The ViniCode™

A Vintage Victim

Mark West
Chardonnay
13.8% alcohol
$12.00
2005

Cocktail party style wine tastings are always a little difficult. There are so many things to take your mind off of the task at hand. In the case of the event at the Atlantic Tasting Room in Sandy Springs, Georgia, it was the smell of some amazing food, a vast selection of carefully chosen retail wines and meeting and greeting the other members of the Atlanta Wine Club (click here for more information). So taking all of that into consideration here is my impression of the first wine, Mark West Chardonnay. (the second wine is reviewed below) It was a reasonably dry wine with a nice acidic edge to it that gave the wine some character and worked well with the hors d'oeuvres. I read some reviews of this wine online and several reviewers referred to the delicious vanilla overtones. In the ViniCode this would be registered in the oak column. But I was hard pressed to find this oakiness. And in a California Chardonay I was ready to taste it. The fruit and earth was a little tight, present but muted. The earthiness was a green, grassy quality, that might be due to a less than stellar growing season. The alcohol content of this wine was quite high at 13.8%. Granted it did give the wine some body, but it also made the wine have a slightly bitter aftertaste. I guess the thing that bugged me about this wine was that it was not clean, not defined. It was fine, but nothing I would search out again. To be honest, it reminded me of an anemic Sauvignon Blanc. Having said this, other vintages of Mark West Chardonnay have fared quite well in Wine Spectator ratings. 2005 was a mediocre year in Santa Barbara (click here for chart), so let's say they made the best of a middling situation. However, I would not buy this wine again. And the back label painted a real pretty picture but mentioned nothing about the wine inside the bottle. And that drives me crazy!!!

Pales in Comparison

Castillo de Monseran
Garnacha
12.5% alcohol
$9.00
2005

The second wine that was served at the Atlantic Tasting Room was a spanish "grenache". Grenache, or Garnacha as it is known in Spain, is a heat loving grape. In warm years it can produce a real blockbuster of a wine, round and spicy. But in less than perfect conditions it can be a little thin and non-descript. Obviously, the Spanish climate suits this grape well. Several weeks ago we sampled another Garnacha, Las Rocas, and the two ViniCodes make a useful comparison. (to get a larger view, simply click on the images) Overall the Las Rocas was a bigger wine. Almost everything about it registered higher on the ViniCode scales. The most obvious difference is the alcohol content. The Castillo de Monseran was at 12.5% and the Las Rocas came in at a whopping 14.5% (this is California Zinfandel country). What does this mean? Well right off of the bat I would say that 2004 was warmer and the grapes were riper - they had a higher sugar content. So as a result, the yeast had more food available, and converted it to alcohol. And to be honest I thought the Castillo was a little thin. When my glass was poured, I was told that this wine would be big and jammy. I didn't think so. The quality that seemed to jump out at me on first smell was a distinct earthiness, a dampness. I know that there is a rogue yeast called brettanomyces and once it invades a winery it is tough to get rid of. Although I have never had anyone say... "What you are smelling is brettanomyces", I imagine this damp odor to be it. This is not always a bad thing. It can add some real complexity to a wine, a certain barnyard interest. But the wine has to be able to stand up to it. In my opinion, this wine did not. But I read some other reviews of this wine on the web and people were loving it! Calling it a great bargain. So there you go. Imagine that, differing opinions on wine. Unfortunately, it didn't do it for me. As far as I am concerned a great bargain is Archeo Nero d'Avola reviewed below (Nero, Our (Cheap) Hero). Would I buy it again? No.

Un-Riesling-Able

Trimbach
Riesling
12.5% alcohol
$18
2003

Rieslings can be very confusing. Are they sweet, dry, fruity, earthy? And this 2003 Trimbach really confounded us. At first we thought the temperature of the wine was too warm. It was flabby and totally unremarkable. So we put the bottle back in the fridge to cool. We tried it again. And yes, this wine seemed to have improved, somewhat. There was more fruit and earth and less of that fat alcohol texture. Now, it did not have that characteristic kerosene taste of riesling that we have come to expect (and takes some getting used to, we might add), but much more mineral, think slate. Looking at the Vinicode, this was one of the driest wines we have had. That is to be expected from Alsace rieslings. The edginess is dependent upon the temperature; the warmer the rounder - to the point of being fat and slovenly. Rieslings should have a nice acidic backbone that this wine totally lacked. It was nondescript, so we gave it a five. We debated on the fruit and earth. Clare leaned toward earthy and Ted toward fruity (imagine that). So we split the difference. Overall we were totally unimpressed with this wine. (our preferred dry riesling might have a ViniCode™ that is something like 8 3 1 7 9 7) So we decided to do some research, maybe we just got a hold of a bad bottle. The first place we sought confirmation was on a vintage chart. We looked no more because we had the answer. 2003 was one of the worst vintages on record for the Alsace region of France. In fact, the chart recommended that these wines be avoided (see complete chart here). The hot Alsatian summer meant flabby wines. Too much ripe sugar, little bracing acidity in the grapes means a lackluster, namby-pamby riesling. So overall, this riesling was a medium bodied wine with a traditional oily texture. Luckily for us, rieslings are never oaked. Thanks goodness. Would we buy this wine again? Not 2003! In fact we are returning the selection to the store from which it was purchased. If the "wine expert" does not know of the vintage rating, they soon will! Most consumers depend upon the wine merchants to be up to date and informed. If this wine was your first foray into riesling, you might never buy another and that would be a shame. But we learned our lesson and we will not be seeking their advice anymore. Riesling is a noble grape, this wine makes that grape seem positively mediocre.

Nero, Our (cheap) Hero!

Archeo
Nero d'Avola
13%
$5.50

This is the third in our grocery store series. We have had Nero d'Avola's in the past (see Cusumano, Nero d'Avola in our Tour of Italy below). And this wine was much more in keeping with our expectations of what a Sicilian wine should be, than the Cusumano. Warm climates produce ripe grapes. Therefore you look for a real fruity, jammy offering. This wine did not disappoint, and at $5.50 a bottle?!? What a bargain! The real pleasant surprise was how dry this wine was. The lack of sugar contrasted nicely with the fruitiness making this wine seem more complex and interesting. The tannins were there and gave the wine structure, but softened over the course of the tasting and revealed a very round, velvety wine. As you can tell from the ViniCode™, the oak was just the way we like it... a supporting role. The oak number was well below the fruit number letting us taste the grape and not the barrel. The aftertaste gave an earthiness to the wine (woody, chocolate) but this may be due to the subtle use of oak, as well. Either way it was very pleasant and considering the price... remarkable! This medium to full bodied wine is a great sipper and we would buy it again in a heartbeat!

A Pleasant Peasant

Red Guitar
Tempranillo/Garnacha
14%
$7.50

This wine is no show-stopper. In fact, when we first tasted it, it's not that we were disappointed, but we weren't that impressed either. This Red Guitar is a gentle wine and we were tasting it against the Las Rocas which almost buried it. But in the end, we really came to appreciate its subtlety. Take a look at the ViniCode. This wine was leaning toward sweetness, which added to its smooth roundness. And here is a little insight into A Big Slice. We tend to prefer wines whose fruit and/or earth dominate the oak. In other words, we don't want our first impression to be of the barrel. The oak, in this case, was truly a condiment and the fruit (cherries and dark berries) and the earth (spicy black pepper) were allowed to shine through. This wine would be great with a grilled burger, or it makes a nice, light sipper on its own. One additional note, we have come to expect and indeed love one hallmark of spanish wines, their dusty, earthy texture. You might describe this wine as having a good old peasant quality. Nothing fancy, but simple and direct. Would we buy it again? Without a doubt!

Fruitier than Fruit!

Las Rocas
Garnacha
14.5%
$7.50

A blind wine tasting is the perfect time to experiment with a new bottle; something you have never tried before. It adds excitement to the mix, and you might find a new favorite! I don't know what compelled me to choose Las Rocas Garnacha. Maybe it was the label. I get so tired of the "hip" names wines are given nowadays. This label is exceptionally understated. But more likely it was the grape. Garnacha, or grenache as it is known outside of Spain, is the primary constituent of one of my favorites, Chateauneuf du Pape. The Las Rocas version was only $8.00 and if it just had a flake of the French wine's beauty, it would be a remarkable value. And to its credit it did have some complexity and depth. In fact just looking at the ViniCode, I would say that this would be very much to my liking. Enough oak to add interest, nice balance of fruit and earth, and relatively full-bodied. But there was something not quite right about this wine and we couldn't put our finger on it at first. The fruit taste seemed artificial. In other words,  a chemical, like laboratory fruit. (you know, like the "fruity" smell of fingernail polish remover) Would we buy it again? Probably not. Was it horrible? Certainly not. And it may have been this vintage. I will be looking for the 2005. If the vintners can fix this problem, this wine would be quite a value. Right now? ehhh.