Sorority Sisters and Wine, The More things Change…

The more they stay the same. Only now rather than standing in a fraternity house basement and drinking Boones Farm we are in the wine tasting room at Chamard Vineyards. We still laughed and had a good time but the talk was more about careers, kids and husbands instead of dating and campus gossip (okay there was still some gossip). The wine had changed quite a bit too. Gone was the $1.99 bottle of Snow Creek Berry or Strawberry Hill Boones. Now we were enjoying our $10 tasting of Chardonnay and Merlot.

Located in Clinton Connecticut, Chamard Vineyards planted their first grapes in the spring of 1984. Their first wine, a Chardonnay, was released in 1988. Since then they have expanded to Cabernet, Merlot and some Pinot Noir, which is used primarily for blending. Our wine server explained that the non-estate grapes are sourced from Long Island. Currently the vineyard produces 6,000 cases annually. The vineyard was beautiful especially on a gorgeous fall day.

The tasting room was quite packed when we were there. We waited a bit to get to the bar, but the service was excellent and the atmosphere perfect. The $10 tasting consisted of five wines and we evaluated each. Those that are listed as “Estate” are from grapes grown on the premises. My primary co-taster was Julie, who along with her husband John, has become one of our wine buddies over the past few years.

2004 Chardonnay: With a fruity aroma that had a hint of honey this chardonnay has a “touch of oak”. That oak comes though as a slightly bitter vanilla taste. Julie was surprised that the finish reminded her of one that would be expected of a Shiraz as it was somewhat spicy and acidic.

2005 Estate Reserve Chardonnay – As advertised this has a very beautiful gold color. The aroma was of butter and dried apricots. The group agreed that this was a good “back deck” Chardonnay, meaning it is light and easy to drink. Though not overly memorable on its own, this is an example of a good delicate food pairing wine.

2006 Cabernet Franc – Both Julie and I were surprised by the brick red almost brown color of this wine. It had aromas of dark berries and chocolate and reminded me of a strong stout. This was very hot, almost to the point of overpowering the flavors. The body of the wine was quite thin. After our tasting many of us ordered a glass of the hot mulled wine which was delicious. We were surprised to find out that this was wine was the base for it. Everyone agreed that when used in that manner it was much better.

2006 Merlot – With a wonderful red color and strong aromas of licorice, leather and tobacco this wine appeared promising. The strong tannins and thicker body lived up to the aroma and color. This was a nice table red, but both Julie and I agreed that we would not have guessed it was a Merlot.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – With an aroma of dark cherries and a pleasant amount of spice this was the highlight of the tasting, to which everyone agreed. This would serve as an excellent pairing wine but also had the strength to stand on its own.

Overall this was a nice way to spend a fall day. We finished the outing sitting at a picnic table and talking. With a chill in the air, good friends and a warm glass of mulled wine we could not help but reflect how far we had come, and how much better this was then a fraternity basement and a bottle of Boones.

Cheers,

Margot

Mother's Day at Dalice Elizabeth Winery

For Mother's Day my family (wife, me, sister-in-law, father, mother, brother) converged on the Dalice Elizabeth Winery in Preston, CT. They are open daily for wine tastings, but check their web site at http://www.daliceelizabeth.com/ for specifics before you go.

I was fortunate enough to talk with several of the winery's staff and get some history on the winery that will help explain my impressions of their wines. The wine-making operation has been ongoing for 11 years, but up until October of 2009 it was exclusively a wine-making school, aka ferment-on-premises operation, where groups of people contracted to make wine by the barrel on site and then take it home when it was complete. Last October they officially opened for retail sale, on-site tastings and private wine dinners.

While they train their adolescent Chardonnay vines all grapes for their wines are sourced from California and Washington. They expect to have site grown wines in 3-5 years. Anyone who has ever ventured into wine grape growing knows how much patience is required here.

They offer a range of wines including Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Syrah, Zinfandel and a Chardonnay Ice Wine. They also make a Cabernet Franc, but it has sold completely out and won't be available again until next year.

We tasted all of the available wines. A big thank you to Blaze Faillaci for finding an open bottle of the ice wine for us to try some of. It was indeed excellent. John Wilcox got us going with the Chardonnay and explained that they make both an oaked and a stainless steel style. He indicated that we were tasting the oaked version which was aged for six months in American oak. The aroma of this wine was very subtle and I couldn't really define it. The flavors spoke of melon and grapefruit for me, which Margot agreed with. The oak was very slight resulting in a refreshing taste and a smooth, medium finish. We ended up buying a bottle of this to share at the end of our tasting.

Having arrived on Mother's Day I think we might have been interested in more than the winery might have been planning to do for guests, but upon asking if we could get a cheese plate for six it was promptly served and was of excellent quality. The service gets high marks and for a young operation that is a wonderful thing to be able to do. The cheese plate included Parmigianino/Reggiano, blue, goat and cheddar cheeses accompanied by black and green olives, hot peppers, marinated tomatoes, a fresh tomato & green onion salsa and of course crackers. The cheddar cheese intrigued me right off the bat. I knew I had had the specific variety before, but couldn't remember where. As I write this I think it is a Beemster which hails from Holland. I never did ask.

The next wine John served us was the Sangiovese. Fans of Italian wines will know this is a the grape in Chianti as well as one part of the "Super-Tuscan" style wines. The wine was dry and had wood on the nose. I didn't ponder the flavors as I was busy talking and enjoying time with Mom. We were also celebrating my birthday (from the end of April) and my mother had purchased me a Harney's tea sampler containing four Oolong teas and a beautiful white tea pot. I was explaining how I came to know of Oolong tea and how I was going to explore it as part of my sommelier training. Back to the wines.

Blaze took over from here and served us the Syrah next. This wine was lighter than some Syrah's I have had and definitely was not the spicy, super-fruity Shiraz typical of Australia. That should not be taken as anything bad at all. For the sake of an analogy lets take Pinot Noir. Classic French Burgundy is made from this grape and is often a focused and refined example of what you can do with the grape. On the other hand you can get Pinot Noir from California and Washington states that is fruit-fotward, super earthy and full bodied. These are two different wines each with their own merits. I was recovering from eating a hot pepper so I can't say anything about the flavors of this wine. The lightness of it was echoed from around the table so I knew that much was true.

I did find that the Sangiovese and Chardonnay both went well with the cheese and olive selections. I don't think anyone else was specifically considering the pairings so I didn't talk about it much. The goat cheese was very creamy and smooth which was very nice indeed.

The next wine was the Old Vine Zinfandel from grapes sourced from Mendcino, California. From the very first sip I found this wine to have some perceptible sweetness, it made me think of my own Cabernet blend from 2008, an asset for sure. The wine was oaky with dark cherry and plum flavors. Margot also suggested blackberries. The tannins were well balanced and clean, and the finish was smooth. There were hints of hotness, but it didn't linger. This was my favorite wine of the day.

Blaze appeared with a partial bottle of the Chardonnay Ice Wine and all six of us got a small taste. I had never had one of these from the Chardonnay grape and had asserted the flavors might not be bent toward the apricot, peach and honey flavors of the Vidal ice wines I have enjoyed. There were aromas of honey and peach, but the flavors were more of orange and flowers with the honey behind them. With plenty of sweetness this wine could be savored by itself or with a flaky pie or tart containing apples and spice.

Taking the optimistic side of the local wine business I would expect that in the coming years the Dalice Elizabeth Winery will continue to find success. Once the vines on-site start producing they might be able to infuse a sense of place into their wines. Preston, despite being up the road from Foxwoods, is a rural area with farms and lot of trees. With ponds and lakes on, and adjacent to, the property the place is charming. As it is for the other New England wineries I have visited what you can grow locally offers some constraints, but with a sense of place, good service and pride in the craft the results can be very enjoyable.

All the wines are available for retail sale. The Chardonnay goes for $29, the ice wine for $55 for a split. The other wines are similar in price to the Chard.

We also got started on the 2010 Passport to Connecticut Farm Wineries program. I was familiar with this program from 2009. If you visit and get your passport stamped at 16 or more of the 30 participating wineries by November 7th you can be entered to win one of several resort trips to Spain. More information can be found at http://pressnewengland.com/blog/?p=604 and http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=399108.

Cheers!

Jason

CT Wine Trail

Last weekend Margot, Tim, Abby and I checked out 4 wineries and a wine bar in western CT. What fun! The weather was great and the travel wasn't bad, but on to the reviews.

Overall each winery had some unique offerings, differing styles and lots of traffic. The wine quality was good, but uneven; something we know well and can understand the challenge of. One major point I have made so far offline is that while Chardonnay was prominent, I couldn't appreciate any of it. Too acidic and too dry. I am not starting or continuing a stylistic debate, but I wonder if making it is worth it? Even the dry blends with other wines took those other wines down a notch.

Other whites offered some very drinkable wines, several fruity and dry, and several indeed semi-sweet or dessert style. I know semi-sweet is a technical definition with a range of residual sugar possible, but for tastings with normal folks it can be a bit misleading. Several wines had deep flavors and clean finishes and gave us much inspiration and enjoyment. We picked up semi-sweet Seyval, Peach, and a dessert wine.

For red wines there were lots to choose from and from a wide range of varietals. Foch was prominent and was of similar quality to those we have had from NH, a couple were served too cold or too warm which did not help a brief evaluation. We had cheese with several flights and several cheeses were dead on matches with the wines. Picnic Red and the Beemster X-O at Haight-Brown was phenomenal. I had Chambourcin for the first time at CT Valley and was quite surprised at the complex flavors. Our hosts and I had a lively conversation about potential food pairings after hearing they have tried without success. I suggested lavender chicken which I plan to make in the fall. We bought a whole bunch of reds including a port, the Chambourcin, and Picnic Red.

We also sampled several dessert wines, but more on those after we drink the ones we brought home…

The Bosc wine bar was a lot of fun. There was live music and as the weather was in our favor, we sat outside! Wines by the glass aren't cheap and bottle prices for the regular wines offer no bargain until you get into the higher prices. Unique wines from around the world are pretty deep, but only for those with deep pockets. The apps were good and the company was top notch so no worries here.

Cheers!

--Jason