Post-Holiday Normalizing

Wine Travel Beyond the Socials

Back to regular programming…whilst catching up on life at home, ignoring my New Year’s resolutions and goals, and booking trips because I can’t not have something planned.

As these first few weeks of the new year have focused largely on regrouping post travel and holiday chaos, this week I put together a list of wines that paired best with extensive office and home clean-ups, purging, re-organization, and vacation planning.

Next week, I’ll have alternatives for those less ambitious post-work January nights that are more about the hibernation lifestyle - eating comfort foods, binge watching all the shows and movies you put off when the weather was nice, and of course, fireside convos and game nights.

And for those of you doing the dry thing…I have a few options for you as well.

In My Glass

Zero Alcohol Jukes Sparkling White

This week’s dry pour comes from the creative mind of Matthew Jukes, a London-based wine critic. Jukes is a high-quality, non-alcoholic drink made from fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, flowers, and organic apple cider vinegar. It gained immediate acclaim in the UK and was embraced by Mathieu Roland-Billecart of Maison Billecart-Salmon Champagne, whose Champagne House has since partnered with Jukes to distribute the product internationally. But more on this project soon. For today, let’s dish on the Sparkling White. I was not initially optimistic. I poured the bubbly into a tulip glass and the aromas were a bit intense for me, presenting a mix of citrus and apple cider vinegar. But, I have to admit it drank remarkably like a sparkling wine (and less like kombucha than most do) with notes of citrus, herbs, and a touch of apples. I rather enjoyed it. It’s definitely not going to be mistaken for Champagne or even Prosecco, but for what it is, it was delightful and a nice pairing with a light dinner. I’d put up there as one of the best NA sparkling “wines” I’ve tried. Proximal. $75 for 12-8.5 oz cans

2022 Massaya Terrasses de Baalbeck

I love a good surprise, and this GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) from around 3,000 feet above sea level in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, was exactly that. I’ve long recommended Côtes du Rhône GSMs as a crowd-pleasing pick, and this high altitude red blend from Massaya falls smack into that category. Plus, it has the added bonus of being a more out-of-the-box selection. Leading with bright berry flavors this smooth, rounded red moved seamlessly towards more dark berry tones and herbs in the mid-palate with hints of meatiness, black pepper, and orange zest on the mouth-watering finish. It had rather remarkable balance, and frankly, was just outright drinkable. Just right. $24

Eugenio Collavini Il Grigio Spumante

This Charmat method bubbly surpassed all expectations. One of the first (if not the first) tank method sparkling wines in the Friuli region of Italy, this blend of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay spent six months on the lees (in tank) and three months resting in the bottle. In other words, the makers here demonstrate patience rather than push to market, and the intentionality of this wine is evident. The bubbles were lively and plentiful in this golden-hued gem, giving off delicate little bursts of lemon and white flowers, but the palate is where this wine shines. It enlivens, excites, and outshines many sparkling wines in this category. It tastes like luxury. Ritzy. $52

In the Spotlight

Wine Region of the Week

Applegate Valley AVA was established in 2000 and sits within the Rogue Valley and overarching Southern Oregon AVAs. The region runs 50-miles north from the California border to the Rogue River, just west of Grants Pass, Oregon. The vineyards here are planted up to 2,000 feet in elevation and primarily along the Applegate River. The 275,000 acre appellation is surrounded by the Siskiyou Mountains, which shield the AVA from the more cooling winds coming from the Pacific. The region’s warm, dry Mediterranean climate, with hot days and cool nights, makes it suitable for the Spanish and Rhône grape varieties to be grown in the granite-based, well-draining soils. Syrah, Grenache, Tempranillo, and Mourvèdre abound, but you’ll also find Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and even some Gewürztraminer. There’s also a smattering of Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec found among the 18 wineries, most of which are small and family-owned.

My overall takeaway of the Applegate Valley: the views!!! I could not get over the mountainous beauty here. This is an approachable region where walk-in tastings are still the norm and enjoying a glass with a view (and pets) is commonplace.

Recommended wineries: Troon Vineyard & Farm, Plaisance Ranch, Quady North, Schmidt Family Vineyards, and Wooldridge Creek Winery.

Winery of the Week

This week I had the opportunity to taste through several very different wines from a new-to-me producer, Tenuta di Carleone. To sum them up in one word: Yes! And that’s a resounding “YES!” Seriously, go find them, then come back to this. And if you come across their “Uno,” which I haven’t yet tried, grab that one too. It’s next on my list.

Now about the winery…

Much to my surprise, this isn’t an Italian-owned winery. In fact, the winemaker isn’t even Italian! The winery is owned by Karl Egger and his family. Mr. Egger is an entrepreneur from Austria. He and his family fell in love with the town of Radda in Chianti (for reference it sits between Siena and Florence), and eventually decided to open a winery. In 2012, they partnered with an English winemaker working in the region, Sean O’Callaghan. Today the family has seven, organically farmed hectares primarily in Radda with a small parcel in nearby Gaiole with elevations ranging between 1,500 to 2,500 feet. The soils here are a mix of limestone, sandstone, and shale and each vineyard is harvested and vinified separately before the final blends are determined. Tenuta di Carleone produces around 1,100 cases of wine with a focus on Sangiovese and minimal intervention winemaking - native yeasts, no additives, limited oak, and the wines are release unfined and unfiltered for a pure expression of the terroir.

As for the wines that had me mesmerized this week, I tasted three:

2022 Il Guercio $75 - a 100-percent Sangiovese fermented and aged in both stainless and cement. This beauty will absolutely confound your taste buds in the best of ways. Seriously, my first sip of this silky, bright, exceedingly nuanced wine made me take a literal step back. How could this possibly be Sangiovese, let alone from Italy. It was not what I as expecting at all. But I’ll say this, it was so good, it made me take off my critic and educator hats, pour it out and just outright enjoy it without further analysis. The producer describes this wine as the wild soul of its winemaker, which leads me to one more word: Enigma.

2021 Chianti Classico DOCG $40

Now I will admit, it was not the best idea to sample this wine after the enigma that is the Guercio. That was a sensory experience I was not yet ready to let fade. So, the next day, I dedicated my first tasting to the Chianti Classico DOCG, which is fermented in a mixture of stainless, cement, and open bins with aging for 18 months in stainless, cement, and neutral oak for 18 months. This is also not your typical Chianti, but you’ll most certainly know it’s Italian. It’s far more along the lines of what you know and love from this sun-drenched Tuscan region, but with a freshness that’s both unique and notable. It’s almost as though it’s a window to the vineyard itself. Looking Glass.

2022 Il Randagio $32 (for the 2021)

If you like the savory, earthy, slightly dirty wines of Bordeaux or Loire, this one is for you. It’s not as polarizing as a Brett-laden Chinon, but it’s gunna give you the funky feels. Unlike the aforementioned Guercio, the Il Randagio is basically the winemaker’s soul unleashed again, but this time on Cabernet Franc and Merlot, and I’m liking how it plays out here. Only cement was used for fermentation and aging and with a bit of whole cluster done here, oh my, my, my! This was so damn drinkable. Were it not for the winery’s feature in this week’s newsletter, Il Randagio would have made my forthcoming list of wines to drink while binge watching Netflix. At this price point, it’s definitely going to be paired with the next season of Black Doves (and likely beforehand too). Magnetic.

In the Press

Had fun joining the team on KOIN News last week to talk all things Oregon wine - and bubbles, because of course!

Watch the full interview here: KOIN News Wine Wednesday

In Box

Question: How do they de-alcoholize wine?

By definition, wine is fermented grape juice. And as we know, the fermentation process is one in which yeast convert the sugars in the grape juice to alcohol and carbon dioxide. So what makes a non-alcoholic wine, well, wine and not just grape juice? To be a truly de-alcoholized wine, the process begins with fermented grape juice - aka wine. At this point one of two processes is typical for de-alcoholization: vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis. In vacuum distillation, the wine goes into a strong vacuum where the alcohol is gently boiled off at temperatures between 70 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The vacuum seal allows the wine to boil at lower temperatures, which prevents the wine from cooking and helps to preserve the aromas and flavors of the wine. In reverse osmosis, the wine is forced through a filtration membrane at high pressure. This process separates the liquid into two parts, one a water and alcohol combination, and the other a very concentrated alcohol-free wine. The alcohol and water is then heated to remove the alcohol, and the remaining water is returned to the alcohol-free, concentrated wine.

It’s also not unusual for a portion of grape juice, sugar, or water to be added to the final NA wine to help balance the aromas and flavors, because regardless of the process used to create the non-alcoholic wine, making it taste like wine is difficult. Removing the alcohol isn’t the challenging part - although it can be expensive. The real challenge is creating the aroma, mouthfeel and body of a wine, once the ethanol-based alcohol is removed. Ethanol itself doesn’t impart flavor into the wine, but it does lend to the overall weight, texture, and mouthfeel. The more alcohol, the weightier the wine typically feels, making for the roundness and body we associate with the beverage. Therefore, the trick to de-alcoholized wine is in recreating the aromas, mouthfeel, and structure of the wine without the addition of too many sugars or additives.

In the Hopper

My first two trips of the year are booked! I’ll be flying out in a month or so for a mini-getaway focused on family, the outdoors, and mountains, but you can be sure wine will be involved! Then as summer approaches, I’ll be jetting off on my first dedicated wine adventure, and not to a region you might expect. Stay tuned! And since I’ve got travel on the brain, I’m also going to be releasing my first guide/mini-booklet of the year in a few weeks to help you kick off your travel plans for 2025.