#WineStudio Online Session 32 with Tanaro River Imports Moves into Italy

Protocol Wine Studio's Online Session 32 online session continued with two Italian wines from Tanaro River Imports. And like last week's Florian Beck-Hartweg wines, George Tita has focused on two young winemakers utilizing old world methods.

Azienda Agricola Brangero 2012, Dolcetto di Diano D’Alba “San Rabino Soprano” Piemonte, Italy ($18, 13.5%) is produced by 3rd generation winemaker Marco Brangero in the town of Diano di Alba. This area is an approved Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) for Dolcetto as it's high elevation favors the early-ripening grape. On the front end Dolcetto is known to be soft and fruity, yet the wine comes to abrupt u-turn at the finish delivering a healthy dose of astringent tannins worthy of its Nebbiolo cousin. This wine from Brangero Winery is fermented and aged entirely in steel including long maturation process. Thus there are no outside wood influences which leads to a soft tart cherry wine with rustic earthiness finishing with almond like astringent tannins.  Beaujolais with teeth.

Cantina Roagna Giuseppe di Marco 2014 Barbera d’Alba Roero, Italy ($18, 14%) is produced by another third generation winemaker Marco Roagna from Priocca, a small town in the Roero. The soil contains more clay than other vineyards in the area so Marco's grandfather Bartolomeo selected clones that were best suited for this specific soil profile. Until the early 1980's the family was just selling it's fruit on bulk, but when mad cow disease wiped out the family's herd of livestock, Marco's father Giuseppe turned to a more higher yielding investment - wine production. Barbera is one of these wines and it's the complete opposite of the preceding Dolcetto. The initial taste focuses on it's juicy sour cherry flavor followed by an herbaceous and lively underbelly. There are plenty of acids with will allow this wine to age for a few more years. It finishes softly with easy tannins. This is one friendly and approachable wine. 

Session 32 of #Winestudio concludes tonight, February 26 at 9Pm ET. Join the conversation.

Tasting an Expanded Spirits Portfolio at Mt. Defiance Distillery

The Middleburg AVA is a popular destination in Virginia wine country and a couple years ago Mt. Defiance Cidery augmented the area wine offerings with craft cider. Soon afterwards the distillery section of the operation came online providing visitors an opportunity to sample classic spirits. And in past year Mt. Defiance Distillery has expanded their portfolio to now include three Rum offerings, Apple Brandy & Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

Because of the screwy Virginia ABC regulations, cider is sampled in Mt. Defiance's tasting room and the spirits nearer to the distillery. Visitors are allowed four one ounce pours of spirits per day. The distillery, like others in the Commonwealth, provide a range of cocktails so visitors aren't forced to sample neat. However, neat was my preference and so between two of us we chose the Amber Rum, Dark Rum, Apple Liqueur, Cassis, and Absinthe.

According to Distiller Peter Ahlf, previously the Amber and Dark rums were both aged for 6 - 8 months in small (15 gal) used rye barrels.  The difference is that Ahlf adds caramelized sugar to the Dark Rum just before bottling. Check your bottle label because Batch 12 was aged for 14 months in a 55 gallon used bourbon barrel and Batch 13 was a blend of 12 and previous methods. I don't know which version I sampled but the Dark Rum does have a pronounced honey-caramel profile when compared to the Amber - which is very smooth with a lighter honey accent. Both are very nice, but I preferred the lighter Amber style.

The Apple Liqueur is produced using a mash of sweet cider with crushed apples which is mixed with their Apple Brandy and additional sugar for sweetening. (The Brandy is produced by aging distilled hard cider and hen cutting to 80 proof). Thus, the liqueur is lower in alcohol at 50 proof / 25% alcohol and a bit on the sweeter side.

Cassis is a liqueur made from blackcurrants and Mt. Defiance's version is excellent. Ahlf says that his goal was to emphasize the liqueur's bright fruit flavor over sweetness and he succeeded. There's no syrupy or gritty sugar texture and the blackcurrant flavors are prevalent. Ahlf also mentioned that beet sugar worked much better than cane sugar as a sweetener. Interesting. 

The final spirit we sampled was the much anticipated Absinthe as Mt. Defiance utilizes the traditional brouilleur (water dripper) and sugar cube to prepare the spirit. They also use traditional ingredients such as Virginia grown Grand Wormwood, Lemon Balm and Hyssop; Aniseed from Andalucía, Spain; and Fennel Doux from Provence, France.  In general I'm not a great fan of Anise based spirits, but this Absinthe was rock solid - not overly liquorish - but relatively smooth. I was pleasantly surprised on this one.

To help navigate to Mt. Defiance or any of the Middleburg area wineries check out theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App. Cheers.

#WineStudio – Tanaro River Imports & Florian Beck-Hartweg

January's online session of #Winestudio features George Tita of Tanaro River Imports, which specializing in small producers in northern Italy and France. This month will feature a few of Tanaro's wines made by young winemakers who have maintained the traditional of their forefathers. One of these “young turks” is Florian Beck-Hartweg, who along with his wife Mathilde, are the fourteenth generation to work the family vineyards in Alsace. These vineyards are situated in northern Alsace near the village of Dambach-la-Ville.

Old traditions are followed as Florian utilizes century old oak casks to ferment and age the wine; natural yeast for fermentation; and only adding a small quantity of sulphur dioxide for preservation. Furthermore Beck-Hartweg stresses a spirit of cooperation with nature as depicted in their logo and imprinted on some of their corks. The logo shows a flower with a bee, which represents the wild green cover that is allowed to grow in their vineyards. This cover crop includes flowers which attract insects -- encouraging biodiversity. The particular bee drawn on the logo is a predator of the grape worm, which allows the winery to avoid the use of insecticides.

Beck-Hartweg's most famous wines are the Frankstein Grand Cru, but in this tasting we sampled a Riesling and Pinot Gris from their Prestige brand. These grapes are harvested from the same Frankstein vineyards; they are just located on opposite slopes with different sun exposures. Yet they all share the same granite mineral rich soil. The wines are also stamped with a Vigneron Indépendant label which designates that Florian Beck-Hartweg operates all phases of the wine's production from the viticulture to harvest to wine making to bottling.  Now that's hand crafted.


2011 Pinot Gris “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%) - this is a mineral driven wine as the light citrus flavors are overshadowed by creamy minerals with solid acidic backbone. If you think of Pinot Gris as boring (like I used to) then try this wine; it will change your perception of the grape.

2012 Riesling Cuvée “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%)- this is an acid driven wine with floral and light citrus flavors mingling with honey and nuts. There is a solid textured body and a long, long finish.  Well done.

One entertaining note is that Beck-Hartweg recommends serving the Riesling Cuvée with sauerkraut. I mimicked that pairing and for my tastes determined that the Pinot Gris was actually a better partner as it coated and dampened the sourness On the other hand the Riesling seemed to blend and extend the sour flavors. Nevertheless an interesting pairing.

On Tuesday January 19, #Winestudio will move into northern Italy with Dolcetto and Barbera. Join the conversation.

Linganore Winecellars Barrel Tasting: The Future Looks Bright

This year Linganore Winecellars is celebrating it's 40th anniversary as the winery opened in 1976 after planting their first vines 1972. They relied on Cornell University to help determine which grape varieties to plant and eventually became a test vineyard for their experiential grapes. In 1978 the winery augmented their grape production with fruit wines after a local plum grower lost a verbal contract. Today Linganore is a giant among local wineries producing 155 thousand gallons annually. And they are proud of their upcoming 2016 offerings and organized an industry tasting of these wines in preparation for a similar consumer barrel tasting available this weekend. Mostly known for their festival style and fruit wines, Linganore also produces a wide range of dry and off-dry wines. These wines were the focus of our visit.

Second generation winemaker Anthony Aellen, Marketing Director Jessica Garcia, and a trio of young winemakers led our group on a tasting of several wines fermenting and aging for a future release.  After a brief introduction about the history of the Aellen family and winery (available here) we entered the tank room to sample the off-dry, Cayuga based White Raven. In the past this wine was 100% Cayuga but this year they blended it with 18% Chardonnay which added much needed weight. At .5% R.S., this wine comes off completely dry.  Later in the tasting room we sampled the current release which falls flat in comparison.

We then moved to the barrel room laden with rows of American, French, and even Bulgarian oak barrels. We started with the a sample of the base that will eventually become their méthode champenoise Sparkling Cuvee. The Vignoles grapes were harvested early in order to retain more acids and is currently aging in neutral oak. There is still an element of toastiness that blends with the grape's citrus flavors.  I'm looking forward to seeing this base transition to a sparkling wine. We next tasted what will become their Reserve Chardonnay. This wine will eventually see eight months in oak and we we tasted it half way through the process. It starts with a buttery aroma, but the oak influences fade as the Chardonnay flavors dominate to the finish. Linganore's winemakers are waiting for the oak to integrate in finish and then it's off to bottling. Again, later in the tasting room, we sampled the current 2014 Reserve Chardonnay and it was fantastic. Perhaps the best wine from Linganore that I had tasted - bright fruit, texture, just a little oak presence, and plenty of acids. We concluded our tasting of whites with a Late Harvest Vignoles that is in it's second year in barrel. I was ready to take this home now, layers of creamy lemons unfolded throughout the palate. I wonder where this wine is headed?

Moving to reds, Linganore grows Chambourcin, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even Barbera -- although they usually augment their Barbera with fruit from a grower near Westminster. In 2015 the winery was able to harvest the Chambourcin and Petit Verdot just before a two week rain deluge, but the Cabernet had to wait until after the storms. The Cab and Barbera were still undergoing malolatic fermentation, which all reds undertake in order to reduce their acid levels, so we sampled just the Chambourcin and Petit Verdot. Both of these were from three year old vines producing their first commercial harvest. And they were tasting well, particularly the PV which possessed loads of deep cherry flavors. They may bottle this as a single varietal wine or it may be used to augment the Cabernet in their Red Skins wine. We were also able to sample three dry reds in the bottle which were just waiting on labels before release. Their Bacioni (Italian for "A Big Kiss") is Barbara based and is a fruit forward friendly wine with easy tannins on the finish. And at $15, a great value. The Estate Chambourcin is more complex but still easy on the palate. And the Reserve Cabernet, a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, is tasting nicely as well. This is a creamy textured wine with more tannins and acids than the previous two. Nicely done again.

Our last endeavor was to sample their Port styled wines aging in barrel, all fortified with neutral grape spirits. We started with their 2015 Ruby Chambourcin that has been in barrel for only three months. It was big, but aggressive with acids taking over the profile. We then sampled the 2014 Ruby Chambourcin that was entering it's second year in barrel. The contrast showed the benefits of this extra year as the wine was rounder, the caramel flavors more prevalent, and it had a much more pleasant finish. Afterwards Anthony couldn't help himself and indulged us with a barrel tasting of their Black Raspberry port styled wine. He's justly proud of this wine. First you don't find that many black raspberry wines, but also, this wine tastes exactly like the fruit. He and the other winemakers at Linganore are justly proud of their upcoming releases. There's no reason to wait until a music festival. Visit anytime.