Icons of the Andes

There are many ways to shop for wine.

One, is to read reviews as posted in the store.

Two, ask your local wine buyer for advice. (I highly recommend this)

Three, by the label. (Insert Charlie Brown Ugh)

Four, by the importer. What, you never heard of that one? Trust me, it is a good technique. If you see a name like Kermit Lynch, Terry Thiese, Robert Kacher, Grapes of Spain or TGIC Importers on the back label, odds are in your favor you’ve got a fine bottle of wine in your hand. Each have their own specialty and I could go on, but this post is focused on one, the only one with a link, TGIC Importers.

Tuesday night, Hinton’s Wine Store played host to two seated tastings of South American wines. Tickets were $10 per person if you are a member of their connoisseur club, $25 if not. There were 25 wines offered, with a heavy emphasis on the bigger reds. It was a bit disappointing to not see some of the other varietals represented, especially Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, both of which are doing well in Chile. The tasting was put on by TGIC and was called, Icon of the Andes. A fitting name since the mountain range forms a natural border between the two countries.

I didn’t try to sample every wine, as the tasting was scheduled for 1 1/2 hours, which means about 4 minutes per wine. Several of them I’d already had, some were not of interest (e.g. Chardonnays) and others I just didn’t get to. After all, we were there with friends and wine is more about the social than the drunk, though I did run into one example where the reverse was true.

Here were the highlights for me:

2008 Pascual Toso Malbec $12.99

Two vintages back, this wine was picked as the #1 value wine by Wine Enthusiast. Then the prices went up and well, it became less interesting and less of a deal. Now that the price has come down a couple bucks, this is once again a good deal. This is made in a very crowd pleasing, easy to drink style that typifies why Malbec is the wunderkid for Argentine wine. Packed with smooth black fruits and hints of smoke, this could be your burger’s best bud. I thought this was the best Malbec for the money.

2008 Achaval Ferrer Mendoza Malbec $21.99

This was my favorite Malbec of the evening and I think with a bit more air time, it would have show even better. A harmonious blend of red raspberry, boysenberry and mineral, this wine has very concentrated without being heavy. The acidity gave it long lasting buoyancy, driving the finish well into the 30+ second mark. If I wanted to brand purple with a flavor, I’d consider this wine.

2007 Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon $17.98

I’m not sure why the wine was so heavily discounted, but for $18, I’d put this up against any other Cabernet Sauvignon in the $30 and under range. A great mix of old and new world, with an aromatic profile that leaned old, with more of that new world lush fruit on the palate. The flavors finished more old world, with a great combination of whiskey barrel, tobacco and a single grind of black pepper to complement the black currant fruit. I immediately craved steak au poivre.

2007 Montes Alpha Syrah Apalta Vineyard $17.98

Imagine this: a dimly lit coffee bar, a steady rain and bolts of lightning crashing outside. Picture a gentleman sitting by himself in the corner, a bolero and black trench coat cloaking him from sight, cigar in one hand, black coffee in the other. That is this wine. Dark, brooding, with a heavy emphasis on roasted flavors derived from the oak. If you don’t like oak, skip it.

2006 Montes Purple Angel $49.99

I’m so glad I have a sample of this. This was poured from a decanter, though I did neglect to find out how long it had been opened. A blend of 92% Carménère and 8% Petite Verdot, this was a stellar wine, but at a commanding price. Perhaps one of the top two or three examples of Chile’s claim to wine fame grape, this wine definitely will benefit from big food or more nap time, say another two years. There was a big nose of blueberry preserves, peppercorns (yes, I got this in all the Montes wines…sue me) and tobacco leaf, with a mouth gripping flavor of more dark berries, coffee and minerality, all wrapped up in silky tannins. An outstanding wine, but for $50, it better be.

2007 Santa Ema Amplus One $21.99 – WINE OF THE NIGHT

This marks the third vintage of this wine that I’ve had and it always delivers a great wine for the money. Once again, Carménère is the star, making up 75% of the blend. The balance is 20% Syrah and 5% Carignan, a grape you don’t see very often. I love the mix of dark red fruits, smoked meat, black pepper and tobacco. I have found every vintage of this wine to be consistently agreeable to my palate, so be aware of that bias. Later on, as the evening was winding down, my friend asked if what he was smelling in the wine was maple syrup. I said not quite, but I could definitely detect a note of caramelization. I didn’t get that, so I’m not sure if it was bottle variation or just the fact the wine had opened up a bit more. Either way, it was a pleasing aroma.

There were some other really good wines and varying opinions on what was good and what wasn’t, but I think everyone found at least a few wines they enjoyed. I know a few people even tried Carménère for the first time and enjoyed it.

Overall, I think Chile is a “better” wine region, primarily because you find more variety. Argentina is still fairly reliant on Malbec and while they have put a lot of effort into Torrontes, I personally think it will always be a niche grape. With Chile, you just have more variety from which to choose. While I was shot down on Twitter over this remark, I still think Malbec could end up “shirazing” itself.

I highly recommend you explore your local store’s offerings from these two great wine producing regions. If you like California, you’ll find more pleasure in Argentina. European wine aficionados should explore Chilean wines, which is really probably the most old world of the new world producing nations. Next time this event comes around, I really hope they bring out some Sauv Blancs and Pinot Noirs, as I think people would really be surprised.

Thanks again to all those who put on the event.

Cheers!

To kick things off...

Saturday night was a cause for celebration.

Okay, more like a post-event celebration, since the actual event we were celebrating had happened earlier in the week. A close friend of ours was celebrating her birthday and our present was to provide dinner, along with the wine. Nothing fancy, just a simple feast of grilled rib-eyes, bacon wrapped scallops, roasted potatoes and mushrooms with cheese (I forget what kind…but it was good…and that is all that ever matters). Oh yeah, there was also a Whole Foods bakery Tiramisù cake.

The kick off wine was, but of course, a Champagne. The funny thing was, it was actually one I purchased myself. You see, grower Champagnes are pretty much impossible for a guy like me to get samples on. At least, that has been my experience so far.

It was a 2003 René Geoffroy Empreinte, a wine that I purchased at Tower on Piedmont for $49.99. 2003 was generally a bad year in Champagne, with a crop demolishing frost in spring and scorching temperatures in summer that sent the wines into sugar shock, leeching life preserving acidity from the picture. Okay, that is an oversimplification, but overall, it wasn’t a good year for most Champagne producers. All of us found this wine in tip top shape, with a soft and round palate being the one clue to the year. It wasn’t overly soft, just enough to make it a very nice apéritif to go with cheese and crackers. Flavors were lightly honey misted apples with a slight toastiness. Overall, an above average Champagne.

Next up came the first red and for me, the WOTN (wine of the night). It was a bottle of 2004 Concha y Toro Terrunyo Carménère that I’ve had for a few years. I don’t remember how long I’ve had it, but it has probably been around 2 years. I think the retail was around $35, though it sells for closer to $40 in the current release.

This is a premier example of the Carménère grape variety, with a fantastic interplay of green pepper, herbs, tobacco and rich black fruits. A strong presence of green bell pepper is something I find off-putting in this variety, but I also find its absence displeasurable as well. The wine had soft, almost imperceptable tannins and enough acid to keep it from feeling flat. I’d say the wine is prime to drink right now, though I’m sure it will stay quite tasty for at least a few more years. My only regret with this wine is not having more of it to drink. Check out the video and see how much sediment this puppy throws when you get to the “dregs”. Outstanding wine and one that never disappoints in any vintage I’ve ever sampled.

For dinner, we went the 2003 Seavey Caravina Cabernet Sauvignon. Another bottle I’ve had for a few years and I wanted to drink. I tend to go for Napa wines in their youth, preferring their luscious fruit, but not wanting to wrestle with overbearing tannins. From what I remembered, this was one of my sensei’s great value gems from Napa. A second label wine that was as good as the “big” wine, but at a more budget friendly price. I don’t remember what the wine went for, but I’m pretty sure it was in the $30s when I did buy it. I’m not sure what it retails for (I haven’t seen it at all anywhere lately) now, but the winery sells it for $55.

Plush, with black currant, grilled herbs, a touch of gravel and a dusting of cocoa powder in the long finish. This wine runs between worlds, with obvious oak and fruit laying claim to the New World, but with the finesse of a Bordeaux. California fans will still favor this, as I think most Bordeaux fans just don’t like this much fruit, which while present, isn’t overwhelming or jammy in nature. Time has and will continue to be kind to this wine. Another mark in the outstanding column, though I still found it just a smidge behind the Concha y Toro.

To conclude the meal, our guests opened up a bottle of 2004 Alvear Pedro Ximénez Montilla-Moriles de añada, an intensely flavored dessert style sherry. Again, not my usual sort of wine to have with the finish of a meal, as the alcohol is something that just pervades the nose and keeps things a bit out of balance for me. This wine belongs on pancakes. For me, it was like drinking raisin and fig reduction, cooked down to the consistency of motor oil. The alcohol was overwhelming and throws the wine out of balance. One might try it with ice cream to cut the burn. Overall, it was good, but not a wine I’d personally seek out. I’ll stick to my late harvest styles thank you.

So, there concludes our intercontinental wine adventure. Four wines, four countries, three continents and overall, quite a worthy excursion. Cheers!

2007 Montes Alpha Carménère

Remember the Wine of Chile online tasting post I did months ago? No, well, just click here if you missed out on that one. It wasn’t too long after that that I received some free samples (and an offer that I responded to, but somehow lost touch with that person…who was my old WSET teacher…if you are reading this Ophelia, please email me…back on track) of Montes wines, courtesy of their PR firm, Cornerstone Communications. I’ve already reviewed one of the wines, the ὑπέρ-expensive and equally delicious Folly, their premier Syrah. This is the second of three samples (i.e. I didn’t pay for this wine) and not to spoil it, but one of the most surprisingly delicious wines I’ve had in quite a while.

We were having dinner that night with a friend, someone who we have over every once in a while because he doesn’t have a grill. I’d actually wanted buffalo, so I was having that instead of the cow. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some charred dead moo moo, but the tatonka just seemed to be more appealing that day at the grocery store.

This wine was decanted for a few hours and served in Riedel Pinot glasses because that is the only thing (besides flutes of course) that we have more than two of. The nose was gorgeous, with copious amounts of rich, ripened black fruits that were obviously from somewhere besides California. Imagine crushed blackberries and plums sitting inside an old whiskey barrel, with some black and green peppercorns thrown in for spice. In the mouth, it was dense, but no indication of being blowsy or out of balance. There were moderate tannins and nice acid, providing a strong core that should allow this wine (if you can wait) to age quite nicely. A heavenly mix of blackberry, espresso and peppery spice were superb and the only bad thing was having just the one bottle. Someone once told me that wine was the final sauce for food and this wine is a perfect example of that sentiment. Easily worth the money (around $27 – 30 I think) and a good, not great, value. For those of you who stick to Cabernet sauvignon or clarets for steak, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of this. Outstanding.

Haiku
Carménère grape
Whiskey barrel spicy fruit
Bring on tatonka

Cheers and have a happy Saturday!

Carménère is the star of this tasting and I think she took everyone by surprise, ala Robert Downey Jr. did in Ironman. Of course, you have probably heard the story of this particular grape and how it is called the lost grape of Bordeaux. Blah, blah, blah. It doesn’t matter and if it really does, just click here for the Google search.

This particular event was an online tasting hosted by Wines of Chile, a trade group whose sole purpose is, you guessed it, promoting the quality wines of Chile. I’m sure most of you have had a Chilean wine. It was probably made by Concha y Toro and if nothing else, I’m sure you have at least seen their famous mid-level priced series Casillero del Diablo.

The beauty of this tasting was the fact the winemakers were all together in the same room and we could watch them on video. The bad thing was, you had to call in to hear the audio. We didn’t have a speaker phone to use and I didn’t want to burn cell phone minutes. The other downer was the chat box was really small and trying to Tweet about the topic, while watching the fast flowing microscopic chat box was just all too much. Beyond those little niggly issues, the wines were overall an excellent selection and proof that the quality of Carménère from Chile has vastly improved.

Now, onto the quickie notes.

2007 Santa Carolina Reserva Carménère SRP = $10 Chocolate & espresso on top of ripe red fruit, with faint hints of bell pepper on the nose which make NO appearance on the palate.

2007 Odfjell Armador Carménère SRP = $13 My wife liked this one, I didn’t care for it as much. Based on what everyone else had to say, I must have missed out, because their notes sound really good. I may have to buy a bottle and give it a whirl with a nice steak.

2007 Viu Manent Carménère Reserva SRP = $14 Two strikes on this one. The overwhelming green nose was something I just couldn’t get past. It also had a very alcoholic finish and was just out of balance. This is the only wine I’d probably actually go out of my way to avoid. One review site said this would be too much for beginners. Me, I just thought it was too much period.

2007 Cono Sur Vision Carménère SRP = $15 Loads of berry and pepper, with a nice acidity to make it really diverse with food. This was a welcome follow up and was really quite good. This would work well with a nicely crusted black pepper steak. This was a blend, with 85% Carménère, 9% Cabernet sauvignon and 6% Syrah.

2008 Vina La Rosa La Capitana Barrel Reserve Carménère SRP = $18 This was a big hit with us. As my wife put it, it tasted like “smoked Mexican chocolate”. It had loads of black berry fruits to go along with the chocolatey goodness, was smooth and round, with a very easy drinking style. I’m sure if you threw this into a blind tasting, it would take folks by surprise.

2007 Ventisquero Grey Carménère SRP = $25 Another blend, with a composition of 85% Carménère, 7.5% Syrah and 7.5% Cabernet sauvignon. We both felt like this needed some aeration to open it up a bit, as it seemed a little tight to us. This was one of the first to show a much more old world feel, with more earthy tones on the nose, but balanced with some fruit on the palate. Overall, didn’t care for this one.

2007 Terra Andina Altos Carménère SRP = $19 A big departure, this was 60% Carménère and 40% Carignan, a grape I’ve not seen used in Chile. I associate this with Priorat and Monstant more than anywhere else. This was really good, as it tasted like cherry cough syrup (in a good way) with licorice, blueberry and as one other person said (sorry, I forget who!), flat cola. Drink now.

2004 Carmen Wine Maker’s Reserve Red SRP = $44 A blend of 45% Cabernet sauvignon, 25% Carménère, 14.5% Merlot, 8.5% Syrah and 7% Petite Sirah, this was the most distinctive wine of the lot. This was as many others put it, Bordeaux like, with a very strong sense of earth. Imagine roasting some herb rubbed figs over cedar fired hot rocks and there you go. This is for the old world fans, as secondary notes are the real stars here. I’d love to have had this by itself and not at the end of a rushed tasting.

Overall, it was surprising even for me to taste the quality of these wines. I’ve had some good Carménère before, but hadn’t had any of these particular wines before, though I have had the Viu Manent in a previous vintage. With the cooler weather coming, you should definitely check out your local wine shop’s Chilean section and look beyond the usual suspects.

As for local availability, I know Viu Manent, Cono Sur, Odfjell and Terra Andina are all distributed here in Georgia, but that is about all I know.

Here are what other participants had to say:

Stacy Slinkard of About.com

Decatur Wine and Food Dude

1WineDude

WineFoot

Wine Peeps

Carmen who? You know what, I’m wasn’t really sure how to pronounce it either, so I Googled it. Well, that didn’t really help since there were multiple answers. So, I reached out to a recently made acquaintance who I thought would know and turns out, the correct pronunciation is Car-men-yair (rhymes with hair). Who knew I was right all along? UPDATE: You will see I was corrected down in the comments section and I confirmed this via someone with a Chilean winery through Twitter. So, the correct pronunciation is indeed Car-men-air.

So, what exactly is this funny sounding grape? It is often referred to as the “lost grape of Bordeaux”. See, Bordeaux currently only allows 5 different grapes to be used in the production of the red wines. I’m sure most of you already know this, but here is the list regardless: Merlot, Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Petit verdot and Malbec. Turns out that Carménère didn’t fare so well in Bordeaux, but it made its way to the land far, far away known as Chile (amongst other places). Did you know Chile is one of the only wine regions in the world that has never suffered from phylloxera? Here, it was planted and intermixed with Merlot. Apparently they are hard to distinguish from one another in the vineyards. The blending of the two is what gave Chilean Merlot a distinctive flavor, apart from what might be normal for purely terroir reasons.

In 1994, a French ampelographer (a botanist specializing in the identification and classification of grapes) by the name of Jean Michel Boursiquot uncovered the truth about what was really growing on the vines. This set the stage for Chilean winemakers to rally around this “lost grape of Bordeaux” as their own flagship grape. They were looking for their equivalent to what New Zealand had done with Sauvignon blanc and Argentina with Malbec. While I’d say they are still far from succeeding (I don’t see a lot of buzz or top seller lists with Carménère on them), they are producing some nice wines that deserve your attention.

Santa Rita is a winery I’ve known of for a long time. One of my earliest value wine purchases was their 120 series, the Cabernet sauvignon being my first bottle. I used to sell a ton of the 120 Sauvignon blanc, it was $5 a bottle and the perfect white wine for cooking, plus it drank well. Never cook with something you won’t drink and stick to unoaked when your recipe calls for a dry white wine.

Price: I received this as a press sample, but you should find it for somewhere around $10 in the local Atlanta market.

Aromas: I imagine that if you took some blackberries, then smoked them with some chunks of green bell peppers in the fire, you’d sort of capture what this wine smelled like. The bell pepper is the one characteristic of this grape which is always its undoing for me, since I can’t stand the smell of them. In this one, it was very mild and wafted in and out of range, leaving primarily smoky black fruit as the primary impression. Off to a good start.

Palate: More black fruits with herbal and pepper notes, joined later by faint hints of anise. At 13.5% ABV, there was no sign of heat and it wasn’t a wine that was tasking to finish the bottle. It was supple and smooth, with gentle acids that refreshed the palate. This wine had been decanted for 2 hours at first glass and we polished it off over 2 hours more.

Final word: I think this is a solid value and a great introduction to the varietal. You can pair this with a variety of foods and if you love bell pepper, I think pepper steak would be a perfect match. For those who love grilled veggies, this is another winner. I used to sell this varietal to a lot of folks who loved Merlot, advertising it as the spicy, smoky alternative. Overall, I’d say this was an above average wine at a reasonable price. It pushes a new world expression of the grape, but doesn’t mask what makes it distinctive, a difficult to achieve balance with this varietal.

Haiku:
Herbal tinged black fruit
What was lost is found again
A smoky finish