Bodega Renacer- Enamore 2007

Bodega Renacer- Enamore 2007
Malbec
Mendoza, Argentina


Blending fruit from 3 different Mendoza regions this great malbec has hints of figs, chocolate, liquorice and coffee and packs a toasty finish.

Its a boutique wine and production is limited, if in the mood for a more adventerous malbec this would be a good place to start.

Price U$ 25

Christmas in Krakow: some memorable bottles

Comte Dornfelder Barrique, 2007 (Poland)

This wine was a nice surprise: a solid, medium to full body red produced in southern Poland. Dornfelder is a German hybrid which is capable of surviving tough winters; reminded me of Petit Verdot in color and taste. Nice local oak, firm acidity/structure, blackberries... purple and velvety.
40 PZL (13$) from the producer.

Blason Timberlay Bordeaux, 2005 (France)
Tannic and full bodied: figs, raisins, some chocolate and tobacco finish... A surprisingly alive and pretty inexpensive wine from Bordeaux. Half bottle.

32 PZL (11$) at Vinoteka La Bodega













Sophenia Sythesis , Mendoza 2007 (Argentina)

Truly good. A balanced cuvee of Malbec, Cabernet Sav. and Merlot. The mouth seemed to be endless... Mostly mature fruit and oak. Opulent, supertoscan style nose. Definitely an aging wine. Parker gave it some crazy points.

160 PZL (55$) at Klimaty Poludnia (special tasting of Finca Sophenia products)











Antonelli Montefalco Rosso, 2003 (Italy)
Rarely do I get to drink a wine which makes me genuinely happy. This was one of them. Medium body, high viscosity, ruby red and full of wild strawberries, both nose and mouth. This Umbrian staple contains Sangiovese and Sagrantino, although doesn't really taste like either... Was absolutely perfect with home cooked venison.
10 Euro, from the producer










Pisano Tannat RPF, 2005 (Urugway)
The best of those world fashionable Uruguayan tannats I had so far. Ridiculously tannic, full body, gritty and almost too much to handle. This wine is bad ass. Perfect for cold winter drinking, would go great with game... but I can drink it solo.
120 PZL ($35) at Sala Wina












Paolo Bea: Rosso de VEO, 2002 (Italy)
A table wine from the legendary Umbrian producer Paolo Bea. Wild yeast, home made quality, a crazy volatile collection of tastes dominated by chocolate and mature apples. This should be tried at least once to know how wines tasted like in the middle ages:)
25 Euro, from the producer











Miolo Cuvee Giusepe, 2004 (Brazil)

Cabernet Sav. and Merlot done beautifully: thick dried fruit, silky mouth, oak tannin almost completely transformed into cocoa... Why aren't there more Brazilian wines in NYC?

100 PZL ($30) at Klimaty Poludnia

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:)

Septimo Dia- Malbec 2006 Bodega Septima Mendoza-Argentina

Septimo Dia- Malbec 2006 Bodega Septima Mendoza-Argentina

Price U$ 16

Making its debut in 2009, this new wine comes courtesy of Paola Borgo who arrived at Septima wines in 2008.
Septimo Dia has malbec grapes picked from three different estates in the Mendoza region which provide variety in this complex malbec wine, the winemaker aged this wine 10 months both in french and american oak barrels.
Its very balanced with lots of fruit flavors and hints of vainilla, currants and spices.
It can be hard to find as only 20,000 bottles were made but strongly suggest trying to hunt down a bottle.

Humberto Canale- Pinot Noir 2006 Patagonia-Argentina

Humberto Canale- Pinot Noir 2006 Patagonia-Argentina

Price U$ 25

Perhaps the best pinot noir out of Argentina this medium size ruby colour pinot noir is the closest one can find in this side of the world that comes close to the Oregon and California counterparts.

Patagonia has become one of the great new regions in Argentina as its climate and land is prime for wine making.

There are hints of raspberry, cherry and rhubarb as well as vainilla.

Its light on the palate and keeps the alcohol content considerably low so as to enjoy this good wine.

Callia Alta- Syrah/Bonarda 2006 Valle de Tulum, San Juan, Argentina

Callia Alta - Syrah/Bonarda 2006 Valle de Tulum, San Juan, Argentina

Price U$ 8

Found this at a food fair in South America. Great wine for under 10 dollars.

San Juan has become one of the newest regions in Argentina to come out with quality wines
along with the Patagonia.

This combines the Bonarda and Syrah varieties which gives a rich ruby wine,
with sweet tanins and rich fruit aromas. Pretty smooth finish as well.

Combines well with pasta, thai and chinese food according to the maker.

Santa Julia, Organic Tempranillo 2008

Just a quick enthusiastic note about this $8 organic tempranillo from Maipu, Mendoza... I had it at friends gallery afterparty, and was pretty surprised...
This is a big, complex wine; figs, blueberry and other fruit jam flavors, with a nice round nose of blackberry. And its organic! Earlier that evening i had some $14 a glass Rioja at La Boqueria and it didn't even come close. Seriously, I am going to Argentina!

Agua de Piedra, Mendoza, Argentina 2007 - Malbec

It looks like I am on Malbec roll these days, and this one has been the best one yet. Agua de Piedra is about an 11 USD bottle; great value. The texture rather silky and the color is on the lighter side for a Malbec. On the nose I got blackberry, salt, fresh cut grass and pepper. The view beyond the bottle by the way is the Hudson River Valley north of NYC.

On the taste this Malbec has some red plum, cranberry, and a hint of apple. It is slightly bitter on the aftertaste which is long lasting. Definitely worth its money and it actually surpasses many Malbecs that are even twice its price.

Otello Malbec Reserva 2007 Mendoza Argentina

Personally I am not a lover of Malbec wines but this was an interesting bottle. The retail cost of this bottle is about USD$ 25.00. The nose had blackberry, vanilla and hints of other fruits.

On the taste it was slightly bitter with black olives, quinine, and wood. It was fairly tannic and had a very long finish. It would be interesting to hear some feedback about this wine from a Malbec fan.

Alta Vista Premium- Malbec 2007

Alta Vista Premium- Malbec 2007

Mendoza, Argentina

Price USD 15

http://www.winerz.com/5h_ATVMAC07C.html

Another great bargain malbec from the Luyan de Cuyo region in Mendoza, Argentina´s biggest wine region.

This is a great daily wine with hints of blackberry, currant and were premium grapes have been selected and left in american-french oak barrels for up to 12 months.

It has quite a dense bouquet and is a easy to drink wine.

Winner of the silver medal at the prestigious Concours Mondial in Bruxelles in May of this year.

Finca Flichman- Misterio Chardonnay 2007

Finca Flichman- Misterio Chardonnay 2007

Mendonza, Argentina

Price USD 10

http://www.grandwinecellar.com/vsku1457255.html

One of the most traditional and respected wineries in Argentina has produced a good quality and fairly inexpensive chardonnay.

Argentine chardonnays tend to be more fruity and a bit more dry than the more well known American or Australian variety, but Misterio is a great find with hints of pear as well as a very smooth finish for a bargain wine.

This is a great summer wine that is available in most wine stores worldwide.

Las Moras Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz Reserve 2007

Las Moras- Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz Reserve 2007

Tulum Valley, San Juan, Argentina

Price 15 USD

http://www.upcounty.com/store/product/1378/Las-Moras-Cabernet-Shiraz-Reserve,-1pk-750ml/

This Argentine blend hails from one of the new wine regions in Argentina that is making quality wines. Along the lines of the bordeaux style wines that are being developed in the region this Las Moras (blackberry in Spanish) wine offers a rich dark red colour and an oakey finish which comes from the french oak and american oak combination of barrels used.

This good priced wine won the prestigious International and Spirit Award in the UK in 2008 in the bargain wine category.

Good with red meats and hard cheese.

Siesta en el Tahuantinsuyu Malbec 2004

Siesta en el Tahuantinsuyu, Malbec 2004

Mendoza, Argentina

Exclusive Selection - Selected by Ernesto Catena

40 USD

http://www.shopritewines.com/vsku1522733.html

One of the famous Catena ¨boutique¨ wines this limited production Malbec is ready to drink and is a bargain for the limited production of less than 7,000 bottles.

This Argentine wine belongs to the line that tributes South America's ancient civilizations.

It has a rich red colour and has a smooth nose with hints of raspberry, cherry and vanilla. The first taste will show hints of caramel, citric fruits and honey and will have a very smooth aftertaste of mint, this is a very complex and interesting wine.

Recommended with red meats but it matched perfectly with thai food, contrasting the spicyness of the food.

Cuma Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Argentina

El Almacen Restaurant, Williamsburg, 34 USD

This is an interesting organic wine. The nose has some cherry, salt water and green peppers. Taste has some cherry, black olives and a vegetable taste. Medium body but very powerful, a good steak wine such as the one I ate there :)