Wine Life - Houston

Master Sommelier Matt Stamp was back in town to teach a Ribera del Duero Masterclass for the Guild of Sommeliers at Pappas Bros Steakhouse. Essentially, I went in knowing some key facts about this region. I knew that it was located in the Duero Valley in Castille-Leon in Spain. I knew they only produced Red and Rosado wine primarily from Tempranillo. I knew Vega Sicilia was its most important winery having been in operation since the 19 th century and I knew that Vega Sicilia had used Bordeaux grapes in their wines in the past. I knew the vineyards were at high elevations on the meseta where they received high levels of sunlight and I knew they enjoyed a wide diurnal range. I knew the Tempranillo from this area was darker colored and more powerful with pronounced aromas and flavors of dark fruit, mainly plum and blackberry, that it was  fairly tannic and could be a bit astringent. Matt gave a good review of all of these things but he also went far more in depth with his coverage par

Rudy Buratti, head winemaker of Castello Banfi, was in town for a tasting and trade seminar on Sangiovese clones. For a wine journalist, this was an opportunity to meet a well-known winemaker and potentially find some good wines to recommend. For a wine student, this was an opportunity to hear a lecture specific to the different grape clones and the varying terroir throughout Montalcino, which is, of course, home to some of Italy's greatest wines. For a wine geek, the opportunities seemed endless. We started with a clonal tasting of the three primary Sangiovese clones used in the blend for Castello Banfi's Brunello di Montalcino wines. All were from the 2011 vintage and all were grown in the Casanova Vineyard. These were not wines that you wanted to drink, the spit/dump buckets were in full use, but rather components that were just there to compare for a moment. The Janus 50 had fruity aromas and was both tannic and acidic with a medium length. The Janus 10 was spicy, very

I was pleased to get an invitation for a wine tasting lunch at Sorrento Ristorante Italiano featuring a trio of Amarone wines from Sartori di Verona. I enjoy having these opportunities as a "student of wine" to review specific regions and wines that I may not have looked at in a while and, of course, I also just enjoy lunching with smart, well-dressed people while discussing wine and food. The main reason that I had not looked at the wines of this area lately was also right on the invitation, when referencing the Amarones it said they proudly categorize them as "food wines" as if to indicate most were not. In various wine classes that I have taken, we would learn about the different red wine styles of Valpolicella and do a tasting which always seemed to end the same way. We were told in lectures that this could be a great wine for a variety of food but when discussing pairing options for whichever Amarone della Valpolicella had been chosen for the tasting, th