Ornello Molon Prosecco

When shopping for a sparkling wine, it's too easy to overlook Italian Prosecco. It lacks the prestige of French Champagne and is generally more expensive than Spanish Cava or most California Brut wines. This Ornello Molon Prosecco, from an area just north or Venice, was served at the Taster's Guild dinner to accompany heirloom tomato soup with white cheddar, avocado and tortillo strips. Both the wine and the soup were excellent.

The color is a bright straw, and the bubbles are small and persistent. The bouquet is fresh and lively with scents of pears, apples, lemon, flowers and hints of yeasty biscuits. What I like most about Italian sparkling wines is the light, frothy mouth feel. And there is a satisfying tang to the fizzy finish. This is very nice, and at $23, a decent value. I would serve it as an aperitif, with or without food.

Brassfield Volcano Ridge High Valley Petite Sirah, 2005

When I was first getting interested in wine, I bought and drank a lot of Petite Sirah, mostly from Foppiano, Stags' Leap and Caymus. I was impressed by the inkish color and the extraction--qualities highly prized by many wine drinkers during the late 1970s and early 1980s. I soon lost interest in these wines because I could never find anything worth looking for underneath the huge tannic structure. I still have a few bottles of Caymus and Stags' Leap Petite Sirah from the mid-1970s that I open from time to time, and I have yet to find one that has gone over the hill, even though the range of flavors is still somewhat constrained by the limitations of Petite Sirah. This grape, incidentally, is known as Durif in France and is not related in any way to Syrah.

This Brassfield Petite Sirah was presented to me as an aperitif at a Taster's Guild dinner at Cosmo's Cucina in Kalamazoo. As to be expected, the color is deep and dark. Blueberry-tinged fruit flavors are much more apparent than in Petite Sirahs I remember from years ago, and aromas, more complex. The wine has benefited from a blend that includes 8% Zinfandel, 5% Syrah and 5% other (Carignane or Mourvedre?). It has spent 18 months in French, American and Hungarian oak, and, for my taste, this may have been a bit much for such tannic grapes. There is decent fruit concentration, but it's still too big and tannic to ring my bell--particularly as an aperitif to accompany brie cheese, fruit chutney and herb-roasted almonds. I would have preferred a Vouvray, Alsace Pinot Gris or a Barbera Piemonte.

Boskydel Leelanau Peninsula Vignoles, 2006

Vignoles (or Ravat 51) was a staple of Leelanau Peninsula wineries a few decades ago but has generally been replaced by more well known European grapes such as Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. I still have fond memories of the dry Vignoles wines produced by Larry Mawby in 1982 and 1983, but all of Mawby's Vignoles grapes now go into a very good sparkling wine. Leelanau Cellars produces a dessert wine with this French hybrid grape, but to get a true dry Vignoles made in the traditional style, you have to get off the beaten path and visit Bernie Rink's Boskydel Vineyards (described here on July 28, 2009).

Bernie Rink's 2006 dry Vignoles is a medium gold color with good clarity and brilliance. Vignoles is said to be a clone of Chardonnay, and I smell some of the smoky, grainy notes of Burgundy satellite vineyards such as Rully and Montagny along with buttered apples and minerals. On the palate, it's the same with more depth and complexity than you'd expect from a wine of this price range. It has the full bodied feel of a Chardonnay with the brisk acidity of a Loire Valley Chenin Blanc--ripe and racy with a full range of flavors and a long finish. I love it and plan to go back for more on my next trip to Leelanau. At $64.48 a case (including tax!), this is one of the best values in white table wine to be found anywhere.

Sella & Mosca Cannonau Riserva (Sardinia), 2004

Given my love for Grenache-based wines, I can't really justify my ignorance of Cannonau--the Italian Grenache. I chose a glass of this very enjoyable Cannonau from the wine list of the Lucrezia Italian BCafe in Chesterton, Indiana and can't wait to re-visit both the wine and the restaurant.

The color is a deep crimson with some noticeable bricking, but there is nothing old about the smells and flavors. Actually, this wine reminds me of a good Gigondas or Cairanne--big, spicy, peppery with sweetish blueberry fruit. As with a Southern Rhone, the black pepper, licorice element on the finish serves as a foil to the ripe fruit and gives the wine backbone and interest. It's at a good stage of maturity right now. This is my style of wine. Cannonau, where have you been all my life?

Mittnacht-Klack Alsace Grand Cru Riesling Rosacker, 1993

When we visited Alsace in June of 1992, we stayed in a bed and breakfast just outside the walls of the story-book medieval village of Riquewihr. The vineyard just outside the windows of our bed and breakfast had roses planted at the end of each row. And it was appropriately named Rosacker Vineyard. I took my morning run each day on the one-lane paved road weaving through the vineyard from Riquewihr to the neighboring village of Hunawihr only a few kilometers away.

There were beautiful smells coming from the vineyards in 1992, and there are beautiful smells coming from this Rosacker Riesling a good 16 years later. The color is a deep gold with good brilliance. The bouquet and flavors are powerful and typical of Alsace Riesling--sea salt, wax, camphor, honey and spring flowers. The wine has a rich, powerful presence on the palate but is dry with razor-fine flavors. The finish is long and deep.

Delas Saint Esprit Cotes du Rhone, 2007

The high percentage of Syrah (80%) in this Delas wine is not typical of Cotes du Rhone. It's unmistakeably Syrah--black raspberries, ripe plums and spices. But the style of wine is very much in the Cotes du Rhone mould, showcasing ripe fruit with just enough depth and complexity to keep you coming back for glass after glass. The mid-palate offers up a full range of flavors, and the finish is long and flavorful. Of all the 2007 Cotes du Rhones I've tasted so far, this is my favorite. It's perfect for drinking right now, and I feel confident it will continue to evolve for at least three or four years. For $10 or less a bottle, this wine is a steal.

Frenzy Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc

In another year or so, this wine might have the light yellow color expected of Sauvignon Blanc. Right now, it's as limpid as tap water, but there is nothing light about the smells and flavors--melon, grapefruit, white peaches, green pepper. I'm not a big fan of the green pepper trait in either Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot, but this wine can do no wrong. It's bursting with life right now, very intense, a perfect drink for a summer meal outside. I bought a half case of Frenzy because it's young and clearly has some life ahead of it. But I'm afraid it might be all gone by the end of the summer.