2007 La Toledana Gavi Raccolto Tardivo

Wow that's a mouthful. 

My local wine merchant Grape Connections, had this wine on sale for $9.99 a few weeks back and me being the adventurous type decided to pick up a few bottles for the cellar.

Cortese Gavi or Gavi is a white wine made from the cortese grape, hailing from the Piedmont region of Italy. These are often among the most expensive Itlatian white wines shipped in to the US, so you can imagine my interest when I saw such a affordable bottling. La Toledana estate sits upon 25 hectares of prime cortese vinyards that have been around since the 1850's.  The estate strive to control the vines to limit their productivity and thus produce a higher quality wine.  The growers select the best vineyards each year for their "Raccolto Tardivo" or late harvest bottlings to showcase the depth and complexity of the Cortese grape.  Gavi bottlings are designed to be consumed within 1-3 years of bottling.

My first impression of the bottle was it's odd, elongated neck and interesating cartoonish logo. After opening the bottle and pouring a glass I was suprised by the deep, yellow hue and seemingly medium body. The nose was fairly aromatic with definitive citrus and floral notes. The palette had characterics of underripe  pear and tart nectarines. There was an almost sparkling acidity with strong mineral understones, that were complemented by a medium body and lingering finish. As dry whites go, it was suprisingly complex and I wouldn't be suprised if it opened up more tommorrow night or with another year in the cellar. At the $9.99 price point this wine is an exceptional value and worth seeking out if you like dry, white wines. Makes a interesting and appropriate alternative to Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino, Viognier or Drier Alsatian varietals. 8/10.

What I value and how I rate wines.

Rating and writing about wines is a difficult task. The goal is relatively straightforward, to provide the reader with a sense of what a particular wine tastes like. But if you think about it for a moment you realize the utter impossibility of this task.  People's tastes are inherently different. I can't possibly describe how a wine will taste for you. Moreover the scale that most people use to rate a wine is not linear. In other words, the difference between an 86pt's and 89pts is much less than the difference between 92pts and 95pts, while a wine that scores a 75 might as well be urine. I use a linear 10 point scale to simplify things and to shed more light on the subject I've written the following:

What I value.

1. Color- It's important but not as much you might think, sure I may knock a wine a bit if it's green (and not supposed to be), but other than that I really don't care too much.

2. Aroma and Bouquet- This is probably the most important factor in rating a wine. It has to smell good for me to like it. It could taste amazing, but if the nose is off I won't like the wine. So much of the wine drinking experience comes from the swirl and sniff that occurs prior to the sip.

3. Flavor- Obviously wine has to taste good for me to like it and I would hope you feel the same. I like sweet wines. I like dry wines. As long as the taste good and the flavor matches the aroma.

4. Feel- It also has to feel good in the mouth and on the palette. With that in mind, I tend to gravitate towards more medium to full bodied wines. I enjoy good viscosity and don't mind wine that feels like motor oil. Acidity play a role in both flavor and feel, but I will include in the feel category when rating wine.

5. Finish- This is important to me, but rather black and white. A wine either finishes well or it doesn't. Short or long, it has to exit the pallette smoothly.

6. Evolution- This is an almost intangible quality, but is for me essential for high quality wines. I want the tasting experience to grow or evolve as the wine opens. I want to be taken on a tour of the flavors and scents. Those who have experienced a wine which evolves while tasting know of this experience. 

How I rate wines.

I rate wines on a ten point scale that takes these things into account and adds in the value of the wine into the equation. A wine can be bumped up or down based on it's value. Hundred point scales used by many critics 

10 pts- Exceptional quality, it's very rare that I rate a wine 10 pts.
9 pts- This wine is also exceptional but is just missing something to push it over the top.
8 pts- A  very high quality wine and one that you could and would drink on a daily basis given the oppotunity. 
6-7 pts- Good-average wine, I wouldn't go out my way to get them, but I 'd drink them if they were in front of me. Wines can be pushed down into this category by virtue of excess expense.
5 pts and less- You don't want to drink these wines. Very few wines fall into this category but it's worth noting when they do.

Most wines I drink fall into the 6-8 point category. Once or twice a month I taste wines that fall into the 9 category and it's rare to taste a ten point wine.