Category Archives: Price: 11-15 bucks

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

 

 

Price: 11-15 bucks, Price: 16-20 bucks, Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class – Part 1: Sauvignon Blanc

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Recently, I participated in the Wines of Chile blogger tasting Terroir Master Class. Fred Dexheimer led the tasting from Chile while sitting with and chatting up the winemakers. We bloggers followed along via video, twitter and a chat tool. It was great fun.

There were 3 wines in each of 4 flights: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I’ll focus on each flight in a separate post, starting today with Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine #1

Viña Casablanca ‘Nimbus’ Single Vineyard

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Casablanca Valley

Vintage: 2012

Price: $13

Nose full of gravel and citrus. High acid, green apple palate with some floral/herbal notes ending with a long, flinty finish. New World sap, but the overall impression manages to feel elegant. This wine drank nicely for almost a week after being opened.

 

Wine #2

San Pedro ‘1865’ Single Vineyard

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Leyda Valley

Vintage: 2011

Price: $19

The funk has arrived! Pungent, vegetal nose – like grapefruit squeezed over grilled asparagus. Distinctive, for sure, but not the most pleasant for me on this night. The palate is more appealing: full-bodied, rounded and almost creamy, but retaining Sauvignon Blanc’s crispness. The flavors are melony and spicy. Reactions from the live-chatting bloggers varied from wow to whoa. This one grew on me.

 

Wine #3

Casa Silva ‘Cool Coast’

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Colchagua Valley

Vintage: 2011

Price: $25

Pineapple & lime on the nose with a chalky character. Racy and full on the palate, continuing the bright pineapple theme, complimented by a rocky minerality and long finish. This is more one-note than the others (it’s like a pineapple lightsaber), but it’s a great note.

 

Overall verdict:

A fun flight. Shows the wide range of styles of Sauvignon Blanc that can come from the varied Chilean terroirs. The winner for me was the Nimbus (and the best value at $13), but overall I continue to be impressed with what Chile is doing with this variety.

Stay tuned for the next three flights. And in the meantime, if you haven’t tried a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc in a while, give one a try and let me know what you think.

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Viña Cerron 2009

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An interesting blend of grapes for Spain, from the Castilla region. The vintner seems to like round numbers: 25% Tempranillo, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Syrah and 25% Petit Verdot.

A loamy quality that I love on the nose. Dense, dark fruit, but not a bruiser. Fresh, slightly wild, full of spice and a bit of tobacco to accent the blackberry, black cherry flavor. A nice bit of grip on the finish. This is refreshingly balanced for Spain. Sure it’s concentrated & ripe, but it avoids sweetness. There’s a lot to like here. B+

$14 via Garagiste.

Photos of the label too boring to post. Their website shows some much-improved current packaging, Look at that instead.

 

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #27: My New Favorite Monastrell

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I originally declared 2010 to be the Year of Mourvèdre, but my love of the grape knows no bounds, calendrical or otherwise. Here in 2012, the posts don’t come as often as they used to, but in honor of my recent business trip to Spain, here’s a review of my new favorite Monastrell (the Spanish name for Mourvèdre).

This wine retails for around $10-12 and is a great intro into Monastrell if you’re new to it — or for those who know and love the grape, it’s a good bulk buy. Have you tried this wine before? Leave a comment.

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Search-friendly, cut-and-paste-friendly text: Olivares Altos de la Hoyas Monastrell 2008 Jumilla |Nose: Smoked cherries with a fresh vegetal note. Palate: High-toned blackberry fruit with good acidity and a touch of earthy minerality. Good, persistent finish. Overall: My new favorite Monastrell. Made my day. | Score: A-

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Two Alex Elman Wines

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Finally catching up on some old tasting notes. Here are a couple of wines from Alex Elman Wines, an importer who decided to create her own label, featuring wines from Argentina made from organic grapes. You may notice braille on the labels; that’s because Alex Elman lost her sight in her 20s. Read the full story here.

TRIVIA BREAK: What well-known Rhône winery uses braille on it’s labels? (Here’s a lesser known one.)

These wines were provided as samples for review. They each retail for around $12.

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Overall, I think the Torrontes is a solid example of it’s type for the price. It’s just not a style I’m a big fan of. Given the glut of inexpensive Malbec on the shelves of wine shops and grocery stores and gas stations coast to coast (depending on the relative enlightenment of your state’s beverage laws), I’d have a hard time recommending this one.

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And now an offering to the SEO gods (and anyone who needs to cut & paste):

Alex Elman 2010 Torrontes Mendoza (Argentina) | Floral, apricot/peach nose like a car air freshener. More apricot/peachy flavors on a medium-bodied, low-acid frame, with the barest hint of minerality. | C+

Alex Elman 2009 Malbec Mendoza (Argentina) | My first reaction is that it smells cheap. There’s lots of Christmas spice and it reminds me a bit of mulled wine (though maybe I’m just having a flashback to a really terrible tasting room experience in Fredericksburg TX). The flavors are blueberry/blackberry, a bit on the thin side and in need of some backbone. Overall, I don’t get enough of the richness I want when I’m drinking Malbec. | C-

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

A $12 Sicilian Red With Some Attitude

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Here’s an inexpensive, widely-available wine that hits the sweet spot for my palate:

It’s worth noting that I found the 2006 a few weeks after tasting this 2007 and didn’t like it nearly as much. Look for the 2007.

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Image credit: Illuminaut via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/illuminaut/3996050349

An offering to the SEO gods: PLANETA La Segreta Rosso 2007 IGT Sicilia | This wine says f*ck you to bullshit $12 fruit punch wines from the New World. | Red berries, spicebox, dry leaves, earth, leather, badassitude | B+

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvedre Monday #26 (Tetra-Pak Edition): Y+B Monastrell

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Welcome to the first tetra-pak edition of #MourvedreMonday. Yellow+Blue (Y+B) sells wine from organically grown grapes in environmentally-friendly 1-liter tetra-paks. (Yellow + Blue = Green. Get it?) They source wine from a number of locales, including Malbec and Torrontes from Argentina, Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, and this Monastrell from Spain. This is the first varietally-labeled Monastrell in tetra-pak that I’ve come across (and I’ve see a lot of Mourvèdre/Monastrell/Mataro). I have to admit, it was kinda weird pulling a carton out of my mini-cellar, but I got over that quick once I poured the wine.

Price: $12 for 1 liter

This wine was provided as a sample for review by the winery.

Tetra-pak

 

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Spicy berry fruit on the nose, with a dusty herbal character. Palate is full of sappy blackberry fruit, laced with exotic spice notes and a hint of smoked meat. A light tannic astringency on the reasonably lengthy finish. Definitely worth picking up if you want an inexpensive introduction to Monastrell or just want a tasty, fun-to-drink wine that fits a green lifestyle. B

UPDATE: Another review of this wine has gone up at The Passionate Foodie. He liked it, too. Check it out.