Planet Stoppenhagen

Wednesday Wine of the Week #11

1995 Allegrini Valpolicella Classico Superiore "La Grola"

Welcome back to the Wednesday Wine of the Week feature on Planet Stoppenhagen. I apologize for the delay, but that is what happens sometimes. We are back, though, with a great wine that I was pleasantly surprised about.

Valpolicella Classico Superiore comes from the area around Fumane, Italy in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. It lies roughly 15 miles or so due west of Venice.

I think that most Valpolicella Classico wines are underappreciated by casual drinkers. It is often seen as a lesser-priced, often highly inferior wine on a by-the-glass option on a cheap Italian restaurant's wine list. Typically, it can be thin, light and fairly basic wine not offering much. This has much to do with the fact that typical Valpolicella Classico wines are not aged in oak, so the result is high-fruit and low-complexity. Not only that, but the components of the wine likely will not be winning any popularity contests as the grapes are not ones you see on any labels here in the States. The grapes that are required for DOC status are Corvina Veronese (40-70%), Rondinella (20-40%) and Molinara (5-20%). They can also add up to 15% blending varieties, such as Rossignola, Negrara, Trentina, Barbera and Sangiovese to complement the initial, core blend.

However, the common sentiments I just highlighted are focused around the Valpolicella Classico wines. Valpolicella Classico Superiore is different. The Superiore postscript makes all the difference. The addition of at least a year of oak ageing and/or the passing over of the pressed grape juice over and through the removed skins and stems adds rich, smooth tannin and structure and higher levels of complexity. Still high in fruit on the nose, Valpolicella Classico Superiore that is of high-quality will harmoniously balance the fruit with the earthy "savory" components of the wood.

Another popular Valpolicella wine is the expensive and powerful Amarone Della Valpolicella which I will write about and review in another blog posting another day.

This particular bottle I have had in my cellar for a number of years. I think that I have had it for about six or seven years or so. I felt like doing an Italian wine for the return of the WWW on the blog and figured this was a great candidate. A 1995, I was a bit concerned if this bottle of wine was still drinking well or if I had somehow managed to hold onto it too long. It was given to me about six or seven years ago and was probably roughly $15 or so back then. The current vintage on the shelves is probably still the 2001, with the arrival of the 2002 due in mid-to-late summer, I would guess. The Allegrini (which is a very reliable and famous producer in the Veneto) Valpolicella Classico Superiore now goes for roughly $20.00 to $25.00.

On to the tasting notes...(keep in mind that these notes are for a 10+ year old bottle and, thus, has typical bottle-aged characteristics. A current vintage will have fresher vibrant characteristics.)

Clear. Medium color intensity that is a brick-red to mahogany in the core and leading out to a fairly wide light tawny rim. A copious amount of long thin tears or legs that seem to cling to the glass for a good amount of time. A beautiful color. The nose is clean and of a medium intensity, which is to say that the aromas are not too powerful that you could smell it without your nose directly into the glass, but you also do not need to stick your nose far into the glass, either. The nose is clearly aged showing more of the raisinous and earthy characteristics of aged wine. Nice floral notes of roses and violets along with richer characteristics of brown sugar, baked cherry and slight touches of vanilla and molasses. This is a dry wine of medium to pronounced intensity. The tannins are very smooth and enveloping giving the wine a very nice feel in the mouth. There is a good amount of fruit in this wine and shows a harmonious symbiosis of baked cherry cobbler, bitter chocolate and a touch of cedar. The acidity is crisp and vibrant with a relatively low alcohol content (13%). A long, satisfying fruit-forward finish that lasts.

Overall a wonderful wine that would pair well with both lighter dishes due to the amount of fruit that plays a major role and heavier dishes like meats and stews due to the amount of structure and balance from the tannins. Again, keep in mind that the wines on the store shelves are younger and will display fresher vibrant characteristics, but will age for a good five to ten years in good conditions. This is a great wine for late winter and early spring when you are in the mood for a red wine but do not want to be bothered with overpowering wines like Zin and Cabs.

Cheers!

We Are Scientists

Good show, albiet only 45 minutes. A little strife amongst band members too, perhaps, I think, maybe. No matter. Worth the ten bucks to see them in a 200-person-tops venue.

Steph and Mark Hansen

Phil, Katie and part of Shiv

WWWW ( Where's Wednesday Wine of the Week?)

Sorry for the two week absence of the WWW feature on Planetstoppenhagen.com. (Like you really missed it, right?) The first week I was tending to a cruddy kid that left me too weary to write about anything. Then I spent this past week recovering from similar ailments that frankly left my palate pretty ineffective. I suppose I could have simply gone back to my past wine notes and done one of those, but I simply didn't have the energy to sit down and write about it. I promise that this coming week (the 29th) will bring us another WWW feature.

Until then, have a glass and smile.

Cheers!
Dan

A taste of "home".

Dan, Malcolm and Steph

Dan, Steph and Dan Feinberg

Dan Feinberg, Steph and Malcolm

It was our distinct pleasure to welcome a good friend from England here in Denver this past week. Malcolm Miller who works for the MOD at RAF Mildenhall in England where Steph worked, was in town for a conference. So it was great to see him and have him over to our house for dinner. It was a nice evening where we were also fortunate enough to have Mr. Dan Feinberg over as well, a CH2M Hill counterpart to Steph based in DC. Ahhh. A evening of wine and conversations about sheep. What could be finer?

Sorry, Mr. Nutt, Mr. Rush and Adrian. Maybe next time you'll be fortunate enough to make the business trip to the US to spend some quality time with your favorite (favourite) Americans!! Until then, you can gaze upon these pictures with dear longing!

Cheers!

Strokes show sells underwear... thanks to John

Strokes sell underwear!

Click HERE for more Strokes pictures on our gallery.

Upcoming shows...
3/25 - We Are Scientists - Hi-Dive
4/21 - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Filmore Auditorium
4/24 - She Want's Revenge - Bluebird Theater
4/28 - Massive Attack - Fillmore Auditorium
And, with summer coming, I am sure a lot, lot more!

Jamie Cullum

Friday night we went to a little gig at the Ogden Theater here in Denver to see Jamie Cullum, a British superstar we got familiar with when we lived there. He's pretty huge there, and fast getting huge here. In his twenties, this kid has an amazing talent and remarkable showmanship. His energy spills out to the crowd which paints smiles on the faces of all the patrons in the room as they bop and nod to the beats.

A mixture of jazz, pop and rock, Jamie has an amazing ability to spin his own touch on some old 60's and 70's iconic standards - "Wind Cries Mary" by Hendrix and "Rocket Man" by Sir Elton John and others.

So is he only a cover artist? No way. His talents for original songwriting is unparalleled. Check out his latest tune, "London Skies" from his current album, "Catching Tales" and the title track from his debut album "Twentysomething".

If you are looking to add some great music to your collection, get "Catching Tales" and/or "Twentysomething".

Here are a few pics...

Wednesday Wine of the Week #10

2000 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

"Life is a Cabernet". You may have seen this tag line on license plate frames or on T-shirts or on bumper stickers. This is the motto/slogan for Silver Oak Cellars, one of Napa Valley's premier producers. The reason for the slogan is pretty clear, actually. Silver Oak produces no other wine but Cabernet Sauvignon. Starting back in the early 70's, Silver Oak has been making world-class Cabs for over 30 years now. In the world of wine, they are technically still "wet behind the ears" and are basically infants. However, Silver Oak has developed a strong reputation in their relatively brief existence.

Silver Oak is available everywhere. You would be hard-pressed to not be able to find this one. However, it is not cheap. The low-end Silver Oak, the Alexander Valley retails for usually no less than $70.00 and the flagship offering, the Napa Valley, retails for no less than $100.00 per 750 ml. bottle.

Is it worth it? Sometimes. In peak years, Silver Oak can provide quite complex flavor spectrums and amazing aging potential. The philosophy of Silver Oak is to produce the best Cab Sauv possible by utilizing more laborious and time-consuming techniques such as aging the wines in barrel for up to five years (most Napa Cabs are aged in barrel for only 3 years) creating a silky smooth and complex wine. In off vintages, winemakers are challenged to produce a product that can compete for the prices that top vintages have garnered. Silver Oak does not really have this problem like other producers have. They have developed a "cult" following. The name "Silver Oak", regardless of vintage, is one of those wines that can command high prices not matter the vintage quality.

We enjoyed this wine this past weekend while we were up in Buena Vista (see the blog entry below for pics). Our hosts, Jon and Kelli Strother celebrated both of their birthdays last weekend and celebrated with a bottle of the 2000 Silver Oak Napa Valley. A gift to Kelli from Jon, Kelli was elated as both the Alexander Valley and the Napa Valley offerings are two of her favorite wines. I, also, was delighted since it is not everyday that one has the opportunity to enjoy a Silver Oak (Napa Valley, at that).

Here are my tasting notes...

Clear. Mahogany core leading to a thin, watery and tawny rim. Medium to deep intensity, I can see to the bottom of the glass, but the writing on the paper where I placed the glass is hard to see through the wine. A good number of thick, slow-forming and slow-moving tears or legs ring the glass after swirling.
Clean nose, no faults. A five-plus year old wine, the complexities on the nose are still developing. There are still fresh fruit aromas on the nose that indicate that the wine still has a number of years to go in bottle before, in my opinion, is ready to show more complexities that come with bottle age. Some of the aroma characteristics that were observed were vanilla, oak, cedar, clove, coffee, chocolate, herbaceous notes of leaves and green-pepper along with fruit-driven notes of cherry and raspberry.
The wine is dry and surprisingly a bit tannic. I was anticipating a smoother tannin, but was struck with the gripping nature of these tannins. I was also startled in the "greenness" of the wine. This is just to reinforce my observation earlier about the nose having more fresh characteristics than aged characteristics and that this wine could really benefit from more bottle age to soften these "green" qualities. Vibrant moderate to high acidity and quite full-bodied. The alcohol is high, leaving a slight heat on the palate. The flavor spectrum includes touches of cedar, blackberry and cassis, earthy, herbaceous characteristics like muted green pepper and coffee as well. Shockingly, a relatively short finish that reveals a lot less complexity than I was expecting.

My final assessment is that this wine is a decent wine that unfortunately does not live up to the Silver Oak "hype". For the price, there are a number of fabulous wines out there. In fact there are a number of wines out there for a fraction of the price that can hold their own against Silver Oak. Unfortunately, Silver Oak has the brand-name mystique that can sustain the down vintages (2000 was one vintage in Napa that was a down one and subsequently broke a string of five or six years of stellar vintages) and still command the high prices. My suggestion? Skip the 2000 and spend your money on a better vintage (99, 97, 95 and 94), regardless of producer.

Buena Vista

Mount Princeton. The Collegiate Peaks, Buena Vista, Colorado.

This weekend we were delighted to be invited to the cabin and home (two separate dwellings) of Karen and Scott Strother. They are the parents of our good friends Kelli and Jon Strother. We were able to go up and meet them up there with their kids Marin and Lucas.

This was our first trip together to the mountains since returning to Denver back in October. Finally. A very relaxing trip (if you overlook the fact that there were three kids and four dogs to keep things lively - Ethan got a nice little whack on the eye from one of the dogs that made things interesting) and much needed.

We took a lot of pictures of the festivities and the scenery. Go to the GALLERY BY CLICKING HERE to see the pictures.

By the way, if you are looking for a peaceful, scenic place to spend some time on vacation, check out the Strother's cabin HERE. WORTH IT!!!

a denver nite w/ the brits - full of Brit-speak - what is that anyway?

A spectacular dinner w/ steph,dan,susan,jonathan,katie and philip, followed by:

decent conversation- dan, jonathan, philip

hours in the wine cellar

katie and alex-exhausted of all the fun. Cheers!

Reading

We have had tremendous weather the past few days. 77 yesterday, high 60's on Monday and looking to be another good one today. Ethan took the opportunity to hang out on the back deck in the sun after breakfast to read a book to Alex. Come on summer!!

Wednesday Wine of the Week #9

2004 Muirwood Vineyards (Arroyo Seco Vineyards) Pinot Noir Arroyo Seco

BARGAIN ALERT!!!!

Pinot Noir. The current en vogue varietal is enjoying tremendous success after the hit film, Sideways. In the film, the protagonist, Miles, is a keen wine enthusiast who professes his undying devotion to the grape and vehemently despises all things Merlot. This now-famous stance has led to dramatic decline in Merlot sales and even more dramatic increase in Pinot Noir sales in this country and abroad as well. In fact, working in the wine shops in England, I heard many people looking for Pinot citing the film as their impetus for trying it in lieu of their traditional standby, Merlot. One young Cambridge couple, after viewing the film up the road at the cinema, came directly to the shop where I worked, Cambridge Wine Merchants, looking specifically for California Pinot, or, barring that, at least any affordable Pinot since they had never really tried it. Incidentally, I also worked with a real twit at this same establishment who shared the now-popular notion that Merlot was suddenly rubbish and that only novice drinkers even bother with it. Little did this little arrogant Cambridge ponce (and the character Miles in the movie) know was that one of the world's foremost Bordeaux wines, Château Pétrus, is normally no less than 95% Merlot. Its most recent auction price, per bottle, for the 2000 vintage went for $2,644.00 at Sotheby's. Although, I believe Miles position had more to do with the mainstream craze surrounding mediocre California Merlot over the years than the actual grape, itself.

Anyway, back to Pinot Noir. Pinot has always been a remarkable grape. It is a fickle grape, requiring ideal growing conditions to thrive. Thin skinned, it requires mild to cool weather or else the grape will falter due to the heat. Likewise, it cannot be too cold, either. This means that the best places to grow Pinot Noir is in the Burgundy region of France (even more specifically, the Cote de Nuits), Oregon, New Zealand and Northern California.

This week's wine is from Muirwood Vineyards (Arroyo Seco Vineyards) in the moderate to cool Central Coast region of California. Arroyo Seco Vineyards is located about an hour south of Monterey. Their Pinot Noir, Muirwood, is a wine that we distribute at the company I work for, Baum Wine. I had the recent opportunity to taste the wine when we opened it for a client to taste. Wow. Right now, it is hard to find a Pinot that is really worth anything for much less than $20 a bottle. This is one of those bottles. If your local shop carries it, get it! Don't hesitate. This may be the best Pinot under $20 I have ever had. You will likely find it in the shops for roughly $12 to $13. If your shop doesn't have it, ask them to special order it for you. It is likely that one of their suppliers will be able to get their hands on it for you. I don't think you'll be disappointed. It is a very nice wine. Sorry, my British mates, this is a stateside wine only. I do not believe that they export.

So, on to the tasting notes...

Clear. Light in color intensity. Light garnet in the core leading out to a thin light watery garnet rim. Clean nose. Medium to pronounced flavor intensity. Clearly a young wine with fresh vibrant fruit tones on the nose. Immediately, scents of dark cherry and touches of vanilla come to the front. Oak and cherry cobbler aromas present themselves as well. The wine is dry and light to medium bodied. The tannins are soft and supple, gently filling the mouth and accentuating the feel of the body. The acidity is crisp and refreshing. Moderate in alcohol, the wine has a touch of heat but not overwhelming. Flavors that come across is light cherry and vanilla, once again. Quite moderate in intensity, it is less pronounced than New Zealand Pinot's and more akin to Burgundy, dare I say. The finesse on the finish is a nice touch. A long flavor filled finish does not turn hot or green on the end - just smooth and fruit-filled. This wine will also remain in top form for a day or two after opening, provided it is kept relatively cool and re-sealed. It is not necessary to refridgerate it after opening. Ageing (cellaring) is not necessary, either, but this wine would hold up to about three years of cellaring if desired.

This is a great wine for the price. Sure, there are other more complex multi-dimensional Pinot Noir offerings out there from all over the world, but this one is a fantastic bottle to clamor to get your hands on. Not only will you be getting a textbook example of a Pinot Noir, you will be saving a lot of money in the process. I think that is something to toast to, don't you? Cheers!