Wine Review: Godelia Mencia Bierzo 2012

In the southwestern portion of Spain, north of the Portuguese border, is the Spanish wine region of Bierzo. Outside the village of Cacebelos is Bodegas Godelia and their eighty-six acres of estate vineyard on decomposed quartzite and slate soil. They also have thirty-seven acres farmed under contract. I'm reviewing two of their wines this weeks: the 2015 Godello-Doña Blanco and the 2012 Mencia.

Godelia considers themselves an artisan winery. All of their grapes are harvested by hand and chilled for twenty-four to fourty-eight hours at 23°F. The white grapes are pressed while still semi-frozen, while the reds are cold-soaked and destemmed first.

First thing's first: I'm the realest. Second: Mencia is pronounced "Menthia". Third: it's red. Mencia is mostly found in Bierzo, but also Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras, and Liébana. And it's currently enjoying some good times in popularity over there in Spain, with more and more wineries producing it and more and more consumers enjoying it.

Godelia's 2012 Mencia is 100% Mencia, saw twelve months in oak, and has a 14.5% ABV. Now let's do some drinking! Don't fret, I promise not to make any more Clueless references in this review.

Read More

Wine Review: Godelia Godello-Doña Blanco Bierzo 2015

In the southwestern portion of Spain, north of the Portuguese border, is the Spanish wine region of Bierzo. Outside the village of Cacebelos is Bodegas Godelia and their eighty-six acres of estate vineyard on decomposed quartzite and slate soil. They also have thirty-seven acres farmed under contract. I'm reviewing two of their wines this weeks: the 2015 Godello-Doña Blanco and the 2012 Mencia.

Godelia considers themselves an artisan winery. All of their grapes are harvested by hand and chilled for twenty-four to fourty-eight hours at 23°F. The white grapes are pressed while still semi-frozen, while the reds are cold-soaked and destemmed first.

This white is a blend of 80% Godello from twenty to forty year old vines, and 20% Doña Blanco from seventy to ninety year old vines; both local white varietals. Godello was once almost gone forever a few decades ago (read "Revisiting Godello, a Grape That Spain Has Rescued") until a recent resurgence. Doña Blanco is also grown in Portugal as Dona Branca, and its thick skin makes these Maritime climates such a great match for it.

Read More

Wine Review: Morgan Monterey "Metallico" Un-Oaked Chardonnay 2015

Dan and Donna Lee founded Morgan Winery in 1982 in Santa Lucia Highlands (before it was an AVA). They were named Winery of the Year in 1996, and in 2001 they became the first Certified Organic property in Santa Lucia Highlands. I'll be reviewing three wines by Morgan starting with their 2016 Monterey Sauvignon Blanc, then their 2015 Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah, and finishing with 2015 Metallico Un-Oaked Chardonnay.

The 2015 Metallico Un-Oaked Chardonnay is from the sandy and shaly loam soils of the Roger Rose, Leavens, Double L, and Kristy estate vineyards in Monterey; all chosen for their proximity to Monterey Bay for its cooling effect. Entire clusters were pressed as a whole, then fermented in cold tanks, and sees five months in stainless steel. It saw no oak aging and no malolactic fermentation. The final ABV is 13.5%.

Read More

Wine Review: Morgan Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah 2015

Dan and Donna Lee founded Morgan Winery in 1982 in Santa Lucia Highlands (before it was an AVA). They were named Winery of the Year in 1996, and in 2001 they became the first Certified Organic property in Santa Lucia Highlands. I'll be reviewing three wines by Morgan starting with their 2017 Monterey Sauvignon Blanc, 2015 Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah, and 2015 Metallico Un-Oaked Chardonnay.

The 2015 Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah is 87% Syrah, 9% Grenache, and 4% Tempranillo. It's from enough of Santa Lucia Highlands to be labeled as the AVA, but some is also from the fellow Monterey district and neighbor Arroyo Seco. After being fermented on open top tanks with manual punch-downs, it's transfered to French oak barrels (24% new) to see fifteen months of barrel aging. The final product has a 14.4% ABV.

Read More

Wine Review: Morgan Monterey Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Dan and Donna Lee founded Morgan Winery in 1982 in Santa Lucia Highlands (before it was an AVA). They were named Winery of the Year in 1996, and in 2001 they became the first Certified Organic property in Santa Lucia Highlands. I'll be reviewing three wines by Morgan starting with their 2016 Monterey Sauvignon Blanc, 2015 Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah, and 2015 Metallico Un-Oaked Chardonnay.

The 2016 Monterey Sauvignon Blanc is made of 80% Sauvignon Blanc Musqué clone, 14% classic Savignon Blanc, and 6% Semillon. The fruit is drawn from vineyards in Arroyo Seco (mid-Monterey) for bright acidity, and the warmer San Lucas (southern Monterey) for lush fruit.  It was tank fermented and then, surprisingly, it saw five months of French oak barrel aging, 5% of it new. The final ABV is 13.5%.

Read More

Book Review: Adventures with Old Vines, A Beginner's Guide to Being a Wine Connoisseur by Richard L. Chilton Jr.

Richard L. Chilton Jr. is a co-owner of Hourglass Vineyard and he has a strong opinion on the definition of a connoisseurship. He says that it’s “the art of tasting wine: pulling the cork, savoring the delight, recording the experience, and comparing the differences between wines of different regions, varietals, and countries.” Maybe you love wine but you’re really more of a collector instead, where obtaining great wine is your main objective. Maybe you love wine but you’re the average consumer, buying what you already know you like the same day you’re going to drink it.

I guess I wouldn’t be considered a connoisseur because, yeah I love tasting and analyzing wine, but I’m driven by theory, history and being as knowledgeable as I can be for my clients. I’m not all that interested in being able to taste the differences between a 1993 Napa Cab and a 1994 Napa Cab.

With his definition in mind, Chilton began writing this book with the intention of both helping new connoisseurs find their way and helping old connoisseurs remember where they came from. What he ended up writing was 49 pages that every wine lover would truly enjoy reading, and another 219 pages that every wine lover should have on their bookshelf for when they need it.

Read More

April Wine Pick: 90+ Cellars Languedoc AOC Rosé 2017

I bet you thought that Languedoc-Roussillon Month was over! Well, APRIL FOOLS!!! It's been extended one more day for my April Wine Pick of the Month!

90+ Cellars (click here to learn more about them) has had a nice string of excellent Rosé’s the past several years and this follows right through with the pedigree. Their 2017 Lot 33 Languedoc Rosé is a blend of local favorites Syrah, Grenache, Mourvédre, and Cinsault; all from the foothills of the Cevennes mountain range where the breeze from the mountains cools the vineyards and keeps them dry.

Read More

Wine Review: Martinolles Le Berceau Blanquette de Limoux

March is Languedoc-Roussillon Month on TheWineStalker.net!

Let  me start off by saying how cool it was to try all these wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon. That said, I know you expect more from me when it comes to the content of my reviews. If I could, I would have gone through great detail about all these subregions to give you a virtual tour of the greater region, given you a brief history of each individual winery, and then said inappropriate things with inappropriate language. That's how I like to blog. But, as you know, it's been rather difficult for me lately to find the time to do that. Someday I'll get back there, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I hope that when that time comes that I can do a Languedoc-Roussillon Month the way I actually want to do it. Did you hear that, guys-who-sent-me-these-wines? Expect a ringy dingy from The Wine Stalker in the future. Together we'll do something really special. Anyways....

FINALLY! A BUBBLY! The only sparkling wine for Languedoc-Roussillon Month, the final wine of said themed month, and deservedly so. Let's use this to toast a fun month of wine from this great region in France!

I've got here a Blanquette de Limoux, and to explain what that is I present a clip from my article A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling Wine - Part 1: France and Spain:

"Just south of Limoux happened to be a shit-ton of cork. The entire cork forest of Catalonia, in fact. In 1530 the Abbey of St-Hilaire took advantage of this by deciding it would put its completed wine from that year inside individual glass bottles, stopped by the local cork. Then in the spring of 1531... SURPRISE! FULL-ON BUBBLE UP IN YO FACE!

It was the first sparkling wine and the Limouxins loved it. They named it Vin de Blanquette or 'the small white'. A hundred years later things would be much different up north in the French region of Champagne. The same thing was happening to the barrels of white wine that had been stored in caves over the winter. But they didn't like it. They wanted it to stop.

What was happening in both Limoux and Champagne was a second fermentation for two different reasons. In Limoux, their Mauzac grape was so late budding and late ripening that harvest took place in late autumn. Fermentation was slow in the winter conditions so when the wine was bottled, sugar and live yeast still remained. It just wasn't finished yet! Champagne, being much further north, was naturally much chillier anyways. The caves they used to store their barrels were safer and warmer than outside but still friggin cold. Too cold for yeast to work their magic. Fermentation had stopped completely and then started again in the spring. When they started bottling their wine earlier instead of letting it sit in barrels all winter, it would carbonate in the bottle just like in Limoux."

"Limoux's Vin de Blanquette is now known as Blanquette de Limoux. The process of how they make it is called Blanquette methode ancestrale. They bottle it before it's completely fermented, just like the original, and the yeasts aren't disgorged from the bottle, just like the original, so it's hazy with sediment. When made in this manner anywhere else outside of Limoux then it's called methode ancestrale or methode rurale, but those are quite rare and they're allowed to be disgorged. Limoux makes a ton of methode traditional wine as well."

Alright! Let's pop the top!

Read More

Make Dark Horse Pinot Noir from home!

This may be more savage than my Apothic memes.

Read More

Wine Review: Domaine des Homs Clots de Pals Minervois 2015

March is Languedoc-Roussillon Month on TheWineStalker.net!

This month I'm taking a tour of the Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France from the comfort of my own home! I've got ten wines from the region; six from Roussillon and four from Languedoc. As you probably know, it's been rather difficult to keep this blog going lately so these reviews will be short and sweet.

This is the second to last wine for Languedoc-Roussillon Month and the last red! OH NO! It's better be good! This fella is from Minervois, which is just north of Corbieres (the previous review was of Domaine Ledogar La Compagnon Corbières 2015). Even with the Mediterranean influence, winters are harsh due to altitude. The AOC was established in 1985 and its red wine must be made of at the least 60% Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre combined, and then can add Carignan and Cinsault.

The 2015 Domaine des Homs Clots de Pals Minervois is 85% Grenache and 15% Syrah. A rather simple blend for so many classic and traditional options. However, that can be a good thing. The ABV is 13.5%.

Read More