Last month, I received an email from a representative of Ballentine Vineyards in the Napa Valley announcing their “old vine” Chenin Blanc. Also included was a cool photo of the vines which I promptly cropped and used in my header here at Winecast, but neglected to attribute credit.

So thanks for the photo, Mesha!

I am looking forward to tasting their Chenin Blanc in an upcoming show focusing on the variety. In the meantime, you can get more details in an excellent post over at FERMENTATIONS, who also recently awarded Winecast a wine blog “Masti Award” for the same picture (thanks, Tom!).

One of the interesting aspects of running a blog (or website) is watching the trends in the server log. For some reason, one of my posts about the movie ‘Sideways‘ has generated much more interest than any other entry. I also noticed quite a bit of action on my Sauvignon Blanc and, surprisingly, Zinfandel shows. Therefore, I am promoting both Primitivo (Italy’s version of Zin) and the Sancerre region, where the wines are made from Sauvignon Blanc, to next month.

If there are wines or regions you really want to hear about that I have yet to cover, just drop me a line at winecast@gmail.com

BTW, ‘Sideways‘ comes out on DVD here in the US on April 5th

Recent visitors might have noticed two new podcast feed buttons that have shown up on the right menu over the past couple of days. As I prepare to launch Winecast 2.0, there are a few improvements such as this that you will see popping up on the site. I decided to add these options for those who would prefer smaller file sizes than the mp3 version and platform-specific features such as aac’s bookmarks.

The “wma” feed is for players that support Windows Media Audio format and the “aac” feed is for Apple’s iPod (my favorite player). Each picks up the feed at Winecast 14 foreword.

Enjoy!

Huge Johnson has a great post on his blog about how one wine writer’s nose can spot TCA in minute quantities. I think this ties nicely with the recent tasting series.

Speaking of the tasting series, I have found the kits I have been talking about and finally linked to the blog in the “Tasting” category. I don’t think there’s a TCA smell included, but you can always use the process of elimination to spot it

Kempton Clark, Dunnigan Hills, Petite Sirah 2001 ($11) - From a Zinfandel specialist and second label of R. H. Phillips.

As Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks would say, “black as the night sky on a moonless night”. Intense pepper and oak aromas, deeply wound fruit, pepper and oak with the typical silky Pet mouthfeel. Long, spicy finish. Delicious now but a good cellar selection. Too bad this wine was corked during my Petite Sirah tasting as this would have taken “Best of Tasting” honors.

If this is what they do with Petite Sirah, I look forward to tasting their Zin! Score: 9/10

The wines of Beaujolais are featured on today’s show, I finish the basic wine tasting series and mention my appearance on Garrick Van Buren’s First Crack podcast.

Wines tasted:

- Louis Jadot, Beaujolais-Villages 2003 ($7)
- Georges Duboeuf, Régnié 2002 ($8)
- Georges Duboeuf, Morgon “Jean Descombes” 2003 ($9)

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During my Sauvignon Blanc show, I introduced the concept of a “virtual tasting� on an upcoming podcast as suggested by a listener. Of course, you can do this with any show by reading the wines in my post or comments section of the mp3 file, buy the wines and listen while tasting the wines. But I thought it might be fun to try something a bit different for my Chardonnay show coming up on March 29th or 30th.

Instead of pre-tasting the wines and writing up tasting notes to read on the show as usual, I will actually taste the wines “live� on the show to give you insight into how to put the basic tasting skills to use. Once the show is released, you could open one or more of these wines and taste them as you listen to see how similar or different your impressions are of these wines. I selected 3 Chardonnays which all should be readily available to listeners in North America and at least one available to others around the world. All three have different flavor spectrums and should give you an idea of how different climates, winemaking techniques and grape quality affect the flavor of the same varietal.

So here is your shopping list:

- Cambria, “Katherine’s Vineyard� Chardonnay, Santa Maria Valley, Estate Bottled 2003 ($17)
- Antonin Rodet, Chateau de Chamirey, Mercurey Blanc 2001 ($19)
- Gallo of Sonoma, Chardonnay, Sonoma County “Reserve� 2003 ($9)

Andrew has posted the first part of his summary of Wine Blogging Wednesday #7 at Spittoon. It makes very entertaining reading and I am honored he considers Winecast “pithy”. High praise from an Englishman, indeed

Update: Just as I posted my last comment, the second part of the write-up was posted; enjoy!

Update 2: Andrew has finished his fine summary here. There were an amazing 31 different grape varieties represented in the 36 wines tasted.

Last evening, I met Garrick Van Buren of the First Crack podcast at Bev’s Wine Bar in the warehouse district of Minneapolis. After picking 2 other wines on Bev’s list that were out of stock, I picked the following which we enjoyed while we recorded a podcast:

Jim Neal “Chariot”, Sangiovese, Central Coast 2003 - Dark ruby, nice black cherry nose, dusty cherry fruit and moderate tannins, nice finish, very good now but might be better with a little more time in the cellar; will re-taste on a future show, plastic cork! Score: 8/10

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Today’s show is a special edition for Wine Blogging Wednesday #7 whose theme is, “Obscure Red Grape Varietiesâ€Â?. Thanks to Andrew Barrow of Spittoon for inviting me to participate as the first podcaster to join the fun of WBW!

I had to stoop down quite a bit at some wine stores here in Minneapolis as I looked for varietals I had never heard of, let alone tried. I ended up picking 4 wines for tasting, all for $8 USD or less. Unfortunately, one of the wines was disqualified as it was a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvugnon and Merlot; my full tasting notes of that wine are posted here.

What was great about this theme was it forced me to look for things I normally pass by at the wine store and I would have otherwise never found any of these interesting wines:

- Castellani, Negroamaro, Puglia, Italy 2003 ($6) - Deep garnet, dusty berry nose, simple, peppery berry flavors somewhat like Dolchetto, good rustic finish with moderate tannins, nice pizza or pasta wine, very good value, plastic cork!
Score: 8/10

- Castellani, Nero d’Avola, Sicilia, Italy 2003 ($7) - Garnet, pleasant fresh berry nose, deep, simple black cherry flavors, no tannins to speak of, good “quaffable” drinking now, another plastic cork!
Score: 7/10

- Cortello, Estremadura, Portugal 2001 ($8) - Made from native grape Castelao (a.k.a. Periquita) and Argonez grapes; deepest garnet, lean berry nose, round plum flavors and silky mouth-feel, finishes a little bitter and funky but overall quite good.
Score: 7.5/10

Best of tasting and best value goes to Castellani Negroamaro 2003. I will be looking for this variety from other producers in the future to share on Winecast.

Thanks once again to Andrew from Spittoon for the invitation; I am looking forward to WBW #8!

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