John and Dan's Picks III, April 19th 2007

Well I'm back! Don't let the post date fool you it's well into mid-October. Since my new job here in Buffalo doesn't have as many duties attached to it I have more free time to catch up on the blog and review new products. It will take me a little time to catch up on all I've missed so please stick with me through these reviews.

As usual John and I had some trouble finding a rep this week to host the flight night, so we picked some wines off of the shelf to feature for this Flight Night. Chef Tim and Pete Evanovich put out an assorted cheese tray, handmade garlic parmesan breadsticks, fried brownie bites with chocolate sauce, and smoked shredded pork quesadillas with peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese to compliment the wine selection.

We started the Flight Night with a selection from Spain. John and I are huge enthusiasts when it comes to Spanish wine. While the labels are somewhat easier to read than your average French or Italian wine bottles, (afterall 1 in 10 U.S. citizens speak fluent Spanish) people are still a bit confused by the grape varietals and geography of most of what Spain has to offer. As a general rule, Spanish wines offer high quality for a very small price. Sure you could drop over $100 on a Spanish wine but why would you when there are great wines at around the $20 to $30 range? The Nora 2005 Albariño is no exception to this statement at the $18 mark. Albariño is a light Viognier like grape that is indigenous to the Rias Baixas region of north eastern Spain. The Albariño grape accounts for 90% of the plantings in this wine region. Nora is light gold in color and has elements of peach, cream, and lemon peel on the nose. Full-bodied and refreshing fruit lead to a very long smooth and textured finish. As John noted: "this is a great replacement for cookie-cutter Chardonnays". This is a fantastic summer wine for dining out on the patio. Try pairing this great white with a pan-fried flounder with poblano-corn relish.

Following up that great Spanish white was no easy feat, so John and I decided use a wine from a classic winery and a legendary California AVA (American Viticultural Area). The Ferrari-Carano 2006 Pinot Grigio (retail $18) from the much coveted Russian River Valley in Sonoma County was our second selection for the night. Ferrari-Carano has four different vineyards across Napa & Sonoma from which they source their grapes. Their Russian River Vineyards consist mostly of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The yields of Pinot Gris from this region are somewhat small and I can only assume this is a newer venture for the winery or originally a private table wine that was made public. I'm pretty sure the marketing think tank at Ferrari-Carano chose to label this varietal as Pinot Grigio (instead of the more common Pinot Gris) to avoid consumer confusion. While the wine was Italian in style it has an obvious Californian attitude. This pale and lightly golden wine exhibits a nose full of citrus with slight floral & fruit tones. Slightly tart mellow fruit leads to muted acidic citric flavors with a long lingering finish on the palate. Try drinking this wine with salt cod fritters with garlicky Skordalia. Find out more about Ferrari-Carano at:www.ferrari-carano.com

During my time in Ohio, I've sampled a variety of different wines from several of the local wineries in or around the Geneva area. The Ferrante 2005 "Signature Series" Cabernet Franc (retail $18) surprised both myself and many of the Wine Down patrons who tried it. Nick Ferrante has won a numerous amount of awards with his Golden Bunches Riesling, however, I would personally put this Cabernet Franc at the top of his wine portfolio. I was thrown back at how opaquely purple this wine was considering it was grown in Ohio which typically produces lighter colored reds. The nose had huge dark red fruit scents like plum and blackberry with light cocoa tones. This medium-bodied dry red fruit flavored wine lead to a slightly tannic sharp finish with lingering elements of confectioners chocolate. I was so impressed that a wine of this caliber came from Ohio that I retasted this wine the following day. It had mellowed out immensly and took on a pleasing deep woody almost vanilla flavor where the tannins were the day before. Pair this fantastic red with orecchiette Bolognese with chestnuts. Ferrante is one of the nicest commercial wineries in the Northern Ohio Wine Trail. I'd strongly suggest taking a tour of the modern facilities if you ever happen to be in the area. For directions or more information on Ferrane Winery go to: www.ferrantewinery.com

The next selection is a newer wine from an up and coming wine region in the foothills of the Andes Mountains called Valle de Colchagua, Chile. At an affordable $14, Calcu 2005 (A magician in the Mapuche language) is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 20% Carménère. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Carménère grape, it has a very interesting story behind it. After the phylloxera epidemic in Europe, the Carménère grape (Bordeaux varietal) was thought to be a lost. However, South America was not affected by the epidemic. The grapes were brought over by the missionaries and often labeled Merlot. In the mid 90's after extensive DNA testing they were in fact found to be the lost grape of Bordeaux, Carménère. While many other wine growing regions have successfully replanted the finicky varietal, none date back to the 150 year offering of Chile. This Deep red blend has meaty, tobacco, leather, and butter essences on the nose. Full-bodied rich red fruit flavors with traces of spice and pepper lead to a subtle rounded finish in this fantastic Chilean wine. Try pairing this wine with pork and leeks in avgolemono sauce. Several patrons have commented on the label of the wine. It is in fact a watercolor of a bull painted by Salvador Amenabar and in my opinion gives the wine some added elegance when presented at a table. For more information on Calcu go to: www.globalvineyard.com.

We finished off the taste with another well established name in California. Cosentino 2004 "The Cab" Cabernet Sauvignon retails for $15 but drinks like a wine twice that price. Mitch Cosentino sources the friut for this series of wine from his Lodi vineyards which also offers "The Chard", "The Zin", and the more popular "CigarZin". Typically fruit sourced from Lodi tends to be deep and intense. "The Cab" was no exception to this. Exhibiting vanilla, pommegranite, plum, strawberry, and dried leaf tones on the nose, this deep and lightly spicy red lead to a long rounded finish with elements of buttery oak. This wine is really tightly wound and I would suggest allowing the wine to decant for quite some time before getting to it. In fact in my exploration with this wine I found that it really came around a couple days after I had opened it. This clearly suggests that this wine may not be quite ready for consumption and I would suggest that you give it some addionional bottle age before opening it. Try pairing this wine with hanger steak with shallots and mushrooms. For more information on Cosentino check out: www.cosentinowinery.com.

Thanks again for showing interest in this blog and wine education. If you are interested in any of the recipes used in this post please check out the October 2006 issue of Food & Wine magazine. Until next time remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.