Juve Y Camps 2007 Milesime Gran Reserva Brut Cava

Posted by Keith Wallace on Dec 10, 2012 in Wine Reviews | 0 comments

The family behind this bottle has been growing grapes in  Catalonia, Spain for over two centuries. Since 1921, they have been producing the Spanish sparkling wine known as Cava. Like many wineries in the region, quality here has increased dramatically over the past decade. Bottlings such as their Reserva de la Familia Gran Reserva Brut Nature and Rose Brut  highlight the winery’s ability to create excellent sparkling wines at highly competitive prices.

The Milesime is one of their best bottling every year, and the most unique. A typical cava is made with one or all of the three local grapes used for sparkling wine production: Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. Occasionally a bit of Chardonnay is thrown into the mix. This bottle, however, is 100% Chardonnay which makes it often much more appealing to those who are looking for a Cru Champange-style wine without paying Cru Chapange prices.

Produced in a very  traditional Champagne style, it  spends three years on it’s lees before being released. Bakery scents are intoxicatingly prevalent on the nose.  Toast and cream  rise on the palate and the flavors sustain very well into a linear finish. Very tight bubbles bring out a touch of apple on the finish.

Pear Valley 2007 Syrah, Paso Robles

Posted by Keith Wallace on Nov 2, 2012 in Wine Reviews | 0 comments

Pear Valley is located on the  east side of Paso Robles,  right smack in the middle of it all. The winery is very new, newer even than this wine (it wasn’t built until 2008). However, the vineyards of Pear Valley date back a decade.  This is one of the sunnier and warmest parcels of Paso vineyards, and very suited to high quality and aggressively priced luxury wines.

This is a wine that is used at the Wine School of Philadelphia in some of our introductory classes, due to it’s excellent quality-to-price ratio and it’s varietal correctness. It also makes for a great glass or wine.

Inky and smoky, like a blueberry with a bacon fetish, this wine starts out with a savory quality that is punctuated with aromas of quince. Medium to full bodied it  hits the palate  both round and tannic. Notes of clove and nutmeg follow the deep dark fruit flavors and then comes the flavors of burnt earth and lavender.

Feudi di San Gregorio 2007 Companaro

Posted by Keith Wallace on Oct 17, 2012 in Wine Reviews | 1 comment

Since its origins in the ’80s, Feudi di San Gregorio has been one of the leaders in quality in southern Italy. Over the past few years, they have been ramping up quantity, and for the most part the wines haven’t suffered. It  does mean that the pricing has softened, thanks to the general wine glut and the depressed economy.

This is a lush style of white wine, like a big fat Chardonnay.  The aroma is smoked mineral and peaches, and it’s full bodied to the point it feels like honey and tastes like a ripe pear. It has the freshness to keep it interesting, though, and turns it’s richness to a tableau of sorts: a cornucopia of fresh fruit with a side of fruitcake.  There is an edge of earthiness and iron in the finish that makes this a very interesting white wine.

I wouldn’t serve this with dinner, but it’s a fantastic wine to be enjoyed by itself.

Rioja Review: Vina Eguia 2007 Reserva

Posted by Keith Wallace on Aug 2, 2012 in Wine Reviews | 0 comments

This Rioja review is compliments of the Wine School of Philadelphia and Bacchus Selections.

This is a classically structured wine and lovely Rioja.  Based in the Basque section of Rioja, the winery was founded in 1926 by  winemaker Jose Murua. By the middle of the century, the winery was sold to an outside owner. In a moment that would make any dad proud, his son, Julian, repurchased the winery in 1982. He has been making classical Riojan wines ever since. The Vina Eguia Riserva is a wine that far surpasses its price point; I actually feel a bit guilty for paying so little for so much wine.

Aroma of tobacco and rose petals, with a bit of damp earth and clove. On the palate, the fresh fruit comes across in high definition; in particular, fresh cherry and red raspberry. The bright fruit gracefully intertwines with mocha and Medjool date flavors.  Tannins are delicate and light, and nicely balanced with the vibrant acidity. The   flavors flow into a harmonious  ending. This is a wine that cries out for a roast leg of lamb with a bit of garlic and rosemary, and perhaps a bit of roasted potato.

About Rioja

Via Wikipedia. Rioja is oaky, and all attempts to rid the wine of oak are doomed to failure. Oak is the basis of its fame and the reason it became Spain’s first and greatest red-wine success, and while critics who suggest that these wines are too oaky for today’s more sophisticated consumers may have a point, there is precious little left in most Rioja once you take away the oak. It was the French who originally blessed the wines of this region with their unmistakable sweet-vanilla oak identity. As early as the 18th century, a few enlightened Riojanos had looked to France, Bordeaux particularly, to improve their winemaking skills. 

Riesling Review: Argyle 2007 Riesling, Willamette

Posted by Keith Wallace on Jul 27, 2012 in Wine Reviews | 0 comments

A roaring bottle of white wine.  To recreate the flavor without tasting it, here is what you should do:

Grab a rake and a Buddhist monk, take them both on a road trip to Death Valley. Once you are there, make the monk draw circles in the sand with the rake. At gunpoint, if necessarily. Meditate on the vastness of the universe,  and then squeeze off  a few rounds into the air. After a few hours, call it a day. Stop off at a gas station and buy your monk a bouquet of flowers. Afterwards, let him eat a plateful of the most lush peaches you can find.  Once you and your monk have completed all these chores, sniff  his robes.  If he protests, just remember you still have the gun. Sniff again: that is the essense of the Argyle Riesling.

Of course, you could also just try a glass. It’s a fun bottle of wine with just enough juicy white fruit to balance out the racy elements. A bit of  ozone and salinity come into play in the midpalate.  The floral and mineral components are mostly in the long and pleasant. finish. .A very nice bottle of wine, especially for the summertime.

 About Riesling 

Via Wikipedia. The classic German grape produces a zesty, citrusy,intensely flavored wine of great mineral  complexity, length,and longevity. When grown on certain soils, the terpenes in Riesling benefit from bottle-age and can, after several years, develop a bouquet reminiscent of gasoline. Alsace and Austriamake most (not all) of the best Riesling. In Australia the wine from this grape has, by and large, a simplistic lime fruit character that is prone to going like gasoline in a relatively shortwhile, but lacks the finesse and complexity of truly classic petrol aromas.