Best of 2022 – According to Layne’s Wine Gig

Layne’s Wine Gig Presents

BEST OF 2022

By Layne V. Witherell

I guess when you taste (and consume) a whole lot of wines in a year the last thing you want to extol on is a pinot grigio (a beginner classic) or a Ripasso (the community college of Italian reds). No, you want to move right to the top without any nudging from rookie wine reps. Here’s the Best of 2022…

CHAVAL CRU BEAUJOLAIS DINNER
58 Pine St., Portland, Maine

What made this intimate courtyard dinner great was the location, brilliant food and wine pairings, and most of all the guest speaker. Damien Sansonetti is co-owner of Chaval and the sleuth behind locating the wines.

Beaujolais doesn’t normally carry cache (think Beaujolais Nouveau – this is not it), but if selected and sourced right it can be magic. Of the 25,000 acres of gamay grapes that are slurp-able reds, ten villages are named “cru” on their labels. These are the ones to look for. Beaujolais doesn’t appear on these labels – just the town names. They age well and develop remarkable complexity. The fruit, ahhh, the gamay fruit.

This dinner was a clinic of “cru” villages ranging from 2009 to 2020, pairing wines with each accompanying dish, and iconifying them in airplane language. Thus we had: Taking Off (young ones), Cruising Altitude, and Descending (older ones).

Taking Off: Daniel Bouland “Bellevue” Morgon, 2017, served with roasted organic heritage chicken. Fruit with lots of tannin, a “fasten your seat belts” flavor. It’s a gamay youngster with years to go on the flight.  

Cruising Altitude: Domaine Chignard “Les Moriers” Fleurie, 2016, with breezy hill pork. The place, the grape, and the dish all in mid-flight relaxation. Perfection.

Descending: “Clos de la Roilettes”, Fleurie, 2009, with charred and brazed leeks. Reaching peak maturity, this gamay is coming home.

Just keep your eyes peeled, sign up early, and never miss a Chaval wine dinner.

AN UNDER THE RADAR EVENT

The Portland Harbor Hotel and Eat-Drink-Lucky (a free daily newsletter featuring suggestions for all things Maine) presented a remarkable tasting of five wines. Each was from the famed Italian Barolo producer Beni di Batasiolo. Pictured is their single vineyard 2015 Barolo.

“Young Barolo is just mean.” The Nebbiolo grape is tough skinned, producing long lived expensive wines with the capability of astonishing depth and intensity. The best ones usually run upwards of $100.00 per bottle, and these were no exception. Get out your best cut of beef, wild game, or blue cheese.

For me, the best part, other than tasting deliriously great wines, was the guest speaker Mr. Ricardo March, their US/Canada Director. He was the real deal, taking us for a deep dive into the wines, region, and culture. It is a delight to have a seasoned pro visit our little city and share a lifetime of knowledge.

When you see events of this caliber pop up on your phone, just clear your calendar and sit back for one terrific afternoon.

THE BEST RIDE EVER

We had been saving up that 401K money. But before it slid out onto the curb, we decided to use some and head off to Rome – THE ROME. We have visited previously, but you just can’t get enough of Rome.

We did an Airbnb that was one block from our favorite wine bar Cul De Sac in Piazza Pasquilino. You gotta have priorities! It was also within a stone’s throw from Piazza Navona. So, we popped into the Pantheon for a peek, got that all important reservation for Villa Borghese, had an exciting jaunt through the newly energized neighborhood of Testaccio, and toured the must-see old power plant turned into an ancient Roman statuary museum (and it isn’t crowded!).  

Don’t forget to drink lots of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. There is some available locally, but never enough. Ditto for Pecorino (no, not the cheese). The Champagne look-alike Franciacorta is delicious.

Tram Jazz was the highlight! We discovered it in my battered edition of Rick Steve’s Rome 2018. “A creative venture by the public transit company, combines dinner, music (and a wine tasting for our ride), and a journey through the city in a vintage cable car for a mostly local crowd.”

It goes from nine to midnight (classic Roman dining hours) with stops and sips at the Forum, Colosseum, and other very scenic spots along the way. The highlight (other than a view of the Colosseum at night through your wineglass) is tasting and sitting with the manager of the featured winery, Cincinnato Vineyards from the Lazio wine region of Rome.

Ms. Giovanna Trisorio was our on-board guide, describing local grapes and letting us in for a bit of insider information. They are planning to plant grapes in the forum/colosseum area. WOW, that authentic ancient Rome.

Enyo Cori Bellone DOC

Look that one up. The ancient Roman grape Bellone grown in the Cori hills, tasting of exotic seashells. A total surprise on the trip. Always a new place and grape as it should be.

When the marvelous jazz quartet played the Bobby Darrin classic “Somewhere Beyond the Sea,” I asked Giovanna if she was a fan.

“Actually, the winery is two hundred meters above the sea and each of the songs in the set refers to something about each wine.” Bobby Darrin would be proud. This culture hasn’t been around for thousands of years for nothing.

Best of 2022 – HITS & MISSES

Beaujolais Nouveau at above ten bucks a bottle is a kneejerk celebration in futility with your hard earned, inflationary ridden dollars. If you go to Winesearcher.com you will find a list of these mouse breath, carbonic maceration little darlings going up to $29.00 a bottle! Never fear, there is even a Beaujolais Nouveau Rose out there for those suffering from rose withdrawal symptoms during the holidays.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, American Blend, $16.00

There are some wines that I taste throughout the year that I can’t get out of my head. This is one – the major one. I have had more expensive wines, vastly more expensive this year, but this one got me.

Having run a winery on the East Coast, I have seen, even today, the garbage that masquerades as wine under the trucked in from somewhere else American Appellation. It simply means on a label that grapes cross borders and don’t come from one formally recognized place (Napa, Oregon, etc.). This gives the winemaker the ability to be really stupid or really brilliant.

In this case the Syrah/Merlot part from Southern Oregon (Rogue Valley) combined with the Washington State Cabernet giving you the flavors of cherry pits meets saddle leather. It is brilliant in the hands of Andre Hueston Mack winemaker. Mr. Mack is a black winemaker. Frankly, in our age of political correctness I am constantly bombarded with press releases touting the “new emerging” winemaker of the week from various marginalized groups. At the end of 2022, in the immortal words of Gore Vidal when referring to a San Francisco theatre group, “No, talent is not enough.” Either you got it baby, or you don’t. Mr. Mack clearly has it.

Thirsty Third Thursdays

Every Thirsty Third Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m., join Layne’s Wine Gig at Blue, 650 Congress Street, Portland. For $12.00 you get four three-ounce pours and a rollicking good time spent with Portland’s foremost wine storyteller. Layne is a guy who has seen it all, done it all, and is still having fun with it.

Layne is a Master Knight of the Vine with decades of experience under his belt including importing, teaching, writing, competition judging, and winery running. This event is informed, unpretentious, and fun. FMI check out PortCityBlue.com.

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Layne has been a professional in the wine business for many decades. He was awarded the Master Knight of the Vine for his pioneering work in the Oregon wine industry. He can be reached at lvwitherell@gmail.com.