Another week, six more wines to taste. Thanks to all who have come by during our inaugural first couple of weeks to talk, wish us good luck, taste some wines and join us in doing whatever we do here. Just a reminder, we have a parking lot right in front of our entrance and we validate for up to one hour. So, without further ado, our lineup for this week:

Domaine La Bastide 2007, Languedoc, France – 100% Viognier – “The 2007 Viognier represents one of several remarkable opportunities of which I’ve recently become aware to discover the true charms (without the common weaknesses) of this world-traveled grape made famous in the Northern Rhone. A pungent, classic nose of acacia, pepper cress, and alkaline mineral notes leads to a luscious, subtly oily, yet refreshing rather than at all heavy palate, and faint but pleasant bitterness of citrus zest and apple pit mingles with salt and white pepper in a palate-coating finish. Give this a workout at your dinner table over the coming 6-9 months.

“Guilhem Durant’s La Bastide wines have long represented an excellent collection of wines at almost embarrassingly modest prices, but in vintage 2007, he simply out did himself with amazing abundance of value.” – WA 89 point

Strele Soave 2007, Veneto, Italy – 100% Garganega – Yellow strong color, with nice flavory, fresh and intense taste with a little of almond note in the end. This wine is a very good combination with light appetizers fish, pasta dishes and even white meat with light sauces.

“Strele” is the old name for the cru which one exists and does part of Francesco and Gaetano family more than 50 years. The family Strele has worked hard on this young cru and they were selling in the past the grapes to other cantinas. Last year, one members of the family, Francesco decided to keep for himself this Garganega nectar without giving away to other wine makers.

Garganega grape is ancient grape from Greece origin and have found his perfect habitat in Verona area for thousand years back. Soave wine is mention about 1.500 years ago and beside Veneto we can find this grape only at Friuli, Umbria and Lombardia. Garganega is a late-ripening and ultra vigorous vine, with medium sized, pentagonal leaves with pronounced notches. The loosely-knit clusters are a little bit long, cylindrical and winged, supporting spherical, juicy berries of good acidity, thick skinned, medium in size and white-green in colour.

Domaine La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rose 2008, Provence, France – 70% Mourvedre, 22% Cinsault, 8% Grenache – “Another summer …bone-dry rose…fuller-bodied style with surprising power,depth and even structure…behaves more like a mid-weight dry red ….most Bandol roses are rare and expensive (very popular in Europe and quantities are limited)…this is right up there with my standard Bandol reference rose…Domaine Tempier…but Tempier sells for $35…this costs $20….ordered a case myself…..” – Robert M. Parker, Jr.

In the early 70’s Michel and Louis Bronzo (the latter on the board of the INAO) acquired the property of the Bastide Blanche, with an eye to producing from appellation Bandol wines the equal of more famous appellations like Chateauneuf. Their painstaking efforts were rewarded in 1993 when vintage conditions created the benchmark year to put Bandol in general and Bastide-Blanche, in particular, on the map of top producers in France. They have various cuvees, depending on the vintage, but always about 75% Mourvedre as a minimum, up to 100% Mourvedre for the cuvee Fontanieu from a parcel of that name near the Mediterranean. Also, common each year to their success are their very low yields, never more than 34 or 35 hl/ha, and simply impeccable cellar conditions and attention. This shows in the pure, well-delineated fruit, that has become a hallmark of Bastide-Blanche, as well as the delightful Rose that we will be pouring.

La Ca’ Nova Langhe Nebbiolo 2005, Piedmont, Italy – 100% Nebbiolo – More approachable than a Barolo or Barbaresco when young, the La Ca’ Nova is soft and supple with hints of licorice, violets and tar. A fairly versatile red, drink this with anything from roasted chicken to braised meats.

La Ca’ Nova is a classic family-run operation. The three Rocca brothers, joined for some time now by sons Ivano and Marco, still labour in the vines and cellar, practising the style of winemaking traditional in Langhe: meticulous care for the vineyard, careful timing for the harvest, gentle pressing of the clusters, macerations of 15 to 20 days and maturation in large Slavonian oak casks.

Simone Scaletta Dolcetto d’Alba Viglioni 2007, Piedmont, Italy – 100% Dolcetto – Intense ruby violet color, aromas of fresh violets and blueberries. Tasting it, you may distinguish a final hint of almond note. Medium bodied, easy drinking, it is considered to be an excellent, everyday wine which doesn’t fear time passing.

The grapes are macerated on the skins for about 5 days in rotary fermentors with temperature control. The grapes are then pressed off the skins and the alcoholic fermentation and the malolactic one are completed in steel tanks. Wine is still kept into steel tanks for about 9 months. By the repeated pouring processes, the wine in the end is pure. At about the end of July the wine is bottled without filtration and fining and then settle for 3 months before being out in the market.

Uwe Schiefer Blaufrankisch Konigsberg 2007, Südburgenland , Austria – 100% Blaufrankisch – “Schiefer matured his 2007 Blaufrankisch Konisberg in a new 3,100 liter cask (meaning that there was around five and a half times more of it than of the 2006) and bottled it already last summer, because he was bereft of wine to sell. It includes some estate fruit, and some from the Eisenberg. Ripe cherry with bitter cherry pit and smoke accents in the nose, in turn inform a cool-fruited but ripe palate, with subtly stony and spicy notes that carry into a bright, sappy finish. This may well pick up some further nuance with time in bottle but, as things stand, offers an excellent introduction to Schiefer’s style of Blaufrankisch, perfect for enjoying over the next 2-3 years. The rest of Schiefer’s 2007s were highly promising, if backward, from barrel last summer.

“I wrote extensively in issue 177 about Uwe Schiefer and his remarkable and distinctive Blaufrankisch from the once-famous Eisenberg area on the Hungarian border in South Burgenland. His 2006 collection almost certainly represents the best of his eight to date, hence some of the most exciting red wine ever produced in Austria. Despite his relatively brief history, Schiefer’s conception of Blaufrankisch as a wine with site-sensitivity and finesse comparable, and best handled in a manner akin to that of Burgundian Pinot Noir and not a wine of, as he puts it, “tannin and power,” or one best marked by small toasty barrels, has begun to resonate within Austria, not least in the exciting Moric wines of Roland Velich (the 2006s of which are reviewed in this report).” – WA 89 points

Schiefer’s principle: “Less is more” – his aim is a genuine winemaking. He produces wines in a very puristic style focusing on naturalness. Currently he works in some vineyards biodynamic, but wants to change all vineyard culture to biodynamic in the coming years.

The Südburgenland is Austria’s smallest wine producing province and straddles the border with Hungary. There are a total of 400 hectares under vine. The finest vineyard is the 120 ha Eisenberg, a steep schistus slate hillside where Uwe Schiefer (by coincidence the word Schiefer meaning slate in German) works now on 5 hectares. About 10 years ago, he started putting together his estate, nearly all planted to Blaufränkisch.