Old World vs. New World

This week's class at San Francisco Wine Center was a comparison of Old World (Europe) and New World (everywhere else) wines, and I donated a sample of Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling 2009 to the cause! The 2009 Dry Riesling was recently released, and I am very proud of this wine because I helped make it during my time working at Wiemer. I sorted the grapes, monitored the fermentation, racked the wine, contributed my sensory opinion in putting together the final blend from our 3 Riesling vineyard sites, filtered, bottled and labeled it. Last night, we pinned it against a German Kabinett Riesling from the Rheingau and I thought the Wiemer showed fantastically. I was excited to share this wine with the other employees at the SFWC and the students in the class.

The rest of the comparisons were interesting and intriguing:

Elegant white Burgundy led the way for creamy California Chardonnay:
Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Folatières 1er Cru 2009 (Cote de Beaune, Burgundy) vs. Deovlet Soloman Hills Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay 2009 (Santa Barbara, CA)

Delicate Pinots from Burgundy and Oregon stumped many:
Erath Estate Selection Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2008 (Oregon) vs. Domaine Jacques Prieur Beaune Champs-Pimont 1er Cru 2008 (Cote de Beaune, Burgundy)

Popular Argentine Malbec found its roots in Cahors, France:
Château du Cèdre Cahors 2007 (Cahors, Southwest France) vs. Norton Malbec Reserva 2007 (Mendoza, Argentina)

Cabernet-dominated Margaux confused the California Cab drinker:
Blason D’Issan Margaux 2007 (Bordeaux, France) vs. Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (Napa Valley, CA)

Updates on my favorite Argentine wine - Los Vencejos

The Los Vencejos Aleteo 2006 is now available! This Reserve Tempranillo from Argentina spent 2 years in barrel and 2 years in bottle before release. I blogged/raved about it in February when I tried it. It's $22/btl and available at www.losvencejos.com.

Also, the delicious Los Vencejos Malbec 2007 is on sale for $18/btl. Remember this one got 90 points from Wine Spectator. A steal now and definitely one for the table and the cellar. Salud!

Oh, Fournier

Back in the province of Mendoza we visited the impressive property of Spanish implant O. Fournier, just down the road from Los Vencejos in La Consulta, Uco Valley. The ultra modern facility has 3 levels and is gravity-driven. The grapes are received on the 2nd level and sorted into large tanks that live on the 1st level. The 3rd level has the lab and tasting room, which is equipped with a dentist-style sink around the table for cleaner tastings. The huge cellar doubles as an art gallery, which seems to be a trend down here. There is also, of course, a restaurant. We had our best wine lunch yet at O. Fournier.

First course was some amazing steak tartar, the best I've ever had. The steak was chopped really small with scallions mixed in. This went really well with the Urban Uco Sauvignon Blanc 2009, which had smooth flavors of pineapple and lemon. Next was a delicious corn soup that complemented the Urban Uco Torrontes 2009, which had classic aromas/flavors of orange blossom and musk.

For our main courses Peter got veal ragout with potatoes and truffle oil and I had ginger lemon risotto. The veal was great with O. Fournier's Alpha Crux 2002, a blend of 60%Tempranillo, 35%Malbec and 5%Merlot, which was a heavy, oaky wine with dark fruit, vanilla, and meaty flavors. It got 93 points from Wine Spectator and sells for US$110 a bottle. It was a good wine, no doubt, but heavy.

The risotto was resilient, matching well with the Urban Uco line of wines: the aforementioned Sauvignon Blanc and Torrontes, as well as the Tempranillo 2007, which had really nice red berry fruit. It also went well with the B Crux 2003, a blend of 60%Tempranillo, 20%Malbec, 10%Merlot and 10%Syrah, which was unfiltered and had luscious flavors of red fruit, spice, and dark chocolate. It got 91 points from Wine Spectator and sells for US$55 a bottle. The B Crux was my favorite wine of the tasting.

For dessert, there were 2. First was a melon sorbet that made me wonder why I don't like honeydew more. It was so ripe and refreshing. Second was a somewhat bizarre coffee/chocolate ravioli with ice cream and orange jam. It went great with the Torrontes and the Alpha Crux, but the best part was the translation. In Spanish they called it "Pasta de cafe rellena de chocolate con helado de reduccion de leche y coulis de naranja," which in English was described as "Raviolis of coffee released of chocolate cream and milk reduction ice cream and orange coulis." We are still laughing about this! Released of chocolate...

A delicious, memorable lunch. We enjoyed all the wines and dishes. Felicitaciones, O. Fournier!

Los Vencejos Aleteo 2006 World Premiere

Introducing Los Vencejos Aleteo 2006: you saw it here first! This wine will be released for sale in the U.S. in the spring (for $22.50 a bottle at http://www.losvencejos.com/) after 2 years in French oak and 2 years in bottle. It is 100% Tempranillo, and Aleteo means 'wingbeat.' Luscious and juicy, full of ripe cherry on the nose, the palate gives way to a complex melange of chocolate, cherry and clove spice. The finish: lingering and long, it begs for another sip. I love this wine.

A day after opening, the Aleteo had an intoxicating aroma of fresh cinnamon buns with chocolate raspberry on the palate. Full and balanced, this wine could be held another several years thanks to the lively fruit and smooth tannin.

Well done, Peter!

Another ridiculously good looking lunch

The Park Hyatt Mendoza looks like it should be a fancy government building, and it has a great terrace overlooking the main town square. Peter and I had lunch there when we got back from BA and it was another ridiculously good looking lunch. We got the 12-sampler tasting menu with a glass of wine each; Peter got the Alta Vista Torrontes 2009 and I got the Melipal Malbec Rose 2009.

The Torrontes was classic with musk and orange blossom. The producer has property right behind Peter in La Consulta, but the Torrontes comes from Salta. We've been trying to figure out why Torrontes isn't more popular and I thought maybe it is difficult to match with food. But it went well with many of the dishes we had, including sweetbreads, blue cheese w. honey, parmesan w. paprika, and fried calamari.

The Malbec rose had a smoky nose of cured meat and red berry. It was more fuller bodied and deeper in color than most roses I've had. It had good acidity and went with a lot of the dishes, most notably the grilled shrimp, salmon carpaccio and beef carpaccio.

Another day in Mendoza, another slothful lunch... or so I don't feel so guilty about it... another exercise in wine and food pairing.

Wine in BsAs

We drank some great wine in Buenos Aires last week. Most notable was the 1998 Montchenot from Bodegas Lopez in Mendoza. It was a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot and Malbec. The alcohol was only 12.5%, which is low for this area (and nice to see). This wine was beautiful and elegant. Because of the age it was well-developed and super smooth, with a pretty strawberry pie character. Peter knows this wine and he said it spends a long time in big vats and is not released for several years; it's a traditional Argentine, slightly oxidized style.

Another interesting wine was a Cab Franc from Angelica Zapata (a line from Bodega Catena Zapata). It was fresh and smooth with typical character - green pepper, red fruit - but we realized an even more perfect descriptor as we drank it: beets! As soon as I said it we knew it worked. I'm looking forward to finding this characteristic in future Cab Francs.

Finally we had the 2009 Miraflor Torrontes by Michel Rolland from the Salta region, where we will soon be going. We found it to be very elegant and showing good typicity of the grape. It was very fragrant with pronounced orange blossom. We loved it, and it made us look forward to our pending trip up there!

Green harvest

At Peter's vineyard we did a little green harvesting, or fruit thinning, of the Tempranillo. We eliminated bunches so that a smaller amount of fruit could develop more fully. It was kind of sad to drop so many beautiful bunches, but I know it'll be good for the wine in the end - having fewer bunches means the remaining grapes will have more intense flavors. We fed some of the fallen bunches to the sheep, so that was good too.

I found the most beautiful bird´s nest in one of the plants I was working on. It had 4 small turquoise speckled eggs in it. We went back later to get a photo and the mother bird, which is a Chingolo, was there and flew off when she saw us, so we snapped a quick one and left so she could return.

We worked for a few hours in the morning and then took a break for lunch and a siesta. I now understand and appreciate the whole siesta thing. It is too hot in the afternoon to work outside, so everyone rests and then goes back to work around 5pm til about 8pm, when it's cooler. The sun doesn't go down until around 10pm, so everyone works late and eats late.

It seems like people here should be heavier since they are always eating and then sleeping, but they're not - must be all that farmwork.

Barrel Sampling at Los Vencejos

Peter and I went to check on his wine, which is vinified and aged at Finca La Luz in the Uco Valley, south of the city of Mendoza (but still part of the Mendoza wine region). We barrel-sampled his Malbec and Tempranillo, contrasting oak types and ages and getting a sense for how the flavors are developing.

*Malbec 2009 in French first-use oak: black pepper and dark fruit; layers of complexity forming.
*Malbec 2009 in French second-use oak: more pronounced fruit with more elegant body.
*Tempranillo 2009 in American first-use oak: cherry cola and smooth tannin.
*Tempranillo 2009 in French first-use oak: a hint of clove with red cherry.
*Tempranillo 2008 in Hybrid (French and American) first-use oak: clove and baking spices, like mulled cider; evolved into eucalyptus and blackberry jam; very complex and exciting.

All the wines were very tasty and interesting. We were pretty jazzed about the Tempranillo in general because it is very unique (it's a mainstay grape in Spain but here in Argentina it's Malbec most of the time). In a few days we'll be bottling the Tempranillo 2008 and then it will age in bottle for another 2 years.

The 2009s will stay in barrel for at least another year before bottling. If you can't wait that long, Los Vencejos Tempranillo 2007 and Malbec 2007 are available at www.losvencejos.com.

Meat me in Mendoza (Part 1)

After a thrilling all-day busride over the Andes, Peter and I reunited and spent the weekend in Mendoza, Argentina, enjoying the meat and Malbec. First up was a really elegant Angelica Zapata 2004 Malbec, a product of the successful Bodega Catena Zapata. Bright fruit with balanced alcohol and acidity made this a treat both with and without the meat.

At a visit to Achaval Ferrer, one of the top Malbec producers, I learned about their very interesting way of de-alcoholizing their wine. They said because of the heat their Malbec gets super ripe and can get up to 17-18% alcohol, which is too high, so to bring it down to a more reasonable 13-14% they have fans blowing over the juice as it is fermenting, helping to evaporate the alcohol. This is fascinating to me. Their yields are very low to concentrate the flavors in the grapes, which explains why the vines looked so sparse as we were driving in - only a few bunches per plant. We also learned that you should age your wine without the foil capsule on it so you can see how the cork is holding up. If you see that you have a leaky cork, better drink the wine!

















We tasted one of Achaval Ferrer's single vineyard Malbecs, Finca Bella Vista, from 2007. This wine goes for over $100 a bottle in the US. It was super concentrated with flavors of blackberry and licorice. They also had a nice blend called Quimera (also 2007) that was Malbec, Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. It had a lot of bright red fruit and good structure.

Congrats, Peter!

Peter's Malbec got 90 points from James Molesworth in Wine Spectator! Here's the review:

Los Vencejos
Malbec Uco Valley 2007
90 points | $28 | 119 cases imported | Red
Very ripe and nicely rounded, with a lovely floral aroma leading
the way for enticing blueberry, fig and plum fruit flavors. Long,
lush finish has nice focus too. Drink now through 2011.—J.M.

Spotlight: Peter, the Argentine

This post is dedicated to Peter, who left a week ago to go back to his vineyard in Argentina. Peter is actually from the States originally but bought a vineyard in Mendoza about 5 years ago. He grows Malbec and Tempranillo and came to Wiemer to learn about white wine production and sweet wine production - he loves the sweet stuff and is considering planting Torrontes, a white grape, in his vineyard for sweet wine production. So our little mini cuvee of TBA Gewurz was a special project for him. (As a side note, we got a little more than one 375 ml bottle, so we had everyone here sample the extra. We are going to let the bottle chill out for a couple months and then meet up to share it. We suspect that the alcohol is around 12%, which is a little higher than we would have liked, but the wine has pretty aromas of lychee and grapefruit with a nice texture and sweetness on the palate. We are pretty proud of our efforts and the result!)

Peter's vineyard is called Los Vencejos, and it is named for the white-collared birds who swoop in after rainfalls. We tried his 2007 Malbec before he left and it was just beautiful - a full-bodied red with blackberry jam and spicy notes rounded out by vanilla flavors from new and old French oak. Peter imports the wine to California for shipping to certain states around the country - including NY! (http://www.losvencejos.com/)

At the winery we could always count on Peter to brew a pot of coffee before the night shift, and he was a champion when it came to polishing off the locally-baked donuts that Tim and Sandy would bring us. Although, I once ate 5 donuts in a day and everyone seemed to think that was excessive, but I bet Peter came close on some days and just never counted. On the days that he wasn't at work they never seemed to go quite as fast. Hope you aren't missing the donuts too much, Peter! I think we decided the closest Argentine equivalent would be churros... not quite the same...