TN: Some New/Unusual Whites...(long/boring)

We tried last night (8/15/18) Some New White Wines:

1. GramercyCllrs Picpoul WallaWallaVlly/Washington (12.2%; www.GramercyCellars.com) GregHarrington/
   WallaWalla 2017: Pale yellow color; rather stony/chalky/mineral somewhat savory some floral/apple/pear/
   citrus bit spicy/cinammon interesting/attractive nose; fairly taty/tangy/metallic slight earthy/stony/
   chalky light floral/apple/pear/citrus flavor; very long tart/tangy bit saline/savory slight citrusy/
   floral/apple/pear bit earthy/stony finish; quite stylistically like Fr. Picpoul di Pinet but not as
   lean/austere; quite a nice Picpoul that’s more French than Calif. $16.00 (H-T)

2. Forlorn-Hope Picpoul RorickVnyd/CalaverasCnty (12.62%; 152 cs; www.ForlornHopeWines.com) 2015: Med.light
   gold color; very strong aromatic bit honeyed/citrusy/orangey/orange blossom quite spicy bit perfumed talc/
   earthy/pungent slight resiny/pine sap (skin-contact?) rather exotic/interesting nose; bit soft some
   rich/lush strong citrusy/orangey/bit honeyed slight pine sap/resiny very slight stony quite exotic flavor;
   very long/lingering honey/citrus/orangey bit earthy/perfumed talc slight resiny finish w/ no tannins;
   seems to have a slight bit of skin-contact character; quite an unusual/exotic expression of Picpoul.
   $30.00

3. Bisson DOC: Portofino Cimixa L’Antico (13.5%; RosenthalWineMerchant) Luigi Veronelli/Chiavari 2015: Light
   gold color; rather fragrant floral/carnations/bit citrusy/grapefruity/metallic quite attractive/aromatic
   almost GV-like nose; quite tart/tangy/metallic floral/carnations bit citrusy/grapefruity/almost Buddha’sHand
   bit GV-like/bit R-like beautiful flavor; very long/lingeringcitrusy/grapefruity/orangey/Buddha’sHand/perfumed
   some tangy/metallic rather saline/savory finish; quite an interesting/bit exotic white. $27.00 (H-T)

4. Manzone DOC: Langhe Rossese Bianco Rosserto (13.5%; www.HMercerImports.com; www.ManzoneGiovanni.com)
   Giovanni Manzone/Castelleto/Monforte d’Alba 2015: Med.light gold color; slight pungent/phenolic bit
   earthy/mineral slight smokey (oak?) rather perfumed/floral bit Mosel valve oil/mineral complex very
   interesting nose; lightly tart somewhat rich/lush slight pungent/smokey very slight phenolic rather
   floral/perfumed some Mosel valve oil quite complex/exotic flavor; very long/lingering slight petrol
   somewhat floral/perfumed bit pungent/smokey complex finish; a beautiful perfumey/aromatic quite interesting
   white at a great price. $17.00 (H-T)

5. Laura Aschero DOC: Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato (13%; www.Massanois.com) Laura Aschero di Marco Rizzo/
   Pontedassio/Imperia/Liguria 2017: Light gold color; slight reduced/skunky very fragrant/floral/carnations
   bit herbal/grassy some saline/savory bit like Styrian SauvBlanc quite aromatic lovely complex nose; quite
   tart/tangy somewhat saline/savory some pungent/herbal/grassy/vegetal/broccoli some savory quite aromatic
   very interesting/complex flavor; very long slightly reduced somewhat herbal/grassy slight vegetal/broccoli
   somewhat floral/aromatic/carnations finish; quite an interesting white a bit like a Styrian SauvBlanc.
   $25.00 (H-T)

6. TablasCreekVnyds Vermentino AdelaidaDist/PasoRobles (13.0%; Rolle; SS Ferment; EB) PasoRobles 2017: Med.light
   yellow color; quite fragrantfloral/Vermen/carnations slight mineral/chalky bit metallic very perfumey
   lovely nose; lightly tart fairly rich/lush quite floral/Vermen/carnations slight chalky/mineral lovely
   perfumed flavor; very long/lingering fairly rich/lush quite aromatic/floral/carnations bit stony/chalky
   lightly tart finish; loads of perfumed Vermen fruit; a bit one-dimensional right now but should develop
   beautifully over the next few yrs; a lovely white at a great price. $21.25 (VIN)

7. Punta Crena Mataossu Vigneto Reine IGT: Colline Savonesi White Liguria Wine (12.5%; KermitLynchImports)
   Savona/Liguria 2016: Med.light gold color; very strong stony/mineral/perfumed talc some appley/apple pie/spicy
   bit floral/carnations slight hair oil really complex/interesting aromatic nose; lightly tangy/tart some stony/
   mineral/chalky quite apple pie/spicy/nutmeg/cinammon some floral/carnations/rose petal beautiful complex flavor;
   very long/lingering slight tangy/metallic bit stony/mineral strong apple pie/cinammon/nutmeg quite floral/
   carnations/rose petal complex finish; a really beautiful complex Ligurian white. $25.00 (H-T)

More wifflelick from TheBloodyPulpit:

1. This was a very interesting tasting of whites. The wines were all distinctly different. When you’re
   tasting new varieties, it is often hard to come up w/ adequate discriptors. Most of these wines were in my
   recent order from Hi-Time in CostaMesa, a really great wine shop.

2. Cimixa: Or Scimiscià, is a pretty rare grape indigeneous to Liguria. Also known as Genovesa in Corsica.
   Best discussion is on (the late) RobTebeau’s blog
   (Fringe Wine: Çimixà (Scimiscià) - Colline del Genovesato, Liguria, Italy), which still remains
   a valuable resource for rare/fringe grapes. The term Cimixa refers to bedbugs because the vines supposedly
   have small splotches on them that look like bedbug bites. I rather liked this wine. Clearly Cimixa is a
   grape they should be planting all up&down the Coast of Calif. Don’t tell BrianHarrington, though.

3. Rossese Bianco: This is a grape variety that is grown only in the Cuneo province of the Langhe. It has no
   relation DNA-wise to the red Rossese grape of Liguria or the other Rosseses of Italy, like Grillo. I liked
   this one quite a lot and one of the better Langhe biancos I’ve had. Clearly, this is a grape they should be
   planting all up&down the Coast of Calif. Don’t tell BrianHarrington, though.

4. Pigato: A variety that is mostly grown in Liguria. Often termed a local strain of Vermentino. It is grown
   in the Langhe where it is called Favorita. So, obviously known as Rolle in the Rhone. It typically, except
   in Sardinia where it is also grown, quite an aromatic/perfumed grape. It apparently has some common traits
   with Hungary’s Furmint. Clearly, Pigato is a grape they should be planting all up&down the ColumbiaVlly
   of WashState.
   Laura Aschero is a new producer for me. (http://www.lauraaschero.it/index-en.shtml). They make a distinction
   between their Pigato and Vermentino, but don’t indicate what the distinction is.

5. Mataossu: A grape found in the Collines Savonesi, around Savona, of Liguria. Also goes under the name of
   Lumassina or Buzzetto. I also liked this wine quite a bit. Clearly Mataossu is a grape they should be planting
   all up&down the Coast of Calif. Don’t tell BrianHarrington, though.
   Punta Crena is also a new producer for me. (http://www.puntacrena.it/). They make a distinction between
   their Mataossu and Lumassina, but don’t indicate what that distinction is. I would love to try some of their
   other wines. A KermitLynch import: (Punta Crena | Our Wines | Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant)

6. Liguria: This region, like the Valle d’Aosta, is a place (a bit touristy, I understand) I would love to visit
   next time I’m over there to Italy. Spectacularly beautiful I understand.

Tom

I popped a 2016 Broc Picpoul last evening to sip on while sitting out on the patio. It came with a club shipment. It was the cloudy gold hue of most of my urine samples given over the years when I would win bike races and be forced to go to the porta-potty and give a sample to justify my $40 in prize money. Not really on the bike race thing, but it really did remind me of a urine sample, of which I have given many. But it did not smell of piss. I can’t describe how it smelled other than being vaguely floral, no citrus, and a bit like wet rock. The flavor impression is still burnt in my memory bank-full bodied, first impression is lush slightly honeyed, but then a gewurtz-like spicy character came, then a saline edge, and then a very pleasant bitter finish. Each and every sip brought that progression. I would buy more.

Hi Tom
Liguria certainly touristy in places e.g. Portofino, Cinque Terre etc. but also pleasingly humdrum in others e.g. much of Genova, La Spezia etc.

The Cinque Terre coastal walks can resemble conveyor belts of people at times, typically native English speakers, typically saying Buongiorno to each other, assuming every other walker is Italian! If you go, they may be harder in effort termsd, but I’d recommend the steep routes heading inland, which have just as great views, but are normally bereft of people, the comparison to the coastal walks being quite shocking. The recent exception to this is a number of the coastal walks have been closed recently to repairs (erosion, landslides), so the big numbers have started huffing and puffing up the slopes!

Apparently the inland walking near the border with Piemonte is very good as well, but we’ve not been yet.

Plenty to see and experience in Italy

Regards
Ian

Thanks for the hiking recs, Ian. My girlfriend, Susan, is a very serious hiker (my knees too creaky to keep up w/ her)
& I’m going to try to put Liguria on our list for next trip next Spring.
Tom

I like the Punta Crena Mataossu

I’d always thought these to be one in the same grape. Turns out, although DNA says they’re identical, they make distinctly different wines.
Nice article here:
Pigato/Vermentino

Very much like Primitivo vs. Zinfandel. Same grape, DNA wise, but make different wines.

Tom

That’s some good wifflelick, there, Tom!

I am relieved to discover that someone in the US can make a Picpoul with an alcohol level below 14% ABV!!!

Robert Mayberry’s Rhône book (deep in re-re-reading it) considers Ugni Blanc/Vermentino a serious grape when treated as such:

“…Well-handled examples can exhibit an enormous florality, probably of violets, and a somewhat metallic crispness with a good mineral feel such as are found in whites of the upper Loire.”

Tablas Creek seems to be doing just that.

Too funny, Drew. You’re the first one to pick up on that. I bet you probably Googled “wifflelick” , didn’t you.??
For the past few months, I’ve been putting something from TheBloodyPulpit. Just to see if anybody is paying attention to my TN’s.
It’s just a word that I make up. Then I make up a definition that goes with that word and enter it into my TomHillDictionary. When my
dictionary gets the size of a Webster, than I’ll publish it for sale on Amazon. Fame & fortune will then be mine.

Just like when I put up my TN’s on each Turley release, for several sets, I’d include the Turley Hoot-Smalley White Zinfandel w/ a made-up
TN for it. A play on the Smoot-Hawley Tarrif Act. Do a Google on “Hoot-Smalley”. Even the idiot Michele Bachmann (R-MN) got sucked in by it.
As did (not an idiot) Tom Stevenson in his book on Calif Wines, where he labeled the Hoot-Smalley White Zin the most expensive WhiteZin ever made
in Calif. He was working from some of my TN’s that happened to wind up in PaulDraper’s TomHill file. I, of course, let Tom know that he had been
taken in by fake news and we both had a good laugh over him being scammed.
So it was the Hoot-Smalley White Zinfandel that made TomHill an InterNet legend. Now you know the rest of the story. And not to put too much
credence in my TN’s.
Tom

Smoot-Hawley is alive and well in DC. It will be different names this time around. Not a Michelle Bachmann fan? Minnesota’s latest are Keith Ellison (first Muslim in Congress) and a Somali woman who just won the Democratic primary (I think for Ellison’s old seat). Minnesota is just slightly behind California in politics.

Well…I’m here to tell that JimCross has followed Hoot-Smalley from the very start.
Tom

A fun read as always, Tom, thanks.

From February/March 2017

"2012 Riviera Ligure di Ponente La Ginestraia Pigato

The grape is grown near the coast and is a cousin to vermentino. Defines “pleasant”–pear, apple, very lightest white pepper. All pleasant."



From a month ago:

"2017 Tablas Creek Picpoul Blanc

Done in stainless. Sweet lemon oil, a small kiwi whisk. This is very different—a little honeycream and quite lilting"

2017 Tablas Creek Vermentino

Lifted breath of fresh air—really like a bit of baby powder in a room. Possibly unripe pineapple? Good Vermentino here, the sweet and bitter threads through the apple core. Well done."

2017 Highlawn Wine Company Picpoul Pinet

One wonders if anyone else is doing Picpoul here. Light vanilla and ginger nose. Palate, it’s missing the snap for me and presents sort of as a light PG. Of course, it is early days for this wine."

Tom, I totally Googled “whifflelick”.

It’s Norwegian for “gullible”.

Well, Drew…now you know what somebody w/ too much time on his hands does. When I should be at home
cleaning the toilet and mowing the lawn.
Tom