2014 – The year to expand your wine horizons

2014 – The year to expand your wine horizons

For those of you out there who are adventurous and like trying wines made from new regions and new grape varietals I’ve got two really compelling wines for you to try. 

The first one is from the producer Fratelli Allesandria and it is made entirely from the pelaverga piccolo grape.  This wine is very approachable even though it is fairly young.  The characteristics of this wine remind me of a French syrah grown during a warm vintage in the Northern Rhone.  Blindfolded I would have guessed Crozes-Hermitage or St. Joseph!  It has the peppery and meaty qualities that lend itself to that style.  The grape, pelaverga piccolo is a rare indigenous grape grown only in the commune of Verduno in Piedmont, Italy.  The production is very low; only 1000 cases are produced annually.  2012 Fratelli Allesandria Pelaverga $22.99/btl

The 2012 Trousseau from Michel Gahier is the second wine.  Trousseau is a fickle grape grown almost exclusively in Jura region of eastern France.  This wine is the product from arguably the finest producer of trousseau and it shows.  This wine had some characteristics that reminded me of a red burgundy, it definitely has some funk (a good funk!), lots of red berries, hint of pomegranate, and cherry.  The wine paired extremely well with herb roasted chicken and pan-fried potatoes.  This wine is showing well in its youth – I can only imagine what a few years in the bottle will do! 2012 Michel Gahier Trousseau “Grand Vergers” $36.99/btl.  This wine is also very limited.

What really stands out in both of these wines for me is the display of terroir.  The wines are both rustic in nature and exhibit an earthy and a deeply mineral driven palate.