A Little of Grandfather's Red

In keeping with my last post, Does Wine Have to Be So Complicated,I am trying to encourage people to try to make wine an everyday part of their lives.  It really doesn't have to be complicated. As Nicole Bacigalupi from John Tyler Wines said in response to that post:

Just drink and enjoy. Nothing complicated about that.

She's absolutely right. It's really not all that complicated. So to make things simple on Friday night I opened up what I thought would be a strong companion to some old-fashioned Italian fare: Seghesio's Nonno's Rosso.

Grandfather's Red.

It was created in honor of Edoardo Seghesio, the patriarch of Seghesio Family Vineyards. This wine carries the Alta Vineyard label. The Alta Vineyard Company was purchased by the Seghesio family after World War II and is it's current location in Healdsburg.

Over the last few years I've really enjoyed several of Seghesio's various field blends. I particularly enjoy Marian's Reserve.  While this isn't necessarily a field blend, it recreates the blends and wines that the Alta Vineyard would have been making prior to it's purchase by the Seghesio family.

Grandfather's Red is a turn-of-the-century blend of Alicante dating back to 1885, some hillside Mourvedre and Grenache (with a hint of some old vine Zinfandel). At the end of a busy week the last thing in the world you want to do is to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So dinner was fairly simple ... some pasta, some sauce and Italian sausage.

I'm not sure what I expected from this wine. First I would say that it's not a bold wine like I've come to expect from a lot of Seghesio's wines.  It was much more subtle. Not bland but more subtle. I wonder if in America we've come to expect the big. The bold. And we expect that the same wine will taste the same across various years.

I wonder if it was always that way.

I was reading an article the other day about the origin of field blends.  Not necessarily the practice of most winemakers today. Today they grow their wines separately.  In the past, several varieties were grown in the same vineyard. The grapes were harvested at the same time and fermented together.

This creates a unique depth because the various grapes ripen at different times. It also means that each year the wine is slightly different. But then again, that's not the Starbucks approach where everything is always the same. That seems to be something that we Americans want.

I think that's our loss.  There's certainly benefits to the variety. Back to Nonno's Rosso. What may have started out out as something a little more subtle became a delicious pairing with the pasta. I found that the wine opened up a bit with some air and the flavors became a little more distinct.

And then, the bottle was empty.

As far as I can tell, this wine was only available to wine club members. And since it was a part of my club shipment, I still have a few bottles left to enjoy in the future. And while it's not a wine that hits my top 10, I'm intrigued enough by the history of the blend and the flavor of the wine to continue to pull it out every now and then.

For those of you intrigued by the concept of a field blend, I think you'll enjoy Seghesio's Marian's Reserve. They have a 2009 available online. I'm beginning to expand the types of wine that I'm trying. I really am enjoying the journey to new wines and regions.  You should, too.