Tag Archives: off the beaten wine trail

Off the Beaten Wine Trail: Verdejo

Albarino may be Spain’s most famous white wine, but there is an often overlooked varietal that may just deserve the title of Spain’s best white wine. Verdejo is not many people’s first choice of Spanish wine, and its homeland of Rueda is not a place that tourists tend to visit. Yet it should be on everyone’s “wines to try” list.

Style

Verdejo is a dry white wine that is sometimes compared to Sauvignon Blanc due to its herbaceous character (more similar to Sancerre than New Zealand’s more tropical style), but I think has more depth and complexity. Verdejo has flavors of peach and citrus, aromas of white flowers and honeysuckle, and is balanced by a slightly bitter note of grapefruit, raw almond and fennel. When its aged on lees, it develops a fuller texture.

Wines labeled Rueda must contain at least 50% Verdejo. It is typically blended with Sauvignon Blanc or Macabeo. Wines designated Rueda Verdejo must contain at least 85% Verdejo, but are often 100% Verdejo.

Terroir

The Verdejo grape originated in North Africa and is now most widely planted in Rueda, Spain within Castilla y Leon. This is a landlocked area in the northern central part of the country that sits high on the flats of the Maseta Plateau. In fact, Rueda has some of the highest altitude plantings in the world (some up to 3,000 feet).

This extremely high altitude means Rueda has huge day-night temperature swings of up to 50 degrees. The hot days encourage ripening for sugar and flavor accumulation, then the cool nights allow the grapes to rest and retain refreshing acidity.

Rueda has a very dry climate with deep, sandy soils. This does two things – the lack of humidity reduces fungal disease, allowing widespread organic farming. Also, the sandy soils are inhospitable to the vine-killing louse, phylloxera, so there are many ungrafted old vines here that never had to be replanted.

History

Historically, Verdejo was used to make oxidized, Sherry-like bulk wine that was of low quality. Then in the 1970s, the Rioja-based winemaking company Marqués de Riscal saw the potential in Verdejo and brought in a French winemaker to help them produce a high quality, fresher style of unoaked wine. They then encouraged growers in Rueda to keep their Verdejo vines rather than replant them to higher yielding grapes or other more profitable crops. This was the start of Verdejo’s revival.

Recommendations

  • Protos Verdejo ($13)
  • Garciarévalo Rueda ‘Finca Tresolmos’ ($20)
  • Bodegas Vatan Nisia Las Suertes Old Vines Verdejo ($25)
  • Shaya Habis Old Vines Verdejo 2018 ($30)

Off the Beaten Wine Trail: Aglianico

Aglianico (pronounced “alli-yawn-nico”) is the best red wine from Italy that you’ve probably never heard of.

For the past several decades, wine critics and therefore wine consumers have almost exclusively favored the wines of northern and central Italy – Barolo, Amarone, Brunello di Montalcino, Super Tuscans, etc. The wines of southern Italy have been not only overlooked, but relegated to a category of low quality bulk wine. There had been a general belief that southern was too hot to produce elegant, ageworthy wines.

However, southern Italy is home to some real gems, including the wine with the region’s greatest potential – Aglianico. Along with Nebbiolo and Sangiovese, Aglianico is generally believed to be one of Italy’s three greatest wine grapes, and yet is often overlooked.

Aglianico has been called the “Barolo of the south”, with its best expressions found in the regions of Campania and Basilicata. It is full-bodied and rustic with dark fruit notes of plum and black cherry. It can also have hints of tobacco, coffee and leather, with earthy and gamey notes as it ages. Aglianico’s high tannins and high acidity make it an ageworthy choice for cellaring. Just like Nebbiolo (Barolo), well-made Aglianico wines come into their best after 10 or so years of age.

When looking for these wines in a wine shop, looked for labeled as Taurasi DOCG or Aglianico del Vulture DOCG.

  • Taurasi is located close to Naples near the coast. The wines must be made from at least 85% Aglianico, but are often 100%. They must be aged for three years, with a minimum of one year in barrel, before release. Taurasi tends to offer more floral notes with aromas of rose and sour cherries. It is also less approachable upon release with most needing at least an 8 years in the cellar to soften their grippy tannins.
  • Aglianico del Vulture is located in Basilicata, closer to central Italy away from the coast. Here, the vines grow on volcanic soils, lending the wines power, structure, complexity and minerality. These wines must be 100% Aglianico and must be aged at least 12 months in cask. The shorter aging period means they are also approachable while young. The riserva style requires five years of aging, with at least 24 months in cask.

Recommendations:

  • di Majo Norante Aglianico Molise Contado ($17)
  • Donnachiara Taurasi Aglianico 2016 ($30)
  • I Capitani Taurasi Bosco Faiano ($40)
  • Salvatore Molettieri Vigna Cinque Querce ($45)

Off the Beaten Wine Trail: Bugey-Cerdon

Bugey is a wine I love to include in my in-person tasting events, as either a starter or a finisher. It fills both spots nicely – bubbles to celebrate the start of an event, or something semi-sweet to pair with dessert. There aren’t too many wines out there that can fill both positions with the prettiness and finesse of Bugey-Cerdon. It has been hailed as “the happiest wine on earth.”

Bugey is a tiny (1,000 acres of vineyards), little known Alpine hamlet in eastern France, halfway between Lyon and Geneva. It is located in the “middle of nowhere” foothills of the Jura Mountains, bordered by Beaujolais to the west, Savoie to the east, Jura and Burgundy to the north, and the Rhone to the south. The vineyards are not contiguous – they are scattered throughout this small region nestled in valleys between mountains and ridges.

Here you will find a cool, sub-Alpine climate of cold winters and mild summers where grapes can struggle to ripen. This is a climate well suited to sparkling wines, which only need “just ripe enough” grapes to get good flavor, but preserve that all-important acidity.

The Bugey region produces a number of different grape varieties, mostly white, aromatic, lower in alcohol, and higher in acidity. Chardonnay is it’s primary varietal, but they also grow Jacquère, Altesse and Aligoté for the whites, and Poulsard, Mondeuse, Pinot Noir and Gamay for the reds.

However, its most famous and distinctive wine is Bugey-Cerdon. Wine from Cerdon, one of Bugey’s three cru areas, is always sparkling, fetchingly pink, and a touch sweet with low alcohol (around 8% ABV). These incredibly easy drinking wines are made from a blend of Gamay and Poulsard grapes, and the flavors are reminiscent of wild berries, strawberries and cream.

According to French law, Bugey-Cerdon must be made by the méthode ancestrale (also known as pet-nat, petillent natural, ancestral method, or col fondo), an ancient process for producing bubbly wine that predates Champagne.

In méthode ancestrale, partially fermented wine is bottled with its remaining residual sugar and yeast. Fermentation then continues in the bottle and the byproduct of carbon dioxide becomes trapped, creating bubbles. This technique was likely discovered by accident. During the winter months, yeast becomes dormant when the wine is bottled, then the yeast awakens with warm spring temperatures and finishes fermenting. Many small producers use this process because it’s the most accessible way to make sparkling wine as it doesn’t require the expensive equipment needed to make Champagne method wines.

Bugey-Cerdon must be aged in the bottle on lees (dead yeast cells) for a minimum of 9 months, imparting a creamy texture. Many of these wines may be left unfined and unfiltered, so may include some leftover yeast cells, resulting in a slightly hazy appearance.

These wines have lower pressures, calmer foam and larger bubbles than Champagne-method wines. This means they are more aromatic and flavorful upon opening, but the bubbles will dissipate more quickly as the wine ages so they are meant to be drunk young and not cellared.

Recommendations:

  • Patrick Bottex Bugey Cerdon La Cueille ($20)
  • Daniel Boccard Cerdon Bugey Demi-Sec Rose ($23)