"i'm not drinking any fucking merlot!"

[rone]

Mom and Aunt Martha flew in last week to visit, and Kim and i brought them along on our 10th anniversary trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, which we've been wanting to visit ever since we saw Sideways.  It's absolutely beautiful down here, and so is Santa Barbara, which we visited today.  Today we also had tasty æbleskiver for breakfast (i also had medisterpølse and eggs).

Yesterday in Los Olivos, we went to taste at this one room that collects wine from vineyards that don't have their own tasting room.  It was run by a man whom i dubbed the Pinot Noir Nazi, perhaps like Sideways's Miles but gruffer and without the somehow charming dysfunction.  He declared that cabernet franc was a blending grape and was wasted when vinified on its own, and the same went for merlot, dolcetto, and tempranillo.  I just nodded and said, "I see."  He did pour us an absolutely fabulous pinot noir from Fiddlehead Cellars, and i passed his snob test by correctly pronouncing Meritage and Lompoc.

Comments

[haloumi.livejournal.com]

Cabernet Franc's main charm is its unusual, but fascinating, tanning structure, combined with a reasonable array of the cabernet characters, which can be found in its more welcomed child, that can be distinctive to the variety if the wine is made carefully.

The key word is carefully. Over-oaking or picking at the wrong time will give you a green wine with none of the tannin subtleties that make it so attractive. I have had some very pleasant Cabernet Francs from France, although all of the names escape me now, and there are some Australian producers who make it, albeit as more of a novelty wine.

With due offence to your host, the Nazi, anyone who says that Tempranillo doesn't make good wine by itself is not just a fool but is a damn ignorant fool. There are enough examples of New World tempranillos from Australia and South America to provide counter examples, without even factoring in the Spanish. And, for the record, I have made one of them. :)

It is regrettable that the wine industry is full of people who consider that dogma is preferable to thought when it comes to classifying grapes and wines. I have drunk a lot of wine, from many different types of grape, and while some are certainly better than others, it is very rare that I write off an entire variety because I have also been surprised by unexpected brilliance from a reputedly dull grape.

For your consideration, I have had a remarkably pleasant sparkling wine made from quinces (I never thought I'd say that - it's not even a grape!) and I have tasted a quite good lighter white style made from Sultana grapes (which must have been hell to make and required some tricks). Is it gloriously Burgundian? No, of course not. Is it possible for anyone to make such wines? Probably not. But it is possible.

I defer to wolffire regarding Dolcetto - I don't have that much experience in Italian varietals. I shall have to look it up while I'm in Italy.

I'm glad that you got to enjoy some excellent Pinot. Despite the shameful, and dull, Pinot-wanking that went on in the excremental Sideways, it is a magnificent grape when the vines struggle and the winemaker works hard. One of my favourite wines.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Hey, Sideways was a very good movie as an examination of character within a realistic slice of life milieu. I highly doubt that the Pinot Noir wankage was meant to be taken seriously.

We've made some enjoyable wine from plum and peach. As for grape varietals that i find subpar, Barbera seems to be the one i hold in lowest regard. It nearly invariably seems to make dull wine, in my experience.