Editor’s note: This is the first in a three part series on the wines of Austria.

One side of my family is Scots, and although they do make some truly fine libations, they know next to nothing about wine. The other side though, my father’s side, emigrated from in and around what now is Austria, not unlike a large percentage of Iowans’; ancestors, and there, they know wine.

Now most Americans, if they know of Austrian wine at all, they know Eiswein. Eiswein is a delightful concoction, screechingly sweet, that is the result of allowing the grapes to first dry up (“raisinate”), and then to freeze on the vine. This concentrates the sugars, resulting in a strong but very sweet wine. Tasty as a cordial, but not well suited to accompany Austria’s hearty fare.

The winegrowing regions of Austria all are on the eastern slopes, where the Alps recede into Slovakia and Hungary (fine winemakers in their own rights). They are Lower Austria, called this despite being north of the other regions; Vienna, where some vineyards overlook the skyline of this ancient yet cosmopolitan city; and Burgenland, home of the massive yet shallow Lake Neusiedl.

Read the whole story at the Iowa City Press-Citizen

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With autumn on the horizon, I always begin daydreaming about big, luscious, weighty reds that are emblematic of the cool, misty evenings of October with all the leaves on the ground. I yearn for the crackling fireplace, sweetie by my side, dog at my feet, as we ponder the intricacies of a carefully crafted California Cabernet.

This year, a dear friend has turned my attention to the wines of Ladera. They specialize in just the sort of libation I want to pour beside the fire, focusing almost exclusively on Cabernet from just two proprietary vineyards: Howell Mountain and Lone Canyon. Vineyard manager Gabriel Reyes and winemaker Karen Culler are busy there right now, as harvest and crush approaches at the end of a troublesome growing season. Still I have no doubt that the end product, which we won’t see for a few years and probably will want to age for a few more, will be stellar. As evidence, I offer the 2006 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

via One winery from two vineyards | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

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There is perhaps no more confusing and contested word in the world of wine than “terroir” (pronounced “tare-WAHR”). This is probably because there is no direct translation from the French; no one word in English that means exactly the same thing.

Terroir is, quite simply, the totality of a wine's origin. It is the term for describing the effects on the wine of such disparate yet interrelated aspects as soil, weather, wind, climate, water and all the minutia that make a wine characteristically Bordeaux (or Mendoza, or Napa, or Marlborough, etc.). It is the overall placeness of the wine. Since the etymology of the word is from the French (by way of Latin) “terre” meaning “earth,” perhaps the closest we could get in English would be “earthness.”

Every region, and every subregion, and every individual vineyard has characteristics that make it unique. It may have soil of a certain type and subsoil of this or that mineral. Some vineyards are parched dry, others have moisture but drain well. If they are too wet, they are likely to be turned to some other use. Many are on hillsides, which affects not only drainage but also exposure to sun and wind depending on the face of the slope. Some wind makes for strong, durable vines, but too much can buffet and damage grape clusters. Direct sun ripens grapes quickly, but they need frequent cooling so the sugars develop character and intensity.

Read the rest in Table Wine @ the Iowa City Press Citizen

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A while ago, I regaled you with the true story of John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed, and his actual motives as more of a land speculator and hard cider maker than the happy-go-lucky wandering environmentalist we watched in filmstrips and Disney-animated cartoons in elementary school. He was a success because for many years in pre- and post-colonial times, the drink of choice in the U.S. was hard cider (more so than beer, wine or whiskey).

Its popularity in the U.S. waned, especially after the increase in German immigration, bringing with them their expertise in brewing beer from the abundant grains of the Great Plains. In northern Spain, however, the passion for Sidra, as the Spanish call hard cider, never went out of style. This despite the inexplicable decades-long banning of its production by Generalisimo Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War. It was especially true in the north, in the Basque and Galician regions, where the best Sidra is still made today.

The best Sidra is made from one ingredient: Apples. Today many large-scale producers add things such as residual sugar, artificial carbonation, grape juice or preservatives. The finest is still nothing more than fermented apple juice, served fresh and slightly chilled.

via See what real hard cider is all about | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

Tags: Articles, Table Wine, cooking, food, food history, wine by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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“Characteristics: Straw yellow in color with green tints, broad aromatic impact with fruity nuances. Full and dry, underpinned by a fresh acidity.”

The wine media will bombard you with empty statements like this one if you let it. While each of these points may be at least subjectively accurate, taken as a whole I've always found these “characteristics” to lack character. They always seem to me as if they were written by a chemist in a lab describing some new compound rather than by an ordinary person sitting on a deck or by the fire sipping a glass of wine.

Nonetheless, these particular attributes are the ones used by the winemaker (or at least its marketing arm anyway) to describe the 2008 Grillo-Catarratto (roughly $13 a bottle; $141 a case) from Sicilian winemaker Ajello. And they are not, strictly speaking, incorrect. Nor are they all that inviting though, and this wine deserves higher praise.

read the rest at  Iowa City Press Citizen.

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We had a few very nice Spanish wines at our monthly tasting at the restaurant Monday night, and I felt compelled to share. Spanish wines hold a special place for me because I love to visit Spain, love the food, the climate, the people, the food — you get the idea. And besides, my place specializes in Spanish food, so there you go.

There are always four wines featured, and this month was no exception. Sommelier Morgan Weiss selected some very interesting ones, making a special effort to avoid Spain’s most popular grape, Tempranillo.

One was “Ombra” from La Cova dels Vins. We tasted the 2006, which retails about $15 a bottle, $162 a case. From the Montsant region, which is on the Mediterranean coast south of Barcelona, this wine is a fine example of the good stuff coming from this relatively new denomination (it was designated in 2001). It is made mostly of Garnacha, which the French call Grenache and its other major proponents — the Sardinians — call Cannonau. In it you may find a tobacco nose and lots of ripe raspberry and strawberry notes.

Read the rest @ Iowa City Press Citizen.

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Just west of Healdsburg, CA, about 80 miles north of the Golden Gate in Sonoma County and protected from the Pacific winds by a rugged range of mountains, sits the winegrowing region known as the Dry Creek Valley. The valley runs two miles wide for about 16 miles, with the Alexander Valley just east on the other side of the 101, and the Russian River Valley to the south. It has been a preferred viticultural area since the end of the Civil War, and today is one of California's top producers of Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot.

The first commercial vineyard in the DCV was called Bloch & Colson (after its founders) and opened in 1872. Six years later, in the Healdsburg Enterprise dated Oct. 17, 1872, a reviewer stated: “The wine produced by Bloch and Colson has finer flavor than from almost any other winery in the country. It has none of the bitter taste found in many wines.” Apparently the flowery, adjective-laden prose of today's weighty wine journals was a 20th-century innovation.

via Dry Creek Valley a top wine producer | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

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For a special treat this holiday season, try looking into the wide world of mead.

Sometimes called “honey wine” despite the fact that most varieties have no grapes, mead is a fermented beverage made from honey that predates even beer or wine. It is the original ambrosia — not that marshmallow fluff stuff at your Aunt Mabel's potluck — but rather the food of the Olympian gods. Later the Vikings and Celts believed their gods to subsist on the stuff as well.

Though its popularity has declined in the modern world, mead is still made in almost all parts of it, in lands and cultures as disparate as Ethiopia and Poland. The varieties are almost as wide as beer or wine, with some 20 types generally recognized. The names can be confusing, and require a certain amount of study if one wishes to be proficient — what the heck could “metheglin” or “rhodomel” possibly mean, anyway?

via A honey of a mead | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

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Next up in our occasional series on lesser-known grapes we have Macabeo.

Like many of the others we've discussed in this space, this one has about 14 other names. I'll spare you most of them to avoid unnecessary confusion, but you should know that it also is commonly called Viura.

While it is grown in some parts of southern France, notably in Languedoc where it is primarily a blending grape, its primary home stretches from Barcelona, west by northwest through Cariñena and onward into Rioja.

via Macabeo makes soft, fresh wine | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

Tags: Table Wine, wine by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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The Fireside Winery in Marengo is one of the newest wineries in the state, but it quickly has become one of the most popular. In just four short years, William and Rona Wyant have built one of the most popular spots on the wine trails.
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Located just a quick drive north of the Williamsburg outlet mall, the beautiful facility stands on former corn and soybean fields just south of Marengo. Here they grow native and hybrid grapes for a variety of tastes.

Read the whole article, and a salsa recipe, at the Press-Citizen

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