Behind the Cork™ - Pagos de Galir Godello

2017 Pagos de Galier Godello ($17)

This Pagos de Galier Godello is a product of the Valdeorras region of Spain which is located on the eastern-most fringes of Galicia, in North-Western Spain.

This 100% Godello is cold pressed and kept below 65 degrees F during fermentation. It then spends five months aging on lees.

On the nose it has nice tropical fruit, pear, melon and some floral hints. On the pallet it has nice apple and pear flavors and just a bit of honey with a smooth, creamy texture and a long finish that displays its wonderful, fresh, acidity (3.6 pH).

Godello is not a varietal that is seen as much in the U.S., but this is one to keep your eyes out for. It’s definitely one that you should experience. Serve it chilled and enjoy!

Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications

Proper Wine Storage -- It's Starts at the Store!

A lot of people are concerned with ensuring that they store their wine properly. And, that’s important. But to ensure you are getting a wine that’s at its best, you also need to take into consideration the store where you’re buying your wine.

Sure, there are potential storage issues between the winery and the store. Like the method of shipment and the time of year (e.g., getting too hot). But, how your local wine shop or store handles your wine is very important because it may sit on the shelf for a longer period of time.

While visiting the eastern U.S. last winter, I took a short snowy walk to a place where I’ve purchased wine before. While it was below freezing outside, the store was nice and warm. But, that caused me to pause. As I took off my layers to be comfortable while shopping, it struck me that it was probably in the high 70s F in the store, if not 80 degrees. While that’s a comfortable temperature for shoppers on a cold winter day, that’s not anywhere near an ideal temperature for a wine.

Maybe you’ve noticed that most grocery stores are kept quite cool. That’s intentional to help keep their merchandise as fresh as possible. And that’s especially true for wine. While most guidance for wine storage is in the 50s F, even a “cool” temperature in a store will be in the high 60s. While that’s fine for short amount of time, finding an older bottle of a nice wine that been sitting at nearly 80 degrees F for who knows how long, could be an issue.

So, just keep in mind that while you may have the ideal wine storage system at home, you also must ensure that the wine you’re putting into it has not been damaged while in the store.

Oh! And also consider where the wine is placed within the store. I’ve seen too many wine shelves in direct sunlight. That’s not good either!

Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Artezin Old Vine Zinfandel

2017 Artezin Old Vine Zinfandel ($16)

This handcrafted Old Vine Zinfandel from winemaker Randle Johnson comes from northern California’s Mendocino County.

Johnson has been the man behind Artezin’s wines since their inception in 2002. The vision behind Artezin is to honor the art of crafting Zinfandel from old vine plantings and to work with family owned, sustainable farms throughout Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

This Zinfandel is blended with 15% Petite Sirah to yield a wine with nice fruit and subtle pepper notes. It is 100% barrel aged in one to two year old French oak. This results in soft tannin, and an easy finish.

The Hess Family Wine Estates portfolio is comprised of The Hess Collection, Hess Select, Artezin, Lion’s Head Collection all of which are from California as well as Colomé and Amalaya from Argentina.

This Artezin Old Vine Zinfandel fits right in with the Behind the Cork™ featured wines that are affordable and attainable. Look for this this one in your favorite wine shop and enjoy! Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications

Ever Wonder What Those Tiny Crystals are on the Bottom of the Wine Cork?

In a recent blog, I wrote about sediment in wine. Those are the particle that are left in your wine glass or inside the wine bottle from tiny particles of grape skins, seeds and stems that are a natural part of wine making. And, other than being an unexpected texture in your mouth, they are harmless.

But then I recently pulled the cork on a really nice bottle of wine that had been laying on its side in my wine refrigerator for little over a year. Upon examination I found a bunch of sparkly red crystals on the bottom of the cork (photo). It was obvious this wasn’t sediment because it had defined crystalline structure. So then, what is it?

Well, without getting too much into the chemistry (and there’s a lot of chemistry in wine making), these are indeed crystals that are sometime referred to as “wine diamonds.”

These crystals are formed in a bottle of wine due to the presence of tartaric acid which, along with malic acid and citric acid, naturally appear in wine. Again, all these little crystals are harmless but the crunch you’d experience in your mouth would certainly be unexpected from a glass of wine.

These crystals can form in both white wine and red wine. While some wine makers will put their wine through additional processing (e.g., cold stabilization) for a few weeks to force these crystals to form and drop out, other wine makers prefer to do as little additional processing as possible to their wines which can result in some crystal formation.

So, if you happen to see these little “wine diamonds” either on your cork or in your glass, don’t be concerned. This is a normal and natural phenomenon. Your wine is just fine! Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Robert Young Cabernet Franc

Robert Young Alexander Valley ‘Big Rock Block’ Cabernet Franc ($65)

This one’s a real treat. Alexander Valley is a favorite of mine and this Cabernet Franc from Robert Young Estate Winery is an exceptional example of the Alexander Valley wines.

I picked this one up during my 2018 visit to Alexander Valley. I was familiar with the wineries along the main road. But, for my final stop of the trip, I decided to go off the main road and check out Robert Young. I didn’t know anything about their wines so I went in with no expectations. Then, I was blown away.

Along with this delicious Cabernet Franc, I also tried their Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petite Verdot. They were all outstanding and I brought home one of each!

This ‘Big Rock Block’ Cabernet Franc is rich and complex with wonderful dark fruit flavors and oak aging that makes for an amazing wine with low tannin and a long smooth finish.

While my “Behind the Cork™” features are often wines that are easily affordable and easily attainable, this Robert Young Cabernet Franc is a bit pricier and you’ll probably only find it at the winery, but it’s a tremendous find that will be featured in the “Great Wines” page of the website.

If you get the opportunity to be in Alexander Valley, take the short trip off the main road and visit Robert Young Estate. It’s well worth the visit! Cheers!