but the alcohol is balanced here and I think is a little residual sugar which gives it body, not sweetness. (A lot of wines have this, but most don’t tell you.) I think a little time to relax from bottling will bring this to life.

With purchased Ohio River Valley fruit, there is also River Village Cellars Traminette 2008. A tough wine to make according to Ron Barrett and required a lot of sorting of fruit, but the results were solid. Nice Traminette aromatics. Some sweetness on the top followed by the usual Tram bitters and then drop off – not as abrupt as many. A nice follow through. Handles the variety correctly, but doesn’t exceed.

I also re-tasted the 2007 River Village Cellars Cabernet Franc (estate fruit).I have written about this before, particularly finding elements in it I don’t like but that others do not find at all. Richer than previous bottles, but I still taste the same green elements which mar – to me – this wine. Palate sensitivities to particular things vary and this looks to be one of those problematic cases.

An all around solid line-up from Kinkead Ridge. The wines I appear to pan are just not made in my style, but that does not mean they are not well-made wines. Given the usual difficulties of getting the Cabernets to fully ripen in Ohio, I eagerly anticipate what this bodes for the red wines!

A ridge over from Kinkead are the vineyards and winery of Meranda-Nixon. Once the site of a large family tobacco farm, those broad leaves are long gone and each year sees more devoted to grapes. I had a great time toodling around the vineyards in a little tractor driven (mostly) by Seth Meranda’s young (6?) son. Seth is very straightfoward about the challenges of grape-growing in the Ohio River Valley and that the usual viticultural authorities are often just plan wrong. One of the things I love about visiting with winemakers and grape-growers in Ohio is that frontier sense where the rules just don’t apply.

Meranda-Nixon (estate fruit, Ohio River Valley AVA)

2008 Chardonnay Reserve. A recovery vintage after freeze devastated vines in ‘07. The new oak treatment is apparent on the nose. Good integration on the palate. Coconut and tropical fruits show off the oak and ripe fruit. Nice acids hold it together. Not really my style, but quality holds.

2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Big, dark fruits on the nose. Lush, slightly messy. Tobacco and spice follow on the palate. Cola-finish. Good structure, very complete with fighting tannins. Plenty of verve and personality. Lots of good stuff here, but can also go either way if the body is too derived from the oak instead of the grape tannins. I like it and I like the spirit in it.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. Dusty smell. Cherry and dust on the palate. Treatment spice > wine. No stuffing. Does well for what it is (06 was brutal to wine in the Midwest).

2008 Red Oak Creek (De Chaunac + Traminette). Obligatory slightly sweet red. Nice nose. Sweet, very soft. Requires a chill to help the acids out and make this a nice picnic wine. Tastes of wine ( compliment considering most sweet reds taste like grape juice) and a good job in the style.

2006 Traminette. Smells of Windex. Lean. Not bad, but strained and downside.

2007 Traminette. Rounded out with secondary elements. Somewhat flat. Loss of the overt florals gives this a nice balance, is very much a wine on mute as well.

2008 Traminette. Elegant, almost subdued Trammy nose. Orange flowers and cocktail bitters on the palate work very well. Background sweetness. Bright up front and nice. Some mineral. Finishes abrupt though. An off-the-norm expression of Traminette which I liked a lot. Curious to see what 6mos will do.

2008 Catawba. Believe it or not, revelation wine of the trip. Pretty pink color. Nice nose of watermelon which follows on the palate. Obvious levels of sweetness, but nice acidic spine. Succulent fruit on the finish. Most importantly it tasted like wine, not grape Kool-Aid which more versions of Catawba do. Opened a bottle a couple nights later and my wife – not a fluffy sweet wine drinker in the least – found it refreshing and enjoyable. Great job. Tina, Seth’s wife, wants to make a sparkling version which reflects the deep and illustrious heritage of sparkling Catawba in the area. I hope they do!

I also tried barrel samples of the 2008 Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon. Seth loved 2008 as CF got to full ripeness. Explosive fruit with no trace of green. Berries and a slight hint of mocha. Seth seemed to be leaning to pulling it from barrel to finish off in stainless steel. Please do! It has absorbed all the oak it needs. The Sauvignon was a lot tighter and awkward. Some fruit and a prickly structure. Precise and clean, but hard to read which side of Cab Sauv will emerge.

There are a couple other wineries in the Ripley area, but they were not receiving visitors. Hopefully this summer I will get a chance to visit with LaVigna and Renascent.

So, it had been a really good day and I was basking in a sun of the past, present and future of Ohio wines. I should have stopped when I was ahead.

Between Ripley and Cincinnati lies Harmony Hill vineyards in Bethel, Ohio. In contrast to the agricultural and homey setting of KR and M-N, this was clearly a tourist-oriented winery. Fancy cellar doors and a patio with a really bad cover band (redundant) playing. To start on the positive, there was a local farmer’s market outside and I got some very nice Ohio Iceland-breed lamb. It is a really pretty place and situated on a large wildlife refuge and is really a destination for more than just wine. That is probably the context in which this should be viewed.

The tasting room was hopping and I see lots of sipping going on in tiny plastic glasses. Oh, dear. At the tasting bar I ask to sample some wines and when I see the lady reaching for a plastic cup, I ask if I can taste the wines in glass. I am informed I have to buy a souvenir glass to do so! I query politely and they are adamant. What a bunch of fucktards! I end up buying a glass for 3.50$ and leaving it there. Whatever.

Harmony Hill Vineyards (estate grapes, Ohio River Valley AVA)

2007 Woodwind Barrel-fermented Seyval Blanc and it shows pretty much all oak. No.

2006 Rhapsody Cab Franc/Sauv. Nothing special – soft, no spine or acid or verve. Noticable treatment. Yawn.

2007 Rubato Chambourcin Dominant oak treatment with some decent Chambourcin fruity funk behind it, but just torqued and ruined by an obsession with the barrel.

2007 Chamber Suite Chambourcin/Marechal Foch Could be a nice picnic wine, if chilled. Some sweetness, but a decent acid spine. Somewhat disjointed though. All stainless, thankfully.

2007 Concerto Vidal Blanc, taken to off-dry (felt like 2-3% rs). Obvious sweetness, but some nice acids and the good side of Vidal fruit/floral comes out. Nice.

This region is starting to come on its own and beginning to recapture the heritage of grapes and wine.

The sham of the Ohio Wine Competition

2009-05-26T20:45:00.001-04:00

What is there to say about an “Ohio” wine competition where half of the Gold medal winners are not from Ohio?

Each May the OARDC (Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center) holds the Ohio Wine Competition where wineries in Ohio send in their wines to be blind judged by a panel. Unfortunately, the only requirement seems to be that a ‘winery’ have an Ohio zip code. In the 2009 competition, 15 of the 30 Gold Medals award to grape wines carry an appellation of ‘American.’ That means that the winery did not grow the grapes here in Ohio, but shipped in anything from grapes to finished wine (which they slap a label on) from elsewhere. The ‘A’ in OARDC would better stand for ‘Acquisition’ instead of Agriculture.

I don’t begrudge any of these … not sure of the right word … companies the chance to have product and even be acknowledged when that product has merit. It is just that an “Ohio” wine competition run by an agricultural center ought to be focused exclusively on wines that represent the agricultural labors in Ohio. It is of little interest to give a gold medal for shopping and labeling. What is to stop someone from getting cleanskin bottle of Pride or Mouton and scooping up a Gold Medal? In the end, what does this have to do with Ohio?

Wine is very much about pride of place. Having Ohio attached to these wines is really on the same level as the egregious antics of the past where tankers of cheap Italian wine could be found on the roads of Burgundy with contents destined to be labeled as Burgundy. Producers and trade groups came to recognize that despite the difficulties inherent in honest viticultural, maintaining the integrity and fidelity of the place (brand) was the best long-term strategy.

Sadly the folks at the OARDC have lost sight of this and are even getting worse – the 2008 and 2007 Competitions had a much lower portion of non-Ohio Gold winners. The OARDC, despite the good people I know are there and are judging, is intent on whoring itself out to the lowest common denominator.

The competition is already marred as who is NOT in it is a roll call of Ohio quality – Kinkead Ridge, Harpersfield, St. Joseph, Maple Ridge. These are all wineries noted by David Schildknecht in the most recent edition of the Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate Buying Guide. In short, this whole debacle is not only a sham, but pretty worthless to a consumer interested in quality Ohio wine.

I will step off my soapbox and give a nice shout out to Ferrante and their “Golden Bunches” Riesling 2007 which garnered “Best of Show White Wine.” I have long been a proponent of this wine and it is truly an Ohio wine to be proud of.

Recent Ohio Wine Articles of Note

2009-05-24T09:33:00.004-04:00

Friend of Oinos, Emma C. recently wrote a short piece on the history of Ohio wines.

The Columbus Dispatch had a piece on how Ohio wineries are benefiting from local tourism and are doing pretty well.

Firelands Winery dinner in Toledo May 20

2009-05-17T12:33:00.002-04:00

Manhattan's restaurant in Toledo will be hosting a dinner featuring the wines of Firelands Winery on Wednesday, May 20 (6pm). From the rather long write-up in the Toledo Blade, it looks like the menu is also featuring some local products. Looks nice.

I do have to call out this : (from the article) sayeth the Firelands winemaker and partner:

. "A few grow grapes like us. Others buy wine and grapes or wine and juice and bottle it in Ohio. Is that a true Ohio wine?" he asks, answering his own question "no."

Dude, you are also responsible for Mon Ami winery, one of the worst offenders in non-Ohio grapes and grinding out tankers of absolute swill which only serves to degrade the reputation of Ohio's wine! Get off your high horse. Fix your own ship or shut up. It is even sadder as Mon Ami is an historic Ohio winery site.

What social media in wine means to you

2009-05-16T21:14:00.001-04:00

Imagine you had an instrument which precisely measured what a wine would taste like to you alone? That is what social media can bring to wine.

The wine-portions of the Interwebs have been humming for the past couple weeks. Robert Parker took swipes at wine bloggers on his forum after Dr. Vino noted Parker’s proclaimed ethics in wine-reviewing were not so closely followed by his employees. Hard on the heels of that brouhaha came the release of a white paper from Vintank about social media how wine producers and sellers need to appreciate and use the tools. As a lower-tier wine blogger, this was all of abstract interest until a nice case study landed in my glass.

A little bit ago, I made comment about a 2006 Ohio Cabernet Franc where I found a severe green and hard streak on the palate. This was a tough vintage with – cold and wet before harvest and Ladybug issues, but the winemaker is solid and the other wines from them do not show this. Moreover, the wine sells well including good restaurant sales as well as awards. People I know personally like the wine. The producer, who I consider a friend, commented that I might have had an off bottle. Normally, I would agree except I noted the same character back in September when I first tasted the wine (which I documented) and at other times (w/o formal note.) One can chalk this all up to subjectivity in taste, but that rather misses a crucial point and what I see as the real power of social media and wine experience.

Wine is an incredibly complex beverage.The interaction of the raw sugars and yeast to produce alcohol also produces a huge variety of compounds responsible for all those flavors described in tasting notes. Some compounds are like on/off switches – if present, you taste in proportionate strength. Other compounds have a much more complicated interaction. Below a certain threshold, you taste nothing. At a certain range of concentration, there is one taste which is often pleasant. Above that range, another taste which is often bad. Our palates are sensitive enough instruments that the ranges we are looking at are <10ppm (and some even in ppb – parts per billon or ppt – parts per trillion.)

The real difficulty in sharing the wine experience comes from the fact that the sensitivities to various compounds vary widely between individuals. Sometimes it is as direct as being unable to detect particular compounds (asparagus pee being the classic example). In many cases, it is a matter of thresholds. A sensitive individual might detect a wine-flawing chemical like TCA (“corked”) at 1-2ppt whereas another person may only sense it at above 4-5ppt. A wine contaminated with 3ppb of TCA will be undrinkable to the first and unremarkable to the second. Something like TCA is always bad, but other chemicals can be pleasurable at a certain level to one person and displeasing at that same level to another.

In the case of the Cabernet Franc, I think there is something in that wine, probably related to Cabernet Franc itself and the cold snap which hindered ripening , which I not only detect but find unpleasant. Others are less sensitive too it. This does not make the wine bad or flawed in the least. It just makes it bad for me.

What relevance does this have to social media? A wine critic, regardless of how astute, is only going to have their own palate. Elements in a wine to which they are not sensitive or find desirable at one level can be appalling to me. If a critic doesn’t notice this same green streak I do, there are going to be praised wines which I will find awful and there will be no way for me to determine that before spending my money and having the wine. Equally bad, from the producer’s point of view, a prominent critic may be extremely sensitive to something which I and the large majority of consumers are not.

Here social media comes to the rescue. Arrayed across the globe are tens of thousands of wine tasters who are sharing their experiences. The odds are really good that more than a few share my same sensitivities and thresholds. In relatively short order, I can key on to these tasters and use their experiences as a barometer. I don’t have to like the same wines, just share sensitivities and vocabulary. The aggregate power of the wine social media world is like an ultra-sensitive mass spectrometer keyed into my palate.

The “green meanies” are a more extreme example (but one of much debate with regards to red Burgundies in 2004). More relevant to daily drinking are common flavors (not flaws) like those derived from oak and sensitivity to alcohol itself. I am convinced that critics like Robert Parker and those who share his tastes in some wines are simply less “sensitive” to the flavors imparted by oak treatment. Where the concentrations are at some level, they genuinely get pleasure from the wine whereas I have an almost revulsion to it. On the other hand, my threshold which makes certain acidic compounds unpleasant must be higher than theirs (and my wife’s.) The experienced wine critic brings that experience to tasting in ways that an amateur can’t replicate, but the fact remains that he or she is only going to be as useful to an individual insofar at that critic’s thresholds of pleasure/disgust calibrate to yours.

What social media does is provide a powerful norming device to your own palate. * A tool that works just for you. That power can be harnessed to maximize what you get from wine. That is the gambit I opened with – you use the social media of wine writing as ultimate personal tool, aggregating thousands of disparate palates whose precision overlaps just a little with yours. Each bit of information combines to create a personal picture of the wine. In that context, an expert or great critic may very well be the framework or outline, but the details are yours. Remarkably, it is individual but not really subjective.

What an amazingly powerful tool. It is no wonder that some critics are terrified of it (rave incoherently) and others who get it are working hard to harness it as well as maintain their own relevance. Exciting stuff.

* Sheer geekery : I bet if you measured a large population sample for sensitivity to particular compounds (maybe by merely counting papillae on the tongue) and then did word counts on wine tasting notes for certain marker words like ‘gteen’’ that you could create a virtual instrument for measuring concentarion of compounds which would as sensitive as a laboratory one.

Ohio Wine Tasting June 4 - Cotter's in the Arena District

2009-05-15T19:14:00.002-04:00

A mega-shout to Cotter's, the fine dining restaurant in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

They will be doing an Ohio wine tasting event on June 4, 5:30-7:30pm. There will be 7 Ohio wines (Ferrante, Firelands, Valley Vineyards) available for 10$ with appetizers and live music.

Awesome idea at a very nice price. Good idea to call them for reservations : 614 221 9060.

Chapeau.

Getting it

2009-05-15T17:25:00.002-04:00

I don't often post links or just pass off content. Here is an exception. Elin McCoy wrote a book about Robert Parker which engendered more than a little vitriol from him and his fans. This video is her talking at the Wine Library Associates in Sonoma, Feb 2009.

It is uncanny how much she (not a millenial at all!) totally gets the changing face of wine media and wine criticism. Great stuff.

Video of Elin McCoy on Robert Parker and how much consumers relation to wine writing is changing.

A.

Ohio Wine Wednesday

2009-05-13T23:20:00.002-04:00

Busted out some more Ohio wines to sample. Revisits on wines I’d had before.

South River Vineyards “Creation” Grand River Valley 2006. 14.99$. An equal blend of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, this wine showed a nose like sweat and artificial sweetener medicine on the palate. Gaack. Not nice. Got worse with time and then even worse. The oak elements just get nasty. The producer’s own notes say, “Creation: Proprietary blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, sweetness and oak compliment each other.” So wrong, oh so wrong.

Ferrante “Golden Bunches” Riesling Grand River Valley 2006 14.99$. Light on the nose, citrus references. Nice tartness mingled with sweet. Light and very fleeting – in a good sense. This wine holds with a deep fidelity over time. The 2007 blazes and throws itself at you, but this wine has a shy charm which slowly unfurls while holding true. Nice, nice stuff.

River Village Cellars (Kinkead Ridge) Cabernet Franc Ohio River Valley 2006 12.99. Not much on the nose. Up top fruit, but green streak also. Drying on the finish. Stays green and lean. Not a bad wine, but reflect the realities of the 2006 vintage.

South River Vineyards “Trinity” Grand River Valley 2006. Interesting blend of Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. Slightly confected nose. Simple soft fruits. A nice personality … meaning exactly like that sounds. Lovely transparent color. Develops into a squarer wine with a nice bite. This weird varietal combination is on the right track, but doesn’t quite get into the station.

I have had all of these wines in the last nine months or so. All were consistent with my previous notes (which I did not look at until after I had tasted.) Liked the River Village CF less and the Golden Bunches more.

A bonus, honorary Ohio wine. The principals of J. Lohr have Ohio roots. They are also one of the few producers of the variety Valdiguié, which is now officially known as Napa Gamay. I grabbed a bottle of 2008 J. Lohr “Wildflower” Valdiguié Monterey today. The picture to the right shows the lovely color. This is a simply constructed wine, best chilled in line with the recommendations on the bottle. Nice fruity nose with an allspice edge. Fruity and juicy. Shows up the Trinity by outclassing it on its own turf. Dark and lush fruits. quickly dissipating. A picnic wine and really well done in that genre.

And finally, a wine that was so much better I had a right to expect. The 2001 vintage in Bordeaux pales next to the blockbuster 2000, but the wines are showing a purity and classicism even at a young age. La Mission Haut-Brion Graves 2001 is frightfully young, but delivered beautifully. Nice nose of leather and old lace. Svelte. Lovely lines like Christy Turlington. Developed intricate angles among the supple, young tannins. Shimmering. Probably too subtle to develop the elegance of LMHB, but a delightful wine.

Technorati Tags: ohio wine

Yes, Virginia

2009-05-11T20:30:00.001-04:00

Not long ago I casually commented on Facebook that if anyone could master Traminette, they might not make a lot of money but I’d love them. Consistently the variety has a wonderful floral nose but the flavors never manage to live up to that promise. Sommelier extraordinaire Mark Slater made a comment that I needed to try “Kenmar” from Veritas Winery in Virginia. I immediately summoned the power of the Interwebs and had some shipped to me.

Interesting stuff. More manipulated than I normally tend toward as it is “cryo-concentrated” (frozen and ice crystals filtered out to increased sugar levels) after late-picking. Incredible nose like the best of a Kenzo after a couple hours on the skin. Great presence on the palate with bright acidity holding the sweetness in check and allowing both the perfume to linger and a nice tropical fruit quality to emerge. Surprisingly light and airy too. “Special” as Mark as described it.

This is really a benchmark Traminette that places like Ohio and Indiana (who has talked about making it their signature grape) would do well to consider. This was also far superior to pretty much all the myriad of interchangeable Vidal icewines. Really good stuff and my wife, pickier in hedonic terms than I, loved it. She is happy I ordered two bottles.

Technorati Tags: virginia wine kenmar traminette

I also grabbed a bottle of their “Mousseux” sparkling rosé. It too was good quality – crisp, as dry as the ‘extra dry’ promised and with a nice citrus quality. Clean and refreshing. Very nice job in the basic rosé style.

My two experiences with Virginia wines have gotten me excited about the potential there. One always hears things, but it is too often marketing fud of no truth. This was a promising start of something different.

Ohio v World : My Opinions and Taster Comments

2009-05-07T17:14:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I matched Ohio wines against comparable wines from around the world in a blind taste test. The results were interesting and the Ohio wines were competitive, if not outright superior. Now these results are by no means definitive. I didn't pick the wines with a specific goal of making the Ohio wines look better (I went for reasonable wines of the same type and price point), but I could have picked specific wines which I knew would beat the Ohio ones in that category. The goal, however, was to demonstrate that Ohio wines were reasonable alternatives to a shopper and I think this was shown. I did not rate the wines, but I tasted (and re-tasted) them all. My perspective was a little different than some of the consensus opinion. For the straight listing of the wines and rankings, see the earlier post.

Riesling : Left Foot Charley "Seventh Hill Vineyard' 2007 (MI) vs Ferrante 'Golden Bunches' 2007 (OH) vs Leitz 'Dragonstone' 2007 (Ger)

This was one of the most puzzling flights. First off, the Leitz has been a go-to off-dry summer Riesling, but each successive vintage has seen a lowering in quality. The wine was not bad, but was uninteresting both to me and the tasters. I felt the 'Golden Bunches' was the clear winner (though not by a huge margin). Three tasters agreed with me, but the other four all rated it last! I think the 2007 version of this wine has a certain tension between with sweet fruit and mineral core which puts off some. The Left Foot Charley is a very nice wine and I suspect that it will evolve into a better wine than the 'Golden Bunches' as the latters tension is showing some signs of splitting at the seams based on the 1/2 dozen or more times I've had it since November.

The taster comments were very consistent on the 'Golden Bunches' as all noticed the mineral, but were divided as to whether this was pleasing. 'Bland and sweet' was the common theme on the 'Dragonstone' while the balance 'sweet/tart' of the LFC was what appealed across the board.

Pinot Gris : Harpersfield 'St. Fiacre' (OH) 2007 vs A to Z (OR) 2007
Here I completely disagreed with my panel. The Harpersfield was a far more interesting wine. The AtoZ was a typically dull Pinot Gris whereas the Harpersfield has a minerality and penetration that made it distinctive. There were also musk and fougere notes.

I think what appealed to me - dry, mineral, electric - were negatives to my tasters for whom 'dry' (as a pejorative) was a common comment. They also found fruit in the AtoZ which I simply did not get. One taster did opt for a tie here.

Chardonnay : Black Star Farms 'Arcturos' Barrel-Fermented 2006 (MI) vs Sonoma-Cutrer 2006 (CA) vs Harpersfield 'Les Reves' 2007 (OH)

Oak was a common complaint among the tasters for all of these. (This was illustrated when I later served them an '05 1er Cru Chablis which was much loved above any of these Chards.) Several people commented that the S-C 'tasted like Chardonnay' which demonstrates how the variety is perceived. I found it far oakier than the Harpersfield (the Black Star was a disjointed mess), but I think the softness of the S-C which did not appeal to me was a comfort factor for Chardonnay and made the S-C preferred. It was definitely a heavier wine than the Harpersfield. I chalk this discrepancy up to stylistic tastes and have to admit that the S-C does what it does very well. If someone likes that style, they are not going to be converted to Ohio or any other cold-clime Chardonnay. This demonstrates what I keep saying - producers from Ohio shouldn't even try to play on that field. Another Ohio Chardonnay (Laurello) proved my point in spades.

Pinot Noir: King Estate Signature 2007 (OR) vs Harpersfield 'clos mes amis' 2007 (OH)

The Harpersfield really smoked it here, gaining 6/7 1st place votes. I concur completely. For whatever reason, the King Estate was just pancaked - no depth or body. The Ohio Pinot had nice tart, succulent fruit and was a good cold clime version. It also had a funk to it that most of the tasters like, though they did note more vanilla (ie oak) than I did, but were not offended by it.

Red Blend 1: 'Cycle Buff Beauties' 2006 (Au) vs River View Cellars Syrah 2006 (OH)

I will admit that in good part I choose the 'Cycle Buff Beauties' (a Syrah/Malbec blend) because of the label. It is a disjointed and flakey wine which I enjoy more than I had expected. The River Village Syrah is a nice wine, not deep, but having a nice Syrah character and spice. It was also a 6-1 winner. From the comments, the peppery nature of the Syrah was the kicker and it was clear it would be better with food than the Aussie.

Red Blend 2: Clos de la Siete 2007 (Ar) vs Kinkead Ridge 'Revelation' 2006 (OH) vs Kinkead Ridge 'Revelation' 2006 (OH)

I was sneaky - there were two bottles of Revelation in there. The tasters mostly found little difference between the two and expressed such, but also felt their palates were tired by this point. The Clos de la Siete was generally found to be too hot and monolithic while the svelte profile and acidic balance of the 'Revelation' gave it the edge. I like the Michel Rolland Clos de la Siete more than I expected (and far more than other vintages), but the more pure Meritage-like character of the 'Revelation' gave it an integrative personality.

Icewine : Nachtgold Eiswein Riesling 2006 (Ger) vs Valley Vineyard Vidal Blanc Icewine 2006 (OH)

There is very little difference between these two wines. Neither highlight what the icewine process can do and both taste more of sweet juice and alike rather than any varietal or regional character. Most of the tasters' comments were prefaced with 'slightly' so they saw it the same. Either is nice as a glass for dessert, but neither is special or worth an effort.

As a little pre-tasting treat, I served my tasters some Dom Perignon 1999 - a nice enough vintage of Dom, but not particularly deep or powerful. A Dom lite, but very tasty. We also had a Michigan fruit wine from Lake Effect Winery called 'Black and Blue.' "Interesting" was the complete consensus.

This was a fun event. Even where not winning, the Ohio wines held their own. Perhaps of more use was demonstrations like with the Chardonnay of where Ohio wines should not attempt to compete, but need to establish their own presence and terms. I expect to do this again, probably soliciting comparisons wines from the tasters.

Ohio Wine Night - Wine Wednesday!

2009-05-06T22:49:00.000-04:00

It has flashed across my peepers a bunch of times about 'wine Wednesdays' or something equally ridiculous. Live the life, people! You can drink when you want, what you want. An artificial excuse to partake of the fruits of the vine and humanity is as artificial as numerical ratings or other puffery.

It happened that this Wednesday crossed over with my ability and desire to taste across some Ohio wines. I lined 'em up, tossed 'em down and wrote what I thought.

I started off with Firelands Riesling 'Champagne' NV (American :-( ) 11.99$. Not a bad sipper to start. Then has a backnote Riesling character with develops into a sticky and oil paint like effect. Effect grows with time - almost goût de lumière like - which makes me suspect a storage issue. Maybe inherent though as most Rieslingsekt (German equivalent) are not good either. Deeply chilled, acceptable. Otherwise, just off and not pleasant. YMMV.

An array of whites followed. It was torture. All points say Ohio should be able to nail the whites. Whether it is some difficult vintages like 2006 or cellar practices which just don't mesh with the raw materials, I've had a string a poor white wines. I think in large part that the Ohio wineries have made poor choices in their ambitions. Whereas fat, hot White wines were trendy, Ohio's climate is not conducive to it and that trend is dead. Crisp, angular and fighting whites are what we should be shooting for.

Slate Run 'Slate Blanc' 2005 (Ohio) 8.99$ (Website says 7.99!) Oak and resin notes on the nose. Strained fruit, pinched on the palate. Burnt caramel. Squishy apples and bad candy. Awful. Gets worse w/ time.

Slate Run 'Premblanc' 2004 (Ohio) 10.99 Gone-over scallops on the nose. Oak, caramel ... can't get past nose ... a medicinal sweetness on the finish. Even worse than the previous. With time ... it even got worse!

{Slate Run uses really cheap-ass composite corks. Whatever hope these wines had was gone the moment that was inserted.}

Ferrante Signature Series Chardonnay 2006 (Grand River Valley) 15$ Not much nose - a little melon and metal. Sweet on the tongue. Very sweet. Butterscotch. Creamy finish. Oak is actually harmonized and there is nice melon fruit here, but no acids to hold that sugar which tastes almost sorbitol-like. Odd. Never goes anywhere nice as the sweetness it just too off-kilter. Likely something good on those vines in the late Fall of '06, but the cellar mucked it up.

Maple Ridge Vineyard Chardonnay Reserve 2004 (Grand River Valley) Nose of furs (like naptha + residual musk + sweat) which has a sexy Masoch-appeal. Very flat and linear. Fruit tastes stripped and barren with a sour oak edge. Airs gives it some edges, but still a rickety frame of a wine. Just in a holding pattern. These people do great stuff in the vineyard, but are forcing cellar practices where they don't belong. I pimped their wines to David Schildknecht, but the aging aspect has made me look the fool.

When I did the Ohio v World tasting, I was surprised that red wines hit the mark. Ohio's reds really get harshed on.

Slate Run 'Premblage' 2002 (Ohio) 13.99 Old red wine nose - no deep character, but not bad either. Slightly tart, very soft, lite leather, bricks. Overall effect is simply an older red wine of no real deeper qualities, but not unpleasant. Holds at that level. Why not?

Slate Run 'Garnet' 1999 (Ohio) 10.99 OK, I was expecting very little. Darker colour than the Premblage. Slightly phenolic nose. Nice bright acids. Plums, tobacco, good vegetal notes like roasted red pepper. Soft finish - not a lot of body here - but good persistence and nice non-fruit/wine assemblage notes. Airs off to a little too tense with the tobacco edging into toasted oak. Still, not bad at all. Sweetness of lost tannins begins to come out over time. Shit, a 10 yr old wine from Ohio, from a rocket launch away from my porch and it is pretty damn drinkable? Kewl.

Valley Vineyards Syrah 2006 (Ohio River Valley) 22.00 Raw, somewhat ferment-y nose (sign of too long hangtime on the grapes) Palate follows as expected - soft, yeasty, flattened fruit. A nice little kick on the end with Syrah meaty spice, but really just a glimmer. This will appeal to some as numerous wines out there follow this exact profile - I hate it. Gets more strewn and strawy with a tacky core. No.

Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005 (Ohio River Valley) 39.95$ Sexy leather on the nose - raw, but sculpted. Very nice. Very tall and gamine structure. Nice curranty fruit taking a supporting role. Nice finish with bridle bit notes and sweet blood elements. Confirms my previous notes and I am amazed at what they've gotten out of Cab here. Good, good stuff. Time causes it to fly off into a much less interesting place - lean, harsh and slighty dirty. Kind saw that coming, huh?

Breitenbach 'Solara' Cream Sherry NV 19.00$ This is nice - a balance of sweet nuttiness and tart and almost-musty elements. Good spectrum. Well-done. I love the distinctive packaging and they are making a quality product. Good to see they can produce quality when they aim for it.

This was an interesting cross-section of wines. I really don't know if the odd selection of vintages from Slate Run is due to their release practices or the store's (Anderson's on Brice Rd) lack of movement on those wines. Either way even where I might like the aged effect on the reds, most consumers are going to be put-off by the wines. It just does't hold. The other wines were sourced from the Statehouse Museum Shop and were fine - Ohio Quality Wine approved!

Easier to buy ... Part II

2009-05-05T13:58:00.004-04:00

"Anonymous" commented on my last post and claimed that The Anderson's on Brice Road (E Columbus) had a larger selection of Ohio wines than the Sawmill Road one. So I made the trek out there today. And ... NO! If what they have constitutes 'a larger selection of Ohio wines,' then what I have been ranting about here has been pointless.

In a section that is a jumble of wines from IN, MI, NY and Ohio, there a bunch of bottles whose contents were inserted within the political boundaries of Ohio. That is not Ohio wine! And definitely not quality Ohio wine. There are long rows of Lonz and Meier's - all of which are labeled 'American.' This means that while they may grow some grapes in Ohio, they also rely heavily or exclusively on imported grapes. This is an industrial product in the same way as Coca Cola. Another row is Heineman's, which I will at least give credit for being labeled as from Ohio. These are exactly the products which give Ohio a bad reputation. I would rather a wine retailer carry less Ohio wines, but focus on quality product.

There is also the large array of Breitenbach products, none of which are Ohio. They do carry several of the Firelands and Debonne wines. There was also 8 or so selections from the relatively proximate Slate Run Cellars. That made the schlep worthwhile as I have not seen those at retail. Odd mix of vintages including a red from '99. Expect some tasting notes soon.

The Statehouse Museum Shop also carries a selection of Ohio wines. They strongly emphasize wines that have merited the Ohio Quality Wine seal. Whatever quibbles I might have with that program, at least that is a good benchmark. A very nice and broad selection : Kinkead Ridge, Breitenbach, Ferrante, Valley Vineyards, Ravens Glenn, Henke, St. Joseph and probably a couple of others I have forgotten. They have Breitenbach's 'Solara Cream Sherry' which is a nice creation as well as beautiful packaging. I grabbed it and Valley Vineyard's 04 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve which showed well back at the Ohio Wine and Grape Conference. Back in November, this was the only store that stocked Ferrante's 'Golden Bunches,' but they did not have it any more. In fact, I was told that they were not going to be buying any more wine until July. According to the staff the product moves really well, especially in gift baskets. I applaud their efforts to showcase Ohio's wines but unfortunately the location does position the wines as novelty products, not as part of one's regular eating and drinking enjoyment.

Just for a larf, I also visited the 'State Store' (Crown Wine and Spirits) in Upper Arlington. My expectations were not high and were confirmed - Kinkead Ridge (they bust ass to deliver their product!) and Firelands 'Champagne.' Oh well. Not unexpected.

I probably won't systematically visit any more places in Columbus, but might give reports here and there. I do hope to hit places in Dayton, Cinci and Cleveland down the road. And a road trip to a gold mine of Ohio wines ...

In Columbus, it is easier to buy a car made in Ohio than it is to buy a quality Ohio wine

2009-05-02T17:51:00.010-04:00

I sit here in Columbus, geographical, political and commercial center of Ohio and it is actually a challenge to purchase a quality Ohio wine. Not because such thing is rare, but because there is virtually no retail support for Ohio wines. Given the absolute shite that graces the wine sections of grocery stores, this is so depressing. I knew all this before I made a little odyssey the other day, it was worse than I expected.

First stop was a Kroger in the upscale Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington. They have a huge wine section, at least 500’ of shelving plus a special selection closet (which had Valley Vineyards’ Vidal Icewine). Those shelves are also filled with crap. Worst of all, Ohio wines are in a section with faux-wine products like Arbor Mist and about 4’ from Boones Farm. Considering the appalling selection of the worst of Ohio, this is probably for the best. This Kroger is in a high traffic area next an affluent suburb. They should be doing a lot better than this and Kroger is an Ohio company! Fail.

Across the main road is another, pure grocery store called ‘The Fresh Market.’ It has a reasonable selection of basic wines and none from Ohio whatsoever. Less than 1 mi away is a mega-sized Giant Eagle. It also has about 500’ of wine shelving and an enclosed special selection area. There is a much larger than Kroger selection of Ohio wines though the vast majority of it are from sweet plonk to semi-sweet decent. They do have producers who make quality wines like Ferrante, Debonne, Valley Vineyards and Firelands, but have almost uniformly chosen the lower end of their product lines. I appreciate that the sweeter, lower quality wines (and those producers do a good job with those wines) have an audience, but they should use those wines as a gateway to the better wines Ohio has to offer. There are vast shelves of industrial waste product like fake brands with cute labels. Ohio has good wines that are both better than those and priced competitively.

Just a little further up the road (the NW corner of the Columbus area is glutted with stores and the epicenter of sickly suburban sprawl,) is Meijer. Now, Meijer alternately entrances and terrifies me. Not only is the grocery section massive (and gets props for exotic produce), but it has everything under the sun. It is terrifyingly large and the array of (bizarre to me) industrial food products both amazes and frightens me. They also have a huge wine section. By no means an upscale selection, they do have a pretty decent selection. They also have more wines from Michigan and Indiana than Ohio of which most if the usual plonk. (One nice Debonne was the exception.) The Indiana part is really sad as Oliver Winery primarily exists as a revenue generator for the Bloomington PD who patrol the road between it and IU. Hey Meijer – if you are going to stock crap, our Ohio crap is equal to Indiana’s!

The Andersons is a well-known Ohio mini-chain of seven stores. Best known for their building supplies and hardware, the Columbus-Sawmill location has always been an epicenter for fine wine in Columbus. Many bottles in my cellar have come from there through the years. They do move a lot of product (though I notice a lot of bottles lingering for years now.) They have a small section devoted to ‘other’ wines and there is little differentiation between Ohio and Turkey. The selection is pretty poor and the staff know virtually nothing about the wines. On occasion, I have found small Ohio producers like Hermes on the shelves, but this is rare. For a fine wine destination, they don’t even stock Kinkead Ridge’s wines and clearly have no interest in this section as it is loaded with ‘American’ appellation (ie grapes schlepped in from somewhere) wines from producers like Breitenbach (who do have some quality and unique products, but those are not in evidence.) The Andersons gets a complete epic fail since they should be able to do better.

About a Terrell Pryor pass from The Andersons is Whole Foods. When it was built, it was the 2^nd largest WF and has a huge wine section located in the center of the store. Not only do they stock a nice array of wines at all price points, but they have sections based on food pairings, staff picks and ‘eco-friendly wines.’ One of those sections is marked “Local Selections.” Brilliant! ‘Local’ is a sizzling marketing term. This avoids the unfortunate stigma of ‘Ohio Wines’ as well as provokes discussion. The staff is educated about the wines as well. The selection is small (though about 1/8 Spain or 1/6 Italy), but well-chosen (save a couple unfortunately non-Ohio grapes ones – which the staff person defended acceptably well). They also get major props for having two Ohio wines (Harpersfield ‘St Fiacre’ Pinot Gris and Kinkead Ridge Revelation Red) available by the glass in the bistro. They get some brickbats for their other location in Columbus which had one Ohio wine, hidden.

These are all larger grocery stores, so what about the specialty retailers? Both Housefrau Haven in the German Village section of Columbus and House Wines in Worthington have Kinkead Ridge Revelation with HH having very nice signage for it as well as correct placement with American reds. The staff knew the wine well. (They also have a section of ‘Columbus Classics’ labeled wines “for tourists.”) The staff at HouseWine was also familiar with Kinkead Ridge and had sold out of another of their wines. They did have Firelands Vidal Icewine (so did HH, btw) and Debonne Pinot Gris. While both cases I’d like to see more selection, it is more important that they have staffing that not only is familiar with the wines but can actively guide customers to them. In both shops, I engaged the person (neither the owner, btw) in conversation about the wines.

Down in the signature North Market of Columbus is Grapes of Mirth. A small, densely packed wine shop, it features a diverse selection of wine and beer. It has an excellent display for Ohio wines right in front of the register and the owner is very familiar with the wines and wineries. He has personally gone to the wineries to get shipments and actively promotes Ohio wines. I do wish the display were better organized, but this is still the best. If you are looking for Ohio wines in Columbus, this is your must-go.

And a little extra coverage - during the Gallery Hop tonight, I stopped into Vino 100. Nice selection of wines across the board and very stylishly laid out. Way too crowded for me to see much, but there was a nice rack of Ohio wines (not labelled as such). Several quality producers and some different wines. No chance to talk to staff.

I shall continue this series … as long as I can muster the energy in the face of the generally appalling state. The Ohio Statehouse gift shop stocks Ohio wines and another visit is in order. Later I will have some tips for wineries to improve their placements and product appeal to help overcome this. I will also have a report on a place (not in Columbus) which has solely Ohio wines and quite a selection.

3 Rieslings: 2 Ohio 1 German

2009-04-30T19:55:00.005-04:00

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Picture from my session of the Ohio Riesling virtual tasting.

Donnie Winchell of the Ohio Wine Producers Association put together a virtual tasting tonight of Ohio Riesling. The premise was simple - buy an Ohio Riesling and join up on Facebook to log your impressions along with others doing the same. There were around 20 people or so enjoying 10 or so Ohio Rieslings. Several people were having my favorite Ohio Riesling, Ferrante's Golden Bunches. Alas, I have served all mine. I had to scramble to find some good candidates. I also tossed in a comparable German Riesling to keep things honest.

Firelands Riesling 2007 (Isle St. George, Ohio) Cut-apple nose. Gets cider-y both in nose and palate too quickly though. A bit of floral, nice cut. Very light and lacey which holds for a bit, then is ultimately a fault. Nicely made and better for being too delicate than being forced.

Debonné Riesling Reserve 2007 (Grand River Valley, Ohio) Hint of petrol on the nose, some pear. Thicker body with peachy and oil notes. Awkward and fails to hold a middle, in good part due to lack of apparent acidity.

Hexamer 'Quarzit' Riesling 2007 (Meddersheim, Nahe, Germany) A cut above the other two. Pretty nose with oily/attar florals and toned apples. Lacey structure but persistent. Good balance with a slight disharmony on the sweetness. Holds a good bead.

Neither Ohio Rieslings were bad at all as the Hexamer was showing particularly well and is a great bargain in German Rieslings nearly every vintage. The vintage of 2007 treated both Ohio and Germany well, so this tasting nicely contrasted both terroir and style. The difference in color really shows better in the picture than IRL. One can easily see the Hexamer being a middle between the two Ohi wines. Also of particular note - and something that Ohio producers could do well be better understand - is that the 'Quarzit' logged in at only 9.5% abv. The Ohio wines were 11 and 11.5% respectively. Neither quite correctly carried this.

This was a great idea and fun event. (I do think that Twitter might be a better venue - constantly refreshing Facebook was annoying.) Thanks Donnie for setting it up and I look forward to the next one.

A.

Texas is smarter than Ohio

2009-04-29T17:14:00.003-04:00

While we have fucking idiots in our Statehouse, the State of Texas is in the process of making their wine laws smarter. Yep, Texas is ahead of Ohio in making their wine laws more consumer friendly AND beneficial to the broader hospitality industry. With support of the Texas Restaurant Association, they are opening the door to allowing patrons to bring their own wine to restaurants (and the restaurants charging a fee called 'corkage.') That is illegal under Ohio's archaic laws which exist primarily to line the pockets of the distributors.

Except for the tools of the politically-connected distributors, no one will deny that Ohio wine distribution system doesn't serve the consumer. One of these days I will break down some numbers, but the simple truth is that Ohio consumers pay as much as double for wines as their counterparts in other states. That also assumes we even get those wines - if a distributor in Ohio decided to not really bother with a wine or winery, there is little that winery can do to get out of that dysfunctional relationship. Each year, more and more smaller quality brands just don't bother with Ohio anymore. Bringing down this rotten house is a rant for another time, but does tie into a small change that can be made.

Right now, Ohio law explicitly forbids a consumer to bring a wine to a location which has a liquor license. In many was, the restaurant business is more than glad to take advantage. Go talk to catering venues for a wedding some time and find out how much more than the retail rate they charge for absolute shit wines. Other restaurants gladly rake their patrons over charging more for a glass of wine than they pay for a bottle. (The restaurant buys at wholesale, 2/3 of the retail price.) These restaurants are not of much interest to the wine consumer.

There is a not small list of restaurants here in Columbus to which we never go, despite numerous invitations and a knowledge that the food is fine. Why? The wine list sucks. There are more than a few where there is not a single wine I want to drink or that the decent wines are marked up 3-4x retail prices. I don't begrudge the restaurants this - they have to pay up front cash (another archaic stupidity) for those wines, account for glass breakage and the like. But there is a limit to how often I want to pay great wine prices for a mediocre wine. Other places simply don't care about their wine list. There are no vintages listed, they don't have what they list (Handke's was a big offender) and they just stock whatever bulk wines their hard liquor distributor tosses their way. Not necessarily special restaurants, but a nice enough meal that would be complemented by a solid wine.

Allowing patrons to BYO (Bring Your Own) and charging a corkage fee is an ideal solution. Break it down - either I don't go to the restaurant and they get 0$. I go and drink (bad) iced tea and they make a couple bucks or. Or I go, bring a bottle of something while paying 20$ to do so. Not only does the place make 20$, but I am more likely to stay longer, order dessert, etc. The restaurant really loses revenue from the patron like me who doesn't come in the door. Going farther to encourage BYO, a small restaurant will ease the cash reserves needed to stock wine and obviate the wine training (that they aren't doing anyway.) If you look at other places - like the restaurant heaven of NYC - it is obvious that this model enhances the overall industry as well as individual businesses.

There are so many more ways the wine laws in Ohio need reformed to stop screwing Ohio's consumers. All that is need is this tiny bit of text :

(e)The holder of a mixed beverage permit, or any officer,
agent, or employee of a holder, may permit a person to possess and
consume wine brought onto the premises by the person. The holder of
a mixed beverage permit may charge the person a corkage fee for the
person ’s consumption of wine on the premises and may provide for
service of the wine to the person and the person ’s guests. A fee
charged under this subsection is subject to the mixed beverage tax.

Ohio vs. The World

2009-04-22T10:18:00.004-04:00

While I was on vacation, I got a text from Zach at Columbus Foodcast. He wanted to do a short phone bit w/ bit talking about some wines from Ohio that I like. Sure. Then I realized that me talking was not only dull but by the time that he edited out my inevitable cursing, all that would be left was, 'Yo. Kinkead Ridge Revelation and Ferrante Golden Bunches. Drink.' So I figured I would have Zach try these wines with me and that morphed into gathering a larger group tasting blind several wines from Ohio versus the rest of the World.

I pulled a bunch of Ohio wines from my cellar and went shopping for 'comparable' wines to face-off. What 'comparable' means provided an interesting discussion during the event. If we take the best of Ohio and match it with the best of the World ... Ohio gets creamed. No ands ifs or buts. Ferrante and N. Ohio is no Donnhoff and Nahe, just for example. What I mean by comparable are wines similar both in price range and aspiration. I matched the Ohio wines with other wines of a price point and that a consumer would likely be selecting by style and appeal. I wasn't very systematic about as I also looked at this as an experimental version of a more ambitious project.

I created seven flights where an Ohio wine was matched with one or two other wines and tasted blind with my seven panelists. The whites were slightly chilled, popped and poured. I opened the reds for just a few minutes before pouring - the idea being to replicate restaurant or home consumption. Cheeses and cracker were available and I encouraged the panelists to discuss each flight before each simply ranked the wines. Having participated in and ran wine judgings, I wanted to create more natural, more convivial arrangement.

Today, just the raw results. Follow-ups will be some commentary and some other wines tasted.

In short, Ohio acquitted itself really well. The Ohio wine ranked 1st in 3 of flights - all reds oddly. A MI wine won another which gave a majority to the Big10. Let's look at it flight-by-flight. The number of 1st, 2nd, 3rd place votes after each wine.

Flight 1 : Riesling

Left Foot Charley 'Seventh Hill Vineyard'2007 (OMP, Michigan) 17.99$ (4,2,1)
Ferrante 'Golden Bunches' 2007 (Grand River Valley, Ohio) 14.99$ (3,0,4)
Leitz 'Dragonstone' 2007 (Rheingau, Germany) 14.99$ (0,5,2)

Flight 2: Pinot Gris

A to Z Pinot Gris 2007 (Oregon) 14.99$ (6,1)
Harpersfield 'St. Fiacre' 2007 (Grand River Valley, Ohio) 16.99$ (3,4)

* Two people voted for a tie.

Flight 3: Chardonnay

Sonoma-Cutrer 2006 (Sonoma Coast, California) 26.99$ (5,2,0)
Harpersfield 'Les Reves' 2007 (Grand River Valley, Ohio) 30.00$ (1,3,3)
Black Star Farms 'Arcturos' Barrel-fermented 2006 (OMP, Michigan) 16.50$ (1,2,4)

Flight 4: Pinot Noir

Harpersfield 'clos mes amis' 2007 (Grand River Valley, Ohio) 26.50$ (6,1)
King Estate 2007 (Oregon, USA) 29.99$ (1,6)

Flight # 5: Red/Red Blends

River Village Cellars Syrah 2006 (Ohio River Valley, Ohio) 11.95$ (6,1)
Cycle Buff Beauty (Malbec/Shiraz) 2006 (South Australia) 19.99$ (1,6)

Flight #6 Red Blends

Kinkead Ridge Revelation Red 2006 (Ohio River Valley, Ohio) 14.99$ (5,1,1)
Kinkead Ridge Revelation Red 2006 (Ohio River Valley) 14.99$ (2,3,2)
Clos de la Siete (Malbec blend) 2007 (Argentina) 18.99$ (1,2,4)

* 1 person voted a tie

Flight #7 Ice Wine

Nachtgold Riesling Eiswein 2006 (Rheinhessen, Germany) (5,2)
Valley Vineyards 'Ice Wine' Vidal Blanc 2006 (Ohio River Valley, Ohio) (3,4)

*1 person voted a tie

Something Different

2009-04-14T21:18:00.005-04:00

(Spending spring break in NYC, so light on the updates.)

About a week ago, I had some harsh words for someone who probably didn't deserve it - Quercus. Like a contrite lover, I come crawling back with sweet words and ... cash.

Oak barrels really aren't bad. I just think they do horrible things to wines in more cases than not. In the case of distilled spirits, oak barrels of varying type and toast are what make the different between the lack of flavor in clear spirits like vodka and the rich depth of Scotch or Bourbon. Scotch is traditionally aged in old sherry casks. Producers have used different type of barrels or casks. Some years ago, about all you could compare was Glenmorangie's Port, Madeira and Sherry bottlings, but now there are all kinds of experiments (as all kinds of casks and barrels are available.)

A fun thing about New York City is the amazing array of liquor-oriented ways to spend one's money. I blundered onto a pair of bottlings from Bruichladdich where the whisky was aged in French Oak used-Barolo barrels and American Oak used-Sassacaia barrels. Barolo is an old style of wine from Piedmont in Northern Italy, made from Nebbiolo grapes which are distinct to the area. Sassacaia is one of the original 'super-Tuscans,' wines made in the Tuscany area of Italy, but made in modern styles with classic French grapes like Cabernet and Merlot. So we have a pair of whiskies, distilled from the same grains in the same way but aged off in barrels of different oaks (American and French oaks are different species with different wood properties) which were originally used for different types of wines. These two Scotches will be a fascinating comparison.

I also picked up a bottle of "Substance" from Jacques Selosse which we took to Craft. This is a Champagne which is a combination of some 14 vintages blended and aged in solera-style (like Sherry) in Sherry casks. The Champagne picks up incredible notes like Sherry - nutty, seaweed and minerals. Very little on the bubbles, but still an incredible texture. Same seamless meshing with food like a good Sherry. Unique.

So, sorry Quercus, lovely and stout Oak. I come snivelling back until I decide to abuse you again.

How do you pick wine to drink?

2009-04-08T07:08:00.004-04:00

At the wine marketing conference, there was all kinds of talk about getting people to visit wineries - vinotourism. There was very little about what is in the bottle and how people choose wines (aside from cute labels. ) I have lots to say about what is in the bottle and how that affects purchasing choices. Let's back up though and look at what makes a bottle leave the shelf and get to your table. If you have never had a particular wine before, what qualities will make you want to drink it?

For me, where it is from is the dominant factor. I look at wines as expressions of place. One level is the incredibly detailed (that terroir thing), but for choosing wine it is also a quick filter to narrow down the choices on broad scale - I hate Californian and Australian wines. There are exceptions but for the purposes of choice, there is going to have to be some other additional factors to overcome this.

I choose wines from regions whose grapes and styles of winemaking I really like - Burgundy, Piedmont, Rioja, Friuli. I also choose a lot of wines just because I've never had a wine from that place before. I really get into trying wines from places where winemaking doesn't have a long tradition and there are both creative individuals and a quest for a winemaking identity. New Zealand and South Africa are examples.

The second factor is the producer. I buy wines from particular producers whose quality I know and whose style I respect and love. I am not a big fan of Bordeaux, but will buy La Conseillante regularly as they make a wine that expresses Pomerol (the region of Bordeaux they are in) in a soft, but exciting way. Different producers also have certain styles which will cause me to avoid them even from regions I like.

Variety is also a factor, but more as a reflection of place and producer. I don't particularly like Chardonnay, but love Chablis from Raveneau. La Conseillante above is primarily Merlot and you are hard-pressed to fine me drinking a California Merlot. In most cases, the grape variety to me is secondary to the wine being an expression of it place. A Burgundy that tastes like Pinot Noir is mostly a failure to me.

Vintage is also a consideration, but that is really determined by place. In most of Europe, 2003 produced hot and flabby wines (that was the summer of the lethal heat wave) which I will avoid, for example. I will choose an older wine in many cases, but that is also a matter being from a place and producer for which that matters. Price is obviously a factor, but is really the final one after all the other factors.

In my case, these criteria are matters of experience and knowledge. I have experienced enough wines to make certain judgments. I have some general knowledge like what grapes do well in what climates. I can also use critical opinions in a selective fashion based on my prior experiences with wines recommended by that critic.

And very little of this helps someone marketing wines from a place like Ohio. No tradition or real sense of place yet to the wines. Popular varieties are problematic here and other varieties like hybrids are unknown as are producers. I, personally, am interested in a sense of exploration and because I like to see what winemakers do when presented with the freedom and challenges of the non-traditional. You can't rely on outliers like me to make a market though.

I was really surprised in this conference how little time was devoted to what seems to me as the major marketing puzzle. So how you do you choose the wines you drink?

License to Steal : Numbers

2009-04-06T20:40:00.004-04:00

I am too tired and busy catching up to write my 'Wine Marketing is Evil' rant. I learned a lot from listening to wine from a very different perspective than mine. From my little perspective, one of the highlights at License to Steal was the chance to taste a whole bunch of new wines, new expressions and from new places. My open question is how much those who make wine and market it share this burning passion to taste and experience everything. Perspectives.

Here are the numbers ( I think):

Seventeen states.
Six states I've never had wine from before
Thirty two varieties of grapes
Seven varieties I've never had before
Fifty different wineries - at least
Seven-two wines that I noted

All my notes I jotted into the latest in my series of faithful Moleskines. No PDA or other electronic device has been able to match and keep up with my shorthand scrawl. I am getting an Android phone today. Wonder if that will finally do it?

License to Steal : The Bad and Ugly (Tastings)

2009-04-06T06:15:00.000-04:00

I tasted a lot of wines at "License to Steal." In the last post, I noted the most interesting quality wines. (I left out quality wines I expected from Wyncroft, Black Star and Markko.) Today is about the other end of the spectrum. I am wimping out and not naming names ... yet.

There are styles of wine I don't like and there are wines that are not well-made. Then there are wines that are both and the fundamental problem here is that the producers have taken a style of wine that is popular (big fruit extraction, low acid and lots of oak) and are applying it to grapes and places where they shouldn't. Colder climates just don't generally produce fruit that naturally heads to high alcohols and is able to handle heavy oak regimen.

Of slightly over 30 red wines I tasted, my notes explicitly comment on 'oak' on 16 of them. On some of them, it is just a mention where the oak is seasoning - I am not a big fan, but the wine has balance and is well-made. On about 10 of them, my note is something like 'OAK!' meaning that is all I tasted. Some of them have some good fruit and character, but the oak overpowers. Others might have been like that, but just a short time in the bottle shows the oak barrel treatment has stripped out the middle of the fruit. Others, the saddest of all, were wines whose fruit was leaner and acidic to start (and this isn't a bad thing automatically) and the oak not only dominates, but clashes.

What do I mean when I taste 'oak?' The staves of oak (either from the barrel or from sticking strips of oak into the tank) impart different flavors into the wine. Most overt is vanilla - vanillin in artificial flavoring is derived from oak. There are also sugars and tannins, both of which taste slightly different from the wine's innate ones. The wood is also charred at various levels and this imparts a whole range of flavors like toast, roast coffee, chocolate and olives. Many of these flavors are not inherently unpleasant and, in moderation, impart an extra level of flavor and character. Correctly handled - with fruit that can handle these flavors - it can work on the level of a popular style of wine to helping wines which can age for decades. Problem arises in situations where the grape's character clashes with those oak notes or when that fruit is too delicate and the process of oak treatment just strips everything out. Both wines might taste acceptable right at bottling, but very quickly (6 mos sometimes) settle out to something awful. Anyone who has tasted plenty of wines from the non-traditional states know exactly this wine and the experience of buying something that tasted great at the winery and now tastes awful a year later. I have no problem with wines designed to be drunk young, but haven't found too many expiration dates on bottles.

The barrel itself isn't inherently bad. One of the other side effect of barrel-aging is a slow exposure to Oxygen which has the effect of mellowing some of the fierce tannins (mouth-drying feeling). I had a nice Chambourcin (not that tannic) which spent several years in barrel. But it was not a brand new barrel and it was a big one. Both are important as a larger size means less contact with the oak in proportion to the juice and an older barrel has less oakness to impart. Some varieties have a style that traditionally calls for heavy oak treatment. Rioja in Spain, made from Tempranillo, traditionally spends years in oak barrels before bottling. The key here is that the wine is also expect to spend years in bottle before drinking so the winemaker has to make sure his starting product is going to handle this. I tasted Tempranillos from Texas which had a heavy hand on the oak, but was an open question how well it would handle it. Based on one slightly older one, the odds seemed good.

The other problem that goes hand-in-hand with oak treatment is the attempt to make hot-weather styled wines (think Aussie Shiraz) from cold weather climes. As the grape matures on the vines, the sugar levels go up (sugars become alcohol) and the acids go down (generally). This occurs pretty much in direct relation to the number of warm days the grape has. Global warming aside, the numbers just don't favor us in most of the Midwest. Everything has to line up perfectly and we too often get situations like Michigan in 2006 where everything was going great until there was a cold snap right before harvest.

You can compensate for less than ideally ripe grapes by adding sugar - and this has been done in Europe since sugar became readily available. But the other side of this style of wine is a high level of extraction - deep color, dense textures and lots of power. Very nice if you have grapes that have fully ripened and all the unripe elements have passed. Not so nice when you've got less than ideal grapes as all you do is extract more of the less tasty stuff. Sure the wine has a nice deep color and plenty of alcohol, but harsh textures and worse flavors. There is also no balance and the wine collapses - oak or no - quickly in the glass and with time in bottle. Grapes which naturally have some green elements to them like Cabernet Franc are really susceptible to this.

We won't even touch the whole bag of tricks out there to make grapes into something they don't want to be - acidification, enzymatic extraction, designer yeasts.

Even where oak/extraction works - and my problem applies to most wines from California and Australia - the wines generally end up all tasting alike regardless of where they are from and what grape they come from. There just isn't a point.

So that is why several of my tasting notes are just 'Modernist crap,' 'OAK!' and 'Gaaack!'

A.

License to Steal : The Good (Tastings)

2009-04-05T05:43:00.000-04:00

Part of the recent 'License to Steal' wine marketing conference was a lot of sharing of ideas and of wines. Lots of hybrids and other grapes well off the normal radar. It certainly was a wild panoply of tastes. Below are tasting notes for the really distinctive, surprising and unexpected wines I tasted.

I also tasted a couple of nice white Rhone blends from Texas and whole bunch of Norton from Missouri (the grape has merit, but most of the wines suffered from an all too common fault across the board I shall discuss later).

1998 Naylor Chambourcin Reserve - USA, Pennsylvania, Central Delaware Valley (4/4/2009)
Nice nose with currants and wool. Good acid body, light. Rose hips on the back. Continues with the lanolin notes on the finish. Balanced. Distinctive.
2002 Hermannhof Winery Chambourcin Estate Grown Little Mountain Vineyard - USA, Missouri (3/31/2009)
Nice smokey aspect to the nose. Good body with fruits transformed. Bright and clean with a slight oak spice. Nicely done.
2004 Alamosa Wine Cellars El Guapo - USA, Texas, Texas Hill Country (3/31/2009)
Nice Tempranillo character on the nose with leather, brick and tight orange fruit. Great texture and chew. Oak evident, but meshed and well into being absorbed. Nice finish with leather and non-fruit elements prominent. Young. Well-done.
2007 Morgan Creek Vineyards 10 M Vines Marquette - USA, Minnesota (3/31/2009)
(First commercial release of a wine from the Marquette grape - blended) Slight grilled meat edge to the nose. Nice spice, broad fruits. A liqueur-like edge and just comes short of holding the alcohol. Dark fruits on the finish with herbal edge. There is a nice personality here.
2007 Westport Rivers Rkatsiteli - USA, Massachusetts (3/31/2009)
Bright nose with slight funk and resin. Green almond character which is really cool. Tart and very a point. Good stuff. Consistent note from a second bottle at lunch the next day.
N.V. Paper Moon Vineyards Niagara - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (3/31/2009)
Pretty nose, light but floral fruits. Good level of sweetness which is handles well and is expressive of a nice vibe. A herbal-tea notes. Nice expression of the varietal.

Posted from CellarTracker

Chambourcin is a hybrid of somewhat opaque heritage (creator died and wasn't big on making notes) which was released in the earlier 60s.

Marquette is a new hybrid created by the University of Minnesota. Very cold hardy. I also tasted an experimental bottling of 100% Marquette from UM which had seen a little too long in oak.

Rkatsiteli - from the new to the old, really old. This variety goes way back and originated in the Caucasus Mountains. Second most widely planted white grape in the world, supposedly, with the vast majority being in Russia.

Niagara is pure Vitis Labrusca, though a manmade crossing from the 1880s (most agriculture plants are not wild types). Also a table grape.

Tempranillo is the Spanish grape of Rioja. Not a common variety in the US. Texas seems like a good fit.

Back tommorrow with the Bad and the Ugly. Quercus!

Hybrids

2009-04-03T05:43:00.000-04:00

At "License to Steal" I tasted entirely too many wines, many from hybrids. I will go into tasting details at a later time, but this is a super quick primer. The story of hybrids could realistically occupy a book.

There are roughly sixty different species of grapes. That is species, not varieties. One species, Vitis Vinifera, is responsible for all the varieties we associate with classic wines – Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Syrah, Merlot, etc. The traditional story is that the species originated somewhere around the Black Sea and spread across Europe and the Mediterranean basin with the Greek and Roman colonies. More recent research has revealed that forms of Vinifera existed across this region well before that time frame. The main point is that this single species is responsible – through both its own tendency to mutate and human selectional intervention – for nearly all the names we are used to seeing on wine labels.

Of those sixty species, about half are native to the Americas and found only there. Wild grape vines are prolific but tend to put more of their energy into vegetal growth than fruiting. When European settlers saw these wild grapes, they were initially thrilled to be able to re-create the wines of their homes. They were rudely disappointed. The wines that are produced from these grapes have very distinctive aromas and flavors. Making wines with these grapes still continues – Scuppernong and Muscadine are the most common names you will see. Classic table grapes are Concord, from another native species.

Those settlers weren’t going to give up, so the first thought was to import grape vines from the Old World. These imports quickly encountered major problems as there are a whole variety of diseases and pests for which native species had built resistance, but to which Vinifera was susceptible. These attempts all ended badly. And as a nature’s biological counterstrike, those diseases and pests ended up being brought back to Europe. Phylloxera (a small bug which feasts on grape roots) ended up devastating Europe’s vineyards.

Two solutions emerged. The first, which saved the vineyards of Europe and is responsible for all the plantings of Vinifera nearly everywhere, was to graft the Vinifera plant onto native rootstock. The below-ground part of vine would then be resistant to phylloxera while the above ground would bear Vinifera fruit.

The second solution was to create hybrids between Vinifera and native species. Ideally the new form would have the hardiness of the native and the fruit character of the Vinifera. That goal never quite worked, but many interesting and commercially viable varieties were produced. This Wikipedia page has a nice summary. Vidal Blanc is notable for the famous ice wines of Ontario. Other varieties found in Ohio are Marechal Foch, Vignoles, De Chaunac, Seyval Blanc and Chambourcin.

These varieties passed out of favor with grape growers and wine makers, following consumer tastes. It is kind of a shame as quality wines made from these hybrids offer something unique. There is continual research into more varieties that are more Vinifera in flavor but have the cold-resistance and hardiness of natives. I tasted a couple of wines from "Marquette," a variety that is hardy down to an absurd level. Interesting wines.

Most interesting hybrid tasting notes from the past :

2002 Inniskillin Vidal Sparkling Icewine - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA (6/17/2006)
Pizza Night!: Light and floral. Lots of sweetness, but a nice balance and made lighter by the bubbles. The Vidal twang made it a great match with a vanilla cake.
2004 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Old Vines Foch Limited Release - Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA (4/22/2007)
British Columbia Wines; 4/17/2007-4/22/2007: Nice medium dark colour. Good nose of animal fat, plumped prunes and slight cassia. Definite fougere on the top with musky fruits and slight blood elements. Strong acids hold these elements in check and push the wine forward. Nice concentration and depth. Clear qualities seperate this into its own. Good stuff.
N.V. Ravenhurst Grand Rouge - USA, Ohio (8/4/2006)
Pretty dark rose colour. Fairly large bubbles. Nose with slighty funky fruit, strawberries and cherry wood. Definite Chambourcin funky fruit, fairly solid and intense. A slight sweetness, but a nice finish with jammy notes, toast and lanolin feel. A couple glasses were good, but the combination turned annoying after a while. Well-made and creative wine though.
N.V. Troutman Vineyards Chambourcin Ice Wine - USA, Ohio (3/7/2009)
This is kind of cool. There is a funky oxidative note on the top which vibes me pretty well. True Chambourcin character and a nice balanced sweetness. I really like the unique vibe this wine hits.
2005 Fenn Valley Vignoles Late Harvest - USA, Michigan, Lake Michigan Shore (3/7/2009)
Nice. A really shivery spearmint vibe picks up in the middle and lingers on the finish. Would like a little more acid, but this is a very vibrant and alive sweet wine. There is an electricity here which elevates this beyond. Good stuff.
2003 Jackson-Triggs Vidal Icewine Proprietors' Reserve - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA (9/10/2005)
Cleveland Offline (Lockkeeper's): Very sweet nose with slightly musky florals. Thick, honey sweetness dominates. Clean finish. A small taste was pleasurable and a small glass would make a dessert, but it was too much at the end of the long tasting.

And some others.

2006 Firelands Winery Vidal Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (3/7/2009)
Nice, but unremarkable. Suffers from the failure of imagination that most of these wine have - the starting point is sweet and generically pleasing, so why work for anything more.
N.V. Klingshirn Winery Vidal - USA, Ohio (2/16/2009)
Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 (Wooster, Ohio): Nice floral nose, but ends up soapy and affected on the palate.
2004 St. Joseph Vineyards Vidal Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (7/8/2006)
Odd nose with notes like culture medium. Decent sweetness/acid balance, but also somewhat astringent. Nice sweet peach tea elements. A certain pleasure here, but not of much remark.
2003 Pelee Island Winery Vidal Icewine - Canada, Ontario, Pelee Island VQA (12/10/2005)
WLDG Cincinnati (Cumin): Do these wines ever taste different from vintage to vintage? Typical profile of strong sweetness, Vidal-twang and mango notes. Cloying finish. Very nice with fig ice cream though.
2004 Ferrante Vidal Ice Wine - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (7/30/2005)
Typical vidal animal and fur nose, light and pleasant side though. Nice body, good level of sweetness for the acid level. Clean finish. Pleasant, more so than expected.
2007 Stony Ridge Marechal Foch - USA, Ohio (2/16/2009)
Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 (Wooster, Ohio): Decent enough as a Foch, but not going anywhere interesting.
2004 Flint Ridge Marechal Foch - USA, Ohio (6/27/2006)
(Opened in the AM w/ Dave @ Grapes) Funky and spicy nose. A bit of animal behind it, not totally good. Missing middle, but rises on the finish with some grape-y notes. Residual yeastiness and a slightly unclean element. Degraded a lot by dinner with pelt and off-fruit notes. Where this relates to the varietal and where it relates to the quality, I can't say.
2006 Domaine Berrien Cellars Vignoles - USA, Michigan, Lake Michigan Shore (11/17/2008)
Ohio vs Michigan Wine Clash 2008; 11/16/2008-11/20/2008 (Ann Arbor, MI & Columbus, OH): No. A sweet rustiness dominates. Not enjoyable. Consistent across both bottles in both locations.
2006 Terra Cotta Vineyards Chambourcin - USA, Ohio (2/16/2009)
Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 (Wooster, Ohio): Nice fruit, a good smoothness to the textures. Nice.
N.V. Klingshirn Winery Chambourcin - USA, Ohio, Lake Erie (2/16/2009)
Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 (Wooster, Ohio): Fake raspberries. Discordnant.
2005 Debonné Chambourcin - USA, Ohio, Grand River Valley (9/8/2008)
Slightly foxynose with a bit of fur and museum specimen elements. Light in colour. A very nice Gamay-like fruitiness and soft edges. Some acids and a very light texture. Appealling elements for some which overcame the feral elements, but not for everyone.
2006 Boskydel De Chaunac - USA, Michigan, Leelanau Peninsula (3/7/2009)
Dark colour. Odd nose, like grape-pressings composted. Soft. True to varietal, in the poorer sense. No real interest here.
2008 Valley Vineyards De Chaunac - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (2/16/2009)
Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 (Wooster, Ohio): Kool-Aid-esque. Had a nice presence in that though.
2007 Meranda-Nixon Winery Red Oak Creek - USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley (1/7/2009)
Nice nose, almost cinnamon-y, slightly artifical. Rather unnerving mixture of sweet and tart on attack on the palate. Strained fruit, tart cherries and crab apple. Short finish w/ a green streak. Really out of kilter wine.

An Insolvable Problem?

2009-04-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

The other day, I posted a tasting note on a nice Oregon Pinot Noir we had at Rue Dumaine. It was a good wine, but my tasting note doesn't really reflect the whole story.

I ordered the wine when we ordered dinner. It was brought promptly, tasted and decanted at the table. I enjoyed my app with something else and started drinking the wine before the mains came out. Continued with the mains and then with a cheese course. The wine, while good, did not reach its apogee until just right before the cheese course and with about a glass apiece left. We got the best of the wine for only a small portion of our dinner. I hate when that happens!

So what to do?

It is not the restaurant's fault - there is absolutely nothing more they could do. Good wines often change and evolve after they are open. That is one of the points of decanting which they did recommend. There is just no good way to speed up the process. Nor do I think it would be reasonable (for me and for the restaurant) to slow down the dining process.

I have called up a restaurant well in advance of coming in and asked them to decant a wine before we arrive. Obviously a risk if I don't show, but that can be handled by purchasing the wine by credit card at the time of the call. A lot of hassle for the both me and the restaurant. I don't do this often at all.

Sometimes the economics of restaurants mean that they move wine before it is really ready to drink. That can cause this problem as a young wine often needs some airing to settle itself. While that is a pain for the consumer, it wasn't the case here. A 5+ yr old Pinot from Oregon is good to go and I don't think this wine is going to improve. It was a perfect restaurant wine, especially for the bistro style of food at Rue Dumaine.

Cases like this are truly insolvable. I am writing this quick take up not to complain, but as an FYI for the wine consumer.

Too much in my head

2009-04-01T05:30:00.000-04:00

I am at "License to Steal" which is an exchange of ideas for US wineries in non-traditional states. From my perched seat, driving the quality wagon, it is very interesting to see how wineries view themselves and how they work to market themselves in an arena with which I am totally unfamiliar. It is not about reaching people who would choose between an old Burgundy and an old Bordeaux or even people who would chose between a bad Sonoma and worse Napa Cab. It is about getting people to choose to visit a winery instead of a zoo or drink wine instead of a Coke. Really bizarre to me and the conclusions are somewhat counter-intuitive to my experiences with events like the Slow Foods Columbus 'Flying J Dinner.' I will have plenty of commentary down the road, but the short version is that while marketing matters, quality is the ace in the hole.

I tasted wines from something like 15 states and two new varieties to me. Another one (Marquette - the vine can survive something absurd like 3 degree K) which I was excited about ran out before I got to it. Promised it tommorrow. That was pretty cool. I doubt I will really tasting note them, but expect a summary. Food was awful and I am sitting in my room, eating a delivered bad pizza (stupid hotel stops serving food at 8pm!) and sipping a wine totally out of my wheelhouse - 01 Reignac. Modernist crap tastes good sometimes. Corked bottle of a 15 yr old Ohio wine sitting here as well. And I am staring at old Conseillante, my favorite Bordeaux, which I am too guilt-stricken to open w/o my wife.

The funniest part ... actually, the most pathetic part of this conference was a juxtaposition. Right after a very sharp young lady gave a presentation on social media and marketing to the users of, we had a Q&A with ... a writer from USA Today! Fuck. It was so hard to not run around screaming 'Dead trees! Die, dinosaur, die!' The death spiral of newspapers (and print) is just taking too long.

If only there were something decent on TV...

A open question

2009-03-31T05:56:00.000-04:00

Most of my pieces here are polemics or otherwise strong statements of my opinion. Here is an honest and open question : Is varietal labeling or proprietary naming the best direction to establish an identity for Ohio wines?

Varietal labeling is what we are familiar with most in the United States. The wine is labeled by the grape variety (at least 75% according to the TTB.) The shelves in wine shops are organized with varieties as the guiding principle. People order and recognize Chardonnay. We recognize some grape varieties with places - Cabernet Sauvignon from California and Shiraz from Australia. Others like Merlot as essentially brands unto themselves (even to the point where the a substantial portion of Merlot consumers are unaware that their favorite grape is the dominant component of wines like Pomerols from Bordeaux.)

Proprietary names are trademark names for wines which are usually comprised of a blend of grape varieties. The wine is identified and marketed through this trademarked name and relies on the consumer to ask for it specifically like any branded product. There is no reference (except maybe on the back label) to the varieties. In some ways, it is more like a European system like where the famous wines of Bordeaux are named for their Chateaux. The New World often has more personal and often playful names.

Each position has strengths and weaknesses. A recognized variety is an already-built brand. Ordering wines by variety is already a habit with consumers. It works well from the seller's point of view as it is easier to divert a consumer from one Chardonnay to another. Many wine shops are laid out this way if not overall then within areas like California. Much of the wine marketing and basic consumer wine knowledge trades on this currency. A new wine has a logical slot into this scheme.

The transitive nature of the varietal brand is also a drawback, especially for a non-traditional region like Ohio. A poor example will be detrimental not just to the producer, but across the board. If a consumer has a bad Pinot Noir from Ohio, for example, she is likely to make the association of Pinot Noir from Ohio = bad more than Producer X = bad. It is also a hard market in which to make inroads. The heavily established varieties like Chardonnay or Merlot are not Ohio's strengths and have also been well-staked by others. Alternative varieties like Riesling have some negative associations. Unknown varieties (Chambourcin, anyone?) then face a doubled task of marketing both the new variety and being from Ohio.

Staking out a proprietary name has the major advantage of being wholly under the control of the producer. Like Champagne houses, the producer can ensure that each example of that brand name adhere to the quality standard they wish to set.The consumer will get what he orders and that is strong quality in an area where variability is a major problem. There is also a larger set of ways to market the brand from lifestyle to associations/synergies to intrinsic qualities. It gives the producer a certain freedom of expression as well.

It is a lot harder and requires more investment in time and capital to build a brand from scratch. It is also riskier and more prone to critical damage. It requires continual management and, in the case of wineries on the scale of Ohio's, individuals with a strong commitment and emotional investment in the product. There is also a pre-existing negative component as named wines from Ohio are predominantly sweet native grapes and low-quality. When faced with an already unfamilar territory of Ohio wine, a consumer is asked to make a second leap of faith in an unknown blend.

The two are not wholly opposed. Wineries have made their reputation on particular varieties and have signature wines which are combinations of both a proprietary name and a varietal - Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, for example. In other cases, single brands have been responsible for varietal identification - like Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio - on which others have piggybacked.

In Ohio, Kinkead Ridge "Revelation" (a red blend) has been a strong success story and a signature wine which helps their varietally-labelled wines. Vidal Ice Wine from several producers has been an example of a successful product handled by several producers.

I don't have an answer here and I suspect the power is not in a single answer, but in making an informed decision between the various tensions outlined above.

Monday Morning Quick Take

2009-03-30T06:17:00.003-04:00

I have a half-dozen or more lengthy topics lined up to post here, but Mondays seems best served with a quickie:

One of the comments on the Ohio Wine Survey nicely captured the essence of what I am trying to get at here : "I would like more information on other Ohio vineyards, location, tasting room, and type of wines including level of sweetness." (my emphasis)

I recently took a swipe at the Ohio Wine Guide for precisely this. Each of the winery listed gets two of three and very,very few get #3. It might seem like 66% is an acceptable 'D' and 'yeah for effort!' but that assumes that all three have equal weight. They don't. For the quality-minded consumer, the newer consumer (millenials?), that last bit of information will be what actually makes the decision to visit the winery or to try the wines. The other two are details which make up the 'how' after the decision has been made.

Quick tasting notes from dinner @ Rue Dumaine in Dayton:

First, you must have Anne's Vin d'Orange, an aperitif made from oranges, wine, spirits and a hint of vanilla - allowed to stand for a month or so. Haven't had this in 10 yrs since we lived in NOLA and never can the same je-ne-sais-quoi.

2003 Scott Paul Cellars Pinot Noir Audrey - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (3/28/2009)
(Rue Dumaine, Dayton) Took about an hour to really bloom into a fruit-driven, yet fully integrated and balanced expression. Lots of dark fruits with a nice modulation and mossy notes which were counterpoint. Not much depth or venturing into other zones, but did its thing really well.

The more things change

2009-03-29T08:35:00.000-04:00

While I was at the Ohio Wine and Grape Conference 2009 , I picked up a copy of the proceedings from the 1994 version (then entitled “Ohio-Grape Wine Short Course.”) The technical stuff has proceeded apace as times and knowledge changed, but buried deep in the back were the results of a survey conducted of wine producers. What is amazing is that 15 years on, the challenges and perceptions have little changed.

At the top of the list of perceived weaknesses in the Ohio wine industry in 1994 were the image of sweetness, non-promotion in media, retailer reluctance and inconsistent quality. When compared to the preliminary results of the Ohio Wine Survey, the parallels are disturbing. Lack of retailer knowledge and inconsistent quality were two of the common reactions consumers in 2009 had about Ohio wines. Media coverage is still non-existent (and wasn’t touched in my survey.) What was also interesting is that the producers placed the appalling ‘3-tier system’ as last on the scale of issues. This is the Stockholm Syndrome where the prisoner has grown to love and identify with their captors!

Their list of opportunities is an amusing litany of missed opportunities. The top here – better media contacts, work together for quality, grow positively and differentiate wine – all sound lovely, but lack focus and I question – in this space often – the real commitment to quality which is reflected in what they perceived as close to the bottom in an ‘honest evaluation of wines.’ The ironic thing is that media itself has been totally upended, tossed around and completely recreated in these fifteen years and that has presented incredible opportunities to those prepared to seize them. That is an opportunity that could have been grabbed. An Ohio winery told me that the biggest hits to their website came when Wine Library TV talked about Ohio wines. Watch what Gary does. - that is getting the new media environment. Instead of getting new media, we get Ohio Wine TV whose host looks to come right out of 1994 and clearly spends more on hair care products than wine.

The list of strengths is a little better, with number one being the quality of the fruit-growing area. Maybe not put in such terms, but leveraging the unique terroir of certain areas of Ohio is really the key to building a brand based on quality and distinction. But then they were totally unaware of the greater social currents around them as relatively low on the list is the relationship with chefs and the relationship between wine and food. While in 1994, it would be too much to expect a prescience of locavorism and the greater economic range of quality food, the pieces were all there to line up. What is out there in 2009 that needs spotted and used>

I could go on. It is pretty easy to sit on my couch here in 2009 and pick on the ideas (and hair!) of 15 yrs ago. So much has changed in media, culture and markets since then. This was a pretty pithy summary and each of these issues deserves exploring in depth. I can only hope that a list created 15 yrs hence has new things on it.

Cool labels I

2009-03-28T06:44:00.000-04:00

Nothing deep today and no brickbats either. The wine world is filled with fluffy critter labels and design that is either deadly dull or just awful. Today is a little shout-out for doing something different.

Wines of Substance from Washington has this wonderfully geeky elemental (heh) design going on. Pictured here are their Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. All their varietal wines use the Periodic Table as the base. Simple, unified, informative and distinctive.

No tasting report yet as they were just delivered to me (and I am still awaiting their Syrah.)

Candy Shop

2009-03-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

The temperate weather of Spring is not just about flowers and grass, but the arrival of 'shipping season' as all the wines you've ordered start arriving. Everyone knows that heat can wreck wine, but cold can be equally dangerous. Way too cold and the wine freezes while it is being transported. This is not so much bad for the wine per se, but the volume expansion can shatter the bottle. Even if the wine doesn't fully freeze, changes in volume can push the cork which breaks the seal and the wine will degrade instead of age gracefully. So Spring time means the arrival of boxes of goodies.

The really hard part is the waiting. There is much discussion on 'travel shock,' but in general it seems like most wines need to rest a while before being drunk. Some big, rich wines may actually taste better from being jostled, I will concede. As a general rule though, four weeks or more are need to relax the wine. In the case of older wines, to let the sediment return to the bottom of the bottle instead of being dispersed through the wine.

So here are some samples from my candy box :

Marc Tempé is a producer of no small repute in Alsace. So it was of no small excitement to me that he started developing another estate in the Languedoc. Practicing the same Biodynamic methods he uses at his home estate, these red wines have garnered notice. I am really looking forward to seeing what these wines are like.

Australian Shiraz? Could there be anything more outside of my wheelhouse? Well, it comes from a producer known for subtle and distinctive Pinot Noir and whose wines grace the wine list of some of the most discriminating restaurants. As much as I dislike most of the production of Australia, it is a vast continent with some fascinating terroirs outside of Barossa's fruit bombs. I keep having hope.

I know it is hard to see on this little label, but there is a very exciting word - 'ungrafted.' The classic varieties we know are highly susceptible to phylloxera, a root-eating minute pest. The only way to ensure viability is to graft the vine onto a resistance rootstock which comes from a different species. Yet scattered around the world are vineyards and plots that due to their specific geology are naturally resistant. In this case, we have a German Riesling and from the heralded vintage of 2001. Should be very exciting.

What do the cool kids drink when Gravner just isn't cool enough anymore? Vitovksa! A grape variety I've never experienced from a producer who is quite the rage with hipster wine drinkers. Really in my wheelhouse and I am expecting great things.

Did I say something about waiting? Ooops. Sometimes I can't. From the always interesting Louis/Dressner portfolio of wines, this '07 Beaujolais Cru should be a delight for the next several years : "Yummy. Real pure and arrow-straight with tart fruit, stemmy-textures and a lingering cranberry finish which fades off to mineral and sorbet-like persistence. Focused, bright and intense."

Is this a problem?

2009-03-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

I am holding in my hand a little pamphlet entitled “The Ohio Wine Guide.” It was very nicely sent to me for free by the Ohio Grape Industries I am not special – they probably won't give me the time of day free when they read my notes – you can get it from the website . ( OWI, free hint - Downloadable PDF version?) Here is a fun fact: In the listing of 89 wineries, the words ‘charming’ and ‘quaint’ appear the same amount of times (6) in the winery self-descriptions as do exactly what varieties the winery produces. If we dig deeper, about ten wineries give a broader description of their wines. (We won’t count “award-winning” as describing anything aside from the joke that wine awards are.) Over fifteen offer a description of the view. Except of a handful of wineries, most of the descriptions are really restaurant plugs. Is this a problem?

No. This booklet is mostly a tourist guide, available at welcome stations and the like. Attracting tourists with scenery or the promise of a good meal in a nice setting is the first step. People have fun, drink some wine, have a good time (and they remember so they come back to Ohio) and, hopefully, buy some bottles. State gets money. Winery gets money. It is all good.

That is the traditional position – Ohio wine is mostly a novelty for this form of agri-tourism. Not surprisingly, I don’t agree.

Yes. It is a big problem. It is not so much this guide exists– tourism fluff that it is. It is that it is the only guide that exists. “Ohio Quality Wines” is splashed across the cover in fancy script and there is next to nothing about wine or quality. This only serves to reinforce the reputation of Ohio wines as being silly touristy stuff. As I look at this glossy brochure, I am also looking at the report of the 2008 Ohio Wine Competition – it is the print-out of an Excel spreadsheet stapled between two pieces of card stock. What message is being sent here?

I recognize that this is not a simple issue and that I am hitting the gnat of universally silly tourist brochures with my rhetorical sledgehammer. But I also think that the twin goals – tourism and quality wine – can be harmonized. One important thing to remember: Promoting quality will not diminish the tourism appeal, but this manner of promoting tourism does diminish the quality perception.

More fun facts

Harpersfield , Kinkead Ridge , Laleure , Laurello , Markko and St. Joseph were the only wineries which mention what specific varieties they grow. That is a quality honor roll.
Seventeen wineries use the adjective ‘award-winning.’
Only one of the six above uses 'award-winning.'
Despite there being exactly one grape variety that is even remotely Italian (Pinot Grigio) with any level of planting, Italian is the dominant food theme explicitly mentioned.
There are now over a half-dozen ‘urban wineries’ in Ohio where the wine is produced in a winery located in a city with grapes from the surrounds or elsewhere. This is a big growth segment in the business and a nice thing for locals.

I feel obligated to mention : Know Your Limit. Wine tourism is fun, but be responsible. The spit buckets are there for a reason. If you don't see one - ASK. Or use a spare glass.

Amphorae

2009-03-25T09:00:00.002-04:00

The other day I made reference to 'natural wine' and if that was a reasonable quality goal for Ohio. Natural wine is a complicated and controversial subject and anything I blog is going to give it short shrift. Personally, one of my favorite currents in this genre is going back to aging wines in big clay amphora. This is a total throwback to a really long time ago - Bronze Age long time ago. The idea - leaving aside some winemakers who have mystical notions - is that a clay vessel has a certain permeability to Oxygen and the gas interacts with the wine in a way which ages and mellows it. Not wholly illogical as an oak barrel has the same effect and a giant earthenware jug is less likely to impart extra yukky flavors.

I could write a long piece on this trend and there are more than a few potential readers who have been subject to inebriated rants from me on this subject. (I have friends who can't drink these wines w/o thinking of me. ) The short version is that this method of aging newly-fermented wine never really went out of fashion in Georgia - ex-USSR, not the Peach State. The winemaker Josko Gravner in Friuli then adopted it in the late 90s. (Legendarily, Josko had been making wines up there in Northern Italy which had been winning the Italian equivalent of vinous Oscars. He called his reps together and told them he couldn't live with himself anymore and was going to make wine the way he wanted. If they didn't want to sell it, no hard feelings but the door is over there. ) Josko is somewhat of a Titan in the winemaking field and his influence spread this to other areas, though I suspect some of the others had been experimenting even before.

The results, while not always great, have never been anything less than compelling wines. More than anything, I'd like to see the daring and verve exhibited by these winemakers show up in places like Ohio instead of the sterile, soulless and industrial processes which are so prevalent. I will never forget the electric current that shot down my spine when I had my first Gravner nor the deep cravings I get for these wines which are sitting in my cellar.

Video on Gravner.

2001 Gravner Breg Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (1/15/2009)
Pow! About 30 minutes in the decanter produced an explosion from the perfumers cabinet with chypre, musks and citrus petals. Dried down with earth and lacquer.( The most aromatically explosive Breg I've had.) Lovely layers of textures, a suprising coyness and great balance. Bitters and tea on the finish. This has moved to another plane. Great pairing with a fennel pollen and smoked paprika-scented yellow-tomato lamb ragu. This wine just revels in complex aromatic pairings.
2001 Gravner Ribolla Gialla Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (8/24/2008)
Beautiful rosey copper colour. Svelte body and lacey tannins. Slight cloudiness. Mineral, brine and lanolin. Lighter in body than I remember and more fleeting on the palate. Still compelling.
2001 Gravner Breg Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (4/13/2007)
Just totally Breggy. I can't add much more to my previous notes except this one had even more impressive structure and delineation. Awesome stuff.
2001 Gravner Breg Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (12/18/2006)
Peter Luger Steak Dinner: This wine is so pretty with a unique copper-hued pink to it. Lovely nose with citrus, gin and a prickle. Intensely textured with a grip and a svelte pull. Bitters, strawberry-like fruit and tea notes. Intense. Amazingly perfect pairing with honey-cinnamon risotto and grilled sweetbreads.
2001 Gravner Breg Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (9/2/2006)
Same gorgeous colour and clarity. Expressive nose with pine needles, lacquer and slight formic prickle. Great textures upfront, very clean with bent fruit. Slight bitters and mineral on the finish with a smoothness and suaveness. Very balanced and intricate, delightfully paired with salmon w/ a mushroom crust.

The cleaness and precision of this bottles makes the TCA theory of the previous quite likely.
2001 Gravner Breg Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (7/31/2006)
Italy is more than Tuscany and Piemonte, capiche? (Casa mia, Columbus Ohio): Pink colour w/ great clarity. Almost glows. Not a lot of nose, some lemon curd and metal. Tart and agressive on the top. Metalic notes, rough citrus and oxidized notes. Not well-balanced or integrated. Time improved it somewhat, but never developed body or expression. Not an awful wine, but a disappointment would be an understatement.
2001 Gravner Ribolla Gialla Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT (7/31/2006)
Italy is more than Tuscany and Piemonte, capiche? (Casa mia, Columbus Ohio): Golden-tan colour. Lovely nose with stone fruits, flowers and candy apples. Great texture with fine tannins and a nice caress. Good body, golden-raisin elements and taro root-like notes. Very compelling and lovely. Long and deep finish.
2002 Castello di Lispida Amphora - Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT (4/13/2007)
Shoe-polish and oxidized nose. Very metallic coppery notes with some fuzzy texture. Orange-y citrus notes on the back. A lot more linear and balanced than recent tastes of other vintages, but ultimately not really a wine you want to drink.
2004 Castello di Lispida Amphora - Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT (12/18/2006)
Peter Luger Steak Dinner: Foul. Murky and hazy colour. Unpleasant odors of shoe polish and rancid fruit oils. tastes to match. Undrinkable.
2003 Castello di Lispida Amphora - Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT (7/31/2006)
Italy is more than Tuscany and Piemonte, capiche? (Casa mia, Columbus Ohio): Cloudy and murky and hazy. Strong agressive nose - hung meat, solvents and pine tar rag. I didn't like, though others found it more compelling Palate did not match at all - little texture, thin acids, powdery resin. Disappearing finish with some sewer-y notes. Not a pleasant bottle at all.
2002 Castello di Lispida Amphora - Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT (9/10/2005)
Cleveland Offline (Lockkeeper's): Very sweet nose. Bone-dry on the palate. Resin notes along with green almonds and ginger. Medium finish.

Cahors is a French AOC and know as 'the black wine.' Made from mostly Malbec, it is traditionally brutally tannic and fierce when young. This treatment significantly mellows it.

2005 Le Clos d'un Jour Cahors Un Jour sur Terre - France, Southwest France, Cahors (3/22/2009)
Those tropical soil elements I noted a year ago have really kicked up. More fruit and a sweet edge. This has grown bigger, but a little looser knit and texturally less. Colour still a marvel. Cool stuff.
2005 Le Clos d'un Jour Cahors Un Jour sur Terre - France, Southwest France, Cahors (4/9/2008)
Couldn't resist, so opened upon arrival. Dark and primeval colour. Big nose of tropical soil and flowers with an edge of aged Sumatra coffee. Nice fruit on the top which dominates. Good body and some funky earth notes behind. Finishes light with a little orange liquer sweetness feeling at the edge. Drank well over a long time. Next day had the sweeter elements more to the fore.

Cos in Sicily also makes a Cerasuolo di Vittoria called 'Pithos' which was really good, but I must have been in an anti-tasting note phase as I don't have a note for it.

Ohio Wine Survey Prelim Results

2009-03-24T00:01:00.000-04:00

Wow. When I launched my Ohio Wine Survey a little over two weeks ago, I set a goal of collecting 100 responses. With a little luck and lots of badgering, I figured it would take a month or so. Last Sunday Mar 22, at 1:55 PM I hit that mark. (Alas, that person didn't leave an email or I would contact them to send a bottle.) The second phase of the survey is about to commence which involves more exposure at retail points, but achieving n=100 warrants a little preliminary musings.

A little over 50% of the respondents had an Ohio wine in the last six months and almost 3/4 in the last year. Nice numbers, though skewed with a selection bias I am sure. Wine/food festivals and at the wineries themselves were the most common place to encounter an Ohio wine, which is not surprising. What was surprising was the 40% had purchased an Ohio wine at a retail shop. Only about 10% had been served an Ohio wine at a banquet or other function. That is a niche - catering companies - that needs more work. I was impressed several years ago at a Dem party meeting and speech by then-Senator Obama, Ohio wines were what was on offer. (I had a Riesling.)

The two dominant answers about the quality of Ohio wines were the non-exclusive 'Some nice wines' and 'All over the place in terms of quality.' A better wording on my part might have led to some more useful information here, but it will be interesting to look at the overlap of those two answers. Those two statements are a pretty good summation though. Not everyone answered it, but the responses were split right down the middle for whether Ohio wines deliver quality for price - of which 10-20$ was the expected range. That in itself was probably the most interesting number as it indicates the general range expected for quality wines. This is squarely in the "Premium" range in industry terminology.

Speaking to the industry, you don't come off so well. Over 1/3 of respondents consider retail/restaurant personnel as being 'not knowledgeable at all' when it comes to Ohio wines. The second-best was a quarter who thought you were 'somewhat knowledgeable.' I think this also reflects in the willingness to order an Ohio wine in a restaurant which was pretty evenly split between three options : 'Sure,' 'If I knew it already,' and 'Probably not.' At least "No!" was a fairly small amount.

The 'locavore/locavin' question is something I shall address in more detail down the road. It is a complex and market-relevant question which deserves longer consideration. The short answer I am getting is that wine is a tougher sell than other products for locavore purposes. Fits the history of the beverage.

Over half of the respondents took the longer variety/winery survey and I really appreciate that. Between Dry and Sweet, Riesling rules Ohio. Given our climate and heritage, that makes sense. Chardonnay was a close second in dry - which scares me a little. The Cabernets (Sauvignon and Franc) were pretty dominant reds. Chambourcin, a hybrid, did edge Franc slightly which is pretty interesting. And I have two people who said they had an Ohio Malbec - something I was pretty sure had no plantings in Ohio!

When it came to wineries, I owe Harpersfield a mea culpa. More respondents than marked about eight other wineries added it to my list. Quality producer with a solid rep and they should have been there. Firelands was the winery known to 3/4 of the respondents. Ferrante, Markko and Kinkead Ridge were the runners-up. A pretty nice suite of quality.

The survey is going to run for a while. If you haven't participated, please do so. The results right now are interesting and I will delve into them as more accumulate.

Monday Morning Snide-By

2009-03-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

Does this speak of quality wine from Ohio to you?

Sandusky Bay Sipper

A sparkling wine in single serve bottles - A classic and upscale drink for fun-loving clientel.

These Days, the sight of upscale ladies sipping sparkling wine with straws straight out of single serving bottles is common at the trendiest nightclubs all over the country. The new Sandusky Bay Sippers will draw this hot trend into the North Coast area.

I guess cougars are trendy, but never mind that sipping Pommery Pop from a straw was trendy 10 years ago. Or that the "Mike's Hard Lemonade" sign and chip packets in the back are not quite giving that 'upscale' vibe. Learning to spell 'clientele' might also be a good idea.

I guess everyone has to find a niche, even if you own the name to a winery whose history goes back to 1863.

Old Wine Surprises

2009-03-22T00:16:00.004-04:00

Some wines– Burgundies, Bordeaux, Barolo, for example – are famous for aging and require it to really deliver pleasure. Collectors keep and nurture these wines with the expectation of future delights. And sometimes wines just age by accident. They remain on store shelves or get forgotten amongst the bottles in the cellar. The wines have no history of aging so when one opens them, there are no expectations. Most of the time, down the drain they go. Sometimes they surprise. That is one of the secret delights of collecting.

These are all recent wines I’ve had that were 15+ years old and delivered pleasure. Some of them one might guess would age, but I had no idea of how well they were stored.

1979 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley (9/17/2008)
Base of neck fill. Dry cork which corkscrewed drilled, but came out perfect w/ ah-so and had a great seal. Decanted w/ suprisingly little sediment.

Definite musty and aged nose. Light colour with a little browning, but very clear. Nose blew off a little, but remained apparent. Porty elements with some clove spices. Light body with a very suave texture which came from some slight curranty fruit buffed with an appealling streak of sweetness. Lots of basic old wine notes continued as well. Very nice and held well.

It was really cool that this old wine held great appeal for a crowd of non wine geeks.
1987 Wolf Blass Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label - Australia, South Australia (10/28/2008)
Bottle funk heavy to start. Decant. Lots of bright, acidic fruit with a tar-like backing and remainder funk. Very compact and lively. Some rust and pencil notes slowly emerged. Took about an hour for the weight of age to set in and pull this back to funk and oxidation. Not a bad showing at 20 yrs.
1988 Henschke Keyneton Estate - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley (8/22/2008)
Interesting. Fairly dark colour. Nice nose of candy, meat and tar. Light body. Strong perception of sweetness on the back. Dried fruit elements, flower petal textures and some conflicting rooty notes. More intriguiging than pleasing overall.
1988 Ippolito Cirò Rosso Classico Superiore Ripe del Falco Riserva - Italy, Calabria, Cirò Rosso Classico Superiore (1/31/2008)
Very tasty. Bracing acidic structure holds some nice cherry fruit with undertones of peat, old roses and ash. Elegant finish whichs winds down very gracefully. Balanced, mature and very drinkable.
1990 David Bruce Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (6/17/2006)
Pizza Night!: Gorgeous nose of sous-bois, coffee and rust. Nice black fruits still quite alive with richer savoury notes - leather, earth and bit of brush. Really nice finish, very silky though short. Well-balanced and really delicious. Absolute perfect with morel and asparagus pizza.
1992 Chateau Musar Blanc - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley (1/16/2009)
Nice bright color. Very lilting acids on the top. Backing of almond, Calvados and lanolin. The acids hold this wine together and support the softer textures and nut notes, but very lean in profile. A talc-like mineral finish. Some non-sweet caramel notes. Maintained very well decanter for over an hour, rounding a little. Not much fruit here at all, but not oxidized either.

1993 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Art Series - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River (1/25/2009)
Cork crumbled. As I was extracting, I broke what was clearly a very good seal and an incredible aroma of butterscotch, mineral salts and citrus flowers just boiled out. Nice gold colour with good clarity. Nose continued on the same vein with fruit aromas and waxy elements. Very fresh and bright upfront. Nice oily texture on the middle bleeding into a satiny finish. Floral notes deepened into musky and rich. Slight sweetness. Good finish with a harmonious dry-down of all the previous elements. Really gorgeous stuff.

Back to an old friend

2009-03-21T10:34:00.004-04:00

My palate tends to favor European wines almost exclusively. I constantly try wines from the New World and find a few I like, but far more consistently find the balance, subtlety, acidic profile and structure that I want in Burgundy, Rioja or the Piedmont.

The other day I happened to notice on the shelf an old friend, Ridge Geyserville. Ridge is a true American great winery and their signature Montebello is one of the Great Wines of the world. They also have a strong reputation based on their Zinfandels, a grape I just tend to ignore any more since most Zins are too alcoholic and too sweet for my tastes. I used to drink Zins and Geyserville (a predominantly Zin blend) was always one of the best - and not cheap @ 35$. So I bought a bottle out of nostalgia. As the note below illustrates, it was yummy. Not something I would drink regularly, but I went back and bought two more bottles.

2006 Ridge Geyserville - USA, California, Sonoma County (3/6/2009)It has been 10 yrs or more since I've had a Geyserville. This wine brings me back from all the excursions into super-annuated Bdx and biodynamic, Friulian oxidative amphorae. So nice. Honest Zin fruits given a little stuffing and exoticism all in that signature Ridge honest style. Yummy straight up and dark fruits with a velvet body play well with a chili-crusted ribeye. So nice.

And a tri-fecta of Montebello from across the years. No note on a incredibly young 1999 which I tasted recently, but it held a lot of promise.

1991 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (12/2/2007)Lovely balance of fruit and dark earthy aged stuff. A lot of primary going on, but this hit a very sweet spot for me by being such a 'tweener. Soft and slick texture and an oily persistence on the finish.

1977 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (5/11/2007)(Komi, DC) Definite mature nose with a slight furnace funk (which blew off), dust and very dried tobacco. Good colour and a very nice body. Tannins melted into a perception of sweetness, but balanced with good acidity. Elements of marrow, tea and bitters. Good, not great, balance and a nice slow tapering finish. Excellent with squab, roast goat.

1968 Ridge Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (8/22/2003)Past its peak, but very enjoyable. Beautiful brick color. Sweet nose with tobacco. Nice fruit, a touch acidic. Clay and more tobacco notes. Very good finish.Intricate structure. Deliciousas well as fascinating. Lasted for a whole dinner and excellent with a special duck prep. (Alana’s - brought for Andrew’s 35th)