Feudo Di Santa Tresa Nivuro 2004

*Bottle #40: Feudo Di Santa Tresa Vendemmia 2004 Sicilia, IGT

*Price: $13

*Running Tab: $501

With the holidays approaching, people are returning to old comforts. Be it nostalgia from potpourri, Grandma's pumpkin pie-spiced eggnog or uberfattening and delicious bacon-grease coated stuffing, everyone has their own end-of-the-year-our-economy-sucks-I'm-so-broke stomach settlers. 

Mine just happens to be Italian wine. I know, I know, you've heard me say it 100 times and this time is no different. I'm a sucker, I always will be. I loved that wine for every juicy, anti-acidic, miniscule tannic ounce there was. And I drank it all.

This time it was Feudo Di Santa Tresa Nivuro 2004 from Sicily. So I guess this time I can constitute a difference as I know both the mainlanders and islanders would agree - this wine is Sicilian! Not Italian! Ha!

The Italian designation by the IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) approves the use of foreign grape varietals in Italian wine and the Nivuro is no different under its regulations. This $13 bottle is 70% Nero d'Avola (Italia - Sicily) and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon (French - Bordeaux). Assuming by now we all are familiar with the latter, let's talk about Nero wha?

Nero d'Avola is said to be "the most important red wine grape in Sicily." This country is silly because there can be one grape with over 20 different synonymous names. Italians/dedicated sommeliers might also know this grape by the names of Calabrese D'Avola/De Calabria/Di Noto/Dolce/Pittatello/Pizzuto, Calabriai Fekete, Raisin De Calabre Noir and Struguri De Calabria. 

What's in a name - Nero d'Avola wines are comparable to Australian Shiraz full of plum, spice and sweeter, fine-grained tannins. 

Beyond the facts, I obviously have my opinion. That's what you're here for, right?

Deep purple (not the classic rock band) and rich in color, the nose on this Sicilian was not what I was expecting in an Italian-style wine. Very well-integrated and slightly tight aromas to begin with, the Nivuro had a handful of spices (dried thyme - like the kind in the jar in your kitchen cabinet), vanilla (like the real stuff, not extract or flavored-Coke) and oak (like barrels). 

As far as fruit goes on the bouquet of this wine, it wasn't too forward and put off the scent of simply grapes, which later developed into dried fruit... Raisins! Despite the obvious, the most unique characteristic was tar. That and the combination of oak gave off a beach wood/beach tar aroma/nostalgia. Definite childhood moments of playing on the beach now enhanced by the sweet minerality of Italian vino.

After such a defining nose, the flavor wasn't exactly standing beside it. It tasted Italian - big and juicy fruit tang with those lose tannins. The wine attacks sweet and continues so onto the mid-palate and finishes a tad astringent, leaving your mouth salivating consistently and immediately. It was odd, I haven't quite had a wine notably do that to me before but it wasn't necessarily a good nor bad thing.

For a $13 imported IGT bottle of wine that just got better once oxygen hit, this is a great bang for your buck. I was going to say something dirty about Italian men like I usually do but I'll just leave it at that for now...

Score: 7. 

Brian Carter Cellars 2006 Oriana

*Bottle #39: Brian Carter Cellars 2006 Yakima Valley Oriana 

*Price: $24 (Free - Got the hook up)

*Running Tab: $488

My homeland of Washington has really taken off in the wine blending trade. It's often times rare to see a red wine around here that is 100% the varietal. State regulations allow a wine to only be 75% of the varietal the bottle claims - for example, to call a wine a Merlot, it only has to be 75% Merlot (or the main varietal) and the rest can be whatever the winemaker sees fit to make a successful blend. On a related note, it can be 98% that main varietal and yet still has the option to be called a blend. 

It's all just a little bit of marketing repeating, folks.

Even though everyone's doing it, one man stands to battle it out as the creator of it all. In the Woodinville wine country of Washington, that is.

Brian Carter, aka former winemaker and consultant for Apex, Hedges, Kestrel, McCrea, Paul Thomas and Washington Hills, created his own label a couple of years back and is basing his winemaking practices on European styles from across the board. With a Super Tuscan, a Bordeaux and a Rhone blend, Brian Carter Cellars not only epitomizes the experienced Washington winemaker with nearly three decades under his belt but is influencing other local grape enthusiasts to follow in his footsteps.

Easily Woodinville's Sweetheart, Carter and his crew have a cult of winos who pledge their allegiance to his blends. And I may have been there one or seven times.

His one and only white, the 2006 Oriana (Latin for "golden lady") is 46% Viognier, 35% Roussanne and 20% Riesling. 

Smells like:

Extremely aromatic with tropical fruits a la pineapples (Roussanne), my latest obsession of apple-pear cross something floral (Viognier) and definite orangey pitted fruits - the official term may be apricots and tangerines (Riesling). 

Tastes like:

Those orange fruits just lightly crumbled with honeycombs. Not the cereal but the real deal. Love the crisp acidity and finishes easy and pairs great with olive oil-cooked shrimp and penne. Mostly because that was all the options I had in my house.

I may frequent this particular winery's tasting room often and know most of their employees by name as well as their dogs, but I do it for the wine! And the industry discount... And the hook-ups... But mostly for the love of the wine! Don't judge me, I'm poor.

So continue I will to schmuck-schmuck with fellow wine industry people in the pursuit of wine donations. Such a noble deed. 

Score: 8.5.

Explaining Myself.

Due to the all-encompassing death head-cold that I've managed to acquire using my weak immune system powers most likely attributed to my drinking habits, I will not be able to do a review this week. Considering I can not smell the wine and therefore tasting is altered, not to mention I have a constant fuzzy feeling in my head similar to the second-day-stubble your teeth grow from not brushing. I'm not exactly thinking with clarity.

That was three sentences... Lord, I'm wordy.

Anywhosers, I will not you leave this site empty handed. Oh no, I will not have all four of you that read this walk disappointed, dismal from the lack of wine suggestion for the week since you avidly follow my vinocentric counsel. 

This week, kids, we're going to be learning about sensory evaluation! That's right, your tongue can feel more than kissing and your nose smell more than your boss' posterior. 

A wise wino once said that the analysis of wine is 80% smell and 20% taste. The nose knows and there's no way around it. 

In a step-by-step process, wine tasting can be narrowed down to many cheesy acronyms so we'll keep it simple. You look at the wine to observe the color and marvel in its beauty. I've learned that the appearance of the wine has little to do with the tasting process other than the fact that you can get a bit of insight into the age of the wine from the color's distinctness as it hits the rim of the glass (the darker, the older). The cloudiness or clarity of the wine can tell you a bit about the filtering and/or fining processes of the juice but can have little to no effect on the actual smell or flavor of the wine.

Get a looksy then take her for a spin. Swirling the wine in the glass releases the aromas for you to suck in and absorb the majority of what that girl has to offer. The stronger the perfume, the more you can take with you as you taste.

Smelling the wine you'll pull out initial aromas as well as ones that come along later after the wine has had a little time to take in oxygen and open up. It's like laying out in the sun - you'll get a better tan the longer you're exposed to the rays. However, if you're out for too long, you might get burned. Same as the wine, it can get over-oxidized and become flat. Bad analogy.

In your mouth, the wine should have three separate effects. The attack of the wine is the first taste you're getting, the initial reaction to the juice on your tongue. The mid-palate is the quality taste as you're savoring the wine in your mouth. The finish happens once you've swallowed, the lingering affect of the wine. 

Finally, as I've found it, after the looksy, the sniff, the taste n'gulp - comes the drunk. This is the fuzzy feeling in your head, the warmth in your face and chest and sometimes why there's a new person in your bed and loss of memory regarding previous actions. 

Aw, wine. The drink of the Gods, the juice of the happy drunks and my new best friend. I've hope I've given a better understanding to how I roll and you two can now be as close as we are. Then let's drink up.