Friday 23 January 2009

Suburban sundown - Sun's up in my kitchen!- # 09/11

Taking a rest due to foul weather the hunt is on for a special kind of "red". It has to be light, with a nice balance of very light fruit and acidity. I'm looking towards the rarer "northern" reds grown under gentler heavens - perhaps Teutonic rather than Gallic.

So why show a Languedoc pinot noir? Only because I drunk the others before I could get the camera ready.

My wine merchant revealed a merlot from the Veneto (Italy) grown on the cooler gentle pre-alpine slopes at the very north of the region. I was suspicious that as a merlot it would be much too soft, but he correctly assured me that the cooler conditions had left it fresh enough for my palate and stated criteria.

Then came a gamay, from the Tourainne. Normally a Loire area wine is white, so this red fitted my search criteria.

I was highly suspicious of the above featured Languedoc pinot noir. Far too sunny. It will be too well delveloped and a bit too "tough", I complained. "Trust me" he said. He was right - but only just. It is a light and nicely balanced wine, that can be appreciated. One senses the South, but it's not too overbearing.

Now the search is really on for the very rare but serious German reds, followed by Austrian and even Swiss reds. This is what I am really keen to ferret out and sample.

What's provoked this sudden excursion? As I said; the weather, and Zurich. ( I suspect he's flying a kite with a hidden agenda). http://blog.forthmedia.com/index.cfm/2009/1/23/Valpolicella

7 comments:

  1. Oh for the love! Just pour me a glass and let's sip and enjoy my friend!!!! HA
    V

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  2. Well, now I see how to photograph a bottle and glasses! Mind you, I'd have preferred an open bottle (yes you explained it) and glasses half full or half empty according to your optimism or otherwise.

    I used to be married to a wine buff like you. Now I cross the border to the nearest supermarket and pick up a few bottles of something that looks interesting. I'm sort of joking and yeah 'I know what I like' and a light red is exactly what I like unless it's wildly expensive and then it can be heavier and is mellow and wondrous and the whole world gets put to rights over a bottle or two.

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  3. Jilly - he already told you why the bottle is unopened. Three down and one to go = incapability. I'm enjoying this to-and-fro about wine and cheese. Maybe we need a punters wine and cheese forum.

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  4. Just a footnote. On a cycling tour through France, I had passed from Nantes to Angers and with my evening meal I casually asked for a "vin de la région - Muscadet, par example?". Stony silence. "Monsieur, vous etes maintenant en Anjou"

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  5. Try the Lombardy reds ("Oltrepò Pavese area"), from the area beyond the river Po, south of Milan (Italy), where these wines come from the sunny hills of the pre-apennines, an area which has about 800 years of vinegrowing and winemaking traditions. These wines are gentle and very pleasant to the palate.
    If you are looking for special and wonderfully structured red wines, go for the Aglianico del Vulture The Basilicata Region in southern Italy): these belong to the range of the best Barolo, Sassicaia Brunello di Montalcino range!
    To your good health!

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  6. @Blognote.....absolutely! The finest Barolo cannot be beaten by any other wine. I'm also planning soon to explore the Barbera. But for now the target is strictly the Reds of "the far cold North". I can see a whole series of posts stretching out before us!

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  7. So, Pinot Noir? OK! One day, when you'll drive south, you'll get closer to some of the best: «Barca Velha» or «Pera Manca»... (those are the trademarks...) ;))
    Now, there is a leather clad in Blogtrotter's last post waiting to be found... ;)
    Have a great Sunday!

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