WBW #7: It's so obscure, I can't even find it.

2001 St. Pauls Lagrein Exclusiv "Gries"

I learn so much on Wine Blogging Wednesdays, and the topic of Obscure Red Grape Varietals, hosted by Andrew at Spitoon.biz, packed my little brain full of new wine info.  I always like to start my post by looking for a little bit of information about my topic.  That's where I usually run into problems as I hit the wall of my total lack of knowledge about wines from outside of California.  Hey, I'm working on it, ok? So the problems...what is Lagrein? And where IS St. Pauls Winery exactly? And now that you ask, where the heck is South Tyrol??  In fact, their map has them somewhere between Innsbruck and Verona. Would it kill you people to add some more specific content to your website for ignorant Americans? I mean really...

God Bless the Free Encyclopedia: "Historically, Tyrol was a County of the Holy Roman Empire, later the Austrian Empire and finally a Kronland of Austria-Hungary, which extended beyond the boundaries of today's state. Historical references to Tyrol (before World War I) include today's Tyrol (North Tyrol and East Tyrol), but also South Tyrol and the Trentino (Welschtirol). After World War I, Italy annexed South Tyrol and the Trentino according to the provisions of the Treaty of Saint Germain."  Ah yes, the pesky Treaty of Saint Germain.  So South Tyrol is the part that is in Northern Italy. OK.

So then, what is Lagrein?  I find out Lagrein is an ancient grape native to the Bolzano which is apparently the ideal region for growing Lagrein, as the climatic conditions and terraces and hills allow it to perfectly ripen.  I guess that was the easy part.  More about the Alto Adige here.

From their website:  "This Lagrein comes from Gries, a pleasant district of Bozen (Bolzano), the capital of South Tyrol. It grows on deep and well aerated gravel soils."  I also was informed that St. Pauls is Co-operative Winery and consists of 215 wine growers, and that only the very best grapes are chosen to grace their wines.  Of course!

OK, so to sum up:

Italy ----> South Tyrol (aka Trentino-Alto Adige)----> Bolzano ----> Gries ----> Lagrein grapes for the St. Pauls that I tasted

Sounds like a great place to visit.  Enough history, onto the tasting...

We first tasted this wine at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant. We loved it and bought a bottle and drank it right away ($20).  So the next time back, we bought two more bottles, one we savored last night, the other we'll let hang out for a bit. 

Chris was worried about the way the cork looked, but the wine didn't have any funny smell or taste.  It was very dark in color, and it looked and smelled like should be big and bold, but while it was very full-bodied, it did not have a long finish; brighter at the start and then mellow toward the end.  First, Chris tasted dried plums and bittersweet chocolate, I agreed and added that I tasted a bit of vanilla.  As it opened, the fruit became cherrier and fuller, and went well with the beef-lentil soup I had made.  I imagine that it probably would do quite well with lamb.

How is it that the tasting always ends up being less interesting to me than the history and culture of where that particular wine came from?

What a nerd.

Comments

[Andrew]

Isn't being a wine nerd fun though! I had a superb Legrein last year - wish I would remember which producer. But I do remember that I was very impressed!

An excellent choice for WBW#7 - many thanks for participating. I am just compiling the entries and should have the overview up by the weekend.

[thecaveman]

I almost did Lagrein, wouldn't that have been embarassing. Nice site, my first visit.

Caveman

[Fatemeh]

Nice review, Molly! Sounds like a wine I'd like to try...