Friday, Mar. 13, 2009

Life beyond Cabernet Sauvignon

By Dan Berger, Wine Press Northwest

A friend got a bottle of the Maryhill Winery 2005 Malbec recently, and learned that the wine had earned a Platinum medal at the annual taste-off we do at Wine Press Northwest.

But on tasting it, what surprised her, in addition to that she loved the wine, was that it had gotten few other accolades.

"Oh my gosh, this was a great wine!" she wrote in her e-mail to me. "Why haven't I heard anything about it?"

Many reasons. First, because it's Malbec. And Malbec is simply not an "in" wine. Second, it's from Washington, which isn't Napa and never will be in the minds of many who think Napa can do no wrong - which implies others can do little right.

And mainly she hadn't heard of the wine because it's from a grape variety that usually is made a lot closer to the best way for it to be made - as a reflection of its soil. And as such it is not flashy, succulent, dramatic, etc. It simply tastes good.

Even the winery's own tasting notes on the wine aren't particularly exciting or filled with hyperbole: "Savory aromas embrace the senses - licorice, caramel, soft spicy cherry tinged with herbaceous marjoram hint at a palate redolent of deep plum, cassis, blackberry and warm baking spices culminating in a tarry, toasty, toffee finish."

Which is why the "other" Bordeaux varieties can have such fascination to them.

Of particular note, I love Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot when they are left to be the wines their grapes best can reflect. They rarely attempt to overachieve and can be as rewarding as the top Cabernet Sauvignons when they are not pushed beyond the scope of the envelope.

One of the main reasons for the other Bordeaux grapes being fascinating is that winemakers do not have any pressure on them to make one of these wines with loads of oak, lots of alcohol, soft acidity and high pH. No one expects to get rich on a Petit Verdot. It's an off-shoot in the line of most wineries and doesn't have to live up to some artificial standard.

Here are a few of the charming aspects of these grapes that I always find rewarding:

Merlot: Disparaged for the last decade or so, the grape was done in by some ridiculing remarks by the sleazy Pinot lover in Sideways. But when grown in a cooler climate, the wine's natural green tea and forest floor/tobacco scents combine with its overt fruitiness to make for an earlier-consuming red wine that has a complexity that focuses more on lightness than it does on tannin.

In fact, tannin is one of the legitimate gripes I have with Merlot. When a winemaker aims for a lot of extraction in his or her Merlot, the result can be a wine that will take too long to come around, waiting for the tannins to subside, and by then the fruit is often just a rumor.

Malbec: This often more rustic, earthy grape variety can have charming herbal-cherry fruit notes when it is young, but it seems to be best consumed within five to six years of age, as it loses its fruit sooner than does Merlot.

Still, this grape has its place (and a number of excellent Malbecs have come into the United States recently from Argentina), and generally that's as a blender to provide a little early structure to a Meritage-type of wine.

Cabernet Franc: Perhaps as versatile a grape as is Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc is a bit trickier to know how to grow. In cool climates, its herbal notes are a tad of a challenge, but I often find these colder-climate versions fascinating in that they age so nicely.

Yet since so few people age their red wines, some winemakers are a little gun-shy about making them with any herbal notes at all.

With a substantial amount of tobacco and red cherry fruit, the wines can be up-front lovely when they are young, but hard tannins can ruin a good thing. When they are aimed at cellaring (such as few great Chinons I have had), the result is a sublime red wine that needs no serious aging and is actually fine without any new oak aging.

Petit Verdot: The brooding, black-as-night, almost Petite Sirah-like grape of the bunch, this small-berried monster can have charming aromatics when young, but it's really used as a minor additive to boost depth of the other reds. As such it's like wine on steroids.

Curiously enough, Petit Verdot seems like it is the answer to making great red wines in Virginia. It makes a wine that is darker and meatier than is the local Cabernet Franc but far more interesting than the often-too-herbal Cabernet Sauvignon.

As a stand-alone in California, however, it's hard to imagine it. The density of the wine is so inky that its tannins tend to be as astringent as anything you will ever taste.

Notice, if you will, that all of these grapes have their unique qualities and why blends of them (as in most of Bordeaux) makes such sense. Especially if you are planning to age them for any length of time.

Classic Meritage-type wines may not age longer than similar Cabernet Sauvignons from the same producer, but with a bit of aeration they can have a most salubrious effect with a char-grilled rare steak.

DAN BERGER is a nationally renowned wine writer who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif. He publishes a weekly commentary Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences (VintageExperiences.com).

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