We’ve all heard of Concha Y Toro, right? Hard not to—it’s been around for some time and for some of us (well, me) it represents good value varietals from Chile. Concho Y Toro is always a safe bet at restaurants when the list is not that impressive. You will know that you are getting a good bottle of varietal wine from Chile. To be honest, this may be a key reason my impression of Chilean wine goes back to the serviceable, good value issue.
Chile Wine That is Unlike Other Chilean Red Wines
Chilean wine is a contentious topic. The problem is I haven’t had any — or I should say, many – really good wines from Chile. I know good Chilean red wine exists, but I usually go elsewhere, preferably a safe, well-known route. Well, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Marques de Casa Concha from the Conchy Y Toro family destroyed this myth. I mean, it shot it right out of the water. (more…)
I keep a lot of wines from Argentina around the house. I find them a good value and they typically have a lot of forward, spicy fruit which I enjoy. I recently tried Mapema, a 2005 Malbec wine from Mendoza, Argentina.
Packed full of Flavor in Argentina Wine
On the first taste of the Mapema, I realized this was classic Malbec, but was decidedly better than most. It was a little more serious than your typical Malbec. It did this without giving anything up on the traditional characteristics. This wine is a high altitude, cool air wine that gives off a lot of intensity of black and red cherries. It is bold with overtones of vanilla, coffee and chocolate. There is some pepper to be found here as well.
A key indicator of the quality of any wine for me is the quality and length of the finish:
Does the wine continue to evolve for the next 30-60 seconds after you have sipped it?
How about 2 minutes? Is it still pleasant?
When do you notice that the taste stops?
Mapema Malbec 2005 certainly has a wonderful long, pleasant finish. It is much longer than I expect with most Malbecs no matter where they are from.
This is a wine that could set a new benchmark for Malbec and Argentinean wines. It has a Wine Advocate Rating of 90 points and is priced to sell at $17.00, I know I’ll revisit it soon.
How a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc brought me back to New Zealand Wines
There was a time I was on a three year Chardonnay kick for all my white wines. Then, I became tired of Chards and found Sauvignon Blancs.
After that, I found New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs and thought I had found wine heaven.
These wines were terrific…real wakeup wines. Bracing, good clean acidity and lots of fruit. I thought Kim Crawford was just wonderful and would have put her on my buddies list, had there been one back then.
In time though, as with Chardonnay, my tastes started to wander and I moved away from Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand to some other non-Chardonnay whites. While I’m back to Chardonnays again, I did not return to my love of New Zealand white wines.
I was ashamed of myself for abandoning New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs.
Make no mistake; it was Sauvignon Blanc and it was definitely from New Zealand. You can’t mistake that grassy, citrusy nose; that bracing acidity and that clean crispness of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Oh, but this one went further than I remember most New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs going. It had a full, almost silky, mouthfeel.
I suppose I was tasting the difference between a “regular” Sauvignon Blanc and a reserve Sauvignon Blanc. The wine showed more depth, especially on the finish which was long, lingering and pleasant. What was missing was some of the harshness that I had found in some of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wines I had tasted previously.
So, I’m back to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
I’ll be looking for a reserve and I’ll especially be looking for the Brancott Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from Marborough. With a Wine Spectator Rating of 92 from their April ‘09 issue and a price of $18.00 a bottle, this New Zealand wine is well worth it and real pleasure!
Spanish Cava Sparkling Wine For Less Than $20 – 91 Point Rating
I attended a house warming the other night and, of course, the evening started off with a round of bubbles. There were some nice champagnes and a couple of roses. I have to admit, I am partial to roses! Since the first several bottles were real champagne (i.e., from France) I made the assumption that the roses were as well.
The best sparkling wine since 1887
The two roses were excellent, although one stood out as the best sparkling wine. When it was revealed that it was a Spanish Cava, I was really surprised. It was a Llopart Rose Brut Reserva. The bottle said the cava had been there since 1887 and the wine had spent three years sur lie.
A fine Spanish sparkling wine that's easy on the pocket.
Inside, I was struck by the color – a very clear, sparkling medium pink wine.
The nose on this cava was very pleasant with some lovely strawberries, perhaps some cherries. The wine had plenty of small bubbles, but the style was a creamier, elegant style than what I was expecting. The finish on this balanced wine was very nice.
An Unexpected Price For A Spanish Cava Sparkling Wine
I have pretty much identified Spanish Cava’s with lower priced bubbles appropriate for Mimosas. This wine had more class than the rougher, less expensive bubbles from Spain. It got me thinking about price and value.
What would I pay for this sparkling wine in a retail shop? I thought the wine was worth mid-$20s, perhaps even $30. Later, the next day, I learned that the wine sells for under $20. It is a super deal at that price and worth every penny.
A Sparkling Wine So Good It Was Gone
This wine pairs well with food, by the way. We were having a tapas dinner, but unfortunately, by the time we came to eat, it was gone. Folks were surprised by the quality of this wine. It also dispelled a couple of myths about Spanish sparkling wines.
The Llopart Rose Brut Reserva Cava sparkling wine was one tasty bottle of bubbles and WineOnTheWay.com has it for just $18.00.
The Gift of Vino from the Rioja Wine Region of Spain
I love Spanish wines. There are some very drinkable, less-expensive wines coming from the Spanish Wine Regions and they are a delight for all who drink them!
My Favorite Spanish Wine varietals are those from Rioja Wine Regions of Spain
Tempranillo is the primary red wine grape for much of Spain, but especially Spanish wines from the Ribera del Duero and the Rioja Alta. A real gem of a Spanish Wine that illustrates all the goodness of a Rioja wine is Vina Zaco from Bodegas Bilbainas. I recently had the 2007. While Vina Zaco is labeled Tempranillo, I can’t help but to suspect there might be some Grenache, in there. No matter what, the Tempranillo really shines. (more…)
For this Argentina wine review, – 92 point rating – we must start with the bottle. You may get tired of me starting to write a wine review and begin with some sort of description of the packaging. But Tikal Patriota is one that I just can’t help myself. The big dark bottle weighs in at 2.8 lbs—-yes, I weighed it! It seemed like 40 lbs. I did a random sample of other wine bottles (empty) and they were coming in a 1.3 or so. So why the heavy glass? Must add something to shipping. Is it necessary to keep what’s inside the bottle in check?
Tikal Patriota 2006
Tikal Patriota (Patriot) is an Argentine wine blend of 60% Bonardo and 40% Malbec. The color is an inky, dark purple. There is probably some fruit here. Black cherries, raspberries, blueberries. I get some sort of berries but this is an Argentine wine without a lot of subtlety or nuisance. This BIG…a powerful 13.9% alcohol but dense and ripe fruit that is intense and jammy.
Argetina Wine that’s Perfect for a Summer Barbeque
This Argentine wine yells out for steak or barbeque or something meaty on the grill. If you like this modern style of powerhouse wines, especially ones at a good price, this could be the wine for you. I had steak with this wine but as much as I wanted to love Tikal Patriota 2006, ranked 92 in Wine Advocate, I didn’t.
The wine was big, balanced and I guess my style is one that is more layered. Perhaps it was young and will improve with age. I should buy another bottle of Tikal Patriota 2006 and put it aside to check that out.
Zinfandel Wine Review for a Classic California Zinfandel
Where to start with this California Zinfandel? Perhaps with the minimalist label that was written on a label maker — you know the ones. They make labels in strips perhaps a half an inch wide on plastic tape that has a peel off sticker on one side. That’s the front label – just the word “Saldo”.
You have to go to the back label to find out it’s a Zinfandel wine made by Orin Swift Cellars in St. Helena, California. And that’s the appellation, California zinfandel with a 15.5% alcohol.
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned that the wine tasting experience begins with the packaging. This bottle of zinfandel wine was big, heavy with lots of glass. It looked very inky and with that minimalist lettering “Saldo” on purple plastic tape, I just knew it was going to be a big, jammy zinfandel.
Zinfandel Tasting Notes
When I opened the bottle and poured it into the glass I knew immediately it was a zinfandel. It had a bright purple on the edge and while the color of the wine was a deep purple, it was not trying to overpower you. A classic zinfandel nose with cloves, violets and berries, strawberries, black cherries and raspberries.
It is a style of zinfandel I particularly like. It had bright fruit, lots of depth and a pleasant, lingering finish. Good acidity there to support the fruit. Not overpowering, the winemaker seemed to let the fruit do the talking. Yet this is a wine that I think will continue to improve with time.
Inquiring minds wanted to know more about this wine so a Google search later, I find out that this is the first vintage for this wine and it made up of zinfandel (85%), Syrah (10%) and Petite Syrah (5%).
California Zinfandel Wine from all of California’s wine regions
The winemaker must have scoured every California appellation that produced Zinfandel because the wine comes from the all of the following California wine regions:
Sonoma (54%),
Napa (16%),
Mendocino (15%),
Amador (9%) and
Contra Costa (6%)
And the meaning of “Saldo”? It means balance and that could be a more succinct and accurate descriptor for this excellent Zinfandel.
All wine dinners purport to have one thing in common; the wine pairs well or uniquely to the food it is paired with. There is always the presumption that somewhere along the way of planning for the event, the chief and the sommelier (or the persons in charge of food and wine) actually met and discussed what they proposed pairing and how they complemented each other.
I also assume, probably not with a lot of confidence, they may have prepared actually proposed dishes, selected some possible wines and tried them together. What the cost of a reasonable wine dinner these days? $55-$85 ++? Yes, I understand that the consumer gets their money’s worth, but so does the restaurant. The wine dinner menu is prepped for known number of people, and it brings people to a restaurant or event in good numbers. I am sure I could list other benefits, but I am not a restaurateur and this is a wine blog, not a food blog.
Much Experience with Wine Dinners
I have been drinking wine more or less seriously for thirty years or so and have been going to wine dinners for, let’s see…..thirty years or so:
I’ve been to wine dinners and sat next to real winemakers. I still remember sitting next to Tom Rinaldi and Dan Duckhorn when their wine was being introduced into Florida.
I’ve been to wine dinners featuring the wines of a single winery.
I’ve been to wine dinners focused on a specific varietal of wine.
At some dinners the wines are all pre-poured at your place. Some our poured as you go. There are probably as many variations on how to do wine dinners as there are restaurants, sommeliers, wine directors, chiefs, distributors and winemakers combined. But the end result is that the food and wine parings are suppose to knock you out of your socks.
The Art of Pairing Wine with Food
I went to a wine dinner recently:”Napa vs. Sonoma: Cross-Valley Rivals Go Head-To-Head.”
After some bubbles as a greeting wine to open up our palets, we sampled one Napa and one Sonoma Chardonnay which were paired with a crab cocktail and citrus relish. The wines were (from Napa Valley) Merryville, Napa, 2006 and (from Sonoma) Picket Fence, Russian River Valley, 2006.
Both wines were very enjoyable, but in my judgment, neither went with the food exceptionally well. The food didn’t give the wines a chance to show themselves and did not bring forth either wines best features. The citrus relish and crab tried to be the star over the wine, but as a dish it too failed pretty miserable. The wine did not make the food taste any better at all and the poor crab did need some help.
Matching Wine with Food: take two -Cabernets
The Napa Cabernets were paired with a filet mignon and wonton crusted Ahi tuna with a Cantonese mushroom sauce. Both foods are strong and heavy with protein, usually a strong contender for a Cabernet to stand up for itself.
In this case of food wine matching, the wines paired were not on an equal footing. The Napa Valley Freemark Abbey 2004 has something else going on; Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Petite Sirah. On the other side, the Sonoma wine contender, Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Reserve 2005, was a different vintage plus an 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
As part of this wine dinner, we were handed sheets with tasting notes, probably from a review or perhaps winemakers’ notes. A statement of what each wine brought to the food pairing was included for those who did not, I assume, want to think too much or perhaps to suggest what they were attempting to do with the wine and food paring. A scoring sheet of 1-5 on Aroma. Taste, Finish and Pairing was also part of the Wine Dinner kit. After the second food pairing failing, the wine dinner notes were doing little to impress me.
Cute Gimmicks do not make up for poor wine and food parings
At this point, suffice it to say, this would not have been my favorite wine dinner, but it gets worse.
The sommelier and waitstaff were dressed up in referee uniforms; the ever so classy zebra shirts. They had “contests” to see which table could get the most trivia questions right. The crowd became louder and louder and eventually I would have thought we were in a bar in downtown Orlando watching the Magic beat the Lakers in Game 6.
I adore fine food with well pared wine and I use to really like wine dinners, but after this experience, it might be awhile before I can be convinced back to a wine dinner any time soon.
We have a house on a barrier island and getting there is never easy. You have to load up the car, drive a long time, charter a boat, load the stuff onto the boat, off load the stuff onto the dock, carrier it to a car we keep on the island, load the car, drive to the house and then take the stuff up two flights of stairs.
Of course, one can not consider sitting on the porch at the ocean without a glass or two of wine to complete the experience. Hauling a case or two of wine all that way is not easy. It takes up a lot of room on all those transports, is heavy, and then there is the issue of disposing of all that glass in an environmentally responsible way.
One day I decided, what the heck, why not try a 3 liter of a box wine?
So I purchased a Bota Box Shiraz and it wasn’t bad. Ditto for the Bota Box Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.
Box Wine Bladder Failure equals Bad Box Wine Review
On a recent trip I decided to try a Turning Leaf Pinot Noir in a box. When I opened it, it was nasty. I thought it was oxidized, but then wondered about that since box wines are a “closed” system. They use a bladder which is one of the pluses of a box wine and the wine will keep for a month although I’ve never tested that theory. But this box-o-wine was bad and there is no returning a box wine for credit.
Box wines are worth considering in another venue.
When taking a cruise, we are always like to have wine in the cabin as it is cheaper than running up those cruise ship tabs. Box wine is perfect in that kind of situation. A 3 liter red and a 3 liter white is good for two of us for a week. And if you have to throw some of away — well, there is no guilt.
But here is the problem for me—there just aren’t many decent box wines. Surely this might be an option worth considering for all that juice that can’t make it into a winemaker’s primary bottling. Of course, there are the distributors, wine merchants and the public who view box wines as a step below jug wine, but great breakout box wine may find a market niche and start to change the bias of the wine drinking public.
Black Box Wine looks to be grabbing that market!
While I haven’t tried Black Box Wine yet to review, yet they have quite a bit of buzz around them for a wine in a box! Not only is there a Black Box Merlot wine, but they have a reserve merlot and a reserve Chardonnay as well! They even say that the Black Box wine is from grapes all over the world’s best wine regions.
So while I will never, ever leave the glory of a fine wine in a glass bottle behind, sometimes there is actually a time and place for wine in a box!
Perhaps 15 years ago a number of us who drink wine on a regular basis decided to do a blind tasting of the California Chardonnays. I am pretty sure we focused on Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley Chardonnays. We did this tasting over several weeks since we wanted to get a broad representation of wines, all from the same vintage.
California producing some rather mid range Chardonnay
There were some very highly rated California wines included in this Chardonnay wine tasting and some rather expensive entries as well. After the tasting, many of us reached the same conclusion: the wines were all good and on a simple 5 point scale, scored 3ish. What was striking was how similar they were. They had that big, oaky, malelactic style. And as wine people tend to do, we discussed this for some length over more bottles of Chardonnay over the ensuing months.
The California Chardonnay Conclusion
At that time, Napa and Sonoma Valley wineries, on balance, were making their wines to hit a perceived, and perhaps actual, American palate. This was an American palate that grew up on sweeter wines and loved the oak to match this taste preference.
Leaving Chardonnay
So, we went the opposite extreme. We had “ABC Tastings” as in Anything But Chardonnay.
We yearned for winemakers that would let the fruit do the talking and provide less influence on the outcome. We reminded ourselves why we liked French White Burgundy so much. We also found refuge in other California wine growing areas. Central Coast, Edna Valley, St. Luis Obispo (SLO) struck that balance of tropical fruit and traditional chardonnay flavors. The wines were lively, friendly and great wines by themselves or with food.
Fast Forward, Back to California’s Mount Eden:
Tiring a bit on Sauvignon Blanc, I decided to revisit Chardonnays. I began with a bottle of Edna Valley’s 2007 Mount Eden Chardonnay from Wolff Vineyard in California. The color was slightly lime green (but then I was wearing a lime green shirt), exceptionally clear and bright. The first thing I noticed was that Edna Valley fruit. This wine had the fruit talking with some lemony citrus and lots of forward fruit; pear, spice, hint of apple. The Mount Eden Chardonnay was ripe and intense with a pleasant, long finish.
Priced at only $19.00 a bottle, this is a great price for a wine this complex and accessible. I bought a few more.
Chardonnay Wine Tasting part deux
Pleasantly surprised by my delight with the Mount Eden Chard, I went to another California Chardonnay tasting.
This time it was a brown bag night at my favorite wine retailer. Folks bagged up their chardonnays and we tried perhaps 10-12 Chardonnays blind. Only a couple had that big, buttery, oaky taste that I ran away from years ago. Most of them were truly lovely and worth drinking much like the Mount Eden.
This made me wonder if the vineyards were changing or the wine producers had changed their style — or perhaps the American consumer had finally matured their pallet away from that sweeter preference.
Either way, I’ll be tasting more California Chardonnays in the weeks and months to come, rediscovering a wine that I left many years ago.
A Red Wine from Mendoza, Argentina 
Tiring a bit on Sauvignon Blanc, I decided to revisit Chardonnays. I began with a bottle of 
