Report from - 6th Annual Stem Wine Group Tasting ... September 20, 2011
08 Nov 2011- Details
- Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
I know the name "Stem" is suppose to invoke grapes hanging on the vine, but after a few drinks you begin to wonder what else the principles of this agency were thinking about ... but that's neither here nor ... the important part of this tasting is the 100+ wines, beers and spirits that are being poured. Surely too many to be consumed in one sitting, but Stem offers a wonderful array from California, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Argentina and especially Italy. I would guess that over half of the Stem portfolio has an Italian slant, which is why it should come as no surprise that when Stem decided to create their own wine it would be one of Italian origin. That was the big news at this year's event: "a joint venture with Boroli (Piedmont) and 47 Anno Domini Vineyards Vinicola Tombaco (Veneto) to create Matto". Plus six new wineries (2 Italian, 2 French. a New Zealand and a US) have been added to Stems extensive offerings, just giving them more breadth to offer clients, and one of these new wineries made my list of favourites.
New Stuff ...
I tried the Matto 2007 Barolo and was impressed with the cranberry, strawberry and spice emanating from the glass on both the aromas and flavours; quite elegant and a decidedly good first effort. (*** 1/2+)
The Daniel Chotard winery from the Loire Valley has entered the Stem Family and the 2010 Sancerre is lovely, crisp with mineral notes and nice clean citrus on the finish. (*** 1/2+)
The U.S. winery that joined in this year was Husic Vineyards - three wines were brought into the portfolio, none better than the 2005 Husic Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa - a dark fruited, black cherry dominated cocoa infused Cab that plays nicely with the tannins on the tongue. (****+)
Most of all I really feel for the New Zealand winery that was added: Marisco Vineyards out of Marlborough ... the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was quite New Zealand-esque (*** 1/2), while the 2010 King's Bastard Chardonnay was fruit forward with oak backing that didn't overwhelm all that lovely fruit (****) and the piece-de-résistance was the 2010 King's Wrath Pinot Noir, which came a close second as my favourite wine of the day (held by Rockbare out of Australia). This 400 case production Pinot spent 12 months in 40% new oak. Lovely aromas and flavours that straddle the line between California's fruit driven style and Burgundy's earthiness: great fruit to spice ratio with strawberry and raspberry leading the charge (**** 1/2). The booklet had all wines listed at $19.95, but this may have been priced in error and might hit our shelves at double that amount - but still very much worth it. Rumour was that if you ordered at the event you'd get the misprinted price. Check out the Marisco website to get the story behind these wines ... quite eerie yet very intriguing.
The Best of the Rest ... (see the other wines from Italy, France, the US and my favourite from Australia)
