Another Wine Blogging Wednesday is here, and I am so excited to be able to write about a new favorite bottle (and one of my favorite wine makers): David Noyes' 2008 Sonoma Valley Tocai Friulano.
Tocai Friulano? Isn't that the name banned by the Italian government? It sure is: recently, to decrease the confusion, Italy decided that Tocai Friulano needed to go by another name to avoid confusion with the Hungarian Tokaji, Tokay d'Alsace (Pinot Grigio!) or the syrupy-sweet Tokay. Today in Italia it is simply 'Friulano'; it can also be called 'Sauvignonesse' and is commonly known in Chile and the US as Sauvignon Vert. Historically confused with Sauvignon Blanc (they believe that this confusion is how cuttings made the jump from Bordeaux to Chile), Sauvignon Vert has no close genetic connection to Sauvignon Blanc.David Noyes? David is a cool dude. I had the honor of pouring for him at a National Hemophilia Foundation fundraiser this summer and he's fun, I agree wholeheartedly with his winemaking style (leave the grapes to do their thing!), and his wines are damn tasty. He has made wine at Ridge, works at Wellington, and has is own label. While he makes a name for himself with Pinot Noir, this Tocai Friulano is pretty special. The deets: the grapes are from a 2 acre plot of the Pagani Vineyard planted in the 1920's(!), no malolactic fermentation, and neutral oak.
For me, this is the perfect wine to enjoy when you think you want a Sauvignon Blanc but actually you want something... dustier. Bright citrus and peach give way to a very minerally, almost gravelly and dusty mouth feel. I feel like you can taste the age of these vines (in a great way) and it transports me to a field in late summer, eating a peach next to a dusty road in the sun. But we're not done yet! Let yourself enjoy the long finish on this wine, as you're in for a grassy, vegetal, almost pleasantly bitter taste at the very end. The vegetal character is enhanced when one drinks this wine a bit warmer than usual. The verdict: Drink me. Drink lots of this Tocai Friulano- you'll be hard pressed to find another white wine from California with the age, intrigue, and lighthanded winemaking that this bottle has.
**Full disclosure: These wines came to me courtesy of Vine Connections and BinEndsWine. However, I buy the Crios Torrontes all the time at Costco and Whole Foods.**
Argentina seems to be steadily taking hold of my wine life. It started when my boyfriend went to Argentina for a couple of weeks in 2007 and came back incredibly excited about malbec... and this is a guy that used to drink nothing but riesling. Then, the group at Vine Connections had myself, lovely Luscious Lush Thea, and Lisa the Brix Chick for an interesting evening full of Argentinian wines, Japanese sakes, and geeking out (check out their synopsis of the evening here and here). As if that wasn't enough, Argentina then proceeded to take over Taste Live (and Twitter, for that matter) for the entire month of September. Crazy! Here are a few of the tasting notes and comments from my recent Argentinian inundation: - Reginato 'Celestina'- a gorgeous sparkling rose of malbec. I love anything out of the ordinary and sparkly, so this was a treat. It conveyed a lot of the big body I had come to associate with malbec, with a long finish full of cherry, strawberry, and floral notes.
- Crios- It seems like these guys can do no wrong. First the Torrontes, a minerally, stone-fruit-filled bargain that I find myself buying over and over again to bring to parties. And then my Taste Live box shows up with a bottle of the Syrah/Bonarda. This stuff is a hedonistic indulgence: all fruit, mineral, and raw meat. Both of these bottles retail under $20, which blows my mind. Doesn't surprise me that Crios was Wine & Spirit's Value Brand of the Year in both 2004 and 2007.
- BenMarco- this malbec is my kind of wine. Chewy, dark, almost fleshy with coffee notes and great acidity. Again, ridiculous value and way more fun than my usual Cab Sauv.
So, what are my thoughts on Argentinian wine? First of all, what a crazy value. I'm paying way too much for my Californian wine. Second of all, Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections has my dream job. Third, I'm working on booking a snowboarding-and-winery-visiting trip to Argentina.
The verdict? Drink me. I didn't write about the wines I didn't like. But there are amazing values to be had, which I think everyone should try to snap up before they figure out they could be charging a lot more for this yummy, yummy juice.
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