Naked Vine One-Hitter: Following the Tour de France, sorta.

Hey everyone! It's Tour de France time! You know, the one time a year where Americans pay cursory attention to the sport of cycling. (The leading American as of the writing of this article was household name Tejay Van Garderen, currently in 15th.)

I thought it might be fun to write a series of articles tracking the wines of the various regions through which the riders were speeding. (The idea came from Sean at Colangelo.)

In years past, I remember the Tour basically zooming through all of the various regions of France, but this year is different. This year, they started with several runs around Utah Beach, the site of the Allied D-Day invasion. From there, the peloton will make its way south through Saumur and Limoges before heading towards the south of France.

Unfortunately, the route skirts most of the major wine producing regions, like Bordeaux and Burgundy -- and the subregions therein. Northwest France isn't really known for producing much wine, and I don't really have the cash to casually write about Armagnac, which is where the riders are headed today.

However, after that -- the Tour heads into Gascony, which is a region where wine is inexpensive and plentiful. Gascony, located in southwest France, near the Spanish border, along the foothills of the Pyrenees. The best known wines from that region are white wines. These wines tend to be crisp, acidic, and are made from local grapes like Ugni Blanc and Colombard. The average price of a white from Gascony (which you'll find as "Cotes de Gascogne") are usually around a ten spot.

This description fits the Domaine du Tariquet 2015 “Classic” Cotes de Gascogne to a tee. Tariquet distills Armagnac, a brandy somewhat similar to Cognac, from the aforementioned Ugni Blanc and Colombard. They produce this white wine from the same grapes. I found a load of herbs and green apple on the nose. It was mouthpuckeringly tart initially, but that acidity smooths out a bit as the wine got a little air. The result were plenty of lemony citrus and green apple flavors, which led into a crisp, quick finish. A decent summertime quaffer for $10. Would be nice as an aperitif or with some light fish dishes.

As the Tour moves along, I'll post a few additional regional bottles. Stay tuned...

Naked Vine One-Hitter O' The Green (Part 1) -- Domaine di Tariquet

This winter's thrown my internal clock for a loop. I can always sense the start of Spring in my bones. I get that tickle in my hindbrain that's been around since we, as a species, decided that the whole "walking around on two legs" thing was pretty beneficial. That wonderful tickle that gets all the juices flowing as we head into the season where the world starts waking up again.

I've missed that tickle this year. February was so miserable that it flew by as we huddled in our winter wine cave. I suddenly realized, "Deer lawrd...it's MARCH already." It just doesn't feel like March yet.  Daylight savings time usually doesn't roll around while there's still six inches of snow. 

Thankfully, relief seems to be on the horizon -- and we can start thinking about some of our upcoming springtime revelry. One of those revelries is, of course, St. Patrick's Day -- a time when the rivers and the beer often run green. 

My good man Ferdinand at Colangelo sent along a suggestion. Why not slide a few other "green" beverages into the rotation? Sounds like a sensible enough suggestion. I mean, just how much Bud Light spiked with Green No.3 does one country need? He was good enough to send along a few emerald-hued offerings for review. I'll get to the first one in a moment, but I've an explanation to give first

Some long-time readers may have noticed the recent slowdown in posting here on The Vine. Yes, I've not been writing as much as in months past. Some of you can probably guess why, but for those of you who don't -- in my other life, for the last three-plus years, I've been working on my doctorate in Educational Policy, and I'm at a critical point in the writing of my dissertation. Predictably, I haven't had a lot of spare mental energy to crank out wine columns. Fear not. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I should be through the process in a month or two, and I should be back with a properly thirsty (and hopefully celebratory) vengeance.

For now, I'll be handling these potential Oenos Go Bragh one at a time. First up is the Domaine du Tariquet 2013 "Classic" Cotes du Gascogne. 

I've powered down a lot of white wines from Gascony over the last several summers. Those whites are traditionally light, crisp, and high in acidity. They're wines built to be drunk young -- usually as an aperitif or with a light meal. The Tariquet is no exception.

Made largely from a combination of Ugni Blanc and Colombard, with a little Sauvignon Blanc and Gros Manseng thrown in for good measure, the Tariquet starts with a pleasant enough nose of grapefruit and green apples. I was expecting an acidic wine, I should have guessed when I read "serve thoroughly chilled" on the tech notes, but this one knocked me back a pace.

Some white wine fans refer to themselves as "acid freaks" when they enjoy wines like this. Maybe my palate's still in winter wine mode, but this is a tart wine. The smell doesn't lie. The flavor is "green," to be sure -- lots of grapefruit and apples at high-pucker volume. I thought it was a little too much for my tastes. The finish, predictably, is clean, crisp, and quick. 

If grapefruit is a flavor you enjoy and you can get past the initial acid blast, it's a pretty drinkable wine. I'd probably wait a couple of months, at least until my lawn starts growing again and I start doing outside work, before I chased this down. Just the same -- if you're throwing a party and some of your leprechaunic friends are big white wine fans, you could stand to have a couple of bottles around. The Tariquet retails for around ten bucks.

P.S. GTHC. Always.

A Med Spread for Summertime

“Every culture makes wine to go with what they’re eating.”
– Naked Vine Wine Pairing Rule #1.

I have a slightly more difficult time pairing wines in summer. I’m not a huge fan of massive, tannic wines when it’s hot, and I don’t have a lot of patience for watery pinot grigio. I drink a lot of rosé, as we’ve long established, and I do like to have options. At times like this, I turn my sights to places where folks have dealt with blistering summers for centuries – the Mediterranean.

Thanks to the good folks at Bourgeois Family Selections, the wine fairy delivered an array of interesting, affordable Mediterranean yumminess for our consumption here at Vine HQ. 

Bodegas Latúe 2012 Airén White Wine – The first of the two biodynamic wines from the Bodegas Latúe

wine collective in the province of Toledo in Spain. Their wines are all certified organic – by both Spanish and American standards. Their white is made from the Airén grape, which is one of the more common Spanish white grapes. Airen once represented almost 30% of all grapes grown in Spain, but because of its lower yields, some wineries are replacing it with higher-yield grapes. The wine has a pale straw color that yields a peach blossomy nose. I braced myself ready for an acid ball on pouring. It certainly is acidic, but there’s a generous amount of peach flavor to go alongside. After the wine gets some air, the finish goes from a somewhat bitter lemon-rind flavor to a softer citrus like an almost-ripe nectarine. I thought it would go well with fish tacos and southwestern rice, and I was certainly not disappointed. $10.

Bodegas Latúe 2012 Tempranillo – Latúe also makes a Tempranillo in a similarly organic fashion. This one has a fairly fragrant nose of cherries and cranberries. The body is on the lighter side, but there’s enough tannin to make it feel substantial, which is a real plus as a summer wine. I thought there was a nice balance of fruit and tannin, even if it is, as a whole, a bit lean. The finish is where the tannins really make an appearance, drying out the palate or standing ready to cut through the fat of a steak. Despite the relatively light body, it worked nicely with a thick grilled, marinated flank steak. I’d snag it again, especially at $10.

Domaine de Ballade 2012 Cotes de Gascogne – This wine is very refreshing blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Columbard from the region of Gascony in southwest France. All in all, I’ve discovered that Gascony really produces some of the most consistently refreshing summer wines. This bottle is no exception. The nose is full of lemon and wet stones. The medium-light body holds a grapefruity blend of mineral and acidity that finishes with a nice snap. A super wine for a warm day on the porch, at a picnic, or at the beach. It also turned out to be a really nice pairing choice for seafood. We had this with seared scallops with a grapefruit, fennel, and cucumber salad. Harmonious. Around $11-12.

Clos Teddi 2011 Patrimonio Vermentinu – I admit to my surprise when I saw this wine was French. I’d always associated the Vermentino grape with Italy, specifically with Sardinia, where it makes a crisp, flavorful white wine. In France, the grape is known as “Vermentinu” and – like in Italy – is primarily grown on an island. This time, the island is Corsica. Patrimonio, which I initially thought was a nod to the grape’s Italian ancestry, turns out to eb the Corsican wine region. The site of the winery was a Greek settlement in 800 BC. The winery itself is named for Thethis, one of the Greek goddesses of the sea and mother of Achilles. How about the wine? Really nice. Smooth and minerally. The nose is another good demonstration of “wet stone,” mirrored in the mineral on the palate. There are rich apple and orange flavors on the body, with a nice pepperiness throughout. Simply put, this is a just a very tasty wine. It’s a bit more expensive at around $27, but if you’re looking for a nice bottle to share among friends, it’s a solid call.

Elicio 2011 Cotes du Ventoux Blanc – Some nights, I land on an unexpectedly strong wine match. On a hot, June evening, we needed something refreshing on its own that could still go with some herb-broiled trout and fresh green beans in a honey mustard vinaigrette dressing with almonds. That’s a challenging pairing with loads of flavors shooting off in different directions. I needed something somewhat substantial so it wouldn’t get trampled and still added something to the meal. This $12 bottle rose to the occasion. It’s a pleasant sipper, also 100% Vermentino, full of flavors of papaya and citrus with a load of minerals. The finish is fruity and crisp and overall – it’s quite tasty. Alongside the dinner, it was balanced and inoffensive. Honestly, that’s exactly what I wanted. I’d pick this up again.