Caricalasino

Donato from Vias was in yesterday with some things that clearly showed he thought about what would go on the Frisky Oyster list. They were all affordable, with off-the-beaten path grapes and pretty delicious. Given Vias’s portfolio, five were from Italy and one from Mendoza.

The coolest one was the Marenco ‘Carialoso’ 2006 Caricalasino, wherein caricalasino is the grape variety. And it is not listed in the otherwise ultimate comprehensive source, the Oxford Companion to Wine.

Greenport Dances

In the summer on Monday nights in Mitchell Park in Greenport a band plays and people bring kids, dogs, blankets, food and wine in order to dance, chat and hang out by the water.

Last night Caroline Doctorow and her band played while we ate the fried chicken from Claudia at Salamander’s and drank Tardieu-Laurent 2004 Hermitage (white) and that Chateau Rouvière 2004 Bandol (white), which is 100 percent rolle and was delicious on the hot night and with the chicken.

The Hermitage is made from roussane and marsanne and was not quite ready to drink. The oak was not integrated and it was almost too hot for the hot night. It’s more of a cold weather wine with meaty, saucy food. More on white Hermitage after the jump.

Experiment failed

If when wine goes bad you get vinegar, what do you get when vinegar goes bad? I don’t know, but I had some of it in my kitchen. Preparing for my trip to the dump where I nonchalantly drop off cases of empty wine bottles checking out the bin to see what people are drinking (Yellowtail), I started to dump some half bottles when I remembered my vinegar jug under the kitchen sink. I hadn’t smelled it in awhile, so I was wondering what was going on, but had yet to pull it out. Oh, the smell was contained by a coating of green mold. I’m going to try again. I made one batch, but it doesn’t seem to be as vinegary as, well, vinegar.

Sunday night tasting

Yes, it was a busy weekend on the North Fork. Greenport was hopping and more than a few people ate dinner at the Frisky Oyster. And Long Island Wine sales were good. Local wine sells best on Saturday nights, when we get the most visitors from out of town. More than a quarter of the sales were from Long Island vineyards. On the list now are the Bedell 2005 Musée, Borghese 2005 Reserve Pinot Noir, Raphael 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Peconic Bay 2005 La Barrique Chardonnay, Macari 2004 Bergen Road, and by the glass are Bouké 2007 White and the Jamesport 2004 East End Series Merlot.

Finished!

Big excitement here today. As with all the other letters from the International Wine Center, this, the final one, arrived on a Saturday. A thick envelope, which I agreed to let be a good omen. And inside was the results for my final two papers to earn the Diploma in Wine & Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Which I passed!

Thus ended my two-year effort for the qualification, and it puts me in good company. I’m the second on the East End to get the diploma. The first was Chris Tracy, winemaker at Channing Daughters in Bridgehampton. Chris is going on for the MW, and I hope to, too.

Update: Tracy Ellen Kamens, who was in my diploma class also got some good news in Saturday’s mail. She and her husband own Mattituck-based Grand Cru Classes.

Update #2: On writing the above I completely forgot about Lisa Donneson of Bouké, who earned her diploma in 2006, which makes her the second on the East End. (She’s a part-time resident of Sagaponack). Tracy and I tie for third.

The papers comprise the work for Unit 1 of the diploma, which the WSET calls course work assignments, or CWA. Four CWAs are required and the topics concern the business of wine. The two I wrote were “Supply and Demand in the Champagne region” and “The co-operative movement in wine production.”

Gewurz feature

The summer issue of the Wine Press was released today, and it contains an article on gewurztraminer written by none other than Cellarette. Check it out for details on the differing styles of the wine made on the East End by Lenz, Martha Clara, Bedell and Palmer.

What’s open now

Naia 2006 Rueda

I love this wine and I wish I had written about it before I drank most of it. It is one of the brands from Jorge Ordonez a major importer of Spanish wine that I cannot believe does not have a website. Not under his name nor under his company, Fine Estates from Spain. He was recently featured at the Nantucket Wine Festival in May.

Naia is 100 percent verdejo, from the Rueda DO in Spain. The region follows the Duero River and is west of Ribera del Duero on the way to Portugal. The Rueda appellation permits verdejo and sauvignon blanc. More from Jancis after the jump.

Just bought

I feel like I was taken in, but I was. I just bought a case of Insoglio del Chingale by Tenuta di Biserno.

Biserno is the result of a collaboration — ready — among Piero and Ludovico Antinori, Umberto Mannoni, Helena Lingberg, Ranieri Orsini, Michel Rolland and architect Gae Aulenti.

The wine follows the path of the Super-Tuscans, which started in the ’70s with famous Sassicaia by Tenuta San Guido.

The wines were called Super Tuscans because they did not follow the dictates of the DOC and used Bordeaux varietals instead of sangiovese. The result was the expansion in 1992 of the Italian wine laws to include IGT, or Indicazione Geografica Tipica, which is supposed to ensure quality while allowing grapes, blends and methods not included in the traditional designations.

The collaborators include the Mondovino-made infamous Michel Rolland, whom many credit with the increased parkerization of wine, and the Antinoris who were ahead of the game with their Tiganello, a super Tuscan from Bolgheri. Biserno also makes wine from vineyards in Bolgheri.