More Fresh Wine: 2 Quicktakes
A few days ago, I beat down the subconscious wine snob in me and promised to embrace more vinos with that "winey fresh taste." True to my word, I took two more wines from the '04 vintage for a spin:
1. Primo Estate La Biondina, '04 ($14) - A blend of grapes that normally have no business being in the same bottle together. But hey, that's what the Aussies do. And I like it. La Biondina contains Colombard (from somewhere in Australia, I presume), Riesling (from the Eden Valley), and Sauvignon Blanc (from the Adelaide Hills). After my initial sniff, swirl, and sip, I did a doubletake. My brain computed the following output: "This is Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand." Similar, indeed. This wine is replete with scents of lemongrass, grapefruit, and pineapple. It's also got a surprising amount of zing. A great companion to big-eye tuna sashimi & seaweed salad. ***.5 (3.5 stars out of 5)
2. Villa Giada "iSuri" Barbera d'Asti, '04 ($13) - 100% Barbera from Italy's Piedmont. I've gone ga-ga over Barbera in the past. But this was Barbera of the HI-C/Hawaiian Punch variety. Inky purple with flavors like an over-Fruity Novello of some kind. Little tannin. Very low acidity. ** (2 stars out of 5)
Hey, I'm interested in your notion of "fresh wine." Here's the deal -- I think that since the 90s folks in the US drink very big wines that are made in a style suitable (in theory) for aging. But we rarely cellar our bottles. What percentage of the drinkers do you think even have a cellar? In the Old World, there are plenty of wines, premium wines, meant to drink young. They deserve respect and a place on our tables. Here in Southern California I and my partners are trying to make wine like that. "Fresh" will be part of our marketing message. -michael
Posted by: michael | 02 November 2010 at 04:54 PM