Monday, May 9, 2016

Zinful Features Natural Beauty of Organic Wines

At Toledo Wines and Vines we believe in sustainability and taking care of the environment. Grapes are agricultural crops that depend on healthy water, soil and climate. So when Earth Day rolled around, you might guess how we celebrated: by drinking wine. Hey, it was organic!

Organic Wines Are Naturally Good



Zinful, Perrysburg’s downtown wine bar, was the scene of the Earth Day tasting with a focus on two organic wineries: Domain de Mauperthuis of Burgundy and Tenuta delle Terre Nere of Italy.

We sampled a white and red from Mauperthuis. The first was a 2014 Chablis, which is Chardonnay. In the style of this famous French region, the wine was not oaked. It was crisp, light and delicious. SRP $19.99. The 2014 Domaine Mauperthuis Bourgogne Rouge Les Brulis is a Pinot Noir in the earthy, Burgundian style with the fruitiness dialed back. Enjoyable, but not a match for a good Willamette Valley Pinot. SRP $17.99.

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The wines of Terre Nere are extremely interesting because they come from the volcanic soil of Italy’s Etna island. Four different Terre Nere wines were featured. The 2014 Etna Bianco is a field blend of 65% Carricante plus local varieties Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia and Minnella. This had floral notes with a sour taste. The 2014 Caldera Bianco is also a Carricante wine, but this is a lightly oaked wine that is enthralling.

We finished with two reds: the 2014 Terre Nere Etna Rosso and 2013 Terre Nere Feudo Mezi Rosso. The Rosso was heavy on the tannins, perhaps due to the whole cluster fermentation.

The prize of the evening was the 2013 Feudo Mezi Rosso. This wine is made from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio vines that are 50 to 80 years old that are grown in soil with black volcanic ash and balsaltic pebbles. How cool!

The Feudo Mezi is silky and dark in character with deep cedar and spice notes. A prize wine, it has a SRP of $39.99.

Wines from Domain de Mauperthuis and Terre Nere demonstrate that respect for the environment and sustainable farming practices pay off in the glass.

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