So. Cal. Winery Review
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Tasting Menus
  • WINERY NEWS
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Tasting Menus
  • WINERY NEWS
• WINE wine Wine wINE•

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Picture
Southern California has become a great place to go wine tasting!  Great wines, great wineries -- and great people!  This website is dedicated to bringing you the best info on wineries in San Diego and Riverside counties -- and a few other places as well.  Enjoy!
​Chateau 55 Wine Storage Facility
Get first month free and 5% discount per month for first 11 months by mentioning our name when signing up.
Link to Chateau 55 Website
 Latest Blog
Another new winery, this time in Temecula:  Altisima Winery.

Lagrein

1/11/2021

0 Comments

 
​I’ve mentioned a number of grape varieties that are relatively rare, or at least uncommon, that you can find at the wineries in Southern California.  I have decided to educate you on some of these with the hope that you will try them, and also because the wineries are all shut down and I need to write about something.
The first grape variety that I would like to feature is Lagrein.  My first post on this website was in December, 2017.  Now my first blog was about Orfila Vineyards.  An easy choice, as they are a very popular winery with a great location and some very nice wines.  I also like the fact that their tasting room is their barrel room, hence even the red wines are served at a reasonable temperature.
With this in mind, I took an afternoon trip to Orfila to get some pictures for the blog, and, of course, do some wine tasting.  On the wine tasting menu was this very strange name – Lagrein.  So I asked if this was a blend, not ever hearing about a grape named Lagrein.  Well, the wine on the menu was not a blend, which I should have known since it says so on the menu.  Hey, I’m old and have trouble reading the fine print and the sun was in my eyes and I was distracted by a naked woman running through the tasting room…  OK, the last two are out-and-out lies.
Anyway, turns out Lagrein is a grape variety, but, despite its seemingly French name is actually from Italy.  It is a medium-bodied red wine, a bit on the level of Cabernet Sauvignon, but to me seemed a bit drier with a great finish.  So why have you not heard of this grape before?
Well, for starters it is pretty rare.  It is grown mostly in the Italian Alps, though according to Wikopedia is also grown in Australia and in California.  It likes cooler temperatures and ripens slowly, although I have read that it also really produces, i.e., it is a very high yield varietal, and often has to be pared down.  I have also read that the wine should be aged a bit before drinking but starts going south in five years or so.  I love some of the write-ups about this wine, that it is a Teroldego cross and is similar is many respects to Teroldego, as if Teroldego you are going to be able to get a good idea of what the wine is like by comparing it to another wine that might be even rarer.
Back to my story.  So, there I was with this great discovery.  I bought a bottle, brought it home, and used it as the cover bottle for my first blog.  As for the wine itself, turns out my wife was on antibiotics at the time so could not drink.  I had to drink the entire bottle myself – the things we have to do….
The Orfila grapes come from San Luis Obispo, and that is where it is grown in California.  Not sure how the grape would do in our part of the state.  Anyway, Robert Renzoni also has a version, though it is not 100% Lagrein and goes by some strange name that I never remember because I really don’t like it.  I also had the wine in Italy, and truth-be-told, it was just as good as the Orfila version.  I should add here that I did not see the word Teroldego on a single wine list in Rome but did find Lagrein and also found Lagrein in one of the shops at the highway stops but never Teroldego so they really need to say that Teroldego is related to Lagrein and not the other way around.  Just saying…
 I also tried some in Paso Robles.  I won’t mention the winery because my wife tells me I shouldn’t say bad things about a winery so let me just say it was not quite “up to snuff” and leave it at that.
Lagrein has become our “go to” wine – indeed, this summer for the first time since the days when we thought Two-Buck Chuck was drinkable that we purchased a whole case of one wine.  The vintage I first tasted was 2016.  I am happy to report that 1) 2017 is just as good, 2) they still have some of each left though they are not on the tasting menu, and 3) they will soon release a 2018 version.  This is a wine you should at least taste, so I will let you know when Orfila releases this 2018 vintage.
Next up:  Montipulciano
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.