Local wine tasting panel announces summer challenge winners

The Berkshire Tasting Panel members were looking for wines that epitomize the Berkshire summer: wines with history, artistry, purity and lastly, great taste.

The tasting panel consists of Christelle Cotar, wine director at Blantyre; Caitlin Harrison from Mezze Bistro; Dan Thomas, wine director at the Red Lion Inn; and Kollin Kozlowski, CSW and wine director at Kelly’s of Dalton.

After sampling 150-plus wines, the BTP arrived at these results. All wines can be found locally.

Berkshire Tasting Panel’s No. 1 White Wine
Ameztoi Getariko Txakolina 2012, Gipuzkos, Spain
In the north of Spain, bathed by the Cantabric Sea and resting at the foot of the Pyrenees, is the Basque Country, a cool, windy and sparse region that produces an almost unpronounceable and obscure white wine, Chacoli.
The best way to explain this wine is it’s Vinho Verde on steroids. This low alcohol white, made from slightly under ripe native grape varieties, is super intense with mouth-watering crisp acidity, notes of sea air, stony minerality and pure lime.
We thought the thirst quenching spritzy quality to this wine would match best with lightly grilled fresh oysters, rich creamy Tetilla cheese or it would cut through fatty charred red meats.

Berkshire Tasting Panel No. 1 Red Wine
Sella and Mosca Cannonau Riserva 2009, Sardinia, Italy
This wine is known as Cannonau in Sardinia, but to the rest of the world it’s known as Grenache or Garnacha. Out of 60-plus selections, we had several Spanish Garnacha  and Cotes du Rhone manage to make it into the top 20 selections.
Grenache is known generally for its upfront pure raspberry & kirsch notes, distinct spice and acid backbone. Sella and Mosca, one of the most historic wineries in Sardinia, encompasses all these attributes and manages to take it up a few notches in complexity.
The Mediterranean climate sun bakes the grapes, adding notes of tobacco and earth while the two years spent in Slovenian Oak adds a distinct spice note and supple maturity not often found in wines of this price.
This Cannonau epitomizes a summer red because of its versatility, soft and light enough to match with cedar planked salmon but with enough acid backbone to stand up to richer grilled tenderloin.

Editor’s Note: Read next week’s Wine and Beyond for the individual panel members’ picks for great summer wines.

Posted by Phillip Kampe on May 16, 2013. Filed under Columns,Food,Opinion,Wine and Beyond. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry