Wine tasting potpourri

One of the simple pleasures of writing about wine is the opportunity to meet visiting wine makers, winery representatives and distributors who pass through my city on business and, now and then, offer to get together to break bread, pull a few corks and talk about wine.

I certainly don't consider my tasting notes from these casual, convivial get-togethers to be as analytical as the wine reports I write at home based on extensive tasting of wines I've purchased on my own budget and consumed thoughtfully both with and without food.

Still, provided the circumstances are disclosed, I generally think it's worthwhile to share brief notes and information about such tastings, reasoning that it's a good opportunity to report on interesting wines that I might not otherwise have a chance to taste.

So it was my pleasure the other day to meet and enjoy lunch at Louisville's Napa River Grill with Brian Jordan, the Nashville-based regional manager for AV Brands Inc. Fine Wine and Spirits, a firm that both imports international wines and represents U.S. producers. Also joining us were Amy Cherrie and Nicole Weissman with the distributor Southern Wine & Spirits.

Brian brought along a half-dozen wines and a potent Italian aperitif for us to taste, with Napa's Artesa winery as the centerpiece.

Artesa ("Ahr-TESS-uh") is a property of the Codorniu Group, a Spanish producer from Barcelona that's perhaps best known for its cava, Spanish sparkling wine. Its impressive, high-tech facility in Carneros (the southern end of Napa and Sonoma on the north shore of San Francisco Bay), was originally built as Codorniu's American sparkling-wine facility. In 1977 management renamed it Artesa (meaning "craftsman" in Catalan) and begain producing quality still wines in the $20-and-up niche.

We also tasted a Septima Malbec, also imported by Codorniu; an excellent high-end Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige, and had a sip of the potent Italian aperitif limoncello.

Following are my notes on the wines tasted. Prices are estimated retail based on the distributor's list; actual street prices may be a bit lower.