Merlot pairings with Polenta, Sausage and more

So we all know that my main focus is on Italian wine, but I'm involved in some bloggers groups and occasionally I'll write about wines from other countries of the world as it's important to understand the world of wine in its totality. I do my best to still relate it to Italian grapes to still educate folks on the correlation of how grapes around the world may be related to Italian grapes and wines. This month our Wine Pairing Weekend (#Winepw) group received merlot samples from a number of different producers for #MerlotMe month. Yes, there is a whole month dedicated to the merlot grape and this grape probably could use the recognition as it's been shunned, especially after the wine movie “Sideways”. It's not one of my most favorite grapes, but I have definitely had merlots that I enjoy and this month is to encourage folks to help merlot reemerge. All we need to do is just give merlot a chance people.

I sampled the following bottles of merlot this month to share with you:

• 2012 Napa Cellars Merlot (Napa Valley)
• 2012 Peju Merlot (Napa Valley)
• 2012 Duckhorn Merlot (Napa Valley)
• 2012 Folie a Deux (Sonoma County)

Merlot is a grape that originates out of the Bordeaux region of France where it's highly present in the wines of France on what is known as the “right bank”. The well-known areas of the right bank are St. Emilion and Pomerol. As Jancis Robinson states in her book “How to Taste Wine”, “Merlot is to St. Emilion and Pomerol what Cabernet Sauvignon is to Medoc and Graves” on the left bank of Bordeaux. Merlot is a thin skinned grape that produces wines that are softer, rounder with fruit, but this depends on where it's coming from. Today there are many producers that are producing single varietal merlot wines, but it's been used a lot as a blending grape.

All the wines presented today are from California, specifically Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Of all the wines I sampled I enjoyed the 2012 Duckhorn Merlot the most with the polenta and sausages. I made a couple dishes and played around with the pairings including a rib eye steak with parmesan encrusted baked potatoes and an Emilia-Romagna side dish of asparagus with parmesan cheese. Another night I made polenta with sausages, a typical dish of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, aka Tre Venezie. To say the least I had lots of leftovers when it came to wines and food, but who can complain about these types of problems in life. As you'll see later in this post, merlot is found in Italy within this region so it was interesting to pair a dish typical of Italy with the merlot of California. It's been awhile since I've had a merlot from Italy. I would've loved to have done a side by side comparison.

Top choice overall

The 2012 Duckhorn Merlot of Napa Valley was my main pick. It's made primarily of 88% merlot with the rest being cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec.

Rated 90 points by James Suckling, “a fresh style of Merlot with light chocolate and blueberry character. Medium body, firm tannins and a crisp finish.”

I found this wine to be rich, with lush red and dark fruit. A rather round wine with notes of vanilla and some spice. Not an everyday wine though retailing about $50. I don't always judge a wine by it's price, but in these selections it was my pick of the litter.

My second runner up was the 2012 Peju Merlot from Napa Valley paired with tomato bisque and a side of some bruschetta brushed with extra virgin olive oil and garlic and topped with a goat cheese spread.  It was my first time making tomato bisque so I would make some changes to my recipe, but I enjoyed the Peju much more paired with the tomato bisque and once it was aerated.  

Is Merlot used in Italy?

Merlot is found in many countries of the world including the US, France, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa as well as Italy. One of the things that folks love most about Italian wines are the hundreds of varieties of native grapes found throughout Italy. Surprisingly, merlot is actually the 5^th most planted grape in Italy. In Italy you'll see it used as a blending grape, most notably in the wines known as Super Tuscans of Tuscany. Merlot is also known for being grown in nothern Italy in the Tre Venezie where it produces a very different style merlot that is leaner.

Merlot is a grape that varies much from producer to producer so try it from country to country and seek out some of the top producers to get a sense of Merlot's true potential.

See what our bloggers have cooked up!

• Martin at Enofylz with An Exploration Of Merlot’s Food Pairing Versatility With Ethnic Fare
• Lori at Dracaena Wines with #MerlotMe and #WinePW– A Perfect Pair[ing]
• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla with Fungi, Fun Guy, & Two Napa Valley Merlots
• Christy at Confessions of a Culinary Diva with Return to the Magic of Merlot
• Cindy at Grape Experiences with #MerlotMe with Duckhorn and J.Lohr paired with Duck Breasts Provençale
• Erin at Platings and Pairings with Gnocchi with Frizzled Prosciutto and Blue Cheese
• Sarah at Curious Cuisiniere with Beef Osso Buco and an Exploration of Merlot Wine
• Jennifer at VinoTravels with Merlot pairings with Polenta and Sausage
• David at Cooking Chat #MerlotMe Wine & Roasted Rosemary Pork Chops
• Jade at Tasting Pour with Lamb and Acorn Squash Autumn Skillet
• Michelle at Rockin Red Blog with Celebrating #MerlotMe with #WinePW
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm with A Triple Food and Merlot Tasting
• Jeff at foodwineclick with #MerlotMe Confession with Duckhorn and Pork Chops

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Top 6 Italian wines at Cru Artisan of Banfi

Lately I've been finding myself immersed in lots of wonderful wines. Such wine problems in the life of a wine blogger. The more the merrier and the more great wines to share with you. I was invited to an all Italian wine tasting hosted by Cru Artisan wines in downtown Boston and I was there with bells on. A tasting of over 25 Italian wines with many that were enjoyable, but I tried to pick some of the highlights for myself to share with you. Here were my favorites for all different reasons that I'll explain:

• 2012 Maschio dei Cavalieri Rive di Colbertaldo Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG
• 2011 Fontana Candida Luna Mater Frascati Superiore DOCG
• 2011 Banfi Cuvee Aurora Rose Alta Langhe DOC
• 2008 Sartori Corte Bra Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG
• 2009 Palari Faro DOC
• 2009 Cantine Florio Malvasia delle Lipari DOC

Cru Artisan wines are the luxury selections of the Banfi portfolio of wines. The wines I selected to share with you today I chose because they were some firsts for me and I appreciated their quality and characteristics from the areas of Italy that they represent. I think it's always important to share different wines throughout Italy and to get folks to think outside the box and realize the variety and potential of different Italian wine offerings throughout Italy.

2012 Cantine Maschio: Maschio dei Cavalieri “Rive de

Colbertaldo” Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG

Yes that's a mouthful for one wine. I've never been a big fan of sparkling, but I have found certain ones that have pleasing to drink and this one in particular was very satisfying. This wine originates from the DOCG of the Veneto in the areas of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Known for producing some of the top quality prosecco of Italy. It's made of 100% of the glera grape, aka prosecco. This is considered the “Grand Cru” of Cantina Maschio. My favorite aspect of this wine was the elegance and creaminess of the bubbles. Very soft with nice citrus fruit.

2011 Fontana Candida Luna Mater Frascati Superiore DOCG

I've discussed frascati in the past when discussing the wines of the Lazio wine region. It's typically known as a more simple, white wine, but this particular Frascati, Luna Mater, is not your average frascati. Meaning “mother moon”, this wine was very aromatic with lush fruit and a smooth, balanced medium bodied wine. It's a blend of 50% malvasia di candia, 30% malvadia del lazio, 10 %greco and 10% bombino. The vineyards where these grapes grow are 50 yaers old and it's within the Frascati Superiore DOCG designation in the areaa of Frascati and Monteporzio Catone.

2011 Banfi “Vigne Regali” Cuvee Aurora Rose Alta Langa DOC

Alright not a fan of sparkling, but 2 favorite sparklings at the same tasting? This is why you never judge wines until you've had a variety as quality can change so much from producer to producer. The Alta Langa is located in southern Piedmont and known as the sparkling wine area of Piedmont. This wine is made of 100% pinot noir grapes that are produced using the classic method. This wine is 90% from the current vintage and 10% of the previous vintage that is also aged in French oak and is in contact with the yeast for 2 years. Pale pink in color it had a silkiness with notes of apple and vanilla. A fun and different sparkling rose to try.

2008 Sartori Corte Bra Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG

Reminiscing back to my trip over to Italy earlier this year to visit the Valpolicella region of the Veneto it was nice to revisit an Amarone and this single vineyard was definitely pleasing to my palate. This wine is produced with 50% corvina veronese, 30% corvinone, 15% rondinella and 5% oseleta. These grapes were dried for about 3-4 months, further fermented in stainless for 30 days and finished in Slavonian and French tonneaux for 4 years and 6 months in the bottle. As you can imagine with the appasimento, drying of the grapes, it produces concentrated fruit and this was a full bodied, powerful wine that is well structured, velvety with loads of ripe red fruit. This is Sartori's crown jewel of their wines and it's no wonder why after having tasting it.

2009 Palari Faro DOC 

I just shared this wine in a recent article hosted by Snooth sharing summer fall transitional wines under $20. I was more excited to talk about the wines I was excited to switch over to from summer to fall that I forgot it must be under $20. None-the-less you can read about wine that is grown at Mt. Etna in Sicily with the nerello mascalese and nerello cappuccio grapes combined with nocera.

2009 Florio Malvasia delle Lipari DOC 

This was my first time having a Malvasia delle Lipari and it was a unique experience. This wine is part of the Aeolian Islands just off the coast of Sicily. Lipari is largest of the Aeolian Islands and the terrain here made of volcanic soil and sand. The grapes that make up this wine are Malvasia delle Lipari and Corinto Nero are dried on mats after being harvested for about 15-20 days. Golden in color with notes of honey and dried apricots, this is a full bodied, high alcohol but smooth, sweet way to end your meal. A unique dessert wine indeed.

I hope you enjoyed my unique selections of wines. There were others that were notable and I'm happy to share those with you also if you're interested. Drop a comment and I'll provide the others. If you've had any of these I'd love to hear your thoughts or if you've tried others of the same variety that you prefer more. I'm always open to hearing about other producers that I maybe haven't had exposure to yet.

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Immersion in Umbrian wine with Sagrantino

Ciao!  Welcome to our 12th Italian Food, Wine & Travel group as we travel to central Italy to the region of Umbria.  Earlier this week I shared a preview of Umbria with an overview of the region.  

Early this spring I wrote a comprehensive guide to the grape sagrantino from Umbria and a food pairing with sagrantino.  Today I'm sharing with you an wine tasting I attended this week with a panel of winemakers from Montefalco with the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco.  I’m always honored when I get offered wine to sample.  It’s not only an opportunity for me to taste new wines from producers, but it’s all about education and learning the ins and outs of the grapes themselves, the regions they come from, the cuisine and the culture of that region.

The winemakers that attended the presentation virtually with their wines to match were:

• Marco Castignani – Colpetrone 2011 Montefalco Rosso 
• Julia – Terre de la Custodia Montefalco Rosso (weren’t able to sample) 
• Alessandro Meniconi – Perticaia 2011 Montefalco Rosso 
• Filippo Antonelli– Antonelli 2009 Montefalco Sagrantino 
• Marco Caprai – Arnaldo-Caprai 2009 Montefalco Sagrantino 
• Luca Capaldini – Tenuta Lunelli 2008 Carapace Montefalco Sagrantino 
• Liu Pambuffetti - Scacciadiavoli 2008 Montefalco Sagrantino

Even though you may have missed the virtual tasting you can still view this presentation on sagrantino live and I highly recommend it.  It was very well conducted and led by Filippo Bartolotta of Le Baccanti.  It gives you the opportunity to hear one-on-one from the winemakers while the bloggers online asked questions.  You’ll hear some questions from Vino Travels as well ; )  

The vines in Montefalco are rather young and only about 15 years old.  The traditional version of sagrantino was more of a passito, dried grapes, style, which is still produced today.  These wines are sweeter in style, but due to the strength of the tannins it doesn't produce a cloying wine.  A lot has changed in the area from 15 years ago when there were only 100 hectacres and today there are about 700 hectacres and 70 producers.  

Region of Montefalco courtesy of Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco

Here are some highlights from the panel discussing sagrantino. 

Colpetrone

Marco explained that they just started harvesting the sangiovese and merlot grapes.  Sagrantino, the flagship wine of Umbria, is harvested later in the first days of October this harvest.  Colpetrone produces more than 200,000 bottles with majority of the wines under the Montefalco Rosso label so it's a very important wine for them.  Their '11 Montefalco Rosso is made up of 70% sangiovese, 15% merlot and 15% sagrantino.  The choice of the grapes blended on the Montefalco Rosso is the particular style of the winery and the grapes they choose for the blends.  Retails for $14 and the importer in the USA is Vias Imports.

Terre de la Custodia

Unfortunately we weren't able to sample their wine due to shipping issues.  This winery is not currently present in the USA with their wines, but only with their extra virgin olive oil which they started producing in the early 1960’s.  Last year was a tough year for Umbria as well as many other regions within Italy and 80% of the olive harvest were lost.  They started producing wine in 2000. 

Perticaia

The '11 Perticaia Montefalco Rosso blends with their sangiovese the colorino grape, which is used a lot within the region of Tuscany in the wines of Chianti. It helps smooth out the sangiovese.  Perticaia uses stainless steel for their wine production.  Balance is important for Perticaia to extract the sweetness of tannin as well as extraction of flavor and color.  Alessandro stated that a short maceration doesn’t reduce tannins because they macerate some of their wines for over 60 days.  Many factors come into play including how many times a day they do pumpovers as well as the temperature of the maceration.  This wine retails for $25 and their importers vary state to state with Ideal Wines (MA), Artisan Wines (CA), Zigzigando. 

Antonelli

Filippo described sagrantino as a grape that has good structure and a good quality of tannins.  Tannins that aren't drying, but ripe tannins that help with ageability.  They are the muscles in the wine. A request to change the laws within the appellation to increase the amount of sangiovese and sagrantino allowed in the wines of this area.  This allows producers to use native varieties at higher percentage levels.  I had questioned him about the different of sagrantino today vs. the past.  Filippo mentioned that in the past smaller barrels were used that extracted more where today larger barrels are used that extract less. Per Antonelli in the last decade the best vintages of sagrantino were '04,, '06, '08 and '10.  This wine retails for $40-45 and their importers are Omni Wine (NY), Grappoli (DC), Cream Wine (Chicago), Tosca Wines (CA).

Scacciadiavoli

The 2008 that Liu shared was a traditional vintage for them.  It was first fermented in big oak with a long maceration.  This wine was aged 24 months in big oak barrels and 24 months in small oak barrels.  It retails around $40 and the importers vary with Selected States (NY), Vinity Wine Company (CA), Vino Vero (TX), Down EastSelections (WA), Volio Vino (CO).

Tenuta Lunelli

Lucca offered food pairings suggestions with sagrantino with meat being the best option.  Sagrantino is a great wine to experience the changes in the glass throughout the meal.    Their wine retails $35-40 and their importer is Palm Bay.

Arnaldo-Caprai

Arnaldo-Caprai is one of the most popular wineries of this region with 130 hectacres.  Marco stated that sagrantino can age for more than 20-30 years as well as the rosso montefalco.  His food suggestions were steak, rack of lamb and matured cheeses. Per Marco the best vintages of sagrantino were '09, '10, '11.  His wine retails for $60 and the importer is Folio Wines (CA).

Food pairing with sagrantino
Stated by Filippo Bartolotta sagrantino has igh acidity and tannins that are "screaming for juicy meat".  I paired my sagrantino with a beef stew served over pappardelle and plan on preparing another Umbrian dish known as strozzapreti.  Strozzapreti are dumplings with meat sauce.  Alessandro of Perticaia also had with his rosso sagrantino before this meal another Umbrian dish, strangozzi that is very similar served with pieces of sausage and black celery from the nearby town of Trevi.

Continue on our Umbrian journey with other fellow bloggers.  Don't forget to join our live chat on Twitter at #ItalianFWT at 11am EST.  We can't wait to her about your Umbrian experiences.

The Palladian Traveler - Marcello's Big Fat Italian Christening
Orna O'Reilly -  Castelluccio di Norcia: On the Rooftop of the Apennines
Culinary Adventures with Camilla - Roasted Flank Steak with Zucchini Mint Pesto with an Umbrian Merlot
Italophilia - Visiting Assisi in the Enchanting Umbrian Hills
Flavourful Tuscany - Umbrian Cuisine and Fun Facts
Rockin Red Blog - Beauty and the Beast
Enofylz Wine Blog - Umbria's Sagrantino: Call It a Comeback
Food Wine Click - Orange is the New Red: Paolo Bea Santa Chiara & Umbrian Steak on FoodWineClick
The Wining Hour - Taste Umbria - Black Truffle Linguini with Shrimp & Montefalco Sagrantino
Cooking Chat - Rigatoni with Collard Greens & Sausage with Wine from Umbria

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