Wine Truth: by Michael Dominic

There is fine wine, table wine and then there is bum wine. I’ve only every had the displeasure of tasting Thunderbird once when I was in college, but there’s a whole wealth of low-grade, high alcohol wines out there for the discerning bum. Luckily for them there is bumwine.com (if they ever get to a computer). Bumwine.com covers the main selection of swill with images, descriptions and even rankings of which gets you the most wasted.

When I first saw this I thought I might try a few and give notes on them here as a joke—but I’ll leave that honor for bumwine.com.

A while back I wrote about my dad’s wine club. I discussed whereas I loved the 2003 Cantina Zaccagnini, I really felt that the 2004 had missed the mark. A few days ago I bought the 2005 – Cantina Zaccagnini, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva, ($15). Even after the poor 2004 showing I wanted to give it another shot.

Some men open up a skunky brew while watching a ball game. I can be that man, but I am not a big drinker and I love wine. For a team as elegant as the New York Yankees I thought a good bottle of red would be more appropriate. Leave the hops for the Philadelphians, their cheese steak clogged arteries and the soon to be defeated Phillies.

In a previous post I wrote about my love for 2004 – Wellington Vineyards, Zinfandel that I culled from my honeymoon—and the days we spent in the Sonoma Valley. For diversity I also purchased a bottle of the 2005 – Wellington Vineyards, Sonoma Valley, Syrah ($17).

After ingesting a good, albeit, oleaginous meal at Great Jones Diner, my friend Todd and I wandered over and down to East 1st Street. A new wine bar opened a few months back named Simon Sips. My wife and I sat and had a glass there a week earlier, while waiting for a table at a restaurant around the corner. It was relaxed, small and welcoming in comparison to other similar places, and made me want to return. My friend and I were greeted by a frazzled but kind-eyed woman. In the evening the space is dim, but in the day it’s large plate window pours the sunlight in.

One of the six or so small tables was available, so we sat down and looked over the menu. Next to us were a table of lanky women that could have only worked in fashion. At the outside tables there were men fiddling with laptops. Not only is Simon Sips a wine bar but it is also a cafe, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as brunch and an array of desserts.

It’s been a long, cold, hard winter. I’ve been absent from this blog for many reasons. Most prevalent, the illness and passing of my grandmother. I want to continue writing here even if not with the same frequency.

Today I’ll start easy with a wine that I shipped back from Sonoma. My wife and I spent a few days in Sonoma County when we went on our honeymoon over the holidays. We visited many of the small local wineries were we found some lovely wines. I, in total, shipped back more than three cases.

I learned something last week. There are cooperatives that make wine. This means that several small vineyards all put in their grapes to produce wine together. This seems to be pretty common.

Les Vignerons D’Estezargues is a Southern Rhone cooperative of ten vineyards. What sets them apart is that instead of putting all their grapes in to one batch. They select the best grapes for special cuvees and use the remainder in their lower end wine. All the wines are made with care and made with natural processes.

People don’t drink a whole lot of Sicilian wine, except maybe the Sicilians. That’s a shame because they have some outstanding wine coming from the rock where my people are from.

I’ll keep this short and sweet. The wine is the 2006 – Valle dell’Acate, Il Frappato ($19). The varietal is Frappato. In the glass it is light ruby and not dense at all. On the tongue it is medium-bodied and rings of dark fruit, currant and berries. The overwhelming flavor here is black cherry. I mean it really tasted like cherries. This is a very well balanced delicious wine worth it’s tag. I’d say it’s drinkable with any Italian dish. I want to try it with a little chill on it.

Tomorrow I hope to have a video up. Yay!