Alan Boehmer's Blog
Posted by Alan Boehmer
You never heard of Vignoles (veen-yole)? Well, you're not alone. Few people outside of Missouri and New York State have discovered this versatile, delicious grape. Like Riesling, it is used to make a wide range of wine styles from quite dry to wines resembling late harvest wines such as Tokaji, Sauternes, and Beerenauslese.
The Vignoles grape is a French-American hybrid, the result of a cross between Seibel 8665 and Pinot de Corton. It is the most successful hybrid from the nineteenth century French hybridizer J. F. Ravat and planted widely in Missouri, Pennsylvania and the Finger Lakes region of New York State. The grape variety is also known as Ravat 51, but wines made from it bear the name Vignoles.
The dry versions are crisp, refreshing and fruity. They are not brightly acidic like many Sauvignon Blancs; and not heavy like many New World Chardonnays. The aromas and flavors are complex and the wine is medium in body. In many ways its flavor profile fills the gap between the dry French whites and the sweeter whites of Italy, Germany and Alsace.
Outstanding examples of dry vignoles are:
2006 Montelle Dry Vignoles Ozark Mountain; 12% alc., $16
One of the most attractive cocktail wines we've experienced. Excellent as a stand-alone wine or as an accompaniment to Asian dishes or curries.
In the off-dry style, we recommend Stone Hill's award winning version, 2006 Stone Hill Vignoles; $15.99; or for about half the price, St. James Winery Vintner's Select Vignoles.
For one of the most delectable dessert wines you've ever had, try Stone Hill's Late Harvest Vignoles; 18% alc., $30/375ml. The current vintage is sold out, but don't miss next year's. This is a rich, Botrytised, Sauternes-like wine, unparalled among America's dessert wines.
Posted by Alan Boehmer
Not so many years ago few outside the U.K. were even aware that England is a wine producing country. The history of English viticulture in many ways parallels that of New York state. That is, the early lack of success with vinifera (French and German varietals) led to attempts to move to French and German hybrids. Most notably, England's most widely planted varietals have been Seyval Blanc and Müller-Thurgau — grape varietals that do not ordinarily produce superior wines elsewhere, although an exception might be made in the case of ice wine.
Seyval Blanc still occupies the largest acreage under vine in Britain, followed closely by the German hybrid Reichensteiner. These grapes often form the base for proprietary named wines. More recent introductions such as Ortega (a white grape producing both dry and sweet wines) and Bacchus. These varietals are now making their way to British Columbia.
The big news in British wine, however, is not so much the steady rise in quality over the past years, but the success of classic Champagne grape varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier. While these varietals are not making noteworthy still wine, they have led to sparkling wines that have been compared favorably to French Champagne costing twice the price.
English sparkling wine is not inexpensive. The highest rated at this point is the vintage Chapel Down Pinot Reserve Sparkling; £24.99. The 2008 Wine Report lists this wine as the greatest currently offered British wine, still or sparkling. Also worth noting is the splendid Blanc de Noirs Pinot Meunier 2003, priced at £24.95. Both wines are the recipients of numerous gold and silver medals.
Posted by Alan Boehmer
If you should drive US101 from Los Angeles to San Francisco, you will encounter many miles of dry, dusty terrain just north of the Monterey County line. Then suddenly an endless carpet of green appears. It's the first vineyard you will pass through, and the largest in America.
Planted in 1981, the 1,850 acre Lockwood Vineyard is devoted to producing high quality estate bottled premium wines at affordable prices. To that end, Lockwood Vineyard's winery was built in the middle of its vineyard property, where every component of the winemaking process is controlled, from viticulture to crush to the final blend.
The sprawling estate vineyard site was chosen because of a unique soil, recognized by the U.S.G.S. in 1946 and found only in two small areas of Central California—Lockwood Vineyard and a coastal cliff region near Big Sur. The Lockwood Shaly Loam consists of crushed fossilized seashells—the same components that create limestone and chalk.
The combination of this unique soil and proximity to Monterey Bay allows multiple varietals to grow well. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Merlot thrive here with unprecedented success but Lockwood also offers Chardonnay, Malbec, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their superb Partners' Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($20).
We've tasted several of the Lockwood wines and found them all to be superior products and excellent values.
Posted by Alan Boehmer
No, we're not talking about Cold Duck—that miserable, sweet red bubbly from the 70s. We're talking about a serious sparkling Shiraz from Geyser Peak Winery in Sonoma County that offers a delicious alternative to the more familiar versions of Méthod Champenoise wines.
Sparkling reds have always been popular in Italy and Portugal, where they were often made from leftover lots of still red wine—in contrast to Champagne, which is made from grapes grown specifically for that purpose. German winemakers scoffed at red bubblies by changing the spelling of the product from kalte ende (cold end) to kalte ente (cold duck), hence the name that has plagued American red bubblies.
Australians, less prone to wine snobbery, make sparkling Shiraz in a serious (and expensive) way. But since the demise of American Cold Duck, which never rose above the level of carbonated plonk, very few American wineries were tempted to give red bubblies a second shot. Till now.
Geyser Peak Winery has introduced a sparkling Shiraz that Chuck Hayward of San Francisco's Jug Shop has called "the best sparkling red made in California." Creamy and plush with true varietal aromas and flavors, this wine is rich with flavors of ripe plum, spice, and the meaty flavors that characterize fine Shiraz. Not surprisingly, the fruit for this wine comes from high quality Sonoma county hillside vineyards. It's also no surprise that Geyser Peak's winemaker happens to be an Australian.
It's been said that it's more expensive to make sparkling red wine than still. That seems apparent since you need to make the still wine first, then subject it to the Méthod Champenoise treatment. So don't expect too many inexpensive versions to appear. This one will set you back around $30.
Posted by Alan Boehmer
A very hot topic among winemakers these days is de-alcoholization. That's right. Removing a portion—or all—of the alcohol in their wines to achieve what they perceive as ideal levels.
The movement toward lower alcohol levels has been feuled by increasingly high levels in New World wine across the board, particularly in Zinfandel, which may carry as high as 17% in dry versions. But even Cabernets, Merlots, and Chardonnays often clock in around 14.5%. High alcohol levels result from letting grapes ripen to their maximum flavor levels, increasing the sugar, which leads to high alcohol if the wine is fermented to dryness.
Until recently a winemaker had two options to keep alcohol levels at bay: 1) He (or she) picked the fruit when the sugar levels were optimum, but flavor components not always fully ripe; or 2) Stop fermentation at the desired alcohol level, leaving some residual sweetness in the wine. Neither solution proved completely satisfactory.
Now there's a third option. A company in northern California called Vinovation utilizes high tech methods, including reverse osmosis filtration, to remove some, or even all of the alcohol. It's an expensive process and wineries need to deliver the wine to Vinovation for processing.
We've not seen or tasted wines with minor adjustments, say a percent or two. But the process has enabled wineries to offer alcohol-free wines. These wines are poor substitutes for the real thing and much better traditional wines can be found at their price points, which varies from around $5 to $8 a bottle. But for those who have alcohol intolerance or need to cut down on their caloric intake, these wines can be attractive.
