Your monthly roundup of Mourvèdre-related interestingness from the interwebs circa March 2013.
Last month’s roundup led off with a jealosy-stoking post about a major Domaine Tempier tasting, so let’s start March’s roundup with @ErinBScala‘s post on a vertical tasting of Hewitson’s Old Garden Mourvèdre, from the first vintage (1998) through the latest barrel sample (2012). If you don’t know, the Old Garden vineyard, in the Barossa Valley, contains the world’s oldest known Mourvèdre vines. In other words, holy ground. My post on the 2005 (her favorite of the tasting) here.
March also saw the 16th Annual Rhone Rangers Weekend Celebration of American Rhones in San Francisco. One of these years, I’ll have to make it to this event. One of this year’s seminars, moderated by @jbonne, was Mourvedre, A Rising Star in the World of American Rhones, described thusly:
Mourvedre has taken center stage in many California Rhone strongholds, long since having outgrown its traditional role as a blending grape that brings structure and ageability to wines based Grenache. To show that Mourvedre is ready for its renaissance, seven Rhone Rangers winemakers will present their candidates for Mourvedre in a leading role: 2012 TERCERO Rosé (presented by Larry Schaffer), 2010 HOLLY’S HILL Petit Patriarche (presented by Josh Bendick), 2010 DAVID GIRARD Mourvedre (presented by Mari Wells), 2010 FOLIN CELLARS Mourvedre (presented by Rob Folin), 2009 KENNETH VOLK Mourvedre (presented by Ken Volk), 2010 VILLA CREEK “Damas Noir” (presented by Cris Cherry), and 2012 TABLAS CREEK “Vin de Paille Sacrerouge” Dessert Wine (presented by Jason Haas).
Artisans of Barossa reminded us that the name Mataro still holds sway in Australia. (And reminded me that I’ve got to find a way to get my hands on more varietal Mourvèdre/Mataro from Australia here in the U.S.)
In March, I discovered even more nooks and crannies of the wine world where Mourvèdre wine is made, including Tunisia, Greece, and Mexico.
A funny exchange on Twitter about the World Sommelier Competition where the winner mistook a Jumilla Monastrell for an Italian Cannonau in the blind tasting portion. Includes this winning tweet:
@TomokoKuriyama Cannonau/garnacha resembles monastrell/mourvèdre like a cow resembles a horse… Oh well.
— Victor de la Serna E (@VictordelaSerna) March 29, 2013
•••
If you come across any Mourvèdre goodness, let me know and I’ll probably link to it.
Bonny Doon Vineyard’s 2011 Clos de Gilroy is made from grapes not quite right for BDV’s top bottling, Le Cigare Volant (clos but no cigare, as Randall like to say).
83% grenache
7% cinsault
6% syrah
4% mourvèdre
from various locales around the Central Coast AVA
I love the freshness of this wine. It’s got lifted aromatics calling to mind exotic spices and red fruit, and a brightness and life on the palate that makes it highly quaffable. (I know “quaffable” can sometimes be a backhanded compliment, but I mean it in an exclusively positive way, as in I’d happily drink this all night.) A style of wine I wish was more common. You should definitely try this wine. Highly Recommended.
Lists at $18/bottle, but available for under $15 via several sources online.
Dried cherry, raspberry, mossy earthiness and dried flowers. Rich, but with good acidity. This tasty and interesting little Jumilla is 85% Monastrell and 15% Syrah and well worth the $10.50 I paid for it. Grab a bottle if you come across it and let me know what you think.
I’m a huge fan of the George R.R. Martin books (A Song of Ice and Fire Series) and the Game of Thrones HBO series based on them. As a wine geek, I noticed lots of references to wine as I was reading the books. My mind would start to wonder about the wine geography and wine culture of this fictional world. Eventually, I started making notes of these references in my copies of the books with the idea that maybe I’d turn it into a blog post.
Well, five books later I’ve got a small moleskin full of notes and hundreds of dog-eared pages that need to be revisited. But with Season 3 of the HBO series starting tonight, I’ve decided to start sharing what I’ve got, with the plan to add to it as I can. I’m starting with a look at the two major wine regions: The Arbor and Dorne.
MAJOR WINE REGIONS
In Westeros, the continent on which the majority of the action in the books takes place, there seem to be two principal wine regions: “the Arbor” and Dorne. Wine is produced elsewhere, but these are the only two that are referred to with geographic specificity. There are other wines from beyond Westeros that I’ll try to cover in future posts.
THE ARBOR
Geography
The Arbor is an island off of the southwestern coast of Westeros. It is part of a fertile region called The Reach, the seat of which is Highgarden. Wine is clearly part of the identity of the Arbor: the ruling house is House Redwyne, whose sigil is a grape cluster.
The Wine
Wine from the Arbor is widely viewed around Westeros as the finest wine in the world. Most references to it are in the context of how fine it is or what a luxury it is.
Dany to Xaro:
“The Arbor makes the best wine in the world,” Dany declared. “Come with me to the Arbor, Xaro, and you’ll have the finest vintages you ever tasted.”
Arbor wine is served at King Joffrey’s wedding feast:
“Let the cups be filled!” Joffrey proclaimed, when the gods had been given their due. His cupbearer poured a whole flagon of dark Arbor red into the golden wedding chalice that Lord Tyrell had given him that morning.
Tyrion Lannister to Sansa Stark:
“There is a flagon of good Arbor gold on the sideboard, Sansa. Will you be so kind as to pour me a cup?”
…
[Sansa] sat on the edge of the great curtained bed and drained half her cup in three long swallows. No doubt it was very fine wine, but she was too nervous to taste it.
Sansa, again, at House Baelish with Littlefinger:
The wine was very fine; an Arbor vintage, she thought. It tasted of oak and fruit and hot summer nights, the flavors blossoming in her mouth like flowers opening to the sun. [She’s a 13-14 year old girl, so forgive her florid language. – VINEgeek]
Regarding wine at Chataya’s brothel in King’s Landing:
The wine was poor stuff compared to the vintages from the Arbor the house normally served. “You must forgive us, my lord.” Chataya said. “I cannot find good wine at any price of late.”
Anguy, lamenting how he’d lost the fortune he’d won in an archery tournament:
I won a fair fortune myself, but then I met Dancy, Jayde and Alayaya. They taught me what roast swan tastes like, and how to bathe in Arbor wine.
Petyr Baelish/Littlefinger:
We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he’ll drink them down and ask for more.
Jaime Lannister, offered a choice of wines:
[Orton Merryweather]: We have Dornish red and Arbor gold, and a fine sweet hippocras from Highgarden.
[Jaime Lannister]: The gold, I think. I find Dornish wines as sour as the Dornish.
Queen Cersei:
Cersei beckoned to her page for another cup of wine, a golden vintage from the Arbor, fruity and rich.
“Arbor gold” is the most often mentioned type, but there are also references to Arbor reds, so I assume that “gold” is an indicator of the color (a rich white wine), rather than just a reference to quality, which was my initial impression.
Real World Analog
Photo credit: alasam via Flickr
Based on the unquestioned status of the wine, I want to think of it as Burgundy. But given the descriptions of the wine itself — “fruity and rich”, “oak and fruit” — and the fertile region it’s from, I imagine Arbor wine as definitely on the California/New World end of the style spectrum.
DORNE
The Geography
Dorne is an arid, mountainous region, also at the southern end of the continent of Westeros. References to crops such as citrus, olives, pomegranates suggest a climate similar to our Mediterranean.
The Wine
In contrast to wines from the Arbor, Dornish wines are strong and less rich/sweet, thus less universally appreciated.
Tyrion Lannister, drinking Dornish wine with Janos Slynt:
Quite the find. Dornish wines are not often so rich.
Prince Oberyn of Dorne to Tyrion Lannister reflecting on a past visit to Casterly Rock, seat of House Lannister in the Westerlands:
“Your skies were too grey, your wines too sweet, your women too chaste, your food too bland…”
Another conversation between Prince Oberyn and Tyrion:
Is it Dornish wine you’re drinking?”
“From the Arbor.”
Oberyn made a face. “Red water.”
[Later…]
I think I may drink some of Lord Redwyne’s grape juice after all.”
“As you like.” Tyrion served him a cup.
The man took a sip, sloshed it about in his mouth, and swallowed. “It will serve, for the moment. I will send you up some strong Dornish wine on the morrow.”
Dornish wine plays a role in a legend about the Rat Cook:
The Rat Cook had cooked the son of the Andal king in a big pie with onions, carrots, mushrooms, lots of pepper and salt, a rasher of bacon, and a dark red Dornish wine.
Dorne makes some sweet wine as well; there is a “sweet, heavy strongwine” beloved by Prince Doran of Dorne.
Real World Analog
Photo credit: Ryan Opaz via Flickr
In my head, Dorne is like Spain, particularly the Jumilla/Yecla/Alicante areas. And that would mean Dornish red is probably Monastrell! Not sure the descriptions themselves fit the modern wine from this region, but the mental image of the landscape is biasing me. What do you think fits?
—
Well, that’s it for now. I have many more post ideas ahead, covering other wine types, wine-drinking culture, medicinal uses, food and wine pairing, a master list of who in the books has drunk wine and probably a special post just for my homeboy Tyrion Lannister and all his adventures (and turns of phrase) with wine.
I know many of you may not give a Rat Cook’s ass about this kind of post, but it makes me happy. And what’s the point of having a blog if you can’t indulge your peculiar interests. Hope some of you enjoy.
In an article written by Sally Easton MW in db‘s April issue, she highlights research to show that it’s impossible to get minerality in a wine directly from the nutrients in the ground.
This news came to my attention via Twitter in breathless ALLCAPS. In recent years this has been a somewhat contentious issue, with scientists trying to debunk (or bunk, I suppose) the idea of “minerality” in wine.
I really don’t get why this is supposed to be surprising. Nobody thinks that a wine with chocolate notes comes from soil with chocolate in it. Or all those petrol-aromaed Rieslings are from vineyards near gas stations. The words we use to describe wine are just poor approximations of the experience of tasting a wine, not ingredient lists.
But maybe, at the end of the day, we should be happy that most wine talk is so ridiculous. In a world that is oversaturated with overdetermined meaning, there’s something decidedly cheering about this mischievous drink that resists plausible description.
With spring just around the corner, my pick for this Mourvèdre Monday is a lovely little Bandol rosé. Bandol, located within Provence, is France’s only wine region where Mourvèdre is the dominant grape. In other words, heaven. I couldn’t find the exact varietal composition of this bottle, but the Bandol AOC regulations require at least 50% Mourvèdre in its red and rosé wines (the rest most often Grenache and/or Cinsault).
Château des Baumelles 2010 Bandol Rosé
The gorgeous coral pink color of this wine entices before the first sniff. Citrus and red fruit drive the nose and palate, with a nice mineral core and plenty of twangy, bright acidity. In fact, one might just call it lip-smackingly good. I wish I had more of this for the Austin spring/summer ahead. If you see some, grab it. Around $18-20. VINEgeek Approved.
‘Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine I bet we’d get along just fine He could calm a storm and heal the blind And I bet He’d understand a heart like mine
It’s the first #MourvedreMonday of the month, so here’s a roundup of Mourvèdre-related interestingness from the past month: February, the dwarf month. (I wonder if someday, February will be downgraded from full month status to “dwarf”, like poor ole Pluto.)
The Leon Stolarski Blog stoked my jealousy this month with a post describing a major Domaine Tempier tasting which included 19 bottles, from a couple rosés to 7 vintages of La Cabassaou.
At the always-worth-reading Drinkster blog, Philip White recommended two Aussie Mourvèdre/Mataros: Yangarra 2010 Mourvèdre McLaren Vale and Esperanza 2010 Monastrell McLaren Vale. (He also suggests blending the two and calling it “Yangaranza Matourastrell”.) Here’s a taste:
It’s intensely-flavoured, velvety wine, with aromas that subliminally hint at 6B pencils, Parade Gloss boot polish, and freshly-polished horse tack. Its fruits are somewhere between the rooty-fruity fragrance of borscht – cool beetroot soup with yoghurt – and the meaty twang of blueberry. Its flavours are somewhere between those fleeting notions, inked with the reek of times and tastes past: it’s nostalgic stuff, with soft tannins that remind me of the grainy images in old movies. It’s never heavy, jammy, or gloopy. It’s the sort of red I can drink in the morning, without food, just for its powerful memory triggers. I could have it instead of lunch, or with some, in which instance Wah Hing tea-smoked duck comes immediately to mind. I could have it in the afternoon, with or without Alison Paxton’s exquisite Kangarilla Creamery goat cheese from next door, and then, come to think of it, I could have it with dinner, with dribbly lamb cutlets and mash. In other words, I recommend it. Trust Unca Phil.
The March 31, 2013 Wine Spectator failed to call out a single varietal Mourvèdre in it’s annual California Rhone review. The full listing of 600+ wines with scores is available here. The highest scoring varietal Mourvèdre — if you’re into scores, that is — is the Cypher Mourvèdre Paso Robles El Pelon 2009 (90, $55). They made up for mostly snubbing Mourvèdre by running a Domaine Tempier/Bandol feature in the same issue. (I’ll not link to it because it’s behind a paywall.)
Mon Coeur || J L Chave 2010 #vinegeekapproved #vinegeek
on Instagram: http://instagr.am/p/WQfO_ls5y_/
UPDATE: I forgot the second half of this bottle in the fridge until tonight, 6 days later. I’m finishing it tonight and it’s still drinking quite nicely.
) and the Game of Thrones HBO series based on them. As a wine geek, I noticed lots of references to wine as I was reading the books. My mind would start to wonder about the wine geography and wine culture of this fictional world. Eventually, I started making notes of these references in my copies of the books with the idea that maybe I’d turn it into a blog post.
:
