Caribbean Wine Review II

Our billionaire benefactor indirectly sent us another bottle of wine. When Zio GiGi's the Hurricane Hole Marina pizzeria closed on Paradise Island, we were left without a gourmet pizza place. I decided to make some homemade pizza. Just as it came out of the oven, our neighbour showed up at the door with the bottle of wine.

The pizza was a pesto pizza with shitaki mushrooms and a bunch of other fine groceries. The wine was a Robert Foley wine from Napa Valley called a Charbono from 2005. When we uncorked the bottle, it was like one of my highschool girlfriends -- big, rambunctious, red with sturdy legs and smokey. The first nose and taste was raspberries and smoke. It was oaky, and smooth and went down like liquid velvet. We tasted the wine, and looked at each other in amazement, because we had all come to the same conclusion. This was a damn fine wine.

Charbono is a rare varietal. I looked it up on the web. Here is an extract:

Charbono is a grape variety found in California. It is not very common in California, but is the second most commonly grown variety in Argentina, where it is known as Bonarda (which is not the same as the Bonarda Piemontese varietal).

The wine made from Charbono tends to be dark, with medium to high tannins and acidity.

After genetic testing conducted by Carole Meredith, it was determined to be the same grape as the grape known as Corbeau, Douce Noire, or Charbonneau in the Savoie region of France.

It is still pretty hard to find Charbono in California today. According to state agricultural statistics, there are 76 acres of Charbono in the state producing a 2006 crush of 335 tons. Most of this acreage is in Napa and Mendocino counties but there was 15.5 tons of Charbono crushed from two acres in El Dorado county and seven acres in Santa Clara county in 2006.

Charbono wines are not for the timid. They tend to be big and rambunctious but in a very appealing way. Charbono comes from the Latin "Carbonarius" meaning "make of wood coal" so you might expect the wine to be inky dark in color with a tendency toward earthy, meaty, leathery, herbal aromas and flavors of roasted plum, dried cherry, licorice, and clove. Intense and complex, Charbonos are amply tannic, full-bodied and bold with a long-lasting expresso-like finish. While Charbono pairs nicely with most meats and red-sauce pasta dishes, this brawny wine really shows its stuff with more exotic dishes like venison, boar, and curried lamb.

Defiant, rebellious, and rowdy, Charbono has survived criticism and disease to remain one of California's unique and rare wine personalities.

So if you ever see a Robert Foley Charbono on the wine list, buy it. You will not be disappointed. I looked up Robert Foley on the web, and he seems to be a Renaissance man as well. He is a wine maker and a rock and roller with his own band. Somehow it is fitting.