Ronga’s Rant

What is the difference between Gavi and Gavi di Gavi wines? They’re both from Piedmont (Italy), white wines and made from the Cortese grape. So what gives? Many times, for example the other night, I’ll see a wine on a list that is simply a “Gavi” followed by an Italian name and a “Gavi di Gavi” followed by an Italian name. What?!

Apparently, Gavi is a wine producing area within Piedmont. It extends from the village of Novi Ligure to the lower hills of the Ligurian Apennines. Gavi di Gavi, however, is produced exclusively in the village of Gavi (province of Alessandria). Not all that interesting if you ask me.

So I decided to do a little taste test a couple nights ago at my favorite wine bar (on the corner near my new studio in Chelsea, NY!) called Le Zie. I ordered a glass of Broglia Gavi di Gavi “La Meirana” 2006 ($11/glass). Then I ordered a bottle of Castellari Bergaglio Gavi Fornaci 2007 ($42/bottle). After an odd stare from the bartender, I double fisted the glasses and alternated smelling and tasting.

For me, the Gavi di Gavi tasted citrus-like, zesty, crisp. You could taste the green color. The Gavi, on the other hand (again, same grape, just not as specific of an area) was slightly sweeter, the fruits not as citrus like, but more cantaloupe-like….or honeysickle. Still refreshing and soil like, just not as crisp and balanced. Ugh. The color was similar, think a hardy urine color. Not taste or smell people, I am just talking color, don’t get grossed out on me.

Anyway, that was my opinion. Could have been the vintage, the bar, the fact I was by lonesome waiting on someone to arrive, many factors. But I was hoping there was some really fun fact that made them different. Some confounding difference between just a regular old Gavi and a Gavi di Gavi. Sometimes you’re just disappointed… or maybe y’all know something I don’t? Please do tell….

Israel… a country where three of the world’s major religions – the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – are all inextricably linked. Israel…a beautiful country, but without living there, I have no way of knowing what life is like day-to-day for its people. Although religion causes conflict, strife, and divisiveness among us, it is hard to ignore how similar the basic principles/morals of three religions actually are. Which brings me to the “peace” I find in the country. With so much going on in this country and everywhere these days, I am going to focus on what I enjoy, which is this: Israel produces some spectacular wine. Both kosher and non-kosher.

First let’s dispel a couple kosher wine myths: Perhaps the most obvious myth is that not all Israeli wines are kosher wines and a wine is not kosher just because it is blessed by a Rabbi.

The truth on kosher wines: STRICT guidelines must be followed. For example, a Rabbi must supervise the winemaking process and only kosher substances are allowed. So, no animal (i.e. gelatin) or dairy derivatives. That means no egg whites allowed – yes, folks, sometimes egg whites go into wine for balancing purposes…don’t be grossed out though, I’ll leave that for another post. Back to kosher wines. The winemaker (and anyone involved in the grape / wine process) must be an Orthodox Jew. Non-Jews can direct cellar functions, but only religious Jews can do hands on work.*

No grapes can come from a vine until its 4^th year after planting and all wine cellar equipment must be entirely sanitary and devoid of foreign objects (in another words, “kosher”). Most interesting to me, 1% of the wine must be discarded, a symbolic remnant of the 10% tithe, paid to the Temple in Jerusalem in days gone by. And barrels must be cleaned daily. Understand that there are different levels of “kosher”, but it gets complicated… if you want to know the two types of kosher wines, here it is. No regulations govern quality on kosher wines, but there are regulations to guarantee that the aforementioned have been met.

Many other countries make kosher wine as well – the U.S., Argentina, Portugal, even South Africa… How do you know? Well it’s tricky as Israeli’s are largely trying to promote, say kosher Israeli Cabs, as simply Israeli wine and will put them in the same bucket as Cabernets instead of a segregated “Kosher” section of a wine store. They want these wines to sell to the non-Jewish community so labels are even obscured. Most Kosher wines have, either on the front or back of the label, the letter “O” with the letter “u” inside it (The Union of Orthodox…) but somewhere on the bottle you will typically see “kosher wine.”

Why is it important to know if it is kosher or not? It may not matter at all! There are some phenomenal kosher wines out there. Some food for thought if you are indifferent, you could (but not necessarily) be sacrificing quality for the cost of kosher wines just because of all the extras it requires to make a kosher wine. While I completely respect the process of kosher winemaking, it is a religious process and can be costly. As Howard Goldberg in Decanter “in an increasingly terroir-hungry world, Israeli vintners are positioned to express their region rather than religion.” This means, kosher or non-kosher, vintners are expressing their terroir (something I talked about in my previous post) which means quality wines for YOU. While Israel has no indigenous grapes (if it did, I bet it would have the most rad name EVER), you primarily see Cabernet, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Again, with the stress in my life, I find that having a new wine, exploring its smell, color and taste…brings me “peace”… a little joy, if you will. So, I tried an Israeli wine recently that I thought was pretty darn good (see below). If you haven’t yet tried one, go out and buy one! Most are under $20 and will give your palate a reason to dance. If you have the wallet, why not try a kosher and non-kosher wine to see what you think. Leave your comments; I’d love to hear about your experience!

Israeli wine I tried: 2007 Yarden Cabernet, Golan Heights Winery (95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot), $18, I found it to be tobacco-ish, black fruits, gun smoky and delicious! Dry finish, would have liked it to be a little fuller (not as thin), but it was a fun experience for me…

* Note: I have omitted some nuances to kosher wines which could make this post very long (i.e. every 7th year the fields must be left fallow, there is a prohibition on growing other fruits and vegetables between the vines, etc)…If any Israelis want to chip in additional thoughts (or correct any mistakes I may have made) on the process, please do so.

I recently went to Boston Wine School and had a lively discussion on wine prices and the cause. Well…let’s not beat a dead horse here. There are many causes. Hype, quality, raw materials / additives, marketing, good ratings (can you say Robert Parker?), vintage / climate, or just pure nonsense. I guarantee I left some out. Regardless, many of these are directly related and I am going to focus on two that resulted in somewhat of a debate.

Additives and quality. Here was the argument by the winemaker – what does and what could potentially make wine prices so high are the “additives” winemakers use to enhance the wine. Without getting too technical on you (and myself for that matter), for winemakers to get the right chemical balance of acidity, sugar, sulfites, etc., they oftentimes have to add yeast, yeast food, enzymes, sugar, sulfites, tartaric acid, other vineyards’ juice, oak chips and other substances.

Some winemakers claim they don’t use “additives” but might use color-extracting “enzymes” or corrective measures to perfect a tannin imbalance. All of these adjustments/modifications allow the winemaker to do whatever he or she can to make the wine as saleable as possible. If winemakers don’t make adjustments (for example add the right type and amount of yeast pre-fermentation), they may have hundreds of gallons of rotten eggs instead of wine on their hands. So, adjustments are important and should not be viewed as negative, but rather the science aspect of making sure wine has the right levels before bottling.

Getting back to the winemaker’s argument, one can see that the more adjustments made, the more raw materials used in the wine making process. Economics tells us this makes prices go up. Right, got it. … wait a second…

So this is where I entered the debated. What if a harvest or wine is crap, for lack of a better term. So a winemaker keeps adjusting and modifying pre-fermentation to get the levels right to compensate for poor soil and other factors. Then maybe again post-fermentation through blending with other vineyards’ juice and by adding oak chips, etc. Again, who pays? Well, we do in the end. Personally, I don’t like this idea one bit. I would much rather pay a premium for a wine that comes from the ground (terroir), using the wild/natural yeast on the grape for fermentation… and STRAIGHT to the bottle. Now how often does that happen? I’m no expert, certainly no winemaker. I imagine very rarely. But, in my opinion I think the industry should charge MORE for less modified wines (assuming they have the Brix, pH, tartaric acid levels within range). If a wine isn’t naturally rich in color, I’d prefer winemakers not add a commercial enzyme to extract that color. Enzymes along with other additives mask and affect the smell and taste of what is truly going on in the vineyard. It’s almost impossible to know how “modified” a wine is – it certainly doesn’t say on the bottle, but you can start to smell and taste for it. For example, overly oaked wine might be masking a flaw in the wine…I personally look for wine that tastes like dirt. Like soil, like earth worms crawling in the ground. Yeah, I said it.

Terroir. Of course I love to see a deep, rich color in a red wine, but don’t judge a wine by its color…eh, unless of course it’s brown. You still want all the other good flavors and those depend on the varietal, region, etc. But I encourage and challenge you to see if you can taste some of the vineyard itself in the wine. Do a little homework or leave a comment of which vineyard you’re drinking from and I’ll help with the characteristics. Is it Alexander Valley? Mendoza? Oklahoma? Here’s to you, health and happiness…