L'Oca Ciuca Brunello di Montalcino, Drunken Goose Wine

One of my resolutions for 2012 was to get out and taste more Italian wines, so getting this sample from the folks at winechateau.com was a great way to kick things off. Every few months, they send me a bottle of something fun and interesting to taste and blog about, usually imported, and always at a really good price. This time I was given the option of this 2006 L'Oca Ciuca Brunello di Montalcino or a 2006 Tenuta Rocca Barolo, both wines which received high scores from Wine Spectator.

I chose the Brunello because it would be more approachable right now, compared to the Barolo which will probably be a tannic beast for the forseeable future. Don't go grabbing your torches and pitchforks yet though, I am well aware that Brunello di Montalcino wines also need a lot of age, often over ten years before they start truly showing the magnificent angles and nuances that sangiovese can produce.

What is Brunello di Montalcino then? Brunello is the regional (in Montalcino) name for the sangiovese grosso species of grape. In the regional dialect, Brunello means "little dark one", a reference to the size and color of the grapes. A wine bearing the DOCG stamp from the region can only contain sangiovese and must follow strict barrel and bottle aging requirements. Montalcino is a warm, dry region in Tuscany, a region also home to Chianti. Vineyards in Montalcino are planted in varied soils including limestone, clay, volcanic soil, schist,  and a crumbly marl known as galestro. Vineyard elevation is between 500 and 1,500 feet.

Now let's talk about this Brunello, a 2006 called L'Oca Ciuca, or "Drunken Goose".

After being passed through a vinturi into my glass for about two hours, I figure it was time to give the L'Oca Ciuca a proper evaluation. The 2006 vintage has been getting some great press lately, with the print media critics calling it a superb, balanced year.

The L'Oca Ciuca Brunello has a beautifully aromatic nose full of dark cherries, spice, saddle leather, and a whiff of sweet plum. The secondary flavors manifest as a dusty, brown soil component as well as a hint of thyme. The aromatic complexity of good Brunello never fails to put a smile on my face. I'd even be so bold as to state this is a wine, when sniffed, that you will instinctively know is great. Not good, fine, decent, okay, but a great bottle of wine.

The palate presence gives away this wine's age, but it has already developed a silky, beautiful texture. There's the ever-present sangiovese acidic snap, enveloping gorgeous black cherry and plum flavors. As the wine continues to unfold, an earthy note reaches through the tannic mid-palate, beckoning you towards a finish of dried herb, oak, tar, and more silky smooth tannin. There's a soulful depth to this wine, like Etta James singing "At Last", where you cannot help but be touched by the magic at play. Like the song's rise and fall, the flavors rise and fall in intensity, leaving you with the sense that you've just experienced something special.

I highly recommend buying a few bottles of the 2006 L'Oca Ciuca, and Winechateau.com is selling it for $29.97, versus the regular price of $65. You can visit their site and purchase some to drink, but I recommend a few more years of rest for this Brunello. After 2015, you'll be rewarded with even more flavor integration and silky texture.

This wine was a sample for review purposes from WineChateau.com

Beau Carufel

Who Makes Sangiovese in the Columbia Valley?! Cana's Feast!

What is Cana's Feast, you ask? A winery of course, one with a tasting room in the Willamette Valley, next to the Carlton Winemakers Studio. I say this because I literally spent five minute at Cana's Feast picking up this sample, then had to run back out to the van to continue the epic Willamette Century Club Extravaganza that I'd embarked upon earlier in the day.

Fast forward six weeks or so, when I (finally) decided to open this Sangiovese to see what it was all about. Most, in fact all the Sangiovese I'd previously tasted was from either Italy (duh) or California. Both regions can produce some wonderful wines, the Italians of course make Brunello di Montalcino, which may in fact be the greatest wine ever.

2007 Cana's Feast Sangiovese Grosso Columbia Valley

 

From the Ciel du Cheval vineyard in the Red Mountain AVA of Washington State, Cana's Feast winemaker Patrick Taylor created a well balanced Sangiovese that showcases a side of the varietal we rarely experience. Different, but in a good way, from Italian or California examples, I was pleased to taste something off the beaten track. There is so much good wine in the world, and there seems to be too little time to taste it all! 

The Sangiovese Grosso poured into my glass with a ruby hue and a center of red brick. Following my usual tasting process, I opened the wine an hour before tasting it and used my Wine Soiree to pour about 3 ounces into the tasting glass.

Ripe cherries, hints of smoke and earth, along with some toasty vanilla all rushed out at me. Compared to a Chianti, where I often taste the cherries but get sharper, more acidic notes, the Cana's Feast was veering in a different direction entirely.

What made this wine very, very good was it's mouthfeel. There was such great texture, I felt it washing across my tongue in wave after wave. Vibrant acidity introduced me to red cherries and hints of raspberry before giving way to some earthy, oaky flavors that added welcome complexity. Notes of herb and cedar seemed to weave in and out, almost between the other flavors. You get a sense this wine is expressing terroir the only way it can, by joyously shouting it at your palate!

The finish also got me excited, the way it tapered away without lingering for too long. Sometimes a wine's finish lasts so long that you're hesitant to take that next bite of food or that next sip. Not with the Cana's Feast Sangiovese, which finished quickly but elegantly.

Using Google, I found prices from $30 to $44 for the Sangiovese. The cheapest price seemed to be on the Cana's Feast website shopping cart, but that required some complex navigating for me at least. I give this wine a B+, it really impressed me and is a worthy addition to your cellar. A BUY recommendation and a suggestion of pairing it with something fun like grilled, marinated skirt steak or even some grilled portobello mushrooms.

You can follow Cana's Feast on twitter by clicking here. If you're up in Carlton, stop by and check out the winery, it's a Tuscan-inspired Villa where you can have lunch with dishes created to highlight the local produce and Cana's Feast wines. Next time I'm in Oregon, I'm going to stop in and get the full experience.

This wine was given to me as a press sample.

Beau Carufel