Wine Review: Ornellaia La Volte 2006 ($23)

The famous Ornellaia – made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot – will set you back about $150. I don’t doubt that it’s amazing. Wine Spectator rated the 2004 vintage the seventh best wine in the world last year.

I don’t have that kind of cash, but I did find a nice bottle from the same producer, for a more affordable $23. This week’s wine pick is La Volte 2006, a heavenly taste of the Tuscan coast. The wine is a well-rounded blend of Sangiovese (the Chianti grape), Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Both the aromas and flavour really jump out at you. There’s a lot of plum on the nose, and some forest-floor elements that remind of fall leaves. It’s not a huge, tannic wine, but is chock-full of intriguing flavors, such as campfire smoke, liquorice root and jammy, dark fruit. A first-class effort.

Quaffability Rating: 89

Labels: Ornellaia La Volte 2006, red wine review

Labels: PlatyPreserve, storing wine

HealthDay News is reporting that resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, may help in the battle against multiple sclerosis. The research is preliminary and has only been carried out on mice, but scientists at the Univeristy of Utah say the results are promising.

In the study, Mice with an MS-like condition showed an initial weight gain after being given resveratrol, and reseachers say weight gain is a good sign because weight loss usually accompanies a deterioration in neurological function.

Several studies on animals have also linked resveratrol to a longer lifespan. Keep the reserach coming.

Labels: multiple sclerosis, red wine, resveratrol

Wine Review: Quintus Ripasso Valpolicella 2006 ($17.95)

I love a good ripasso – the bastard cousin of Italy’s towering Amarone wines from the Veneto region. The problem is that it’s often hard to find a good one. Ripasso is made by adding the grape skins used to make Amarone to a Valpolicella, creating a second fermentation and higher concentration of tannins and flavor. Unlike Amarone, the price tag on a good ripasso won’t put a huge dent in your wallet.

This week’s wine pick, I’m happy to report, is a very good ripasso. The Quintus Ripasso Valpolicella 2006 has a nose of dark cherries, rusty nails and chocolate. The palette is silky rich, producing flavors of Glosette raisins. There’s a bit of heat, but the wine it’s not overwhelming. I could see this pairing well with glazed pork roast or roast beer. It’s certainly smooth enough to drink on its own as well.

Quaffability Rating: 91

Labels: amarone, quintus ripasso valpolicella, red wine review, veneto

Are You Allergic to Wine?

I worked at a wine shop for a couple of years, and I can’t tell you the number of times customers told me they couldn’t drink red wine because they were allergic to sulfites. While I never doubted that they had a reaction to something in the red wine, I was skeptical about the sulfites claim, so I did a little digging in the library (this was pre-Google) and discovered that a true sulfite allergy is quite rare. So, how to explain the adverse reactions to red wine?

Almost 20 years after my initial research on the subject, there are still many unanswered questions. This recent article on ABC News cites a study in Northern Europe in which 8 percent of those surveyed said wine causes them to have an allergic reaction. Complaints range from headaches to a flushed face to a runny nose. Since there are only a tiny number of documented cases of people being allergic to the actual wine grapes, the oft-cited target for blame is sulfites, which occur naturally in wine, but are also added to prevent early spoilage.

Poor sulfites always get the blame, since winemakers are required by law to list them on the label, but the wine labels don’t tell the whole story. Researchers found that only 1 percent of people react to sulfites, and even then, the sulfite levels in red wine are much lower than in dried fruit. So if you can eat dried apricots without a reaction, but get a headache from wine, you are probably in the other 7 percent of people who react to something else in the wine other than sulfites.

There several other compounds found in wine that could lead to reactions, including histamines, which are in higher concentrations in red wines, and could cause allergy-like symptoms. Egg whites are another potential allergen used in the winemaking process, sometimes dropped into wine barrels in very small amounts to remove cloudiness.

In an inflammatory article in the U.K. Telegraph, the reporter quotes Malcolm Gluck, author of the book The Great Wine Swindle, as saying that “Many, many wines are no better than alcoholic cola. You get artificial yeasts, enzymes, sugar, extracts, tannins, all sorts of things added.” It’s not surprising to learn that a lot of plonk contains bogus ingredients, but I’m willing to bet than most of the bottles sold in North America in the $10-30 range, are legit, which is not to say that people won’t still have adverse reactions to them.

Wines are complex – that’s why we love them. Unfortunately, that complexity comes with a price for some people – headaches (and I’m talking about the non-hangover variety) and itchy eyes. Until there’s more conclusive research about what’s causing those reactions, your best bet is to try a little bit of the wine to see if you react, rather than simply shunning all reds because you had a bad reaction of one of them. And unless you’ve been diagnosed with a bona-fide allergy to sulfites, don’t immediately jump on them as the culprit.

Labels: histamines, sulfites, wine allergies

Labels: Bellingham Dragon's Lair 2005, red wine review, South Africa

Labels: Bottle Shock, Judgment of Paris, Robert Parker

Labels: red wine review, terra andina

My dad, who has a nice collection of age-worthy wines, often opens up a bottle and says, “This one needs a few more years,” or, “This one’s over the hill.” Managing a wine cellar, even a small one, is not an easy task. Every bottle has its own optimal date range for consumption. Drink it too soon and you might get harsh tannins and unripe fruit; wait too long and the flavor is lost forever.

WineEducation.com has a good rundown on wine aging. The last line of the article is probably the most important point: the only way to know if the wine is ready to drink is to taste it. If you buy your wine by the case or half-case, this allows some room for trial and error. Open a bottle and if it needs more time (tannins still a bit rough, fruit to powerful), let the rest of the case sit for another year and try again. That way you get to taste the evolution of the same wine as it ages – a fantastic experience that really highlight the fact that you’re drinking something that’s still alive and ever-changing.

If you don’t have cases of wine to experiment with, check out WineAging.com’s searchable guide, which lists the optimal year to pop the cork out (or unscrew the top). CellarNotes.net also has a chart to use as a general guide.

Personally, I’ve found the over-the-hill wines much more disappointing than under-ripe bottles. When you’re expecting something great from a wine that’s been lying down for decades, and all you get is a bland experience, it’s a real letdown. Drink a wine too young, on the other hand, and it’s still bursting with flavor – it might make your cheeks pucker, and it won't be as complex as it could be, but it still has potential for greatness. So when in doubt, just drink it, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hit the wine aging sweet spot.

Labels: Wine Aging, wine over the hill