Filed under: wine

Beer Bloggers Rule

Well done to the intrepid group of communicators dedicated to the fermented product of a different sort. It seems that the UK beer world continues to attract great writers and a strong community of committed individuals who are establishing a dominant position in the Wikio rankings for June in the "Beer & Wine" Category (I think they may name it differently on the site, but that's where we are heading).

In a dim and distant past, wine blogs used to compete closely with food blogs for attention, and bloggers like Andrew Barrow at Spittoon used to rank extremely highly in a broader "Gastronomy" category. But as audiences expanded and developed, food grew MASSIVELY and left us trailing in their Google Page Rank wake, and so the kind folks at Wikio decided to create a new home for us alcoholics (creators of alcoholic beverage related content, I mean).

Today, wine blogs are not performing as well on these rankings. Why?

In brief, I think that the wine blogging community has not developed the range of styles available in other media, and the established wine writers have yet to really grasp the blogging thorn and create individual blogs in the way that the beer community has.

It is also true that a lot of the interaction with these bloggers now takes place on twitter, and I don't know if Wikio and their ilk take full account of this (but presumably this happens for beer as well).

So, a sneak preview of the June results are below. Congratulations, once again, to Pete Brown for top place and to Zythophile for jumping 13 places to number 3, and Rabid About Beer for jumping 19 places to number 9.

The highest ranking wine blogs are Wine Conversation, Drinking Outside the Box,  Bordoverview and Spittoon coming in between 15th and 19th.

The question is, what can we wine bloggers do about the profile of wine? Well, as Baldrick might say ...

"I have a cunning plan ...."

Watch this list in the coming months and see if we can do something about this, but more importantly, check out the wine blogs on the list, spread the word, leave a comment and share a glass.

Slainte!

 

1 Pete Brown's Blog
2 Pencil & Spoon
3 Zythophile
4 Beer Reviews
5 Master Brewer at Adnams
6 Are You Tasting the Pith?
7 Tandleman's Beer Blog
8 The Good Stuff
9 Rabid About Beer
10 Ghost Drinker
11 Reluctant Scooper
12 Raising the Bar
13 The Pub Curmudgeon
14 Real Brewing at the Sharp End
15 The Wine Conversation
16 Called to the bar
17 Drinking Outside The Box
18 Bordoverview Blog
19 Spittoon
20 HopZine.com

Ranking made by Wikio

Mixing with three cool Italians

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Triade (or triad, but skipping the gang associations) is a new wine available at Waitrose.

A blend of three grapes, of course; Fiano, Falanghina and Greco this wine is an attempt to bring us something new and modern from the south of Italy.

It has been created by what seems to be a very 'international' wine business, in the positive sense of it being aware of the needs of the international wine consumer but attempting to deliver something uniquely Italian, called Orion Wines (sorry about the Flash on the link - they're not yet *fully* aware of customer needs obviously).

Like the wine, the company itself seems to have a thing for the number 3, with 3 names behind the business (a winemaker, a marketer and a logistics specialist ... hmm, sounds like the beginning of a joke), and a "team of 3 full time winemakers" who go around Italy creating these wines.

This particular wine is easy to drink and pleasant, with lots of tropical fruit flavours of ripe pineapple, apricot and a hint of vanilla & honey too. As a drinking wine with more robust foods it is attractive, although it is not a "cheap" alternative coming in at over £8.50.

My only niggle would be that it is a bit TOO international. The fruit is attractive and ripe, but I don't know at all whether it speaks to me of Italy, but maybe that's my own limitations. The real south of Italy (such as this from Campania, but also Puglia and my personal favourite, Sicilia) are very different climates to the more 'classic' areas that tend to be from the centre or the North of the country. 

I love the idea of blends, but as with an increasing number of wines, I find that barrel fermentation, which was done on 20% of each of these grapes before blending, masks a lot of what makes a wine unique to that region. Unless, of course, it is the oak ageing that you are after, like in Rioja, Bordeaux, etc. In this case, the wine already seems to have a decent "roundness" (a sensation of being full bodied) from the fruit, which with a higher level of alcohol (it says 13% but could be a bit more), means that it probably didn't need any more from the oak and distracts from being a fresher wine. But I'm probably being over-critical.

In any case, it seems to be doing well, because although I only bought my bottle on Saturday, they appear to be out of stock as I write this on Tuesday. I am assuming there will be more available soon.

Three cheers for all the threes at Orion, and I look forward to trying more of their wines at some point.

Having a little something special with dinner tonight

Photo

Petalos 2008 tasted at home (with some beef stronganoff from Cook! if you need to know)

Pétalos Del Bierzo 2008
produced by Descendientes de J. Palacios in Bierzo,
Note: A wine of its own. I don't know of many I could compare in terms not only of the taste and experience, but the story and the history.

You can research the history, with the internationally renowned Alvaro Palacios "rediscovering" a regional grape in a forgotten region, and turning it into a destination for wine lovers. You should in fact.

As for the taste, I love the savouryness of the wine. This is a wine that shows real herbal notes on top of the fruit. The name is Petalos, or petals, and there is certainly a petal-like floral hint there, but really the wine is a balance between red fruit (raspberry and cherry) and herbs (thyme and savoury). The nose is meaty, almost like bloody steak (that musky aroma you get from really fresh steak - apologies to any vegetarians), but also with the red fruit and herbs, and all wrapped up in something quite spirity. It can almost remind you of those herbal "digestive" drinks you find in Italy, except the red fruit aromas give it away. In the mouth it never threatens to be a fruit bomb. On the contrary, as you taste it the immediate impressions are of the fresh, bright acidity and tannin and a strong mineral tang. But as it rests in your mouth, and as you swallow, the darker fruit aromas suddenly emerge and waft around your mouth and nose for such a long time. Not a wine for the faint-hearted, but delicious and unique. Try it!


Rating: 4,5 (in 5)
(Tasted on May 24, 2011)