The Bottom Shelf

Wines That Keep You in Good Health

Adam sent me a link last week to a story discussing where the world’s healthiest wines are grown. And by “the world’s healthiest wines”, they don’t mean the wines themselves are in good health (as I first thought). They mean the wines that supposedly best keep you in good health. Where are such wines produced? Good question:

The artery-clogging effects of a fatty Christmas dinner can best be counteracted by washing it down with a red from south west France or Sardinia, new research has suggested.

Specifically, the article mentions “[w]ines from Nuoro province in Sardinia, and the Gers departement in the foothills of the Pyrenees”. According to this Wikipedia article, Sardinia “is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily is the largest), between Italy, Spain and Tunisia, south of Corsica. It is an Italian region with a special autonomous statute”. I found a map of Sardinia, and you can see Nuoro just northeast of the geographical center of the island.

Nuoro the city is the capital of the province of the same name. From what I’ve read, it is the culture and historical center of Sardinia, and the province is blanketed in forests and hills, which combined with the climate makes for a nice terroir for wine-making. Based on some online searching, it looks like Nuoro is the most highly recommended travel destination for those wishing to visit Sardinia.

The second region the article isolates is the Gers departement in France. As you can see from the map in the Wikipedia article, Gers is near the southwest corner of France, which makes sense given that it’s “in the foothills of the Pyrenees”. According to this site, approximately 20,000 hectares of land (nearly 50,000 acres) is dedicated to wine-making in Gers.

I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a wine from either of these regions. Maybe I’ll remedy that in the near future.

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Baroncini Chianti 2005

As you may know, I love Chianti. The first wine I fell in love with, the Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva 2001, was a Chianti, and I even tried it out of a blue plastic cup. When a wine tastes good coming out of a blue plastic cup, you know you like that wine.

I have had the chance to try several Chiantis since then, and this Baroncini is the only one that comes close to the Ruffino. In fact, on my list, they are 1 and 1a. The Baroncini is a dark purple with hints of red in it, and it has that nice fruity and spicy nose. I think that’s why I like Chiantis so much. I really enjoy fruit scents and tastes in wine, but I like the wine to have some strength. If there’s too much strength, the abundance of tannins turn me off. The nicer Chiantis I have had seem to do a great job including the fruit elements without coming off too weak or juicy.

The Baroncini did a superb job. I was impressed.

Posted in chianti, red, wine | No Comments »

Firestone Riesling 2005

On a recent trip to Santa Barbara for a three winery wine tasting, I stopped by the Firestone vineyard. At the end of the visit, after ten or so tastes, I was able to try the star of the lot, the Firestone Riesling. And I wasn’t disappointed. Katie bought a bottle of it there that day and recently shared it with Ariele and me over dinner.

Let me just say it didn’t disappoint. While sweet, the Firestone Riesling isn’t mouth puckering sweet, which I certainly appreciated. It was very refreshing, and I found it to be an enjoyable stand alone wine (i.e. without food). I think I may have finished a glass of it at the beginning of dinner. It went just fine with the meal, but my preference was to have it by myself.

If I could find a bottle of it in a local wine shop, I would definitely keep one around. I associate it more with the summer time, but if you’re into white wines on the sweeter end of the spectrum, you may enjoy this one year round.

Posted in riesling, white, wine | No Comments »

Spanish Viticulture

In the Fall 2006 issue of The Quarterly Review of Wines, the red wine of the quarter is a Spanish wine, the Legaris Crianza 2003. It looks like BevMo doesn’t carry this wine, and Heritage doesn’t seem to carry it either. To their credit, the people at Heritage said they would help me find it if I gave them some more information about the wine.

The man at Heritage with whom I spoke over the telephone asked if I knew in what region of Spain this wine was produced. Based on this capitalwine.net page, I told him it looked like the region was Ribera del Duero. The man at Heritage immediately recognized the region and thought the chances were good that if the wine was available locally that he could get get some for me.

My wine knowledge is fairly elementary at this point, and I was impressed that this man seemed to immediately recognize this particular region of Spain. Now, of course this is his job, so I really shouldn’t be so surprised. But I decided to Google around for information on wine making in Spain to see what was out there. I came across a fairly interesting bit of trivia:

Some of these regions are huge, and account for the fact that Spain has the largest area of land dedicated to viticulture of any country in the world.

Maybe this is a well known piece of wine trivia, but I had no idea. Of course there is a caveat:

Unfortunately for lovers of fine wine, much of these vines are Airén, an undistinguished white grape responsible for some of the worst wines I have ever tasted.

On a side note, I spent a few more minutes using Google to find a list of the countries with the most land dedicated to viticulture (presumably with the metric being grape vine acreage), but I couldn’t come up with anything. I’ll post again if I find out.

UPDATE: Okay, I found one list of “World Vineyard Acreage By Country”. I’ve provided the link below. But before you click on the link, let’s play a little game. I’ll give you four of the five countries that have the greatest vineyard acreages. You try to guess which country sits in fourth place.

1. Spain
2. France
3. Italy
4. ???
5. United States

Here are the results, which appear to have been published in March 2004.

Posted in wine | 3 Comments »

Red Bicyclette Chardonnay 2004

I have been horribly delinquent in writing up my short review of the Red Bicyclette Chardonnay 2004. I bought two bottles of this wine at Bevmo’s most recent 5 cent sale. I thus bought one bottle at full price (nominally $10 or so) and got the second bottle for 5 cents.

Like all the other chardonnays I’ve tried, I enjoyed this wine. I found the Red Bicyclette to be a bit more citrusy than others I’ve had, which made it really nice to have on a warm night late in summer. I also had a glass or with a pasta and light cream sauce dish, and it was equally pleasant with food.

I give this one a thumbs up.

Posted in chardonnay, white, wine | 2 Comments »

A Plethora Samuel Adams (Octoberfest, Hefeweizen, Brown Ale, Black Lager, Winter Lager)

Let me give you some backstory here: I tend to go for beers that are a little bit out of the norm. Some people like stouts, some like pilsners, but I like freakish. I once tried a beer that I can only describe as having “something substantially more than a hint of acetone”. And I kind of liked it. A while back I tried the Red Hook Copperhook Spring Ale and found it to be a very good and interesting beer. While a seasonal beer is a far cry from “acetone”, it’s still something that gets overlooked by many, so I’d consider it “out of the norm”.

About a month or so ago I was at the store, and while keeping an eye out to see if Red Hook had any seasonals out, I saw the Samuel Adams Octoberfest instead. In the past I have never enjoyed a single Sam Adams that I have had. I’ve been known to drink Bud Light when the only other option is a Sam Adams. But for some reason I grabbed the Octoberfest.

Unfortunately for you, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve had an Octoberfest, so I can’t give a full description of it. Also unfortunately for you, it seems to have finished its season, at least at Pavilions. But how should I describe this beer. Fantastic? That’s a little bit much. Drinkable? Oh, it’s much more than that. The Sam Adams Octoberfest is a very good beer. The brewery mentions it being a “malt lover’s dream” with caramel and toffee flavors… and something about German Noble hops. It is indeed a full-bodied malty/caramel-y beer and I didn’t really notice any bitterness at all. It goes down well with no unpleasant aftertaste. I honestly can’t think of anything to complain about except that this beer isn’t available year-round. To sum up: I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this beer either at a store or a bar when I see it.

Encouraged by the lovliness of the Octoberfest, I started looking for more of the Samuel Adams special brews. I found a 6-pack that consisted of 2 bottles each of the Samuel Adams Hefeweizen, the Samuel Adams Brown Ale, and the Samuel Adams Black Lager. I’m hoping to do a post on those three later. But here’s the short version. In order they are: very good, very very good, and freaking fantastic. The Youngs’ Double Chocolate Stout still wins over the Sam Adams Black Lager, but it seems that the SABL is a little easier to find.

Which brings us to the Samuel Adams Winter Lager. It’s a dark amber/medium brown brew with a very palely brownish, medium head. The brewery mentions “malted barley and a hint of citrus from the orange peel”, and “the warm aroma of cinnamon and ginger”. Now, I’ll admit that my allergies are going absolutely haywire right now, so I don’t smell a damn thing, which is probably throwing off the taste too, because I’m completely missing the “hint of citrus”. I do pick up on the malted barley, which is just right. The overall blend of the flavors that I *do* pick up on is good, but it falls short of the other four Sam Adams brews that I’ve mentioned. One note on mouth feel: all of these beers are smooth with great mouth feel, but the Winter Lager is almost velvety (a good thing, in case it isn’t clear).

So, here’s the scorecard, from best to least best (but certainly not worst):
1) Octoberfest, Black Lager - Great Beers. I will actively look for these beers in the future.
2) Hefeweizen - A Good Beer. I’d probably rotate between this, the Pyramid Hefe (which is easy to find), and the Shiner Hefe (which is harder to find).
3) Brown Ale - A Good Beer. I’m generally not a huge fan of brown ales. I go for Newcastle occasionally, but not often. However, given the choice between the Sam Adams Brown Ale and a Newcastle, the decision would be 50/50.
4) Winter Lager - A Good/Okay Beer. It’s certainly not outstanding in my mind, but it’s still worth checking out occasionally if you run into it.

Posted in ale, hefeweizen, lager | 7 Comments »