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Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

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Joe Moryl

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Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Joe Moryl » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:43 pm

More or less in order of preference:

2014 La Flor y la Abeja (The Flower and the Bee) Blanco, Ribeiro, Spain: From Gallego producer Coto de Gomariz, 100% Treixadura, this is fragrant, with slightly bitter tangerine notes. Very drinkable. Never had this by itself, mostly as a blend with Alvarino/Alvarhino in various wines from this region and northern Portugal (where it goes by Trajadura) - I think it contributes to the freshness and bitter edge to some of these blends. Biodynamic/minimal intervention.

2012 Santa Valha, Quinta do Sobreiro de Cima, DOC Tras-os-Montes, Portugal: Cheap ass wine ($8.50 for a half bottle in a restaurant), dark as night, mostly Trincadieira, minor parts Toruriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, and Tinta Roriz (aka Tempraniilo). Dark berries, tannins, good length. Needs an hour or so to blossom, but a great example of a cheap bottle from Portugal full of character. Stood up to my dinner of dobrada (tripe with white beans and various pig parts). Might be organic, too.

2014 Il Frappato, Valle Dell'Acate, Vittoria Frappato DOC, Sicily: Thought this might go well with some fancy wood fired pizzas at Nomad Pizza (BYO - Hopewell, NJ), and it did to an extent. Grapey, fragrant, lots of acidity but a little thin. I Seem to have enjoyed previous vintages a bit more. But almost any wine would have been great, eating pizza on a patio on a glorious spring day after a 67 mile bike ride (too many bottles of Cal Chard at surrounding tables).

2013 Pinot Noir, Auten Vineard (Finger Lakes), Eminence Road Farm Winery: Organic, native yeast, unfiltered, unfined, low sulfur, grapes fell off vines into a fermentation vessel. Light color, wretched nose, OK PN flavor profile, but a bit wild. After an hour or two the wine becomes more interesting on the palate, long and nuanced, but the nose remains a problem. A possible case of good grapes let down by dodgy winemaking?
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Patchen Markell

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Re: Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Patchen Markell » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:52 pm

Oh, man, 67 miles in the vicinity of Hopewell? I'm envious. Spent 9 months living in the area with no car, just a bike; fell in love with the Sourlands. Say hello to Hollow and Zion and Long Hill for me...

Is Nomad part of the farm-to-table food emporium that was supposed to open a couple of years ago? It was just coming together when I was leaving....
cheers, Patchen
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Joe Moryl

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Re: Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Joe Moryl » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:11 pm

Patchen Markell wrote:Oh, man, 67 miles in the vicinity of Hopewell? I'm envious. Spent 9 months living in the area with no car, just a bike; fell in love with the Sourlands. Say hello to Hollow and Zion and Long Hill for me...

Is Nomad part of the farm-to-table food emporium that was supposed to open a couple of years ago? It was just coming together when I was leaving....


Hey Patchen,

We did Princeton-Lambertville-Princeton including Hollow and Zion (hit 42 mph on the Zion downhill), which works up an appetite. Small world, eh? Nomad started out in Philadelphia as a mobile pizza oven on an old Reo truck (see their website) and they now have a couple fixed locations in the area. Locavore ingredients. Another good foodie spot in Hopewell is the Brick Farm Market, which now has a fancy tavern down the road (my inner prole was put off by the valet parking). Unfortunately, I'm stuck in Essex County most of the time.
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Patchen Markell

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Re: Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Patchen Markell » Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:29 am

I'll have to check these places out next time I'm back for a visit -- I'll have a close friend living in Princeton for a year in 2016-2017, which should give me a good excuse. Such beautiful riding back there -- I never expected to fall in love with New Jersey, but I kinda did!
cheers, Patchen
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Brian K Miller

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Re: Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Brian K Miller » Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:43 am

Sounds awesome!
My post-lottery dream is to load a car and just slowly work my way across country, riding whenever and wherever the weather permits, so these routes are going into the memory bank!

Semi-Off-Topic:

We had a North Wind here in California, and I call the North Wind "the poison wind" so I am too under the weather to do 67 miles right now. (Our windshields can be literally coated with a layer of pollen). I made myself do 15 miles after work yesterday to see if it cleared out the system. Didn't cough one time during the bike ride, but I broke down afterwards and bought antihistamines and cough syrup. Damn, Benadril makes a world class sleeping potion! :lol:
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach
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Joe Moryl

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Re: Random Recent Impressions: Spain, Italy, US, Portugal

by Joe Moryl » Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:34 pm

Sorry to hear all that pollen is putting a crimp on your riding. At least you get to ride around to various wineries where you live. Having said that, we went right by one of NJs larger and better wineries, Unionville Vineyards. It has been a number of years since I visited for a tasting, since the place is up a longish gravel road which is not fun on a road bike, and the tasting room likes to affect an upscale vibe (not sure how they would react to sweaty cyclists in lycra). They appear to be expanding their vineyards in recent years, including some Rhone varieties (http://unionvillevineyards.com/pages/ou ... -vineyards), so I should probably check them out again.

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