Category: White Wine

Broglia

La Meirana Gavi di Gavi

Gavi, Italy

Cortese

2017 / 13.5% / $20

I’ve been on a bit of an Italian kick lately… and honestly, it hasn’t been a bad thing.  Who wouldn’t want to eat and drink their way through that picturesque country?  Take me there tomorrow and it’d be difficult to find a reason to come back home.  Despite having already spent so much time there, there is always a new town to see, or experience to be had each time you visit.

I was pointed in the direction of this particular Italian white by a salesperson at my favorite wine shop in Westchester – Rye Brook Wines.  Not only is their stock exceptional, their staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful.  I had originally gone in there looking for a white from Sicily, but they were waiting on a delivery.  Broglia was recommended as a standup Italian white (kind of like me) with characteristics similar to a Chardonnay.

The salesman was spot on.  This white has many qualities of a full bodied, rich Chardonnay!  I’d say that it sits somewhere between a Chardonnay and a dry Riesling.  It was exceptionally smooth and dry with not much bite too it, and just a hint of acidity.  If you’d like a break from Chardonnay and still haven’t been sold on dry Riesling, Broglia would be a great way to slowly dip your beak into the world of dry Riesling.

This is definitely a white that will be added to my rotation and if you’re someone who doesn’t mind spending $20 for a bottle of wine, add it to yours as well.  Broglia will give you a delicious break from a typical Chardonnay and leave you refreshed and wanting more.  As this was my last Sunday night of summer, the bottle was enjoyed in its entirety, before getting back to teaching after Labor Day.

Taste – 8

Recommend – 8

Price – 9

Smell – 7

Complexity – 7

Overall – 38

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Ravines

Dry Riesling

Geneva (NY)

Riesling 100%

2016 / 12.5% / $18

At this point in our wine journey we are all aware of my appreciation for a great glass of Dry Riesling.  Riesling’s texture is just completely different than all other wines I’ve enjoyed.  It has the ability to match the structure that is associated with some of the best red wines out there, but you don’t often want a red wine in the summer months and that’s why a cold, crisp Riesling hits the spot. 

I recently purchased one of those southern propane burners and massive stock pots for a crawfish boil.  However, due to decisions out of my control, the boil was delayed for the time being.  Now, I’ve been itching to find a reason to have another boil and a perfect Sunday summer night family dinner was the right occasion.  I decided to put the burner and pot to use by boiling off some lobsters and making homemade lobster rolls.  FYI ya boy can whip it up with the best of them.  As you can tell from the picture the lobster rolls were banging.  The wine was good, but the lobster rolls were out of this world. 

There was no better pairing for the dinner than this bottle of Riesling.  Ravines is another outstanding producer from the Finger Lakes.  Upstate New York has a rich tradition of producing fantastic Riesling and Pinot Noir vintages.  Their use of old-world wine making practices produces elegant and expressive wines. 

Ravines’ Dry Riesling is a good wine.  Unfortunately, all of my Riesling reviews get held up against the high bar set by Forge Cellars.  The best way to describe this Riesling is Forge’s “little brother.”  In my personal experience, the younger brother is usually the more attractive, athletic, and charming brother.  However, in Ravines’ case that’s not exactly true.  It’s not bad by any means, but it just doesn’t knock your socks off the way Forge Cellars Dry Riesling does.  One nice quality of the wine that I’m able to take away from it is its pleasant fruity follow through that is present throughout the drinking experience.

Unfortunately, for both the wine and the lobster rolls, they were overshadowed by my father rocking the drum solo of Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight.”  Let’s just say when Miguele gets to the second bottle all bets are off on what you’ll see from that man.  I’ll leave you with this:  if this bottle is available in your wine store buy it.  If this and Forge Cellars are available, buy Forge.  Either way you’ll certainly enjoy a classic Dry Riesling.

Taste – 7

Recommend – 7

Price – 9

Smell – 7

Complexity – 6

Overall – 36

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Hermann J. Weimer

Dry Riesling

Riesling – 100 %

2017 – 12% – $22

Seneca Lakes – New York

Oh man oh man oh man.  Where do we start with Mr. Hermann?  How about we begin with the day.  It was a beautiful warm summer day spent at the pool.  Bronzing a lil, sweating a lil, chatting with the 70-year-old leather backs, swimming some laps.  Gotta work this spare tire off somehow!  And on my way out of the pool I decided tonight was the perfect night for a crisp, dry, refreshing Riesling.  And if you know me, I love me some dry Riesling (Forge!).

So, I decided to visit a local wine shop near me – one I typically don’t go to – to see what I could find.  I enjoy these trips because I can talk to the manager and get their recommendations.  I informed the manager that I was in a Dry Riesling kind of mood and have found success with Riesling from the Finger Lakes.  Well it just so happened I was in luck!  Hermann J. Weimer is a vineyard located in Upstate New York and the gentleman swore up and down how good this Riesling is and how dry it is.  He kept saying, “well it’s called a Dry Riesling so it should be dry.”  An obvious red flag I decided to look past.

This was a first for me and I’m sure not a last…. The wine was “good” with food (which happened to be some shrimp scampi ya boy cooked up!) and terrible without!  I had my first sip right when I opened the bottle and things did not settle well.  So, I thought I’d let it sit a little while and try again.  And to my surprise, it was just as terrible!  Though the taste changed when it was allowed to breathe, that change was not a pleasant one!

It was not dry as the store manager had insisted – in fact it was pretty sweet for my liking.  Maybe the vineyard is at fault for labeling it as a Dry.  Perhaps my standards are too high—or in all likelihood I just generally lack knowledge on the subject.  If you’re a fan of semi dry/semi sweet wines then please go buy this because it will be right in your wheelhouse!  But for Daniel, not so much.  The sweetness is overbearing, and while it’s extremely light, it has no real character.

Dan’s wonderful warm summer day was ruined by you mister manager!  I’m not going to call out this shop by name but oh man if the subscribers clamor for names to be named these jabronies will start flowing!

Taste – 4

Recommend – 5

Price – 8

Smell – 6

Complexity – 5

Overall – 28 out of 50

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Forge Cellars

Dry Riesling Classique

Riesling – 100%

2017 – 13%

Acid – 1 out of 5

Dry – 4.3 out of 5

$18

Where do I begin with Forge…? It’s number four on my top ten for good reason.  Forge Cellars is a dry Riesling which has gone unknown to many every day wine drinkers.  When I mention Riesling when talking about my favorite grapes, the majority of the time, I get reactions of disgust quickly followed by, “isn’t Riesling a sweet wine?”   And yes, some Rieslings are sweet (which are disgusting – in my opinion) but dry Rieslings can actually be some of the best wines you’ll experience.  Forge Cellars knocks this category out of the park.

The majority of dry Rieslings are produced in Germany and Austria, but this one is produced closer to home – the Finger Lakes.  Thanks to terroir that is similar to its European counterparts, the Finger Lake region has been producing top notch Riesling for many years.  Because riesling’s grapes love cold weather and are often harvested later in the season, growers in this country have been able to match the European conditions that Riesling has thrived on for centuries.

Now back to the wine.  It’s honestly just outstanding.  If I lived in a warm climate all year, I would drink this bottle of Forge on the reg.  With summer here you’re going to want to open this baby right down by the river, open the lawn chair and guzzle.  It’s a clean, crisp, refreshing wine that just deserves to be in your summer rotation… or generally whenever you can.  However, if you don’t want to seem like a full-blown alcoholic you can happily pair this bad boy with seafood.  Some shrimp, salmon, lobster, couple scallops, oysters for good measure – baby you got a stew going!

If I had to find one flaw in this wine, it would be its lack of complexity – it’s the same from first sip till last.  It’s an amazing taste – don’t get me wrong – but in order to call myself the everyday wine guy I must find some kind of flaw in it.  That said, do yourself a favor and purchase this bottle for a cool summer evening, or warm summer day.  For under $20 it can’t be beaten.

FYI, if your name is Al F it’s quite shrewd to have this bottle in your stock, so as to continue to just stare at it.

Taste – 8

Recommend – 9

Price – 9

Complexity – 7

Smell – 8

Overall – 41 out of 50

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Donnafugata

Anthilia

Ansonica – 100%

2017 – 12.5%

Dry – 3.8 out of 5

Acid – 1.8 out of 5

$18

So, I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes when I go into a wine shop, I have no idea what I’m doing (they don’t call me the Wine Guy for nothin’).  If it’s a store I’ve built a rapport with, I’ll often talk to one of the managers and tell them what I’m looking for in the hopes they can steer me in the right direction…  It doesn’t always work.  Other times I’ll go into a store and use the Vivino app to help narrow down a bottle to select.  Vivino, if you’re reading this… holla at ya boy! #Vivino #IWorkForFree.  And even sometimes yes, I’ll select a bottle based on the label design or how the bottle looks.  I come for the beauty buy stay for the substance…

Today, my final selection came down to the simple, elegant design of Donnafugata’s Anthilia.  I was stuck between three bottles (sorry don’t remember the names – Again, they don’t call me the Wine Guy for nothin’) but two of the three bottles had too much going on with their designs and Donnafugata was simple and elegant. It’s always extremely disappointing when you buy a wine with the most extravagantly designed bottle label and the wine itself is just atrocious.  Just a classic case of the producer over compensating for… something…

Now please take these next few sentences with a grain of salt as I have not been classically trained about wine or taken many classes on wine tasting, but the Ansonica grape settled nicely in between the flavors of a Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.  It had some pleasant tastes to it and complexity like a Chardonnay and went down like freaking water – similar to a Grigio.  It shares many characteristics of the other Sicilian wines that I’ve tasted over the years.  What was lovely about this wine was how its taste changed throughout the experience.  Each new and subtle taste made a great impression on my untrained but very interested palate.

If you’re looking to change things up a bit and experience a lesser known white wine look no further than this one.  It’s a nice change of pace and a pleasure to drink at a reasonable price.  Donnafugata’s Anthilia looks beautiful on the outside and doesn’t let you down from first pour to last sip. 

Taste – 6

Recommend – 7

Price – 9

Complexity – 7

Smell – 6

Overall – 35 out of 50

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Vincent Dampt

Chablis

Chablis, France

2017 – for the life of me could not find alcohol %

Chardonnay

Acid – 3.5 out of 5

Dry – 4.1 out of 5

$21

Now I’ll be the first person to say that I’m not the biggest fan of white wine in general, unless it’s a dry Riesling…  There aren’t many things better than a dry Riesling done right.  I must say, that I wasn’t prepared to write a white wine review quite yet, especially since it’s still winter and I’ve never been big on spending an evening with a glass of white to begin with.  I also don’t have much experience with Chardonnay’s…  But if I’m going to have white wine, I definitely prefer dryer whites or a Chardonnay that does not have a buttery structure to it. 

The staff of one of my favorite wine stores recommended this wine to me and it comes from the Chablis region of France.  Chablis is one of France’s northern most wine regions (Burgundy wines).  Only the Champagne region is further north.  While this wine does have some nose hints of Champagne it certainly fits the Chablis characteristics.  Chardonnays grown in this region deal with much colder and extreme temperatures than many of the other French regions.  The vines are also planted on Jurassic soils (ancient oyster shells) giving the wine its mineral and flint accents.

In the glass, this wine has a lovely pale gold-green color.  On the nose there are hints of pear, citrus, and lemon peel.  There is also a slight stone characteristic, similar to when a rock breaks and leaves behind fine dust.  Before researching Chablis further, I was struck with its hint of champagne and was pleasantly surprised to find out how close the Champagne region is too Chablis.

On the tongue, I’m struck by how crisp and dry this wine is.  It’s certainly a very easy drinking wine with a finish of limestone grit to it – in a pleasant way.  If you close your eyes you definitely catch flavors of the mineral limestone.  I enjoyed how light and crisp it was, and that it did not have the buttery texture that I tend not to like.  I’d definitely enjoy this wine more in the summer chilled on a beach, shades on my eyes, book in my hand.  You’d do well to pair this wine with a fish/shrimp dish or even better – with some oysters. 

All in all this wine was very pleasant during my tasting.  It does have some nice structure to it, but it’s not my favorite of all time.  I’m a Riesling man when it comes to whites, so I may be a bit biased.  But if you enjoy easy drinking, light, super dry Chardonnay’s, this is your go too.

Value – Casual Night

Overall – 5.2

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