Wine Fashion Week

New York City   

The beginning of September heralds the wine trade’s New York fashion show. Most of the major importers and distributors in the State show off their wares at various salubrious institutions around the city. Sadly, unlike the real Fashion Week, the wine trade is completely disorganized and so on any given day you might have 1/2 dozen trade tastings around the city each offering up 500+ wines to taste and spit. It’s an impossible task to get through more than one or two but the trade organisers seem to have their own ego and presumably they all want to be on the same day so they can knock each other on the head and say ‘ha, we got more tasters than you did’ – ya boo sucks!   

I was pretty tame this year and deliberately didn’t attempt more than one tasting per day. To put this into perspective, at one trade tasting the ‘book’ listing all the wines on show had more pages than War and Peace. Rows upon rows of bottles, all shapes and sizes and offering up a smorgasbord of wines from all over the world. Pretty heady stuff, the problem was, as always, trying to figure out what was good and what was downright horrible. There was a lot of the latter! Over a period of ten days I must have tasted over 3,000 wines, forgive me if my recollection isn’t too good! I did notice a few trends appear: prices have begun to decrease but not across the board. Alcohol levels are still rising and quality levels in the less than $12.00 range are decreasing; labels are becoming even more stupid but cartoons or pictures of animals are taking a back seat; screw caps are on the rise, but so too are those horrid little plastic corks; more ‘cult’ wineries are making cheaper stuff, but not from their own vineyards, rather they are buying in grapes from their neighbours who are going bust; prices for Californian wines still defy the fact that we are in a recession – maybe they know something that we don’t; Australian imports were almost non-existent but South Africa is on the rebound. Little change in Europe, few if any wines from Greece, fewer still from Hungary and Portugal almost failed to make the grid. Burgundy was superstar and many of the little wines from the 2009 Bordeaux vintage were sensational. Value wise, Spain still seemed to be the winner but southern Italy was a star. Here’s what I scribbled about some of the wines I tasted: 

       Spain:            White:             Castellroig Xarel-lo. Organic, hand harvested estate grown fruit from 85 year old vines. Aged on lees 6 months in stainless steal tanks. Bright, refreshing, leaves you wanting a bigger mouth. $21.00.    

     Spain:             White:            Enanzo Chardonnay. Best value white in this grouping. 25 year old vines, fermentation over 3 months on lees in Stainless Steel. Fragrant notes, hazelnuts and kumquats. Brilliant everyday quaff. $10.00   

     Spain:             Red:                Enanzo Tempranillo. Best value in red category. Oscar winner; old tempranillo vines don’t need new oak. Lovely aromas of dark black cherry, maduro cigar, plums and currants. Pretty much the same flavors on the tongue. $10.00   

     Spain:             Red:                DE2 Mencia Joven. Bierzo region. Has to be one of the best values for $15. Fresh, lively, fruit jumps at you. Hints of vanilla, round mouthfeel of dark berries, roasted fruit, spice baskets. Lovely jubbly. $15.00   

     Spain:             Red:                Oriol Emporda. Totally ew, carignan, black grenache, cabernet and ull de llebre. unoaked, really refreshing – sort of wine that can be drunk dry and without food. Very expressive – love the price. $17.00   

     USA:                Red:               Old River Road Cabernet. Mid weight full red from ponderosa vineyards. Very soft tannin, compelling notes of dark fruit, roast fig, not syrupy, not slushy, lovely balance. Certified organic – take this home for self. $21.00   

     USA:                Red:               Harrington Wiley Vineyard Pinot Noir. Outside of France probably the best pinot noir I tasted during Fashion Week. Clean, pure, fresh licks of cherry jam, persimmon and baking spice. Boysenberry and tamarind too. $39.00   

     USA:                Red:               Trentadue La Storia Cabernet. Pick of the entire tasting. Surprised the hell out of me, choosing a Californian Cab! I must be slipping. Lovely balance, not slushy, not tart, jammy but not sweet – dietitians dream. $24.00   

     USA:                Red:               Road 31 Pinot Noir. Up there with Harrington. These wines are defying Californian custom. They don’t taste sweet, aren’t sticky, definitely not doughnuts. Clear, fresh, lively, loaded red fruits. Very elegant, worth the price. $35.00   

      Italy:               Red:               Vietti Barbera D’Asti. Marina’s choice. Always a brilliant producer. Perfect example of great wine made by a great wine-maker. This is real Barbera. $22.00  

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This entry was posted by WinebyCai on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 10:07 am and is filed under Daily Mutterings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.