Martinelli Wine Dinner, Triangle Wine Experience

[wondersofwine]

Thursday night was the night for wine dinners around the Triangle area and I went to the dinner at Bloomsbury Bistro in Raleigh. Julianna Martinelli was there as a representative of the fourth-generation grape and apple growing and family winery business. They have been growing grapes for 100 years and grow all their own grapes. She concentrates on promotion and marketing while her father and brothers do the farming and Helen Turley is the winemaker. They use indigenous yeast and the wines are unfined and unfiltered. Cropping reduces the output of grapes by about half.

2006 Tessa Lee Sauvignon Blanc was very nice. It was crisp and somewhat reminiscent of sweet grapefruit. One of my two favorites of the evening.

2005 Martinelli Vineyard Dry Select Gewurztraminer
Pale and transparent with a strong nose. Rich, luscious mouth feel. It complemented well the spicy tiger shrimp dish with diced mango in green curry coconut milk broth.

2005 Zio Tony Chardonnay
I believe I tried this at the tasting room last October. Bubbly when first poured. A little bland to me but at least not oaky.

2005 Bella Vigna Pinot Noir
Pretty color of a light burgundy and semi-transparent. Spicy with berries on the nose and palate more than cherries. Beautiful and elegant but still rich, vibrant and fulsome. This, along with the Sauvignon Blanc was my favorite. I have a bottle at home that I purchased on the California trip.

2004 Terra Felice Syrah
Dark purple to black; opaque. A little jammy to my taste and to that of the gentleman to my left at the table.

2006 Guiseppe & Luisa Zinfandel (Julianna's great-grandparents and founders of the farm.)
16.4% alcohol
Darker even than the Syrah. Forms legs on the glass. Somewhat extracted. Dark berries. Didn't taste as hot as the alcohol percentage would suggest. I purchased a bottle of a different Zinfandel (the Evo?) in October.

While I liked the Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinot Noir best, the woman across from me liked the Chardonnay and Zinfandel best.

I will report on other wines tasted on Thursday and Friday tomorrow.