I am on the road yesterday and today (I travel most every week for work), so as such my cooking is pretty limited in the trusty old Hampton Inn. I did go out to eat some decent Italian food last night but nothing special to report and I don’t have a camera and blog posting without pictures are BORING.
So I was thinking about some wine I had on Tuesday night that was interesting, in particular the fact that it was from a grape varietal I’ve never before consumed – Verdelho. The wine was one I’d had in stock for a few months – the 2007 Mollydooker Verdelho The Violinist.
Mollydooker is a winemaker headquartered in the McLaren Vale region of Australia, led by married couple Sarah and Sparky Marquis. They started the Mollydooker label in 2005 but they have been making wine together since 1994. The Mollydooker label has been one of the most heavily acclaimed in Australia, and the duo has created 4 of the last 24 Australian wines to earn 99 points from Robert Parker (one of the big dog reviewers of Aussie wines). Their Velvet Glove and Carnival of Love wine has really earned high accolades (and have prices to match). One neat thing they do is they have a pull tab that looks like a UPC label on the back of the wine. So if you order their wine out at a restaurant, and you are a fan, rather than having to try to remember the name of the wine, or write it down, you can just pull this small tab and throw it in your wallet.
Side note – I used Vinquire for the wine links above. Check it out if you like wine, you can even search some retails near your house. If you are in Atlanta you will see Tower, Green’s, etc.
Anyways, quick background on Verdelho. I didn’t know this stuff, I just used online to find it. Amazing, huh? Verdelho is traditionally from the Madeira region of Portgual where it flourished even in the 15th century. It almost got knocked out due to disease but has made a comeback of sorts. In the 19th century it was brought to Australia where it’s done decently well, though there isn’t a ton of acreage. Verdelho is a white wine that is often herbaceous, tangy/citrusy, very aromatic, with medium weight/mouthfeel. I read some comparisons to certain qualities of Sauvignon Blanc, which I can see.
I thought The Violinist let me down after this build up. It had some interesting aromatics and good fruit up front (though it was NOT a sweet wine), and I liked the creamy/heavy mouthfeel (banana?) but it seemed out of balance. The alcohol was too “hot” and the finish was bitter and not really what I like in a refreshing white wine. I’m still learning how to articulate my drinking of wine so that’s about all I got on this. All I know is that for $21 I had higher hopes. I could spend less than that on good old Kim Crawford and enjoy it much more. BUT, I was trying something new and now I’ve spent the time to research this grape, the winemaker, and that makes it worth the $ and time.
Resources
http://www.uncork.biz/tidbits16.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdelho
http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/verdelho.htm
http://wine.appellationamerica.com/grape-varietal/Verdelho.html