Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 10:21:16 -0500 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Any Italy at Trat. de Vinci ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- Italian Wines from Tuscany and anywhere S. of Tuscany. (2/15) Trattoria da Vinci 400 Sibley St., St. P, 55101 222-4050 It's in the "far end" of down town St. Paul, near the Farmer's Market. If you're traveling on I94, take the 7th St. Exit. Who? Betsy Bob Lori Bill Janet Ruth yes Warren ?? Russ yes Sue ?? Dave? Nicolai? Karin? Annette? Cheers, Jim Unrelated wine but the story hits close to home. Our man in the sun, Tim T, writeabout Rhones going "respectable". Boohoo for Rhone wine funksters Jason, Ted. Not sure Bob will like them any better, but at least they'll be "clean". Rhone's Cornas cleans up its act Tim Teichgraeber, Special to The Chronicle Friday, February 9, 2007 Cornas vineyards produce wines that rival the best of the... Northern Rhone. Chronicle Graphic Editor's note: Look for The Essentials, profiles on noteworthy wine regions across the United States and around the world, every few weeks in Wine. The regions of Cote Rotie and Hermitage in France's northern Rhone Valley produce some of the world's most coveted Syrahs, long-lived, complex wines that are adored around the world. Syrahs from the nearby region of Cornas haven't always enjoyed the same respect. Syrah from Cote-Rotie is famous for its lavish fruit, smoky, bacon-like notes and heady aromatics, often boosted with a small dose of Viognier. Syrah from Hermitage is known for its plush mouthfeel, structure and spice. The slightly warmer, south-facing granite slopes of Cornas give its wines deep, dark fruit flavors and a stony streak of granite minerality and plenty of grainy tannin that can be comparatively brutish. Through the 1990s, wines from Cornas endured faint praise. They've been called coarse, rustic, even "knuckle draggers." Robert M. Parker Jr. described Cornas' tannins as "savage," and after a disappointing tasting of older Cornas wines in 2000, a frustrated Jancis Robinson (a Chronicle contributor) dubbed them "obdurate." I'm pretty sure she didn't mean it as a compliment. "When I started learning a bit about wine, all of the books always described (Cornas wines) as coarse and harsh, but I don't know that I find that to be true," says Steve Ledbetter of Berkeley wine importer Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, which imports wines from Cornas producers Thierry Allemand, Noel Verset and Domaine Clape. Ledbetter says Cornas can be quite silky once it's had a few years to settle down. Another Cornas fan is Stephane Lacroix, sommelier at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco. Lacroix attended the Tain L'Hermitage Wine School in the northern Rhone and even worked a harvest for Cornas producer Robert Michel. "They don't have quite as much finesse as a Cote Rotie or Hermitage, but it has more of that meaty quality to it. It's a very old wine, and an outstanding wine for this time of year, when the game season comes in and the truffle season comes in," says Lacroix. "They're fairly popular in France, but more in the fall or winter. You don't really think about drinking Cornas in the summer." Lately some sophisticated wines from Cornas have been turning heads, and the region seems to be shedding its brutish reputation. In the last 30 years Cornas received a badly needed infusion of new blood -- an influx of newcomers like Michel and Allemand, along with Jean-Luc Colombo, now a prominent consulting oenologist and advocate for the region. Even at older Cornas estates like Clape a new generation has been coming up; son Pierre-Marie Clape now shares winemaking duties with his father, Auguste. Cornas had been slow to adopt improved growing and winemaking techniques, and to adapt its style to modern tastes, says Colombo. "Wines are getting more and more civilized," he explains, "and as Cornas is a very small appellation, it was left remote, and perhaps late in this evolution." Colombo credits Cornas' surge in quality to better growing techniques, cleaner cellars and barrels, and better temperature control in wineries -- the same things that have improved wines from so many other regions around the world. Cornas fans often distinguish between modern producers, of which Colombo is perhaps the most well known, and traditional producers, such as Clape and Verset. Colombo's wines are a bit more fruit-driven and have softer tannins. Some clearly believe that they are too "international" in style and not typical of the region. One importer tersely remarked that he hardly considered Colombo's wines to be Cornas at all. Colombo, for his part, isn't particularly interested in debating the issue. "The distinction between traditional and contemporary is idiotic. There is no traditional and contemporary Pauillac," he says, drawing a comparison to a Bordeaux appellation. The Clapes are usually cited as representatives of Cornas' old guard. Their wines have plenty of tannin and a reputation for longevity, but few dispute the complexity or class of Clape's Cornas. Winemaker Pierre-Marie Clape seldom destems the Syrah clusters before fermentation, and ages the domain's wines in traditional large oak tanks called foudres. A recent cellar tasting of Clape vintages going back to 1998 showed the wines to have enough dense, dark fruit to balance their tense structure. The Clape wines made before 2002 had mildly barnyardy aromas that some might consider rustic, but the recent vintages are cleaner, more vibrant and expressive. They're made in a traditional way, but have modern appeal. When top sommeliers and Rhone aficionados chatter about Cornas, the other name that invariably comes up is Allemand, a relative newcomer to the region. Allemand had no real experience in winegrowing before taking a cellar job with Robert Michel and buying a small parcel of land in the early 1980s. Since then, Allemand has employed a hodgepodge of modern and traditional growing and winemaking techniques to make wines that have few detractors. His "Reynard" and "Chaillot" single-vineyard bottlings and his Cornas cuvee are among the most expensive from the region -- hot commodities that generally sell for $75 to $100 a bottle. What's interesting about Allemand's wines is that they don't spark much ideological debate, just glowing admiration. Hopefully that's a harbinger of things to come for the region. Why rile yourself up debating which of these Syrahs are modern and which are traditional when they're all so good? There's Cornas to be drunk, and it's more civilized than ever. Remarkable what a shave and a haircut can do. Tasting Notes Wines from Cornas, when you can find them, sell for less than those from Cote Rotie or Hermitage but often rival them in quality. That doesn't mean these bottles come cheap, though. Expect a bottle of Cornas to set you back between $35 and $90. Today's wines from Cornas are still loaded with minerality and tannin, but they're more polished and cleaner than they once were. I tasted 12 bottles from seven producers and four different vintages and these were my favorites. All were remarkably sound, well-made wines with genuine regional flair. I'd be impressed to see that kind of consistency from any region, and it just goes to show that the rising tide of quality in Cornas has raised all ships. 2003 Domaine Clape Renaissance ($50) The venerable Clape family is keeping pace with the young guns of Cornas. This wine has sweet plum, cherry, raspberry aromas laced with pepper, mint, violets and coffee. It's richer tasting than the nose suggests, more so with time. Juicy but nimble, with a peppery, minerally finish. 2004 Jean-Luc Columbo La Louvee ($85) A very dynamic wine with aromas of blackberry, black cherry, gunpowder, licorice and mint, and rich but focused fruit flavors that finish with grainy granite tones, a touch of alcoholic heat and gentle, surprisingly tame tannins. 2004 Jean-Luc Columbo Terres Brulees ($78) Lucid deep scarlet in color with lavish plum, cherry, blackberry, vanilla, bacon, pepper, mint, leather and black licorice aromas and flavors. A massive, mouth-coating wine with spicy red fruit, soft oaky tones and sturdy tannins. 2000 Noel Verset ($50) An elegant, subtle Cornas from a veteran grower with pronounced black pepper, violet, cherry and plum aromas, edgy cherry and plum fruit flavors and hints of licorice and grilled meat on the stony, firm finish. 2003 Paul Jaboulet Aine Les Grandes Terrasses ($42) Full-bodied and mouth-filling with sweet raspberry, coffee and blackberry flavors giving way to taut mineral notes and sturdy tannins, toast and chocolate flavors. A solid value. 2002 Robert Michel La Geynale ($50) An enjoyable but more sinewy wine from a cooler vintage with pretty violet, black pepper and anise aromas, and stony cherry and plum flavors, finishing with meaty notes and tightly wound tannin. 2003 Thierry Allemand ($85) This cuvee from the tricky, hot 2003 vintage is stunning right out of the gate, with intense blackberry, clove, pepper, coriander, licorice, blueberry aromas and concentrated black fruit flavors finishing with more licorice and vanilla oak notes and stony, granite flavors. Truly exceptional. 2004 Vincent Paris Granit 60 Vielles Vignes ($35) Closed at first, then unwinds to reveal pretty rose petal, black pepper, black cherry, cranberry and blackberry aromas, compact dark fruit flavors and tight mineral notes on the finish. Subtly oaked and impeccably balanced, a great value and certain to improve with age -- T.T. Tim Teichgraeber is a San Francisco writer. E-mail him at wine(a)sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/09/WIGPBNVNQH1.DTL This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *