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Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes, Uncategorized

Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class — Part 4: Cabernet

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This is the fourth and final post in a series about the Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class. The earlier posts covered 3 Sauvignon Blancs, 3 Pinot Noirs and 3 Carmeneres.

Ventisquero ‘Grey’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Maipo Valley ($29)

94% Cabernet Sauvignon · 6% Petit Verdot

A fresh nose of cassis and mint accented by rich spice box notes. A cool, structured Cab on the palate with ripe dark fruit and a firm tannic presence that manages to stay lifted. Despite the “18 months in French oak barrel”, it didn’t strike me as heavily oaked. Good stuff.

· · · · ·

Maquis Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Colchagua Valley ($19)

100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Another fresh nose, this one featuring more herbal characteristics. Delicious dark berry fruit and peppery spice on the palate with grippy tannins. A very nice value at $19.

· · · · ·

Los Vascos ‘Le Dix’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Colchagua Valley ($65)

85% Cabernet Sauvignon · 10% Carmenere · 5% Syrah

Bright, intense and seductive nose. Definitely oaky, but not over-oaked — at least for my palate that evening. Complex on the palate — mixed berries, chocolate, spices — with a full, long, smooth finish. This one has that luxurious, Barry White feel and it’s working for me.

· · · · ·

Another very good flight of wines and a nice finish to the tasting. I enjoyed them all, but you can’t beat the the Maquis for the best value among these three Cabs.

 · · · · ·

At the beginning of the tasting, I poured out a little of each of the 3 Carmeneres and 3 Cabernets to create a little more room for the wine to breathe before I got to them later in the tasting. Instead of pouring the wine down the sink, I poured them all into a single glass, creating a sort of master-blend to taste at the end of the tasting. So how was it?

Meh. There’s a reason blending is an art form not a random act. The resulting wine was pretty muddled and unimpressive despite being composed of some nice individual wines. Oh well, it was an interesting experiment.

 

Commentary

Varietal Composition of Wine Spectator’s 2012 Top 100 Wines – REDS

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I mentioned the other day that I’m a chart nerd; it’s an occupational hazard (I’m a marketing researcher by day). Well, when the Top 100 issue of Wine Spectator showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago, I found myself wondering what you’d end up with — varietally speaking — if you did a master blend of them all. An equal blend, one bottle of each of the 73 reds on the list.

Would all the Napa Cabs and Bordeaux mean a Cabernet-dominated blend?

Would the Rise of Pinot push it to the top, aided by the fact that it is almost always bottled as 100% Pinot Noir?

Or would there be a surprise to uncover?

My curiosity was piqued. I had to find out. So I fired up Excel and started a spreadsheet.

Here’s the result:

So what do you think? Syrah/Shiraz at #1 was a mild surprise for me. Any surprises for you?

This was a fun little exercise. Next year, let’s hope for a little more Mourvèdre in this blend.

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Price: 11-15 bucks, Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class — Part 3: Carmenere

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Welcome to Part 3 of this mini-series of posts on the Wines of Chile blogger tasting held back in October. Earlier posts covered the 3 Sauvignon Blancs and 3 Pinot Noirs. The final post, yet to come, will deal with the 3 Cabernet Sauvignons.

But today, dear reader, we focus on Carmenere. I won’t try to retell the story of Carmenere in Chile. You can Google it. Suffice it to say this originally-Bordelais grape wound up widely-planted in Chile and has become it’s calling card. I was really happy to get to taste these three wines.

Wine #7

Concha y Toro Marques de Casa Concha Carmenere 2010 Cachapoal Valley ($22)

100% Carmenere

Aromas of dusty black fruit and currants lead to a lean, but muscular palate presence. Green pepper and pencil lead dominate the plummy fruit. And plenty of tannins. A fierce little wine. Firm but friendly.

— — —

Wine #8

Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenere 2010 Apalta-Colchagua Valley ($15)

95% Carmenere | 5% Carignan

The nose offers up tobacco and green pepper. On the palate it is plump and fleshy, with plummy fruit and sweet spices outlined by an ashy character. A Rubenesque Carmenere.

— — —

Wine #9

Koyle ‘Royale’ Carmenere 2009 Colchagua Valley ($26)

85% Carmenere | 8% Petit Verdot | 7% Malbec 

This one leaps out of the glass with strong mineral/graphite/iron presence and some pleasant green notes. Firm on the palate, featuring chocolate notes along with the dark fruit. Finishes with puckery tannins. In my notebook I wrote: “Big, inky badass” and drew a picture of a giant squid. This wine definitely made the biggest impression on me of all the wines in the tasting, and I was still enamored by it when I tasted back through the wines the next day. I will seek out this bottle again.

— — —

All in all, this was a very nice flight of wines. Along with the Sauvignon Blancs, the Carmenere flight was my favorite of this tasting. Carmenere is easy to forget when you’re browsing the racks at your favorite wine shop. These wines reminded me that they are worth seeking out.

And if you’re ever looking for a wine match for chicken liver, pork and black pepper paté (aren’t we all?), Carmenere will work very nicely.

Cheers!

 

 

Commentary

SFGate’s Top 100

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SFGate’s Top 100 Wines of 2012 hit the interwebs yesterday and is a must-read. It’s loaded with intriguing wines to seek out, courtesy of Jon Bonné (@jbonne)

Only one varietal Mourvèdre made the list, but it’s one I’ve been itching to get my hands on — the 2011 La Clarine Farm Cedarville Sierra Foothills Mourvèdre, described thusly:

Mourvedre doing a delicious impersonation of Jura wine.

 

Yum.

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FYI, there are two other wines on the list with Mourvèdre in the blend:

  • 2010 Bedrock The Bedrock Heirloom Sonoma Valley Red
  • 2009 Dos Cabezas El Campo Pronghorn Vineyard Sonoita Red

 

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #26 – Esprit de Beaucastel

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I tasted this wine back in the summer, but never got around to blogging my notes. So I decided to dust them off for today’s Mourvèdre Monday post.

Tablas Creek 2008 Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge

Complex nose of cherry/raspberry fruit with a hit of coffee/mocha and mint. On the palate, it is mouth-filling without being overwhelming. It delivers earthy dark fruit and lightly grippy tannins and finishes with a bit of a mineral/minty lift. Fruit-forward, but balanced.
VINEgeek Verdict: Damn good.

38% Mourvèdre
30% Grenache
26% Syrah
6% Counoise

Coolio bona fides:

  • grapes from organic estate vineyard
  • fermented with native yeasts
  • aged in 1200-gallon French oak foudres

Price: $40-45