A Vino Frizzante at Bacchanal in the Big Easy

The Glera 2015 Vino Frizzante wine comes from a joint project of Enoteca Bisson, which is in Genoa, Liguria in Italy and Torre Zecchei in Valdobbiadene, Italy.

I was beyond excited when I read the part about Genoa because we were there last year and we fell completely in love with it. If only I had known this place existed at the time. Oh well, we will just have to go back!

See some snaps from our trip below!

The Wine

What does "Frizzante" mean? This word designates a slightly sparkling Italian wine, while "Spumante" means fully sparkling.

Valdobbiadene is a special designated wine production area for Prosecco, located in the province of Treviso in Veneto, Italy.

While this wine does come from that region, the Glera 2015 bubbly is known as a "declassified" Prosecco, according to the importer Rosenthal Wine Merchant, a company that works directly with wine growers, with the goal of producing special and unique wines, emphasizing terroir.*

The Glera is not classified under the DOCG because of the closure on the bottle. Yes, you read that correctly. Wine laws can be pretty strict. This wine has a crown cap like glass bottled beer, which is in conflict with recently changed appellation laws that require a cork closure.

But, the wine is still made in the Prosecco style with the Glera grape, the main grape used to make this wine, using a process called the Charmat method, where the wine undergoes its second fermentation in a steel tank rather than the bottle. 

Méthode Classique or Méthode Traditionnelle (also goes by several other names as well) is the process used to make Champagne, Cava and Cremant, as well as other sparkling wines, including some Italian sparkling wines, and involves fermentation twice in the bottle. 

Tasting Notes

The Bisson 2015 bubbly is almost completely clear in color had a nose of apricot and a palate of lime and lemon zest. It's super light in body with refreshing minerality.

This wine was also made using as little sugar as possible, which I really liked, and it was very refreshing. 

This wine was about $30 for a bottle at Bacchanal Wine Bar, which is a good value considering the labor and time that goes into making it, which also includes harvesting the grapes by hand, not machine.  

The Wine Bar: Bacchanal

Bacchanal was absolutely amazing. I was there for a bachelorette party and we sat outside in the back for several hours. There is a huge courtyard with tables and listened to live music the whole time, ate amazing food and drank amazing wine. 

The employees in the wine shop were extremely helpful, and suggested the perfect wines that were right up my alley, and exactly what I asked for. One of those was the Frizzante above, and another, a unique white wine, my first Croatian wine, made from the Posip grape from Zlatan Otok Winery. Read about it here! They also indulged my inner wine nerd and talked about some other cool wines, which I bought and plan to blog about soon.

Also, this wine bar was recommended to me by a sommelier at a small restaurant at a hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon in Quebec City. Small world! 

They also had a great selection and variety of rose wines which we enjoyed!

Cooler than Cool

Bisson also makes several other sparkling wines that...drumroll, please...are submerged in the bay in Portofino for the second fermentation. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I'm going to have to chase the winemaker, vignaiolo in Italian, Pierluigi Lugano down for an interview the next time we're in Genoa. I hope my wine-nerd enthusiasm doesn't scare him away. Cheers! 

*Terroir refers to how a particular wine region’s climate, soil and terrain affect the taste of wine.

Snaps

Ugni Blanc: Not just for Cognac!

My husband and I are on a quest to try as many new grape varietals and wines as possible, and now I have another checked off my list.

This unique white wine, the Domaine Mont de Marie Anatheme Blanc 2012, is made with Ugni Blanc grapes. The same grape goes by the name Trebbiano in Italy, where it originated, and is Italy's most widely planted white grape.

Ugni Blanc is primarily used to make Cognac, which is why I was surprised to see a wine made from it, but it made me even more curious to try it.

We found it at MacArthur Beverages in Washington, DC, on a quest to find unfiltered wines (more about that in a future post), and also because we had never been there and wanted to check out their selection. We have been back many times since, I strongly suggest checking it out!

The Wine

The winemaker's name is Thierry Forestier. He began making wine in 2004 in the village of
Souvignargues in the sub-region known as the Terres de Sommières in France. 

No herbicides or insecticides are used and the fermentation process takes place in stainless steel tanks, so no oak, with little intervention and it is bottled with no fining or filtering and a very small dose of sulfur.

Tasting Notes: The wine is slightly cloudy and off-dry. It's medium bodied and plump, with a notes of moss and earth and a hint of lemon on the nose, and on the palate, anise, candied apricot, pineapple and star fruit. It's a French table wine, which normally I am not too crazy about, but this is the best one I've had by far.

We purchased it on sale for $12.99 at MacArthur, a great price. And it's truly different from any white I have ever tried. I feel like I have been saying that a lot lately but I mean it every time. 

I will cover more info about unfiltered and natural wines in a future post.

Cheers!

Viña Tarapacá Etiqueta Azul: An Excellent Chilean Red Blend

The Chilean Wine Industry

Despite the wine industry in Chile being established in the 16th century by the Spaniards, the country's viticulture was actually more heavily influenced by France.

Chileans traveled to France and brought back vine clippings before the phylloxera bug basically destroyed France's vines in the 18th century, and winemakers who were out of jobs also brought their tradecraft to Chile. That's how grapes native to the French region of Bordeaux, like Cabernet Franc and Carménère made it to Chile!

The Wine

The Viña Tarapacá Etiqueta Azul 2013 is a wonderful red blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Syrah, 16% Petit Verdot and 10% Cabernet Franc that comes from the Maipo Valley in Chile, located just south of the capital Santiago. 

Chile's climate is great for wine, with the Pacific ocean and mountain ranges blocking much of the country from extreme weather and tempering a pretty hot climate.

According to the winemaker, the Gran Reserva Blue Label is vinified only in years where the crop is considered "extraordinary."

Tasting Notes

This wine is medium to full bodied, earthy and bold, with notes mocha, tobacco, and oak on the nose, and on the palate, hints of blackberry, dark cherry and spice, with chewy but smooth tannins (the dryness and astringency you taste in your mouth after drinking some red wines).

 

It is well structured and will drink well on its own or with food. Suggested pairings would include beef dishes or game, sharp cheeses, or for a vegetarian dish, eggplant parmesan. 

It's around $40-45 a bottle and totally worth it. I got it as part of January's club red wine club selections at Screwtop Wine Bar in Arlington, but it is also available online. 

Cheers!