Wines for the Year of the Horse?

Kung Hei Fat Choy! Greetings on the first day of the Year of the Horse! The first wine that comes to mind with an equine connection is Chateau Cheval Blanc - the St Emilion Premiere Grand Cru Classe (A) and its second wine Le Petit Cheval. Sometimes you can also find a St Emilion Grand Cru called Chateau Cheval Noir, from the Mahler Besse portfolio. This prestige cuvee has been produced since 2011 under consultation with Hubert de Bouard of Chateau Angelus.

Another famous winery with a horse connection is the Iron Horse Winery which is one of the top Sonoma producers of sparkling wine. Of course, there are lots of other wines with either cheval, horse or equus etc in the name, of every level of price and quality, which might be deemed appropriate for a celebration of the year of the horse. So raise a glass ... and cheers!

Monica Castanys art label for the Galena 2008

Some wines are associated with art labels, such as Ch Mouton-Rothschild and the Leuwin Estate Art Series (and Ch Siran for some years) whilst others commission special labels for special occasions, like Ch Rauzan Segla did in 2009 hiring Karl Lagerfield for a one-off label to celebrate 350 years of wine making at the estate. At present I have not been able to ascertain why there is this art label for certain bottlings of the wine (there is also an ordinary "plain" version of this wine).

Monica Castanys is a contemporary artist from Barcelona, usually painting figures (mostly women) often from the back, using a colour palette reminiscent of the Impressionists. The subjects are usually depicted in the middle of some everyday activity, but the sense of leisure is always present in the paintings (Indeed there was an exhibition of hers called Sense Presses (Unhurried in English)). This label is typical of the sort of pictures in her portfolio.

Pavillon Blanc de Chateau Margaux

Although Pavillon Rouge is the second wine for Chateau Marguax, Pavillon Blanc is anything but a second wine - it is the white from the esteemed estate and is reckoned by Hugh Johnson the best white of the Medoc. Sold in the 19th century as "white Sauvignon wine", it was renamed Pavillon Blanc de Chateau Margaux in 1920 and the label on the bottle has more or less remain unchanged from that time. Made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc from an old plot which had remained outside the Margaux appellation, the wine is oak aged for some 7 to 8 months prior to bottling.

I tasted the 2003 vintage in a Bordeaux Blanc dinner in 2008. The wine was a deep yellow, with a crisp closed nose sporting a hint of tuna meatiness. The palate was rather clean with hints of fruit, well supported by an acid backbone. Reading the tasting notes in the official website, it would seem that the wine could have been tasted during a dumb phase, as the later tasting (in 2011) yielded better results.

The grapes of Arimei Passito Secco

I came across this unique wine at last year's Wine Fair. This wine from the volcanic island of Ischia is made from a collection of local grapes: Biancolella, Forastera, Uva Rilla, San Lunardo and Coglionara. All apart from the last are recorded in the VIVC database that I turn to for reference, but other than that, little information seem to be available about these grapes. There were short articles on the first two in Wikipedia, but the Forastera one refers to a Spanish grape (either Mantuo or Doradilla) rather than the Italian one (3 different entries on Forestera exist in VIVC). Uva Rilla and San Lunardo are known by different Prime Names (Arilla and S. Lunardo respectively) but no information was available for Coglionara. As I have not met any of these before, that's another five for my collection!!

PS The wine itself will require another tidbit.

Quintarelli Bianco Secco 2011

I had blogged about trying the reds of Quintarelli and dal Forno at last year's Wine and Dine a couple of months ago. It turns out that I had also tried their white in the subsequent Wine Fair.This IGT white wine is made from a blend of grapes including Garganega, Trebbiano Toscano, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and the rather local Saorin (believed to be a local clone of Tocai). The average age of vines is around 30 years and the grapes are pressed immediately after harvesting. A 12 hour cold soak is followed by temperature controlled fermentation with regular battonage.

The wine was a straw yellow, with a crisp acid nose with grapefruit notes. The palate was off dry, crisp and acid (with some fruitiness), well supported by a nice acid backbone.

Ermitage Le Meal

There are two wines from the stables of Maison Chapoutier, a red which is 100% Syrah and a white made from 100% Marsanne. The fruit for both wines are grown on the Meal hillside in the Hermitage appellation and the vines are of some age, mostly over 50 years old. The story of the Hermitage appellation was recounted in the entry on Jaboulet's Hermitage La Chapelle. I tasted this red at last year's Wine and Dine Festival. The fruit for this wine comes from even older plants (average age >80 yrs) and were hand harvested and then destemmed before fermentation in concrete tanks for 4 weeks with temperature kept under 32degC. The free run wine is then transferred to new and one year old casks for 18 to 20 months maturation.

AS for this wine, it was ruby with a rich (yet slightly savoury) blueberry nose. The palate was sweet with rich berry fruit giving way to a nice tannic backbone giving structure to the whole wine.

Lambrusco Rosato

I have blogged about different kinds of Lambrusco in the past and how it is different from the popular image of the frothy sweet red that is the commercial version. Apart from the dry red bubbly, it seems that there is also a rose (or rosato in Italian) version too and that is apparently a comparatively new member of the Lambrusco family. There is a version which is fully fermented dry to a minimum alcohol of 11%, but equally there are amabile wines with alcohol around 8-9%. Part of the fermentation is done off the skins for a pink rather than a full blooded red colouration.

I had a taste of an amabile wine recently. Deep rose with an effervescence that disappeared rather quickly, the wine had a sweet fruity nose, but unfortunately with a metallic note. The sweet slightly berry fruit carried onto the palate which was well accompanied by an acid prickle, leading onto a a short acid tail which was just about adequate for structure. OK for a party wine needing no cerebration.