Monthly Archives: June 2010

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #19: Lorca Redux (2008)

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In the last Mourvèdre Monday post, I reviewed the Lorca 2006 Monastrell from Bodegas del Rosario. I wasn’t planning on doing this Lorca 2008 back-to-back with the last, but our dinner of chorizo, shrimp, olives and rice made me want to go to Spain with my wine choice, and this is the last Spanish Monastrell I had on hand. As you may recall, the 2006 did not leave me with high hopes for this one, but I pulled the cork and hoped for the best.

Lorca Monastrell 2008

Producer: Bodegas del Rosario

Grapes: 100% Monastrell (same grape as Mourvèdre, for newcomers). The 2006 had 30% Syrah.

Appellation: Bullas (D.O. Spain)

Vineyards: From youngish (10-20 years), dry-farmed vines at altitudes ranging from 550 to 1060 meters. The soil is clay, sand and limestone.

Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation and 8 months in 2-year-old French and American oak

Alcohol: 13.5%

Price: $9 or $10 at Costco

My tasting notes: Sticking my nose in the glass, I get the sense of walking the aisles at a hardware store. I start in Aisle 1 with the paint thinner and other solvents. Aisle 2 is the loose nails and bolts. Aisle 3 for some lumber. Oh look, they’ve got cherry Tic Tacs at the checkout. On the palate it’s light with the same sort of dusty red fruit as the 2006 bottling, still without much pop. It disappears very quickly at the end. A very flat experience.

Overall impression: Once again, the Lorca is not fun to drink. Please don’t make this your first Monastrell if you’ve never had one. Try this one or this one or this one instead. C-

Free association:

Photo credit: D’Arcy Norman via Flickr

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Foodista Featured Wine Blog of the Day

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Foodista Featured Wine Blog of the Day Badge

Foodista has selected this humble blog as it’s Featured Wine Blog of the Day today. That’s pretty cool.

If you’re arriving here for the first time from Foodista, welcome. They’re linking to my Mourvèdre Monday #18: Lorca 2006 review, but I hope you’ll check out some other stuff, like Oddball Wine of the Week and the Free Association Mosaic.

Regular readers, if you aren’t familiar with Foodista, check them out. It’s a sort of a wikipedia for food and cooking, but much prettier.

Thanks, Foodista!

Wine Books

“Corked” Book Review & Giveaway

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I received this book as a sample and thought “This could be interesting.” Father-daughter road trip through France, hitting all the classic wine regions (except Bordeaux – “Fuck Bordeaux” as they say in the book). Should be fun.

Memoirs can be hit-or-miss, though. And if you don’t connect with the author’s “voice” it can be tough sledding. And I did not find myself connecting with Ms. Borel, her inner torment or issues with her dad.

Basically, Ms. Borel has some issues, her wine-loving overbearing dad has some issues and she joins him on this “wine trip to end all wine trips” hoping it will help them connect. Now, I knew this was a memoir, not a wine book, but the wine felt REALLY secondary to the angst here. I hung in there, hoping to get to some good wine-geekery or even some good armchair travel, but those moments were too few and far between for me. In a way, it reminded me of Julie & Julia, the memoir by Julie Powell about an unhappy woman who decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking. That book, too, was a bit to angst-y for me. But if you like that book, you very well could like this one.

I’m going to see if I can talk my wife into reading and reviewing this book here on the blog. As a fan of the memoir (travel and otherwise), she may have a different take.

I have an extra copy of the book, so let’s do a little giveaway. Leave a comment about a memory you have of (1) your parents and wine or (2) a wine-related road trip. I’ll put all commenters names in a hat and draw a winner and ship you the book.

(If you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.)

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Oddball Wine of the Week (Slovenia Edition): Marof Beli Križ

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Here’s another Slovenian wine for the Oddball series. This one blends Welshriesling with Sauvignon Blanc. Welshriesling is not Rielsing with a funny accent. It’s an unrelated (and inferior) grape grown in places like Austria, northern Italy, and a bunch of old Iron Curtain countries: Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and Czech Republic. According to Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines, it produces round, low-acid wine. Let’s see how this one comes together with Sauvignon Blanc.

Marof Beli Križ 2007

Producer: Marof

Grapes: 65% Sauvignon Blanc and 35% Welshriesling

Appellation: Prekmurje (Slovenia)

Vineyards: The name Beli Križ means white cross, which refers to an actual white cross that stands at the point where the three estate vineyards that produce the grapes for this wine come together. The vineyards are: Bodonci, Grad and Mačkovci. Soils, depending on the vineyard, are volcanic or sandy loam.

Vintage: 2007

Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation. No oak aging.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Price: $11.83 via Garagiste

My tasting notes: The wine is very pale in color. The nose is all stone & stone fruit aromas, with a light lemony perfume. There is also a slight nuttiness. More stone and stone fruit on the palate with a lemon-lime background note and the vaguest whiff of fresh green beans. It finishes very dry with decent length. Despite the lemony citrus notes, the flavors are soft, not aggressive. To my palate on this evening, it is a bit too soft – I could use a little more brightness and acid.

Overall impression: A very drinkable and pleasant wine. Based on the blend, and what I’ve read of Welshriesling, I can’t help but think that I would enjoy the wine more with a higher percentage of Sauvignon Blanc. But it would be interesting to share with someone who finds most Sauvignon Blanc too aggressive and see what they think. Bonus points for getting to use a new diacritical mark on the blog. B-

Free association: Slovenia is in the same group as the USA in the 2010 World Cup. Their match is tomorrow. Let’s hope their defense is as soft as this wine.

More info:

Other reviews at: CellarTracker (mean: 87.7), Cork’d and The Ancient Geek.

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New Series Preview: Lincoln vs. Hamilton

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I’m going to start a new series called Lincoln vs. Hamilton where I’ll put a $5 wine (Lincoln) and a $10 wine (Hamilton) of the same type head-to-head in a single-blind tasting.

VS

Now I know that in general there is better wine available at $10 than at $5. There are some seriously good $10 wines. But I’m more interested in the widely-available, supermarket wines. If you’re picking up a bottle o’ red along with your frozen pizza, can you save $5 and get something of similar quality?  We’ll find out.

If I get tired of the Lincoln price range, this series could quickly morph into Hamilton vs. Jackson! In fact, what do you think? Would you be more interested in Lincoln ($5) vs. Hamilton ($10) or Hamilton ($10) vs. Jackson ($20). Leave a comment. Thanks!

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #18: Lorca 2006

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I already had a bottle of the 2008 Lorca waiting for it’s turn on Mourvèdre Monday when I saw this 2006 stacked up at Costco. I had high hopes this could be another nice Costco find. I originally intended to do a mini-vertical and open both of these at the same time for this post, but I already had 2 or 3 other half-empty bottles of wine open and felt guilty about opening two. So I’ll pop the 2008 another time. Let’s check out the 2006.

Producer: Bodegas del Rosaroio

Grapes: 70% Monastrell and 30% Syrah

Appellation: Bullas (D.O., Spain)

Vineyards: no detail on the website

Vintage: 2006

Winemaking: I don’t think this (the ‘Tinto’) sees any oak (they have ‘Barrica’ and ‘Crianza’ bottlings that get the oak)

Alcohol: 14%

Price: About $10 at Costco

My tasting notes: Not much fruit on the nose. Instead I get chalk dust and mineral aromas and a vegetal, whats-that-funky-smell-coming-from-behind-the-couch quality. Not promising. On the palate, it’s light-bodied and thin with the suggestion of dusty red fruit and a tight, dry, short finish. “Intense odor, complex sensations” is a tagline they use on the website. I think I agree, though not in the way they probably intended.

Overall impression: Not very fun to drink. I’m not too excited about opening the 2008 now. C-

Free association: Writing about this wine makes me feel pissy like Kristen Wiig’s Aunt Linda character from SNL…

Click here for video

More info:

Wine Spectator: 86 points

Other blogger reviews at Dallas Wine Blog and Wine Belly.

Fun fact from the Bodegas del Rosario website: “in Bullas (Murcia), in the mid 19th century, [Monastrell/Mourvèdre] was also known as Casca del País.”

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #17: Carro Tinto 2008

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This wine always catches my eye on the shelf, with it’s orange label and simple design. I’ve had past vintages and like it pretty well, so let’s see what’s up with the 2008.

Carro Tinto 2008

Producer: Bodega Señorio de Barahonda. They put out 10 or 12 different bottlings of Monastrell or Monastrell blends under the Barahonda, Carro and Bellum labels, including two previous Mourvèdre Monday wines: the Barahonda Monastrell 2006 (B-) and the Nabuko 2007 (B). Based on past results, I’ll taste as many of their wines as I can find.

Grapes: 50% Monastrell, 20% Syrah, 20% Tempranillo and 10% Merlot

Appellation: Yecla, (D.O., Spain)

Vineyards: From high-altitude vineyards (2339 feet) with rocky limestone soils.

Winemaking: no oak

Alcohol: 14%

Price: $9 or $10, usually

My tasting notes: Dusty blue and black fruit on the nose with significant earthiness, minerality and barnyard funk. On the palate, the funk goes on and on, with a strong meaty/animal aspect that brings to mind that episode of Man vs. Wild when Bear Grylls snacks on a dead Zebra (I mean that in the best possible way). There are some nice smoke and pepper/spice notes.  The fruit is there, too — blackberry & plum — but it’s not playing the starring role. The wine finishes very dry with a pronounced iron/mineral character that I’m enjoying.

Overall impression: Old World fans will find a lot to like here, while I suspect New World-ers may fear the funk. Give it a good bit of air for best results. I like what it brings to the table for $10. And, while only 50% Monastrell/Mourvèdre, it delivers a lot of that grape’s character, for my palate. B/B-

Update 6/08/2010: This review was written after one evening with the bottle. The next day, I finished the other half of the bottle and it was drinking beautifully on day two. So I’m bumping it to a full B.

Free Association:

More info:

88 points Parker (Jay Miller) and 87 points IWC.

Other blogger reviews: Bottle a Day, Wine Reviews You Can Understand and Wine-Smith

Price: 16-20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Vistalba Corte B 2005 Mendoza

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This wine was another Costco pick-up. The 92-point review from Wine Spectator and the $17 price tag grabbed my attention. (I know, I know, points don’t matter…) Then the all-Spanish label added some intrigue (I couldn’t even tell what the grape varieties were). So I pulled the trigger just to see what this wine was all about.

Producer: Bodega Vistalba

Grapes: 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon

Appellation: Mendoza (Argentina)

Vineyard: Finca Vistalba, Upper Mendoza River. Clay, rock and loam soils. 60 degree temperature swing day to night.

Vintage: 2005

Winemaking: 12 months in French oak barrels (% new not specified)

Alcohol: 14.5% abv

Price: $16.99 at Costco in Austin

My tasting notes: A fume-y nose of raspberry, smoke, spice and caramel has me a bit worried I could be dealing with a fat, froak bomb (I’m going to try to bring that phrase back into the VINEgeek lexicon). But on the palate, I find a solid core of minerality supporting sharp, high-toned fruit from the raspberry/blackberry end of the spectrum, with a plush mouthfeel. My wife thought it “ends with whimper” and she’s right.

Overall impression: Overall, I liked the wine and would drink it again. The minerality saves it for me. I just wish it finished stronger. B

Free association:

Couldn’t find a pic anywhere of the missed game-tying layup at the end of Game 7 vs. the Pacers in the 1995 Playoffs.

More info:

92 points, Wine Spectator