Carpineto - 2009 Vigneto St. Ercolano Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG

Today's wine is a special red blend from famed Italian producer Carpineto. Founded in 1967 and based in the medieval town of Montepulciano in the Siena province of Tuscany, Carpineto has a really nice spectrum of wines: everything from the tasty-yet-cheap Dogajolo at $10, to some middle-of-the-road Riserva Chiantis, to today's wine, a ten-year-old blend for $50. Over 95% of Carpineto production is of red wines, the majority of which are wines which age three years or more before reaching the market for sale, with over 250,000 cases of wine being sold annually. Additionally, you'll note that this wine has a DOCG statement on the neck - under Italian wine laws, DOCG is the highest designation of quality of wines. DOCG stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin, DOCG).

Today's wine is a blend of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot. It's estate-produced entirely in the St. Ercolano vineyard, and underwent extensive oak aging in new French and American barrels for a year, followed by four years in bottle. Only 12,000 bottles of this vintage were produced. Sounds great, right! Let's dive in.

Popped the cork and something immediately felt off. The cork had purple streaks on it and the flat part of the cork was somewhat darker than the rest, and projected a somewhat stale odor.

By the way - it's a myth that smelling the cork tells you anything about the quality of the wine. It does, however, help you identify any "off" flavors or detect cork taint. If the cork is bad, the wine is likely to be compromised and smelling (and inspecting) the cork will help you figure that out sooner rather than later.

So the cork smells weird - like musty carpet and peppermint candies. I poured the wine into the glass via my Vintorio aerator, and it pours a dark, deep, blackish-ruby. The bouquet, or aroma, is sort of peppery and nutty, with an alcohol tinge to it. Well, I think this is skunked. Only one way to find out.

OK, so this is not matching up with what I observed in the cork and in the glass. Instead of a nasty, skunked wine, the liquid in the glass is super refined and quite dry. Leather is the major flavor, backed by a dash of oily licorice, graphite (yes that's a thing), and black pepper. There are some shadows of black fruit like blackberry, and the finish is dusty and dry with solid plum notes - the first real showing of fruit in the entire thing. Lots of intricacies here!

With tons of sediment in the bottom, this is a wine that is definitely on the older end of the spectrum yet still shows a solid "structure" - i.e. a heavy wine that was built to last and to stand up to aging. Served with a truffle salt steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and spinach, this wine provided a deep, refined base, and didn't overpower the meal. A nice find! At the time of this post, we have one more for sale at D'Vines for $49.99.

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. - "Black Rice" brown ale

Anderson Valley Brewing Co., located in Boonville, CA, is one of the older microbreweries in the US - founded in late 1987, not long after yours truly was born. Credited with reviving the gose style for US markets, and thus starting the gose craze of 2014 - 2015, Anderson Valley is quietly churning out good ales. I've tried a couple of their offerings over the years, including the "Fall Hornin'" autumn seasonal and their "Thribble Currant", a fruited ale. Some of their stuff makes it out this way, but there's a whole bunch else that's native to the brewery and to Northern CA in general that we just don't see. Interesting fact: Boonville has its own language, "Boontling." First started around 1900 as farm shorthand, this quirky lingo features prominently in AVBC's beer.

So today's ale - this is their "Black Rice", an anemic 3.80% ABV brown ale made with black rice - apparently a real thing and something legend says was only reserved for Chinese royalty. I've never heard of black rice, but that's cool that it's a thing:

The beverage is made with American two-row pale malt, black rice of course, chocolate malts, and Liberty hops - but not super bitter, only 18 IBUs. Pours swiftly from the can and generates a soft but noticeable nose of malt.

Oh, that is good. It's actually quite peculiar - there's a dry malty taste, somewhat starchy. Lots of nuances here - I'm picking up some of the traditional brown ale flavors like nuts and caramel, but a lot of it is washed over by the dry earthiness of the rice and complemented by a soft minerality, like salt. It presents a thin, refreshing finish that's slightly sweet.

I really liked this. I think the starch and the minerality turned it from a light, ho-hum brown ale into a real winner. Another bonus is that it's extremely light, so much so that you can even get this in the supermarket in Utah (home of the most restrictive alcohol laws in the country.) At $12.99, it's at an acceptable price point for a six pack of cans, so pick one up! Definitely worth a try. And as they say in Boontville, "Bahl Hornin'!"

DC Brau - "Churros for Breakfast" stout

Well, it's about that time again - heavy beers for those cold winter nights. Today's beer is onesuch "winter warmer" produced by District of Columbia brewers DC Brau. This is called "Churros for Breakfast" and is a pastry stout aged in rum and cinnamon whiskey barrels, weighing in at an absurd 15.00% ABV. Wow! beer is aged in whiskey barrels from DC's own Republic Restoratives, one of the only all female-owned distilleries in the US. Cheers to Pia and Rachel for making great whiskey! The barrels in which this beer was aged previously held rum.

Now let's rewind - what is a pastry stout? According to Kate Bernot of "Ask Kate About Beer", this term-of-art was coined by a writer at the blog "Don't Drink Beer" to describe those fancy beers meant to imitate baked goods...we've all seen them - "wedding cake stouts" and "chocolate eclair porters" and The Bruery's tiramisu stout and Evil Twin's barrage of biscotti-themed beers. I've had a few examples of the style; they're typically too sweet, too expensive, and have too many competing flavors.

So let's hope today's beer doesn't fall into the same trap. Can cracks open with a hiss, pours lazily into the tasting glass. I let this sit for about 5 minutes before trying, to let it come up to temp.

Whew, OK, ridiculously boozy. First flavors are massive waves of sweetness of wood and sugar, with those rum barrels really making an impact on the beer. There's a dark chocolate base, not bitter, which coats the mouth (like a dark molasses rum) and gives way to cinnamon, the most striking note here. It's like those hot cinnamon candies (or, dare I say, Fireball whiskey.) This features strongly in the long lingering aftertaste.

A big meal, for sure, and great if you like lots of cinnamon, and sweeter, heavier, silkier beers. And so for $17 for four 12oz cans, it's not cheap but well worth it if you like super heavy, belly-warming beers - and one with a zing NOT from peppers, as is the most common source of heat in beer.

Ommegang Brewing Co. - "Joemeggang" Belgian dark ale

I haven't done a coffee beer in a while, so I'd like to highlight this one. It's called "Joemeggang," undoubtedly a portmanteau of "Ommegang" and "joe" (as in coffee), coming to me from Cooperstown, NY-based Ommegang Brewing Co. It's a 7.5% ABV Belgian dark ale made with a special coffee blend, developed by Cooperstown coffee gurus Stagecoach Coffee. It's made with a dedicated blend of French roast, Sumatra, and Papua New Guinea coffees developed especially for this beer. On the brewing side of things. there's caramel malts, cocoa nibs, and Belgian yeasts. Sounds delicious.

Medium brown in the glass, this beer is much thinner and lighter than I was expecting. There's a strong showing of bready malts, some alcohol sweetness, a dash of oats, a touch of Belgian yeast, and a refreshing caramel and honey sweetness. The cocoa nibs they add come through towards the end, and impart a pleasant aftertaste that dissipates quickly. Big thing though - it's not very coffee-y, and I'm on the fence whether that is a good thing or not.

As a standalone Belgian-inspired ale, it's pretty good. Nothing unique, but something I'd drink again, especially with a hearty soup or shepherd's pie. But as a coffee ale, I don't believe it was a success. That's, okay, though: if those heavy, roasted stouts with tons of espresso aren't your thing, you may want to give this a try!