Jakob's Bowl

The Winner: One Small Austrian With Big Flavors

Just as I feared when I made the purchase the bottle of 2009 Vigneto Reiné Mataòssu (Lumassina) from Punta Crena was not showing nearly as well as the two bottles of 2008 I had sipped this past spring. I am hoping that it was a combination of the wine's relative youth and the recent ocean voyage that resulted in the disappointing tasting - oh, for just one more bottle of 2008. The bottom line is that the 2007 Stadlmann Zierfandler Mandel Höh bested the 2009 Vigneto Reiné Mataòssu hands down late last week.

Here is what I was expecting based on my tasting of several bottles of the 2008 vintage last spring:

Straw colored with a definite greenish cast, the nose is loaded with yellow fruit with notes of flowers and clover honey. This is definitely a medium weight wine with an unusual structure that starts off with a yellow fruit richness compatible with its weight, but then moves into major amounts of citrus, from lemon to lemon peel, and then to grapefruit peel with the richness still at the core. Even with all of this citrus the Punta Cerna Mataòssu is about as far removed as you can get from those light-bodied wines that are all acid and slate. Subsequent sips revealed the long, long finish with pleasant notes of sea salt and citrus peel that seemed to linger on the tongue forever. - a different type of 'richness' indeed.

The nose on the 2009 was very, very shy, and even before I consulted my earlier notes, I didn't take this as a good sign. I opened and poured both the well-chilled wines at roughly the same time, so I let the glasses sit covered, at room temperature for about 40 minutes before approaching the Punta Crena again, and it was still shy. At best that evening and the next I got a modicum of citrus on the nose, and a hint of minerals, but little else - no honey or flowers. It was crisp and citrusy - mainly lemon - with grapefruit peel and slate at the core on the palate. The core of yellow fruit richness was not present as it was in the 2008, and this version struggled to reach middle weight and had a very short finish sans salt. It was more like the typical Ligurian indigenous whites, one dimensional citrus bombs. I will give it another chance later in the year with the hopes of it capturing even a fraction of the delight I received in the 2008.

Even in its well chilled state, one whiff of the Stadlmann Zierfandler Mandel Höh 2007 triggered the memory of the body and complex palate from two previous bottles and suggested it was going to blow away the Punta Crena 2009...

Small Whites Taste Off: 2010

Sometime over the next few days I will do a taste off between my top two small white grape wine finds of the year, Mataòssu (aka, Lumassina), Punta Crena Vigneto Reiné from Italy's Liguria region, and Zierfandler, Weingut Stadlmann Mandel Höh from Austria's Thermenregion. Now, there are some potential concerns and caveats with this tasting. First, I tasted the 2008 Punta Crena Mataòssu earlier this year, and all I was able to find on my last trip to Portland was the 2009. This will, of course, be a test of the consistency of the grape and the wine maker, but it may not meet the standard set by the two bottles of the 2008 that I loved so much. There is also the question/concern of comparing a three-year-old wine with a one-year-old wine. According to all of my research, this situation should take advantage of the strengths of both grapes since Zierfandler improves with age while Mataòssu is best consumed when it is young. This will also be my chance to record my overall impressions of this Stadlmann single vineyard Zierfandler, so stay tuned.

Three Cheers For Self Gifting

I have always been extraordinarily self-gifted, especially at this time of year - I haven't done to shabbily on my birthday either. This Xmas season it is liquid libations from across the world. I've long been of the opinion that the world's finest dry Rieslings were made in Austria, and I was able to locate two hard to find, well-reviewed Rieslings from wunderkind Franz-Joseph Gritsch (more in a few days). I was also able to find malt whisky from two of my favorite distillers, From The Barrel - a cask strength blend from Nikka in Japan, and a 10-yr-old Single Malt from the Ben Nevis Distillery in Scotland, which, surprise, surprise, just happens to be owned by Nikka. Tis the season to be jolly!

You Say Soave; I Say Garganega

Unless you are a compulsive wine label reader, you may have never heard of the Garganega grape, although if you like drinking Italian white wines you probably have sipped wines made with it. This ancient grape variety is the primary component of Soave, which at one time was the most popular white wine - if you are of a certain age, you will probably remember those ubiquitous Soave Bolla commercials in the 70s and early 80s. If Wikipedia is to be believed, the Garganega grape is Italy’s sixth most widely planted white grape, although most of the planting is concentrated in the Veneto region, specifically around the city of Verona.

So why am I bothering to classify Soave as a “small” Italian white? Well, I have a number of reasons. There are three different recognized Soave regions, Soave DOC, Soave Superiore DOCG, and Reciota di Soave DOCG, and the wines of these regions must include at least 70% Garganega grapes with the remaining 30% comprising Chardonnay, Trebbiano di Soave, Pinot Bianco, and other local white varieties. My research indicates that only a relatively small percentage of the Soave DOC and Soave DOCG wines are made with 100% Garganega grapes. From my perspective this alone would classify 100% Garganega Soave, as a small white. Recioto di Soave DOCG is the dessert wine of Soave; it is produced in the apassito style with the grapes being dried for an extended period of time before pressing. Again, all that is required to produce the DOCG wine is 70% Garganega. After buying my Casatica di Bufala last week, I happened to notice this bottle of Azienda Agricola Marcato Recioto do Soave DOCG, Il Duello 2006 of the cheese shop’s dessert wine shelf, and when I read 100% Garganega on the back, I knew I hit the jackpot. Marcato also produces two Soave DOCs and one Soave Superiore DOCG, none of which are made from 100% Garganega (their Soave Superiore has 90% Garganega).

Picolit: A Rare Bunch From Fruili

My second trip to Cork in Washington D.C. last month was only partly due to the tasty food I had on my first visit. I suppose I went back just as much for the chance to have a glass of Picolit dessert wine, one of the ‘small’ Italian whites on my original list, and one of the few to elude me over the last 18 months. The fact that Cork was offering it by the glass, made it a must since a 375 ml. bottle could go for $50 to $100, when they could be found. While the Prosciutto and the Romaine Hearts with Anchovy Dressing were very tasty, they turned out to be a mere prelude to my dessert, Azienda Agricola Giorgio Colutta – Bandut, Colli Orientali Del Fruili DOCG Picolit 2004. The bottle was down to its last 1/3 when the waiter poured my glass at the table. At $15, I wondered how long the bottle had been open.

The rarity of the Picolit grape stems from its poor yield - this factor is apparently tied to its very name since piccolo is Italian for 'small.' The grapes and the wine have been around for a long time, but it became internationally famous in the 18th century before beginning its decline in the 19th. The grape is grown for the most part only in Fruili where wines are produced both in a Late Harvest and a Passito style. My research indicates that the price is driven by its scarcity with mediocre and poorly made Picolit being just as expensive was the well made versions. I am not sure how big Azienda Agricola Giorgio Colutta – Bandut, but they make a lot of different wines including this Passito style Picolit.

A New Take On An Old Grape

The first time I ever tasted the juice of the Pignoletto grape was about 10 years ago, and it was in the form of a mighty flavorful vinegar from Emilia-Romagna. I knew nothing about the grape or where it was grown in the region. As it turns out it is a very old grape, which has been grown in the countryside around Bologna for at least 350 years, and possibly as far back as the times of Ancient Rome. Today, the Pignoletto grape is made into just about every style of wine from dry to passito, with much of it made into either frizzante or spumante wines. Unfortunately, not a great deal of it makes it to this country. I couldn’t recall ever seeing it here on the West Coast, so I was particularly surprised in finding some last weekend in San Francisco.

The bottle in question was 2007 Spungola Bellaria (IGT) from Azienda Agricola Alberto Tedeschi with vineyards in Monteveglio to the east of Bologna. The wine maker has one eye looking to the past and one to the future. The grapes are cultivated the old fashion way, organically, but after pressing the wine is stored in wooden barrels with its lees, which are stirred regularly, until bottling 15 months later. This prolonged contact with the lees is something practiced by forward thinking wine makers in other regions, the Petit Arvine from Grosjean, the Roscetta from Falseco, and the Coenubium from Monastero Suore Cistercensi S. O. Trappiste come to mind. The prolonged contact increases the color, flavor, and complexity of the wine, possibly even the body.