Bill over at the Wine for Newbies Podcast has announced the theme for the next installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday. With spring in the air (at least south of the Twin Cities), Bill is calling for us to choose white wines, as long as they are not one of the “Big 3″ (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling). I’ll further restrict my choice of varietals to be something other than what I have already covered on my podcast. Expect some off-the-beaten-path whites, at least from me, April 12th.

Today’s show is a bit different from my normal format of talking about a wine varietal or region, into what I hope will be a monthly feature I’m calling vintner profile. The idea is to give you the back-story directly from the people in the business, both winery owners and winemakers. In this first outing, I talk with one of the great gentlemen of the California wine business, Jim Concannon from Concannon Vineyard in Livermore, CA. With St. Patrick’s Day later this week, I though Concannon, America’s first Irish winery, would be a great place to start this series.

Show Notes:
00:22 - Welcome and Show Theme
01:22 - Jim Concannon Interview
16:28 - Tasting Notes
16:53 - Concannon Vineyard, Chardonnay, Central Coast, “Selected Vineyards” 2004 ($10)
17:53 - Concannon Vineyard, “Stampmaker’s White”, Livermore Valley 2004 ($15)
17:56 - Concannon Vineyard, Heritage Petite Sirah 2001 ($50)
18:26 - Best of Tasting
18:47 - Best Value
19:11 - Second winner of QPR Wines drawing (congrats, Greg)
20:19 - Contact Details
20:47 - Next Show Theme

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2006 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Andrew Lane, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2002 ($15-ish/sample) – Deep ruby in color with aromas of black cherry, plum and vanilla; rich plumy fruit with some spice and very fine tannins and a nice, thick mouth feel. A Napa Valley Cab re-imagined as a fruit bomb. A great value for the price Drew quoted when he gave me the sample. Score: 8.5+/10.

Even before I could get my podcast posted, Jathan provided a summary of Wine Blogging Wednesday 19 over at Winexpression. An interesting assortment of Rhone varietals were tasted by 38 bloggers and it was good to see a fair amount of wines coming from France including the Counoise I tasted last month.

I’m looking forward to next month’s theme.

This month’s theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday, our monthly, global wine tasting event, is provided by Jathan from the Winexpression blog. He encouraged us to find wines made from Rhône varietals no matter where in the world they came from for his “When in Rhône” theme. Listed in his announcement were some 22 varietals common to France’s Rhône Valley, known for their blends of mostly red, and occasionally, white wines. Outside of relative well known varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and increasingly Viognier, most of the other 20 are rare outside the region.

Longtime readers and listeners of my podcast will recall I have covered those more common Rhône varietals in the past, so I eschewed the “easy way out” and visited Chuck at Solo Vino in St. Paul for some recommendations. After all, they were the store that I found the bottling of Counoise for WBW 18 last month. After a bit of discussion and consideration of some of their many Rhône blends, and some other obscure varietals, we selected two blends for tasting this time; one white and one red.

The first wine selected is a white from Domaine de Piaugier, their Sablet Blanc 2004, a blend of 40% Grenache Blanc, 30% Clairette, 20% Viognier, and 10% Roussanne. The vineyard is located in the southern Rhône, where Sablet is one of the 16 villages that comprises the Côtes du Rhône appellation. Although 90% of the wines made here are red or rose, whites like Domaine de Piaugier can be found in many wine stores around the world. Grenache Blanc is the white version of the popular red variety while Clairette and Roussanne are common blending grapes of the northern Rhône where they are used in both red and white wines.

Domaine de Piaugier, Sablet Blanc, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2004 ($22) - Clear light straw in color with a tinge of green; peach, apricot and spice aromas. Stone fruit and honey flavors combine with a rich mouthfeel and lively acidity, finishing with just a touch of lychee. A big, dry white that will stand up to more substantial food matches than most whites. Don’t drink this one too cold or you will miss the considerable nuances of aroma and flavor. Score: 9/10.

The second blend, this time a red from the southern Rhône, is from Domaine du Trapadis, their Côtes du Rhône from the 2001 vintage. The grapes used in this blend are 60% Grenache, 13% Carignan, 10% Syrah, 10% Cinsault and 7% Mourvedre. While Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre are well known in the Rhône, Carignan and Cinsault are somewhat below the radar. In fact, Carignan is the most widely grown wine grape in France, mostly appearing in blends for its spice, deep color and full body or in vin ordinaire from carafes at bistros throughout the country. Cinsault is also grown in quantity in France where it is almost always used in blends for it’s high acidity and soft tannins. Cinsault was also crossed with Pinot Noir to create Pinotage, a varietal popular in South Africa.

Domaine du Trapadis, Côtes du Rhône 2001 ($15) - Ruby color with pronounced aromas of black cherry and earth; raspberry fruit flavors with dusty tannins and nice acidity make this a good food wine. The nose may be too funky for some tasters, but I found this added to the overall experience. Score: 8.5/10.

So the best wine of the two, is the Domaine de Piaugier, Sablet Blanc, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2004, which I also found to be a nice value. The Domaine du Trapadis, Côtes du Rhône 2001 is another fine value for those looking for a red.

Thanks again to Jathan from Winexpression.com for a great theme and for Solo Vino for providing the wines for tasting this month. See you all in April for a post and podcast actually appearing on Wednesday, if not before

Show Notes:

00:24 - Welcome
00:35 - Wine Blogging Wednesday background
01:15 - “When in Rhone” Theme
02:44 - Domaine de Piaugier, Sablet Blanc, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2004 ($22)
04:30 - Domaine du Trapadis, Côtes du Rhône 2001 ($15)
06:21 - Best of tasting/best value
06:54 - Getting back to weekly podcasts
07:54 - First winner of QPR Wines subscription (congrats, Sandy!)
08:42 - Listener survey for chance to win iPod Nano
09:06 - Contact Details
09:30 - To sponsor Winecast contact Backbeat Media
09:35 - Next Show Theme

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2006 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Well, Wednesday’s have become regular teaching nights for me, so vino is out until about this time of night. As much as I would love to pop the corks on the two Rhone blends - from mostly obscure varietals as per Jathan’s suggestion - I will take a rain check until tomorrow. So it will be Wine Blogging Thursday once again for me, but I will produce a companion podcast. Next month, I’ll do my post on Tuesday

Peterson Winery, Hambrecht Vineyards, Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley 1992 – Mostly blogged for historical reasons, or if you have some of this wine still in your cellar. The bottle came from the wine library of Peterson Winery this past weekend (thanks, Fred!). Tawny garnet in color with elegant aromas of earth and black raspberry; Nice black raspberry flavors, some spice and white pepper with fine tannins. Very good for a 14 year old Zin now showing its “Claret” side; drink now. Score: 8/10

My friends at Backbeat Media have cooked up a give-away in exchange for a moment of your time to complete a short listener survey. One lucky winner will get a new iPod Nano. Complete the survey before the end of March for your chance to win: Click here for the survey. Oh, and I will announce the first winner of the QPR Wines give-away on tomorrow’s podcast; there still is time to enter for that one, as well.

Thanks!

Wow, it’s been a busy past 10 days that accounts for my lack of posts here. I’ve got quite a few tasting notes to sort through and Wine Blogging Wednesday to prepare for, so it shouldn’t be long before this space gets back to normal… stay tuned.