Wine Journal: January-February 2015 by ABC Fine Wine

wine journal Ja nu a r y/ Febr u a r y 2 015

A BC F I N E W I N E & SPI R I TS W I N E M AGA ZI N E

Top 10 wine destinations to help plan your next trip

EXPERT PICKS FOR THE BEST OF 2014

SWEET WINES

for every palate

The ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Wine Journal is a bimonthly publication of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Copyright 2015 ABC Liquors, Inc. All rights reserved. Not all products are available in all stores. If the product you’re looking for isn’t available, ask us to order it for you!

Time to curl up with a good read and a glass of wine.

Hannah Grantz Editor Meghan Guarino Contributing Editor meghang@abcfws.com Lorena Streeter Contributing Editor lorenas@abcfws.com

OUR WINE EXPERTS: Ken Amendola North Florida Wine Supervisor Kathleen Anderson Northwest Florida Wine Supervisor Jim Greeley Southwest Florida Wine Supervisor Shayne Hebert Central Florida Wine Supervisor Atanas Nechkov Central Florida Wine Supervisor Paul Quaglini Southeast Florida Wine Supervisor Bill Stobbs West Florida Wine Supervisor

If you would like to ensure you’re receiving the Wine Journal each time it’s published, send an email to Jennifer Baker (JenniferB@abcfws.com) and we’ll add you to the “always mail” list.

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HAVE YOU TRIED ANY SPANISH WINES LATELY? Jim gives the scoop on his current favorites

VALENTINE’S DAY WILL BE HERE BEFORE WE KNOW IT! Kathleen has dinner and wine pairing ideas for your date night

PLAN A TRIP TO (A) WINE COUNTRY

Bill’s picks for the top 10 wine destinations across the world

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Paul shares his favorite Italian wines of the year

LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM,

WHAT WILL THE LATEST VINTAGE BRING US FROM BORDEAUX?

TAKING A LOOK BACK

WRAPPING UP 2014...

Brad knows all there is to know!

PROSECCO CONSUMPTION IS ON THE RISE AND ATANAS AGREES, Collalto is the best of the best

Shayne has a sweet wine pick from most every region

Ken had a great year of wine; see his picks for best of ‘14

WINE TO WATCH 2010 Oakville East Exposure earned a 92-point rating from Wine Enthusiast

New Horizons in

Alicante & Jumilla

J I M G R E E L E Y, S O U T H W E S T F L O R I D A W I N E S U P E RV I S O R

here’s little doubt these days that Spain is home to some of the most intriguing wines in Europe, made by talented producers using indigenous grape varieties in a full range of styles. Much of this fascination lies within the country’s classic regions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Yet this storyline is only part of a larger narrative. Less heralded appellations, some new and still others reinventing themselves, are also now coming to the fore. A former giant awakening from a long, listless slumber, the region of Alicante is once again making exciting wines. Situated alongside Spain’s balmy Costa Blanca, Alicante can trace its winemaking origins back to the Phoenicians and Romans. For a stretch of time between the Renaissance and end of the 19th century, Alicante was considered one of the great wine regions of Europe, its reputation established on the fine Monastrell grape (known more commonly today as Mourvèdre) and a legendary sweet late-harvest wine produced from it called Fondillón. Alicante and Fondillón’s fortunes literally changed overnight, thanks mostly to economic forces and the blight of phylloxera. For much of the last century it was relegated to a mere footnote in wine history. Today a revitalized Alicante is again reasserting itself not only upon the strength of the region’s Monastrell, but also exceptional white varieties like Muscat and Macabeo. This time the focus is on quality dry wines produced by state-of-the-art wineries embracing modern concepts in both winemaking and agriculture. Bodegas Bocopa, one of the best cooperatives in the region, denotes this approach in two wines produced from organically grown grapes: Castillo de Alicante Gran Selección Tinto ($9), a juicy

Jumilla

blend of Monastrell, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, and Castillo de Alicante Gran Selección Blanco ($9), a zesty, crisp white made from Macabeo. Both selections represent solid value, yet also display their versatility paired with food. Try the Tinto with grilled lamb and romesco or the Blanco with pan-seared sea scallops in lemon and herbed butter. The winery also produces another excellent white, Marina Alta ($11), made from the Muscat of Alexandria grape. This is the same variety used in the production of Italy’s semi-sweet Moscato d’Asti. However, this Spanish Moscatel is more reminiscent of an off-dry Alsatian-styled Muscat with intense stone fruits and fragrant bouquet. It’s a match for Maryland crab cakes or soft white cheeses like Mahón or Crottin. Apart from being the literary stomping grounds of Don Quixote, the community of Castilla-La Mancha is home to nearly two-thirds of all the vineyards in the country. One of the new regional stars of Spain is located here, within the denominacion of Jumilla. It’s a severe, dry place, with rainfall less than 12 inches annually. The best vineyards in Jumilla are those planted on primarily limestone-bearing soils with portions of sand and clay. These soils retain their scant precipitation well minimizing the adverse effects of heat stress in the vines. For a taste of Jumilla, try the latest offering from negociant Bernard Magrez. Luz del Palacio ($15) is a blend of 70% Monastrell and 30% Syrah hand-harvested from vines ranging from 20 to 80 years of age. It displays a deep violet color with supple black fruits on the palate and a revealing a hint of Syrah’s peppery spice. It’s a suitable wine for pairing with beef stew, roast chicken or grilled skirt steak with sautéed piquillo peppers.

Alicante

WINE LIST RED BRACHETTO

Villa Baglio Brachetto d’Acqui (p 13)

DORNFELDER

GEWÜRZTRAMINER

Valckenberg Dornfelder, Germany (p 13) Villa L Dornfelder, Germany (p 13)

Valckenberg Gewürztraminer (p 12)

GAGLIOPPO

Castillo de Alicante Gran Selección blanco (p 3)

MALBEC

MERLOT

Ca d’Gal Moscato d’Asti (p 12) La Ardilla Moscato (p 12) Loredona Moscato (p 12) Plumeria Sparkling Moscato (p 12)

NEBBIOLO

Collalto Pinot Grigio (p 11)

Ciro Colli del Mancuso (p 9) Ippolito 1845 Ciro Mancuso (p 9)

Bodega Norton sweet Malbec (p 13)

Stepping Stone 2012 Merlot (p 14)

Aldo Rainoldi Inferno (p 9) Aldo Rainoldi Prugnolo (p 9) Aldo Rainoldi Sassella Riserva (p 9)

RED BLEND

Capanne Vecchie Sangiovese/Cabernet (p 8) Capanne Vecchie Sangiovese/Merlot (p 8) Castillo de Alicante Gran Selección Tinto (p 3) Collalto Torrai Cabernet Riserva (p 11) Costarosa Sangue di Giuda (p 13) F Thienpont rouge (p 5) Luz del Palacio (p 3) Ste. Genevieve sweet red (p 13) Woodhaven sweet red (p 13)

ROUSSANNE

Les Cantates Roussanne (p 5)

SANGIOVESE

La Gerla Rosso Di Montalcino (p 5)

TEMPRANILLO

Amaris Tempranillo (p 13)

WHITE ALEXANDRIA

Marina Alta (p 3)

CHARDONNAY

2012 Shed Horn Chardonnay (p 14)

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CORTESE

La Monetta Gavi Di Gavi (p 8) Ottosoldi Gavi (p 8) Villa Baglio Gavi (p 8)

MACABEO

MOSCATO

PINOT GRIGIO RIESLING

Grace Lane Riesling (p 12) Johannes Selbach Harmonie (p 12) Moeller Piesporter Michelsberg Spatlese (p 12)

SANCERRE

Gitton Sancerre (p 5)

WHITE BLEND

Capanne Vecchie Bianco (p 8) Nadia Malvasia (p 12)

ROSÉ Bunan Bandol rosé (p 5) Ch la Roulerie Rosé d’Anjou (p 13) Collalto Spumante rosé (p 11) Les Ligeriens Rosé d’Anjou (p 13) Nadia Moscarosa (p 13) Ste Genevieve White Zinfandel (p 13)

SPARKLING Collalto Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG extra dry (p 11) Collalto Spumante rosé (p 11) Collalto Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG brut (p 11) Contadi Castaldi brut (p 8) Contadi Castaldi rosé (p 8) Contadi Castaldi satèn (p 8)

Wines to Cuddle By K AT H L E E N A N D E R S O N , N O R T H W E S T F L O R I D A W I N E S U P E R V I S O R

o here it comes, the day that holds horror in the hearts of many males: Valentine’s Day. AAAGGGG! What are you supposed to do? Flowers? Been there. Candy? Done that. Do you make a reservation at a restaurant that has 300 other reservations? There’s too much at stake! You’re gonna have to take this into your own hands.

First we find a few different cheeses and a nice light cracker or fresh bread—this is where you first think about the wine. Think French or Italian. That should help you going forward…with brie and camembert think Bordeaux. I recently attended a Bordeaux wine tasting and I think the F Thienpont ($13) red would go great. It’s a French blend (Merlot /Cabernet

I’m going to give you the best recipe yet for this most romantic of days—something romantic and special. This isn’t just for the guys; ladies listen up! You BOTH have a responsibility, one to another, to make this a great day. What better way to do that than by opening up a great bottle of red, white or bubbly? Sometimes a romantic night should be at your place with just your significant other. Now you just need to know what they like. You could go an easy way—make a simple dinner, rent a romantic movie and pair the wine with the food. But, what do you make? What do you pair? If you’re young and in love then you don’t want messy food; spaghetti may splatter. So let’s stay away from sauces. I think sticking with a picnic style will always score points. It’s light, and easy to eat finger foods won’t overstuff so you can stay in the romantic mood of the night. You can have picnic inside or outside, but I would recommend inside if this dalliance happens after dark.

Franc) that’s medium-bodied and full of rich berry. Or if you are in the mood for something a bit fuller, you can go with a southern French Rhône blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre). I recommend anything from Bila-Haut (from $12- $25)! If you like goat cheese, think Bunan Bandol rosé ($19) with f lavors of cranberry and rose, or Gitton Sancerre ($19)—full of citrus and lime. Then there’s our special Les Cantates Roussanne ($18), with its tropical fruit and light acidity. If you decide to serve something Italian you can use parma with prosciutto and pair it with one of our newest finds from Italy—Capanne Vecchie Bianco ($13), a crisp white blend made predominantly of Sauvignon Blanc. Again if you like a nice red, I would have to recommend Rosso Di Montalcino from La Gerla ($22). The great f lavor of Barollo without the price and you can drink it young with the bold, robust

blackberry. The great idea of having a picnic lends itself to any wine possible. Oh and don’t forget the dessert—and I do mean the sweets. This is where you can enjoy some lovely wines that are on the sweeter side to cuddle up with. You can pick and choose any of the wines mentioned here or you can jump straight to feeding each other cheesecake and sip on two frizzantes from Italy: Nadia Malvasia ($14), with fresh peach essence and honeysuckle, or go red with Giorgi CostaRosa Sangue di Giuda ($14), with its raspberry fruit bursting.

Just remember, when the day comes: picnic foods + wine = romance. It can be a lovely night; get ready to cuddle up with red, white, bubby or rosé. Any wine can be fun with the indoor picnic.

Planning Your Vacation?

Think Wine & Food!

B I L L S T O B B S , W E S T F L O R I D A W I N E S U P E RV I S O R

ook ing for somet hing new a nd dif ferent in t his year’s travel pla ns? There’s a whole new field of tourism out there showing tremendous growth: Enotourism, perhaps better k now n to us as w ine tourism. Wine tourism, as def t ly def ined by Austra lia n researchers Ha l l a nd Macionis, is “v isitation to v ineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for which grape wine tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of a grape wine region are the prime motivating factors for visitors.” In the first decade of this century, 27.3 million American travelers engaged in culinary/wine related activities and spent $3 billion dollars along the way. And these numbers continue to grow. Wineries the world over are jumping on the bandwagon offering tours, tastings, wine dinners, accommodations and more. Wines bought at the wineries now account for 33% of their average sales.

Sophisticated millennials – those between the ages of 18 and 35 – are changing the face of what a vacation is about. Out goes the checklist of museums and historical monuments. Travelers now are looking to immerse themselves in the

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loca l cu lture of a region or countr y, of which food and wine is a major part. They want to experience living like the locals. Among this group the number one vacation activity is dining out, and 79% of them primarily drink wine. They do not necessarily want top-rated, overly expensive restaurants. They want fresh, well-prepared local cuisine and local wine in a rustic or authentic setting. They want a unique experience that has social currency, or ‘bragging rights,’ among their friends. Instead of tours they want to meet and talk with characterful chefs and winemakers.

1. Tuscany: Tuscany has it all—great wine, fine restaurants, beautiful scenery, historic towns, wonderful characters. I can’t think of anything not to like.

The top 10 wine countries visited are:

1. France

6. Australia

2. Italy

7. Germany

3. Spain

8. South Africa

4. USA

9. Chile

5. Argentina

10. Portugal

Tuscany, Italy

2. Western Cape, South Africa: This area blew me away with its natural beauty. Beautiful people, fine dining (especially seafood!) and a new generation of winemakers who are defining quality.

South African wine tourism is seeing the strongest grow th and prof itability. Australia and Spain are also growing destinations. One of the problems of wine tourism is that when popular areas attract too many tourists they lose their chic appeal. Enotourists are always looking for somewhere unique, which is why regions and countries such as China, Greece, Mexico, the Finger Lakes in New York State, the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and Texas are gaining ground rapidly. Many of the world’s top wine destinations are as obvious as they are well-deserved: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany, Napa and Sonoma, Barossa, Barcelona/Cataluña, the Rhone Valley, Veneto, Mendoza, Champagne. We all have our favorite places—allow me to offer up my personal top 10 wine destinations:

Western Cape, South Africa

3. Savoie: Mountains always draw me and here you’re right in the French Alps! The food is simple but good. The wine, mostly small production whites, are also simple, but delicious.

4. Alsace: A picturesque little piece of France that looks like the Germany of old story books. The food also shows a German influence, as do many of the wine grapes. All offered up with an inimitable French style and élan. Domaine Weinbach, Alsace

5. Marlborough, New Zealand: You won’t find better natural scenery anywhere. The local cuisine and seafood is everything you can ask for. Of course there’s plenty of fine Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. But don’t forget the Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, rosé and Grüner Veltliner. And if you hop up to Hawke’s Bay, amaze yourself with their Syrah and Cabernet.

8. Moselle: Steep mountainsides, quaint villages and some of the best and most elegant Rieslings you’ll ever come across. 9. Clare Valley: In a sense the Clare Valley is Sonoma to Barossa’s Napa. A little more laidback and easy going, less aware of its legacy, more down-home. Try cycling the Riesling trail and don’t forget to stop occasionally for some of that fine Australian dry Riesling.

Clare Valley, Australia

10. Jerez: The architecture shouts Spain (with some Islamic influence) and there’s all those tapas bars to enjoy, not to mention the wonderful fino and amontillado sherries of the area, and of course the drama and passion of flamenco. Jerez Vineyards

Malborough, New Zeland

6. Trentino/Alto Adige: We’re back in the mountains again, this time in northeast Italy, where almost everything has an Italian name AND a German name. Some of the wines are German influenced as well. The whites are among the best in Italy and there’s some pretty interesting local reds like Lagrein and Teroldego, as well Pinot Nero. 7. Niederösterreich: I fell in love with the wines of Austria here. Many of the grape varieties are unfamiliar to most of us but look out for them. The countryside is beautiful and there’s also the charm of nearby Vienna, all wrapped up in the music of Mozart, Beethoven and Lehar.

IN CASE YOU BLINKED PA U L Q U A G L I N I

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here did 2014 go? I feel like I blinked my eyes and Father Time snatched another year away from us. It’s easy to lament the fact that as we grow older the years go by faster and faster, but what’s the alternative? My New Year’s resolution this year is to not stress over things I can’t control. Embrace life, enjoy the moment and drink lots of good wine on the journey. For those of you who overlooked some of our best new Italian wines of 2014, I would like to give you a little recap. Italy is home to over 2,400 different wines. It ranks near the top in both production and the spectrum of diversity of its wines. We do our best at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits to offer you interesting wines of outstanding quality. We look for not just the greatest wines (Barolo, Brunello, Taurasi) but also wines that might not have been on your radar before you entered our stores. The following is a short list of some of my favorite new Italian wines that made it to our shelves in 2014. Contadi Castaldi Satèn ($28) - This bubbly comes to us from the Franciacorta region of Italy. The Contadi Castaldi brut and Contadi Castaldi rosé have become favorites of our guests looking for high quality sparkling wine. But what is Satèn? Satèn is a term trademarked solely for Franciacorta DOCG. The regulations state that Satèn must use only

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white grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco). In addition, it must be bottled with five atmospheres or less of pressure instead of six. The combination of these elements results in a soft, creamy wine evoking the pleasure of silk. The Wine Advocate said, “The 2008 Contadi Castaldi Satèn is a beautifully sophisticated and compelling sparkling Chardonnay with enriched aromas of toasted almonds, melted butter, apricots and honey.” La Monetta Gavi Di Gavi ($15) - I’ve become a huge fan of this great white wine of Piedmont. A few years ago we had no Gavi on our shelves. Today we have three great expressions of the Cortese grape: Villa Baglio Gavi, Ottosoldi Gavi and now our newest addition La Monetta Gavi. Gavi is produced from the Cortese grape and in the hands of a good produce it creates a wine that is bone dry with f loral and peach notes backed by bracing acidity. La Monetta Gavi is a lip smacking white to enjoy with seafood or as an aperitif. Capanne Vecchie Bianco ($13) - Another high quality, delicious white wine, this one comes to us from Tuscany. Capanne Vecchie Bianco is a blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Trebbiano Toscano. It joins its big brothers Capanne Vecchie Sangiovese/ Cabernet and Capanne Vecchie Sangiovese/ Merlot as some of the best bang for your buck wines you can find in our stores.

Ippolito 1845 Ciro Mancuso ($22) We wanted to strengthen the Southern Italian part of our portfolio last year. More specifically we were looking for wines from Calabria. The choice was an easy one. With over 160 years of history, Ippolito 1845 is the oldest winery in Calabria. The Ippolito family produces wines with elegance, exclusivity and identity with its own territory. Their Ciro Colli del Mancuso is a single vineyard wine from Gaglioppo, the most ancient and noble grape variety of Calabria. The wine boasts perfumes of wild cherry and plums with subtle notes of spices and vanilla. Yum! Aldo Rainoldi Prugnolo ($22) - Last spring I had the opportunity to visit Valtellina, one of the most dramatic wine landscapes in the world. Located in the far reaches of the Italian Alps, this patchwork of vineyards hanging onto incredibly steep slopes was breathtaking, to say the least. Aldo Rainoldi, one of the region’s top winemakers, crafts age worthy wines produced from 100% Nebbiolo grapes. We are currently able to offer you three of Aldo’s wines: Aldo Rainoldi Prugnolo, Inferno and Sassella Riserva. The Prugnolo is the most approachable of the wines at the moment offering notes of plum, cherry, smoke and hazelnut.

Dr. Seuss once eloquently wrote, “My goodness how the time has f lewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Well, 2015 is here and before you know it we’ll be saying, “I can’t believe it’s already 2016!” Father Time waits for no one, so why wait for him? Let’s all us wine lovers resolve to have the best year ever and include plenty of vino on the voyage.

Thoughts on

BORDEAUX BRAD LEWIS, DIRECTOR OF WINE SALES

he new Wine Spectator has a picture of Corinne Mentzelopoulos, owner of Château Margaux, on the cover with one of her dogs. I thought “I k now that dog.” Searching through my pictures I found one of the hound in question. It was at a dinner at Château Margaux in 2013 and the dog sat next to me nearly the whole night. He k new a sof t touch when he found one. Unfortunately for him, Corinne warned me not to feed him at the table. Sorr y, pooch.

That started me thinking about the vagaries of vintage in Bordeaux. We are squarely between two ver y different vintages, one with a lot of diff iculties and one with good promise. 2013 was one of those years when nothing seemed to go right. It started late with weak f lowering and cold, rainy weather; progressed through better weather in the summer and, just when things looked brighter, the bottom fell out with rain in August. It’s the kind of year when the real stars show their mettle. The work started in the vineyards where rot was a big problem and a ver y strict selection of the ripest fruit was necessar y. It is never easy for a vintner to throw away fruit and concentrate on the best he has, however little that may be. Decades ago it wasn’t done. Whatever was har vested went into the bottle. Most of the ‘72s should never have carried the estate

name. Warm, drier weather in September and October helped save the vintage from being another 1972 but was too little, too late for a quality year. Work in the cellar was just as important. Some vintners will overcompensate and tr y to make something that just isn’t there. Too much extraction in a year like this yields unbalanced wines high in tannin and with little charm. The successful wines were made by those who took what the vintage gave them and made balanced wines with enough alcohol and in a lighter style that will be enjoyable, if not wines for the cellar. Fortunately, prices came down in most cases. As is of ten the case, a wet year for the reds was good for the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac where a little rot is a good thing at the right time. I don’t always taste all of the Sauternes in the spring but 2013 was a year for it and it was worth the time. The wines have the classic concentration and structure of a great year. Waiting for just the right amount of rot but not too much and picking carefully is like playing with a hand grenade—but in this year the pin stayed in. I’m hearing fairly good things about 2014 so far. I asked Jef f Dav ies of Signature Selections his f irst impressions of t he 2014 v intage a nd t hese are some of his comments: “Well, I think it’s fair to say that, af ter a cool and rainy August, the warm, sunny and dr y weather in September, followed by much of the same during most of October, saved our derrières! Sort of an Indian summer to the rescue scenario.” “The ver y dr y weather in September caused many grapes to wither or even raisin so serious sorting was de rigueur.”

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“Cabernet Sauvignon in the Médoc looks quite good, even when it was brought in at the end of September. Cabernet Franc is surprisingly good, as is the Petit Verdot this year, much of it brought in, unusually, before the Cabernet.” “On the R ight Bank, Pomerol har vested f irst while much of Saint Émilion was the last region to be har vested. Properties like Fleur Cardinale f inished on October 25th! Colors are ver y deep where I have tasted, aromas are bright and blue, almost black berr y, fruit dominant. Palate feel even before malo is surprisingly lush with f ine quality tannins.”

“Quantity is way up (over) 2013 even if it’s slightly below Bordeaux’s 10-year average. Hopefully that, among many other factors, will encourage owners to exercise reason when pricing their wines next spring!” 2014 is t he k ind of v intage t hat needs to be tasted, as t here w i l l be variation, but many buyers only go in the super years. I’m not compla i n i ng. It ’s a lways ea sier to get around when there aren’t so many people in town. I’m sure I’ ll f ind some real bargains.

COLLALTO

and the Rise of Prosecco AT A N A S N E C H K O V, C E N T R A L F L O R I D A W I N E S U P E R V I S O R

n t he past 10 years, prosecco has risen from relative obscurit y to one of t he best-sel ling spark ling w ines on the US market. Massive advertising from the large wine suppliers and distributors certainly contributed to the success. The idea was to save money by trading down from Champagne. But is the consumer really getting a bargain? Most prosecco is produced on a ver y large, industrial scale resulting in a less-than-exciting product. For that reason, in this case, only the best will do; that name is, all wine professionals agree, Collalto. Azienda Agricola Conte Collalto is one of the oldest and most inf luential winemaking estates in northeastern Italy. Collalto’s family roots date back as far as 958 AD. In that year, Berengarius II, King of Italy, leased to Count Rambaldo I, illustrious ancestor of the Collalto family, the contea, or county, of Lovadina, with all of its f ields, pasturelands, woods and vineyards. For over a thousand years, the Collalto family has tenaciously preser ved its agricultural patrimony, through countless political seasons, wars and ever-changing social systems and fashions. Princess Isabella Collalto is currently at the reins of the estate. This is not an ordinar y winer y: The Conte Collalto estate is an ecological oasis without peer among all the ecosystems of northern Italy. Signif icant investments over the years have helped to preser ve the natural environment by applying only the most appropriate forms of land conser vation and sustainable farming. Its 150 hectares (371 acres) of vineyards are harmoniously surrounded by magnif icent, centuries-old olive trees, dense woods, f ields and grazing pastures, where cattle

and horses, woodcocks, pheasants, hare and boar reign undisturbed. Conte Collalto produces wine exclusively from its own estate-grown grapes and performs ever y step from grape-growing to vinif ication and bottling in its historic cellars at Susegana. The Glera grape—the main variety of proseccos—represents the heart of Conte Collalto’s wine production. Full 160 acres of the estate’s 371 acres of vineyard are dedicated to this noble variety. This green-skinned variety has been grown for hundreds of years in the Veneto and Friuli regions, and is now off icially recognized as the Glera grape. The prosecco-Glera name change happened in 2009, when Prosecco di ConeglianoValdobbiadene was promoted to full DOCG status. The name prosecco is now reser ved exclusively for wines covered by Italy’s off icial prosecco appellation titles and should not be used for the grape variety. Prosecco is made with a minimum of 85% of the Glera grape and up to a ma ximum amount of 15% of Verdiso, Bianchetta, Perera and Glera Lunga. Currently available at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits are the Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG brut (which comes in at $18 and accounts for 550,000 of the 850,000 total bottle production by Collalto) and the extra dr y ($16). Collalto Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG brut is one of few proseccos made in this dr yer style. It shows bright red apple notes and the crisp acidity of the Extra Dr y with a f irm, dr y f inish. It’s better with food than most extra dr y wines. A couple of prizes have been won by this wine in competition: The 2010 vintage

was awarded bronze from the International Wine Challenge, and the 2013 vintage was awarded silver from the Decanter World Wine Awards. Collalto Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG extra dr y is deliciously fruity and velvet-smooth. This full-f lavored, crisp and elegant bubbly displays that wonderful enjoyability which has made it the spark ling wine of choice for so many prosecco af icionados around the world. Other favorites and best-selling wines from Collalto are: Collalto Spumante rosé ($19) is intensely fragrant, releasing scents of rose petal and lime blossom, with a long, lingering distinctiveness that sets this wine apart; dr y and refreshing with an aroma-laden f inish that seems endless. Collalto Pinot Grigio ($14) is in line with Conte Collalto’s winemaking philosophy, yielding a wine with strikingly full tonality, a silk-smooth palate and enticing aromas and f lavors of sweet citrus, apple and white f lowers. To be enjoyed as aperitif or with lighter appetizers and seafood dishes. Collalto Torrai Cabernet Riser va ($30) is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère, aged in barrique. This medium-intensity wine shows saturated ruby color, f irm framework with ripe tannins and aromas and f lavors of red fruits, currant and spicy notes of pepper and vanilla. The Torrai Cabernet pairs well with roasted meats, pasta with red sauce and aged cheeses. Salut!

“SAAA...WEEEEEET!” S H AY N E H E B E RT

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weet wines, no matter if they are red, white or pink, are certainly polarizing. As popular now as ever, beginning way back (as far back as my memory goes) with Lancers and Mateus, forward to Lambrusco and Asti Spumanti, on to the White Zinfandel blitz, to our current Moscato and Sangue di Giuda craze—one sweet wine or another always seems to hold center stage. Yet all this time, many “real wine drinkers” would rather die than be caught in line buying these, or anything sweet for that matter! Ah, yes, you should all like what I like, right? Sweet wines have been around for at least as long as dry wines, and many of the most famous wines throughout history were—you guessed it—sweet. Pliny the Elder drank them, as did Ausonius and the Roman emperors. More recently, like in the last century or two, sweet wines were the wine of choice. Australia’s wine industry was founded on the sweet stuff: Moscatel, Tokay and Port style wines, all with elevated alcohol levels. Well, yes, but that is them Down Under… not us here, right? Wrong. Same story in California. Early Mission grapes in the hot sun, ripe and loaded with sugars, fermented into pretty potent stuff, and you can bet they were sweet, too. To be fair, let’s divide the sweet wines of the world in half so we don’t step on any toes. Some of the greatest wines made— today and two hundred years ago—are sweet. Sauternes, Porto and German Eiswein and TBA, among others, are expensive, world-class and age-worthy. But like Classified Growth Bordeaux or Opus One, not everyone buys them or even understands them. Sure, I like them just fine; they’re the top sweet wines in the world and I appreciate their greatness, but for me they just come in too big of a bottle. If they all came in an airplane-sized bottle I would enjoy them more and waste less. The sweet wines I am taking a crack at here are the pop-genre wines selling in the same price tier as most of the dry wines we offer—between $6 and $15. These wines come in all colors, styles and prices. So for a moment, let’s put aside the “great” sweet wines of the world and focus in on all of the other sweet wines out there. Realistically, these are what many people are drinking; these are the wines many people who are “new” to wine drinking are buying! Let’s look at the affordable ones—the nice everyday wines so many people are drawn to, regardless of how the wine snobs feel about them.

WHITE WINES: Most could be made dry, but the American palate prefers more residual sugar in some of these. Chardonnay, regardless of price or provenance, is dry. The market does not require a sweet one. Conversely, there are many great dry Rieslings and Moscatos, yet the sweeter versions seem to be the style. All grapes are sweet; the sugar in sweet wine is either put there or left there by design. I often hear, “Oh, I don’t like Riesling. It’s too sweet,” which is obviously not true. Yes, most of the German Riesling we offer is sweet (Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese), but a visit to Germany will uncover what they are hiding. Easier yet, just ask your wine consultant to hunt you down a Selbach Riesling trocken or halb-trocken and see the other side of Riesling! RIESLING Grace Lane Riesling, Washington State ($11) Harmonie from Johannes Selbach and ABC’s Brad Lewis, Germany ($12) Moeller Piesporter Michelsberg Spätlese, Germany ($14) MOSCATO Loredona Moscato, California ($9) Plumeria Sparkling Moscato, Italy ($10) Ca d’Gal Moscato d’Asti, Italy ($17) La Ardilla Moscato, Spain ($12) GEWÜRZTRAMINER Valckenberg Gewürztraminer, Germany ($12) BLENDS/VARIETALS Nadia Malvasia, Italy ($14)

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course, but with 20% ABV, it is probably not the best dinner wine. Lambrusco is sweet, but if you recommended it, you would get that look…you know that look, the one that says, without saying a word, “You aren’t the wine guy, are you?” Please don’t think there is anything wrong with Lambrusco; I drank it plenty! There really weren’t many alternatives, but so much has changed. Someone somewhere was listening, because today, amidst all the thousands of dry reds, when someone asks for a sweet one, our offerings span the globe from Spain, Argentina, America, France, Germany and of course, Italy. This new breed of reds are more serious wines, made mainly from the same grape varieties used for dry wine. They’re not your grandfather’s mountain Burgandy….or is it Burgundy?

PINK WINES: Ask a hundred people their first impression of pink wines and a huge percent will automatically say, “Sweet!” And they would be correct. In most New World countries, pink wines are sweet, like White Zinfandel, blush jug wine, white Merlot, etc. Lancers and Mateus, both from Portugal, are both sweet, yet most likely made not for the Portuguese but for the American market. Most European rosé is dry. In France, nearly all rosé wines are dry (trust me on this one; I speak from experience) with the one popular exception of Rosé d’Anjou from the Loire Valley. WHITE ZINFANDEL Ste Genevieve White Zinfandel, Texas ($5) ROSÉ Ch la Roulerie Rose d’Anjou, France ($11) Les Ligeriens Rose d’Anjou, France ($10) BLEND Nadia Moscarosa, Italy ($14)

RED WINES: Up until very recently, when we were asked for a sweet red wine, we would all look at each other with that “deer in the headlights” look. Nobody wanted to tackle the answer! The choices were not really choices at all. Porto of

DORNFELDER Villa L Dornfelder, Germany ($11) Valckenberg Dornfelder, Germany ($10) VARIETALS Amaris Tempranillo, Spain ($10) Bodega Norton sweet Malbec, Argentina ($10) Villa Baglio Brachetto d’Acqui, Italy ($14) BLENDS CostaRosa Sangue di Giuda, Italy ($14) Ste. Genevieve sweet red, Texas ($5) Woodhaven sweet red, California ($6)

A Look Back at

the Best Wines of 2014 KEN AMENDOLA

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@ABCWINEKENA

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KENA@ABCFWS.COM

he other day a friend of mine and I were talking wine and she asked me what my favorite wines of the past year were. That got me thinking: Soon you will start to see everyone’s “Best of 2014” lists come out about everything from cars and movies to toys and hamburgers. Trying to decide what the best wines that I enjoyed in 2014 were would really be putting a strain on my memory, but there were a couple that did make quite an impression. Some of the wines I got a chance to drink are some very interesting and unique wines that will certainly stay in my memory for a considerably long time. This is because a great wine always leaves me with a sense of place and time, a Rolodex of memories of who I was with, where we were, and even what we were eating when I had a wine of true distinction. This is the kind of wine that brings drinking pleasure to people on a daily basis, not just special occasion kind of wines. The bottles of wine that make Tuesday meatloaf taste better than it usually does.

scents. In the mouth, it is full-bodied, with thrilling levels of extract and richness, but no sense of heaviness or harshness…This wine offers early drinking, yet has the potential to last for 30+ years.” I only have one bottle of this left, but I don’t think I can hold out from drinking it much longer and definitely not for 10 more years!

Earlier this year I went to dinner with one of my best friends in the world—a dinner we have a few times a year, but never often enough. It usually takes place at a restaurant that serves delicious grilled beef, though the wines are always the center of our attention. At one of these meals we had what is probably my favorite bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon, the 1994 Dominus. This top producer of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon located in Yountville, makes what I believe to be one of California’s most Bordeaux-like wines. Those who are familiar with this wine won’t find this to be such a pronouncement— the owner of Dominus, Christian Moueix, is family to one of the greatest of Bordelaise wines, Petrus. The wines made at Dominus are consistently some of Napa Valley’s finest, but the 1994 has always been a favorite of mine. In 1997, world-renowned wine critic Robert Parker Jr. had this to say about the ’94 Dominus, that he awarded a score of 99 points:

much heralded Cabernet Sauvignons. Shafer Vineyards is one of Napa Valley’s premier wineries. In a retrospective on the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Hillside Select, Mr. Parker called the 2003, “an utterly perfect wine, surpassing almost everything else made in 2003! It possesses everything one could desire in a Cabernet Sauvignon—minerality, f lowers, crème de cassis, blackberries, velvety tannins, a skyscraper texture, perfect balance and integration between the acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood, all well-concealed by the luxurious nature of this great wine.” All three of these prodigious wines were awarded 100-point ratings. It makes me very happy to know that I have one bottle of the 2001 Hillside resting comfortably in its wine locker.

“The wine exhibits a dense purple color and an incredibly fragrant nose of jammy black fruits, spice, smoke and loamy, truff le-like wine journal | 14

Another wine that I had the great pleasure to enjoy in 2014 was the 2003 Shafer Hillside Select, another one of the Napa Valley’s

These are two monster wines that I had the great pleasure to drink this past year, but they are definitely not the norm as far as my dayto-day wine drinking goes. For that I want to tell you about a couple of wines I get to enjoy much more often. The first is a wine produced by Cornerstone Vineyards, a winery that has become one of my truly favorite producers

of high quality California wines. The wine is their Stepping Stone 2012 Merlot ($17). This fairly small production Merlot has singlehandedly renewed my faith in affordable California Merlot. This wine is a rich, dark purple-colored Merlot which has great body and strength wrapped around a core of ripe plum, blackberry and currant, with a spicy note and a wonderful finish. Those of you who have not been visiting or enjoying many of the Merlots that California has offered should give this wine a good look…you won’t be sorry. My attitude toward most California Merlots had nothing to do with the movie Sideways (can you believe it’s been 10 years?). The movie just reaffirmed what I had been preaching for a while about the cookie-cutter Merlot that had been thrust upon us for so long—they are much better now. On the white wine side of things, I opened a bottle of the 2012 Shed Horn Chardonnay ($18) from Lake County, California, not too long ago. What a terrific bottle of Northern California Chardonnay! This wine could and even should cost more than it does compared to many of the other typical California Chardonnays in this price range—nice to find a white wine these days that over-delivers! This is a nicely balanced, complex wine that comes right at you with wonderful aromas of melon and tropical fruits. From there the f lavors of Granny Smith apple, Anjou pears and rich vanilla custard grab your attention until the toasty, vanilla oak finish takes you home. This is a nice way to introduce your friends to Chardonnay done right and at a fair price. If you haven’t had a chance to drink this quality Chardonnay, please stop what you’re doing and get down to your nearest ABC and buy a bottle or two…you can thank me later! This was not an easy list to put together with all the terrific wines we get the opportunity to try throughout the year, but these top my list for 2014. I’m looking forward to 2015 to see which wines will make next year’s list! Hope you enjoyed your top wines as much as I did; until next time, cheers!

8989 South Orange Ave. Orlando, Florida 32824

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WATCH:

Oakville East Exposure

Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 VI NTAGE: AR OMA:

CHOCOLATE, ROASTED FRUIT, RASPBERRIES, VIOLETS AND SWEET TOASTY OAK B LEND:

Cabernet Sauvignon WITH 21% CABERNET FRANC

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F L AVO R:

Hard tannins, black currant and dark chocolate flavors with sweet cherry jam C O L O R:

DEEP violet F I N I S H:

VELVETY RE GI O N :

Vaca Mountains, Oakville, Napa Valley, California PA I R

WI TH:

Lamb, beef and poultry RATI NG:

Wine Enthusiast