Valpolicella and Lugana Tasting

It's fun to attend a tasting of the wines from all over the world. You can see the difference and similarity of wines from different regions.
On the other hand, a tasting event focusing on one specific topic is interesting, too.
You can see wines in more depth, and even diversity in narrower categories.

Valpolicella and Lugana An Exclusive Tasting was about the wines from Valpolicella and Lugana.

Valpolicella is a region in Veneto, Italy. They make red wine from Corvina grape, and are especially known for the wines made with the Passito method (drying grapes before the fermentation).
Lugana is near Valpolicalla. It's in the south of Lake Garda, at the border of Veneto and Lombardy. Infact, a part of Lugana is in Lombardy.
Wine from here is white made from Trebbiano di Lugana.

Here's some of the wines I liked. Some wineries had great whites, others were good at reds.

Cantina Bulgarini Lugana DOC Superiore 2014 Ca Vaibo
Grapes were dried for one month before fermentation.
Stewed and candied apple, and mineral gave freshness.

Ca dei Frati Lugana DOC 2015 Brolettino
Complex fresh green fruit, ripe stone fruit, mineral and earthiness.
Good structure and very good wine.

Cantina Valpantena Verona

Valpolicalla Ripasso DOC Superiore 2014 Torre del Falasco
Ripe fruit and jamminess, yet some freshness of mint. There was some smokiness, too.

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG 2013 Torre del Falasco
Ripe, concentrated fruit, earthiness, and herbaceousness of green tea powder.

Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG 2014 Tesauro
Candied red fruit, raisin, prune, medicinal herbs and butterscotch.

I always wondered the difference between Amarone and Recioto, or the timing of harvest, more precisely.
At this winery, grapes are harvested at the same time, dried for the same amount of time, fermented in a same way, and fermentation is stopped for Recioto while there is still enough sugar.

Villa Canestrari

Valpolicella DOC Superiore 2014
It was floral, herbaceous like green tea powder, and had fresh red cherry.
This can be good food wine.

Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore 2014 I Lasi
Concentrated cooked red fruit, candied fruit and Kirsch.

Ca Maiol Lugana DOP 2016 Mailo
The wine was somewhat simple but very approachable and friendly.

The Trebbiano grape is considered to be relatively neutral, but Trebbiano di Lugana had a lot of characters. I really enjoyed them.
Some of them are already imported to US, others are not. I hope I can see more of them in the near future.

Domaine Mathon Morgon Cote du Py

Domaine Mathon Morgon Cote du Py 2013

Morgon is one of Beaujolais Crus, and Cote du Py is a renowned area there.

The wine had pronounced aromas of red cherry, raspberry, red plum, rose, Kirsch, and banana skin.
Banana skin and Kirsch can suggest possible carbonic maceration.
Cinnamon, liquorice and gravels.
Acid was not too high, and tannin was lower.
Fruity and easy to drink.

We had this with BBQ Pork Ribs.

The abundance of fruit and low tannin went good with BBQ.
It wasn't a great pairing, but wasn't bad.

Benanty, wine from Etna

I had a chance to attend a dinner party at A16 in San Francisco with Mr. Agatino Maurizio Failla from BENANTI.

BENANTY is a winery in Etna.
Etna DOC is located at the slopes of Mt. Etna in an Italian island of Sicily.
There, the reflection from Mediterranean sea helps grapes to ripen, and vineyards at higher altitude benefit from cooler temperature which helps grapes to retain acidity and fresh aromas.

Etna Bianco 2015
It was refreshing and had depth. The wine has no oak, but lees stirring adds complexity to the flavor.
I sometimes find flavors of lees stirring in white wine a little distracting but with this wine, the extra flavor was integrated very nicely.
Really good wine.

They make single variety red wines.

Nerello Mascalese 2013 had stronger structure but soft mouth feel.
Ripe and fresh red fruit.

Nerello Cappuccio 2013 was aged in stainless steel and had lower tannin.
Fruit was fresh.
There are certain numbers of people who like lower tannin, refreshing style wine, and this is made for them!.

These grapes are usually blended together, but they stood alone strongly as single varietal wine.

Etna Rosso is a blend of local varieties such as Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio.
Serra Della Contessa 2004 had layers of aromas of dark fruit, herbs, spices and earthiness.
Deep and strong. Lovely wine!

Mr. Failla was gentle, amiable, and very enthusiastic about wine.
The food was good and wines were great, and to enjoy them with a person who works hard for the wine is very special.
It was a great pleasure to dine with him.

Wine from Georgia

I had a chance to try interesting wine.

Marani Saperavi 2014

This is a wine from Georgian Republic.
The variety is 100% Saperavi, Georgia's native red grape.
Although wines from those regions are hard to be found at stores, Georgia is considered to be wine's birth place.

The wine had fresh black fruit and herbs like thyme and liquorice.
Medium tannin and acid.
The components seemed to be not very well integrated, but it still tasted good.

We had this wine with Duck and Polenta.
Feta cheese added saltiness to the mild flavor of Polenta.
Yum.

Mauritson Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

Mauritson Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley 2012

Mauritson Family has been growing grapes in Sonoma more than 140 years, and started to make wines in 1990s.

It was around $20. Good price for California Zinfandel.

The wine had red cherry, black cherry, redcurrant and cooked plum, and coffee and toffee from oak.
Alcohol was high but not overwhelming.
Tannin was noticeable but well integrated.
Fruits were jammy but didn't feel overly ripe.
Very good wine, especially for its price.

This wine went good with Soy Sauce flavor.

Rose wine and Oyster

Regal Wine hosted Rose All Day event this week.
The theme was to discover the goodness of Rose wine and Oyster pairing.

We met in San Francisco and drove to Hog Island Oyster Farm by a chartered bus.

Scenic drive!

Hog Island Oyster Farm grows and sells oysters in Tamales Bay.
Their oysters are known for the high quality and freshness.

View from the picnic area

At their picnic site, you can buy, shuck and eat raw oyster or BBQ them.
If you don't want to cook by yourself, there is an outside cafe called Boat Oyster Bar.

We sat at the picnic area and as soon as we got there, JC started to shuck huge oysters.

Meaty and delicious!

When it comes to wines for oyster, Chablis is the choice. I personally like the pairing with Txacolina, the white wine from Basque.

This day, we got to try about 20 rose wines with oysters, and most of them made really good pairing!
The freshness and little bit of tannin of rose wines diminished the fishiness and brought umami out of oysters.

Here's some of the wines I liked, which were good with oysters and by itself, too.

Gran Morain Rose 2016 from Oregon

Cambria Rose 2016. Approachable.

Delaporte Sancerre Rose Chavignol 2016, Rose wine of Pinot Noir.

Tablas Creek Patelin Rose 2016. It was good with oysters, and by itself.

Cenyth Rose 2016. Very goof Rose of Cabernet Franc.

Fabre en Province Rose 2016 from Province. Refreshing.

These rose wines made really good pairing with oysters indeed.
Now I want to have these with other seafood, too. I can only expect positive outcome.

Reichsrat V. Buhl Riesling Auslese

Reichsrat V. Buhl Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Auslese 2007

Beautiful gold color.
Acacia, orange blossom, candied orange peel, apricot, honey and petrol.
Alcohol was higher than it felt (11%), but wine was still sweet which was balanced with high acidity.
Very good wine.

We had this with Spanish Rice with Fried Calamari.

Squeeze lemon juice on the Calamari and had it with the wine. Delicious.

Planet Wine Tasting by seaside

It's a great pleasure to attend Planet Wine Tasting.
I admire their selection: affordable yet good quality, and each wine has its own appeal and not monotonous.

The tasting was held by seaside on gorgeous sunny day.

There were so many wines I liked. Here's some of them.

Chateau Larroque Bordeaux
Fresh red and black fruit. Great bargain-price Bordeaux!

Vignobles Bulliat Morgon 2015
Aromas of flower and red fruit. Soft tannin.
Good structure yet easy to drink.

Gouleyant Rose Vin de Pays des Cotes du Lot 2016
It was probably my first time to try Rose Malbec.
The wine was refreshing yet had good structure. Good by itself, and good with food.

Chateau de Haute-Serre Icone Cahors 2011
Tannin was well integrated and it still had fresh fruit.

Altenberg de Bergheim Alsace Grand Cru Gewurztraminer 2011
A bouquet of orange flower and gardenia.

Domaine de Champarlan Menetou-Salon 2015
Domaine de Champarlan Sancerre 2015
Same Sauvignon Blanc, same winemaker. Both of them were fruity and refreshing.
Menetou-Salon was rounder, and Sancerre was sharper.

Domaine la Villaudiere Sancerre White 2015
Crisp, fruity, refreshing. Great wine.
Rose and red were good wines,too.

This Sancerre and Morgon were probably my favorites of the day.

This year is Planet Wine's 10th anniversary so there were music and Crepe stand to celebrate!
The crepe was Brittany-style buckwheat crepe. Yummy.

The Brittany Crepes has restaurant in Berkeley which I definitely want to check out.

Great finds for both wine and crepe.

Zenato Wine Tasting

There was Zenato: The Wines of Valpolicella tasting this week.

Zenato is a winery from Veneto, Italy.
At this tasting, I got to try two white and four red wines.

Zenato Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2015
Apple and honey. Simple Pinot Grigio.

Zenato Lugana di San Benedetto 2015
The variety is Trebbiano de Lugana.
Trebbiano de Lugana is said to have more pronounced aromas than other Trebbiano.
Also had more body. Alcohol felt a little too strong to me.

Zenato Valpolicella Superiore 2013
80% Corvina, 10% Rondinella, 10% Sangiovese.
Light mouth feel. Red fruit. There were some savoriness, too.

Zenato Alanera Rosso Veronese 2012
50% Corvina 25% Rondinella, 10% Corvinone, 5% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The corvina grapes were dried after the harvest  (for shorter time than Amarone). Then fermented and blended with other wines. The resulting wine had a similar character to Valpolicella but more concentrated.
This is not a traditional method so this wine is made under Veronese IGT.

Zenato Ripassa Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore 2012
No, this is not typo. This Ripasso wine is called Ripassa.
Concentrated red fruit with herbs.

Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012
Concentrated red cherry and plum. More tannin and body. However, this Amarone felt lighter than the ones from other producers.

They were all good, approachable wines. Reds were more impressive than whites.
I would have been more convinced if they were a little bit more cheaper.