Backyard Sipper

Happy Fourth! Right at this moment we are sipping the 2008 Zolo 'Gaucho Select' Torrontes. We don't generally take wine recommendations from cowboys, but maybe we should start because we're all liking this.

On the nose we found orange blossom, ripe melon (honeydew), honeysuckle, and pineapple--really ripe tropical pineapple. It's very clean on the palate with a nice lime essence pooling and spreading from the mid-palate. Very floral too with a long finish.

We enjoyed this wine with cheeses and even found it paired well with cherries! The bottle says the grapes were sustainably farmed and it was imported by Epic Wines of Aptos, CA: Aptos is one of my favorite home towns, so I like this wine all the more for the hometown connection.

We didn't buy this wine but, I understand it normally retails for around $16 but, this particular bottle was purchased on special for under $10. A great wine for a perfect summer afternoon!

$10 Tuesday: Mendoza Malbec

I got kind of burned out on super-extracted Dimetapp Malbecs last year so I haven't had one for a while. Fortunately, the Finca El Retiro 2006 Malbec isn't like that.

This Malbec is purple and fruit-forward as you would expect but, it doesn't have the concentrated fruit syrup finish you sometimes find on South American Malbecs. The label recommends decanting which is always sound advice. There's a lot of dark berry, some chocolate, and toasty almond on the nose.

On the palate we find blackberry, bramble, black cherry, raspberry, and more toasted almond. In terms of mouthfeel, I am reminded of something Temudjin's father told him to look for in a wife--"a round flat face." When paired with a marsala sauce, some anise characteristics made a brief but vivid appearance. There's also some mild meatiness on the finish.

Apparently, this wine might be hard to get in the UK. It seems that in 2002, the British importer Liberty Wines broke their commercial relationship with Tittarelli stating "we felt they no longer had a place on the UK market." We on the other hand, feel that there is always room for a new world Malbec that shows the above-average restraint in the genre that this wine does--especially, with a price tag of ten bucks.

Mendoza Bonarda

This wine really threw me for a loop. We originally purchased it at a South American wine tasting last winter at a local wine shop. We had tasted it at that time and found it's most notable characteristic to be floral aromas. Opening the bottle last night, floral was the least notable attribute--in fact it didn't even get noted. After two days, I still find it almost impossible to characterize this wine.

The ruby red color is impenetrable. The nose is slightly garish at first. The taste is unexpected--leather and chocolate in stark contrast to the cherry Ludens nose. The body is aqueous. The texture is unctuous. Overall, the impression this wine gives is very misterioso.

Colonia Las Liebres 2005

Grape Variety: Bonarda
Region: Mendoza, Argentina
Alcohol: 13.4%
Price: $9.99
Aromas: Blackberry, blueberry, mint, smoked meat, almond
Flavors: Leather, chocolate, raspberry, cola


Summary: An interesting and dynamic combination of flavor and texture. What it lacks in elegance it makes up for with exoticness. It's sort of El Mariachi meets Mia Wallace meets Hopsalot. A little bit wrong in that kitschy hip kind of way where wrong is so right.

Viognier Down Argentina Way

Continuing our two-part series Viognier Light and Gay; tonight we discuss a very affordable Argentine example. Okay, there is no series, and I just ripped the title off from the lyrics of "Down Argentina Way." Actually, such a title would be a bit of a misnomer since good examples of Viognier are typically full-bodied. Our wine tonight, Pie de Palo 2007 (available for ~$10) has a golden color of lighter intensity than our previous Vin de Pays example, but is no less aromatic. Again, there are tropical notes of lychee and pineapple, as well as, orange blossom. This Viognier also seems to have slightly higher acidity and is quite dry yet viscous. The flavors are more akin to orange pith and mineral. In fact, it reminds me a bit of flat tonic water in terms of flavor.

That being said, it is actually not as difficult to pair with food as the Vin de Pays example. Where our Vin de Pays was rather too delicate to have with food, our Argentine example serves as a blank canvas to which bold flavors may be applied. For example, a cheese that I've found to be quite discordant with wine in the past is green Chester Sage Derby: The Pie de Palo went quite nicely with it and performed as palate-cleanser.

I just want to tell you that I have never heard of the film or the song "Down Argentina Way" until 15 minutes ago when I was trying to come up with a title for this post and decided to google the phrase on a lark. In honor of this serendipitous occasion, I'm embedding a clip from the 1940 film featuring a blithe performance by Betty Grable. Enjoy.

Giving a Packie Another Try

Taster B wanted to do some food shopping. Most of the time she doesn’t want me along. When I shop it’s like executing a football play. Head for the produce, swing by the meat, pick up some pasta, cut over to the dairy, check for salsa sales and I’m done. With Taster B, it’s more like painting a landscape. Dabble over here, work on this section over there, and back to dabbling. This isn’t to say it should be done my way. No, we’re different. I drive her nuts. In order to preserve marital harmony, I proposed to go into the packie next door.

We’ve been to this packie several times, it’s a great place to buy beer. The last time we were in there was after our last trip to Sonoma. There was a young gal running a tasting of a couple of wines. She was keeping a smile on her face, but it was a tough crowd.

After a string of beer patrons verbalizing their dislike for the wine, I figured that she could use some good wine conversation. She was admittedly inexperienced and was fascinated with our evaluation of the chardonnay. “Hmmm…citrus, pineapple, pear, apple, oak…” I could see Taster B’s eyes roll in her head with that “there he goes again” look.

Behind the counter was a man in his early twenties. He had a Boston Red Sox cap on, a big fellow. He was interested in what we were discussing with the young lady. We purchased a bottle of the chardonnay. (It was actually nice, refreshing and good for the price.) The clerk behind the counter said, “I’m going to have to take a course.” That was last November.

When I went in, the same man was there with his Red Sox cap and we struck up a conversation. He asked me if he could help me find something. “Well, I’m interested in trying something different. I haven’t had much Malbec, what would you suggest.” Then he started to talk about the different Malbecs (with certainty and enthusiasm) and pointed out the Bundini and admitted that he didn’t know much about it. Then he pointed the Gascón Malbec and recommended this one. Something was different with this guy.



Then we small talked a bit. Seems that his boss has been sending him to a wine course, two hours per week and he’s learning about geographical regions, soil types, grapes…wow. Kudos to this him for doing this and I’m happy this packie is taking wine seriously.

Let’s see how he did with his recommendation.

Malbec
Gascón
Mendoza, Argentina
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14.2%
Price: $12.99

Color: Deep Garnet
Aromas: Pomegranate, cranberry, plum, violet, smoked meat
Flavors: Blueberry, mulberry, pomegranate, olive, charcoal, earth, anise, allspice, oak coffee, chocolate
Body: Full
Sweetness: Dry
Tannins: Leather
Finish: Long

Summary: A little tight at first but decanting opened it up. The flavors are rather striking. The dark Bing cherry, blueberry, mulberry, pomegranate and mocha are predominant. Decanting brought out the spiciness. This wine is bold in its flavors and is a little rough around the edges which decanting helped. This is a 2007 (keep in mind that Argentina harvest is in our springtime).


Tonight, we had authentic Mexican burritos. The Malbec paired perfectly. The wine is complex enough to be interesting. The color is marvelous. It is young and brash and demands food of this nature. Enjoy it with friends.

Susana Balbo Wines with Dinner

We spent another enjoyable evening at the Windward Grille with my co-workers last night. We had a few wine aficionados in the group and some that wanted to learn more. Our wines were all from Argentina, presented to us by Derek Ellerkamp of Ruby Wines Inc.


The dinner started off with Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes 2007. This unoaked white had notes of melon, litchi, apple, pear and a nice woody finish. This is a very clean and well balanced wine with moderate acidity. As the wine opened up, the lemon and grapefruit characteristics came through. This is a great wine that can be enjoyed on its own or with food. We had it with a spinach salad with Great Hill blue cheese.


After the salad course, we were presented with the Budini Chardonnay. Budini is the name of a wild cat from Argentina and a very appropriate name selection. The first sniff of this wine gave an earthy, mushroom smell (Uh-oh, usually not what I get excited about in a wine). Then there was a litchi-pineappley smell and something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until Taster B said, “Banana”. Boom. Fermented banana. In addition, pineapple, banana, clove, ginger, pear, marzipan/almond and rosemary aromas and flavors evolved. This wine had a lot of discord going on, although it harmonized when paired with a stuffed portabello mushroom appetizer. This chardonnay definitely needs food.


Next we were presented Crios Rosé of Malbec which is the third rosé we've had in the past week. This Malbec Rosé was a surprise. Earth notes gave way to cranberry, pomegranate, a little bit of bacon that quickly went away, (what was that?) strawberry, black pepper, and mineral. This little wine had it going on.

A lot of folks still poo-poo Rosé. Some of us think that we are going to see Rosé come back as people let go of the past plonky abomination White Zin that scared (or drove) them off. The trick is to appreciate a Rosé for what it is. You can't compare it to a big tannic red. You wouldn’t compare French Fries to you grandmother’s lasagna, right?

Next, Derek presented us with the Bundini Malbec. Once there were 40,000 acres of Malbec planed in Argentina. During the 1970’s, the wine industry was under the suppression of the Argentinian government that was on mission to plow in the vineyards. Today, about 20,000 acres are planted to Malbec. Malbec is the grape that put Argentina on the wine map. In Mendoza, the thin skin grapes take a long time to grow and these develop into flavorful wines with the long season.


The Bundini Malbec 2007 presented vanilla, chocolate/mocha, woody notes, cherry, elderberry, allspice, anise and licorice. Definitely New World boldness with that highly extracted, almost inky color, suede tannins and nice fruit and paired nicely with Filet Mignon. This is a big wine and I’m a little surprised to be drinking a wine where the ink on the label isn’t dry yet. It might tame down in the next couple of years. I don’t think it has the bones to go much longer than that.


Finishing up the night, we had Tiramisu and Ferreira 8 yr. Dona Antonia Port. This Portuguese offering was smooth and sweet, with silky tannins and bold cherry flavor with a nutty finish. I’m not a big port fan, but this one might be good to keep on hand just in case in never warms up in Massachusetts. It paired nicely with the Tiramisu.

Pascual Toso Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

The cool thing about Argentina and Chile is that they are not locked into one type of aging. Whites are fermented in stainless steel and aged in used oak. Yum. We tasted wine that had an obvious oak influence with smoke and toast. We tried the next wine and it is reminiscent of a Piemonte blend aged in Slovenian oak. It’s just a fun region to explore. I had tasting notes on some 23 wines, which ones I liked, which ones I didn’t, which were balanced, and which were oaky-smokey. As Taster B pointed out, I left the notes on the counter. My atonement is to open one of the bottles I was “saving for later” and get some tasting notes going.

Pasucal Toso Cabernet Sauvignon is produced on the Las Barrancas Estate in the Mendoza region of Argentina. This a an exciting wine to try because 2006 is an excellent year for Argentina. As Taster B reported, we tasted this wine at The Vineyard in N. Andover. Both Taster B and I enjoyed this at first sip. The color is rich, dark ruby red. This wine was a little tight, but after breathing for a while, it opened up. It was certain that we were not leaving until we secured this wine.

The South American wines are a blend of the New World and Old World. The immigrants are French, Italian and German. They bring with them the old world techniques. I’m really excited to have this wine, it is a good bridge between both worlds. It is suggested to drink this throughout 2008, but I think it can go another year.

Cabernet Sauvignon
Pascual Toso
Maipu Vineyards, Mendoza, Argentina
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14.0
Price: $12.99

Color: Ruby Red
Intensity: Medium
Aromas: Strawberry, cherry, raisin, struck flint, smoked meat
Flavors: Strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, cherry, earth, vanilla, coffee, allspice and cedar.
Body: Full
Sweetness: Moderately dry
Tannins: Silky
Finish: Long

Summary: This New World wine is fruit forward with a a perfection of oak-vanilla notes and berry flavors. There are nice cedar tastes and allspice in the long finish. This is an excellent wine for its price. It may not be the biggest or the most extracted but that is the charm of this wine. This is the Old World influence at work. It goes well with food without dominating it.


Tonight, we are having a pot roast that Taster B put into a crock pot earlier. This is an ideal pairing with this wine. This would go great with fajitas, burritos, beans and rice, Cajun, and lamb. A little dark chocolate after dinner makes a nice ending to the day.

Tasting Wines from Chile & Argentina

The Vineyard's "Big Taste of South America" tasting on Sunday, March 9th featured 24 wines from Chile and Argentina. I want to start out by stating that this was a very organized tasting: We were provided with a handy price list to refer to throughout the tasting which also doubled as an order sheet for efficient check-out at the counter. Taster A was very thorough with the note-taking (on the back of the price list). After we tasted everything we took our price list to the counter, had our order filled, and walked out…without Taster A’s notes (which we discovered after we got home much to his chagrin)! So, now I am writing up the event instead of him since I made a point of making mental note of the highlights (because I wasn’t taking notes).


Table One: Gary Ballard, Classic Wine Imports

Bodega Lurton Pinot Gris, Mendoza Argentina
Santa Ema Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Chile
Santa Ema Chardonnay 2006, Chile
Bodega Lurton Torrontes, Mendoza Argentina
Santa Ema Cabernet 2006, Chile
Colonia La Liebres Bonarda, Mendoza Argentina
Altos Las Hornigas Malbec, Mendoza Argentina
Michel Rolland Clos de Los Siete 2006, Mendoza Argentina
Santa Ema Reserve Merlot 2004, Chile


Table Two: Joe Nardone, Classic Wine Imports

Montes Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Casablanca-Curico, Chile
Montes Chardonnay 2006 Curico Valley, Chile
Montes "Cherub" Rose of Syrah 2007Colchagua Valley, Chile
Montes Merlot 2006 Colchagua Valley, Chile
Montes Cabernet/Carmenere 2006, Chile
Kaiken Malbec 2006, Mendoza Argentina
Kaiken Ultra Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza Argentina
Montes Alpha Syrah 2006 Apalta Vnyd. Colchagua, Chile


Table Three: Prescott Hobson, TGIC Imports

Pascual Toso Sparkling NV, Mendoza Argentina
Pascual Toso Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Mendoza Argentina
Pascual Toso Chardonnay 2007, Mendoza, Argentina
Pascual Toso Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Mendoza Argentina
Bodega Norton Reserve Cab 2005, Mendoza Argentina
Pascual Toso Reserva Malbec 2005, Mendoza Argentina
Bodega Norton "Privada" 2005, Mendoza Argentina

A lot of very nice wines in the $8-$25 range were shown. I won't do a comprehensive review of every wine poured at this event as I didn’t take notes but, here are some highlights:

The Whites
One of the bottles we walked away with was the Montes Sauvignon Blanc 2006. This was an exemplary Sauvignon Blanc with lemon and grapefruit on the nose. The palate echoed the citrus notes found on the nose and was crisp and without the mushroom notes often present in Sauvignon Blanc. Joe told us that they employ judicious use of neutral oak on this wine just to take the edge off. There was no detectable oak, just a lack of sharpness that is often found in 100% stainless steel Sauvignon Blanc.

Torrontés is a representative grape of Argentina and well known, however, this was our first sample of the floral white grape. I got lilac along with citrus notes on the nose.

The Reds
Another bottle that came home with us was the attractively priced Colonia La Liebres Bonarda ($8.99 after our $1 Cabernet Credit). This was our first sample of Bonarda and we found it shared some characteristics in common with ruchè, with rose (among other things) on the nose. This wine definitely had some Italian-like characteristics which made it very popular with us--of course!

So, we were standing at Station 2 working on some Malbec, when we heard a fellow taster nearby quip “I wonder if it’s micro-oxygenated.” Taster A and I were wondering what she detected in the taste that told her it was micro-oxygenated...then we looked at our sheet and realized that she was already working on the Michel Rolland Clos de Los Siete 2006. This is note-worthy to us as it was our first knowing sampling of Michel’s wine-making technique. Whatever might be said about this well known consultant, the guy knows how to make a tasty wine, and yes, it most certainly must have seen micro-oxygenation. By the way, this wine received a 90 point score from Robert Parker.

While we didn’t go home with any this time, the Kaiken wines were quite good. The Malbec 2006 holds the distinction of being the first Malbec that Taster A (not a Malbec fan) liked. The Ultra Cabernet Sauvignon had a nose reminiscent of a Port, and was surprisingly structured on the palate.

The third and final bottle we took home from this event was the Pascual Toso Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. I think my exact words were “this is my comfort wine.” For those of you who’ve seen Ratatouille, when I took the first sniff of this wine, I was like Anton Ego after his first bite of Remy’s Ratatouille: *whoosh* right back: in my case to a California winery (in Ego’s case, to his mother’s French country kitchen). I’m not going into this one any more than that because Taster A’s consolation for missing out on doing this write-up himself is that he gets to do a full-length post on this Cab.

Taster B (that’s me) also picked up a few items from the selection of Gourmet goodies. A good time, and many a good wine, was had by all!