Fine wines aboard a cruise ship

I just returned from my 2 week vacation last week and no, it wasn't Italy, but it was a location just as beautiful, the state of Alaska! I seeked out wineries, of course, prior to my visit, but nothing was along the way of where I was going to be. Trust me though, there was plenty of wine drinking. 

Denali National Park

The best event that I attended while onboard the Princess Cruise line was the Maitre'd Wine Club run by the head waiters of the dining room. We sampled 6 wines in the price ranges of $39-110 featuring wines from France, CA and my beloved Italy. Here was the lineup:

• Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne
• 2012 Silverado Sauvignon Blanc
• 2012 Chamisal Chardonnay
• 2008 Overture
• 2010 Zeni Amarone
• 2010 Meritage Luce Della Vite

Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne

I tend not to be a huge fan of champagne, more because I'm not a fan of bubbles. A little background on champagne. It was actually discovered in the 1600's by a monk I'm sure we're all familiar with, Dom Perignon. Only clergy could produce wine at that time. Dom had never tasted his own wine he was making until he made Champagne. It was originally called the “wine of the devil” because during the discovery of the fermentation process the bottles were bursting. Fun fact: How many bubbles are in a bottle of champagne? According to Bollinger, it is about 49-52 million bubbles. I'll trust them as I won't be the one to count them. This champagne was made of 50% chardonnay and 50% pinot noir and pinot meunier. It was straw color with flavors of green apple and smaller, less fizzier bubbles. Look for food that is slightly more acidic to pair it with. We sampled it with some simple appetizers with salmon mousse.

Silverado Sauvignon Blanc

This wine comes out of Napa Valley. It is made 92% of sauvignon blanc with 8% viognier in stainless steel without malolactic fermentation. It's almost clear in color. It's lighter in body including lime, citrus and grapefruit with an apple finish combined with refreshing acidity.

Chamisal Chardonnay

Made of 100% chardonnay this wine was straw color with peach accents on the nose. On the palate it showed citrus, ripe pineapple that was smooth creating a nice medium bodied wine.

Overture

This is the second wine of Opus One, a Robert Mondavi and Bordeaux's Baron Philippe de Rothschild partnership. It's a Bordeaux blend made of primarily cabernet sauvignon along with malbec, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot. The winery actually limits a 10 bottle maximum for purchase. It's aged 16-18 months in french oak and the barrels are the used barrels of Opus One. It was a dark ruby color and on the nose it displayed rich scents of oak, vanilla and dark fruit. On the palate it contained rich fruit with a nice full body and velvety texture.

Zeni Amarone

I love the wines of the Veneto region and this one is just another to add to the list. It's made of 50% corvina, 30% rondinella and 20% molinara. It went through a 36 day maceration period and was racked 5 times. This was a younger ruby color and had strong scents of prunes and raisins. It was nicely full bodied with rich fruit with a little tannin on the lengthy finish. A good pairing to game and pheasant.

Meritage Luce Della Vite

This wine is also a partnership between Vittorio Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi. It consists of 60% sangiovese and 40% merlot. It spends two years in oak and 2 years in the bottle and was just released. Showing a nice dark ruby color I picked up notes of dark chocolate on the nose. It was very complex with notes of cinnamon, cloves with a nice full body and tannin structure. A good pairing to gouda and I can attest to the dark chocolate pairing as well.

I'm not one to sit here and write long, detailed reviews on wine as I don't enjoy reading them myself so I do like to keep them brief. Plus, what I pick up in a wine someone else may not. I enjoyed each in their own way, but it did prove to me that the higher the cost doesn't always mean better quality. It's all about what you enjoy and what you experience. Wine is meant for enjoyment. Cin cin!

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The blends of Orvieto Classico and Ruffino's history with this wine

I just came back from an amazing two week vacation to the wonderful state of Alaska. Such untouched beauty and nature. The pictures don't do this land any justice and the emotions you experience while viewing the vast, untouched land is amazing. I attended two of the wine events while I was aboard the Princess Cruise ship for a week that I will write about further, but today I wanted to share with you a bottle that I ordered at dinner, 2012 Ruffino Orvieto Classico.

I have written previously about Orvieto and wines of the Umbria, but today I wanted to focus more on the wine that I tried on my vacation. I purchased a bottle of 2012 Orvieto Classico from the well-known producer, Ruffino. This wine is produced in the region of Umbria in the town of Orvieto. Orvieto is located in the southwestern part of the region close to the Lazio region. This was my first visit to Orvieto this past October. It's a medieval town set up on a hill overlooking the highway, the autostrada, which is the road that leads you from Florence to Rome. It's a great city with a beautiful gothic style church, duomo, in the square known as Piazza del Duomo.

As in Tuscany you have Chianti and a subzone called Chianti Classico, in Umbria you have Orvieto with it's subzone Orvieto Classico from a smaller parcel of land. The white wine from here is the most popular of the region. Orvieto and Orvieto Classico is primarily made up of the grape, trebbiano, also known here as procanico. The grape, grechetto, is the secondary grape. Added to the blend as well is verdello, canaiolo bianco (known as drupeggio) and malvasia. Due to a larger variety of grapes to be blended there are different variations of this wine depending on the producer. Today more producers are using higher amounts of grechetto than in the past.

The Orvieto DOC was created in 1971. In the past this wine was made in a sweeter style where today it's drier. Ruffino has been producing this Orvieto Classico since the late 1950's. This 2012 Ruffino Orvieto Classico is from the Orvieto Classico region, which surrounds the town of Orvieto and extends toward Lake Corbara. It's made of 40% grechetto, 20% trebbiano, and the rest blended with canaiolo bianco and verdello. This crisp wine was medium bodied with a fruit profile of green apple and I picked up a little petrol as well. It had a mouthwatering acidity with nice length on the finish. As the wine sat the fruit became more prevalent. Ruffino recommends pairing this wine with crostini topped with roasted tomatoes and olive oil, grilled fish seasoned with olive oil and rosemary and mild cheese.

Have fun with it this summer and try the different variations of Orvieto Classico that are blended. As always, I'd love to hear of your adventures to this town and wine region.

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Overview on the wine region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Many may be familiar with what is known as the Tre Venezie, or 3 Venices, which is located in the northeastern part of Italy bordering Slovania, Germany and Austria. I have also discussed part of the Tre Venezie when I discussed Trentino and Alto Adige, but we have yet to cover Veneto (Venice) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which we're discussing today.

Copyright of Federdoc

History of Friuli

Friuli-Venezia Giulia used to be divided into two separate provinces, Friuli named after those that inhabited the area, and Venezia Giulia, which was part of the Venetian Republic. This area back in the day was where the spice route ran through along with travelers from northern Europe and the Middle East. In 1954 after the post-war is when the territories were realigned and became what we know today as Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

A man of this region, Mario Schiopetto, developed the standards for white wine making in Italy with the introduction of using stainless steel temperature controlled tanks. The goal was to display the fruit as purely as possible without use of oak. Later Josko Gravner introduced barrel fermented wines to the region and producers have been experimenting since and have also created wines that have come to be known as “super whites”, imitating Tuscany's “super tuscans”.

White grapes of Friuli

This area had many Austrian and French influences as you will see in the list of white and red grapes grown throughout the region, but with every region they have their own special indigenous varietals. Although most of Italy produces red wines this region is known for producing some of Italy's most vibrant, crisp and racy whites. Here the indigenous grapes are tocai friulano, also known as tocai, and ribolla gialla, but there is also a variety of international grapes grown there including pinot grigio, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot bianco.

Red grapes of Friuli

With more of a reputation for whites it's interesting that about half of the production is red consisting of international grapes including merlot that dominates the land as well as cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. The indigenous grapes here are schioppettino, refosco and tazzelenghe, which I will break down in a later issue. Almost half of the wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia have received the DOC status.

Dessert wine of Friuli

This region also produces two dessert wines including Verduzzo di Ramandolo made from the verduzzo grape named after the village where its produced (Ramandolo). The other dessert wine is Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit made from picolit grapes, but these grapes are very finicky considering only half of the flowers last to produce grapes so its rather an expensive wine and not all producers will make this wine.

Wines of Friuli by Fabio Bruna

It may seem as though there are a variety of grapes produced here, but prior to this region being hit by phylloxera over 350 grapes were grown here according to the Wine Bible.

With the northern part of the zone being mountaineous due

to the Alps, many of the vineyard sites are located on the plain fields and lower foothills of the mountains. Here you experience warm days and cool nights due to the proximity of the Adriatic Sea allowing the wines to evenly ripen creating a balance between the fruit and acidity of the wines.

Two well-known wine producing regions here are the Collio

Goriziano, known as Collio, and the Colli Orientali del Friuli that are located near the hillsides close to Slovania where the soil differs than the other regions and a they are located on a slightly higher elevation.

Vineyards of Friuli by Discosour

Top producers of Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Some of the top producers of this region are: Abbazia di Rosazzo, Mario Schiopetto, Jermann, Ronco dei Tassi, Josko Gravner, Livio Felluga and others.

Food of the region

This region is well known for their prosciutto di San Daniele that comes from the same pig, called Lambrea, where prosciutto di Parma comes from. Speck, smoked bacon, is another favorite. Try pairing the prosciutto with some figs or melon and one of the local whites if you find it accessible.

A lot of folks will base themselves out of the town of Udine inland or Trieste near the sea as the wineries are located around this vicinity. Let me know if you go or have been to this wonderful region.

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