Bordeaux Wine Tasting – Part One

Posted on April 19, 2025 by thewineraconteur

I was back at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan for another wine tasting and this time it was all wines from the Bordeaux region and eleven of the twelve wines were from the 2022 vintage. 

The first wine of the tasting was Chateau Marjosse Bordeaux Blanc Entre-Deux-Mers 2021 and as I mentioned, this was the only non-2022 vintage of the tasting. Their signature wine is a white wine, and they also produce a red with a Bordeaux AOC.  The chateau is owned by Pierre Lurton, who is also the managing director of Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau d’Yquem.  He began winemaking there for the Deleuze family in 1990 when the estate had twelve hectares, and later after some other commitments he bought the estate in 2013 and began upgrading almost immediately.  The estate is now sixty-five hectares, and the white wine vines average over thirty-five years of age.  The wine is forty-five percent Sauvignon Blanc, forty-five percent Semillon, and a ten percent blend of Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle.  The grounds are sloping hillsides that rise to about sixty meters on sand with clay and limestone.  The juice in vinified in temperature controlled egg-shaped cement vats and used five-hundred-liter oak barrels.  The wine is a pale straw-yellow colored wine that offers notes of green apple, grapefruit, citrus, and white flowers.  On the palate tones of green apple and grapefruit that are bright and crisp; very youthful and alive and refreshing.  

The second wine and the start of the red wines and the 2022 vintages, was featuring Chateau Marjosse Bordeaux Rouge 2022.  While the estate is in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux, traditionally the reds carry the Bordeaux appellation. The Chateau is owned by Pierre Lurton who is also the managing director of Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau d’Yquem.  He began winemaking at Marjosse in 1990, he eventually bought the property in 2013.  The estate began at twelve hectares and is now sixty-five hectares, and he has also renovated the vineyards, the winery and the stone manor house; the red vines average about twenty-five years in age.  The wine is a blend of seventy-five percent Merlot, ten percent Cabernet Franc, ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon and five percent Malbec.  A deep purple wine that offered notes of black currants, black cherries, blackberries, mulberries and a slight trace of florals.   On the palate this medium bodied wine displayed tones of black fruits, well-balanced with ripe tannins, and the finish was a medium count length and ending with juicy fruit and fruit forward.

We then tasted Chateau La Tour de Bessan Margaux 2022 from Marie-Laure Lurton and officially known as Societe Civile Grands Crus Reunis.  A wine company based in the Medoc was founded in 1992 by Marie-Laure Lurton and it comprises two properties: Chateau La Tour de Bessan in Margaux and Chateau de Villegeorge in the Haut-Medoc. The two properties were originally purchased by her father Lucien Lurton in the Seventies from Clauzel family.  Chateau La Tour de Bessan dates to the 13th Century and the fortified tower in Soussans.  The estate has thirty hectares of varying gravel soils and clay in blocks spread out in three communes within Margaux; and the estate earned its Cru Bourgeois classification in 2003.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Merlot, forty-four percent Cabernet Sauvignon and six percent Petit Verdot; and the average age of the vines are twenty-five years.  The wine undergoes a period of Maceration for about twenty days and then aged in French Oak barrels (of which thirty percent is new) for about fourteen months.  The dark ruby wine offered notes of blackberries, plums, florals, licorice and cedar.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of both black and red fruit blended with fine tannins and a nice medium count finish of fruit and spices.

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Fine Wine Source Club – April 2025

Posted on April 16, 2025 by thewineraconteur

As always, it is a pleasure for me to visit the staff at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  For just under thirty dollars a month, we get two wines, one from the Old World and one from the New World, and I also get a chance to see how the new addition is coming. 

The wine representing the Old World is Chateau Gaillarteau Bordeaux Rouge 2022 from the Dubourg family.  The winery is in Mourens, in the Entre-Deux-Mers district in the Bordeaux region.  The Dubourg family is committed to using traditional methods of harvesting and maintaining the vine; as well as modern methods of winemaking with micro-oxygenation and thermos-vinification.  The district Entre-Deux-Mers is only used for white wines, while the red wines use the more generic and encompassing Bordeaux Rouge.  The vines for this estate are about twenty-five years of age and planted on alluvial soil, which is clay and limestone.  The wine is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The wine is fermented and aged in Stainless-Steel vats.  The wine is described as being deep purple in color and offering notes of blackberry, plum and black cherry and with hints of cedar, spice and tobacco.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displays tones of dark fruit and spices blending well with soft tannins and a rich finish.

  The wine representing the New World is Three Wine Company Old Vines Zinfandel Contra Costa County 2021.  Three Wine Company is a family winery focused on sustainable growing with Matt Cline and his wife keeping everything running smoothly.  He has a passion for preserving the historic varietals of the region, Zinfandel, Mataro and Carignane.  In 2014, Cline and an alliance with the City of Oakley, environmentalists, and historians stood up to the State of California to save historic and high-quality vineyards.  This vineyard is a relic of growers and winemakers from previous generations and is found in their “field blend” of ancient vines still producing fruit, and of mixed heritage.  Contra Costa County AVA is directly east of San Francisco to the Sacramento-San Joaquim River Delta (and Contra Costa is Spanish for “opposite shore”).  At the beginning of the 20th Century, a significant proportion of the county was vineyards, but during Prohibition, many vineyards were replanted.  Hence there are gnarled old vines planted over a hundred years ago on deep free-draining, sandy soils; the defining feature of the terroir.  The county has a hot climate that is moderated by the bays, which allows it to have a long growing season.  The wine is a blend of seventy-seven percent Zinfandel, fourteen percent Petite Sirah, six percent Carignane, and three percent Alicante Bouschet.  The wine is described as a deep inky-purple wine that offers notes of currants, dried cranberries and dried herbs.  On the palate this firm-bodied wine displays tones of red fruits, orange zest, white tea, and white pepper blending with grippy tannins, rough wood and a dry finish of fruit and terroir.  

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Three Splits from the Cellar

Posted on April 13, 2025 by thewineraconteur

While my Bride and I were in recovery mode, believe it or not, we were not in the mood to drink wine.  We did, but not in our usual way, and we certainly were not going to restaurants.  Not a cheerful time, but we managed.  If you follow me on a couple of social media sites, you may have noticed that I have been showcasing a different wine each day from the cellar, not to brag, but to remind myself what is down there.  I have also been going through our collection of splits (it might not be the technical term, but it is what I use when talking about half-bottles).

We were basically having quick and easy dinners like a salad, followed by a filet with potatoes and a vegetable.  The first bottle that I will discuss is a bottle of Galante Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rose Hill Vineyard Carmel Valley 2001.  The Galante family has a long personal history in Monterey County of California.  Jack Galante’s great grandfather, James Frank Devendorf, was the founder of Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1900, and later built the Pine Inn and the Highlands Inn (which we have enjoyed a couple of times).  In 1969, Jack’s parents purchased a seven-hundred-acre cattle ranch in what was then rustic Carmel Valley.  In 1983, the Galante family began growing premium wine grapes on the property, specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon.  In 1994, Jack Galante built a winery and used his grapes to produce his estate bottled wines.  Red Rose Hill Vineyard sits above a large swathe of crimson rose bushes, higher up on the side of the valley to take advantage of the daily swings of temperature and the long growing season.  This wine was pure Cabernet Sauvignon, and I didn’t want to take any chances, and I used my Durand working with a twenty-four-year-old.  The cork came out in one piece, and after a half-hour of breathing, the wine was perfuming the kitchen all by itself and competing with the dinner being made.  The wine still had a deep color, with just a trace of brownish red at the rim.  The nose was  black cherry and earthy, while the tannins had softened and were very mellow, the fruit was still rather fresh which pleased both of us and there was a nice long finish that evoked the terroir, and brought me full circle to the earthiness of the nose.  It is kind of hard to describe an almost twenty-four-year-old wine, if one has never had it before, because so many of the modern wines are big fruit bombs and they never get a chance to be cellared.  The cellar has been the perfect addition, as even the splits, which normally don’t age as well, have been pleasant surprises.

Another dinner, we enjoyed a split of Duckhorn Vineyards Howell Mountain Merlot Napa Valley 1995.  Duckhorn Vineyards was one of the pioneers of Merlot in Napa Valley when everyone else was interested in Cabernet Sauvignon. Howell Mountain is one of the most prestigious sub-region AVAs in Napa Valley, and they were awarded the designation in 1984, Napa Valley was awarded their designation in 1981. There is no actual Howell Mountain, but it is a long and narrow hillside (mountain side) and named after the Howell Mountain Township, which is up above Calistoga. Since we had bought the wine at the winery and I am such a pack rat, which has helped over the years with writing about wine, I actually found the winery tech sheet. The wine is 76% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc; and 96% of the fruit was harvested from Howell Mountain and the rest was from Napa Valley. The wine spent twenty months in French Oak of which half was new. I was a little concerned about the cork on a thirty-year old, but the Durand was the proper tool for the job.  The nose was delightful and filled the room during the decanting period. The color had softened and was not as deep as a young Merlot would have been, as it had a little brown in the mix. The taste was sublime, the tannins had all mellowed out and there was so much sediment that had been caked on the side of the bottle and at the bottom that we only had a glass each. 

The last split that I will discuss was Chateau Jacques Blanc “Cuvee du Maître” Saint Emilion Grand Cru 1999.  The Blanc family has been part of the Saint Emilion annals since the completion of the Battle of Castillon in 1453.  The estate changed hands in the end of the 18th Century and totally rebuilt and recognized as one of the leading producers in Saint Emilion.  Since 1930 the Castle and estate changed hands several times and the property is now at twenty-one hectares.  There are new owners that took over in 2012 and they have already increased the property by another six hectares.  The Saint Emilion Grand Cru classification began in 1955 and the latest version of it was done in 2012 and there are plenty of rules and there have been plenty of opinions about the rules and politics of the region from all that I have gathered.  The wine is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc and probably close to a three to one ratio and aged for about year in oak.   This was another fine version of a Saint Emilion wine and a region that has been close to my heart since I was a teenager and this wine drank well, with no worries for a twenty-six-year-old.  The color was still dark with no foxing, though the nose was softer, there were still notes of cassis and violets.  On the palate, the tones of fruit displayed were muted, the tannins were mellow and a nice medium-count finish of the wine with a trace of terroir.

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part Six

Posted on April 10, 2025 by thewineraconteur

We were coming up to the final two wines for this tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  It was getting a bit more crowded still, and I have to explain that the tasting was not a sit-down affair, it reminds me more of some of the  tastings at wineries, where the pourers actually remembered where each person was in the line-up for the next wine.  While I shuffled over a few feet to make room for some new to the tasting, I had time to admire some of the wine crate work that had been done in the new part of the shop.

The last two wines were from Corte San Benedetto in the Valpolicella district in the Veneto region.  The penultimate wine of the tasting was Corte San Benedetto “Camporal” Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG 2009.  The Lavarini family sold their property in Arbizzano di Negrar in the mountains of Lessinia, in the ancient rural court, hence the name of the winery, and bought land in a small town named “Camporal” in the hills of Marano di Valpolicella.  This was at the end of the 1800s and they produced enough wine for the family and the locals.  After World War II, the demand for wine increased and the estate grew, as well as growing additional varieties and even a small experimental grove of cherry tree and “Camporal” became a research center as well.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Corvina Veronese, twenty-five percent Corvinone and fifteen percent Rondinella.  The fruit came from their vineyards in Negrar and Marano di Valpolicella, in the heart of the Classica region on soil that is clay and limestone.  The average age of the vines are forty years of age.  The fruit is hand-harvested in mid-September and placed in small wooden crates to dry, the classic “Appasimento” process. Around the end of January, the grapes are softly pressed and left to ferment slowly.   The wine is aged in oak tonneau (large casks) for three years, and then in Slavonian Oak barrels for another four years.  The deep garnet wine offered notes of stewed black cherries and prunes, potpourri and lavender, and sweet spices.  On the palate this was a full-bodied wine displaying tones of black cherries, blackberries and raisins, with traces of tobacco and blending harmoniously with velvet tannins and ending with a long-count finish of warm fruit and tannins. 

The last wine of the wine tasting was Corte San Benedetto Recioto Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto 2018.  Recioto is a sweet dessert wine only produced from the delineated Classico viticultural zone and made according to the rules of the DOCG.  The wine is sixty-five percent Corvina Veronese, ten percent Corvinone and twenty-five percent Rondinella.   The fruit is hand-harvested in mid-September and place in small wooden crates to dry, the classic “Appasimento” process.  Around the end of January, the grapes are softly pressed, and left to ferment slowly.  Once the alcoholic content reaches 13%, the fermentation is stopped (decanting, filtration, temperature control) to keep the wine sweet. It is then placed in oak barrels for six months.  The dark ruby red wine offered notes of black cherry, black plums and raspberries.  On the palate this full-bodied wine displayed rich warm tones of the dark fruits and a long lingering finish that almost seemed to beckon some dark chocolate and/or caramel. 

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part Five

Posted on April 7, 2025 by thewineraconteur

The turnout for this Italian Wine Tasting was getting more jovial at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan as the crowds increased.  They were trying to have people come in at certain times of the day, but I think the word leaked out and it was definitely standing room only.

We next had a wine by Enrico Santini “Montepergoli” Bolgheri Superiore DOC Toscana IGT 2018.  The winery was founded in 1998 and is now a family-run business with fourteen hectares of vineyards in the heart of the Bolgheri district.  This wine is a blend of twenty-five percent Merlot, forty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty percent Syrah and fifteen percent Sangiovese.  The vineyards have an East/Southwest exposure.  The fruit is manually harvested with careful selection of bunches.  The grapes go through the vinification process separately.   The Initial Fermentation takes place in a controlled temperature with indigenous yeasts and m the maceration process is for about twenty-eight days.  The wine then ages for a minimum of eighteen months in oak barrels, of which forty percent is new.  Then the wine is aged in bottles for an additional eighteen months before being released.  A deep red wine with notes of blackberries, currants, plums with smoky aromas, tanned leather, cloves, black pepper and toasted oak.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displays tones of the dark fruits, spices and rich tannins and then a medium count finish of fruit and spices.

And the last four wines were all from the Valpolicella region of the Veneto district.  First we had the Bertani Valpolicella 2023.  Bertani was founded by two brothers in 1857 with a winery in Grezzana, Valpolicella Valpantena.  They now have more than 200 hectares across the Verona region.  The wine is a blend of eighty percent Corvina Veronese and twenty percent Rondinella.  The fruit comes from the Tenuta Novare vineyards in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico area and from the Valpantena vineyards near Grezzana.  There is two distinct soils, one of white limestone and the other of red limestone with Iron and Manganese.  After destemming and crushing the must is fermented in wide and shallow Stainless-Steel tanks while on the skins.  The wine is then aged in concrete vats covered with glass bricks, which allows constant temperature and micro-oxygenation.  The wine is aged for about eight months, followed by an additional three months in bottles, before distribution. This was a red colored wine that offered notes of redcurrants plums, raspberries and sour cherries and some pepper and cinnamon.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of red fruit blended with soft tannins and a short finish of fruit and spices.

We then followed with a tasting of Villa Ca Vendri Amarone Della Valpolicella DOCG 2021 by Ville di Antane.  In a revered wine region that is rooted in the last century, or longer, three young spirits lived their dream and about ten years ago began their winery in the Valpantena valley of the Verona region.  They have twenty hectares of vineyards surrounding the winery, with slopes that face east to west.  The wine is a blend of Corvina Veronese, Corvinone and Rondinella.  The fruit is harvested manually into small boxes where they dry for a period of three to four months.  This Appasimento Method is unique to the Amarone Della Valpolicella wines, and results in very concentrated raisiny full-bodied wines with low acidity.  The fruit then undergoes a slow fermentation and then Malolactic Fermentation before being aged in small barrels for twelve to eighteen months.  A deep garnet red wine that offered notes of plums, cherries and raspberries.  This is a full-bodied wine that on the palate displayed tones of soft and rich fruits with velvety tannins and a nice lingering finish of fruit.      

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part Four

Posted on April 4, 2025 by thewineraconteur

The new room at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan was filling up as more and more people were coming in to try the wines.  The help was actually setting up additional tasting centers in the original part of the store, and the help were all knowledgeable about the wines being poured.

The next wine that was poured was Tenuta Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019.  The estate on the outskirts of Montalcino in the Siena district of Tuscany was under the ownership of several noble families for several centuries, but significant wine making didn’t begin until the 1900s.  In 1933, under the name of Fattoria di Sant’Angelo they showcased three vintages of Brunello at the Wine Exhibition of Siena, Italy’s first wine tradeshow.  In 1958, the estate passed to the next generation and was divided, and one section became “Col d’Orcia” after the Orcia River that the estate overlooks.  In 1973, the estate was purchased by the Cinzano family, famed for their Vermouth products.  The property was then expanded and it now has 540 hectares, of which 142 hectares are devoted to vineyards, of which 108 hectares is planted with Sangiovese, and is the third larges planting in Montalcino.  With south-facing slopes, and limestone and marl soil, they now practice organic farming.  The fruit is manually harvested, with Initial Fermentation for about twenty days on the skins in specially designed wide and shallow Stainless-Steel tanks to extract tannins and color efficiently and delicately.  The wine is then aged for four years, three in Slavonian Oak casks of different sizes; a decision they made years before the debates of traditionalists and modernists in the district.  The wines are then bottled and stored in temperature-controlled rooms for an additional year before distribution.  A garnet-colored wine that offered notes of red fruits, florals, camphor and sous-bois.  On the palate a medium-bodied wine displaying cherry, raspberry and currants, blended with firm tannins and a good smooth finish of fruit, stones and asphalt (the classic terroir of the district).

From there we had another wine from Montalcino, Poggio Antico Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2019.  The vineyard is on one of the highest ridges in the district and has been recorded since the 1500s.  In 1976, Poggio Antico was born from the union of I Poggi, Madre and Le Martine; ten years after the DOCG was granted.  The estate was acquired by Marcel van Poecke in 2017 and a new team of agronomists and enologists under Frederico Trost.  The estate is 200 hectares and there are fifteen micro terroirs and six macro terroirs with recognized nuances of limestone and marl soils.  The soil units are vinified and fermented separately in designated fermentation tanks and barrels, with a plot-by-plot approach.  Three years of aging in a mix of French and Slavonian Oak barrels, followed by another year of aging in the bottle before distribution.  A deep garnet-colored wine that offered notes of black cherries, balsamic, salt, pepper and a dash of seaweed.  On the palate a well-balanced medium-bodied wine that displayed the black cherries mixing with blackberries, pepper, tannins, ethereal earthiness and a nice medium-count finish of fruit and terroir.

After the two different wines from Montalcino we then had Renzo Masi Fattoria di Basciano “Vigne Il Corto” Toscana IGT 2022.  The Masi family has been producing their wines for three generations since the early 1900s and located in the heart of the Chianti Rufina district.  The estate is seventy hectares, of which thirty hectares is devoted to vineyards on the classic Galestro soil of Tuscany which is a brown soil with clay schist rocks and fine layers of sand.  The “cru” vineyard “Il Corto” is on the south-eastern side of the property and is ninety percent Sangiovese and ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon.  The two varieties are harvested and vinified together with Initial Fermentation and maceration on the skins for twenty-five days.  Malolactic Fermentation is completed in Stainless-Steel vats and followed by eighteen months in French Oak, of which half is new, and then an additional six months in bottles before distribution.  The ruby-colored wine offered notes of black cherries, balsamic, dark chocolate, mushrooms and terroir.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of black cherry with hints of vanilla, ripe tannins, and a medium-count finish of fruit and terroir.   

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part Three

Posted on April 1, 2025 by thewineraconteur

As the crowds increased around the latest structured wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan; I was still slowing everything down with my need to take photographs. 

The next wine featured the island of Sicily.  We were tasting Passopisciaro Passorosso Etna Rosso DOC Terre Siciliane IGT 2021, and until 2012 this wine was labeled Passopisciaro Rosso.  Passopisciaro is a wine producer with vineyards on the lower northern slopes of Mount Etna and owned by the Tuscan winemaker Andrea Franchetti.   Etna’s unique terroir is characterized by volcanic soils made from old lava flows, in combination with the high altitudes (up to 1,000m) above sea level, provides perfect growing conditions for Nerello Mascalese, the most popular varietal on the island.   Passorosso is made exclusively with Nerello Mascalese blending across different altitudes and soil types (the higher altitudes have more gravelly soil, while the lower altitudes have deeper powder made from more oxidized, older lavas).   The wine is vinified originally in Stainless-Steel vats for fifteen days, and then aged for eighteen months between a mix of cement vats and large oak barrels, and the wine is then bottled unfiltered.  The ruby-red wine offered notes of red currants, juniper, cloves, camphor and sandalwood.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of juicy ripe red fruit, a touch of smoke, dry tannins and a nice finish of fruit and terroir.

From Sicily, we then went to another island, the island of Sardinia where we enjoyed Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna DOC Riserva 2020.  Sella & Mosca (Sella e Mosca) is the largest wine producer in Sardinia, featuring local varieties and “international” varieties.  The winery was founded in 1899 by two Piedmontese businessmen.  Their I Piani estate is one of the largest wine estates in Europe with five hundred-twenty hectares of contiguous vineyards.  Cannonau is the link of wine making and Sardinia and featuring Grenache, which originally was thought to be brought by the Aragonese but now may be indigenous to the island and then spread from there.  It is grown both on the warm and sandy seaside vineyards and the harsh and rocky inland soils of the hills.  Fermentation begins in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks and then aged for twenty-four months in big oaken barrels for the Riserva wines.  The ruby-red wine offered notes of plums, black currents, violets and hibiscus, tobacco and spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of plums and dark fruits with traces of flowers, balsam, chocolate and vanilla with a medium-count finish of fruit and spices.

The tasting then returned to the mainland of Italy with Podere Cioni Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 and based in Gaiole in Chianti.  The estate is forty hectares and was established in the nineties, and they currently have twelve acres of vines and two acres of olive groves.  The wine is a blend of ninety percent Sangiovese, eight percent Merlot and two percent Alicante Bouschet; and the vines are about seventeen years of age.  The fruit is hand-harvested, and the Initial Fermentation is for about ten days in Stainless Steel vats.  Then Malolactic Fermentation of the juice on the skins, is for about a month in French Oak.  With this being a Riserva wine, the wine then aged for twenty-four months in a mix of French Oak of which ten percent is new; followed by an additional twelve months in bottles, before being released.  A ruby-red wine that offered notes of plenty of red fruit, blood orange, baking spices and some chalky terrain.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine displayed tones of rich red fruits, velvety tannins and a nice lingering finish of fruit and terroir.   

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part Two

Posted on March 29, 2025 by thewineraconteur

There I was at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan for a wine tasting of Italian wines.  We had just tasted three wines that were chilled and now we were going to start on the red wines.

The first of the red wines was Tenuta Ronci Rosso di Ne Lazio IGT 2019.  The winery was founded by Arturo Improta in the Eighties looking for an uncontaminated nature that was near volcanic lakes, a few kilometers north of Rome.  He planted both native and international varieties on soil made of disintegrated “peperino” stone, a volcanic rock, rich in minerals that would create a distinct terroir to the wines made.  The estate is about thirty hectares on the gentle hills of the Ronci Valley.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Merlot and forty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and the vineyards are about twenty-five years in age.  The wine is fermented and aged in Stainless-Steel tanks to maintain the freshness of the fruit.  The ruby red wine offered notes of cherry and raspberry and a mix of spices and herbs.  On the palate the red fruits and spices blended with velvety tannins in a well-balanced wine and a smooth finish featuring fruit and terroir.

The second red wine of the tasting was Azienda Agricola Tintero Langhe Nebbiolo 2021 in the Piedmont.  Elvio Tintero founded his estate in the steep hills of Mango in the province of Cuneo and it is now represented by the second and third generation.  The vineyards are planted in the optimal position of south and southwest on the hills.  Langhe Nebbiolo is considered as a “junior” version of Barolo and Barbaresco and does not have the same stringent requirements as those designations.  The wine is pure Nebbiolo and the maceration and fermentation occur in Stainless-Steel tanks and then is aged in Slavonian Oak for six months.  The deep garnet colored wine offered notes of dark cherry and plum, scented with violets and roses and a wisp of graphite.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine had tones of dark fruit blended with soft tannins, fresh acidity and a medium-count finish of fruit.

The third wine that we tasted was Perla Terra Barolo DOCG Piedmont 2019 from the Dalla Terra group.  Perla Terra is a partnership of several small growers primarily in the communes of La Morra, Novella, Monforte d’Alba, Grinzane Cavour and Verduno.  The wine is vinified and bottled for Dalla Terra using traditional methods at a local winery in the Barolo region. The cru vineyard selections are vinified separately, and this “negociant” style blend is selected by the co-owners, Brian Larky and Scott Ades.  The wine is from “sustainable” vineyards with an average age of twenty-years for the vines.  The Nebbiolo fruit is de-stemmed and crushed and produced according to the regulations of Barolo DOCG.  A total aging period of thirty-six months, with a minimum of eighteen months in assorted size barrels, with twenty-seven percent in new French Oak and six months in the bottles, before distribution.  A nice ruby color wine that offered notes of dark fruit, violets, roses and sous-bois, but not the classic “tar and roses” of Barolo.  On the palate, this medium bodied wine offered tones of cherry and blackberry, mellow tannins and a lean medium-count finish of fruit, pecans and a trace of bitters.      

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Italy Wine Tasting – Part One

Posted on March 26, 2025 by thewineraconteur

Since I was out, after recovering from pneumonia, I stopped by The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan to pick up the Wine Club selections as well as to enjoy a wine tasting that they were holding. 

The first wine that we tasted was Villa Giada Gavi DOCG 2021 by Andrea Faccio.  The Villa Giada winery was founded in the early 18th century and has grown and expanded in the Piedmont region and originally growing Moscato vines.  The  oldest part of the cellar dates to 1790 and the first bottles of wine were produced in 1934.  The land has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the Langhe meets Monferrato.  This wine is from the Gavi region, where the soil consists of calcareous marl and is entirely made from the Cortese varietal.  The fruit is manually harvest, destemmed and pressed and fermentation occurs in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks with constant contact with native yeasts for a few months.  The wine is a light straw yellow color and offers notes of white fruits, white flowers, herbs and almonds.  On the palate a nice dry wine offering tones of green apples, honeydew, citrus and spices with bright acidity and a medium count finish of terroir and almonds.

The second wine that we had was Azienda Agricola Ottella Lugano DOC 2022, and the Lugano region straddles Lombardy and Veneto, but is considered part of Lombardy.  The grape for Lugano is known as Turbiana, Verdicchio and as Trebbiano di Lugano. The Montresor family has been running Ottella for four generations and it has been attested that the Montresor family were the only ones to produce Lugano in the province of Verona in 1905.  In 1964, the family began delineating the land and they began working to get a DOC designation.  The fruit is manually harvested and undergoes slow fermentation in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks for five months.   The wine is a straw-yellow color and offers notes of candied fruits, citrus, and minerals.  On the palate this dry wine offers tones of citrus, apples, tropical fruits, and lemon zest with a nice medium count finish of fruit and minerals.

The final chilled wine of the tasting was Podere Ciona Ciona Rosé Toscana IGT 2022.  I was reading the history of the winery on their website “Franca and Franco Gatteschi were looking for a place in the countryside to retire to, after many years of working in Italy and abroad, when they came across a small, beautiful, albeit run down property: 100 acres of land, mostly wooded with 10 acres set aside for cultivation, of which 2.5 acres already had vineyards; a house from the 18th Century, abandoned for more than 40 years; and, above all, a view without equal on the Chianti hills, with Siena in the distance.”  It really sounds idyllic and makes one ponder how this property was neglected and ignored for years.  “They purchased the estate at the beginning of 1990, and they immediately started the reconstruction work on the main house (it took nearly three years). They also set up a small but well-equipped wine cellar for making wine. In 1996 they permanently moved on the estate and the following year, the great 1997 vintage, saw the birth of the first “official” wine of Podere Ciona: A Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva.” The Rosé was made entirely of Sangiovese in the saignée method.  The vines are from six to nineteen years of age and planted on quartz, clay schist and marl.  The fruit is manually harvested in small baskets and then de-stemming, berry by berry for a slight crush in Stainless Steel vats for ten to twelve hours of skin contact and no Malolactic Fermentation. The wine is then aged for about six months in Stainless Steel and then further fined and bottle aged for six months before distribution. There were about one hundred-eighty cases produced of this wine.  A pretty salmon-pink color with notes of fruit and spices, just a well-balanced light and easy drinking wine with a nice medium count finish offering terroir.  

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Fine Wine Source Club – March 2025

Posted on March 23, 2025 by thewineraconteur

It felt so good to get out in the real world as pneumonia really beat me up.   It was seven weeks before I really attempted to join the world again, and did it feel good.  My first stop was at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Thankfully they still remembered me, and I was able to admire the updates done in the new addition, that we had discussed, it seemed so long ago, before I got sick  I decided to make the trip worthwhile as I was going to pick up my wine club selections and they had contacted me about a wine tasting that  would feature seventeen wines from Italy and two offerings of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from two different wineries. 

The first wine that I picked represented the Old World and it was a bottle of Il Colle Cabernet Sauvignon Veneto IGT NV.  Il Colle was established in 1978 by Fabio Ceshin and his wife Gianna, with the desire to pass on this wine culture to their three children.  The location of the vineyard is in the Hills of Treviso in Veneto, on clay soil, and the vines are ten to fifteen years old.  Prior to veraison, the grapes are thinned out, a process that favors over-ripening of the grapes and adequate phenolic maturity; the fruit is hand-harvested.  Maceration of the skins is for five days, and then a soft pressing, with fermentation for about ten days in Stainless-Steel tanks.  The wine is then racked and left to rest for six months in Stainless-Steel tanks, in the spring the wine is filtered and bottled.   The wine is described as ruby red in color with notes of berries and hay, which evolve over time to more complex scents from ripe fruit to spices.  On the palate the wine is described as full-bodied with supple sweet black and red fruit and a good medium-count finish.

Representing the New World for wines this month is Forlorn Hope Queen of the Sierra White Wine -Rorick Heritage Vineyards Calaveras County 2020.  When I saw Calaveras County, I immediately thought of the short story by Mark Twain written in 1865 called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” that I probably read in Elementary School when literature and reading were promoted and is probably all but forgotten except perhaps for the named county.  Calaveras County is on of California’s original counties from the time of the Gold Rush of the 1850s and for wine is part of the Sierra Foothills AVA.  The original property was ranched by the Shaw family in 1844, and eventually acquired by Barden Stevenot in the Sixties, and he is deemed the “godfather” of modern Calaveras County winegrowers, when he planted original heritage Wente Chardonnay roots in the Seventies.  Barden eventually grew the property to seventy-five acres and in 2013 Matthew Rorick purchased the property and converted it to organic farming practices.  The estate is 2000 feet in elevation on limestone soil beneath a top layer of schist. The Queen of the Sierra wines is a celebration of the soil, the elevation and the vineyard.  The wines are pure estate grown fruit, hand-harvested, indigenous yeasts, unfiltered and unfined.  The Queen of the Sierra collection is not sold at the winery, but it sold to the trade for retail and restaurant distribution.  The wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Verdelho and Muscat.  The lots were fermented separately due to the different pick dates, then racked and blended together.  The wine is described as a soft yellow in color and offers notes of citrus, white peach and florals.  On the palate, it is described as fresh and crisp, with a touch of minerality and a lively, clean finish.   

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