Nick's Winecast
By Nick's Winecast
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Podcast Description
Nick’s Winecast – The audio version of the widely read Nick’s Wine of the Week column. Short, pithy, humorous and opinionated profiles of artisanal wines from around the world.
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Nick’s Wine of the Week – A Baby Châteauneuf (almost) at A Bargain Price | The other evening I drunk a very expensive, $220, red Burgundy from a great producer using grapes from a famous Grand Cru vineyard. Unfortunately it was made in the heat wave year of 2003 and was a huge disappointment – dense, raisiny and more like Carneros that the Cote de Nuits. Such are the perils of Burgundy. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Skalli-Cote-du-Rhone-3-185x300.jpg)Contrast this unhappy experience with the wine I drank the following evening, the Five Star Nick’s Wine Of The Week, the Côtes-du-Rhone Les Rabassières, Skalli 2009 ($15) which was everything an inexpensive French red should be. Brief note: Thanks to a recent change of ownership you might also find the wine with the same label but Bouachon listed as the producer. Many C du R’s come from the north of the region and, being dominated by Syrah, have a tendency to excessive weight along with a distracting peppery spiciness. Les Rabassières however comes from Plan de Dieu in the south, just a stone’s throw from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the blend, being primarily Grenache, reflects that of its famous neighbor. This results in a lighter, fresher wine, a low cost, accessible baby Châteauneuf-du-Pape in all but name. It’s perfect for out-door summer drinking – just pick up a few ribs off the barbecue and a glass of this delight red, preferably lightly chilled, and your all set for a splendid Memorial Day evening. So appealing are the flavors of ripe plums and dark cherries, along with the balancing acidity, that’s it’s very hard to stop drinking this wine, talk about quaffable, so just make sure you watch out for the pool! +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 5/20/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week — A Classy, Inexpensive Cab From Chile | Over the last couple of decades Chile has mounted a successful invasion of the American market by producing large quantities of extremely inexpensive wine. This is fine for those whose horizons never venture above the $7 shelf, and the wines have been a commercial, if not aesthetic, triumph. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Carmen-2-247x1024.jpg)At the same time, spurred on my the growing awareness in Europe and North America of Chile as a legitimate wine producer, foreign investment flowed in intent on producing high-end, prestige wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, to rival, in terms of image, quality and inflated price, the best of California. These have not generally been a great success, at least in my kitchen. Somewhere between these two extremes lurk a group of wines all too easily overlooked. These are wines that get the quality/price equation right. My favorites among the reds at least, tend to be the Cabs. So, if you want a good, every day Cab that doesn’t taste like over-ripe California cola wine, or unripe Bordeaux acid juice, Chile is often a good place to look. One fine example, this week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine Of the Week, is the Carmen Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Alto 2009 ($15) Whoever put this wine together knew what they were doing – there’s an abundance seductively ripe red-fruit up front finely balanced by a refreshing acidity along with a judicious use of oak, and all given a bit of real structure by the presence of fine, mellow tannins. Don’t look for a lot of complexity at this price, just enjoy it for what it is – a delightful, unpretentious every-day red that can be drunk with everything from pizza to barbecue. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 5/17/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week — A Very Special Barolo | Last week I was privileged to participate in a tasting of some rare and very special wines. It was a vertical of six vintages of Marchesi di Barolo Riserva going back to 1970, and was conducted by the property’s owners, the delightful Ernesto and Anna Abbona, aided by their equally charming adult children, Valentina and Davide. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/MarchesiDB_BaroloRiserva_nv_lb-300x219.jpg)The event was to mark the launch of the partnership of Marchesi di Barolo with their new US importer, Frederick Wildman, and not coincidently, to promote their wines. In this cause the Abbonas had raided their 40,000 bottle library to facilitate a series of eye-catching tasting. The wines presented were the 2003, 2001, 2000, 1990, 1980 and 1970. To offer such a rare gems was a shrewd move – the opportunity to taste wines such as these comes along rarely, and it certainly caught my attention. But remarkably the Abbonas have also made the ’03, the ’01 and the 2000 available in sufficient quantities to be sold at retail. These are old-fashioned wines with a true sense of place, of the soil. They also show marked vintage variations – no bland homogeneity here. In this sense they reminded me of Bordeaux’s of old, before they became internationalized. The standout was undoubtedly the magnificent 1970. A beautiful, fully mature Barolo that even at 41 years was still fresh and vibrant, with only minimal loss of color at the rim. Unhappily this glorious wine is not one of the offerings available for purchase but interested Barolo lovers should not despair – the other great vintage of the tasting, the Marchesi di Barolo Riserva 2001 ($105) is, and thus is this week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine of the Week. On first tasting it I was struck, like a splash of cold water on the face first thing in the morning, by the bright, zingy, fruit-based acidity. It reminded me of June strawberries, simultaneously fruity and tart, and could have been bottled six months ago, so alive is it, so brimming with vitality. And this is key – although the wine is already ten years old it has decades of life before it, and could very well mature into something not unlike the wonderful 1970. With these sorts of expectations the wine, even with a three figure price tag, hardly seems expensive, especially when you consider the satisfaction you are laying down for your old age, or perhaps even your children’s future drinking pleasure. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com). +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 5/9/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week – Rare Rosé | Sometimes making good wine just comes down to good luck. I know it’s spring in NY, despite the weather being more appropriate to early March than late April, because the first samples of 2011 rosés are beginning to show up at my door. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Beckmen-2011-Grenache-Rose-label-199x300.jpg)Forget swallows, this is a real harbinger of summer. Some rosés, typically those from Provence, are pale in color, light and fresh, and perfect for the pool, but they lack weight so really don’t work with food. On the other hand there are the darker, more substantial versions, typically Tavel rosés, where these attributes are reversed. But sometimes you encounter a rare pale rosé possessed of real substance, and one such winner is this week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine Of The Week, the Beckmen Vineyards Grenache Rosé 2011 ($18) from the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. There’s something special going on here, something one occasionally encounters in Provence rosés, where you have the best of both worlds – that delightful pale freshness along with an intensity of flavor that makes it, if not a serious wine, then at least an interesting one. And in the case of the Beckmen rosé this all resulted from some highly unusual weather. As Steve Beckmen told me “We had a lot of frost issues in the early spring that year resulting in low yields and late ripening grapes that they didn’t pick till November.” “So, I don’t know, maybe the low yields, the smaller than normal clusters, we were kinda blown away by that too. We had a similar comment ‘wow, it’s not very dark but man, it’s got a lot of flavor.’ It’s kind of an interesting wine, but not something we could replicate every year.” So avail yourself of this unique opportunity to load up with a delicate yet intensely flavored California rosé as this beguiling combination doesn’t come along that often, and when it does it usually costs a lot more than this gem. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 4/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week – New Antinori | Marchese Lodovico Antinori was in New York last week to introduce three new Cabernet Franc based wines, so I took the opportunity to talk to him about these interesting if expensive bottlings. They are the product of his ongoing collaboration with his brother, Marchese Piero Antinori, and come from Tenuta di Biserno in Maremma, the coastal region of Tuscany. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/antinori-bottle-93x300.jpg)The family have a pretty good track record in the area: their cousin, Nicolò Incisa owns Sassicaia, Piero makes a series of fine wines at Guado al Tasso, and Lodovico was the founder of Ornellaia and Masseto. The latter two, after a series of complicated and not particularly edifying corporate missteps, wound up being owned by Frescobaldi. Undaunted Lodovico threw himself into a new project, the production of Cabernet Franc-based wines at Biserno, a little to the north of Bolgheri the town, and just outside Bolgheri the DOC. Cabernet Franc was an unusual choice. The varietal is best known as a blending grape in Bordeaux, and for single-varietal reds in the Loire, so I asked Lodovico about this decision. It turns out that there were two reasons to pick Cabernet Franc. The first was marketing, to separate Biserno from the ever-increasing number of Cabernet Sauvignon-based Maremma Super-Tuscans. “I thought that the Cabernet Franc would be probably the element of distinction between the Bolgheri tradition of Sassicaia, which emphasizes Cabernet Sauvignon, and creating a new style.” And then there was the characteristics of Cabernet Franc itself. “I think because it gives to the wine finesse, and I like the finesse in wine after all.” And what does Cabernet Franc bring to Biserno that differentiates it from the other wines of Maremma? “The lack of aggressiveness, of greenness that Cabernet Sauvignon can have when it’s young….to have a wine earlier drinkable, the Cabernet Franc seems to be aging a little bit quicker, tannin gets metabolized quicker, the tannins are less aggressive than the Cabernet Sauvignon.” “It gives the wine not extra strength but a lot of equilibrium and balance…..you have a wine that’s lean, not too opulent and doesn’t have excesses, it gives the blend linearity and complexity. It’s not a heavy varietal.” There are three tires of wines from Tenuta di Biserno: Il Pino, the second wine, Biserno, the estate wine, and the limited edition luxury bottling, Lodovico. I have picked as this week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine Of The Week the Il Pino di Biserno 2008 ($80) because it’s a perfect example of Lodovico’s reasoning for choosing Cabernet Franc. It’s lighter, fresher and more accessible at this young age than a comparable Cabernet Sauvignon, but is in no way lacking in flavor. There’s a fine minerality and plenty of fruit – blackberries in particular – but it’s not ponderous or particularly tannic, and it works superbly with food. There’s a lovely balance here, with a fine acid structure lending a harmonious freshness. It’s entirely drinkable now even if a bit rambunctious, but will continue to mellow and acquire gravitas for at least a decade. | 4/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Riesling Shines Under The Danube Sun | Riesling’s long overdue return to the viniferous spotlight after decades of obscurity is one of the most gratifying recent developments in the world of wine. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Domane-Wachau-1-21-71x300.jpg)However the grape’s elevation to respectability, and more, has not been an entirely even progress. The German and Alsatian versions are prospering while on the other hand there are some very peculiar, not to say nasty, new New World interpretations. Somewhat lost in all these developments are the Rieslings of Austria. Part of the problem is the country itself – not that there’s anything wrong with Austria per se I hasten to add, it’s just if your image in the popular culture is of a country where the sound of music rings through Alpine valleys it doesn’t lead the consumer to thoughts of sun-kissed vineyards the way, say, Provence or Tuscany do. Not their fault, that’s just the way it is. But this does mean that the adventurous Riesling fan can find some very interesting Austrian versions at very decent prices, like this week’s Nick’s Five Star Wine Of The Week, the Domane Wachau Terrassen Federspiel 2010 ($18). Wachau is Austria’s most esteemed wine region even though it contains less than 3% of the country’s vineyards. Here the Danube flows from west to east with the vineyards ranged on the steep northern bank in conditions similar to the Mosel and the Rheingau.(http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/domane-wachau-2-2-300x127.jpg) Location is the key here – warm air from the Pannonian Plain reaches up the valley of the Danube ensuring the grapes fully ripen, while at night cooler air rolls down from the higher elevations allowing the wines to retain a freshening acidity. This results in Riesling as intense as the Alsatian version without in any way deviating from the hallmark punchier, more aromatic Austrian style. Here the nose is redolent of fresh-mown hay combined with an exotic earthiness suggestive of pagan sin. It’s bone dry yet brimming with hazelnut, apricots and grapefruit, spiced with pin needles and dried leaves, and run through with ribbons of crisp citrus acidity. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 4/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine of the Week — Bordeaux Prices & Good Gruaud | Ever since the go-go years of the 1980’s wine drinkers and collectors have been complaining about the stratospheric prices of Bordeaux, how ridiculous they are and, especially, how the market was being ruined by nouveaux rich arrivistes who paid more attention to labels and ratings than what was actually in the bottle. First into the pillory were the new skonking rich American Masters of the Universe and newly minted dot-comers, blamed by snooty, and not a little envious, Europeans for this viniferous inflation. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/gruaud-larose-label-204x300.jpg)More recently the boot has been on the other foot as the now more sophisticated Americans rail against the way the Chinese are indiscriminately indulging their discovery of great Bordeaux, and in the process driving prices to ever loftier levels. At the recent Union des Grand Cru tasting of the 2009 Bordeaux’s in New York I was struck by the fact that while the prices were absurd by the standards of 10 years ago, they hadn’t all risen at the same rate. So to get an idea of what was going on, and to confirm a theory, I talked to Chris Adams, CEO of New York retailer Sherry Lehman, one of the country’s premier Bordeaux outlets. I was interested in two related but separate issues – the overall movement of prices, and the relative movement of the First Growths compared to the rest. As a representative of the latter I chose Chateau Gruaud Larose, a respected Second Growth. [There is a chart comparing the relative release prices over the last six vintages at the end of the article.] The trouble started with the remarkable 2005 vintage. It came after four less than spectacular years and so prices skyrocketed.(http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/GL-2-300x233.jpg) Then, according to Adams. “The 2006 and 2007 were more challenging vintages and the pricing didn’t come down quite as much. They weren’t helping.” By “they” he means the producers. The difficult 2008’s were offered at the height of the financial meltdown and, recognizing this reality, the release prices were far more consumer friendly. But what followed was madness. “Then 2009 comes along and we’ve had three vintages in a row that were not that exciting so you have this great vintage and….it was met with great fanfare, our customers loved the 2009 vintage even though it was the most expensive vintage ever.” But the interesting point her is that while the price of First Growths has escalated by 66% over six years, driven in large part by Chinese demand, the prices of the other wines, as represented by Chateau Gruaud Larose, have behaved far more sensibly, rising just 33%, half as much. This is good news for us consumers not blessed with Wall Street bonuses, as it means that while the affect of Chinese demand has been enormous on First Growth prices, it has had far less impact on less celebrated wines. This might be scant consolation when you consider this week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine of the Week, the Chateau Gruaud Larose 2009 fetches an astounding $100 a bottle, but it is a lovely wine, from a great vintage. If there’s a problem with the 2009’s it’s that they are too ripe, too Californian, and there is a question of how well they will age, but this isn’t an issue with the Gruaud-Larose. Yes, there’s that glorious ripe fruit that marks the vintage, the rich flavors of concentrated cassis, almost chocolaty in their sumptuousness, along with traces of dried leaves and warm leather, but they are balanced by fine ripe tannins and a real acidity that gives this 2009 true aging potential. +++++++ Release prices Vintage 1st Growths Gruaud Larose 2005 360 euro 34 euro 2006 325 euro | 3/21/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week – A Sumptuous Beaujolais. Yes, Really! | This week’s Five Star Nick’s Wine of the Week, the Morgon Côte du Py 2009, Potel-Aviron ($22) from Beaujolais, is a very big wine. Now I know, “big” and “Beaujolais” are not normally words used in the same sentence, but then this is not a normal Beaujolais. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/PotelAviron_MorgonCDP_2009_small-88x300.jpg)The wine from this region just south of Burgundy has fallen deeply out of fashion over the last couple of decades, a demise not entirely unrelated to its own shortcomings – but wine aficionados who pay attention to these things have long known that there are gems to be discovered amongst all the dross. Good value gems too. These are the ten Cru Beaujolais, villages that produce more concentrated and flavorful wine, that they are entitled to sell under their own names. One of the most respected is Morgon. But just as Morgon is a special class of Beaujolais, there are even finer distinctions of quality within the Morgon appellation, Côte du Py being the best known. The Mont du Py is an 1100 ft extinct volcano, so the soil of the surrounding slopes, the côtes, are heavily volcanic and rich in minerals. For winemaker Stephan Aviron “It is a special area of Morgon….to me the Cote du Py hill is the best terroir of Morgon, and I am sure one of the best of the whole Beaujolais area.” “The Côte du Py is much more mineral….the terroir is very different. All the area close to Côte du Py, Les Charmes or Corcelette, we have much more sand and clay. In Côtes du Py it’s only rock and volcanic soil so we have much more minerality and that’s a very, very good terroir to make very good wine, especially when we have a very good maturity, like 2009.” I asked Aviron what appealed to him about the 2009 vintage. “I like the red fruit flavor, I like the minerality, and if I compare Côte du Py to Moulin-a-Vent, the Côte du Py has much more finesse. There’s more fatness and roundness in the Moulin-a-Vent, in the Morgon Côte du Py it is different.” Finesse? Perhaps compared to it’s neighbors, but this is still a sumptuous and richly-textured wine laced with the floral notes of irises and lavender, and packed with a fecund richness that reminds me of a well-hung pheasant. Good wines from the Cru villages, especially Morgan, can last for decades but I expect the 2009, with it’s soft-fruit accessibility, will peak in about five. But whether I am right or not, it will be a rewarding progress to watch. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 3/16/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week — Ornellaia’s Everyday Le Volte | A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, the great Tuscan estate in Bolgheri founded by Lodovico Antinori and now owned by the Frescobaldis. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Le-Volte-2009-2-90x300.jpg)Famed for it’s super-star Super-Tuscan, Ornellaia, the ultimate trophy wine, the estate also produces other, less exclusive wines that I was happy to become better acquainted with. First there was a tasting of the Ornellaia 2008, seductive and sumptuous even this early in it’s life. Then came Le Serre Nuovo 2009, the second label, which I preferred to the Big O – it was more complex and showed a lively freshness. Then there was a surprise, the Varia Zioni di Rosso 2009 (../index.php/2012/03/05/ornellaia-and-petit-verdot/) made primarily from Petit Verdot, and sold only at the winery. Finally was the charming and inexpensive Le Volte 2009, Ornellaia’s entry level wine. This is meant to be ready to drink upon release but while all the requisite elements were in place, they hadn’t melded yet . Then came lunch, and with the splendid first course, a huge plate of salumi, we were served the Le Volte 2008. All those discordant notes in the 2009 had now resolved themselves into viniferous harmony, and the result was a delightful, round, fruity and hugely enjoyable every-day wine. After the splendid meal I asked Ornellaia’s Claudia Ficcanterri about Le Volte. “Le Volte is the base wine. It’s the only wine that we produce with Sangiovese, 50% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. It is a very easy wine, I usually say that we can accompany the wine with all they typical Tuscan food, Florintina steak, or a plate of salumi, or pizza too because it’s a very easy wine to understand because it’s a fruity wine, and very fresh wine.” This is achieved in part by the limited oak treatment. “Barrel aging is 10 months about, in barique of third passage that is twice used before, then two to four months in the bottle then it goes immediately on the market because it’s our drinkable wine, ready to drink.” Well, not quite as ready as it will be in a years time because when I told her that I far preferred the ’08, this week's Five Star Nick's Wine of the Week, she acknowledged the benefit of the extra time in the bottle. “I have said that Le Volte is drinkable immediately but I say too that if we wait one year it is much better because even if the wine is an entry wine, we can store in the cellar three years too.” So, Le Volte, a wine that can be enjoyed now but also one that will reward a years patience. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 3/9/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick’s Wine Of The Week – In Burgundy, It’s The Weather That Matters | The weather is of vital importance to the quality of the wine produced in any given region in any given year, and nowhere is this more true than in Burgundy, situated as it is at the northern limit of where Chardonnay and Pinot Noir will ripen. (http://nickonwine.com/wp-content/uploads/Leflaive-bottle-shot-133x300.jpg)This truism was confirmed for me during at a recent vertical tasting of Domaine Leflaive’s tiny Premier Cru holding in Meursault, Sous le Dos d’Âne as three recent vintages have produced wines in three dramatically different styles. In 2008 the weather was difficult, cool and damp, resulting in sharp, high-acidity wines that are difficult to like. At least now – they could eventually develop into extremely fine wines. The 2009’s are the exact opposite – abundant sunshine brought forth creamy, sensual wines dripping with tropical fruit but lacking restraint. They are very New World, with a seductive, superficial appeal. But the question is: will they last? And then there’s this week’s Nick’s Five Star Nick’s Wine Of The Week, the Meursault Sous le Dos d’Âne 2007, Domaine Leflaive ($148) which falls perfectly between these two extremes. Bright and taut, shiny with a lean and angular brilliance, it’s an intellectual wine, a connoisseur’s wine packed with a delicate minerality rounded out by the intensely focused essence of ripe white peaches. When Joseph Leflaive inherited the family property in 1905 it consisted of just 2 hectares but thanks to the acumen shown by him, his children and grandchildren, it has today grown to 23 hectares. This is unusual in Burgundy. French inheritance laws usually result in the property being divided, and divided again down the generations so you wind up with many individuals owning a row of vines here and a row of vines there. This is not a business plan conducive to great winemaking. Wisely, however, and exceptionally, the Leflaives elected to keep their domaine intact. This allows them to exploit economies of scale and run the business as a business, not a small holding, and under the direction of Joseph’s granddaughter, Anne-Claude, the quality of the wines is reaching new heights. In Burgundy, more than anywhere, you have to make the wine the weather dictates, and in these three vintages Leflaive has made three quite distinctive wines which, individually and together are fine examples of why Burgundy holds such fascination for serious wine lovers. +++++++ To find this wine near you try Wine Searcher (Wine-searcher.com) +++++++ Listen to Nick's WineCast! | 3/2/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 10 Episodes |
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