Trip to Messinia

Messinia is the furthest west peninsula of Peloponnese, Greece. It is a country of amazing, crystal clear healing seawater, olive trees and cicadas. It seems to be pretty much colonized by German tourism, which has some good sides, like, for example, prominence of organic (bio) produce and grapes.

I was somewhat disappointed with the food, which was more simple and austere than Macedonia, a northern province I visited a couple of years ago. Although surrounded by the sea, Messinians don't have much local seafood... The fish from the area are small and bony, not much variety of aquatic life forms, and lamb seems to be the dominant cuisine specialty.

Wines from the area I would divide into 3 categories:a) the home grown/ home made seasonal, plastic canister products served in tavernas and consumed by the locals, b) the coops, where grape growers from the area can sell their fruit and regional wine of various quality is mass produced, c) artisanal, professional wineries which grow and vinify their own grapes.

Owners of Panagiotopolos in their tasting room and Matina,
current winemaker of Nestor coop, former winemaker of Dereskos

Messinia is a country of white wine. Reds exist, but are newer introductions to local agriculture, and mostly consist of cab sav and merlot, oaked to the max and intended for export or for tourists.
Plenty of interesting white varieties, most common being Roditis. It's an easy drinking light quaffer, lemony, some tropical fruit, produced and available throughout the region. It goes great with local scrawny fish;) I had some very nice Roditis at Nestor, one of the largest wine coops in Messinia.
Moscofiliero is a more complex one, produced around Messinia, Laconia and Arcadia. We tried around, there is a persistent presence of rubber, musk and lemon in the nose, taste is amazingly close to black tea with lemon, less fruity than Roditis, more pungent, crisp and surprising. Our favorite was Astala from Arcadia, but all Moscofilieros we had were worth mentioning.

The nicest artisanal bio wine producer we found was Panagiotopoulos, we had a great tasting of their wines and tasted two simply fantastic endemic whites: Fileri and Malagozya. The last one in particular is a great find: the explosive bouquet consists of pear, in fact a very peculiar little pear they all plant around their vineyards. Full, almost transparent white in color, viscous, mineral, sweet ripe fruit, pear, passion fruit.

As far as reds and roses go I enjoyed the cheap unpretentious Kalamata bio Cabernet wines. They all tend to be dusty, woody, pruney with flavors if black olive and bitter herbs. Higher end tasty Cabs came from Derescos and Panagiotopolos, dominant olive and herby, jeggermeister like flavor, deep fig and prune, slow to open.


Also worth trying are local Laconian Agiorgitiko, and of course reds of Nemea, which would require a separate post. One of the best reds I had in Greece was a 12 euro Athen's supermarket Xinomavro from mount Olympus area... Again, a whole new post;)

We grilled this octopus in our backyard! Turned out to be one of the best meals:)


Regional red of Laconia

Wine & Food, Bologna 2010

Divinis is definitely my favorite enoteca style establishment in Bologna. Right in the historic center of the city, this gourmet restaurant offers the real experience of northern Italian and French wines, matched with amazing food prepared by Maurizio Landi. This is NOT a tourist trap, unlike some places I visited in Florence and Milan...

I started my lunch with a glass of white, sparkling pinot nero from Piemonte produced by Bruno Giacosa. This blanc des noirs is quite big, mineral, aromatic, with persistent flavors of molasses, almond and herbs. (89 points) I also had home made strigoli pasta with stinging nettle, frog fish and lime peel: simply great.

To finish off the meal I asked for an interesting red with a cheese pairing. The red was truly exceptional: 2009 Verduno Pelaverga by Burlotto (one of the big Barolo producers from Piemonte). (90 points) Verduno is an endemic, pretty rare grape from Piemonte: spicy, dry and drinks young. My bottle had a very unique over all presence of black pepper, it dominated both nose and mouth. The fruit was minimal but very satisfying, dark berry and apple, beautiful garnet red, light body with nice viscosity. The cheese pairing was fresh Chabot, which was creamy, tart and fizzy inside...

Mulderbosch 2008 Sauvignon Blanc South Africa, Stellenbosch Western Cape

Mulderbosch 2008 Sauvignon Blanc
South Africa, Stellenbosch Western Cape

U$ 18

Excellent lime green colour with hints of citrus fruits and figs.
Loved this South African white, great for hot summer days.
Has a tarty taste that goes well with fish and spicy foods.
Had this one picked up at Astor Wines in NY.
Highly recommend.

Pierre Matrot Meursault 2007

Unoaked Chardonnay from an old-school Côte de Beaune producer Pierre Matrot. Basic, refreshing, mineral and a perfect match for oysters. A floral bouquet (violets, acacia) with a simple but elegant lemon and honey mouth, very mineral and dry. Accents of tea and grapefruit peel. Enjoyed over a birthday dinner at Pearl Oyster Bar in the West Village (which is more than recommended).

60$ (restaurant price)
80 points

Tasting menu at La Bourgogne, Buenos Aires

I usually don't hang out in super fancy restaurants, but it was my birthday and I'm in Buenos Aires! So my girlfriend and I treated ourselves to a full tasting menu at chef Jean-Paul Bondoux'
"La Bourgogne", which is supposed to be one of the best gourmet joints in Latin America.
I took some pictures and added images of wine pairings... my failed efforts to neatly pack lots of information into a small space led to this post looking like a cheap Chinese take out menu... oh well:) To see more detail click on the images.


The theme of the dinner was French food cooked with fresh Argentine ingredients and paired with local wines. We started out with a crab appetizer prepared with chamomile and violets (didn't know you could eat those). It came with Torrontes Finca Domingo 2008, which for me was one of the more interesting wine discoveries here. Torrontes is a white grape variety exclusive to Argentina. Young, sharp, unique; think Australian Savignion Blanc, but shorter and more explosive... lots of flowers, tangerine and mango.

Then we had frog legs with garlic and parsley, paired with Mendoza Chardonney. The frog legs were delicious and gianormous... Chardonney didn't do much for me... buttery oak, new world average. The third course was a vapor cooked Patagonian sea bass paired with Luigi Bosco Gala 3 Viogner 2006. Both were splendid; the wine is actually a mix of Viognier 50%, Chardonnay 40% and Riesling 10%... very complex and satisfying: lime, wood, vanilla.

Finally, the pièce de résistance: cranberry sauce venison served with Alta Vista Malbec Grande Reserva 2004. I thought the malbec was good, but needed to breathe... it kept opening in the glass, mostly blueberries, oak and plum. I prefer more structure, but I think this goes for malbec in general. This was a very polished, well crafted, Bordeaux style wine, perhaps a bit too polite for the venison steak...
The tasting ended with an Argentine cheese plate, raspberry tart and a glass of dessert wine from Luigi Bosco (which I can't say much about because I was pretty drunk already:)
Over all this was an amazing experience, which would cost 4 times the price in NYC. Definitely recommended. And Mr. Bondoux is quite a character!

La Chapelle de la Bastide, Picpoul de Pinet, 2008

I don't get it: why aren't people more excited about Picpoul?
This is a fantastic deal, $8 at the BQE Liquors, if I was into white wines I would get a case.
Peach and rose bouquet, simple but effective lime, green apple mouth with a finish of mead.
Crisp, fresh, fun, paired great with our baked salmon & millet.

Think quaffable Languedoc version of Grüner Veltliner with an extra touch of class.

The Umbrian Experience

So, about my Umbrian experience…

We were staying amongst the rather wild and empty hills of Umbria. The closest town was Spoletto, but to go to Montefalco wouldn’t take us longer then 1 hour. Because of the isolation of our house (nearest trattoria was about 7 km away of twisting, hilly road) we had to organize our meals at home, along with some more serious wine tasting sessions. Eventually it turned out to be the best solution: the restaurants in the area had a tendency to serve kind of “touristy” food, while the products of the region were awesome. Also our landlord was supplying us with fresh veggies and fruits from their garden, as well as homemade cakes…

http://www.agriturismovalnerina.it/home.htm

Both of us are devoted white wines drinkers, and, of course, we went through several lovely grechettos and trebbianos spolettino from Antonelli (nice choice – flowery, slightly spicy nose, for me best with simple food – prosciutto or seafood).
The interesting thing was that in Umbria, with it’s dry air, climate, and constantly present aromas of rosemary, truffles and venison, I suddenly started to feel a vampiric need for heavy, dry and even tannic wines. And that was exactly what the area had to offer.



Sololoro (Fontecolle, Montefalco 2005) – I really enjoyed this wine. It’s cuvee of sangiovese (about 70%), sagrantino, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Nice structure, fresh and fruity. Tender but expressive. We had it with pasta with dried ricotta and truffles, wild boar sausage and local olive oil. (I would rate it 82/100)


Rubesco Lungarotti (Rosso di Torgiano, 2005) – forest fruits, some spices, it was a little bit too concentrated for me, but drank with serious steak (look at the grill) worked pretty nice (73/100).

Wines of the Venezia Giulia - Friuli

Next stop on our wine trip was a small town nearby Alps called Tarcento. Because of the location this region offers quite an interesting wine selection. It’s not just a close distance to the Alps and the sea, but also an area of winemaking influences of the surrounding countries – Slovenia, Austria and Hungary (by the way, the region was actually a part of the Austro–Hungarian empire before the World War I). So the wines here are not quite as specific as, for example, in Umbria. The whites have a tendency to be quite fruity, sometimes mineral, but not as deep as, for example, chablisienne. They are refreshing, pure, not very dominating (well, at least what I’ve tried…) and usually don’t need too many years of aging. For white wines they use here all sorts of grapes: sauvignon, chardonnay and pinots (blanc and gris), less popular malvasia or picolit (for desert wines) and finally local Tocai Friulana, which has not much in common with Hungarian Tokaj... so to avoid confusion since 2007 it’s officially called Friulano Bianco.

After a few acceptable quaffers "by the glass" in a bar we took a bottle of Arbis Blanc 2004 from Borgo San Daniele. Cuveé of Tocai Friulana, chardonnay, sauvignon and pinot bianco. Elegant and structured, everything in the right place. Quoting Sam’s cellartracker opinion: "The wine has quite a scented, open, floral nose with some melony notes. Rich and pure on the palate. It has very good depth and loads of character. Very Good Indeed"

Indeed very good. We paid for it 30 euro, having it in enoteca with some prosciutto, local cheeses and honey. To take away it was 22 euro.

About the red wines from region: lots of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, plus local specialties, for example pignolo, refosco, schioppetino. Because it was really hot our red wine tasting was rather limited. We took our time with a bottle of refosco 2006 from Ronchi di Manzano. Quite heavy, rich structure with barney and animal bits (in direction of animals rather then barney, as Sam said: "almost meaty animalistic fauviness") and in the beginning unfortunately some sulphur, probably caused by the hot temperature. Then it showed more of dark fruits marmalade. Rather spicy wine, but worked well with your standard enoteca food set : ham, cheese and honey. Especially well with parmesan style spicy, hard cheeses. A bottle to take away was 16 euro.

We tried one more bottle from Friuli already at home – Vigne della Rocca 2006 made of Cabernet Franc. It really was a good wine. Amazing mineral, earthy bouquet, with notes of horseradish and green leafs. Tanic but balanced, nutty in finish. Strong but not aggressive taste. Very vivid. 12 euro a bottle. Worth a try. We had it with some mascarpone and truffle pasta.

Domaine des Lauriers, Picpoul de Pinet 2008

My darling girlfriend made some chirashi sushi for dinner, thus I decided to try a white bottle for change...

I tasted Picpoul (also a grape variety) once before and remembered it as a tasty, sharp wine, kind of along the lines of Pignoletto or Grüner Veltliner. This $12 bottle was different: much bigger and meaner, lots of personality, not necessarily the way I like it though.

Medium to full body, greenish straw color (in the picture you see mostly condensation on the glass surface), mineral all the way. Bouquet of honeydew melon. Taste ways I got citrus/lime which abruptly turns into intense, chewy licorice with notes of schist, almost muddy.

Not my thing, but I respect it:). Boiled artichoke would be my optimal food match.

Royal Tokaji Furmint 2007

Really powerful wine with high extract; not for wimps. Light, straw color and a delicate bouquet with ripe peach and fresh wood are just a mask for the 14,5% of alcohol (have a feeling, that if we would have some digestive after all, the katzenjammer would be guaranteed). In mouth lively, rich, almost tannic. It’s made of the same grapes, that are usually used for sweet Tokay, so this athletic structure is covered with a honey like coat. We drank it with grilled trout and it was ok, but I think, would be even better with some goat cheese.
13,5$ per bottle.

Broadbent Vinho Verde (Portugal)

Smith & Vine, Brooklyn, New York about 12 USD

A summer staple of mine. Very light; only 9% alcohol content, mineral tasting and mild carbonation. This is what I would call, as much as the term annoys some friends, a very quaffable summer white wine. Best served chilled!