@ugust Wine Club: Hot wines that can handle the heat

Making wine is like gourmet cooking. We start with the finest ingredients, grapes farmed by growers who put as much attention into their vines as I do into the wines.

– Robert Rex, Winemaker, @Arroba Winery

Since 1972, Robert Rex has been making wines, most famously at his own Deerfield Ranch winery, where he touts the virtues of wine blending to create the perfect wine. This seems utterly appropriate when one learns he is also a masterchef who can wax on about a stock made from 100 percent red wine, a whole lot of vegetables and lovingly roasted beef bones. Thankfully, his artistry, creativity and considered opinion are behind the relatively new wine label @Arroba, which promises Robert Rex quality wines @ a more affordable price. Continuing a traditional French winemaking style, Rex has helped to craft impeccable wines for @Arroba, including a chardonnay and cabernet that wine critics quickly note taste considerably above their price range.

The trendy, social-media centric tone to @Arroba wines, with ads that mimic iPhones and Twitter-esque marketing language, indicate these are iconic wines for today, even when temps are soaring. So, @Arroba puts the “inspiration” in the Hinsdale Inspired August Wine Club: a brilliant Chardonnay made for sipping on your terrace or screened-in porch and a Cabernet Sauvignon richly perfected to pair with your favorite barbecue fare.

@Arroba 2009 Santa Maria Chardonnay

Here is a Chardonnay whose oakiness doesn’t weigh one down in the summer heat. Demonstrating a fine balance of oak aging and buttery goodness, the @Arroba Chardonnay is refreshing, bringing the cool Pacific breezes of the central California coast seemingly right to your wine glass. The golden color and green hues introduce a nose of young harvest fruits and a bit of autumn spice. Swirl it in your glass, and you will be rewarded by the way this young wine opens up and provides lush fruit flavor and a perfect balance of acidity. Perfect for taking on a picnic with its screwtop seal, this wine demonstrates impressive craftsmanship that comes from 100% barrel fermentation and 11 months of aging in artisan coopered French oak.

@Arroba 2007 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon

Get out your best steaks for this deep purple Cab that is tempered with 8% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, making for a rich, velvety, berry-luscious wine. Aged in French and American Oak barrels for almost three years, this fruit-forward wine is full bodied with flavors of cherries and blackberries.  Again, Rex craftsmanship with a whole-berry fermentation process allows the wine to retain an opulent fruit flavor with hints of violets and cedar on the nose. Soft tannins and low acidity give the wine balanced structure, making this wine stand out with your favorite grilled foods.

 

American Wines with a Sense of Humor

Independence Day is just around the corner and what’s more American than California wines with a little New World humor on the label? That’s right, nothing!  Much like how our forefathers came to this country in bold moves to find their own way, American winemakers have thrived on their own personal frontiers. They have always been mavericks, developing new winemaking techniques and flavors and with a passion that leaves room for a little bit of fun.

For this month’s Inspired Wine Club, we present two beautifully bold American wines: an All-American Zin blend from Wine Guerrilla – “You wouldn’t expect a sissy blend from a revolutionary” and a Central Coast Pinot Noir from Fat Monk – “Behold the Father, Sun and the Central Coast.”  These are not wines for the tender-hearted, but their labels will make you chuckle, and the wines will pair so perfectly with your summer grilled steaks, you will be coming back for more.

2009 Wine Guerrilla Sonoma County Rebel Cru (Zinfandel Blend)

Zins are known for being big and bold, but here is a robust blend that channels some of the most characterful red wine grapes to produce a gratifying match to your hearty summer fare or for sipping alone. Made from 40% Zinfandel, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah and 10% Petite Sirah, the Rebel Cru provides a balanced, fruit forward, spicy dark wine. Wine Guerrilla describes its wine like this: “It’s like the Fab Four of wine-zin the ‘cute one,’ cab the ‘clever one,’ syrah the ‘quiet one’ and petite sirah the ‘funny one.’ Together, they make beautiful music.” Ah, the perfect accompaniment to any Independence Day celebration.

2009 Fat Monk Central Coast Pinot Noir

Need your own personal fireworks taste explosion in your wine, then you will enjoy this plumy Wild West Pinot with hints of cherry, strawberry and tar. Central Coast has some of California’s best Pinot Noir vineyards, and this 100% Pinot Noir with nine months new and neutral French oak aging provides rich mouth feel, intoxicatingly earthy aroma, and an overall satisfying, complex wine. According to the winemaker, 20 minutes of refrigeration before serving only maximizes the experience. And that’s no joke.

 

OPA! Light, Bright Greek Varietals Perfect for June

Movies like Mamma Mia have teased our senses with Greece’s sparkling Aegean Sea. A palette of pastel-colored fishing boats lines a shore that has only the slightest perimeter of sand. Beyond are abrupt, craggy limestone mountains that are accosted by brilliantly transparent water at high tide. One can almost feel the piercing Mediterranean sun that illuminates the bright white stone buildings with their terracotta-tiled roofs.

In so many places, the Greek islands are a picturesque retreat that includes a culinary culture of stuffed grape leaves, garlicky grilled meats and fish, and, believe it or not, surprising and unsung wines.

So in light of Hinsdale’s own sultry summer days that lay in wait, the June Inspired Wine Club takes its members to Greece this month with wines that you have probably never heard of before and will still have trouble pronouncing even upon tasting and enjoying.

So, as they toast in Greece, “yteia!” (pr. “yamas”) and best wishes for a happy, healthy June!

Domaine Spiropoulos Mantinia 2009

In the center of the Peloponnese on the Mantinia Plateau 650 meters above sea level are vineyards that reap the benefits of Greece’s penetrating sun but with cooler temperatures that come with the elevation. Mantinia is a valley surrounded by further, steep and protective mountains, and many consider its best winemaking grape to be Moschofilero, the white variety that UC-Davis trained Apostolos Spiropoulos transforms into his heralded Domaine Spiropoulos Mantinia. Since 1860, his family has made noteworthy, organic wines in this region. Moschofilero grapes produce an elegant wine whose floral aroma evokes roses and violets. This pale yellow rendition yields an intense nose with hints of orchard fruits, lemon-blossom and spice. It is a crisp wine with slight acidity that has been compared to mature German Riesling, making it great as an aperitif or to accompany your favorite seafood summer fare.

Domaine Spiropoulos Red Stag 2007

In 2007, the Spiropoulos family prudently expanded to Nemea, opening a new winery in Corinthia to produce red wines that included some near-extinct local varietals. In Red Stag, they use Agiorgitiko, a grape indigenous to Greece, in a simple, traditional process akin to that in Bordeaux that includes approximately a year of aging in French oak barrels. Typical to wines produced with this grape, Red Stag is low in acid with balanced tannins and a fruity, dark cherry tone. Agiorgitiko is the second most planted varietal in Greece, with the best examples coming from Nemea and possessing light, lively characteristics that make it perfect for warmer temperatures. Still deep red in color with purple hints, Red Stag recalls the aromas and flavors of cherry, dark fruits of the forest, and vanilla with hints of black pepper. This is a balanced, wonderfully accessible wine with a long finish that can be enjoyed with lighter fare today or cellared for later use.

 

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