Oh, No: Not Again
Sub-Alpine Nebbiolo, DCJ, Godello and La Clape
It’s the last late spring crush: a flurry of wine tastings before everyone takes off for the summer. Wino journalists will whine: not another one. Alcohol in the middle of the day. It’s spat out, but it still seeps into the cheeks as the vapours go up the nose; not enough for a pleasant buzz but just enough to feel tired and a bit hungover on the subway or Uber ride back to our desks.
But we can’t help ourselves, our noses want to be deep into the glass. The wines won’t taste themselves, and maybe this one ounce pour will reveal some profound truth we can share. There is never enough wine, and the content machine needs to be fed. So, we’ll run across town, or down to Niagara for one more swirl, sniff, sip and spit. There might be a good story to it, after all.
Wino journalists think we’re special and have privileged access to fancy wines at trade tastings, but some of the best tastings are targeted at the people who actually buy wine. A case in point was a recent Cavinona tasting of Alto-Piemonte wines, made principally from Nebbiolo.
If Barolo and Barbaresco is mostly about cherries, then maybe their northern cousins show more raspberry and lighter red fruit. Or show something completely different like the 2019 Colombera & Garella Bramaterra DOC, which confounds expectations of the Nebbiolo grape, with weighted, eathy and almost flinty character that reminded me more of Austrian Sankt Laurent or even Saumur Cabernet Franc. Perhaps it’s the two local grapes, Croatina and Vespolina that make the difference, or a high iron content in the sub-alpine soils. Non so. A fascinating wine among very interesting ones, in any event.
This tasting has piqued my interest in Northern Piedmont. On show was another Colombera & Garella wine, the non-vintage Nebbiolo based Melascone red for $27.95, a lovely versatile food friendly red fruited crowd pleaser at an affordable price.
The current selection of Alto-Piemonte wines from Cavinona, which is likely the widest array in Canada, is here:
https://cavinona.com/collections/alto-piemonte-selection
NEW WRITING AT THE HUB
Wino jourbnalists are the laziest journalists, so I am striking a campaign for the widespread adoption of the initials DCJ for the flagship Niagara Pinot and Chardo label so I won’t have to type out all the letters in Domaine Le Cos Jordanne again. Please fall in line.
In other news, forgive the redundancy but DCJ has been reborn once more, and I got to write about it at The Hub:
At $29.95 the JordanVillage DCJ labels are some of the best bargains to come out of Niagara. This can’t last. Be advised.
WINE RECOMMENDATIONS
Please enjoy this recommendation. Recommendations here are free for all subscribers… for now. Soon these just-in-time wine recommendations for LCBO Vintages releases, Ontario wine releases and wines on direct offer from importing agents will be reserved for paid subscribers to Malcolm Jolley Wino Journalist. That and more. Get ahead of the curve today and please support my work by being a paid subscriber.
Godelia La Pelona Godello 2023
Price: $17.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Godelia
Country: Spain
Region: Castille and Léon, Bierzo
Appellation: Bierzo DO
Grapes: Godello
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
Sugar Content: 2 grams per litre
Godello, originally from Galicia in Northestern Spain, is one of these grapes like Viogner, that was virtually extinct by the 1980s and has only been resurected by the efforts of a few dedicated individual winemakers. (Horacio Fernández and Luis Hildagos, write Robinson, Harding and Vouillamoz in Wine Grapes.) This revival has not been extended across the Atlantic in any material way that I can see, but I hope the Pelona from the aptly named Bierzo producer Godelia is an advance guard raiding party. At $18 a bottle the campaign must be being waged with extreme prejudice.
Look for lemony crispiness and some peachy round corners in super refresher, that somehow has weight. Its analogue might be bone dry Chenin Blanc, or Chardonnay in the style of Chablis. It brings water to the mouth and wants to be served chilled on a warm sunny patio, sweating next to a bowl of Gaspacho or potato chips.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/godelia-bodega-seleccion-parcelas-la-pelona-godello-37706
Château de Marmorières Les Amandiers 2019
Price: $23.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Godelia
Country: France
Region: Languedoc
Appellation: AOC La Clape
Grapes: Syrah (60%), Grenache (20%), Carignan (15%)
Alcohol by Volume: 14.5%
Sugar Content: 4 grams per litre
If (when) I run away to France, I could do much worse than settling into the sunny cathedral town of Narbonne, nestled between the Mediterranean sea and the Corbières Mountains. On Saturday mornings, after a boule de café au lait and a croissant, I might ride my bicycle eastwards, out of town to the low rolling hills by the sea at La Clape. There I would stuff my straw basket with the black, yet clear, Syrah and Grenache blended wines at the wineries within view of the old town’s spires and crenalations.
One of those might well be the 2019 Les Amandiers from Château Marmorières with adds a touch Carignan depth to the spicy violets of Syrah and full mouthed fruit of Grenache. Of all the sub-appellations of the Languedoc, La Clape seems to be most akin to Left Bank Bordeaux; maybe its the proximity to the sea. In the Amandiers, there is a blackberry to purple plum concentration of fruit that is balanced out in food friendly acidity. It wants a Friday steak, or a garlicky lamb sausage.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/chateau-de-marmorieres-les-amandiers-35996
