2006 Emiliana Carmenere Natura

Vinedos Emiliana
Chile, Rapel Valley, Colchaugua Valley, Natura
Carmenere
2006

It might surprise you a bit to find out that Vinedos Emiliana is actually one of the largest exporters of wine to the United States.  You’re probably more familiar with their supermarket brand Walnut Crest. but don’t let that cloud your mind (or your palate).  Emiliana has taken their best vineyards and converted them to organic farming – always a good thing for wine.  Couple that with Chile’s most interesting grape – Carmenere – and you have the recipe for a very nice value wine.  But let’s talk a bit about Carmenere first.

Despite the gaining popularity of Carmenere, Merlot from producers such as the said Walnut Crest and Casa Lapostelle (including their well-known preium Merlot Cuvee Alexandre) have largely defined the Chilean wine revolution.  Here’s the problem, for a long time, some of the Merlot in Chile was actually Carmenere, not Merlot.  It came to Chile in the 1800’s via Bordeaux, where it has now almost entirely disappeared.  Carmenere is also appearing in Australian, New Zealand, California and Northern Italy (where it is called Carmenero).  At its finest, in Chile, it is chewier and more complex than Merlot, as my notes on then 2006 Emiliana Carmenere Natura show:

“A blend of 87% Carmenère, 4% Syrah, 4% Petit Verdot, 4% Tempranillo, 1% Malbec. Good, earthy Carmenere character. Complex on the nose. Medium- to Full- palate. Soft approachable front-palate with well, structured ripe tannins and mineral/graphite in the palate. A nice value.”

N.B.: It is common for Carmenere to be cut with other grapes (notably Merlot) which tempers a bit of the sauvage (“wild”) character of the wine.

2006 A-Mano Primitivo

A-Mano
Italy, Puglia IGT
Primitivo
2006

I must say, it’s taken me a while to find a reasonably priced Primitivo that is drinkable.  I had been depending on Tomaresca Neprica as an option – but being a blend of Negroamaro, Cabernet Sauvignon and Primitivo, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.  Tonight’s A-Mano Primitivo hit the spot, especially considering that I paid a notch under $10.

We’ve gone around in  circles a bit over what exactly the grape Primitivo “is”.  It is commonly simply called an Italian Zinfandel.  Not being an ampelographer, I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that Primitivo and Zinfandel are the same grape.  I have also heard though that Primitivo is the “grandfather of Zinfandel” or even a clone or mutation of the American Zin.  It is also my understanding that Zinfandel and Primitivo are genetically identical.  In short, calling it an “Italian Zinfandel” usually seems to suffice for my purposes.

A-Mano, the producer of the wine, is a combined effort of American winemaker Mark Shannon and partner Elvezia Sbachiero.  A-Mano means literally “by hand”, in other words artisanal, hand-made wine.  It comes from Puglia (the Italian Apulia) or the heel of Italy’s boot and it’s a solid value.

“Medium purple color. A nose more than anything of primary fruit – black raspberries with red cherry highlights. Grapey on the palate but smooth, balanced and pleasant. Hints of chocolate. Not sure it will go anywhere, but a nice quaff or maybe even a bit more serious, for under $10 it’s tough to beat.”

It’s in a screwcap to boot.

1999 B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon Olive Hill Estate

B.R. Cohn Winery
California, Sonoma County, Olive Hill Estate Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon
1999

B.R. Cohn Winery is dependable and fun.  The tasting room in Sonoma was once a top off for Wells Fargo and upon its purchase owner Bruce Cohn made every attempt to keep a 1920’s feel to it (and was successful in his endeavors). 

One immediately realizes something differnt when they arrive, namely that the only music on in the background is the Doobie Brothers.  That’s because Bruce Cohn is the famous group’s manager.  Intertwining his two loves, the winery has has solid success introducing their wins at the low end to a new segment of the population who go crazy of the playful “Doobie Brothers Red”.

The North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is a definite step up, mixing some Estate fruit with selectively purchased Cab from throughout the North Coast.  But the winery’s flagship wine is the Olive Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, whose first four vintages in the mid-1980’s were made by a then unknown winemaker by the name of Helen Turley.

The Olive Hill Estate has 90 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and also 140-year old Picholine Olive Trees for which it takes its name.  Always elegant but concentrated, the Olive Hill Estate Cab is generall a medium-bodied, delightful Cab made in a style that reminds me in some ways moreso of a Cote Rotie – dark-colored, concentrated, but more feminine and not so massively scaled as to render your palate and your food undrinkable. 

“Medium color. Nicely aromatic with the expected herbacious tinge suggesting olives but probably closer to green bell pepper without intense vegetal character. Showing secondary earthy aromas but not full maturity. Very good balance, probably lacking a bit of power, but pleasant nonetheless. Very Good.”

Champagne Expands

The INAO has announced that the Champagne AOC region will increase and that 40 new villages will be given the right to market their wines as Champagne AOC. (2 Villages, Germaine and Orbay de l’Abbaye, will be demoted, according to The Decanter.)

While Simon Field urges consumers to give “the Champenois the benefit of the doubt” in a recent post on the Berry Brothers & Rudd Fine Wine Blog, I’m inclined to disagree.  If it is true that, “Those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it,” then the INAO and Mr. Field for that matter need to look no further than Champagne’s neighbor to the south for an instructive example.

Ask ANYONE in Chablis where the least favorable vineyards are, and they will tell you they are in the villages of Beine, Ligny-le-Chatel, Lignorelles, etc.: in other words all of the vineyards that were added when Chablis expanded in 1978.  They are not bad by any means, but the difference in quality between Chablis from one of these vineyards and, for instance, the vineyard les Pargues, a traditional lieu-dit just south of the 1er Cru Montmains is striking.

As Mr. Field tells us, “So the INAO have done the research, have employed the geologists, the climatologists, in short all possible experts and have identified 40 new communes where, apparently, the quality of the land, soil, aspect and so forth is deemed suitable for Champagne vines.”  In essence has used the same rigorous examination that they used in Chablis, a process that resulted in 1er Crus such as Cote de Savant and Vauligneau whose wines are commonly outclassed by Chablis AC from historic lieux-dits.  I am no less comforted that, as Mr. Field states, “The majority of the new communes are in the Marne Valley and in the ’satellite’ enclaves of Aube and Aisne; none especially near to the famous Grand Crus such as Avize and Le Mesnil-Sur -Oger,” considering that the vineyards from these very ’satellite’ enclaves generally produce the fruit of the lowest quality and in may cases are simply used to create still wine.  In and around Aube, much of the soil isn’t even the Cretaceous chalk for which Champagne is noted, but rather (and somewhat incidentally despite my previous train of thought) Late Jurassic, specifically, Kimmeridgian soil that gives Chablis and some Sancerre its most distinguished gout de la pierre a la fusil.  Visit Simmonet-Febvre in Chablis and taste Cremant de Bourgogne from vines grown on Kimmeridgian soil.  It’s delicious, but it is completely different in character than Champagne.