jamie goode's wine blog: Biodynamic-ish Sangiovese from California

Friday, July 03, 2009

Biodynamic-ish Sangiovese from California

A conundrum of a wine. It's from Randall Grahm's Bonny Doon operation. It's mainly from a vineyard farmed biodynamically in San Benito County, yet it contains an ingredients list that most emphatically is not an indicator of typically natural wine making. Yet you have to respect the honesty and integrity that led to that list appearing on the bottle. It reads:

INGREDIENTS: GRAPES, TARTARIC ACID, SULFUR DIOXIDE
IN THE WINEMAKING PROCESS THE FOLLOWING WERE UTILIZED: UNTOASTED WOOD CHIPS, FRENCH OAK BARRELS, CULTURED YEAST, YEAST NUTRIENTS, MALOLACTIC CULTURE, COPPER SULFATE

Then, on the front label, it has a picture of the sensitive crystallization of the wine.

Ca' del Solo Sangiovese 2006 San Benito County, California
Intensely savoury with tarry, spicy notes on the nose as well as dense blackberry and plum fruit. The palate shows rich, ripe dark cherry and plum fruit backed up with savoury, spicy, earthy notes and high acidity that sticks out a little. Dense, savoury and seriously structured, this is a bit rustic, but is one of the best non-Italian expressions of Sangiovese that I've encountered, and is utterly delicious and thoroughly food friendly. 90/100 (the 2005 is £13 at Berry Bros & Rudd)

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8 Comments:

At 12:13 AM, Blogger Wine Splodge said...

http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/the-wines-behind-the-man/

 
At 4:09 AM, Anonymous Hank said...

Yup...that's Randall Graham - a self-contradictory sort of guy.

 
At 6:41 AM, Blogger Gianpaolo Paglia said...

When I hear of blackberry and plum fruit in a Sangiovese, I start to wonder if some drops of other varieties might have been used, as that is not really what Sangiovese tastes of.

 
At 3:25 PM, Anonymous Hank said...

Gianpaolo, here in the USA we have a great law which allows us to call something Sangiovese if it contains at least 76% Sangiovese. That means we can put in 24% of anything else we like. Maybe a dash of Syrah, some Cab, a little Zinfandel...

 
At 6:39 PM, Blogger Claude Vaillancourt said...

This wine is in fact an assemblage of 76% Sangiovese, 16% Freisa, 6% Syrah and 1% Grenache.

https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/uploadedFiles/SellSheet_SGV06C.pdf

 
At 10:14 AM, Blogger Grapejuices said...

Can anyone explain what the crystal from the label represents? is it a protein (which crystalize with salt?) and what is the reference for a "nice" crystal?

I am in favor of ecological wines, but find the the biodynamic retoric, marketing, and communication abit problematic. It is borrowing the language of science (crystal images) without standards and/or references.

 
At 8:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oak barrels and oak chips? With Sangiovese? How does this not detract from the essential expression of the grape variety and terroir?

Don't like the rich cocktail of other grapes either.

 
At 8:39 AM, Anonymous glenn said...

I think it is crazy that you can add different wines and still call it a single variety. In my opinon, even if you add 1% of a different grape then it's a blend and should be advertised as such.

 

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