Leelanau Cellars Blueberry

On Saturday night, I was rummaging through the cellar in search of a bottle for the evening and came across this bottle of Blueberry wine from Leelanau Cellars. I had picked this up on a spur of the moment last January at one of the Meijer stores in Ann Arbor, MI while it was on sale. My original attraction was to use it as part of my reverse engineering of commercial blueberry wines to help improve the design of my own blueberry wine recipes. That had obviously gotten side tracked by the move to Massachusetts, so I decided to pop it open and see what I thought. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was a sweet wine, so I chilled it before opening. A quick test with an Accuvin residual sugar test confirmed that it was sweet--at least 2% residual sugar.

Leelanau Cellars Blueberry
Country of origin: USA
Appellation: Michigan
Cost: $4 at Miejer in Ann Arbor, MI
Stats: 100% blueberry, 12% ABV, 2% residual sugar
Appearance: Light red, clear and transparent
Aroma: Blueberries and citrus
Taste: Weak and insipid. Light blueberry taste is overwhelmed by the cloyingly sweetness.

My wife and I each took one sip and dumped the rest down the drain. Leelanau Cellars' motto is "A Taste of Northern Michigan". One of Michigan's oldest wineries and perched about half-way up the Leelanau Penninsula north of Traverse City, they should have first hand knowledge. However, from personal experience, I can honestly say that Northern Michigan can taste a LOT better than this. Please don't judge Michigan wines in general or blueberry wines in particular by this product. Blueberry wines can be made in a wide variety of styles, but this is just too overwhelmingly sweet to appreciate any of the blueberry character.

Sadly Saluted,
a Wine Student

Justin 2004 Savant

After polishing off a bottle of Rockpile Zinfandel during the aforementioned friendly gathering, I plucked my bottle of Justin 2004 Savant from the cellar as the finishing touch to the evening.

Justin 2004 Savant
Country of Origin: USA-Calfornia
Appellation: Paso Robles
Cost: Around $40 (I bought it as part of the Justin Wine Club)
Stats: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Syrah from 2 west side vineyards. The syrah was fermented in new American Oak barrels. The wine was aged in 38% new oak, 23% new American, and 15% new French barrels.
Appearance: Deep, deep purple with some lovely "legs"
Aroma: Black fruits, vanilla, toasted oak.
Taste: A complex and well-integrated wine. A balance of fruit and tannin on the tongue with good body and hints of black pepper. A long and lingering aftertaste of fruit and oak.

An excellent end to the evening. For those counting, this wine received a rating of 90 pts from Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Rockpile Winery 2004 Zinfandel Rockpile Ridge Vineyards

This past Saturday, we had some friends over for a casual evening of pizza and cards. They brought along a bottle of wine to share from their cellar. Rockpile Winery is a relatively new venture in Sonoma County, with the tasting room opening in 2004. The winery was started by the long-time grape growing Mauritson family, who initially started making wine under the Mauritson Wines label from their 260 acres scattered around the Dry Creek and Alexander Valley areas. Recently they turned their attention back to their original vineyards in the Rockpile AVA (which was declared the latest California AVA in 2002). This remote, high country growing area is noted for its proximity to Lake Sonoma and higher altitude (800-2000 ft) that keeps it above the coastal fogs that penetrate into the lower regions of the Napa and Sonoma Counties, resulting in greater sun exposure for the grapes. The Mauritsons have been farming and raising grapes in the Rockpile since 1868.

Rockpile Winery 2004 Zinfandel Rockpile Ridge Vineyards
Country of origin: USA-California, Sonoma County
Appellation: Rockpile AVA
Cost: ~$30 (based on 2005 price, but likely no longer readily available)
Appearance: Deep garnet
Aroma: Bright cherry nose with some hints of green tobacco.
Taste: Very fruit forward with hints of vanilla and oak. Smooth tannins and medium body. There was an underlying streak of green grass and other herbacious tastes, probably from too prolonged contact with the skins and seeds of slightly under-ripe grapes. Not a wine intended for long-term aging.

The overall consensus was a decent wine for casual drinking, but later vintages from this young winery have been more successful.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Chateau de Lascaux 2001 Coteaux du Languedoc

Was feeling a little down this weekend due to a combination of winter blues, struggling to get over a head cold earlier this week, and facing too much work to do next week, so I asked myself, "Who are the experts on all things morose?" The French, of course! When you're wallowing, why not wallow with the experts? So I headed to the basement and picked out a bottle of French wine from my collection. I only have 4-5 red French wines, so it wasn't too much of a difficult choice. I picked this bottle because I've had it for awhile and I vaguely recalled that it was moderately priced, and I must say that it fit my mood perfectly. Homey and comforting, not overly aggressive, it was a good wine to sip while watching the Food Network and pondering the universe.

Chateau de Lascaux, 2001 Coteaux du Languedoc
Country of origin: France
Region: Coteaux du Languedoc (centered around the city Montpellier in Southern France and extending from Narbonne in the west to the edge of Camargue in the east and up to the Cévennes mountains)

Stats: A blend of syrah, grenache, and mourvedre. Ratios unknown for this vintage.
Cost: Probably around $20. I bought it at Morgan & York (formerly the Big Ten Market) in Ann Arbor, MI sometime in 2003-2005.

Appearance: Lovely deep garnet. Not overly dark.
Aroma: Complex nose of black cherries, black currant, and strawberries with a finishing note of vanilla & toasted coconut. There was a hint of chalk when I first opened the bottle, but that had disappeared by the next day.
Taste: Smooth and mild. Mellow fruit forward in the beginning and finishing with just a hint of tannins. Very nice sipper by itself, but would get overpowered by strong tasting food.

Wish I had bought more than one bottle, as this is just the wine to break the winter doldrums and get you day-dreaming about walking through the hills of Southern France.

Salute,
a Wine Student

King Family Vineyards "Michael Shaps" 2005 Monticello Viognier

For Valentines Day, I ended up working from home while I oversaw some home remodeling projects. That also gave me some time to run up the street to our local seafood store and buy some local Cape Cod bay scallops for dinner. I'd like to say I had dinner on the table by the time my wife got home from work, but the truth is it took longer to make than I anticipated. But we eventually sat down to a wonderful meal of Bourbon Bacon-wrapped Scallops, asparagus spears, and sun-dried tomato risotto. To go with the meal, I chose a bottle of "Michael Shaps" 2005 Monticello Viognier from King Family Vineyards. What a delightful choice!

As you might guess from the name, this wine is from Virginia. King Family Vineyards is located just outside of Crozet, VA which is about 20 miles down the road from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville. We stopped by the winery on the way home for the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I was trying to get to Monticello to take a tour of the estate, but we didn't arrive until 30 minutes before closing. Fortunately, there are a number of Virginia wineries in the area, so we availed ourselves of their hospitality. King Family Vineyards had been written up in a recent Wine Spectator article, so we made that our final destination. Believe me, this is a place to go to admire people with money. The winery is set on the edge of a huge horse farm and no expense was spared in its construction. Very beautiful setting. A shame it was a chilly day and we couldn't sit on the patio to admire the view while sipping a glass of wine.

"Michael Shaps" 2005 Monticello Viognier
Appealation: Monticello, Virginia
Cost: roughly $25
Appearance: Very delicate clear yellow. Almost colorless
Aroma: Apricots, pineapple, and kiwi (my wife thinks I'm dreaming about the last one, but I swear I smell kiwi)
Taste: Full bodied. Burst of apricots, pineapple, and other citrus. Very pleasing tang and minerality in the lingering finish.

Paired very well with the scallops and risotto!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Catena 2005 Malbec

Third in my series of South American Malbec tastings...

This was the most expensive malbec that I could find at the store, so I bought it to round out my price range of $10-$20. Turned out this is the best one of the bunch!

Catena 2005 Malbec
Winery: Bodega Catena Zapata
Country: Argentina
Region: Mendoza
Made from grapes sourced from 4 different vineyards ranging from 2850-5000 feet altitude (now that's some high altitude!). Aged 12 months in 70% French Oak (20% new) and 30% new American Oak.
Stats: 13.5% abv, pH = 3.78, TA = 5.13 g/L

Appearance: Deep, deep purple. Essentially opaque to the eye.
Aroma: Dark cherries, blackberries, and black currants. Underlying oak and leather with some spice notes.
Taste: A very complex, but mild wine. A weave of cherry, toasted oak, leather, and chocolate with mild tannins and even some floral notes in the finish. Long lingering finish.

I think this wine actually has the acid balance to drink as a stand alone wine, not just with food.

Salute,
a Wine Student

La Posta 2006 Malbec Angel Paulucci Vineyard

Continuing on my South American malbec tasting and reverse engineering experiments, the next wine on the docket is La Posta 2006 Malbec. Interestingly, this is a single vineyard wine made from grapes from the Angel Paulucci Vineyard.

La Posta 2006 Malbec Angel Paulucci Vineyard
Stats: 13.9% ABV, pH = 3.68, Total acidity = 3.96 g/L
Cost: $16.99 at Acton Wine & Spirits, Acton, MA
Region: Argentina, Mendoza Region, Ugarteche

Appearance: Deep purple, huge legs
Aroma: Big fruity nose with loads of cherries, blackberries, blueberries.
Taste: Big initial fruit burst with cherries and blackberries predominating. Very mild tannins and a smooth finish. Not much lingering after taste.

For those who like to keep score, this wine received a 90 pts rating from Wine Advocate.

I tasted the wine before and during a dinner of spaghetti & meatballs prepared by my lovely wife. The wine improved tremendously when drunk with the meal. The low acid was a good compliment to the acidic tomato sauce. This wine needs to be drunk with food. Otherwise, it's fairly forgettable. I get a kick out of the reviews that I've found online that describe this wine as "well-structured wine that is incredibly full of life". Sorry, I just don't see it. Good Italian food wine, but otherwise, pretty bland.


Salute,
a Wine Student.