Vino2 Aerating Glass from Taste of Purple -- Full Review

Taste of Purple was kind enough to send me their Vino2 aerating glass to review. You might have seen the quick and dirty review I dashed off in which I tasted a delicious Oregon Pinot Noir from The Pressing Plant in the Vino2 and in a Riedel Vinum Burgundy glass. I have since done several more side-by-side comparisons and here is my full report.

To cut to the chase, if big bold wines are your thing, this might just be the glass for you! You might also consider the other aerating glass options from Taste of Purple.

To review, the Vino2 wine glass ($39) from Taste of Purple promises to fully aerate wine rapidly, so there is no need to decant a wine to reach its full potential: "The patented design of the VINO2 will fully aerate your wine in just seconds, releasing the components that make up a wines aroma." With the Oregon Pinot, the wine in the Vino2 was silkier but less spicy than when tasted from the Riedel. Which is "better" is a matter of personal preference.

The next wine we tried was a 2012 Pinot Gris from Navarro. The glass on the right is the Vino2. On the left is a glass manufactured by Stölzle. We've owned it so long I have no memory of its price or any other characteristics. In the Stölzle the Pinot Gris showed aromas of stone fruit, jasmine, vanilla and honeysuckle. The wine had bright acid, a textured palate and a long finish. From the Vino2 we picked up less stone fruit, more vanilla, and citrus cream. The wine was similar on the palate but less tart and less textured. The finish was as long. We preferred the wine out of the Stölzle.

Next we tried a 1995 Sagrantino Montefalco from Colpetrone. Sagrantino, in case you are unfamiliar with it, is a grape native to Umbria. It is a rare creature that produces big, tannic wines that age beautifully. The comparison glass on the right is another we have owed for some time. It appears to have been made by a company known as OZ. I have no other information.

In the OZ the Colpetrone showed restrained aromatics, intensity on the palate and little fruit. The wine had a pleasantly soft texture with just a bit of grip and a lovely finish. In the Vino2 the wine had a sharper focus on the attack, more spice and a tight finish. We preferred the Vino2.

Our final comparison was with the Seavey 2007 Chardonnay, a wine that I made. The comparison glass was once again the Riedel Vinum Burgundy. In the Vino2 we got aromas of straw, hay, cut grass, citrus and jasmine. The wine was soft, rich and full on the palate with creamy oak and hints of pear. In the Riedel the aromas were similar but less grassy. The creamy oak came through with a bit more of a bite. Once again, a draw.

The Vino2 clearly influences the perception of the wine. Whether that influence is to the good depends largely on the style of wine. A big bold red wine is the perfect match for this glass, and will seem bigger and bolder but also more approachable from it. For other wine styles, the differences are less compelling. Enjoy!

Have you tried the Vino2? We would love to hear your thoughts.
The Vino2 was sent by Taste of Purple for the purpose of this review. All of the wines mentioned were from my personal collection and were not provided by the producers.

Falling Star Boxed Wines

Image from Stardusts and Sequins used under the Creative Commons license.

 

In our on-going quest to discover good wine in a box (see here, here and here), we were excited to hear about Falling Star boxed wines from Argentina. As we remember the press release, the producers claimed that Falling Star would rapidly become the biggest-selling wine in a box because the quality of the wine was so high.

In time samples came our way, and.... well, we can say that we finished the 2009 Cuyo Chardonnay ($20/3L). We found nothing remarkable about the wine, but it did not take up much space in the fridge, and it was often handy to have a drinkable white at the ready with no deliberation about what bottle to open, let alone chill. So high marks for convenience, at least.

We were disappointed by the 2008 Cuyo Malbec ($20/3L). Malbec is Argentina's signature grape, so we expected much more from this wine, and the box remains nearly untouched.

Our hopes remain for the 3L bag-in-box category. As soon as someone actually does package a high-quality wine this way, the market will be theirs. But so far the promises to do so have gone unfulfilled.

Disappointment in a can

We could not be more excited about wine in cans. Putting wine in cans is great for convenience, for the environment, and for quality. We've talked about wine in cans before, but to briefly re-cap, cans come in more appropriate sizes, and are lighter and easier to carry than glass bottles. They do not require a cork screw, and there is no cork to possibly affect the wine's taste. And they are easy to smuggle into movie theaters.

Consumers tend to view new packaging types with suspicion, assuming that only inferior wine would be placed in a bag-in-box, TetraPak, or can. It is important to prove such customers wrong by having very good wine in these new packages. If a skeptical consumer musters up the courage to try a canned wine, and the product disappoints, they are unlikely to try wine in a can again.

When we learned of  Barokes' Australian wines in cans, we eagerly requested samples. We received four wines: a Chardonnay, a Shiraz, and  two sparklers. Unfortunately, we did not like any of the wines. Both whites, the Chardonnay and the blanc de blanc sparkler, tasted flat and oxidized. The Shiraz was simple and sweet, and the residual sugar in the wine grew so cloying that we were unable to finish the 250-mL can. The red sparkler, mysteriously called blanc de noirs, was particularly disappointing because we have very much enjoyed sparkling Shiraz in the past. This wine (a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot) had good bubbles and ample tannin but lacked the fruit to match.

We hope Barokes reconsiders their strategy and improves the quality of the wines in their lineup. Meanwhile, keep a lookout for Wild Pelican canned wines, and please let us know if you see or hear of any others.

Zaca Mesa Roussanne 2006

Many years ago, in the predawn before we entered the wine industry, we visited the Santa Barbara area for the first time. A good friend and loyal reader of this blog had been invited by the Frass Canyon Winery--oops, we mean, Fess Parker--on a special trip to learn more about that winery's use of IBM for their Information Systems needs, and he was kind enough to invite us along. It was a very interesting journey to say the least.

Image from John Dickson's Santa Barbara Wine Guide

But now is not the time for tales of Fess Parker and his attendant Charlie's Angels. On that trip we visited a few wineries, and Zaca Mesa stands out as the most memorable. We were traveling with two dogs, and Zaca Mesa, who at the time had their own dogs, Zach and Macy, warmly welcomed our own beasts. We should say coolly welcomed, since it was about a billion degrees at the time of our visit, and the winery had a lovely stream for us to enjoy. (At another, less dog-friendly winery, our dogs took shelter in the shade underneath our car, and it took all our cajoling and pleading to get them out when it was time to leave.) Kudos to Zaca Mesa.

We have not kept up with their wines, but that fond memory was sufficient for us to recommend a visit to Zaca Mesa, when friends also traveling with a dog asked for recommendations in the area. They enjoyed their visit and brought us a bottle of the 2006 Roussanne to thank us.

A lovely gesture, if completely unnecessary. But, wow, the wine is fabulous. It has the classic Roussanne elements of beeswax, citrus rind, and herbs, and it is full-bodied enough, if not very oaky, to satisfy any Chardonnay enthusiast. This is very pleasant to sip, but it is close to being a vin de meditation, by which we mean a wine so complex and interesting that it commands all attention. Not quite, but there is a great deal going on here.

The retail price is $25, putting it at the high end of what we like to recommend here. Wine-Searcher shows it widely available for a more palatable $20. If you don't know Roussanne, this will be an exciting new white wine for you. If you do, it is a very good example of what the grape is capable of.

Wine, Freedom and Justice Part 3—Bodhichitta Winery

Here at last is the final installment in our series on world-changing through wine profiling three non- (or not for-)profit wineries. Ehlers Estate, profiled in the first post, donates its proceeds to the LeDucq Foundation, which conducts research on heart disease. The New Clairvaux Vineyard's wine profits fund the owning monastery's activities, as well as a number of charitable organizations and caretaking of their neighbors.

We managed to find one other non-profit winery. The Bodhichitta Winery is located in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Profits from the winery go principally to the Central Asia Institute, which promotes “community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Bodhichitta also supports Alzheimer's Foundation of America, Autism Society of America, the Humane Society, The Nature Conservancy and Oregon Trout.

Bodhichitta’s lineup of wines is intriguing. In addition to Pinot noir (de rigeur in the Wilammette Valley, they produce a Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin blanc, and a Pinot gris they call “Giggling Gris” for some reason. More interesting still, they produce a mulled wine, and a wide range of fruit and honey wines. They even have a wine blended from Cabernet and blackberries. We are very intrigued by the latter and by the straight blackberry wine, which they claim is dry. Prices range from $20-38, about average for the Willamette Valley.

Bodhichitta’s owner and winemaker, identified on the site only as Mark, says "Bodhichitta Winery was founded to do my part to ease the suffering in this world while fueling two of my passions--wine and service to others. It answers the two questions I ask myself everyday: 'What can I do to help?' and 'What can I do to serve?'"

We have purchased a sampler of the Bodhichitta wines and will report in here once we have tasted them.

What are your thoughts on the winery as non-profit? What do you think of joining winemaking and service?