Wine brokers, importers find affordable, well-made selections in ...
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
"And in Argentina, you can enjoy a big, delicious grilled steak and a bottle of well-made red wine for around $10." Foreign exchange rates in Argentina and ...

Surviving the test of time
NZ Herald Wellington Metro - Wellington,New Zealand
Malbec is a food wine. Drunk in isolation, it simply doesn't work, being too rich. Ideally it should be served with red meats, stews, mushrooms, pasta, ...

2007 J&F Lurton Land of Fire Red (Argentina) $8
Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA
In 1992 they made their foray into Argentina and now produce what is, to my mind, some of the best wine values anywhere with their new Land of Fire label. ...

A calendar of wine and beer tastings and events
Tampabay.com - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
... Wine Garden, 7800 Blind Pass Road, St. Pete Beach. Refreshing sauvignon blanc from California, plus sample rich cabernet sauvignon from Argentina. Free. ...

Wine Under $20 The Dry Pride of Argentina
By HOWARD G. GOLDBERG Published: September 19, 2008
Torrontés is Argentina’s most planted white grape, and the source of its signature dry white wine. Dominio del Plata’s 2008 Crios de Susana Balbo torrontés is scintillating. Tasting of honey, melon and peaches, it is best drunk young and lightly chilled.

Training Seminars for Export activities
Cuyonoticias - Cuyo,Mendoza, Argentina
Works in Argentina, in the Wine Industry Field since 1984. 1995: Advanced Certificate on Wine & Spirit Education Trust, London. ...

Cruceros Australis Announces the Start of their 2008-2009 Season ...
Adventure Travel Media Source (press release) - Wellington,CO,USA
The cruise is “all-inclusive”: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an open bar for wine, beer, liquor and other beverages. The menu combines international cuisine ...

San Antonio, more than you think
The Tribune - Kingwood,TX,USA
Argentina has become one of the largest wine growing regions in the world since 1990. Malbec is the signature wine of Argentina. The wine is distinctive ...

Luca Winery Debuts New Wine from Argentina's Original Double ...
PR Web (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA
The purity and density of the Luca Syrah speaks to Laborde's passion for Syrah and to his vision that Syrah could make a great wine in Mendoza, Argentina. ...

Malbec Is The New Black
See Magazine - Edmonton,AB,Canada
I drink it when I want a “warm and fuzzy” wine — something full-bodied that will provide instant gratification without requiring any serious thought. ...

Taste, and learn.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia,PA,USA
By Dianna Marder No meal is complete without the right drink - whether that's wine, beer or another lubricant. And this region is rich with classes and ...

Eat: Pop goes the red wine
Independent - London,England,UK
By Terry Durack I don't DO horses, so when invited recently to a polo lesson and wine-tasting by a leading Argentinian winery and Gaucho Restaurants, ...

Institute offers winemaking program
Mail Tribune - Medford,OR,USA
A college entity called the Southern Oregon Wine Institute is offering a one-year viticulture certification program and a two-year viticulture and enology ...

Wine Blogs

Central Market Wine Class-Red Wine Varietals: Malbec!
Nov 06, 2008 (Thu): This meaty grape has recently gained a popular following especially among steak lovers, a natural pairing. Miguel will take us on the journey from its origin in France to its better known home in Argentina.[...]
Austin Wine Tasting and Dinners... - http://www.localwineevents.com/Austin-Wine/

Consider every eventuality before planting vineyard
By Jeannette E. Warnert
After retiring from the aerospace industry, Overmire planted four acres of Malbec wine grapes in Sheldon, Calif. A somewhat uncommon winegrape variety, Malbec creates an inky red wine with plum-like flavor and is often used for blending ...
ANR News Blog Feed - http://ucanr.org/blogs/anrnews/

2006 Terrazas de Los Andes Malbec Reserva
Tightly wound and dense with robust red fruit, round tannins and plenty of acidity. Good, solid malbec that is perhaps lacking some of the earthy, briary notes that define the best of this varietal. (87 pts.) - Tasted 10/1/2008. ...
CellarTracker Tasting Notes (all notes) - http://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=Notes&iUserOverride=0

2005 Trapiche Malbec Oak Cask
Tasted by philastem. Very smooth; better balance than I remembered from last time (88 pts.) - Tasted 9/30/2008. [FIND IT!]
CellarTracker Tasting Notes (other... - http://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=NotesOther

The Last Days of The Month of Malbec | 20% off
By Alejandrina
reminder---malbec.jpg.
Vines of Mendoza Blog - http://www.vinesofmendoza.com/blog

Malbec tasting
By Ian Gorton(Ian Gorton)
I must confess, Malbec isn't a grape variety I've tasted in abundance. A few samples have been tasted over the years in Australia, but only in the last two years has Malbec got on my radar due to its emergence in several local wineries. ...
Pacific Northwest wine, beer... - http://gortonator-on-wine.blogspot.com/

Mapema 2005 Malbec
This wine was a new winery for me and I’m glad I discovered it. ...
Ken's Wine Guide RSS Feed - http://www.kenswineguide.com/

Bariloche 20-24 September 2008
By Adam Drawbridge(Adam Drawbridge)
It amused me when the chap next to me asked for a ´vaso de vino e sprite´, which is pretty much a red wine shandy!! Apparently all the young kids do it to get into wine and apparently this guy was never weaned off this idea hahah. ...
My South American Adventure - http://nzadam.blogspot.com/

Chenin Blanc - A Chameleon Grape
By Hank Greer(Hank Greer)
In France it is known as Pineau de la Loire, in South Africa as Steen, and it is known as Pinot Blanco in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. Chenin's versatility stems from its high acidity. It can be used to make sweet wines, ...
Vino HAG - http://vinohag.blogspot.com/

Andean Vineyards Reserve Malbec 2007 RED Argentina
By Wine Delivered
Here’sa one-off opportunity to secure the barrel-aged Malbec that swept the board at this year’s Wines of Argentina Awards. 478 wines tasted just 4 Trophies given and old friend Opi Sadler’s magnificent flavour-packed gem scooped the ...
Wine Delivered - http://www.wine-delivered.co.uk

A little Malbec this weekend?
By Laura Reiley
The Malbec Tour is making a stop at B-21 in Tarpon Springs, giving people a chance to meet winemakers from Chile and Argentina, have their bottles signed and taste great wines from the Andes. Manual Ferrer, winemaker for the estate ...
Mouth of Tampa Bay - http://blogs.tampabay.com/dining/

Dry or sweet, still or sparkling.

Straight forward with delicate fruit or complex mélange of flavors.

RS. highlights fruit.

No RS. more complex flavors.

Late harvest Botrytis, optional.

Aromatic profile hints at sweetness, but in many instances there is no sugar present (deceptive nose).

High extract and searing acid when young

Very complex aromatic bouquet when aged

In the Cellar:

Regions:

In the Vineyard:

Disease resistant, hardy, high yield, late ripening, wind tolerant.

Non-descript flavors in hot regions.

Thrives on chalk or Tulfa.

Very long lived, up to 100 years.

Becomes more intense with age (vine age or wine age?)

Aliases:

Steen - South Africa

If you are a South African and haven’t heard of straw wine (or Vin de Paille) before, that is not too surprising, as there have not been many examples produced in this country. De Trafford and Fairview were the first two South African producers to make wine in this style and the 2008 Platters Wine Guide now lists just 14 examples in the category. It is a sweet wine and, as its name implies, straw wine involves...straw. Not in the wine, but rather as a soft layer upon which ripe bunches of grapes are laid out to shrivel up and ‘raisin-ify’, losing up to 75% of their moisture. Although the grapes are picked at the similar ripeness as those you would use to make a dry wine, this drying process concentrates the sugar and the flavours. La Beryl Blanc is allowed to slowly ferment and partly due to the high sugar levels, the 2008 fermented for 5 months! A typical white wine fermentation takes about 14 to 21 days, so this is really a labour of love. But the proof is in the pudding (so to speak) and the 2008 is looking incredible. It was bottled today and we will wait to see how it develops. This wine tends to really improve with a bit of time in the bottle.

Bourillon Dorleans 2006 Vouvray Sec 'La Coulée d'Argent

Talk about bone-crushing acidity. I found this wine to be so acidic that it felt like my tooth enamel was being eaten away.

Maybe I have sensitive teeth, but even the next day, I was still feeling it. This does not mean this is not a well-made bottle of wine. And of course, chenin blanc, especially from the Vouvray region of the Loire, is known for its acidity.

According to the estate's website, this wine has seven grams per liter of residual sugar, spent six months on the lies and spent time in stainless steel tanks as well as barrique.

(Like most of the French wine websites, Bourillon Dorleans's involves to much music, does not provide direct links to the information on a particular wine and puts the information in a format that can't be copied. It's fancy, but annoying.)

A little info on Vouvray from the Oxford Companion to Wine:

the most important individual white wine appellation in the Touraine district of the Loire. The wines of Vouvray vary enormously in quality, thereby offering a true representation of the grape variety from which Vouvray is exclusively made. Vouvray is chenin blanc and, to a certain extent, Chenin Blanc is Vouvray (although arbois grapes are theoretically allowed into Vouvray too). No other wine made only from this long-lived middle Loire grape, often called Pineau de la Loire, is made in such quantity, from more than 2,000 ha/5,000 acres of vineyard. (The proportion of sparkling wine produced increased during the 1990s.)

And on the wine:

The style of wine made by the best producers such as Huet, Champalou, Domaine des Aubuisières, Clos Naudin, and Domaine de la Taille aux Loups is determined completely by the weather. In the least generous vintages, only dry and possibly sparkling wines are made. The best years yield very sweet, golden nectars that are naturally moelleux, or even liquoreux, but are so high in acidity that most are almost unpleasant to drink in their middle age between about three years old and two to three decades. Some of the finest Vouvrays can still taste lively, and richly fruity, at nearly a century. A relatively high proportion of demi-sec (medium dry) is also produced in many years, and it too has demanded a considerable amount of bottle ageing before the acidity has muted and the wine can be served as a fine accompaniment to many savoury, richly sauced dishes. Better vineyard management, however, is resulting Vouvrays of all sweetness levels that are more broachable in youth.

The wine is a pale pale gold color with tints of green. The nose is fresh and clean, but rich, with a nuttiness that overlays an almost tropical/star fruit aroma. The nuttiness leads to the conclusion that the wine is developing rather than young.

In the diploma classes Vouvray and chenin blanc is referred to as having a wet wool or lanolin smell. Does this? It's almost waxy and earthy, but I don't get an animal component.

On the palate the acid is apparent first and last, and completely masks any evidence of residual sugar. But it's earthy and citrusy and appley at the same time. The length of the fruit on the palate pretty much keeps up with the acid.

2006 was a tough vintage in the Loire, as there was a lot of rain in August (kind of like Long Island this year) and it was tough getting ripe fruit.

This is good quality wine, but it hurts my teeth.

]]> http://tusharkumar.wordpress.com/?p=26 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:41:20 +0000 tushark224 http://tusharkumar.com/2008/08/05/reviews-v-sattui-and-milat-winery-napa-ca/ Last weekend I had my first wine-tasting experience in Napa. Due to time constraint I was able to visit just two wineries. I started at V. Sattui, a family-owned winery established in 1885 and located in St. Helena, which is good for picnicking and large group activities but the wine, in my opinion, isn’t exceptional in terms of taste. It’s not bad, but I don’t know if it’s worth the price they charge for their bottles. After buying a bottle of their Riesling I walked over to the Milat winery, just a few hundred yards down the road.

After a few honks from drivers (I guess they don’t like people walking on the sides of the road up there) I entered the small tasting room at Milat. The tasting area was very small, accommodating about 10-12 people at a time with one host, Andrea, who really made an effort to get to know her customers and educate you about the wine you were tasting. It was refreshing to see a sign saying that tasting is free with the purchase of any bottle. Granted that capacity management is an issue at the more commercial wineries, so charging is one way they can manage traffic, but having a system of free tasting with purchase gives customers the confidence that these wineries really believe in their product. Milat definitely lived up to its ‘guarantee.’ The cabernet was by far the best; which is probably why it costs $36 a bottle. The combination of their dessert wine and chocolate port also made for a very interesting tasting experience.

I entered the Milat tasting room with two other friends and we left with five bottles—the 2007 Chenin Blanc, the 2005 Zinfandel, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Chocolate Port Sauce, and the Zivio Port-style (dessert wine). I highly recommend the Milat winery for anyone traveling to Napa for true wine-tasting, and not just a social experience.

Key takeaway: Check out smaller wineries for a more personal experience when wine-tasting.

Related Links:

www.milat.com

http://www.vsattui.com/

Unlike the participants in the famed bicycle race, no evidence of anabolic steroids, exogenous testosterone, nor doping was found to have been used by any of the contenders. Only perfect blends of grenache, mouvedre, meunier, chardonnay, semillon, chenin blanc, syrah, merlot, and cabernet grapes from some of the most famous wine regions is France showed their best face. These wines certainly did their hometowns proud. We paired these sumptuous sippers with french cheeses, baguette, and nicoise olives. Bon appetite.

We began our tour in Champagne and then continued to Alsace Lorraine, the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and crossed the finish line in Bordeaux. Although probably not geographically the most direct route, the wine tasting progressed quite successfully.

The evening continued with a short stroll (a bit of a sway for some) to one of our neighborhood's 5-star restaurants, Saluum, just one block from the house. Another reason we love Uptown. The food did not disappoint and was a great end to a lovely evening with friends. Not to be upstaged by last year's Elvis-is-still-dead party, we plan to make this an annual event, just like the real race.

VIVA LA FRANCE, y'all.

~cb~

This white is very tasty from a noble grape at a great price. Bright and vibrant, with pineapple, mango, pear and spice on the palate. Zippy and fresh with honeyed notes coming thru a balanced finish. Drink this best buy thru 2010.

Jonathan L., my erstwhile LegalZoom co-worker, poet, historian, and future Columbia grad student, was in the neighborhood. We're both fond of wine, so we decided to have a bit to drink together before we again went our separate ways.

Where else than Lou?

Now keep in mind that we're both going to be grad students in the near future; not only that, we're both going to be living in rather expensive metropolitan areas. Personally, I had enough money that day for wine tasting or dinner but not both. Oh well. I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

We met up at Lou at around 7 pm. The place was dead. There were, including us, seven patrons at that time. No matter. We had a job to do.

He had the 1989 Domaine Brunet chenin blanc I wrote about in a previous post. Then he moved on to the 2006 Coturri "Albarello", which was a field blend of a number of different old vines. I had a nice, light verdejo from the Rueda region of Spain: the 2006 Garcia-Arevalo "Tres Olmo". Then, I sampled the 2005 Giusti Lacrima di Morro and finished off with the 2004 Puiatti cabernet franc.

As for food, we got Lou's "fish plate", which consisted of smoked baccala, albacore confit, smoked trout, and house-cured wild salmon gravlax. It was tasty and a pretty good foil for the wines (the fish wasn't too fishy... it was savory, salty, and good).

Jon's Albarello was good (ha, simple enough, right?). He insisted that the taste of the wine changed in his mouth to reflect potentially the 11 different grapes in the blend. Some post-quaffing online research on the Coturri Winery website yielded the definition of both "Albarello" and "field blend":

Albarello is Italian for low or head pruned vines. This wine is made from a “field blend” vineyard in the southeast corner of Sonoma Valley. A field blend is a vineyard that has a number of different varietals planted at random. The idea being the wine was blended in the vineyard rather than in the winery.

What an interesting concept! The Albarello field blend consisted of nine grapes, six reds and three whites. I didn't get too good a taste of the wine, but from what I did taste it did seem like a pleasant, well-integrated wine.

My verdejo was crisp, dry, and refreshing. It wasn't terrible complex, but then again, verdejos aren't supposed to be terribly complex. Nonetheless, the Tres Olmo was delicious, well-built, with bracing acidity and clean minerality. Notes of citrus. Good.

The cabernet franc was served chilled, just like beaujolais. It was very light-bodied, with a low tannin-to-high acidity ration. The nose yielded cherry, and the taste yielded berries. This cabernet franc may just give beaujolais a run for its money in my book!

I wanted to focus a bit on the Lacrima di Morro. I mean, how cool is that name? Tears of Morro (Morro being the commune of Morro d'Alba in the Italian province of Ancona, which is on the Adriatic coast).

Lacrima di Morro is a wine whose grape (Lacrima di Morro d'Alba) is of an ancient and confusing origin--so ancient and so confusing, in fact, that its precise genealogy may never be determined.

This wine blew me away because it was like no other wine I've ever tasted. Sure, there are other wines whose nose may approximate flowers, but the Lacrima di Morro actually SMELLS like violets. It's unmistakable. It's incredible. And when you take a sip, those violets morph on your tongue into petals of rose. The aftertaste is evocative of rosewater--Turkish Delights, anyone? Light body, low-to-medium tannins, and medium acidity make for a playful, idiosyncratic wine.

I was about to write it's a nice wine for a date, but on second thought it's not. Despite all the flowers and mention of Turkish Delight the Lacrima di Morro does not strike me as a sweet wine, though it is not dry. There is a bit of funk below the waving blossoms, as if the winemakers had deliberately left some dirt and leaves on the petals when stuffing them into the bottle. =)

Now, what did Jon and I do about dinner? After tax/tip, we paid about $27-$30 each (keep in mind the glasses were not full glasses but two-three ounce tastes). I had like ten bucks in my pocket at that point.

We went to Flaming Patty's, a hole-in-the-wall burger joint right next door, where he got a banana shake and a grilled cheese sandwich and I got a Coke and chili cheese fries. My bill? $7.00, after tax/tip. Not exactly as high-quality as 20-year-old chenin blanc and house-cured wild salmon gravlax, but hey, grad students are grad students, right? Thank God I wasn't on a date.

Luckily, no one coming out of Lou spotted us sitting in our booth at Flaming Patty's!

I really like the blue and white tile. (Thanks to the Times for the picture!)

At any rate, Intelligentsia's space was designed by a woman named Barbara Bestor. I found that she had also designed the interior of a quirky wine bar / restaurant called Lou, which happens to be in a seedy strip mall--sandwiched between a Thai massage parlor and a 24-hour laundromat--off of Melrose and Vine in Hollywood.

I did some more reading on Lou and liked what I read: a fair-sized and eclectic wine selection? Check. Hip interior? Check. Good food? Check. All I needed was to actually go.

A friend and I went earlier today and, man, the outside was as seedy as I had read online. The marquee sign in front of the strip mall has the names of each establishment therein, and for the restaurant the sign was all of three letters: LOU. We thought the place was closed on account a full-length floral curtain that covered the entire front side of the restaurant; luckily, it was far from closed.

(Thanks to Lou for the pictures!)

We sat at the communal table in the middle. The only negative is that it's a bit cramped, though this turned out to have its charms as it's easy to strike up simple conversation--as I did--with some neighbors. Found out that the roasted fresh figs with Tilston blue cheese, almonds, and grapes were a good bet, as was the salad of farro, heirloom tomato, Dante sheep cheese, Bermuda onion, and pistou. To be safe, we also ordered a bowl of sweet corn and avocado soup.

I think the best part about Lou is the wine. They had two beer selections and twenty-nine wines to choose from. Each of the wines were available by the two-ounce taste, glass, or bottle. The bottle prices were pretty darn reasonable, with the most expensive bottle going for $64 and the majority falling within $40 - $50. Tastes were average $6 and were surprisingly generous.

The menu had different categories of wine: for instance, it started with "Sparkly" and went on to "Fresh, light-bodied whites" and a few others, then ended with "Fuller-bodied, meaty, and earthy reds", "Sweet muscats", and "Other sweeties". The varietal or appellation was listed first for each wine, then the prices, the country or state, winemaker and vintage, then brief a description.

And, for you health- or environment-conscious out there, Lou lists identifies "organic" and "biodynamic" wines on their menu!

We started off with tastes of the 2006 Beausejour cabernet franc rosé and the 1989 Domaine Brunet chenin blanc. I like the setup of the menu in that it lists a few descriptive words on each wine. For instance, the Beausejour was described as tasting like "white peaches", whereas the chenin blanc was advertised as a "fabulicious aged chenin, mellow-sweet but not sticky, perfectly balanced." The rosé was decent enough--I've had better--but the chenin blanc, a demi-sec from the Vouvray appellation of France, was truly "fabulicious."

I brought the glass to my nose and took a whiff: I could smell the oxidation--heck, it was almost 20 years old! It was off-dry, for sure, with hints of honey and toasted almond, and a viscous mouthfeel. It almost had a port quality to it. It truly was mellow, though with a plasticine pucker that skirted dangerously to unpleasantness. It avoided this pitfall with really nice green apple acidity that basically saved this wine from itself. The acid was not overbearing at all; there was fine balance, as advertised, between the acid and the sweetness, the texture and the body. Tremendous, and well worth the $7 taste and even $56 per bottle price. It complemented the figs, grapes, and almonds, which were cooked slightly in what I felt was a port or balsalmic reduction.

For our second round of tastes, she had a Beaujolais (made from the gamay grape) cru, the 2006 Piron Chenas to be specific. This was billed as having hints of "black cherry". I'm a fan of Beaujolais, so I was all for it. I tried a strange Austrian varietal, the blaufränkisch, a varietal I had been meaning to try ever since Eric Asimov profiled it and its cousin, zweigelt, in the Times. The specific wine I tried was the 2005 Moric blaufränkisch.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the blaufränkisch. As Mr. Asimov notes, blaufränkisch can make full and delicious wines, but many examples of this varietal are clumsy and poorly executed. I felt this to be the case with the Moric. There was a fair amount of acidity and a bit of a tannic bite, which could have been balanced with some good body--but the body never developed. It felt a bit flabby and overly acidic at the same time, which is not a combination one should ever see in a wine.

But I was quite happy with the results of the wine "tasting". I got to try a 20-year-old chenin blanc--one of my favorite white varietals--and blaufränkisch, a strange wine I had been meaning to try now for a while. I also got acquainted with a nice rosé from a varietal--cabernet franc--I had never before experienced as a rosé, and got reacquainted with a lovely, light Beaujolais.

Lou: a hidden gem. Wonderful service, wonderful atmosphere, and a serious, serious wine list that has something for everyone. A must-try for any budding oenophile!

The first course was some Comte, Rogue Smokey Blue, and Tillamook 3 year cheddar (no pics).  We drank a Loire Chenin Blanc.

Course two saw rhubarb added to caramelized onions (in bacon fat).  That was reduced with some vanilla extract, cardamom, and lemon thyme.  That formed the base for a seared duck breast that had been packed sous vide with black peppercorns, cardamom, cumin, and coriander.

We kept drinking wine.

For the third course, we cracked two homebrews.  One was a clone of Affligem Noel (www.affligembeer.be), and the other was a clone of Mac and Jack's African Amber.

I pounded thin some alfalfa grazed 2 year old doe round steaks, then dunked successively in flour, egg, and cornmeal and fried in butter.  Deer Schnitzel!  I served it over asparagus with a sage beurre blanc.

Con la Sommelier Griselda Márquez Soto

Tuve la oportunidad de asistir a ésta cata realizada en la Boutique de L.A. Cetto hace un par de meses, pero no había tenido la oportunidad de sentarme a redactar los hechos.

Algunos datos curiosos que nos dieron son los siguientes: 

México, fue el primer país en donde se hicieron injertos en las vides; Así como el primer país de America en donde se comenzó a elaborar vino.

Después de la Independencia de México, la primera casa productora fue Santo Tomás, establecida en 1888.  

En 1900 los Molocanes, rusos productores de leche, se establecieron en California, llevando vides y lácteos. [Si se fijan, California tiene una zona denominada Russian River y es precisamente por esto]

Es en 1930 cuando se empiezan a establecer las casas productoras de vinos en México. [Haciendo un paréntesis, Casa Madero fue la única casa productora que siguió produciendo vinos durante la prohibición en México, ya que pidió un permiso especial al rey de España para producir vino para consagrar.] 

En 1929 Don Angelo Cetto, italiano, compra su primer rancho en Tecate. Él era socio de Pedro Domecq, con un 49% de las acciones, pero posteriormente Cetto se quedo con todo. Hace 25 años comenzó a producir su marca propia de vinos.

Por lo tanto en México, L.A. Cetto es la casa más antigua “en familia” (ya que durante 80 años ha perteneciendo a los Cetto), a diferencia de Madero, que aunque tenga mas historia los dueños han ido cambiando. Este punto es importante ya que es lo que ha dado continuidad a su trabajo. 

A diferencia de otros países, México no tiene cuadros de añadas, porque nunca ha habido años malos, siempre son: buenos, más buenos y excelentes; esto se debe al clima de Baja California, ya que es siempre constante.

Una descripción de la vid, hecha por la sommelier: 

“La vid es como la mujer: es resistente y entre más adversidades se encuentre dará mejores frutos. No exige mucho. Tiene 9 meses de gestación y posteriormente dura 3 meses dormida.”

Un poco cursi… pero cierto en parte.     

Algunos datos curiosos sobre las uvas

La Tintorera es la única uva roja por dentro y por fuera.

La Chardonnay es la reina de las uvas blancas ya que se da en todas partes.

La Viogner es una uva enigmatica y delicada, no se sabe como surge. Tiene aromas complejos y sabor a flores blancas. Es muy delicado trabajar con ella.

La Nebbiolo mexicana (proviene de italiana) ha sido reconocida por los italianos como la mejor fuera de Italia.  

L.A. Cetto

Actualmente L.A. Cetto cuenta con 2,300 hectáreas sembradas y produce 500,000 cajas de vino al año. 

Tiene 76 diferentes vides, de las cuales hay producción de vinos únicamente de 28 de ellas.

Cata 

En esta ocasión pudimos disfrutar de dos vinos: uno blanco y uno tinto.

Comenzaré por el blanco:

CHENIN BLANC

• Cosecha: 2006
• Cepas: Chenin blanc 100%.
• Vista: color amarillo pálido con tonos verdes.
• Aromas: cítricos y tropicales, entre ellos la piña, el durazno y la manzana verde.
• En boca: Es impresionante como al tomarlo se siente inmediatamente como si mordieras una manzana. Posee una acidez elevada, pero a la vez es envolvente.
• Conclusión: por su acidez es un vino que maridaría muy bien con comida mexicana.
• Precio: $76.00 pesos 

PETITE SIRAH

• Cosecha: 2005
• Cepas: Petite Sirah 100%
• Vista: color púrpura intenso, con tonos de violeta. Aparentemente posee mucho cuerpo.
• Aromas: frutos rojos, mantequilla y pimienta. 
• En boca: es un vino complejo, seco y astringente (taninos elevados) con sabores a grosella, capulín, nuez, zarzamoras silvestres, caramelo y madera.
• Conclusión: ¡delicioso! El final en boca es muy equilibrado y recomendaría tomarlo con platillos mexicanos elaborados como los chiles en nogada, cochinita pibil y mole.
• Precio: no lo recuerdo exactamente, pero no era más de $90.00 pesos.

Sabías que… (Ideas tomadas de la sommelier) 

El olfato es el más primitivo de los sentidos, ya que es quien trae a la memoria emociones muy remotas. Las personas consumimos por emociones

El olfato se puede llegar a alterar si estamos tensos, enojados, tristes, etc.… 

El 15% de la producción de vinos se hecha a perder debido al corcho. Existen únicamente dos países productores de corchos: Portugal y del segundo no estoy muy segura pero me parece que Brasil…

Tomar una copa de vino tinto al día ayuda no solo a la salud, sino también a la belleza ya que tiene poder de:

• relajación
• antienvejecimiento
• eliminación de manchas
• reducción de arrugas
• anticelulítico
• aclarante de la piel... entre otros.

 ¡Como decirles que me encantaría que fuera cierto! Pero aunque no lo fuera me fascina el vino…

Para terminar

Recomiendo ampliamente el consumo de los vinos de L.A. Cetto, no es que sean la GRAN cosa, pero para una comida de domingo son excelentes: muy accesibles en precio, fáciles de encontrar y en cuanto a sabor casi nunca fallan.  

Perdón por mi redacción un poco revuelta. Esta vez no recordaba muy bien todos los datos, pero aun así me parece interesante conocer un poco más sobre los productores de vino mexicanos. Espero que les haya gustado.

Como siempre no duden en contactarme para cualquier duda o aclaración que tengan…  

Claudia Galván De La Garza

The first thing one notices upon entering Craftbar, the sister restaurant of Craft, is the row of floor to ceiling wine coolers that line the walkway above the bar.  And though the space itself is pretty uninspiring (depending solely upon high ceilings like most restaurant/bars in the Flatiron district, and not much else), the menu of carefully selected wines was enough inspire another trip.

The list of wines available by the bottle is pretty extensive, and includes such categories as "spicier reds" and "fragrant whites."  And though Craftbar is not the place for a cheap date (most pours, though generous, run $12 to $15 a glass), it is a bar worth visiting to check out its selection of interesting wines.

And though interesting doesn't always mean divine, the bartenders pour a taste for one to sample before filling the glass, which means never being stuck with an unfavorable glass of wine. 

Last night, the bartender was particularily kind, offering samples when my friend Farrel and I had questions about a particular vintage, and withholding attitude when we failed to order a glass. (Where have you ever encountered that?!?)  Sensing our curiosity, he then opened the last bottle of a wine that Craftbar used to carry (a white so loaded and thick, for a moment, it seemed reminiscent of grain), so that we could taste.

Hmmm...

Finally--what did we drink?

My favorite was the Riesling, Gobelsburger, Schloss Gobelsburg, 2007,  from Kamptal, a region in Austria famous for its Grüner Veltliner and Riesling.  Managed by the monks of Zwetti Monastery until 1995, Schloss Gobelsburg is one of the oldest wineries in Austria.  This pale straw colored vintage packed a particularly powerful bouquet that kicked and screamed a floral gust of pear and melon fruits.  The steely mineral content was slightly effervescent, and though it had to sit for a few minutes to open up, this solidly structured riesling was pure delight!

The Grüner Veltliner, 2004, Lamm, Hirsch, also from Kamptal--a pale wine--was full of minerality on both the nose and mouth.  With a touch of lime and spice, the fruit flavors lingered and finished strong.

Lastly, we traveled further west for the Chenin Blanc, Anjou, Cuvée Prestige, Domain Ogereau, 2004, from the Loire Valley--a golden colored wine that was heavy on the honey with what tasted at the time like a high alcohol content.  

Our three hours at the bar passed like the flash storm that rained down hard outside.

[Where: 900 Broadway, New York, NY 10003]

We drank a Chenin Blanc From Kiona in Red Mountain.  I really love the wines of Red Mountain.  They have the most interesting terrior in Washington.

The Fleur de Mer 2007 Rose from the Cotes de Provence was light, fresh and super dry, which is how, Christophe said in his nearly indecipherable French accent, rose should be.

Also cool was the Chateau la Rouviere 2004 Bandol, which was white and made from the rolle grape.

On rolle from the OCW

the white grape variety traditionally most closely associated with bellet, is now increasingly grown in the Languedoc and, especially, Roussillon, where it is frequently blended with southern French varieties such as Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Grenache Blanc. It is aromatic and usefully crisp for warm wine regions and is accepted by French authorities as identical to the vermentino of Corsica, Sardegna, and the Tuscan coast although some Italian authorities dispute this. Its relationship to the variety called Rollo in Liguria is still unclear.

On Bandol

the most serious wine of Provence, typically a deep-flavoured, lush red blend dominated by the mourvèdre grape. Like Châteauneuf-du-pape, Bandol produces quintessentially Mediterranean red wines which are easy to appreciate in youth despite their longevity.

The appellation is named after the port from which they were once shipped all over the world. Bandol is now a Mediterranean resort town with little to offer the wine tourist, and the vineyards are on south-facing terraces well inland called locally restanques. As in the smaller appellation of Cassis just along the coast, the vines are protected from the cold north winds, but have to fight property developers for their right to continued existence. A total of about 1,400 ha were cultivated in the early 2000s.

This particularly well-favoured southern corner is one of the few parts of France in which mourvèdre, the characteristic grape of Bandol, can be relied upon to ripen. Other dark-berried varieties grown include grenache and cinsaut, much used for the local herby rosés which account for about one bottle of Bandol in three, together with strictly limited additions of Syrah and Carignan. A small quantity of white Bandol is made from Bourboulenc, Clairette, and Ugni Blanc with a maximum of 40 percent Sauvignon Blanc, but little of it escapes the region's fish restaurants.

Wine-making techniques are traditional but evolving. All reds must have at least 18 months in cask. Mechanical harvesting is banned. Domaine Tempier is one of the few domaines to have a well-established market outside France but the likes of Domaines de la Bégude and de la Tour du Bon, and Chx La Rouvière, Pibarnon, Pradeaux, and Vannières have all made fine wines.

I didn't find this one especially aromatic, it seemed like a mix of chardonnay and chenin blanc, with caramel apple, green pear and an almost rubbery smell. It has a rich mouthfeel, but stopped a little short. It's interesting that the wine is already four years old and on the market. Christophe said Bandol is usually held back and right now the current vintage for the reds is 2001.

Later in the evening Larry Perrine of Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton stopped by for a drink and I gave him a taste. He said he'd never had a white Bandol before. Larry teaches the vinification class at the International Wine Center and has been in the wine business for decades, so I was pleased to give him something new.

The winner of the group was a Vouvray.

D'Orfeuilles "Silex" Vouvray 2005

Made from 100 percent chenin blanc in the Vouvray region of the Loire Valley, Larry and I both found citrus in the wine; he tangerine, me Meyer Lemon. So it's almost sweet and full, but it's got the signature high acid of chenin and the oily aroma of what wine tasters say is typical of chenin blanc: lanolin or wet wool. This wine will last a long time.

The question of "Silex." Silex is French for flint, and is a highly valued soil component in the Loire. One famous renegade wine maker, Didier Dagueneau of Pouilly Fume, named one of his sauvignon blancs Silex. Christian went so far as to refer to it as an appellation, but then called it a lieu-dit, named place in French. Wines from silex areas, he said, command higher prices. This would retail for about $27.