Tasting Towards Friuli: La Viarta Pinot Grigio, Pinot Bianco, Schioppettino
Wine in Friuli
The Friuli region of Italy, in the furthest Northeast of the country, produces some of the finest white wines of the nation. With the cooling influence of the Adriatic to the south, and the winds it produces as the air rushes from the coastal low lands to the Alps in the north, the area is perfect for developing cooler climate whites, and lighter bodied reds. 62% of the wines produced in the area garner DOC (regulated regional quality) status.
Wines of Friuli are generally grown on the hilly Eastern sides of the state. These foothills of the Alps, with their predominately clay and sandstone earth, offer mineral precision for the wines, while the cooling climate keeps the acidity of the wines crisp.
Proximity to Slovenia is seen in both the grape varieties, and some of the wine production techniques of Friuli. The region is known for developing some of the finest examples of the grape Friuliano (formerly named Tokai), as well as the whites Malvasia Istriana, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Bianco. More recently Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc have also shown well. For reds, Schioppettino is well established in the area, and producers have begun experimenting with Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
La Viarte Pinot Grigio 2010, Pinot Bianco 2008, Schioppettino 2007
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In getting ready for travel to Friuli several of us got together to taste Kermit Lynch’s imports from the region. La Viarta is a family owned winery operating out of both Colli Orientali del Friuli, and a small DOC near Venice. The Ceschin family were the first to establish their particular vineyards along the Slovenian border, taking several decades to prepare the land and begin growing grapes for what is now seen as some of the best in the the Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC.
Each of the three wines from La Viarta we tasted showed wonderful quality as varietals particular to the region.
Pinot Grigio tends to be under appreciated, with too many examples of it being either cloying or too approachable (that is, almost watery). The La Viarta version is unbelievably aromatic, with a rich mouth feel, showing refreshing minerals, white flowers, meyer lemon, and yellow apple skin. The medium plus acidity keeps your mouth watering as the scents pull you back to the glass repeatedly. This Pinot Grigio is an excellent apertif.
In North America, wine drinkers tend to be less experienced with Pinot Bianco. Its unusual mix of characteristics, often showing an evergreen quality with a richer body, works against how the general public often thinks of white wines. It can also be difficult around the world to find a varietal presentation of the grape that truly is produced from Pinot Bianco itself.
La Viarta’s presentation of Pinot Bianco is the best balanced example I’ve tasted. It’s a wonderful combination of crisp body with rich flavors. The wine brings together evergreen, and baking spices, with lime zest and apple skin. This was the most surprising of the three wines for the others tasting, but it was also the favorite of our Pinot Bianco/Blanc devotee. If you’re interested in trying this grape, I recommend La Viarta’s example.
Schioppettino is a wonderful red grown in few regions around the world. It offers the lighter side of a medium bodied wine, stepping away from a fruit focus, and instead showing earthier notes alongside hints of fruit. La Viarta’s varietal offers wonderful scents and flavors of re-soaked dark mushrooms, Christmas spices, hints of smoke, all balanced alongside cranberry and red plum elements. I’m very much looking forward to tasting more Schioppettino in Friuli.
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I’m mere moments from getting on the plane. Looking forward to catching you near the Slovenian border! I’ll be flying all day, all night, and then landing in Venice midday Sunday, Eastern-Italy time.
Cheers!
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Getting Ready to Explore Friuli
The History of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
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Friuli-Venezia Giulia now stands as the North-Eastern most region of Italy, resting at the border of Slovenia, and just south of Austria. The history of the region has undergone profound political change and influence, however, with its position at the top of Italy’s boot being largely settled after the Second World War, and then modified further as recently as 1975, after the Treaty of Osimo partitioned a portion of the Trieste region off for then Yugoslavia.
Friuli’s consistent changes in political affiliation link to its strong geographical position for Europe. At the North of the Adriatic sea, the area offers excellent water access, and additionally, its land location makes it the connecting point between Italy’s rich peninsula with Central and Eastern Europe. As a result, the location has been hotly desirable for world exchange and transport.
The importance of the location, and the influences of multiple empires through history has generated a unique Friulian culture with its own language, food, tradition, and more recently wine.
This week I am lucky enough to be one of six wine writers traveling to the region to explore the wine, food, and culture of Colli Orientali del Friuli. While there we’ll be eating at some of the best restaurants of the region, dining in the homes of some of the consortium’s top wine makers, visiting wineries, and tasting the area’s grapes.
I’ll be posting regular updates on the trip, and the six of us will also be keeping a conglomerate blog. I hope you’ll follow along here, and keep up with all our adventures on the group blog as well.
Here’s the link: http://cof2012.com/
See you in Cividale!
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In Love with Frappato: COS 2007
Thank you to Eric Asimov for recommending this article in The New York Times, Diner’s Journal 23 March 2012 http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/what-were-reading-399/
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Several winters ago I lived at the top of a mountain in the Chugiach Range at the edge of Anchorage, Alaska. Winds were so severe at the worst of it that we would have to wake several hours early to clear the driveway that had been blown over by snow a couple feet deep. In the evenings I would drive the mountain road at the end of my work day, never sure if the roads would be clear, to arrive home in the dark (Alaskan winter days are quite short, after all).
The house celebrated picture windows in the front that looked over a rolling meadow and then down the drop of the mountain side over looking the city below. Across the expanse of dark, the view of town was dotted by multi-colored lights our grandmother called her jewel box. The log house was warmed by a wood fire stove in the corner of the room that radiated heat through the building along with a faint orange glow.
Azienda Agricola Cos 2007 Frappato
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At the end of such a day the surprising balance of the COS Frappato–richness of flavor dancing light in the glass–would be a welcome refreshment. But, best of all, the Frappato here shows itself as a wine that suits any season–it’s body is light enough for the warmth of summer; its flavors rich enough for the cold of winter; enough acidity and depth for Fall foods; the easy brightness of Spring.
A biodynamic winery on the Southeastern tip of Sicily, COS focuses on creating wines from indigenous grapes with low intervention wine making techniques. Though the grape variety Frappato is most commonly found in the DOCG blend Cerasuolo di Vittoria some producers, COS included, bottle it on its own as a full varietal.
Though the COS grounds arise from a both hot and dry area, the wines offer a lightness that belies their climate. In the wineries early years the three owners–Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti and Cirino Strano–experimented with various wine making techniques, most notably the common use of oak for fermentation and aging. What is interesting here is that they quickly realized that their grounds carried unique flavor complexity that was best shown in the wine without oak influence. Since, the wine makers have focused their attention on cultivating what they see as the best expression of their terroir.
Though some of the COS wines are made using clay anfora for fermentation, the Frappato relies instead on concrete, temperature controlled tanks. The effect is to offer a fresh, rich flavored, light bodied wine showing the best of the grapes’ flavors and structure.
The COS 2007 Frappato offers an easy bodied wine with savory and fresh fruit flavors. The nose and palate carry elements of smoked meat, lightly sweet baking spices, strawberry, and red cherry. The medium tannin is pleasantly drying alongside just enough acidity for balance. I very much enjoyed this wine.
The 2007 vintage is no longer readily available. I count myself lucky to have had it recently. But, Jancis Robinson has written glowing notes for the 2008 that also show a consistency of style and expression with the 2007.
This wine would drink well alongside eggplant and tomato dishes, grilled meats or charcuterie, and grilled tuna. It’s also a wine to enjoy on its own.
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A Quick History of Tuscany, and the Castello della Paneretta 2008 Canaiolo
As the story goes, the dark skinned grape, Canaiolo, once ruled the Tuscan countryside, serving as the primary element of the Chianti blend, complemented then by the lesser established Sangiovese. With the phylloxera outbreak of the 1800s, the vines of Europe were devastated, and the primary plantings of everywhere were changed. Eventually a solution to the crisis was reached–grafting European vines onto American rootstock. With phylloxera being indigenous to North America, the vines of that continent had developed natural resistance to the plague. Not all European vines took to grafting as well as others, however, and the choice of what to replant became entwined with the ease of grafting.
Canaiolo’s popularity suffered as a result of its disagreement with grafting practices. The vine does better growing on its own roots. With the worry that this would leave it still vulnerable to attack, many grape viticulturists stopped growing the variety and the proportions of the Chianti blend too were shifted. Today, requirements have it that Chianti must contain a predominance of Sangiovese (75 to 100%), with up to 10% Canaiolo, and the possibility of up to 20% other non-Tuscan (Bordeaux) varieties. Canaiolo no longer stands as the King of Chianti. Today it is common for Chianti producers to fill in the remainder of the bottle not taken by Sangiovese with the fuller bodied Bordeaux grape options, producing what would seem a more modern market style of the wine.
Within Tuscany, however, there is also a small dedication to preserving indigenous wine traditions, by continuing to focus on the Tuscan varieties and use of them in the wines native to the area. Enter Paneretta. While many Tuscan wineries were removing old root stock and replanting with Bordeaux varieties, the Elbisetti family that owns Paneretta chose to retain the original Tuscan plants, rooting young vines only when necessary to maintain the health and production level of the overall vineyard.
The Elbisetti family of Castello Della Paneretta produces a portfolio of wines grown native to the Tuscan countryside. Their Chianti Classico relies entirely on a blend of Sangiovese and Canaiolo, and they also bottle a 50/50 blend of the two grapes titled Terrine. Additionally, they produce a 100% Sangiovese varietal, as well as one of the few full Canaiolo varietals in the world. The Paneretta estate showcases one of the largest fields of Canaiolo in Tuscany, growing 4 hectares of its vines.
Castello della Paneretta 2008 Canaiolo
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After decanting, and letting it sit for two hours this wine showed a lovely floral and red fruit nose, with a lush balance on the palate of floral elements, red berries, sweet baking spice, and earthiness. The tannin and acidity offer a pleasing balance here with the medium high tannin accompanied by just enough mouth watering acidity to complement.
This is an elegant wine both in nose and texture. I loved its smoothness and light grip, as well as the incredible scents from the glass. There is a lovely balance of flavor and structure here. This is a wine I hope to return to again.
We drank the Canaiolo alongside a lovely Italian dish of thinly sliced eggplant rolled and filled with carrot, light cheese, and tomato. The wine was an excellent pairing to the slightly sweet carrot, the lightly acidic tomato, and the rich cheese plus light crunch of the food. It also did well alongside the plate of charcuterie that accompanied the meal. Thank you to Caleb of Pizzicletta for providing the wonderful food for this tasting!
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Thinking Frank Cornelissen: Considering Wine’s Natural Drinking Window via Munjebel 7 White & Red, and Contadino 8
Thank you to Eric Asimov of the New York Times for recommending this Cornelissen write-up to readers in the Monday, March 19 edition of “The Diner’s Journal.”
Thank you to the judges of WBC 2012 Wine Blogger Awards for selecting this post as a finalist for The Best Blog Post of the Year category.
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On Mt. Etna, on the Island of Sicily, Flemish wine maker Frank Cornelissen has made home for his own multi-purpose farm. In developing the property, Cornelissen’s commitment was to respect the constitution and potentials of the land itself. As he describes it, humans tend to assume they can know in advance what nature is capable of, or how to control it, when in actuality humans will never have such vast capacity. By imposing their own assumptions onto nature, humans do damage to their environment, and fail to gain what is possible without such imposition. As such, Cornelissen’s goals are to shift from such perspective and instead interact with the environment he calls home on its terms. To do so, he sees himself as required to intervene as little as possible, and, in an almost psychically open way, read the vineyards needs through careful observation and delicate response.
One of the results of Cornelissen’s choices is the belief that only 95% of his property is actually suitable for vines. The rest he allows to either rest in its own productivity, or he uses to grow other plants and tend various animals.
Cornelissen’s commitments to low intervention extend into his style of wine making as well. As he describes it, only in the 2002 and 2003 vintages was he required to use the addition of sulfur to prevent spoilage due to incredibly wet weather in those years. Otherwise he has succeeded in allowing the wine to make and maintain itself. Other wine makers generally see the use of sulfur as standard practice to keep the wine from moving past the alcoholic fermentation process straight into the development of vinegar (VA). Even biodynamic wine makers take sulfur as an acceptable, and necessary, additive for these purposes. Cornelissen on the other hand takes it that nature will make the wine for him, and additives to either the land or the bottle are best avoided.
The reality of Cornelissen’s bottlings is that VA does play a central role. While one can describe some wines as fruit driven in their characteristics, or others as mineral driven in theirs, I’ll say that Cornelissen’s wines are actually VA driven in their constitution. It would be easy to take such a statement as meaning the wines are undesirable but to do so would be to judge Cornelissen’s wines on a standard that is not necessarily meant for his product. Just as he takes it that the land should be opened to and read on its own terms, it seems Cornelissen has produced something that has to be considered as a kind of self-made unknown. To allow his offering to show what it has to give, Cornelissen’s wines must first be opened to without standard expectations. I want to clarify here that I am not saying Cornelissen would want to describe his wines in such a manner. Nor am I saying that his wines are turned to VA. When stored and transported properly such a result is unnecessary. Even so, his wines consistently carry distinct VA notes that are definitive of his creation. With this in mind it becomes interesting to reconsider the ways in which such a characteristic could be desirable, and when it would have gone too far.
Munjebel 7 Dry White Wine
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Cornelissen’s Munjebel 7 offers a blend of Carricante, Grecanico Dorato, and Coda di Volpe. The wine, interestingly, is a non-vintage blend, meaning Cornellisen creates it from the juice from grapes across multiple years. In this way he is able to pull on the strengths of his vineyard from season to season as needed.
As discussed, he abstains from the addition of any preservative measures in the fermentation or bottling, and has gone without the addition of sulfur in all but two years.
Production of the Munjebel White includes extended skin contact and lack of filtering as well. As a result the wine carries a substantial tannin level for a white (it’s basically an orange wine to be quick about it), and also has a hefty amount of sediment. Matt Kramer of Wine Spectator even went so far as to compare the sediment levels of Cornelissen’s whites to that offered in a snow globe. Without the addition of sulfur the worry is that once standard alcoholic fermentation is complete the wine will continue to turn from alcohol to vinegar (VA). Some notes of VA are common in many wines and can be desirable at a lower level adding another layer of complexity, but it is generally understood that higher levels of VA mean a wine is, well, no longer wine.
Cornelissen’s whites are widely considered his more challenging wines as the flavor combinations are unusual alongside atypical structural components as well. with higher tannin levels and lots of texture. The Munjebel 7 remains consistent with this idea. Though I have adequate experience with orange style wines, and wines with VA notes, this particular one carried more VA than I’d tend to appreciate with less of the flavor elements I tend to look for as well.
Cornelissen’s wines are also generally understood as more volatile than more mainstream (read: with more preservative measures) wines. The VA elements showing in each is indicative of their overall volatility, but more interesting than that is the simple variable nature of each particular wine once opened. It’s typical to notice an interesting wine develop in the glass as you drink it over the course of an evening, but the effect on Cornelissen’s wine is sped up such that in any 15 minute window the flavors and quality change dramatically, with even the density and color in the glass changing noticeably. As such, Cornelissen’s work makes apparent how important it can be to focus in on the ideal drinking window of any wine–how long after being opened it begins to show best and for how long such qualities remain in balance as desirable. In Cornelissen’s case, the ideal drinking period of his wines is shrunk down to incredibly small windows but the experience of hunting that ideal time frame so acutely shows a lens on the same experience with wine more broadly.
It’s typically understood that when drinking a Cornelissen you wait 15 minutes after opening before you taste it due to the funky aromas arising from the bottle, and then you finish that bottle within 2 hours. That is, in the first 15 minutes the more aggressive notes need to ‘blow off’ the bottle, and at the other end, the wine begins to ‘fall apart’ after its been open for two hours. Again, the pace and life span of a wine is shrunk in Cornelissen’s work.
In each of the Cornelissen wines enjoyed with this tasting the 15 minutes–2 hour advice proved true but most especially in the case of the Munjebel 7 white, and the Contadino. In both cases the wines were complete (undrinkable) before the close of the 2 hours, and both peaked at 20 minutes of opening showing a preferred drinking window of 15 minutes from opening until 20 minutes later. After that 20 minute window the flavors became disjointed, increasingly funky (in an unpleasant way) and progressively more putrid. The putrid qualities were most obvious in the white.
Contadino 8 Dry Red Wine (aka. Rose’)
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The Contadino 8 is considered Cornelissen’s entry level wine both in terms of price and overall drinking accessibility. Within the United States it is also the most commonly available for purchase either in a retail location or at a wine bar.
The Contadino showcases a field blend of both red and white grapes pressed and co-fermented. While it is labelled as a dry red wine the public often calls it Cornelissen’s rose’.
Though the bouquet and aromas on the Contadino were more appealing than in the Munjebel White, the Contadino also lasted less long in the glass and turned to undrinkable more swiftly. That said, this is a compelling, albeit strange, wine. The first time I was lucky enough to drink the Contadino was due to the generosity of Chris at Terroir in San Francisco. It was starkly atypical compared to other wines, and hard to make sense in that first experience. Still, I found myself returning to it in mind repeatedly over the next several days, and even occasionally for months since somehow craving to have it again. It was that experience that led me to purchasing it to taste again this time alongside these two other wines.
Like the Munjebel 7, the Contadino 8 transforms repeatedly in the glass. It shows the same funky nose (undrinkable) when first opened and becomes more approachable after the first 15 minutes. The ideal drinking window stands at 15 minutes from opening till 20 minutes after that initial 15, with characteristics of bright red berries and stone fruit, bramble and herb, VA, and fruit punch showing throughout that time period. After the 20 minute drinking window the wine’s characteristics dramatically change and become infused with elements that lead to people calling it by its cult name–Unicorn’s Blood.
My understanding of the nickname at first was linked to the intense fanaticism people get for this wine–I’ve even read reviews where people claim they were so strunk by the Contadino they don’t want other wine since. The devotion of Frank’s fans is certainly part of it, but if you wait till the one hour mark you find out the other reason–the wine begins to smell clearly of iron oxide and in the mouth it actually tastes bloody.
Munjebel 7 Dry Red Wine
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The red wines of Frank Cornelissen are consistenly his most approachable, especially those focusing entirely on the Nerello Mascalese grape. The Munjebel 7 Red offers higher tannin levels, which not only help keep the wine from developing as much VA but also offer the structure necessary to balance the present VA notes. The Munjebel 7 Red carried the least VA overall, as well as the highest tannin, and while still quite a tart wine it was generally less so than the other two, and also than the other Cornelissen wines I’ve tasted previously.
If you’re looking for the Cornelissen experience, his Munjebel 7 Red is my first recommendation. It’s still strange but the most approachable and offers the best balance of intrigue, interest, and drinkability at the same time. That isn’t to say it drinks like a typical red. It is simply the most balanced of these three mentioned.
Again, the Munjebel 7 Red needs to sit open for 15 minutes before drinking and then does best drunk soon after but the drinking window extends for 30 minutes after the intial 15 minute wait. The red lasts longest after opening, though still begins to disintegrate, becoming disjointed and VA ridden a little after the 2 hour mark.
The flavors here were pleasing within that ideal drinking window, showing red stone fruit and dried berries, earth elements, and bramble. After, it became progressively tart and even showed the overwhelming nose of an algae bloom as it sat open longer.
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If you are interested in tasting Cornelissen wines for yourself, I strongly recommend sticking to one bottle opening in a sitting. Side by side, the Cornelissen portfolio compounds on itself with the VA becoming overwhelming, and the effect in the mouth even showing as uncomfortable. I have seen people do small pour tastings of multiple Cornelissen wines with some success but even there the flavors are so tart and VA driven I believe the wines begin to erase from your palate the individuality and appreciation of each. It is best to taste one of these wines on its own to give it its due.
Cornelissen’s wines are such that many people simply will not like them. Their strangeness at the same time has produced a rampant cult dedication with people strongly seeking these wines out, and others swearing by them. Still, they also show their own divisive power with people carrying strong reactions either for or against them. Many also claim Cornelissen is simply crazy because of what they take to be his extreme wine making practices.
Crazy, in my mind, seems a misapplied notion. There is a consistency to Cornelissen’s farming and wine making practices that is admirable, even if my preference is to have his wines with less frequency. The dedication he has to his land, and to his overall project is both fascinating and honest. To believe that one of the products of his work–these wines–should be judged simply on the standards of more mainstream wines is a mistake. They carry standards of their own–miniaturized drinking windows, delicacy of flavors married with aggressive structural elements, fragility of transport, and, when those self-given standards are respected, beautiful insight into an alternative recognition of treasure.
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Two Willamette Valley Treasures: 2006 Cristom Sommers Reserve, 2006 Soter Brut Rose’
The Willamette Valley is a wine region full of treasures. It’s often spoken of primarily in relation to Pinot Noir, but also helped establish Pinot Gris in North America, and grows a mean-lovely Chardonnay, among other grape varieties. There are also pockets of Syrah, and some exciting developments with Viognier and Tempranillo. I could go on.
Two of the Pinot Noir jewels I’ve been lucky enough to taste recently include a nicely aged 2006 Sommer’s Reserve from Cristom, and the 2006 Soter Brut Rose’.
Cristom Pinot Noir 2006 Sommer’s Reserve
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Cristom is known for offering consistently good wine. They populate the Eola-Amity Appellation with not only Pinot Noir, but also highly regarded Syrah, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Viognier.
As they describe themselves, Cristom practices minimal handling of the fruit, with a focus on land-driven wine, and native yeast. Wine maker Steve Doerner carries an international reputation for his silky, nuanced, and rich flavored Pinot Noir.
The 2006 Sommer’s Reserve drank beautifully with a perfect balance of subtlety and richness. The body here is pleasingly on the lighter side of medium with a silken texture. The scents and flavors currently focus on dried red and rich fruits, alongside dried herbs, touches of forest floor, damp earth, and oiled leather. I loved this wine.
The flavors in the bottle here had deepened enough to show the umami richness of caribou soup. It’s a quality I’m always pleased to find in an older-enough Pinot Noir–a reference I don’t generally mention for its hard to find popularity. But, caribou soup is my favorite meal–a light weight broth showing the richness of reduced meat alongside the slightly sweetened balance of cooked down carrots and an earthy-herbalness of cooked down cabbage. Good caribou soup has rich, nuanced flavors in an accessible, lighter weight broth. No longer living in Alaska I rarely have caribou soup now, so to find it dancing in a glass of wine thrills me.
Soter 2006 Brut Rose’
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One of the finest examples of methode traditionelle sparkling wines made in the United States, Soter Brut Rose carries the combination of crispness and rich flavor wanted from a sparkling Pinot Noir-Chardonnay based Rose’. The wine has persistent, tight beads in a copper-salmon pink drink. The flavors here show a pleasing mix of dried red fruit with just enough orange zest and jasmine hints to both ground and lighten the palate. The acidity here keeps a bright long-finishing tang in the mouth. This wine would suit alongside seafood, but I appreciate drinking it on its own.
Soter Vineyards practices sustainable farming carrying both LIVE sustainability and organic farming certifications. Located in the Yamhill-Carlton district of Willamette Valley their site celebrates the combination of marine sediments and good drainage the valley shows at its best. Winemaker James Cahill alongside Tony and Michelle Soter bring together extensive knowledge of the Willamette region with a focus on synthesizing the established history of wine making from the region and the desire to continue to learn the potentials of the area.
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If you’re looking for a treat from the Willamette, I recommend both of these wines.
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Dr. Who and the Willamette Intervention: Jason Lett is Dr. Who: Part 1: A Good Man Goes to Wine; Part 2: Time for Dundee
Superhero Winemakers Part 2: Jason Lett is Doctor Who
“It’s a straw fedora. I wear a fedora now. Fedoras are cool.” Â
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Considering Sci-Fi
The thing about good sci-fi is there are no mere coincidences. Life changing moments occur because it was crucial to the fabric of space-time that your life be changed, and some space-time fabric mastermind is working to ensure you have the encounter necessary to generate your all-compelling epiphany that is going to instigate you changing that life of yours. In this way, sci-fi fascinates by treating what we often take as mundane as instead purposefully intended. Else wise, we walk a different path through history.
And So, Doctor Who
Enter Doctor Who. BBC’s Time Lord stands as the ultimate geek-out intellectual superhero saving the universe again and again as the last man of mystery able to do so. He regularly puts his life on the line for the sake of the greater good, while repeatedly figuring out how to save his bacon in the midst of that universe saving conundrum. His superhero antics do not include a cape, but instead pose him as an otherwise everyman complete with massive encyclopedic knowledge, and a supersonic fix-all screwdriver (See Lett’s breast pocket above).
In Doctor Who’s world there are moments in history that are fixed. That is, they cannot occur otherwise lest the universe itself collapse in on itself. These fixed points in space-time are few, but in their essence define fundamental aspects of what it is to be of this universe, whether we as humans recognize those moments’ importance or not.
Why Eyrie
Behold Eyrie Vineyards. Thanks to its place in beginning a worldwide regarded wine region, and thus also helping to transform not only how we understand U.S. wine making potential, but also what cultural-economic possibilities underlie an entire region, Doctor Who understands Eyrie Vineyards, and thus also the Lett family, as one of these fixed (that is, crucially required) moments in human history. (Wow, that was a long sentence.)
The Eyrie Episodes: The Willamette Intervention: Part One: A Good Man Goes To Wine
In part one of The Eyrie Episodes we are stuck at a crucial moment in the fabric of space-time. Our beloved Doctor Who must ensure that young David Lett makes his way to first learn about the powers of wine making, second convince his parents it is the right choice, and third discover the beauty and grape growing rightness of the Willamette Valley.
As our episode begins, Jason Lett, as Doctor Who, exits the Tardis in pre-wine era Dundee Hills, Oregon. The hills are rolling green. The climate is cool, lightly moist from morning fog, and the sun is rising through the mist casting rays of golden light across the tall hawk dotted trees. He takes a deep breath and smiles. In moments a man is going to come walking over the crest of the nearby green with a small soil scoop in hand. Doctor Who will talk with him, encourage him to look up into the trees and see the hawks, and in doing so the man will be struck by the landscape and decide to dig into the earth right there.
In this moment we glimpse a crucial element of Doctor Who–he carries more connection to the person being importantly directed than that person realizes. The Doctor’s encounter (with his own father in this multi-layered sci-fi moment) is known as valuable in advance by the Doctor, while only recognized later by the person being helped.
Flash Forward (though backwards from our own human perspective in time):
A couple is waiting for their son to return home from a road trip to California. He’s told them he has a new idea to discuss. Little do they know, their boy wants to take up wine making, having met wine maker Lee Stewart, himself doing interesting things in wine.
Enter Doctor Who. Casually starting conversation with the couple discussions of the potential of wine making in the New World is mentioned. UC Davis has a good program. etc. A seed is planted. The Lett parents, without realizing it, consider wine in a new way. Though not thrilled, when young David tells them of his plans they are now more open to the suggestion.
The Eyrie Episodes: The Willamette Intervention Part Two: Time For Dundee
The phantom enemy that must be fought in part two of The Eyrie Episodes includes both dreaded vine diseases that can ruin a vineyard, and the dregs of economic crisis. With his cunning wit and smart humor, Jason Lett as Doctor Who recognizes the power of a diverse and dynamic vineyard to keep pests at bay, and costs down. The fight is won (though not till episode end after much tension, humor, and British style brilliance)!
As the episode begins, we return to the place on the hill beneath the hawk nests. Jason Lett as Doctor Who is standing in the morning sun appreciating the view. This time the hills are planted with established vines that were not present before. The second generation of Eyrie winemakers tend the fruit, bringing into tradition a young next generation as well. Here Black Cap wines are also grown, Jason Lett’s own label. Thus, takes hold not only an Eyrie dynasty, but also a leader in establishing a celebration of wine making in the United States arising from the wealth of the land, climate, and fruit itself.
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Why Jason Lett as Doctor Who? The truth is originally my thought was that Jason Lett is who Spiderman becomes when he finally grows comfortable with his suit. Spiderman carries a strong commitment to family and tradition, while switching up how he will live his own life at the same time. He’s everyman likeable, with handsome smart guy charm, while also totally devoted to the woman (and by Jason Lett years children too) he loves. He appreciates his privacy, and will follow through on what he knows is right. Spiderman faces his challenges with steadiness and conviction.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but follow an intuition that’s harder to describe–Jason Lett somehow feels like Matt Smith as Doctor Who to me. Similarly, Matt Smith’s Doctor Who is everyman likeable, with handsome smart (and tall) guy charm, also devoted to the health of his companion, Amy, and the love of his River Song. He wants the committed family life, but as a Time Lord struggles to have it. He ensures that moments in space-time be done right, and is committed to the tradition of his people while finding ways to follow through in his own good sense. Further, both Matt Smith’s Doctor Who, and Jason Lett are known for their dry humor.
(Incidentally, Doctor Who rarely wears a hat but during the Matt Smith years has a penchant for trying them out. Jason Lett, from what I can tell through pictures online, often wears a hat.)
The thing that clinched the Doctor Who portrait was Jason Lett tweeting in response to my Spiderman suggestion, saying to me instead that his wife took him to be Doctor Who (while he took himself to be Doctor Terrible–oh the joking!), and his kids were looking forward to whatever comic I came up with. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough that this one bit of my intuition agreed with Jason’s good wife, but was happy to discover it so. As such, this comic is dedicated to to all the Letts. I hope you enjoy!
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Next week we’ll look at some other good wines of the Willamette Valley.
To read more on Eyrie Vineyards see my previous post on their wines and story:
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(How Plum Wine Got Me There, Or, More Appropriately:) Discovering Eyrie Vineyards: 2009 Pinot Gris, 2007 Chardonnay, 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve
Growing up the only exposure I had to wine occurred during our family’s once a month dinner outing to the now defunct Hong Kong Chinese Food Restaurant in midtown Anchorage, where we spent our winters. The same waitresses worked there for the several decades the business stood. Every visit they would happily greet us, sit us at a large round table (with a lazy-Susan in the middle that fascinated me), and bring my mom a glass of plum wine. It was her occasional treat. As a result, my wine exposure didn’t really begin until my late teens when my dad announced he’d be drinking a glass of Pinot Noir a day. The doctor had told him to.
My wine education, however, started with a succession of three moments I remember distinctly because of how they changed me. The first occurred when a friend brought me a bottle of good Chianti Classico for an early-20s birthday. It was the first time I realized red wine could be good. The second arose when my sister Melanie took my sister Paula and I out to dinner at the end of a long commercial salmon fishing season and ordered a high price bottle of Brunello. It was the first time I realized I could love red wine. The third, thanks again to Melanie, occurred when she opened a bottle of Eyrie Pinot Noir and told me their story. Listening to David Lett’s story of taking a risk by leaving California and planting in the Willamette Valley before anyone else had dared, then tasting the wine that resulted–it was the first time I realized by wine I could be enthralled. In this way, Eyrie Vineyards instigated my deeper passion for wine knowledge and wine tasting combined.
Eyrie Vineyards 2009 Pinot Gris
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In the late 1960s David Lett moved from the Davis area of California to Oregon, convinced it was the place to grow the cooler climate grapes of the Pinot family. After a year or so of looking for the right spot he settled in the Willamette Valley to begin cultivating the vines that would later transform the area into one of the highest regarded Pinot Noir regions in the world.
In the midst of introducing Pinot Noir to the valley, Lett also stood as the first to plant Pinot Gris in North America. Pinot Noir’s lighter sibling is now the second most planted variety in the Willamette and has spread to other areas of the United States Western growing regions as well. 1970 marked the first release of Eyrie’s Pinot Gris, the first to be bottled in the United States.
Pinot Gris shows as a grape of subtlety that is on the one hand seen as readily approachable (if for being inoffensive), but on the other hand sometimes boring because of it. It’s a reputation that winemakers of the Willamette Valley have worked to transform. In the midst of this transformation stands Jason Lett, second generation wine maker of Eyrie Vineyards. Alongside others of the Willamette Valley, Lett has worked to understand the best of the grape, and encourage the public to see its value. In his book, The Great Wines of America, Paul Lukacs credits Eyrie with opening the new standard for quality American wines of this varietal.
The 2009 Eyrie Pinot Gris shows a well-balanced combination of yellow skinned stone and orchard fruits along side the spice of citrus zest and grounding chalk minerals. The wine has an impressive range for its subtlety. It carries hints of smoke, and dried beach grasses alongside brightening acidity. This is a wine to drink with ease and attention both–it offers a story of features, while being readily drinkable.
Interestingly, David Lett remarked that he preferred drinking his Pinot Gris alongside salmon. I’d be thrilled to try but imagine it as most appropriate with the lighter flavors of a King, rather than the hardiness of a Sockeye. This wine made me crave ceviche.
Eyrie Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay
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Jason Lett continues the Eyrie philosophy of low intervention. His focus is on maintaining a healthy vineyard well-balanced too with other plant life and animals on site. The property readily includes wild hawks building their nests high above the vines–the source of the label name, Eyrie (the name for the nest of a bird of prey)–visiting vine tenders as they work.
Lett also describes how he keeps ground cover plants among the vines, such as simple grasses. The effect of having other plants growing with the vines is that they absorb the water from regional rains so that the vines have to root deeper to find their own fluids. As Lett explains, without this ground cover the vines become more water logged, thus diminishing the flavor of the grapes. Most fascinating, it would also appear that the focus on the balanced vineyard has helped to ward off disease bearing pests. Gratefully, Eyrie vines remain healthy even as some vine diseases have moved their way into Willamette Valley.
Eyrie’s Chardonnay is known for having incredible aging potential with vintages as far back as the 1970s still showing focused interest. Jason Lett describes himself not only as the president and winemaker of Eyrie, but also the curator of their wine library. The process of curating their extensive library includes thorough testing of each bottle that leaves the premises for tasting. As Lett expains it, older bottles are tasted and examined for flaws, and then reassembled to ensure high standards. Older vintages of the Eyrie Chardonnay have been highly praised by some of the best palates in the industry both for their quality and their incredible sustainability in the bottle.
The 2007 Eyrie Vineyards Chardonnay showcases a wonderful combination of ripe pear and melon alongside citrus and and crisp apple. The richness is complemented by hints of smoke and smoked meat, while the citrus and bright acidity are accented by touches of wild flower honey. I hesitate to gush too much, lest you not believe me, but my first thought in tasting this wine was to wonder why I hadn’t been drinking it all along, for years. There are yeast notes, pleasing minerality, and medium high acidity here.
It’s a wonderful wine.
Eyrie Vineyards 2009 Pinot Noir Original Vines Reserve
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The Original Vine Reserve ushers from those same Eyrie vines planted in 1966 by the Lett family. The rich flavors here carry excellent balance with concentrated aromatics, that shows as more delicate on the palate. The complexity here is lovely with dried red fruits on the nose opening to brighter flavors in the mouth. Hints of violet and black cherry on the nose grounding to red cherry and fig in the mouth. There are earthy mushrooms, touches of tobacco, and dried green herbs showing here, again with more dried aromas that open to fresher flavors. I love the smell of this wine. The texture in the mouth is smooth, with a pleasing range of palate complements. There is certainly great aging potential here, and the wine is also drinkable now.
Enjoy!
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To read more by me on Eyrie Vineyards 2008 Estate Pinot Noir, and their sustainability practices:
Or, about their Pinot Blanc:
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Degas’s Dancers, and the (Surprising) Grace of a California Chardonnay
Edgar Degas, Three Dancers in an Exercise Hall 1880
Examine any of Degas’s paintings of ballet dancers from the later portions of his career and one sees a charming simplicity of grace. The dancers most often appear quite young, shown in muted tones, generally in practice rather than performance situations, and wearing skirts that puff about their bodies creating the shape of a bell.
Already a successful painter, Degas’s dancer series appeared as a departure from the work he’d done previous, and seemed reflective too of him taking a new level of consideration for form and balance after years of portraits involving people in everyday circumstances. What is unique about Degas’s overall career at the time, is his interest in behind the scenes portrayals of human life. He often painted people at rest alone in a room leaning on their own knee, or a bartender rushing to tend to too many customers. The dancers shift Degas’s focus from the reality of everyday grit and even despair, to instead an occupation of intense dedication to craft. (Incidentally, Degas was also later the first European artist to produce a mixed media sculpture in 1922–a ballet dancer of bronze wearing actual gauze skirt, and bow. To see an image of it look here: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/29.100.370 )
At their best, Degas’s dancers celebrate the varied shapes, expressiveness and self-contained focus of the human body. What is common among his work from this series is the sort of inwardness each of his subjects carry. They are aware of their surroundings, and they respond to it (most especially in the few where dancers are on stage) but in each case the young women are deeply rooted in themselves, focused on performing a long standing tradition with proper poise, balance and grace.
Today Degas’s dancers are a sort of familiarity, appearing so many times in the background of movies, celebrated as a historical feature in museums, reproduced and reprinted for posters at home. Such common presence can make it easy to overlook the skill and ingenuity of Degas’s work. But one of the gifts of the ballet dancer series is how much detail and presence they contain in themselves–the dancers have a life on the canvas that is their own, and offer richness to the viewer willing to return to them again and again with dedicated attention. These are a reflection of Degas’s talent and well-trained experience as a painter.
Antinori Antica 2009 Chardonnay
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Chardonnay stands as California’s most planted grape. Advantages of the variety include its relative ease to grow in the field, and its popularity as an approachable, buttery, fruit-driven wine. The California style is known for these descriptors with the wine spending its life on oak for spice and wood notes that increase its fullness and zest on the tongue, and undergoing malo-lactic fermentation too adding a buttery or butterscotch flavor. Though there are multiple exceptions to this style in the overall region, it is still easier to find a chardonnay from California that fulfills it than not.
Enter Antinori. As they tell it, the Antinori family began making wine in 1385 in what is now Italy. As such they have 26 generations of wine makers in the family. In the 1960s, Piero Antinori visited California and began to dream of a second wine making venture for his family in a new locale along the California hilltops. The project gained roots in the early 1990s when they purchased land along the Napa Valley. What is unique about the property is its hilly terrain, and higher-than-normal planting elevation. The rocky soil suits chardonnay’s needs for enriching struggle, and the slopes allow drainage that encourages clarity of flavor. Naming the estate for a combination of their own name and that of California, Antinori’s Napa wines are known as Antica. Their first vintages of Napa wine–Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay–were released in the mid-2000s.
My feature today of Antica Chardonnay arises because of my surprise with it. Antinori has managed to create a chardonnay that carries aspects of California’s chardonnay typicity but with a sophistication and elegance that shows both complexity and focus. In short, Antinori makes oak and butter-notes desirable.
One can taste the oak influence, but it is light, offering baking spice and touches of sweet heat all balanced with pleasing fruit and bright acidity. The wine has the butter elements of malo-lactic fermentation but here they are more creamy than buttery and bring a steadiness to the elongated finish. The citrus fruits are also balanced and at ease in the glass, dancing alongside fresh crushed rock minerals, and even light hints of smoke.
Antica’s 2009 Chardonnay shows a dancer’s body. Like Degas’s graceful figures, this wine certainly arises out of long standing tradition. But this wine has its own life–focused in the glass, determined to carry the tradition forward, while comfortable in its own fluid strength. This is readily one of the best chardonnays I’ve tasted from California recently, and I celebrate it especially for its ability to take up the fearfulness of an oaked chardonnay and instead make it good.
For an interesting video from the Antica estate on the production of this 2009 chardonnay watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYS5KSB25tw
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Seth Long, of Seler d’Or, dedicated this 29-day month of February to the variety chardonnay. To add to the charm of this venture his site is also filled for it with a predominance of guest writers–some of the most knowledgeable and quirky figures of the wine blogging world. To thank Seth again for taking up such an interesting project, I decided to, with him, close the month of February with a chardonnay focus. Check out Seth’s interesting blog, where his own writing dives into the qualities of what he calls “real wine.” http://sethmlong.com/
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For just a touch more on the range of flavors chardonnay can show depending on wine style, check out my color characteristics card on the grape from a previous post:
http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2011/12/12/chardonnay-varietal-characteristics-card/
Cheers!
Copyright 2012 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com
