Dinner - Zeppolis (French Wine)

Welcome to Zeppolis

This week sadly was Zeppoli's final wine dinner of the semester. I can't believe we're already at the end! That's kind of scary for me because I am a senior and do not want to go out into the real world but I digress...  At least we finished up strong with French wines.  Whenever you take a wine class or even talk about wine French wine inevitably comes up.  In a country where wine is produced in such huge amounts I have had relatively little French wine.  In fact, I am not even sure if I've had any French wine.  At home it seems to be lots of California and Australian wines so I don't even have much experience with Old World wines.  This is why I was so excited for the French wine dinner and some wines lived up to expectations while some did not.  I'll get into that below.

You could easily taste how different some of the wines were.  "Fruit forward" is the opposite of how I'd describe some of the reds and the Chardonnay was much more crisp and un-oakey it almost tasted like a different varietal.  I know I'm supposed to have a favorite style, Old World or New World, but I can appreciate both styles.  Wine is wine, man.  

As always, to die for

The food was delicious as always, especially the pasta dishes.  We had a smorgasbord of cheese and crackers (including fresh mozzarella and tomato. Mmm.), calamari salad, twice baked potato, cheese bread, pasta pinwheels, pasta salad, and one other pasta dish with a red sauce.  Obviously the lighter dishes, the pasta salad, cheese and crackers, calamari salad, were meant to pair with the white wines and the backed potato and heavy pasta dishes were meant to pair with the reds.  The pasta pinwheels, by the way, were some of the most delicious pasta I have ever had.  Note to anyone going to Zeppoli's, get those.  I want to go back just for those pinwheels.  

I actually had the patience this time this time to wait on the wine before scarfing all the food.  And while all of it was gone by the time I got to the last few reds, I was amazed how much the food changed some of the wines.  I came in with a strategy this time.  Zeppoli's has a generous pour so there is plenty for two sips.  I would take an initial sip without any food, savor the wine, and then take another sip after eating some of the food.  This strategy served me well with some the wines, especially the whites, while making some of the reds worse.  

Took pictures of the wines I deemed worthy to buy

The first wine, the Chateau Gaillard Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, was absolutely delicious. From the Loire Valley, the wine had a great, floral nose that backed it up with a crisp, acidic finish.  At $11.99 we bought this wine and enjoyed that night.  I knew I would like it, being such a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, but it exceeded my expectations.  Those wines that have some of those tropical fruit flavors I just can't resist.  Very strong start to the wine section of dinner.  In fact, this wine was so good I think it kind of overshadowed the next one which was good in its own right.

Bordeaux Blanc Sec

The Chateau Suau 2010 Bordeaux Blanc Sec is a blended wine with Semillon, Muscadet, and my favorite, Sauvignon Blanc.  I've said before in this blog that I am not very good at picking out particular descriptors but I know what Sauvignon Blanc tastes like after trying wines all semester and the Sauvignon Blanc really came through on the nose.  It is a little exciting for me to see how my ability to pick out specific characteristics is progressing, even if it is limited to an entire grape variety.  Maybe I'm being a wine nerd here but whatever.  I definitely got the Sauvignon Blanc crispness and acidity from tasting the wine but it was not as acidic as the first wine.  I'd say it was more complex, though, as the flavors of the other grape varieties came through and added something to the wine.  If I had not tasted the Chateau Gaillard Touraine before this one, I think I would have liked it more.  Wine can be relative like that in tastings and it is an example how tasting a wine can effect another one.  With that being said, I really do think it was a good wine.  And it tasted great with the calamari.  The calamari served to neutralize some of the harshness and let the flavors really come out.

The same wine a few years apart. Change

Something to note about the label on this wine: it is French but the producer caters the wine towards American tastes and customs.  If you think about it, Americans make up a huge portion of demand for wine and it makes sense to create labels that Americans can easily read and interpret.  This is not the same wine as above but it was made by the same producer and these wines are about five years apart.  They are the exact same wine.  Talk about how the wine industry is changing fast... The bottle on the right is the newer one and the label is vastly different.  You get the information you need from the label without having to interpret anything that the average wine drinking American wouldn't know how to interpret.  We talk about in class how labeling conventions and wine in general is transforming towards American tastes and this is a great real world example.  Really cool lesson that backs up what we learned in class.

But now its on to the next wine.  The Prochaine 2009 Chardonnay Vin de Pays is another example of a real world example backing up classroom material.  Vin de pays is French for "country wine" and is less expensive than the Grand Crus but a step about the table wine.  Its great to see those connections but now a little about the wine.  A Chardonnay that initially tasted a little creamy and a little like a California Chardonnay changed dramatically after being paired with cheese.  Totally unrecognizable and much, much better with cheese.  The heaviness of the wine went away and some tropical flavors came out which is different for a Chardonnay.  It tasted crisp.  Again, it probably would have tasted more crisp were it not for the first two wines but I tried not to let the first two shade my opinion on this one.  I thought it was a good wine that I would definitely have with cheese and not alone if I were to buy it.

French wines: The Selection

Now on to the reds.  This first red was a bonus red that we all probably would have been better off without.  The Manoir De Carra 2010 Beaujolais noveau was only in this tasting because it was getting to old for a noveau and you could tell.  That type of wine is usually seen as an indicator of how the harvest us going to in Burgundy since it comes out so fast and is meant to be consumed young. Two years this later, this wine was not aging well.  I don't really have much to say about it other than bleh.

The next red was better, drinkable at least.  From the same vintage, the Jean-marc burgaud Beaujolais Villages wine dealt with its age much better than the noveau.  It actually might not have been ready to consume yet because I thought it came off hot but had some nice fruit flavors that really showed themselves after a bite of pasta.  For a wine with only 12.5% alcohol you would not expect it to be so hot but I think it has potential to be aged and be better for it.

This next wine, the Georges DuBoeuf 2010 Morgon Descombes Burgundy, showed some very interesting, old world qualities.  It had a good nose but I did not detect any fruit flavors after a taste.  It was strange to have a wine that was not fruit forward at all but I really liked it.  It even had an interesting after taste that I enjoyed even though I cannot explain exactly what it tasted like.  You normally think of French wines as great wines to pair with food but this did not do well with the bite of pasta I had.  Maybe it was the type of food but I enjoyed it more by itself.

 With the Charles Thomas 2009 Cotes du Rhone Rouge, we finally got ourselves to a GSM blend and it was definitely a big wine.  In fact, I thought it was too bad and at 13% alcohol it was really hot.  I got an interesting nose with some berry but it was completely overpowered by how hot it was.  Maybe it would get better with age and if that is the case, it was definitely not ready to be drunk at this point in time.

We did get a second GSM, and older one from the 2004 vintage, and it was much better even at the exact same price point.  The Clos de Sixte Lirac was much more mellow than the first GSM and that might be because it was 5 years older.  That extra aging could have given it time to balance out and produce a much better wine.  Even at 14.5% alcohol, a significant amount more than the first one, I detected much less hotness even though GSMs are known to be big wines.  I enjoyed this one much more.

Here is the wine I talked about earlier with the drastic label change.  The Chateau Suau 2009 "Cadillac" Merlot/Cab blend from Bordeaux aged in oak was pretty complex.  I actually did not like the initial taste but the finish lingered in my mouth and was actually really good.  Intriguing wine but I decided not to purchase it at the end of the night.

Finally, we got to the Chateau Grimard 2010 Bordeaux which was the one wine tasted that was no for sale.  This was actually the last bottle they had but our host wanted us to experience a real deal Bordeaux.  There was no fruit flavors I could detect even thought the description said there would be but that was not really a bad thing.  It was tannic and not as hot as either of the GSMs and overall pretty good.  I would not have bought it even if it was on sale but it was a good way to close out the French wine dinner.

Overall, I think I got a whole new appreciation for French wine and discovered that I especially like the whites.  A more crisp Chardonnay is right up my style and I love the Sauvignon Blanc grape variety which the French make great wines out of.  I am sad that this is the last Zeppoli's wine dinner but I really appreciate them putting the dinners on every other week.  I found some wines that I really enjoy through the process and plan on going back to Zeppoli's soon.  

Winery Visit - Attimo Winery

Attimo Tasting Room

Attimo Grape Vines

Friday, April 20th my roommates and I decided to check out Attimo Winery in nearby Christiansburg on a gorgeous afternoon.  We originally thought about going to Chateau Morissette but a two o'clock quiz would have caused us to miss the 3 o'clock tour so we trusted Google to give us a winery closer by.  Attimo came up and that turned out to be a great decision.

Not the biggest winery, it sits on 17 acres of land, Attimo impressed us early on with the obviously new and nice tasting room.  Somewhere between the giant, unpainted Hokie bird and cozy tasting room I felt at home.  Rik, the owner (and with a Ph.D in microbiology and biochemistry, one smart dude), greeted us in seconds as we walked through the front door in the most friendly and inviting manner.  We told him we were interested in a tasting and he offered us seating either inside or out.  Since it was such a beautiful day (the last one before a weekend of Thunderstorms, rain, and snow) we chose to sit outside and Rik poured us our first wine.  As he explained that he had seen many students from the wine class throughout the semester, he knew the deal and brought us out paper and pens to write notes about the wines we tasted.

I'll go through the wines below and include the description next to the name of the wine and note things that stood out about each one.  These were some of the best wines I've ever had so the majority of what follows will be glowing praise:

Sonet 98 (2010): Dry, crisp, floral, hints of fresh greens. $17

We were told this first wine was the best selling wine in their lineup and I could tell why.  This wine was just as described, very dry and crisp.  I could definitely see myself sipping this wine on a warm day just as it was this day.  I noticed it had a good finish that lingered for quite a while.  The tasting was off to a strong start. 

Masquerade (2010): Dry, smooth and oakey. $19

You can definitely taste that this wine was oaked but what comes through is just how smooth it is. I wrote that in my notes and circled it in my description as that is what I took away from it.  It would have been nice to taste their other Chardonnay that was described as more fruity and less oakey but they had sold out of that one. Darn. Maybe next time.

Vertex (2010): Dry red, rich with black currant flavors and French oak notes. $20

On the reds, we were told this wine was aged in French oak for 11 months and that oakiness came through.  A little tannic, we were also told it paired well with steak and bleu cheese and I can definitely see that.  We were all very impressed with this wine and I can't wait to test out how a nice steak pairs with it.

Deep Silence (2010): Dry red, intesne berry flavors and light smoky pepper finish. $18

Rik told us this wine was aged in American oak but made in the traditional Bordeaux style.  A little tannic, I could  really smell the pepper in the nose.  I am not very good yet at picking out smells and flavors but pepper is so distinctive I really notice that one.  The wine tasted delicious and had a really nice finish.  I was impressed with this one.

AD 325 (2010): Dry red with bold flavors and cherry undertones. $16

Georgian style, really dark

This was by far the coolest wine in the lineup and the coolest wine I have ever tasted.  I believe named after the First Council of Nicaea, this wine is done in a Georgian style (the country, not the state).  Before trying this wine, I did not even know that Georgia even made wine much less had its own style but it is quite distinctive.  Rik told us he has gone to Georgia numerous times to learn how they make their wines and he seemed most proud of this wine.  So much so that the decorative stain in the tasting menu was from this wine.  The skins are left in the juice after being crushed for 3 months creating a very dark wine, as shown in the picture to the right and making for the perfect wine to display its stain.  Apparently, Georgia produces the most wine per capita of any country in the world and had been doing so for thousands of years but they do not ship any wine to the US, explaining why I had never heard of Georgian wine. The wine itself was aged in concrete and, strangely, clay and this created a very earthy quality in the wine.  My roommates and I liked this wine the most out of all of them because of how unique it is.  I have never had a wine that tasted quite like it and I'm looking forward to cracking open one of the two bottles we purchased at the end of the tasting.

Seduction (2010): Sweet, vintage ruby port.  Direct from Portugal, hints of raspberry and raisins. $26

It was very difficult to follow the AD 325 in the tasting and Rik was right to save the AD to the last dry wine in the lineup.  This wine, rightfully called Seduction, was also very different.  The grapes are from Portugal and brandy is added once it makes it to the US.  I have had ports in the past that I just did not like very much, likely because the high alcohol content is hard to balance in a wine, but this port, at 18% alc, was silky smooth.  I don't know how they do it but it just goes down so easily that you can only be impressed.  I initially thought there was no way that at $26 I would buy this wine but, lo and behold, I just had get a bottle to save for a special occasion.

Sweet Berry Sunset: Semi-sweet, intense berry and fruity flavors. $13

These next to wines tasted were not made from grapes alone but with grapes and raspberry.  I had heard of fruit wine before but never of a grape/fruit blend and when I asked Rik why they blended the two fruits, he told me that fruit wine by itself tends to fall apart.  It lacks the structure provided by the tannins in the grapes to hold together.  So, to rectify this problem, he adds red wine to the raspberry wine.  He explained that this wine is best with chocolate, so much so that they serve it in a dipped in chocolate glass.  What a cool idea.  We did not try it while we were there but this is an idea I will try in the future.  I noticed that the wine stings the nostrils, as Ron Burgundy would say, and had an interesting after taste that I think would be balanced out by chocolate.  A very good and intriguing fruit wine, I will probably buy it at some point in the future.

Sudden Downpour: Sweet, apple wine with bourbon notes and earthy tones. $13/375 mL

Also blended with wine, white this time, the apple wine is aged in bourbon barrels to capture some bourbon flavor.  The apples are local (from Roanoke) but not grown on the property like the raspberries.  It also stings the nostrils, must be something to do with the fruit wines, and with 8% sugar was a little sweet for my tastes.  It still was complex with lots of flavor, especially for a fruit wine, and I can see why people would like it.  Personally, I just prefer wines that are semi-sweet at most (although the Seduction was a nice exception). Still, a very strong close to the tasting part of our visit.

After tasting all these wines, we asked Rik if it was ok for us to wander around the vineyard some.  He told it was more than ok and told us some stories about his two Border Collies.  He actually trained them (after a year and with the help of a professional trainer) to make rounds through the vineyards to keep animals from destroying the vineyards.  Bears, racoons, deer, rabbits, and other animals all like to eat the various grapes and berries grown here and it is the dog's responsibility to keep these animals out.  If you have doubts that two dogs could keep all those animals away, consider this story.  Border Collies are herding dogs.  They can be used to keep herds of livestock together and where they're supposed to be, or to tire deer to exhaustion and kill them.  Apparently it has happened twice that the dogs chased around a deer until it could not keep going and struck for the kill.  If that is not a lesson to animals to stay away in the future than I don't know what is!

The grapes are just budding

One grape vine

Vines with room to grow

Luckily we weren't herded as well, the dogs were away for their 3 o'clock nap so they would have the energy to guard the winery all night.  We checked out the vines just to see how they are planted and it is all pretty neat.  I was especially interested because this wine class actually inspired me to buy 24 vines to plant in Northern Loudoun County so I wanted to see how a real winemaker did it. I found a few things interesting.  First, there was a low wire that the vines are pruned to each fall that the vines are kept at.  This ensures that the wine doesn't grow too big for itself to handle and that a smaller amount of fruit is produced by the vine.  Too much fruit would result in poor quality grapes and could stress the plant to death so pruning is necessary for quality wine.  Second, each large post was spaced 6.5 steps apart and each line was spaced three steps apart.  If the vines are planted too close, then there won't be enough nutrients to make quality grapes.  Between the pruning and the space between grapes you can see the tradeoff required between making quality grapes and total yield.  I can see where it would be tempting to get as many grapes as possible to make the most wine as possible (and thus as much money as possible).  But to make a quality product, as Attimo does, responsible growing conditions must be upheld. 

Medals, medals...

... and more medals

Wine for sale

Here we are

 The people at Attimo are very proud of their wines and it shows in the overall quality of the winery.  To illustrate this, many of their wines have been recognized and honored with awards. Of the wines we tasted, the Sonnet 98, I do, Deep Silence, AD 325, Sweet Berry Sunset, Sudden Downpour, and Vertex have all won awards.  The AD 325 was even voted 2nd best wine in Virginia, quite the feat considering the many vineyards across the state. I cannot overemphasize just how impressed I was by this vineyard and, as proof, my roommates and I combined to buy 6 bottles before we left.  With the Sonnet 98, Vertex, Deep Silence, Seduction, and two AD 325s to add to our collection, we left satisfied and happy with our Attimo Winery experience.

Tasting - Morada Sangria

Name: Morada Sangria

Variety: Red Wine

Country: Spain

Region: Not sure

Year: Not sure

Price: $4.95 1L

Vintage Cellar Description: A traditional Spanish drink made with red wine and citrus extracts. Garnet color and fresh on the palate. Serve well chilled, on its own or with lemonade and slices of fruit like peach, banana or apple

My Review: This was a surprisingly good sangria for only $4.95 a liter.  Sangria can easily be overly sweet and overly fruity but this sangria was actually well balanced. You could certainly taste the fruit and it certainly was sweet but not over the top.  I could drink this wine on a hot summer day as a refreshing treat. Good sangria.

Tasting - Cortenova Primitivo

Name: Cortenova Primitivo

Variety: Primitivo

Country: Italy

Region: Cortenova

Year: 2010

Price: $7.95

Vintage Cellar Description: Dark, ruby-red color with violet highlights. Intense and fragrant bouquet with a rich array of red and black fruit aromas and flavors. Harmonious and velvety on the palate. Great balance and structure. Excellent with grilled or roasted meats, game and cheeses.

My Review: This wine was not overly memorable but it was not bad either.  It kind of tasted like a red wine which can be appealing at times.  This wine was not complex and did not have a large amount of flavor but to just sit down and have with a meal this wine could be good.  My only worry is that I will forget about this wine and not buy it in the future.

Tasting - Canyon Road Pinot Noir

Name: Canyon Road Pinot  Noir

Variety: Pinot Noir

Country: USA

Region: California

Year: 2010

Price: $6.95

Vintage Cellar Description: This Pinot Noir expresses tantalizing flavors of ripe cherry and wild raspberry, and finishes with brown, vanilla spices and a smooth finish.

My Review:  Thursday's tasting was the strongest tasting in a while and this wine was part of the reason why.  It was a very good Pinot Noir that was just as its description said. Balanced and delicious, at such a good price I can see myself buying this wine in the future.

Tasting - Oak Vineyards Chardonnay

Name: Oak Vineyards Chardonnay

Variety: Chardonnay

Country: USA

Region: California

Year: 2010

Price: $5.95 750 mL

           $10.95 1.5 L

Vintage Cellar Description: This light straw-colored Oak Vineyards 2010 Chardonnay expresses smokey aromatics with nuances of apple and lemon zest that continue onto the palate where they flourish into citrus, orange blossom, and smoked oak flavors until meeting a crisp, medium finish.

My Review: This was a very smooth Chardonnay.  It was not bitter at all and was not overly oaked either.  I actually thought it was very well balanced and was not overly oaked. And at $10.95 for a 1.5 L of wine it was a great deal.

Tasting - Poysdorfer Saurussel Gruner Veltliner

Name: Poysdorfer Saurussel Gruner Veltliner

Variety: Gruner Veltliner

Country: Austria

Region: Poysdorf

Year: 2010

Price: $7.95

Vintage Cellar Description: Crisp lime flavors, white pepper and lentils, followed by a mouthful of mineral notes and gooseberry. A long lingering finish. A great accompaniment to any Asian or fresh seafood dishes.

My Review: On paper this sounded like a wine I would really enjoy.  With descriptors like "crisp" and "lime" it sounded like it would be right up my alley but I think the lime came through a little too much and it wasn't nicely balanced.  I didn't think the wine was all that crisp either.  It wasn't a bad wine by any means but I've certainly had better.