Wine Book Club: Africa Uncorked

Cabernet Sauvignon from Kenya?  A Carigan-Grenache blend from Algeria?  Single-vineyard Chardonnay from Zimbabwe?

Seems improbable at first.  However, these are just a few of the many wines from Africa included in this month’s Wine Book Club selection, Africa Uncorked – Travel in Extreme Wine Territory, written by John and Erica Platter.  Published by The Wine Appreciation Guild, $24.95.  

The Platters, both journalists by trade, have a long history of wine experiences in Africa, particularly South Africa where they published South Africa’s first wine guide in 1979.  John Platter is also a contributor to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, as well as Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine.

Africa Uncorked is a first-hand account of the Platters journey through the ‘extreme’ wine regions of Africa – from Algeria to South Africa to Zimbabwe.  Part African wine journey, part history and geography lesson, Africa Uncorked provides fascinating insights in to a part of the wine world few will ever experience at this level.

Prior to reading Africa Uncorked, I was aware of the thriving wine industry in Southern Africa, but I had no idea that wine was also produced across the African continent including North African countries like Algeria and even in East African countries like Ethiopia and Kenya.  Fascinating.   A testament to the fact that winemaking knows no bounds – especially geographic boundaries.

Africa Uncorked, provides detailed coverage, in separate chapters, of 13 African countries currently producing wine.  The experiences included in each of the chapters range from out-right dangerous, to comical, to tales of absolute perseverance.

I’m grateful there are adventurous and curious people like the Platters who are willing to risk personal safety at times, and forego the comforts typically associated with wine travels to provide less daring people like me a glimpse into a one of the most extreme wine territories in the world.   I will admit that I much prefer to ‘read’ about extreme wine adventures from the comfort of The Lodge in Sonoma, vice ‘roughing it’ in the remote corners of Africa for a glass of Cabernet.

If I were to summarize my thoughts on Africa Uncorked in one word, it would be – educational!

This is a must have reference book for anyone planning a trip to Africa, or for those curious sorts that enjoy learning about unique travel and wine experiences.

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Quivira Vineyard Walk

One of the highlights of the Wine Bloggers Conference was the vineyard hike on Sunday afternoon.  Of the three vineyard hikes available, I selected the hike at Quivira Vineyards.  Our hike was organized by Zephyr Adventures, and guided by Nancy, Quivira’s General Manager.

For those with ADD, or, for those who just don’t have the desire or capacity to read long, rambling articles, I provide the summary below for your scanning pleasure:

Quivira Winery and Vineyards – their team members, mission, stewardship of the land, and their wines absolutely rock!  The take away – visit Quivira the next time you’re in the Dry Creek Valley area.

On to the details…   I arrived at Quivira about 1:30pm on Sunday afternoon – sunny, 90-degree day.  My first impression of the Quivira was “wow” – the tasting room/winery was surrounded by immaculately kept grounds accentuated by colorful (and ‘alive’) wildflowers and vegetation.

Quivira gets its name from an old crazy European belief – way back yonder in the 1700 and 1800’s, the area we now call Sonoma once appeared on European maps as a mythical kingdom called ‘Quivira’ whose streets were believed to be paved with gold.  Now, that gold is in the form of grape vines that produce grapes used in some of the finest wines in the world.

Quivira was founded in 1981 and received Demeter Biodynamic Certification in 2005.  Located in the Dry Creek Valley AVA, Quivira has 93 acres under vine spread across four different vineyards.  Included in these 93 acres are Zinfandel, Sauvignon-Blanc, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Montepulciano, and obscure varietals like Counoise.  These 93 acres produce about 13,000 cases of Quivira wine annually.

The hike began with a walk through their Biodynamic garden which broke ground in Spring 2008, followed by a visit to one of three Italian bee hives on the property, a quick stop by their chicken coop, followed by a quick walk-by the weed abatement team – sheep.  The walk also included a stroll around the vineyards and along Wine Creek.  In addition to being good stewards of their land by practicing organic and Biodynamic viticulture, Quivira has also made a positive environmental impact by restoring Wine Creek that runs through the property.  This creek is home to aquatic life and vegetation, including spawning ground for wild trout. 

The vineyard walk culminated with a tasting of seven Quivira wines, all of which I liked (a rarity for me).  A few of the notables included:

Our tasting began with Quivira’s refreshing Fig Tree Vineyard 2008 Sauvignon Blanc.  This was a perfect starter after a hot hike.  The Sauvignon Blanc grapes used to produce this wine are from Quivira’s Biodynamic Fig Tree Vineyard – named for a 130-year old Black Mission fig tree on the property.   13.9% alcohol.  Crisp and lively wine with a nose of lemon and lime spritz that led to flavors of pink grapefruit.  $18/bottle. Fermented with native yeasts.

We then moved on to one of the nerdier wines I’ve had in a while – the Quivira Mourvedre Viognier 2008 Rose.  92% Mourvedre and 8% Viognier.  12% alcohol.  Only 50 cases made of this little gem.  Interesting nose of fresh rose petal, cherry and spice.  I got more cherry flavors in the mouth along with a raisin component.  Excellent. $28/bottle.  Fermented with native yeasts.

One of the highlights of our tasting for me was the Dry Creek Valley 2006 Zinfandel.  I believe they affectionately refer to this wine as Ruby Zin, named for one of the pigs that reside on the Quivira property.  A blend of 90% Zinfandel, 8% Petit Sirah and 2% Carignane.   Dark purple color.  On the nose I found ripe plum, cherry, mulberry, and a light earthy component.  In the mouth, flavors of pepper and dark berries matched the tannins well.  $20/bottle.  Fermented with native yeasts.

Overall, Quivira wines provide an excellent representation of their ‘place’ in Dry Creek Valley that can only be truly achieved via organic/Biodynamic viticulture coupled with low/non-intervention in the cellar and use of native yeasts for fermentation.

 

 

Quivira Vineyard

 

One of 120 raised beds in the Quivira Biodynamic garden.

One of 3 italian bee hives on the Quivira property.

Wine Creek

 

Weed Abatement

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Live from the Wine Bloggers Conference

Day 1, Friday, 3:41 pm, PT

The Wine Bloggers Conference is underway.  A few initial thoughts before the Live Tasting begins…

• There are some very very talented writers that happen to have wine blogs.
• A diverse group of attendees across the industry – grape grower associations, wineries, PR folks and of course wine bloggers.
• The winery reps that I’ve spoke to thus far, don’t appear to fully ‘get’ wine blogging and are unsure of the impact wine blogging will have on the wine industry as a whole, and in particular, their winery.  Clearly they realize there’s something to this, because they’re here.
• The 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference will be held in Walla Walla, Washington.  We need to bring this to the East Coast.
• I may be the only wine blogger without an iPhone.   Good grief.
• The Winemakers/Winery Reps have a really tough job of trying to educate us about their wines in just 6 minutes.

On to the live tasting, from table 13… (these are the short, Readers Digest version of tasting notes that I typed up as we were tasting)

Fish Eye 2008 Pinot Grigio http://fisheyewines.com/ .  Made with grapes from California’s Central Valley.  $6.99/bottle.  Simple nose – lemon.  Lemonhead candy and grapefruit in the mouth.   

Pinot Evil Pinot Noir box wine.  $19.99/box. Hmmmmmm.  From the Vin de Pays de L’ile de Beaute, France.   Picked up dark cherry and raspberry on the nose

Cupcake 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.  $13.99/bottle.   www.CupcakeVineyard.com Dark berry nose, baked blueberry.  Excellent plum and .  Good effort for the $13 price point.

Snows Lake 2005 Two.  $45.00/bottle.    www.snowslakevineyard.com In Lower Lake, CA (love the name) in the Mayacamas .  Blend of 28% cab franc, 72% cab sauvignon.  This one needed some time to air out to let the tannins soften.  Blueberry, cherry and some currant on the nose.  Strong tannins that initially overshadows the fruit.

Line 39 2007 Petite Sirah.  www.line39wines.com From Lake County, CA.  All of their wines are $10/bottle.  Produce about 40,000 cases of wine annually.  Nose of cherry and a slight vegetal component led to flavors of blackberry and vanilla cream.

Cline 2007 Ancient Vine Mourvedre.  $16/bottle.  lended with a tad of carignan.    On the nose I picked up baked fruit.  Flavors of ripe plum and a slight and a jalapeno aroma.  Excellent, smooth mouthfeel.

Tandem 2007 Chardonnay.  One of the first Chards made with the Dijon 809 clone.

Sorry… Greg, the Winemaker had a flute in his overalls pocket and all I could think about was the ‘American Pie’ movie… “… and once at band camp, I…”.  So, I didn’t get tasting notes.

Foggy Bridge Winery 2007 Chardonnay. $18/bottle.  Winery will be opening next year in San Francisco.  Nose of citrus and cinnamon-sugar toast.  GEO – Green Earth Origin.  Grapes are farmed organically, in the process of certification.

Gary’s Improv 2006 Syrah.  $35/bottle.  300 cases produced.  Made by the folks who make Clif Bar.  Raspberry, spice, earth on the nose led to flavors of tart cherry, more earth blueberry.  Just a bit too tight.

Benovia 2007 Saovy Pinot Noir, from Anderson Valley.  $55/bottle.  2006 was first vintage. 370 cases producd.  Focus on Pinot Noir.  Cola jumps out on those followed by raspberry aromas.   Flavors of cherry, hints of strawberry and earth in the mouth. YEAHHH… they use all native for fermentation!  My favorite of the live wine blogging thus far.  Supa dupa!

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Orlando Rose Taste-Off

It’s hard to believe that the Wine Bloggers Conference is just a few days away.   Since we only had a few days in Napa during our last trip in February, my wife and I are making a vacation out of this trip and staying a week after the conference to veg out, drink lots of wine, eat lots of fattening food and do little else.  The downside of taking a 10 day vacation is the glut of work to do before leaving.  Since my job seems to be getting in the way of my extracurricular activities, I am quite behind on posts – I’ve had a lot of wine and taken lots of low quality pictures, but just can’t seem to get around to actually churning out my typical award wining wine prose.  

During a quick weekend getaway with the in-laws in Orlando a few weeks ago, I stopped by the Orlando Total Wine to grab these three bottles of Rose for a taste off.  To pair with the sweltering Orlando summer heat and La Vie En Rose, I selected three Roses from different parts of the world – Tavel, Napa, and South Africa.

Elizabeth Rose 2008 Rose   $17.99.  From Napa.  Light red color, although it looks much darker due to my amateur photography skills and my POS camera.  A blend of 93% Syrah and 7% Zinfandel.  Alcohol 13%.   A great nose of sweet watermelon candy, raspberry, and light cherry aromas.  In the mouth, I got pronounced flavors of watermelon, strawberry, lime zest with a lengthy red fruit finish.  Would have been great with spicy Thai take out.

Les Vignes des Precheurs 2008 Tavel  $16.99. From Tavel in southern Rhone.  Typical watermelon and strawberry nose – about the same in the mouth.  Expected more of the mineral notes that I’ve come to expect from Tavel Roses. 

Mulderbosch 2008 Rose   $12.99.  From Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Made from Cabernet Sauvignon.  Nose of cherry and tart citrus that led to flavors of sour cherry.  One aspect of this wine that I enjoyed was the crispness in the mouth.  My least favorite of the trio.

The favorite of the night was the Elizabeth Rose Rose.  I had higher expectations for the Les Vignes des Precheurs.  The Mulderbosch finished a very distant third, and bordered on blech!

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