Tasting Sparkling Wine With The San Diego Wine Mafia

Last month the San Diego Wine Mafia held our first ever sparkling wine tasting. Harnessing the power of Twitter, we were able to get a great lineup of bubbly wine (to go with our bubbly personalities of course!) and each member contributed some food to pair with said sparkling wine. While we were able to accumulate 22 bottles from France, Spain and the United States, I think it would be pointless to list each one with the accompanying tasting notes. That and there were multiple bottles of sparking wine that I just didn't like. However, the San Diego Wine Mafia did taste a bunch of winners. At it turned out, the prices of our favorites ranged from $8 to $95 and from the Columbia Valley to Champagne itself.

 

Here's a list of my favorite sparkling wines of the night:

Delamotte 1999 Blanc de Blancs: Well balanced, veers a bit towards florals, hints of yeast, luxurious as all get-up.
A- $95

Domaine St. Michelle 2004 Luxe: Fresh baked apple tart on the nose, I dig it! Good balance of acid and creamy yeast on the palate. Washes clean with subtle apricot on the finish. Delivers above it's price point.
B+ $18

Domaine St. Michelle Brut:  Very traditional flavor profile, totally loved the interplay of dryness and fresh baked bread. Great acidity and bubbles, nice hints of yeast. What a QPR killer!
A- $8

J Brut Rose: Nicely fruity with raspberry and strawberry wrapped in leather. A classy dominatrix? Yea I dig it, but not the price. While I love pink sparkling wine, I'm still trying to figure out the California examples.
B-  $30

Paul Cheneau Blanc de Blancs Cava: Nice nose, great flavors of citrus and hints of apricots. Great acidity that carries through to the finish, really happy with this one. Not a QPR-buster but you get a delicious wine at a good price.
B+  $17

Mumm Napa Brut Rose: Another California rose, one that is solidly made, great balance of fruit and acidity. You can tell it's got Pinot and that is a damn good thing. One of the better rose sparkling wines I've had lately.
B+  $18

Woodbridge Brut: Nose brings the funk, palate has some awesome yeasty notes but also fruit notes, rich, really nicely done. Delivers above it's price point and far, far above it's label. This is why I love blind tasting!
B+  $10  

Iron Horse Classic Vintage Brut 2005: Well done! Impressive balance between bubbles and bright acidity, wish there was more of a nose though. Still, a nice effort and the fruit shines through the mid palate then carries the finish. I'd drink this any time, it delivers for under $30.
B-  $27

I want to say thank you to all the wineries and PR groups that sent us sparkling wine, the response was wonderful! I'm deeply appreciative that I was able to taste so many sparkling wines in one session. The prices quoted here are either the Suggested Retail Price or the price I found on the winery website. Often they're available for a bit less at your local fine wine shop.

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