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Archive for July, 2010

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The Vines gets a jump on Robert Parker- Bodega El Porvenir

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

We found Bodega El Porvenir‘s wines through our weekly blind tastings last year and I remember tasting through the wines and thinking what great quality, concentration and flavors in a wide range of varietals.

With our group of tasters that consists of around 7 people, we were unanimous with our approval of these wines- this almost never happens! We have a few wineries that fit that profile, where we seem to love all the wines that they make, and El Porvenir is definitely one of them.

Robert Parker also apparently agrees with us!

He recently rated several of their wines with 90 points and above.

•    Laborum Syrah 2005 – 91 points – Drink from 2011 – 2020
•    Laborum Tannat 2005 – 91+ points – Drink from 2014 – 2025
•    Laborum Malbec 2004 – 91+ points – Drink from 2007 – 2025
•    Laborum Malbec 2005 – 90 points – Drink from 2011 – 2020
•    Laborum Malbec – Cabernet 2005 – 90 points – Drink from 2011 – 2018

Check out The Vines online wine shop where we have the Tannat and the Syrah  as well as their amazing blend named Amauta which at $36 is a steal. Also next week we will be introducing their Malbec and Torrontes so make sure you try all of their wines- you won’t be disappointed!

Salta and Cafayate

Salta, and Cafayate in particular, is an amazing place to visit- its a mixture between cactus and vineyards, desolate vistas and color soaked rocks. Located at 1750 meters, or 5,740 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest altitude vineyard terroirs in the world!

El Porvenir currently has 192 acres of their own vineyards, planted with the utmost care and divided into two estates: Río Seco and El Retiro.

The climatic characteristics of the zone of Cafayate are perfect for the development of high-level viticulture. With winemaker Luis Asmet and consulting winemaker Paul Hobbs, they are able to extract the best of what Salta has to offer.

The deep, sandy soil, poor and without limiting topsoils, gives a perfect base for cultivating vines and due to the altitude of the zone, the day-night difference (thermal amplitude) is 15- 18ºC (59-64ºF) during the vegetative cycle of the vine. This translates into a notable difference in the polyphenols in the wine compared to lower altitude zones, giving wines with better structure and color, more suited for oak aging and for the later storage and favorable evolution in the bottle.

In addition to at least 350 days of brilliant sunlight an average yearly rainfall of around only 120 millimeters and the absence of hail, it is one of Argentina’s top wine growing regions.

Visit Bodega El Porvenir

If you get the chance make sure that you stop by the winery in Cafayate- it is centrally located in town, which is an amazing experience in itself, and they offer personalized attention to learn more about their wines and the region. They offer personalized activities in which you can choose what you’d like to do. This could include touring the vineyards, winemaker-guided tastings, a typical regional lunch, horseback riding in the vineyards, a carriage ride, or a private appointment to buy wine direct in our cave.

Reservations should be made in advance by emailing tastingday@bodegaselporvenir.com or calling the winery.

Posted in In the News, Mendoza Bodegas | No Comments »


The Vines Weekly Wine Series | Why Blind Tastings?

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Here at The Vines of Mendoza we taste a lot of wine blind, to pick wines for our online wine shop, our Acequia Wine Clubs as well as to educate our Private Vineyard Estate owners about different characteristics that different varietals have. While there is a lot of scepticism about blind tastings, its great to get people’s honest, gut reactions to a wine. It gives you the opportunity to taste wines in “context,” comparing and contrasting the scents, tastes and textures of one wine against others in a similar price range, the same vintage or the same region to see if there are terroir similarities, or vintage or winemaker differences.

Obviously wines are experiential and they can change depending on the food, the atmosphere and even the friends that you are with- but to get a birds eye view into a wine it is often interesting to taste it blind. You might even surprise yourself about which wines are your favorites.

So the big question- why blind tastings? You take away all your thoughts and replace them with senses. You get to know what your nose smells, your mouth tastes, and how your brain thinks. There is no right or wrong answer- all you have to do is experience.


Here are some of our tips to host your own blind tasting:

SET UP

Items needed: Wine glasses, spit bucket(s), pens, crackers to cleanse your palate, bags to cover the bottles and score sheets to rate the smell, taste, color and finish- see below.
Make sure your tasting space is well-lit to allow you to examine the color of each wine.
Use a different wine glasses for each wine. This will allow you to compare the wines against each other and revisit
each wine to see how they develop throughout the tasting.
All red wines should be open one hour prior to tasting and served at a temperature of 64 degrees F.
White wines should be served chilled at 50 degrees F.

Consider adding a selection of “sample aromas” to your tasting. It is an excellent (and fun!) way to help you search for those words that describe the aroma, bouquet and flavor of each wine. Place another set of wine glasses on the
table with a small amount of some of the following items in each glass: Grapefruit, pear, grass, vanilla, honey, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, licorice, dark chocolate, coffee, strawberry,
raspberry, cherry, fruit jams, soil.

TASTING
Pour approximately one ounce (about one inch) of each wine in its respective glass (Wine 1 in Glass 1, Wine 2 in Glass
2, etc.). Try to keep some of each wine so you can re-taste each one the next day to see how the wine develops.
Follow the enclosed Wine Tasting Guide to analyze each wine and record your observations and scores on the respective
scoring sheets. Take your time and re-visit each wine throughout the tasting.

Posted in Experiences, Tasting Notes | No Comments »


The Vines Wine Barrel Tasting Outdoors!

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It is winter in Mendoza and our gorgeous Andes Mountains are completely covered in snow.  If you have ever come to Mendoza during this season, you will find that the nicest and sunniest part of the day is immediately after lunch – what we call siesta time. For this reason, we chose to do our barrel tasting at the finca, enjoying the warm siesta sun with the Andes as a backdrop. Who needs better inspiration than that?

Every week, Santiago Achaval, The Vines consulting winemaker, and Pablo Martorell, The Vines winemaker, do barrel tastings of the nearly 50 different wines that we are aging for our Private Vineyard Estates owners.

The wines are now undergoing malolactic fermentation and starting their vital journey of aging. It is necessary to monitor the wines during this process to ensure stability of the wine and the absence of any possible fault that might contaminate the wines.

At this stage, the main character of the wine is already determined. However, depending on the style of wine chosen by our clients, there are some small procedures that will need to be done in order to help achieve their desired style. For instance, if you want to improve the mid-palate structure of the wine, the number of battonage per month may vary. Battonage is the process of stirring the wine while it remains in its barrel on its yeast lees. This process results in the extraction of additional amino acids and mannoproteins from the yeast creating a “creamy” mouthfeel.

In essence, the main objective of these regular barrel tastings is to ensure a very good quality, observing the aging process in order to obtain the best characteristics out of each wine.

Posted in Behind the bottle, Private Vineyard Estates | No Comments »


CA winemakers Taste Iconic Malbecs- The Results

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

A good friend of mine, Ashley Hepworth, winemaker for Joseph Phelps vineyards in Napa, is in quite a few tasting groups in California and often creates different tastings around regions, vintages, and varietals. She recently contacted me for some suggestions regarding Malbecs from Argentina and I was more than happy to suggest my favorites! We narrowed the wines down to what was currently available in the US market, as well as included some larger and smaller producers. We deduced that 2005 was the vintage that was most widely available for these iconic Malbecs, that included Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard, Monteviejo’s Lindaflor, Achaval Ferrer’s Altamira, Urraca’s Familia Langley and the Montecinco Oak.

She and a group of 8 high profile winemakers sat down to a double blind tasting. This means that only she knew what they were tasting- the winemakers had to come up with the varietal and region and if possible year, but that is extremely difficult if you have not passed your sommelier course recently.

The results were interesting- not one of them guessed that it was Malbec! It goes to show that Malbec has many different personalities as well as winemaking styles, depending on the winemakers philosophy, region, fermentation and production practices and oak aging. Here are the results, with the winner being Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard. Go ahead, buy the wines yourselves and see what your group comes up with!

However the results were not unanimous so everyone does have a different palate. Here are the results per person, ranking each of the wines above. Even though Catena won, it was the 3rd favorite wine for over half of the tastings, so it ranked higher in points overall but if you asked one person, they would have said another wine was their favorite. So don’t be intimidated that your wine preferences aren’t the same as others, even the winemakers don’t agree!

Posted in Experiences, Tasting Notes | 2 Comments »


Feliz día del amigo! Happy friends day!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Because we are so friendly!!!!!!!

Día del Amigo (Spanish for Friend’s Day) is a celebration of friendship, held annually on July 20, mainly in Argentina and Uruguay, but also in some other countries.

Though Friend’s Day has always been respected, in recent years it has turned into a very popular mass phenomenon (yes, yes we are kinda crazy people).

In 2005, too many well-wishing friends led to a temporary breakdown of the mobile phone network, comparable to the one experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year’s Day. The newspaper reported that seats in most restaurants, bars and other establishments were already booked out completely a week before the celebration, so if you are ever in Argentina at Friend’s Day, make sure you have a reservation for dinner made in advanced, and if you have not, please be patient and have a bottle of wine while waiting in line for a decent table :) . We can make some recommendations…. as always…

For such a special date I would start with a lovely Gimenez Riili Perpetuum Espumante 2008 and as I’m sure you will be waiting for a WHILE, here you are other lovely options! Ha! Carmelo Patti Espumante 2004, lovingly handmade, it bursts in the mouth or Norberto B. Richiardi Sparkling Wine, a special sparkler for this occasion!

Or… you can invite your friends over, prepare a really cool dinner, what about Lasagna? (it’s freezing here, believe me!) paired with Mairena Bonarda 2006 (Italian grape + Italian pasta, BUONISSIMO!). And as my grand mother says ‘Mangia la pasta che ti fa benne! ‘, which means, ‘Eat pasta. It’s good for you!’, in Italian. So…go get your friends and celebrate!!

Ciao, Ciao! Arrivederci!

Ps: There’s also lots of really fun and creative advertisement campaigns, like this one called ARMA UNA BOMBA (‘Let’s set a bomb,’ in Spanish). So if your friends don’t really now you,  they get a bomb specially made for them! http://www.quilmesdiadelamigo.com/

Another funny ad about Friend’s Day  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-cimkb-Ojc&feature=related

Posted in Experiences, Life in Mendoza | No Comments »


The Vines Weekly Wine Series | Wines for the Weekend

Friday, July 16th, 2010

So to send you all into the weekend we would like to bestow you with some Argentine wine suggestions. Alejandrina, Mariana and I want to share a couple of our favorites. Try them out and let us know what you think! And while we may have expensive taste, these wines are well worth the splurge.

Mariana – 2007 Monteagrelo Syrah $30

Emily – 2006 Monteviejo blend $45

Alejandrina- 2007 Gran Lorca Poetico Petit Verdot $42

Posted in Life in Mendoza, Videos | No Comments »


The Vines in Vanity Fair- oh la la!!

Friday, July 16th, 2010

It has been a very busy week here at The Vines! First our wine naming competition, then more snow than I have seen in Mendoza in the 4 years (check out the pictures on our facebook page) that I have been here and now the cherry on top- The Vines is in Vanity Fair, a staff favorite magazine whenever we can get contraband copies from the US!

So run to the store, its summer and good for you, and pick up a copy to peruse poolside with a lovely glass of Torrontes over the weekend!

Posted in In the News, Life in Mendoza, Private Vineyard Estates | No Comments »


Stay Tuned- The Vines new wine name!

Friday, July 16th, 2010

We would like to thank everyone that participated in The Vines of Mendoza naming contest! In the course of a week we had many many submissions, some amazing, some hilarious, some a bit odd- but also very creative. We are going through them all now and will let you know as soon as we have decided upon a winner. So have a great weekend and stay tuned!

Posted in In the News, Private Vineyard Estates | No Comments »


It’s snowing! yay!

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

If you’ve ever been down here during the Winter you probably know that it ALMOST never snows in the city but today, SURPRISE!  When we woke up this morning the view was white!

Check out Fernando Sosa’s amazing pictures!!! Thanks Fernando!
I’m off to make some snow angels! haha!


Rosedal


Parque General San Martin Gates

Winter Pics by Fernando Sosa http://picasaweb.google.com/fjsosa/MendozaUnderSnow#slideshow/5494121275229997474

Posted in Experiences, Photos | 2 Comments »


Wine pairings with Bodega Navarro Correas

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Wine Pairings with Navarro Correas

One of the advantages of being in the wine business is occasionally you have to be the guinea pig- trying new and interesting wines or unique wine pairings. One of my good friends, Marcela Lledo, is creating new wine pairings and tasting experiences for Bodega Navarro Correas. Located just outside of Mendoza city in Godoy Cruz, it offers an easy way to do a fast tasting of not only their sparkling wines but also their line of still wines. We obtained different gourmet products from Recetas de Entonces/Cristo de los Cerro and then went to work- what paired well with what, what nuances were overwhelmed, what pairings were plain god-awful- we noted our likes, dislikes and came up with the following combinations.

Sparkling Wine Pairings Navarro Correas and Recetas de Entonces

•    Navarro Correa Extra Brut (Pinot/Chardonnay blend), Method Charmat. Suggested Pairing: Asparagas points or Eggplant a la siciliana
•    Navarro Correa Brut Rose Malbec, Method Charmat. Suggested Pairing: Eggplant with mint and semi-sweet peppers
•    Navarro Correa Grand Cuvee (Pinot/Chardonnay), method Champenoise. Suggested Pairing: Eggplant a la siciliana y sundried tomatoes. Opiconal: Mediterranean Tapenade.
Navarro Correas Wine Pairings and Recetas de Entonces
•    Coleccion Privada Sauvignon Blanc. Suggested Pairing: Eggplants with mint, artichoke hearts in water or asparagus points
•    Coleccion Privada Chardonnay. Suggested Pairing: Asparagus points and Eggplant with mint.
•    Coleccion Privada Merlot. Suggested Pairing: Crackers with creme fraiche with a dab of roasted red pepper juice and asparagus points
•    Alegoría Malbec. Suggested Pairing:sundried tomatoes- kick it up with crackers topped with creme fraiche, sundried tomatoes and mediterranean tapenade
•    Alegoria Cabernet Sauvignon. Suggested Pairing: Mediterranean tapenade with sundried tomatoes.
•    Tardio Alegoria, Late Harvest Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc. Suggested Pairing: Roasted red peppers

Visit Navarro Correas

If you would like to try out these delectable pairings for yourself, make sure to schedule a visit to their tasting room on your next trip to Mendoza. They usually hold tours and winery visits Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am, 12pm, and 3pm. Be sure to make a reservation- they pride themselves on their personalized service. Call  Leo at 261-432-5521 or 261-15-507-1684.


Posted in Life in Mendoza | 1 Comment »


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