Weird Wine of the Week: A Carignane by any other nameAmy Monroe shares her favorite unusual, overlooked, and underappreciated wines every Tuesday. Check out her previous installment here.
Carignane is the viticultural equivalent of Jon & Kate, the Duggars, and Octo Mom. Left to its own devices, it bears prodigious amounts of fruit. This is bad. When it comes to wine, high yields equal poor quality. Much like parents whose broods creep into double-digit territory, growers of Carignane spend the majority of their time attempting to keep the vines under control. Typically, they are rewarded with grapes that are very tannic, very acidic, and generally acknowledged to be harsh. Add to these charming qualities the fact that English speakers can’t pronounce it (it’s Care-In-Yawn, by the way), and it’s no wonder you hardly ever see Carignane’s name on a wine label.
I used to be a buyer for a wine shop, which basically means I got paid to taste wine. During that time, for me, Carignane lived up to its infamous reputation: I hated every one I tried. They all tasted like burnt rubber, and a single sip was often so acidic that I worried about the state of my tooth enamel. I didn’t like Carignane, and I told people so – customers, colleagues, friends. In my opinion (about which I was vocal), it was just plain bad, the trailer trash of wine grapes. Then I tasted Trinafour "Niemi Vineyard" Carignane.
Made in Mendocino County by a Canadian-born, UC Fresno-trained winemaker of Scotch descent, Trinafour’s version of my formerly least favorite grape variety is quirkily appealing. Drinking it is a lot like eating a steak dinner and following it with strawberry shortcake for dessert. It’s an adept coupling of sanguine and sweet that’s deliciously familiar. It’s comfort wine. It’s also wholly unlike the ocean of overoaked, overpriced, and boring California reds that line wine store shelves, gathering dust and undeserved accolades from critics. Drinking it is nothing like sipping a Cali Pinot that tastes like alcoholic cherry cola or a too-brawny-for-its-own-good Napa Cab. It’s different. It’s mercurial. It’s Owen Wilson’s nose -- undeniably appealing precisely because it’s just a little left of center.
Moral of the story: I was right and I was wrong. When Carignane is overcropped (that is, allowed to breed unfettered like Octo-Mom) it’s basically undrinkable swill, but it doesn’t always suck. Too bad most people are too busy drinking Cabernet or Pinot to notice.
Trinafour "Niemi Vineyard" Carignane, $21
Available at Ruby Wine
1419 18th St, SF
(415) 401-7788
www.rubywinesf.com
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