J. Bouchon Wine Tasting this Friday in NYC

Today I was at Puro Wine in downtown Manhattan. Seeing their selection of Chilean wine made me nostalgic for my trip, and I had to restrain myself from not buying the whole store. I picked up a few bottles and learned that this Friday from 5-7pm they will be pouring two J. Bouchon wines - Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere. I tried these wines when I visited the winery in the Maule Valley and I highly recommend them. Stop by if you can!

J. Bouchon Wine Tasting
Friday, March 12
5-7pm

Puro Wine
161 Grand Street
New York NY 10013
212 925 0090
puro-wine.com

Argentina, Chile, Uruguay: My Wine Awards

I drank a lot of wine in South America! So I thought I'd wrap up the trip with a recap of my favorites. It can be tough for me to choose favorites since I believe wine-drinking is very circumstantial, but I tried my hardest to find my top picks. I've paid homage to the signature grapes of each country plus my other favorites in the major color categories. And I've rated my best food pairings and wine experiences in each country.

ARGENTINA
Fave Malbec: Colome Malbec Estate 2007
Fave Torrontes: Miraflor 2009
Fave other Red: Los Vencejos Aleteo 2006 (Tempranillo)
Fave Rose: Melipal Malbec Rose 2009
Fave Dessert wine: San Pedro de Yacochuya Late Harvest Torrontes 2007
Fave wine/food pairing: O. Fournier Urban Uco Sauvignon Blanc 2009 with steak tartar
Fave overall wine experience: Barrel sampling at Los Vencejos

CHILE
Fave Carmenere: J. Bouchon Carmenere Reserva Especial 2007
Fave other Red: Casa Marin Pinot Noir Lo Abarca Vineyard 2006
Fave Rose: J. Bouchon Cabernet Sauvignon Rose 2009
Fave White: Casa Marin Gewurztraminer 2009
Fave Dessert wine: Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Fave wine/food pairing: Errazuriz Merlot 2007 with pastel de choclo
Fave overall wine experience: J. Bouchon Winery and Mingre Lodge excursion

URUGUAY
Fave Tannat: Bouza Tannat A6 2007
Fave other Red: Alto de la Ballena Merlot-CabFranc-Tannat 2006
Fave Rose: Alto de la Ballena CabFranc-Tannat Rose 2008
Fave White: Stagnari Chardonnay 2009
Fave wine/food pairing: Bouza Chardonnay 2008 with creamy spinach ravioli

Fave overall wine experience: Wine tasting and barrel sampling at Alto de la Ballena

Thanks for following my journey! If anyone ever tries any of the wines I tried please feel free to leave a comment with your impressions.

The Maule Moment

It just so happened that I saved my best winery experience in Chile for last. I made an excursion to the J. Bouchon Winery and Mingre Lodge this week in the Maule Valley, 3 hours south of Santiago. Hosted by Julio Bouchon, I learned about the history of the family, the wine, and the land. Maule Valley is the largest wine-producing region geographically, but it is only just beginning to receive recognition for the terroir and the quality wines that result - hence, the Maule moment. In terms of hectares, Bouchon is medium-sized for Chile with 370 hectares planted and 1.8 million liters of wine produced annually. All the grapes from their 3 vineyard sites are hand-picked and sorted at the winery.

In between mountain biking and horseback riding I tasted the complete lineup of wines - 3 whites, 1 rose, and 8 reds. In general the wines are fresh and fruity, with the reds showing a balanced use of French oak, sometimes new and sometimes old. Since I liked them all I have to mention them each briefly:

* Sauvignon Blanc 2009: easy-going, floral, citrusy, light.
* Chardonnay 2009: unoaked so crisp and fruity.
* Las Mercedes Sauvignon Blanc 2007: complex, oaked SB that maintains tropical fruit and acidity.
* Cabernet Sauvignon Rose 2009: strawberry, cherry, light and dry.
* Merlot Reserva 2008: strawberry with a black tea finish.
* Carmenere-Syrah Reserva 2008: interesting and unique blend with green pepper, black fruit, some chocolate.
* Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2008: red and black fruits, very juicy with smooth tannins.

The Reserva Especial line is made from the oldest vines - some as old as 80 years!
* Malbec Reserva Especial 2007: strawberry and vanilla with firm tannin.
* Carmenere Reserva Especial 2007: fresh bell pepper nose and red fruit with some spice.
* Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva Especial 2007: black fruit, cassis, eucalyptus; very juicy and approachable.

The Blends
* Las Mercedes Ensamblaje 2006: 45%Cab Sauv, 40%Syrah, 15%Malbec. Complex with black fruits, cassis, mint, eucalyptus, raspberry.
* Mingre 2006: 45%Cab Sauv; 15% each Carmenere, Malbec, Syrah; 10%Merlot. Similar to Las Mercedes but with brighter red fruit.

I talked a lot about the Carmenere in Chile, but I should mention that Cabernet Sauvignon is really the main grape and wine in Chile, making up 50% of wine production in Chile. Cab Sauv is not one of my favorite varieties (it is often too heavy and tannic for me) so I don't often focus on it. But, the Cab Sauvs at J. Bouchon were the best I had in Chile and some of the most enjoyable I've had to date. 

Beautiful scenery, outdoor activities, and great wine - a fantastic way to end my stay in Chile.

The devil's cellar

Today I'm back in the Maipo Valley to visit the classic Concha y Toro, one of the oldest wineries in Chile. They are most known in the US for value wines. It was great to see the expansive property and cellars. Their production is over 15 million liters of wine per year. They own several labels around Chile. One of them, Cono Sur, located in the south, won a couple of the Wines of Chile awards last night. They also have a premium wine that they don't export, which is a collaboration with Baron Phillipe de Rothschild in France.

Security is tight at Concha y Toro. In the olden days they had a problem with theft in the original cellar that held the family's wines, so they started a rumor that the cellar was guarded by the devil. After that they didn't notice any more missing bottles - people were very superstitious then. Now they commemorate that story with a line of value wines called Casillero del Diablo, the devil's cellar.

I had a classic empanada for lunch after my tour with a glass of their Terrunyo Carmenere 2006, which was a good complement to this meat pastry. To be frank, I didn't make this visit for the wine but for the history.

Next up - another classic, Santa Rita!

Errazuriz: it's a tongue-twister

Funny coincidence about this place in Aconcagua Valley, Chile. The owner of Paumanok Vineyards in Long Island (where I have been before and written about in the past) married a Chilean and had their Chilean marriage ceremony at Errazuriz. You can see from the pic that this is a beautiful building, and the vineyards set in the hills are even more beautiful. I had lunch first - an unexpectedly delicious 3 courses with 3 wines as follows:

1. Sauvignon Blanc 2009 - gooseberry, herbs, fresh acidity - paired with caperberries on cream cheese toast followed by an appetizer of fresh mushrooms with red pepper and cilantro. I happen to strongly dislike both mushrooms and cilantro BUT since I had prepaid for the lunch and didn't even know what I was going to get I gave it a shot. It was actually really good; the 'shrooms were super fresh and didn't have that mushroomy taste and smell that I don't like, and the cilantro just worked. With the wine - a match made in heaven.
2. Merlot 2007 - medium body with strawberry and chocolate - a great complement to the classic Chilean dish pastel de choclo, which sounds like a dessert but is a corn cake pie with beef, chicken, hard boiled egg and a few random raisins. I was psyched to try this because my tour guide had been telling me about it. It was hearty and yummy.
3. Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2007 - heavenly honey and baked apple - perfectly paired with flan/creme brulee.

Energized and buzzed, I climbed one of the hills with my PR guide Pedro, noting the sandy soil with rocks underneath, and we talked climate and terroir. He told me that they use very modern techniques to guide their viticulture techniques, including vigor maps that use radiation to determine which plants to harvest first. The property is undergoing expansion and I saw the new buildings and winemaking facility.

They make a couple of wines that they call 'wild ferment' - these wines undergo natural fermentation without the addition of yeasts the way most wines are made. Instead they let the natural yeasts on the grape skins do the work when they are ready. I tried their wild ferment Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and, not to be trite, they did taste a bit more 'wild,' or like something that I'm not sure I can describe, something funky. Their Carmenere reinforced my earlier opinion that it is very similar to Cab Franc, and I learned that it was originally suspected to be as such when the ampelographer noticed something amiss in some Chilean Merlot vineyards in 1991. By 1994 it was confirmed to be Carmenere, and after the vines were separated the first single varietal Carmenere was released in 1996. Now they know that Merlot ripens more quickly than Carmenere, and the earlier distinct taste of Chilean 'Merlot' could be attributed to the Carmenere being harvested too early and having 'green,' unripe flavors. Carmenere is now the last grape to be harvested in Chile, as it should be, during May. Harvest usually begins in February with the whites.

Ok I think that is enough wine-geekiness for one day! Chau for now (yes in Latin America they say Chau - at first I thought people were mistaking me for Italian and saying Ciao, but it seems they say the same word and spell it their own way).

Entiendo español de vino!

I had a great experience at Viña von Siebenthal in the Aconcagua Valley. I met the assistant winemaker, Darwin, and he confessed that he did not speak English. My guide, Lisette, offered to translate. My Spanish is so-so, but I said to her, let me see what I can understand and I'll let you know if I need an explanation. Happily, I understood almost everything Darwin said! So maybe my Spanish isn't so great but I can understand wine-Spanish, and that is good.

Viña von Siebenthal produces about 10,000 cases, a little bit smaller than Wiemer. They pick all the grapes by hand and sort twice, in the vineyard and in the winery. They only produce reds, which are stainless steel fermented and barrel aged. In the barrel the wines undergo spontaneous malolactic fermentation, which turns harsh natural acids into softer ones. They do not filter their wines. I tried their 2008 Carmenere and 2006 Parcel 7, a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot - a very Bordelais blend. Both wines were delicious.

Before we left we tried a large yellow fruit off a tree on the vineyard property. It looked like a lumpy yellow grapefruit but had a very thick skin and tasted sour like a lemon at first with a slightly sweet finish. It was called a lima. When I was eating it I thought it would be great in a vodka martini...

Underraga: if I could roll my R's this would be even more fun to say

Chile's Maipo Valley - so far so good. On my first day of wine touring I visited a classic, Cousiño Macul, one of the oldest wineries in Chile. It was cool to see their old cellars and the equipment they used to use for winemaking. Then I went to the gorgeous property of Underraga, walking through their gardens and vineyards before seeing their winery. Rodrigo told me all about their history and practices. He let me take a whiff of an aging barrel of Carmenere, which could've gotten him fired, he said. The most interesting vinification process that I learned about was their technique for removing the sediment in their red wines. Naturally solids are part of the winemaking process, and it's the winemaker's job to get them out somehow, through natural settling, filtering, etc. At Underraga they bring the temperature of the stainless steel tanks down so that the sediment freezes and remains on a rack inside the tank. The clean wine is then drawn out through hoses and into barrels. This type of tank seems very cool to me.

Here I got my first taste of Carmenere, but it was blended so at this point I cannot make any firm conclusions about this variety. But I did learn about the origin of this grape here. It's a funny story, and my disclaimer is that it may not be 100% accurate but you will get the idea. In the 1900s Chileans brought grape varieties over from France - Cab Sauv, Merlot, Syrah, etc. - to make quality wine. When phylloxera hit Europe, the US, and other places around the world in the mid-1900s, Chile wasn't affected. So they were the only wine market for a bit while the other areas had to rebuild. People were starting to notice Chile. They said, Hey this Merlot from Chile is really different and good. Well, it was Carmenere, mixed with Merlot. The vines had been mixed up and planted together. So they had unknowingly been making Merlot-Carmenere blends. A top ampelographer confirmed this, and they began planting Carmenere and vinifying it on its own. Now Chile is known for the grape variety. After phylloxera hit France they couldn't grow it again, so Carmenere is to Chile what Tannat is to Uruguay - the signature grape.

To me, Carmenere has similar characteristics to Cabernet Franc - red fruit, bell pepper, black pepper spice. It is medium bodied with soft tannins. I still have much to explore in the way of Carmenere, but my initial impressions are good.

The mountains are everywhere, the Andes to the east and the coastal ranges to the west. These mountains help create mesoclimates perfect for growing grapes. There is a lot of sun and the nights are breezy and cool. Can´t complain!