[Cornell Wine] Cornell Club October Selections

[Michael Beard]

CORNELL WINE CLUB
OCTOBER WINE SELECTIONS

Below are details of the October selections for our Wine Club.  Wines  
are available for pick-up by members from Wednesday, October 3rd  The  
wines will be available for all to taste on Saturday, October 13th  
Noon – 5:00PM.  Remember, members get a 15% discount on monthly  
selections, so SIGN-UP AND SAVE!

EARL and COUNTESS LEVEL

CONTI SERTOLI SALIS 2006 TORRE della SIRENA, VALTELLINA, ITALY

This month we are introducing you to the wines of VALTELLINA which is  
in the north of LOMBARDY near the French and Swiss borders.  The  
valley, protected by the Alps, has some of the most steeply terraced  
vineyards in Europe.  All vineyard operations are “by hand” as no  
tractor can negotiate the terrain.  The owners of Conti Sertoli Salis  
are experimenting with helicopters to bring the picked grapes to the  
winery.  I recently had lunch with Silvia Marinelli from the winery  
who said the helicopters may be cheaper because the winery no longer  
has cheap labor to carry the grapes down to the winery.  This white  
wine is made from two local RED grapes, ROSSOLA and PIGNOLA.  The  
grapes are light red in color, and although the must spends about 8  
hours in contact with the skins, the must does not pick-up any of the  
red color.  After fermentation in stainless steel, about 80% of the  
wines is aged on the lees in SS tanks while the remainder is aged in  
oak barrels of varying sizes.  The two lots are blended in February  
following the harvest and then bottled.  This is a unique white wine;  
I’ve not tasted anything like it until the recent lunch.  There is  
some exotic fruit on the bouquet together with what I thought were  
smoked almonds.  The palate is almost sweet and sour – touches of  
flowery honey offset by balsamic flavors.  It was wonderful with  
cured meats and smoked seafood.  It is also supposed to pair well  
with those hard to match vegetables, asparagus and artichoke.  When  
the VALTELLINA Denominazione di Origine was being created, nobody  
thought about white wine.  That is why this wine carries an  
Idicazione Geografica Tipica TERRAZZE RETICHE di SONDRIO designation  
(Sondrio being the town in the center of the valley).

Regular Price: $20.00
Member Price: $17.00

CONTI SERTOLI SALIS CORTE della MERIDIANA 2001 RISERVA, VALTELLINA,  
ITALY

The RED wines under the VALTELLINA SUPERIORE DOCG have to be 100%  
NEBBIOLO, and more particularly, the local clone, CHIAVENNASCA.  As  
these wines can rarely match the intensity of their cousins in BAROLO  
and BARBARESCO, in some wines an ancient technique called Rinforzo is  
used – the word means “strengthening the wine”.  About 20% of the  
grapes are left to dry in a special aerated room called the Fruttaio  
until late fall.  Then they are pressed and the juice added to the  
rest of the fermented wine, the grapes of which had been pressed at  
harvest time.  This induces a second fermentation.  In about May  
following the harvest, the wine is poured into small oak casks where  
it ages for about 18 months.  The 2001 wine offers a complex bouquet  
of red fruit and blackcurrant, inter-mingled with vanillans from the  
oak together with a whiff of hazelnuts.  The palate is smooth, with a  
long-lasting sensation of red fruit, spices and nuts.  These  
Valtellina reds are obviously related to their Piemontese cousins,  
but show significant and tasty differences.

Regular Price: $28.00
Member Price: $23.80

Total Member Monthly Cost: $40.00

BARON and BARONESS LEVEL

GC WINE COMPANY 2006 Z WHITE, COLUMBIA VALLEY, WASHINGTON

This irreverent blend of 45% SAUVIGNON BLANC, 45% RIESLING, 5% PINOT  
GRIS and 5% CHARDONNAY gives J. CHRISTOPHER’S CRISTO MISTO a good run  
as the most intriguing white blend in the northwest.  It is more  
aromatic and riper on the palate than Jay’s wine because of the  
larger RIESLING component, but this is well balanced by the acidity  
from the SAUVIGNON BLANC.  A refreshing wine to drink on its own or  
to accompany many salads and lighter fare.

Regular Price: $13.50
Member Price: $11.47

LOUIS LATOUR 2005 MARSANNAY, BURGUNDY, FRANCE

In BURGUNDY if you did not make a good wine in 2005, you should get  
another job!  It was one of those rare vintages where both white and  
red wines were very good or better throughout most of the region.  It  
is in such vintages where “lesser” villages produce lovely wine at  
reasonable prices.  LOUIS LATOUR is a large Négociant-Éleveur,  
meaning the company makes its own wine as well as blending/bottling  
purchased juice.  The operation is based in BEAUNE, but this wine is  
from grapes grown in MASANNAY which is a village in the Côte de  
Nuits.  Typical of wines from this part of the Côte d’Or, the wine  
shows black fruit rather than the red fruit more prevalent in the  
Côte de Beaune.  This is a smooth, easy-drinking PINOT NOIR, with  
good structure and a better balance of fruit and acidity than many  
lower-priced Burgundies.  With the rapidly rising prices of Oregon  
Pinot Noir, this is remarkable value.

Regular Price: $17.75
Member Price: $15.09

Total Member Monthly Cost: $25.00 (This is $1.56 extra saving!)

Cheers,

Pauline & Mick Beard
Cornell Wine Company
(503) 531-3981
mick at cornellwine.com
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