Seriously Good Grigio

There are wines that Wine People dismiss. And when I say Wine People, dare I say wine snobs? I do dare, and confess I might be one just-a-little-bit. And I am guilty of overlooking today’s grape. Is it because I’ve noticed it is the go-to white wine for a lot of my friends who aren’t Wine People/Snobs? Maybe. Well, the more I think of it, the more I realize that that’s a silly reason to dismiss a wine–if it brings people happiness, maybe I should pay attention.

I’ll stop the preliminary banter. The wine I am speaking of is Pinot Grigio. There are SERIOUSLY good Pinot Grigio wines out there, especially once you learn you can get one of higher quality–more complexity, more balance, more beauty– by looking to a Pinot Grigio from a specific appellation.

The appellation in question today is the DOC Delle Venezie, which was created in 2016 to draw out the best of Pinot Grigio from the Triveneto, aka Tre Venezia. The Delle Venezie DOC includes a few different regions: the Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia (never can I ever remember this region’s in full–somebody take my Diploma from me) and Trentino, all located in Northeast Italy.

I actually was just in one of those regions, the Veneto, in June, chilling out, the way wine people do, sucking down quite a bit of Pinot Grigio, from sunup to sundown, on the shores of Lake Garda. As one does. So Pinot Grigio was on my radar as something to rekindle my relationship with. And then I was lucky enough to be sent a couple of bottles of it from the DOC Delle Venezie, which solidified my feelings that I’d been neglecting the grape for too long.

A little terminology tutorial: DOC stands for “Denominazione d’Origine Controllata”, and is meant to ensure that if you drink a wine labeled as such-and-such DOC, that you know where it came from, what grapes it was made from, how it was made, and so on. But most of all, you can be assured that the quality of the bev in the bottle will be what you expect, what you wanted, in some situations what you NEEDED, and that you will not be disappointed because it’s a friggin’ DOC. And DOCs have STANDARDS.

DOC Delle Venezie is a standard bearer for the quality Pinot Grigio.

There are a bunch of reasons why three different regions (which in reality are not so far from each other) can lend one named denomination to the grape. In terms of climate, they all benefit from the protection of the Alps to the north. And then there are multiple rivers that flow through them. So there’s coolness to moderate sun which yayyyyy (if you are an acid-lover like me) usually means the wine will sport refreshing acidity. Flowing water also often means the terroir will be well-ventilated. Temperatures (especially when on hills) will vary from night to day leading to a long ripening span(yay ripe fruit) and acidity levels that never say die.

Now that you know a little more about the region, here’s a smidge more about the grape; let’s call it Pinot Grigio basics: The skin of the grape has a grey-pink tinge, leading to the wines having a coppery color, and in fact when more skin contact is allowed Pinot Grigio can be look like a rosé or sometimes even orange wine. Typical aromas include citrus, stone and orchard fruit. The acid tends to be elevated (see: porch pounder), and other fave pinot-tastic flavors include a certain beery-y nature as well as hints of peanuts. and sometimes flowers.

Within the Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC one can be assured that yields are limited–an important part of quality control, as overcropped grapes=diminished quality. And in this DOC the wines actually undergo a tasting to make sure each bottling stands up to the regional standards. I myself tasted a couple of examples from the region and both made me happy to have Pinot Grigio in my glass.

NATALE VERGA PINOT GRIGIO DELLE VENEZIE DOC

Tart n tangy! A lot of peach yogurt vibes and traditionally PG all day–bruised fruits, peanut shells and stale beer (in a good way, trust me). Look, here is the thing: Classic Pinot Grigio is like a baseball game beyond those last two tasting notes. It has peaks and lulls and you’ll come back for more.

ALLEGRINI CORTE GIARA PINOT GRIGIO DELLE VENEZIE 2020

Lighter and fresher and fun. More citrus-y and less lees’y although there was a hint of shells and lactic quality to it, if that makes sense. But most of all, the acidity was clean and clear and I was drinking it with girlfriends on a hot hot day and we couldn’t get enough.

TAKE HOME MISSIVE

Learn how to find the good. Drink the good. Do good. Be you. And if you are a Pinot Grigio lover, this post was for you.

This post was sponsored.

Sex Love and Barolo–playing FMK with my favorites

Oh wow. I’m not sure how, but I got to stay/work-Barolo/Barbaresco-cation. For the Barolo Barbaresco World Opening 2022. And I got to rate the latest vintages. Perhaps it is fate. Like, I am madly in love with Barolo and Barbaresco. Both are Nebbiolo, but Barolo is a little more brash, in terms of tannins, and aged longer than Barbaresco. It only makes sense I’d get to spend three days with them. Me, Barolo and Barbaresco–there’s a threesome dream team.

Granted there are different tiers of love. Barolo is a lover, Barbaresco I’d marry. I don’t know that there is a B in the Piemonte I’d kill. If I were playing Fuck Marry Kill with the region. Certainly not Barbera d’Asti.

Playing FMK with wine. How did I get there? Enough about me.

I don’t have ONE wine that made me realize wine was magic, but a Damilano Lecinquevignes was the first wine that made me go bonkers for a Nebbiolo–like I DID NOT KNOW THAT WINE DID THAT. I also didn’t know what to expect from an orgasm until I had one. The problem with great wine and sex is now I have expectations.

Sex, love, and Barolo. You really can’t take them apart.

If you are not familiar, they are wines made in Piedmont, in northern Italy. They are 100% Nebbiolo. It’s a finicky grape. It is high in everything–acid, tannins, alcohol–and that is perhaps what makes it so intoxicating on so many levels.

The morning after the casual welcome soirée on the 73rd floor of the Intercontinental, we walked into a room with 204 bottles of the recently released vintages of Barolo (2018) and Barbaresco (2019), and four hours to make our way through, in whatever order we wanted (they had a crew of somms to bring us whichever wine on the list we pleased)as many or as few of the bottles as we wished, and ultimately rate the vintages. I made it through about 50 wines.

I’ve realized that the more wine I sample, even when spitting, the more pithy, asshole-ish, and absurd my notes become. Not that I’m necessarily liking wines tasted later less–I just am a little less buttoned up in how I describe them.

Interestingly…and I’m just saying…some of my favorites, like top three faves, were favored producers from prior tastings and (hello I’m brain damaged, I don’t remember every favorite Nebbiolo without going through old notes and yes I keep notes on nearly everything) surprise surprise were loved again. And they were ones that turned up on the other’s top picks.

I could go on about the rest of the press tour and maybe I should. There was a party at Universal Studios. There was a master class. There was Fontina cheese (and there always should be cheese). There was a big walk around tasting for the trade. And then there was the walk around for the public that me and my new wine besties played hooky from because we got invited to a Cote de Rosés party with models in Hollywood where we greedily sucked down rosé like the water it was, after three days of Nebbiolo.

I digress.

I’ll be real. Barolo and Barbaresco are nearly always great, particularly when they’ve had some time to grow into their tannic noses. But it’s those top…let’s just say top ten, just to be controversial (probably more), that are the wines that make you go hmmm…a happy hmmm. If I’m being real (which I think I just said I was) there is no Kill in Barolo/Barbaresco FMK. It’s more like Fuck Marry Kiss.

I’ll start with a producer I was excited about at the morning tasting, Ettore Germano, and it wasn’t until I talked to the winemaker himself at the walk-around the next day that I thought hmmmm, there’s something familiar in his face. I later realized I’d had dinner next to him at a sparkling wine event four years ago. That time, he was pouring a sparkling Nebbiolo rosé that knocked my socks off. So I was happy that his solid reds were solid. Beyond solid really. That man’s wines are art.

My next pick, according to my tasting cohorts, is supes controversh for building a VERY modern winery that looks like wine boxes stacked on each other in Barolo. I feel like Italians do art and fashion so well and so progressively, so it’s interesting they object to a lil’ fun architecture but whatever. L’Astemia Pentita is the name of the wine and her Barolo from the Cannubi vineyard comes in purple glass bottles which I’m guessing is also not so popular with the locals. And it is GOOD. In my top five. Energetic, bracing, and then there’s notes of pastilles. Great fun. And maybe it’s wrong but I do love a troublemaker so long as their product is delish.

And then we come to my old friend ( I wish) G.D. Vajra. I cherish their wine. The bottling I had was from Barolo Bricco delle Viole. My notes read “smells like white chocolate laced w/ flowers, much fresher palate, alert tannins but not annoying -fernet-laced. Complex, fascinating, heady. I do love them.

Go on and get yourself some Barolo. Grab yourself a Barbaresco. Have some nibbles on hand and have a ball. I did.

Wake up to this sunshine (funky but still, sunshine) in a glass

Oh shit I don’t even care too much what the grapes are (they are Mantonico, Guernaccia Bianca, Pecorelllo, Greco Bianco). Or where this is from (Calabria the arch and toe of the good ol’ boot of Italia). Or even year (2014).

What matters is you have some FUNK and GOLD dancing in your glass.

When you sip this your head should explode into the chorus from Groove is in the heart and you should start dancing. Deeeeeeee, deeelite! Anyone else?

Got this at originally at Covell.

2014 Chora Bianco IGP Calabria

It may not be for all. It is almost an orange wine. In terms of color.

Please excuse any grammar issues in this WSET style summation. I’m just gonna let it flow….

The eye: Deep clear gold. Medium slow tears.

Nose: Clean (yet oh so dirty meow), medium intensity, marmalade, meyer lemon, orange peel, developing.

Tongue: Dry, medium acid, medium alcohol ( crap it isn’t on the label?), medium body, medium plus intensity, flavors–fucking meyer lemon orange marmalade, funky (what is the tech term like soil)yeast (it is aged sur lies aka on the dead yeast), and a wee hint o lanolin

finish: medium plus it doesn’t evolve so much as you get a shadow of a taste that swells like a beautiful symphony. YAS

 

It is pink! It is dry! It is PINK and BOOZY!!!! IT’s real tasty Bardolino yo

Okay so let us OVERCOME our SKEPTISCISM!! The famed wine from ye olde Veneto is Valpolicella. Which is Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara and possibly other -a– grapes. And then within the region…nearby! Is Bardolino. With its Bardolino Chiaretto rosé and fuck if I do not love an underdog rosé. Let us get the fuck into Chiaretto.

LET US ALL GIVE AT LEAST AN AIR KISS TO BARDOLINO CHIARETTO!!

Muah, muah dahlingzzz.

2015 Corte Gardoni  Chiaretto

It was real good shit.

That is so articulate.

Okay so it is not groundbreaking nor will it make you..I dunno. Swing from the chandelier?! The only thing to ever make me swing like that is Sia’s Chandelier and tharrrr is dancing in that link, so that is where I am but this wine was in the omg come on pink wine skeptics let us have a lark. If not a swing…

Okay let us just say inspiration! This wine you taste and wanna dance!!! You wanna move. Waggle your hips and bob your head and maybe some wine ARSEhole will say what Bardolino?! Chiaretto?!  Are you kidding?

And. 

I. 

Say: I say I have been pursuing Corvina-grape nirvana some time so let us all dance like we were in a Sia vid together. That would be magic.

Sans magic I will give you fucking boring shit—Wait…just get in!

If you want my credential analysis-stuffs to make you feel qualified in finding this and serving this loveliness–I’m recommending it with my WSET (Wine and Spirit Educational Trust level 3 credentials:

Eye: clear. medium peach. medium tears whatever the fuck most of us do not know about tears.

Nose: clean, medium plus peaches, raspberries and pomegranate. youthful cause duh it is only a couple years.

On zee tongue!!More of the nose. The acid is medium plus and the alcohol is also so (checking–it is 12% so yah more than medium SCORE!) and no tannins obvi. Other than all this this is a generic but I’d drink the hell out of it stuff…Because there is a hint of fucking strawberries in sorbet or even perhaps sherbet?! So all is to say this rosé is worth your time in the night. The finish goes on and on, so you say of it, it is all the bullshit plus some textured vanilla and thyme like maybe there was an herb in there some…time. But generally…

Let us get into this PINK! PINK IS THE STUFF!!!

Into the night! With pink.

Let us dooooo it.

Pink. Love. Hearts n stuff. 💕💕💕💕💕❤️❤️🍷🍷🍷

 

Pussy drinks Barolo. Kitty likes the tar and roses

I’d saved this bottle. I mean, 2011 Barolo…I could have hung on. But given the state of the union I cracked it open. As I write this I’m getting ready to go to the Los Angeles women’s march tomorrow morn. 

Hence pussy ears. 

Wuss wine can back the hell off.

This is a modern Barolo. Ready to sip now. Or…at least ready to sip six years post-vintage. I dare say earlier may have been too early.

2011 Damilano Lecinquevigne Barolo

You know how you make and new friend, and once you have both shared the stories of your messed up lives, think “I’m glad I met you now because we would have HATED each other but now we are gonna be besties”? 

I mean maybe you never thought that but with Nebbiolo you are generally glad you met it once it had gone through it’s rough stage. 

And modern Barolo, rife with the vanilla oak of the modern makers, went through its “rough stage” more quickly than classic Barolo.

This one is friendly. It says:

Roses! Berries! Tar! Tannins so mellow and lilting you take them in and decide to give them a hug!

As a wine person I embrace tannins fyi if you are not necessarily a wine person you may wait another few years to drink this.

But then. Oh then. 

We have flowers and I swoon. Roses.

And we have tar.

And hell if nothing else moves me it is prehistoric gook that bubbles out of the ground in our own La Brea tar pits, it is VIOLETS in a glass. 

Dang, drink this modern shit. Classic Barolo is brilliant and I love it for what it is but Damilano is On Point. 

Now that I’m fortified I’m getting some zzz’s then am off to grab back.

I have zero patience

Should I save bubbly for special times?

Mayhaps.

Should I share it?

Indubitably.

But I tofurked up.

It’s like the veg way of messing up. Tofurk-ing up. My mom was critical of my expletives so I’m exploring my alternative options. Bear with it.

I funked it up on the sharing part but I was sent two Rotari samples, one white and one rosé and…I love rosé and…I was stressed and…okay look I opened it and said to myself “If I finish it a day or so later it may have less bubbles but what the fudge I want it now. I will share the brut later but I want the rosé NOW.

I was SO excited for this because WHAT?! It is grapes made into bubbly just like Champagne but…Italian. 

To be more specific, it’s bubbly from Trentodoc, the second oldest sparking appellation after Champagne.

Like Champagne they make their sparkly from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir–Champagne also sometimes includes Pinot Meunier but this bubbly sticks with the first two. 

Like Champagne the base wine is made and bottled then more yeast and sugar is added to create a second fermentation. At some point after the potion rests on the dregs of exhausted yeast there is disgorgement: all the sediment of the leftover yeast is expelled. Perhaps a small dosage of wine n sugar tops it up. A cork, cage and foil are added and it’s off to the races. Or to the bloggers. Whichever.

That is “traditional method”–or in this case “metodo classico”–sparking  wine!

It’s a lot. But! Does it taste good?

I tasted:

Rotari Rosé Trentodoc 2013

Okay holy frug. Here are my happy thoughts.

Appearance:

Pale, pink-salmon, fine light bubbles.

Nose: raspberries strawberries cherries all the red berries + Wet rocks n yeast.

On the tongue (everyone’s favorite organ): oh the effervescence of a traditional method bubbly! Transfer and tank method cannot surpass the elegance of the bubbles, and this traditional method has all the right stuff. Them’s the high-labor high-price breaks.

High dang acid, medium alcohol, And the flavors oh right those! In addition to those delightful wet stones you get the very light hints of brioche that come from so much time sitting on the lees. That is, the yeast remains. Those are the lees.

It really is a whole lot of strawberry and raspberry and stone and as I said the brioche. So like butter and yeast and cream. My favorite bread and fruit products, usually eaten separately now combined into a sublime beverage.

Fork yah.

Canned Cuvee for Those Times When You Literally Just CAN

Get it? Get it? You just CAN?!!

This little can of forget-your-woes is an Italian bubbly.

History will tell you I am not opposed to canned bubbly booze. With straws, even.

History will tell me I am rarely too big on Italian wine, but times they are a-changing.

Some Italian wines are growing on me. For example, while I’ll pass on the fava beans but I will take brains and a nice Chianti. Minus the brains.

Perhaps the American palate just likes too much of anything, but the Italian vinos I used to encounter in the USA tended to be…too much of one element or another for me to like. Too woody, too tannic, even too acidic, which is hard to do with me seeing as I have approximately zero acid receptors in my taste buds. But some people love a ridiculously big  Barolo that would need 20 years of aging for me to find acceptable.

Because I have become a wine asshole. I was about to say wine snob but my spoiled-brat opinions make me feel like a major jerk.

But! I am finally finding the Italian vinos I dig. So please don’t take offense to my previous misgivings. I have found I enjoy wines from the northerly side of Italy more. From the Veneto, for example.

Presto (procured at Whole Foods) is labeled as a “sparkling cuvée” so who knows the precise methods of production. The can says it is bottled by a company in Fidenza, Italy which is in Parma, just west and depending-where you are in the Veneto (home of Prosecco), south of the Veneto. But maybe it is made in the Veneto. Have I mentioned that I FUCKING LOVE VENICE although I was only there for too brief an evening. When I was a kid so no vino for me. But of all the places in Italy I was lucky enough to visit the Venice was the best.

Now, I had previously been a snob against bubblies. Not that true Champagne is my pinnacle bubbly. I usually like Cava better. But I am guessing this bubbly is made differently from those two types. It was most likely made like Prosecco, with its second fermentation happening in a big steel tank as opposed to in the bottle.

Perhaps a can is the perfect delivery method for tank-fermented bubbly? It goes with the whole easy-going vibe of “let us just ferment a big ol’ batch in a tank” that comes with these wines.

Let us be clear that we should not expect massive amounts of bubbles in this. The can states that it is a “frizzante” which means the wine is only lightly bubbly. “Spumante” would indicate full-on bubbles.

As for the color and the aroma and such well…this is in a can. D’oh. If you want to figure out the nose pour it in glass. And for bubbly use a large all-purpose or tulip glass for goodness sake–coupes and flutes are cute and stylish, but you get the best experience in a bigger glass. You will get the nose without the bubbles going away too quickly. Got your glass? Now take a whiff. You’ll get fresh orange, grapefruit and honeysuckle notes. But even not poured in a glass you are gonna get the same things on your tongue. There is a hint of bready and yeasty notes. Medium in body. Happy in mind. For a serving of bubbly it is decent on wallet. I can endorse Presto.

After trying some in the glass try sipping from the can and…there is a hint of flippin’ Sprite, no joke. But that is good.

Honestly I thought it was gonna be shitty but… I may need to get more of this shiznit. 

I may be getting a wee bit tipsy as I am sitting here sipping and analyzing and writing for you.

Whoops. 

This could be a snazzy pool party drink. For all the theoretical pool parties I am attending.

Which as a vampire I will not be. But I will still sip this canned sparkly delight.

Bloody Jove and friends

I really do not know much of Italian wine.

This is Tuscan and made of a bunch of grapes I do not know of. Well, the first one I know: Sangiovese.

Translation: The Blood Of Jove.

Yum.

But my knowledge of   the other grapes? Not so much: Colorina. Foglia Tonda. Barsaglina.

Say whaaaaaa?

2013 Mocine “Mocine” IGT

Sweet in the way-I dunno dates? It is sweet at very top of tongue. Spices mid-palate. Then mouthwatering acid. The tannins hit down between dates and spices which is just right.

In this wine tannins are the moderator. They align and adjust extremes.

For all I’ve yakked this wine is not terrible complicated. It will take a bit more thought than grape juice but far less than, say, some crazy Syrah. Crazy. Not all Syrahs are crazy but if they are well then….

Somehow the jigsaw puzzle of spice, tannins and juices don’t make me love this, but I thoroughly enjoy it in the “Okay I’ll have another half-glass” way that I use at the wine bar I adore when I am too lazy to taste another new wine and want more wine but not another entire glass of wine because I am still a lightweight who needs to have half-glasses. Because I hate being drunk.

I’d just keep on drinking this one. I dig it. Or else I would not share. I’m curious to taste this winery’s other offerings.

Prim and Primal

  
looky here. she says without using caps like a proper woman who writes. 

Ok caps. Zinfandels have been a favorite of mine for a while. I like them. They have everything. Spice and fruit and leather and A Lot. They are the indecisive wine lover’s wine.

So naturally the fact that an ancestor of theirs is primitivo meant I needed primitivo.

This primitivo:

  
 The 2014 Tempo Vero Primitivo IGT

I got it on club w.

By the way if you want a free bottle of wine-any wine!-here’s my link. Clicky here:

http://www.clubw.com/eclifford

Very very smooth. Little tannins. Less spice. More berries. I picture strawberries and raspberries and a few blueberries and just maybe two blackberries.

The acidity is lilting and elegant, it’s the jaunty bridge to this wine’s ballad to berries.
I’d like to choreograph to this wine.