When we went on our wine tour of Piedmont, we knew we were going to be drinking a lot of Barolo. But at the same time, we were also excited to try lesser produced grapes in the region as well.
Arneis was one such grape, and we came to fall in love with this gem for its beautiful complexity, texture, and approachability.
Cordero di Montezemolo's Arneis is one bottle we got the chance to bring home with us, and we opened it shortly thereafter.
When we visited California to check out Napa and Sonoma wineries, one of the more interesting spots we stopped at was Anarchist Wine Co.
As its name suggests, this winery is doing some rather unique things with popular California grapes as well as unique blends of lesser-grown varietals for the region.
The Skeptic is one such bottle which is an orange, skin-fermented wine of Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, and Viognier. Unusual for the region to begin with, with the extra depth and complexity that an orange wine provides.
We had picked up a bottle of the 2018 vintage when visiting the winery and promptly forgot about it until it was five years old, when it tasted absolutely beautiful.
Note: The makeup of The Skeptic has seemed to change in recent bottlings. At the time of this review, the 2022 vintage was 100% Gewurztraminer. As such, future bottles may have different characteristics than what is included in this review.
Although I generally found my WSET Diploma D3 tasting exam to be, in a word, brutal, there were some silver linings to be found. In particular, the 12 wine lineup included some fantastic examples of wines found all over the world.
One such bottle we were fortunate enough to taste blind was an aged Pomerol- a Merlot heavy red blend from the right bank of Bordeaux known for making some of the finest wines in the world.
Not only was that the first Pomerol I had ever tried, it was also exceptional. So much so that the day after the wines were announced, I stopped at a wine store, purchased a bottle of Chateau La Rose du Temple Pomerol, and brought it home to enjoy- hoping it'd be anywhere as delightful as the bottle I enjoyed on my exam.
It absolutely was.
As far as grape varietals are concerned, I have to admit that Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio is not one I typically seek out. This relatively mild grape has a reputation for being somewhat simple as far as character is concerned.
I had always known that Alsace was said to produce the most intense and robust Pinot Gris, and when I stumbled upon a bottle of Domaine Weinbach's Clos des Capucins Pinot Gris, I knew I had to pick it up to try.
Arguably my favorite winery in Alsace that has only ever had wines of the highest quality? I can get behind that and didn't look back.
As it turns out, Domaine Weinbach's Pinot Gris is just as spectacular as all of their other bottles, and is helping change my mind on this oft-overlooked grape.
When it comes to a good Gruner Veltliner, there are some things we are always on the lookout for. Strong minerality, waxy phenolics, and stone fruit moving into tropical flavors are a hallmark.
When a Gruner is lacking in these, we often find ourselves disappointed. But when it shines, oh what a wine it is.
Domaine Wachau's Weissenkirchen Gruner Veltliner Smaragd was undoubtedly in the latter category, and this wine was simply a delight that we would drink again and again.
We always have a soft spot to try orange wines as they typically offer a unique flavor profile that is a bit unlike anything else you can find. Throw in the fact that they can often be made of grapes (or blends of grapes) that are a bit more unusual to see and in some cases even fermented naturally, there really is a lot to love.
Smallfry's Tangerine Dream is one such bottle as it is a skin contacted white wine from the Barossa Valley of Australia made with Semillon, Pedro Ximenez, Riesling, Rousillon, and Muscat and offered some delightful flavors.
When studying for WSET Diploma, I leaned heavily on rose wine to fully understand how this wine style is made. One method, rose de saignee, was always rather interesting to me as a portion of red grape juice is bled off the skins during soaking. The bled off portion is made into rose wine, and the remaining wine continues maceration on the skins to extract more color and become a red wine.
Compared to other rose winemaking styles (blending and direct press, for example), rose de saignee is often darker style as a result. The intensity of the color is a dead giveaway in most cases, and one region in particular, Tavel in the Southern Rhone (one of our favorite regions), is historically known as a top producer of rose de saignee wine.
So when I stumbled upon a bottle of Chateau de Trinquevedel Tavel in the store, I knew I had to grab it to give a rose de saignee wine a try.
We're never ones to say no to an easy drinking Gamay, and when we can find this grape in a blend we almost always have to give it a try.
Domaine Curtet's Autrement Rouge gave us just that with a mix of Gamay, Pinot Noir, and Mondeuse Noir giving all of the hallmarks of a classic Beaujolais but originating from Savoie!
Normally when we think of wine aged in a solera system, our minds go to the fortified wine Sherry. But some still wine is also aged in solera style, with Johannes Zillinger “JZ” Revolution White Solera from Austria being one such bottle.
This blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, and Scheurebe came with an intensity that we honestly did not quite expect!
We always love trying Champagne house's premium production lines as they are always worth savoring and talking about. Bollinger's Special Cuvee NV Champagne is no different.
What makes Bollinger's Special Cuvee unique is that this wine is not a vintage Champagne. It has all the characteristics of being an intense, vintage bottle of bubbly but is instead made up of reserve wines that have been aging anywhere from five to 15 years made with grapes from grand and premier cru sites from all over Champagne.
So what you end up is an incredibly intense, powerful wine that can be enjoyed again, and again, and again- assuming you can find a bottle for sale, at least.
