January 1, 2021

INAMA Carmenere Riserva “Oratorio di San Lorenzo” 2015

(Colli Berici, Veneto, Italy) $55

At first, I was sure it was a typo. Carmenere from a region west of Venice, Italy? Carmenere is forever associated in my mind as one of the great red grapes of Chile. But here was a northern Italian carmenere, and it was (and is) stunning. Inama’s carmenere reminds me of a delicious Bordeaux red, but with lots more spice and minerality. The wine is deep, savory, and richly layered with whooshes of white pepper, green tobacco, and cassis. I poured it into a decanter to open it up and just stood by as it exploded into a fireworks display of flavor. Talk about a fun wine to serve blind (with a T-bone steak) to your favorite wine lover. Turns out, a small amount of carmenere has actually been planted in the Veneto’s Colli Berici hills since the mid 19th century. For its part Inama (which makes the only carmenere riserva) is a family owned winery that specializes in carmenere plus some of the best top-class Soaves in Italy. (14.5% abv)

95 points KM

Available at Saratoga Wine Exchange

Why is extra dry Champagne called extra dry when in fact it’s sweeter than brut Champagne?

A. Because in French, the term “extra” derives from extraneous, meaning “outside of dryness” or “other than dry”

B. Extra dry Champagne is not sweeter than brut Champagne

C. Because extra dry Champagne was created before brut Champagne

D. Because of a long-forgotten mix-up in the French wine industry in the 1800s

At one time, extra dry Champagne was the driest, but as time went on, newer drier styles of Champagne—including brut—were created. The evolving styles of Champagne began to occur in the early nineteenth century when more and more Champagne firms, hoping to capture new markets and increase sales, positioned Champagne as an aperitif, perfect to begin an evening, rather than a sweet wine to have at the end. First came half-dry Champagnes—called demi-sec. When these proved successful, producers began making sec, or dry, Champagnes (these were still fairly sweet by today’s standards). By the 1840s, the British in particular began to request even drier Champagnes. Producers responded with “extra-dry” (a term in English rather than French) Champagnes made just for the British market. As other countries caught up with the British preference for dry bubbly, the French began to make an even drier version of Champagne—called brut. Which is how brut turns out to be drier than extra-dry. Today, of course there’s an even drier style of Champagne than brut. It’s called “extra brut.”

“For a long time Sherry was a victim of changing tastes, with fortified wines, like sweet wines, having fallen out of style around the time Churchill was born. The category has come back in vogue lately, partly because of its affinity for complex foods, and also because anything grandmothers approve of inevitably ends up becoming hip again.”

—Adam Leith Gollner, Saveur, February 2018

INAMA Carmenere Riserva “Oratorio di San Lorenzo” 2015

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