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The year’s reflections on a good glass of wine
• by By Glenn Bardgett • Photo courtesy of Stone Hill Winery
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As the days pass into 2007, I can’t help but reflect on the numerous opportunities for great sipping that found their way into my life over the past year. I met winemakers from around the world and tasted great reds and whites from every continent (well, almost – there is not much wine from Antarctica), but what constantly encourages me is the amazing quality of the wine made in our own neighborhood.
No. 10: Though not technically a wine experience for me personally (although I would have loved to have been in the locker room), it was certainly a great moment for regional wine when our World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals chose the Ten Bucks sparkling wine from Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta to pour over their heads after totally “smoking” the Detroit Tigers in only five games.
No. 9: It’s always great fun to taste the fermenting wine from the tank. I was able to taste three tanks at different levels of fermentation when I made my first visit to Claverach Vineyard in Eureka, just outside St. Louis in Jefferson County, on a perfect fall afternoon. First up was a tank of Chambourcin that had just begun fermenting, then a tank of Norton that had been going for a few more days and was about halfway to dryness. The last tank was a wine that was almost totally fermented. It was fabulous to taste the differences in each wine as the alcohol content got higher and the sugars lower.
No. 8: Our region hosts many great annual wine events, but the really giant one is the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience sponsored by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. The response by attendees this past January was truly incredible, as was the large number of Missouri wineries generously pouring their wares. (Put this one on your calendar for Jan. 27 and 28.)
No. 7: For a visual as well as a wine experience, I can’t imagine many situations more magnificent than sitting on the deck at the Les Bourgeois Vineyards, west of Columbia, Mo., and sipping its lovely Solay dry white while watching the sun set over the Missouri River valley. There are very few more astonishing views in the wine world than this. And there’s no extra charge for the scenery.
No. 6: My second stint as a judge at the Illinois State Fair found me at the table with one of last year’s winning wineries. I had the privilege of having dinner with Paul Renzaglia, winemaker for Alto Vineyards, his family’s winery located in Alto Pass on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail in southern Illinois. We enjoyed the 2005 Governor’s Cup winner, his 2002 Chambourcin, an unbelievable wine that exemplifies the cutting-edge quality of our wineries to the east.
No. 5: Not long after Australian Daniel Alcorso joined the Missouri wine community as winemaker at Crown Valley Winery, I headed south on Interstate-55 for a meet and greet. He spent a great deal of time pulling samples from his barrels of wines from Missouri and various areas of California. We tasted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot, all from the 2005 vintage. Despite my many visits to California wine country, I have never tasted all five Bordeaux-style varieties from the barrel.
No. 4: In the area of Missouri wine promotion, there are not many opportunities as strong as the “Twice Baked” cable TV program featuring the Kelly twins. These local culinary divas, Margaret and Bridget, are promoting awareness of the great wines of Missouri as they pair them with the food on their programs. I am always appreciative for the two to three minutes that I have on each program to suggest how well our wines work with their great courses.
No. 3: I have judged at the Missouri Wine Competition for more than 20 years, but I can’t think of another year in which 29 gold medal wines were recognized. I found such a clear indication of the growth of the industry and the quality of the wineries truly exciting to see. The Adam Puchta Traminette, one of the gold medalists, was a pleasant surprise this year. This was the first time Tim Puchta had entered a Traminette, and it reminded me of the dry rosé he entered for the first time last year, which also won a gold medal.
No. 2: On a more academic level, I was totally impressed with the “History Uncorked: Two Centuries of Missouri Wine” exhibit at the Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Local historian Suzanne Corbett curated this astonishing exhibit, which chronicles the nearly two centuries of Missouri wine history. The exhibit also served as the setting for the October tasting of all 29 Missouri Wine Competition gold medal-winning wines, where Tony Kooyumjian was awarded the 2006 Governor’s Cup for his lovely 2004 Vignoles. Kooyumjian owns both the Montelle and Augutsta wineries and won nearly half of the Gold Medals awarded this year.
No. 1: No surprise here: I believe that the greatest single wine event in our area is the 10-year vertical Norton tasting at the Stone Hill Winery in Hermann. Since 1989, this has reigned as the premier event in the regional wine world. This year’s tasting included wines from 1996 to 2005. As a footnote, I was also recently amazed that the 1990 Stone Hill Estate Bottled Norton was on the wine list at the winery’s Vintage Restaurant for the super-low price of $36.99. I can’t imagine a restaurant anywhere offering a 16-year-old wine for this price.
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