Great restaurant by-the-bottle- Etna Rosso

If you've never tried a Mt Etna Rosso wine, think about the red fruit, elegance & acid of Pinot Noir, along with an intense volcanic minerality and exotic floral notes. They can be deep and profound, and are typically accessible from a price standpoint.

Azienda Girolamo Russo is an organically-farmed family estate in Mt. Etna, Sicily producing three Etna Rosso bottlings, and one Etna Bianco. The Azienda Girolamo Russo 2010 'a Rina, Etna Rosso DOC is their introductory bottling - a multi vineyard blend from volcanic soils. The grape is Nerello Mescalese, with small percentages of Nerello Cappuccio. 

I found this on the wine list at the wonderful new SY Kitchen Restaurant in Santa Ynez, CA. Its broad range of flavor and solid acidity married well with opposing entrees - a duck ragu pappardelle, and a shellfish pasta with a garlicky white wine sauce. The flavor of the wine was a nice blend of sharp red fruit notes and exotic earth and floral accents. This is a deep and enjoyable wine that can be found in stores for around $25.

 

Opening up a ray of sunshine- 2004 Querciabella Palafrena

I love to get excited about a wine. And a great Italian red is squarely in my wheelhouse when I need a wine to be excited about.

Delivering on this promise is a beautifully vibrant wine made from 100% Merlot, and grown in the biodynamically-farmed marlstone soils of Greve in Chianti Classico. Querciabella’s Palafreno was first made in 2000, and since then it’s become one of the estate’s top wines.

The production is intensive – low yields are harvested and destemmed into stainless steel and concrete tanks for long and slow fermentation. After 12 months of élevage in new and one-year old barriques from Allier, Tronçais and Vosges – top lots are assembled and put back into barrel for 6 additional months.

Mine was a bottle of Querciabella 2004 Palafrena, Toscana IGT; received as a gift from a friend and brought along to a great little Italian restaurant where I live for a special occasion dinner. With 2004 being a top recent Tuscan vintage, I hoped to find this coming into its own. What was readily apparent upon opening was the beautiful tension between rusticity and refinement.

Dark and dense in the glass – it featured aromas of cedar, black olive, black cherry and dried lavender. It quickly came to life with a palate of generous dark fruit of the Merlot along with the dusty earthy mineral and dried floral notes reminiscent of Chianti Classico. It had vivacious, rich, and rustic characteristics – finishing with sharp acid and leathery gritty tannin, along with good length and concentration.

This had great flavor, depth, nerve and structure. It showed the highlights and excitement of Bordeaux varietals in Tuscany along with that salt-of-the-earth realness that is so awesome in the great reds of Italy. I loved it – definitely one to get excited about. ($85, still some availability online, drink/hold). 

Food and wine night at Succulent Café

A recent dinner at stellar Solvang CA restaurant, Succulent Café, provided an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Calluna Vineyards 2009 Culluna Vineyards Cuvée. I've been a fan of this newer Chalk Hill producer for a couple of years. Chalk Hill in Sonoma County, being cooler than either Napa/Calistoga to the east or Alexander Valley to the north, can provide an opportunity for enhanced structure and elegance in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot-based wines.

Calluna Vineyards 2009 Calluna Vineyards Cuvée, Chalk Hill is an estate-grown right bank-style Bordeaux blend featuring Merlot & Cabernet Franc as the primary varietals, with barrel aging in about 40% new French oak. It's a great representation of Calluna's very classically-styled Bordeaux varietal wines. With dinner it showed very well, quickly coming to life with notes of violet, red currant, olive, cocoa, spice and mint throughout the palate- deftly balanced and highlighting the floral and red fruit notes. Polished with fine/firm tannin and a full finish. Excellent overall and even better for the price (selling for around $30), with the structure suggesting longevity (Rating- I like+!).

A word about Succulent Café- it's beautifully done low-key farm-to-table cuisine; French technique and southern influenced. A wonderful cheese plate with fresh local ingredients and main courses of braised short rib and duck confit cassoulet accompanied the wine. The restaurant does charge a corkage, but after offering our server some of the Calluna he responded very kindly by opening up two interesting local wines to taste.

Both of the local wines were Bordeaux varietal wines from Santa Barbara County. The first was Cuatro Vientos Vineyard 2009 "CS/CF", Santa Barbara County- a Cab Sauv/Cab Franc blend. It was a lush blend of fig paste, dates, anise and spice- with round and ripe blue & red fruit and secondary notes of toffee & chocolate along with round full tannins (rating- I like!). This seemed more influenced by the Cab Franc, showing a nice ripeness and depth without the trappings of overly green notes that Santa Barbara County Cabs and Cab Francs can sometimes have. I believe this wine is made by Margerum Wine Company, but I couldn't find any info online.

The second wine was Baehner Fournier 2009 Petit Verdot, Santa Ynez Valley. Baehner Fournier grows Bordeaux varietals in the eastern hills of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Petit Verdot sells for $42 with only 58 cases bottled. It started with aromas of brioche, cassis and slight notes of bell pepper. The palate added dried herb, spice and currant before finishing with round and firm tannin and ample finishing notes of sagebrush and spice (rating- I like!). Enjoyable and interesting indeed- would love to have some more time with this one.

Oh how I've missed you

In my past life I worked for a wine distributor. There's plenty not to miss- namely participating in the evils of the three tier system, schlepping wine in the hot summer, unrealistic quotas on wines that customers don't want, and crazy bosses (and buyers). What I have missed is the variety of wines that I was able to taste- most specifically Italian wines.

I'd been craving Sangiovese and was able to fill the void with a nice little Chianti Classico on the wine list at Cecco in Solvang CA. At $10 by-the-glass and $32 by-the-bottle it looked like the perfect dinner companion.

Principe Corsini Le Corti 2007 Chianti Classico comes from Corsini's Villa Le Corti hillside vineyards in Chianti Classico; 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo from alluvial and rocky soils. Fermentation begins with selected indigenous yeasts and the wine is aged 12 months in cement tanks and large wood casks prior to bottling.


Upon opening, the wine had an aggressive earthiness and angular acidity, but there was enough fruit to suggest that the wine would come together. With a little air and the wonderful vibrant flavors of the food, the fruit really came to fore and very pleasantly rounded out the wine. It showed nice structure with balanced flavors and fine tannins. It was a very nice Chianti Classico that was well-priced and well-chosen for the list. 


I'd rate this is a solid (I like!) with extra consideration for value (retails between $15 and $20).