Luigi Bosca Pinot Noir Reserva, Lujan de Cuyo 2007

Aged cheese, cherry and prune bouquet; big smokey mouth (that sounded wrong!), dark fruit, tobacco, full body, some oak. Can't believe this is a 2 year old pinot noir! I would have it with some red meat next time around.
A bit short now, but I can imagine this will change in a year or two.
Over all totally worth the 50 AR$ (retail), but not as good as the 2006 vintage Sam wrote about here.

Don Baltazar Petit Verdot, 2004

Another great discovery: petit verdot. This red variety came to Argentina from Bordeaux, where it is still used as a part of Pomerol blend. It is a late maturing grape which needs a lot of sun... this rarely happens in France, and thus the name: "little green one".
In Argentina petit verdot is it's own variety. I found it to be a very unique, original wine, hard to compare with any common varieties.
Purple red, medium body, pungent nose with notes of mushroom, soy sauce, tomato and cherry.
The dominant taste is gooseberry, followed by blackberry, lime and wood. The wine is quite tannic and structured, finishes with cherry pit and cocoa. Really sharp and surprising. 37 AR$ in retail.

Saurus Patagonia Select, Pinot Noir 2006

Have you ever tried oysters with red wine? Commonly known to be one of the worst pairings... except when you are having raw patagonian oysters with patagonian pinot noir!
This lovely pinot, served at Crizia, was supposed to complement a large tuna steak, but it ended up working great with the oyster appetizer. I am very impressed with patagonian pinots, much more than anything Mendoza (so far).

Yeast and green apple aroma; light oak, grapefruit and pomegranate mouth. Somehow this wine
reminded me of chardonney... or champagne? Definitely lighter body, very mineral and energetic. Although oaked, tastes more like Burgundy than California. Delicious!(110 AR$ in restaurant).

Dante Robino Bonarda, 2008

This bottle was our second choice at "Bo Bo" in Soho Palermo: we needed a lighter body red and I wanted to try an decent Argentine Bonarda for a while (it is actually charbono grape, called bonarda in Argentina).
Both restaurant and the wine were kind of disappointing... Our food was good but nothing to brag about, and the bottle .... well it's all subjective... but for me the combination of sweat, barnyard and sweet, red fruit in the bouquet was not happening. Some yogurt or other lactic undertones were present. Simple cherry and oak mouth, little vanilla in the finish. I read some reviews of the same bottle from older vintages, looks like it ages well toward chocolate and raspberry. 35 AR$

Tasting menu at La Bourgogne, Buenos Aires

I usually don't hang out in super fancy restaurants, but it was my birthday and I'm in Buenos Aires! So my girlfriend and I treated ourselves to a full tasting menu at chef Jean-Paul Bondoux'
"La Bourgogne", which is supposed to be one of the best gourmet joints in Latin America.
I took some pictures and added images of wine pairings... my failed efforts to neatly pack lots of information into a small space led to this post looking like a cheap Chinese take out menu... oh well:) To see more detail click on the images.


The theme of the dinner was French food cooked with fresh Argentine ingredients and paired with local wines. We started out with a crab appetizer prepared with chamomile and violets (didn't know you could eat those). It came with Torrontes Finca Domingo 2008, which for me was one of the more interesting wine discoveries here. Torrontes is a white grape variety exclusive to Argentina. Young, sharp, unique; think Australian Savignion Blanc, but shorter and more explosive... lots of flowers, tangerine and mango.

Then we had frog legs with garlic and parsley, paired with Mendoza Chardonney. The frog legs were delicious and gianormous... Chardonney didn't do much for me... buttery oak, new world average. The third course was a vapor cooked Patagonian sea bass paired with Luigi Bosco Gala 3 Viogner 2006. Both were splendid; the wine is actually a mix of Viognier 50%, Chardonnay 40% and Riesling 10%... very complex and satisfying: lime, wood, vanilla.

Finally, the pièce de résistance: cranberry sauce venison served with Alta Vista Malbec Grande Reserva 2004. I thought the malbec was good, but needed to breathe... it kept opening in the glass, mostly blueberries, oak and plum. I prefer more structure, but I think this goes for malbec in general. This was a very polished, well crafted, Bordeaux style wine, perhaps a bit too polite for the venison steak...
The tasting ended with an Argentine cheese plate, raspberry tart and a glass of dessert wine from Luigi Bosco (which I can't say much about because I was pretty drunk already:)
Over all this was an amazing experience, which would cost 4 times the price in NYC. Definitely recommended. And Mr. Bondoux is quite a character!

Weinert Malbec, Mendoza 2004

Our first day in Buenos Aires! We decided to buy some of that legendary Argentine beef and cook it at home with garlic, shallots and fava beans. To go along I bought a bottle of what Karen MacNeil recommends as a classic Mendoza Malbec... Weinert 2004, 46 AR$ (13 bucks!), 90 points from Wine&Spirits.

Medium to full body, garnet color; prune, a bit of barnyard and eucalyptus (maybe mint) in the nose. Black cherry, oak and a tobacco/quinine finish.

This wine is really reminiscent of Bordeaux, very old world, very slick. Indeed pairs great with the steak, which, btw, turned out super... but probably will take a few days to digest:)

La Chapelle de la Bastide, Picpoul de Pinet, 2008

I don't get it: why aren't people more excited about Picpoul?
This is a fantastic deal, $8 at the BQE Liquors, if I was into white wines I would get a case.
Peach and rose bouquet, simple but effective lime, green apple mouth with a finish of mead.
Crisp, fresh, fun, paired great with our baked salmon & millet.

Think quaffable Languedoc version of Grüner Veltliner with an extra touch of class.

Ondarre Rioja Reserva 2002

If you are into Riojas this one is a pretty tasty treat. Tempranillo 75%, Garnacha 10%, Mazuelo (Carignane)15%, full body with a deep cherry hue. No oxidation or browning. The nose is typically malolactic: yogurt and sweet fruit.
Sometimes Riojas are too flat for me... this one, although very fruit forward, has enough structure to be fun. Cherry syrup, fig jam and oak. $16 in retail. And yes, it calls for a pork loin!