We have reviewed many Italian wines and at least two Chiantis, one that cost about $ 20 and another at half the price. As you may well know, Chianti has evolved over the years and what was once considered a mere table wine now shares Italy's top wine designation with both great and not so great wines. This Chianti has broken with tradition; it is made from organic grapes and is not aged in barrels. Furthermore, it is Certified Organic by the Italian agency ICEA, Instituto Certificazione Etica e Ambientale (Institute for Ethical and Environmental Certification).
The producer La Castellaccia is located in Tuscany halfway between Florence and Sienna. They use organic fertilizer and the grapes are hand picked. Check out their website for more information on their production process. Interestingly enough these people also run a stud farm for a horse breed that originated in Turkmenistan.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed La Castellaccia Chianti Colli Senesi 2007 13.7% alcohol about $ 15.50
Let's start by quoting the marketing materials.
Description: Our Quality Assurance Laboratory has determined this wine contains 25 mg/L of free sulphur. Tasting Note: Generous and finely made using traditional Chianti grapes of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo, from the Siena hills, this Chianti breaks with tradition by using no oak ageing. There are intense aromas of blackberry, blueberry and spice. Dry, excellent fruit core with an equally impressive freshness for balance. Full-bodied with a long fruit-forward finish. Almost New World in style. Enjoy with spaghetti and meatballs. (VINTAGES panel, Nov. 2008) And now for my review.
The first sips indicated quite a bit of fruit. There didn't seem to be any tannins. The initial food pairing involved an overcooked commercial barbecued chicken breast, a tomato and garlic salsa, and potatoes roasted in chicken fat. In the presence of the meat the wine was a bit thin but spicy. With the salad the wine's fruit started to come out. In the presence of the potatoes the wine's acidity was brushed with harshness but I did taste some black cherry.
The second pairing involved slow-cooked beef ribs with sliced potatoes. The Chianti was harsh and not at all round. There was some tobacco but I also noticed an aftertaste. I swirled the wine vigorously to get rid of the aftertaste but then the Chianti became thin. When I added some jalapeno sauce to the meat the wine actually improved, showing more fruit.
The final meal centered around a Middle-Eastern specialty kube, also called kibbeh. This is ground beef in crushed bulghar jackets with an acidic broth containing Swiss chard. I tasted some tobacco and the wine was fairly round, but thin.
Probably the best part was the cheese pairings. When tasted with a yellow cheddar, the Chianti was round and fruity. The tannins weren't present. With a Swiss emmenthaler the wine picked up a bit.
Final verdict. I would not buy this wine again. Except for the cheese, the pairings were not quite up to snuff. The bargain Chianti was better, independent of the price. Maybe I miss the oak.
Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but really prefers fine Italian or other wine, with good food and company. He loves teaching computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. His Italian travel website is www.travelitalytravel.com .
Learn Successful Wine Making
Winemaking falls somewhere between art and science depending on how you want to look at it. However, people with both such perspectives may find it to be quite a fulfilling engagement. Wine can essentially be made in two ways. You can either go for the wine kits or prepare it from grapes themselves. Only those home vintners who are experienced in the job should ideally prefer the latter.
Two ways to go about it A lot of ground thinking goes into the last statement. After all, kits provide you with a formula and you just need discipline to prosper with it. Meddling with unconcentrated grapes is a completely different proposition. You may be blessed with natural skills but often you would find shortage of experience to be quite a killer.
This is not to dissuade all you budding home vintners trying the "grape" method (and not the kit one) from giving it a go.
Even Adam was inexperienced when the first brow of worry occurred on his forehead, he managed rather well. Cutting out deviations and coming back to the topic, let us take up the "Grape" method in some detail.
The Grape method If you are looking to prepare your grapes from the Must, you should first press the Must (pulp and juice of grape together). As soon as you press it, you will find the last drops of the delectable grape juice oozing out from them. This juice is then shoved inside a Vat. Here, the sediments cleanly segregate themselves from the juice by settling at the bottom. Learn about White Wine and Cape Mentelle.
Racking and Fermentation Now, an experienced vintner would tell you how you should use more Vats to separate the sediments further. This act is generally performed through siphoning. For the uninitiated, the process is called Racking.
You might be thinking when the article would introduce the word wine. Great! So if you are tired of the word juice, go carefully through the next few lines because they talk about fermentation; a process where the juice is readily converted into wine. This is done by yeast which alters the natural sugar present in the juice to alcohol (and God! that yeast would certainly have a terrific Facebook fan page).
Introduction of Bentonite and subsequent Sterilization The yeast, after it has done the generous act, is carefully laid at the bottom by Bentonite. The same Bentonite prevents any further fermenting and helps the wine in being cleared out from the Carboy without any fuss. Your wine is waiting to be bottled at this stage.
However, a very important step awaits you and it requires meticulous performance. This process is called Sterilization. It needs you to sterilize all the tools and equipments that might be used for the purpose of bottling the wine. This is largely done through the help of Metabisulphite solution. At this point in time, you can bottle the wine or even pour it down the glasses by siphoning through a hose.
Yes, it is battle-weary but quite ready for the final laurel.
If you want to know more about wine, visit our site grape.com.au. Learn about White Wine and Cape Mentelle.
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This will be our third Greek wine review. The first was a sweet wine from the island of Samos. Then came a red from the island of Crete also made by today's producer. Now we continue with a white from the Peloponnesian peninsula. This particular wine comes from pink Rhoditis grapes in the foothills near Patras at an elevation of about 650 to 1500 feet (200 to 450 meters). The producer Kourtaki has the largest wine production facility in all Greece, which is not surprising when you consider that it is the largest producer in the country. What may be surprising is that they are the first in Europe to use the patented "Crystal Flow" wine stabilization method. There is a lot happening in the world of wine, and Greece is no exception. By the way, should you so desire they still bottle and sell that classic standby, Retsina. Don't look for a review of Retsina here.
Ever. And yes, I have tasted it.
Wine Reviewed Kourtakis Kouros Patras 2008 11.9% alcohol about $ 10 Let's start by quoting the marketing materials.
"Tasting Note : Straw/lemon yellow color; lanolin, lemon and mineral aroma; crisp apple & lemon flavor; light body; crisp finish. Serving Suggestion : Pasta salad & olive oil dressing; fried seafood" And now for my review.
At the first sips the wine presented refreshing acidity. It was lemony. The initial meal centered on a soy-barbecued chicken breast. The wine showed strong lemon with good acidity. It was tasty. I got the feeling of the Greek seaside. The meal included an old favorite of mine, potatoes roasted in chicken fat. (The Greeks do their roasted potatoes differently.) The wine cut the grease.
With a white corn and black bean salsa the wine's acidity picked up but its fruit descended. With the dessert of fruit juice candy I got the lanolin that I had been promised.
The next meal involved a packaged eggplant rolatini with tomatoes, ricotta and mozzarella cheese that I slathered with grated Parmesan Cheese. This wine presented strong lemon flavor and acidity with a moderate length. Dessert was a high-quality, French lemon pie with a buttery crust. The wine was thin and yet pleasant. The two lemons meshed.
My final meal involved an omelet perked up with garlic powder and crushed chillies. The wine was pleasantly acidic and round with a side of moderately spicy guacamole. The wine became more acidic but remained pleasant and refreshing. This was a summer terrace wine. Before the traditional two cheeses I enjoyed some Matjes herring. The wine became sweet with a delicate lemon flavor. This was a pretty good pairing.
The first cheese was a local Provolone. This relatively flat cheese managed to weaken the wine. With a nutty Swiss, the wine wasn't very present and not worth wasting on the cheese.
Final verdict. I have no plans to buy this wine again. There is just too much competition out there. But it did come close. Why can't they do better?
Levi Reiss authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but prefers drinking fine wine with the right foods and people. He teaches computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. Visit his Italian travel website www.travelitalytravel.com.
Part 2. Classic Literature VideoBook with synchronized text, interactive transcript, and closed captions in multiple languages. Audio courtesy of Librivox. Read by Ted Delorme. Playlist for Candide by Voltaire: www.youtube.com Video Rating: 4 / 5
Related Levi Reiss Wine Articles
Inside "Making Wine:Learn How To Make Wine With 190 Easy Homemade Wine Recipes", you'll get over one hundred sixty pages of detailed and easy-to-follow instructions for dozens of wine recipes, including:
Fruit wines: raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, grape
Dried fruit wines: currant, apricot, date, sultana
Stewed fruit wines: elderberry, prune, raisin, crab-apple
Root wines: parsnip, potato, sugar-beet, beetroot
Flower and sugar wines: clover, dandelion, elder
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