Monthly Archives: June 2012

At Tlaquepaque, an open-air mall in Sedona, I found a gourmet shop offering tastings of Arizona wines. I couldn’t resist, of course, and ordered four tastes. As I sat outside, sipping a rather odd white and three overheated, overly alcoholic fruit bombs, I noticed people looking at me. One fellow sitting on a bench kept turning my way to see what I was up to, and a whole family turned their heads when they passed.

I wondered what the heck was going on here. Do people not drink wine in Sedona? Or was it that I had a flight of four glasses in front of me? Or maybe I looked like an illegal immigrant?

Finally, one older gentleman wearing a sun visor stopped dead in his tracks, not 15 feet in front of me, and just stared. I looked back at him, confused, but he maintained a steady gaze. “Can I help you?” I asked.

“Oh no, you’re giving me all the help I need, drinking those wines!”

“OK…”

“What are you all drinking there? Merlot? I like Merlot. It’s easy on the throat.”

“Oh yeah, well, these are actually blends of some different varieties. They’re all Arizona wines.”

“Don’t you think it’s sacrilegious to mix wines together?”

“Um?”

“Isn’t it sacrilegious though? I think it’s sacrilegious. But sometimes I like to do it a little bit. Ha!”

“Well, it’s not sacrilegious if you like it. That’s what I say.”

“Ha! That’s right! That’s absolutely right. Well, that makes me feel a lot better! A lot better.”

I’m not sure my definition of “sacrilegious” would pass muster with the Inquisition, but I’m glad I could help. In Sedona, it seems, you can get away with being a little loosey-goosey. Unfortunately, the winemakers of the red-wine floozies I was tasting seemed to feel the same way.

I’m currently exploring the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, because, after all, who wouldn’t want to explore the Phoenix/Scottsdale area in the middle of June, just before the summer solstice? As I’ve written before in this blog, there are wineries in all 50 states. But I must admit that I didn’t expect any Arizona wines to stand out. Do vineyards even grow here? Or is there just cactus wine?

Vineyards do grow here, I’ve learned, and quite well in fact. If the wines I’ve tasted so far are any indication, Cochise County in the far southeastern corner of the state (bordering Mexico) has some very fine vineyards indeed, kept cool, I suspect, by their relatively high elevation.

Both the Arizona Biltmore and The Phoenician (two high-end resorts) serve wines crafted by Arizona Stronghold, a newborn of a winery founded in 2007 by Eric Glomski and Maynard Keenan. Together, they revitalized the Dos Cabezas vineyard, tearing up underperforming varieties and planting new vines. The results of their efforts, along with winemaker Tim White and Director of Vineyard Operations Craig Martinsen, are nothing short of remarkable.

At dinner in Frank & Alberts, I drank a 2010 Arizona Stronghold “Tazi” white blend (vintage unknown), and it wowed me. A blend of 38% Malvasia, 21% Sauvignon Blanc, 19% Riesling, 15% Pinot Gris and 7% Chardonnay, the Tazi smells very sweet, like ripe apples and pineapples. But on the palate, it starts quite dry, moving into aromatic/floral flavors before some food-friendly acids kick in. It finishes with a bit of white pepper, which became more pronounced paired with some swordfish. Had I tasted it blind, I would have identified it as a high-quality Viognier.

The 2010 Arizona Stronghold “Mangus” red blend impressed me as well. The Canyon Suites at The Phoenician serves this as well as the Tazi during the daily wine and cheese hour. I love that they went with something local, instead of some anonymous Chardonnay and Merlot. The red blend also combines a wide array of varieties: 71% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Merlot. This mutt of a wine smells rather tight, like iron, clay and red fruit. The ripe, rich flavors surprised me. The wine seemed on the verge of overheating, but it kept itself under control. The flavors of blackberry jam, earth and black pepper tasted great on their own or paired with a chunk of morbier cheese.

I’m heading to Sedona tomorrow, and I hear a few wineries huddle together in nearby Page Springs. I hope the Arizona Stronghold blends are a just a taste of more fine wines yet to come!

Here in Chicago, we’re blessed with an array of well-stocked wine shops and adventurous wine bars and restaurants. It’s surprisingly easy to find exciting white wines far outside the American comfort zone of Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. But that’s not necessarily the case for people living elsewhere.

In this 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal, New York wine critic Lettie Teague condescendingly writes that she’s “willing to declare [Chicago] the second-most important wine city in the country right now.” Her jaw dropped “incredulously” when a Chicagoan had the temerity to assert that our city is actually the most important wine city, with a better scene than New York’s. But her article goes on to prove just that, citing our diverse wine bars, low prices relative to New York’s, and huge stores like Binny’s (where, admittedly, she correctly notes that the service is crap).

Because my readers from New York and other such cities may have trouble finding some of the individual wines I write about from week to week, I thought it might be useful to list a number of favorites all in one place. Hopefully a wine shop near you will have at least one or two of my Top 10 Odd Summer Whites:

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Although drinking Champagne (from France, with a capital “C”) is all too unusual in my household, the beverage itself could hardly be considered obscure. Everyone has heard of it, and I’m pretty sure anyone reading these words likes to drink it. But even Champagne has its odd side.

Most Champagnes we encounter in the United States tend to be non-vintage, brut (dry but not austere), and Négociant Manipulant (basically, sourced from a range of different vineyards in the region). I always like to seek out the more terroir-influenced Récoltant Manipulant Champagnes, otherwise known as grower Champagnes. You can tell the difference by looking at the tiny serial number on the label, which will say NM or RM, or, rarely, any of five other letter combinations. It’s France; they like their wine complicated.

In any case, while shopping at Binny’s for a sparkling wine to use for our wedding toast last year, I came across a most tempting bottle of 2004 Château Fluteau Cuvée Prestige Blanc de Blancs. My Odd Bacchus sensors lit up like a Feuerzangenbowle — here was a vintage Champagne that was also grower. And that wasn’t all: 2004 is the year my partner (now husband) and I met! It was too romantic and too unusual to pass up.

When I researched the wine, I learned that it had yet more wonderfully unusual qualities. (more…)