I'm dying to see this new documentary about Maynard Keenan and Erik Glomski and their wine growing adventure in Arizona. The trailers look really fun and as soon as my copy shows up I'll write a nice little review of the movie. For now check it out below and if you want to grab a copy buy it from Amazon on the link below!
Trailer #1
Trailer #2
Grab a copy here on Amazon if you're like me and can't wait to see this one!
The Las Kuras Vineyard is located only 5 kilometers from the base of the Andes Mountain, on an old river bed. The soils are made up of alluvial terraces which are areas of shallow soils, with an abundance of round river rocks and gravel, similar to the Graves of Bordeaux. The high percentage of pebbles provides excellent drainage, great aeration and low fertility. Also, the stones trap the heat during the day to deliver it by night, creating a unique microclimate.
This wine is made from 100% Syrah and was aged in French oak barrels (65% new oak, 16% second fill oak and 19% third fill) for 21 months.
The color of this wine is a deep purple that carries an opaque core and only slightly gets reddish towards the edges of the glass.
On the nose I get loads of black fruits such as currant and sour black cherry. There are also seductive aromas of cedar, spice, coco powder, tobacco, and black tea.
On the palate the huge black fruits continue to dominate with black currant, black cherry, toasted oak, semi-sweet chocolate, and subtle hints of tobacco that make up this complex flavor profile. This wine is rich and textured, finishing with notes of graphite or pencil lead and a nice dose of dry tannins.
This wine is drinking quite brilliantly right now and I anticipate that it will continue to improve over the next decade in the cellar. It possesses the richness of a California Syrah and the refinement and balance of France's Rhone. 92 points
Click here to find out more about this wine
Viña Quintay is situated in the valleys of Casablanca and Leyda, which are regarded as Chile’s quintessential cool climate regions for wines of elegance, and testament to its obvious winemaking potential. The vineyards of Quintay are significantly influenced by the cold Humbolt current, which runs down the length of Chile, where cool air is pulled in by the warmer central valley, thus providing a natural coolness throughout the growing season.
The 2008 Quintay Pinot Noir was made from grapes sourced from the central sector of the valley of Casablanca. The grapes were hand harvested and the fermentation and aging was done in both stainless steel and french oak barrels.
On the nose the wine reminds me of a cool climate Sonoma Pinot noir and shows brilliant aromas of wild raspberry, black cherry, rhubarb, and slight hints of crushed rock and soil. The bouquet perfectly exemplifies the varietal. As the wine opens up in the glass distinct soil/terroir characters start to unfold and meld together with the classic fruity notes.
On the palate I get beautiful tart and fresh fruit flavors of black cherry, red raspberry, and cranberry. This is definitely a cool climate wine, that has a touch of rusticity and subtle hints of herb and mineral. I enjoy the elegance and purity of the wine and the fact that the vintner let the grapes do the talking. That is to say that they didn't impose any obvious winery techniques or suck the life out of the wine with too much time in new wood.
Overall I have to admit I'm really impressed with this wine. I have tasted dozens of thirty to forty dollar Pinot noir from California that probably doesn't taste quite as good as this. 90+ points
Click here to find out more about this wine
What a fabulous opportunity I had today to participate in a virtual wine tasting via the Internet. This was no ordinary tasting event. It was conducted by Master Sommelier and Wines of Chile (Vinos de Chile) Educator, Fred Dexheimer. Fred was also accompanied (via the web) by eight wonderful vintners, live from Chile.
As noted in the title of this post, the blogger tasting theme was 2009 Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. The provider of the wines was a great organization called Wines of Chile or in Espanol - Vinos de Chile!
Wines of Chile is an organization committed to promoting the quality and image of Chilean wine throughout the world. It has offices in Santiago, London, and New York, as well as representatives in Canada, Ireland, and Denmark, and also works closely with ProChile to develop and offer promotional and educational programs in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Wines of Chile’s 76 member wineries belong to Vinos de Chile and represent 85% of Chile’s bottled wine exports.
These are the eight different 2009 Chilean Sauvignon Blanc's that we tasted in order from left to right. During the tasting I tried to pay close attention to the vintners and enjoy the wines as much as possible without taking copious notes. However, a few hours later once my nose and palate were ready for action again, I tasted the wines once more and took notes on what I really thought of each individual wine.
Below are my tasting notes and scores for each wine. Soon I will provide links below each tasting note for a more comprehensive look at each wine and my complete run down of the more geeky-tech stuff!
2009 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva - Casablanca Valley
Nose: Citrus, lime peel, kiwi, mineral, lemon-lime, tart pear, wet pavement, and hints of salty sea water
Flavors: Citrus, lemon-lime, kiwi, flower, mineral.
Notes: Crisp Acidity, clean, fresh, savory, simple
Score: 86 Points
2009 Ventisquero Queulat Sauvignon Blanc - Casablanca Valley
Nose: Green bean, chalk, green-grapefruit, lime peel, mineral, stones
Flavors: Mineral, tart honeydew rind, hint of green-veg on the finish
Notes: Nose is very terroir (soil) driven, very tart-high acidity, would be brilliant with shellfish and also may appeal to old world S.B. lovers because of it's mineral-driven style.
Score: 85+ Points
2009 Undurraga T.H. Sauvignon Blanc - Leyda Valley
Nose: Mandarin orange, orange blossom, hints of papaya, lees or yeast, citrus zest, mineral, grapefruit, lime peel
Flavors: key lime pie, lemon curd, mineral, slight touch of smoke or flint, gooseberry, grapefruit
Notes: Creamy texture on mid-palate, very crisp acidity, well balanced
Score: 88+ Points
2009 Valdivieso Leyda Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc - Leyda Valley
Nose: Sherry, apple skin, Oxidized
Flavors: Sherry, nuts
Notes: This wine was sadly but quite obviously oxidized (The whole tasting group agreed) Bad Case?
Score: None
2009 Santa Rita Medalla Real Sauvignon Blanc - Leyda Valley
Nose: Very herbaceous, heavy gooseberry, yellow grapefruit, mineral, spice
Flavors: Tart lemon-lime, gooooooooseberry, grapefruit, mineral, wet stone
Notes: Wine of the night! Bombastic! Piercing acidity, powerful, intense, wild, exotic, spicy, complex, provocative, a straight palate buster! May not be for everyone, but watch out New Zealand fans!
Score: 91 points
2009 Cono Sur Organic Sauvignon Blanc - San Antonio Valley
Nose: Tropical fruits, ripe pineapple, lees or yeast character, cream sickle, honeysuckle
Flavors: Orange cream sickle, honey suckle, stone fruits, touch of residual sugar or sweetness
Notes: Tasting group loved this wine, round and somewhat viscous texture, mouth coating, perhaps a bit of sugar which makes it a definite crowd pleaser, appealing and uncomplicated, balanced.
Score: 89+ Points
2009 Haras de Pirque Estate Sauvignon Blanc - Maipo Valley
Nose: Tropical fruits, hints of guava, meyer lemon, mineral, kiwi, white blossom, light citrus
Flavors: Melon rind, lemon-lime, tart kiwi, asian pear, crab apple
Notes: Slightly subdued nose, but one of the more expressive and mouth watering on the palate, great balance, ripe fruit.
Score: 87 Points
2009 Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc Paredones Estate - Colchagua Valley
Nose: Musky, floral, blossoms, citrus peel, slight grassiness, wet stone
Flavors: lime soda, mineral, marmelade, sweet Mexican key limes
Notes: Aromatically very different from the group, well made, perplexing, tart acid, but lush on finish. May need the perfect dish to really bring about it's greatness.
Score: 88 points
What I found to be amazing about these wines was the dramatic differences expressed within the same varietal category. I believe firmly this is a stunning example of the theory of terroir, and the distinct expressions of soil, climate, clonal selection, and winemaking techniques. - Perhaps in that order of importance and impact too.
Within this tasting there were five Chilean D.O.'s (appellations) represented and everyone of them had distinct characteristics that uniquely defined them. The wines from Leyda (with exception of the faulty bottle) were mind-blowers!
I'd like to give a special thanks to Fred Dexheimer and his distinguished panel of vineyard representatives, Wines of Chile, and Morgan Perry and the folks over at the thomas collective.
Stay tuned for in-depth reviews of each of these wines and a continued focus on the quality wines of Chile.
Attention:
I found a lot of great bottles of wine at Target and I got over 20% off with a Target coupon.
These fruit and nut crisps called "raincoast crisps" from Lesley Stowe are absolutely amazing with cheese and wine. They have a crisp texture and when combined with a creamy cheese they're hard to beat! This is really not a shameless plug......Search for em' at Whole Foods. You won't be disappointed!
Have you ever heard of the Traveling Vineyard? Hopefully none of you got duped into their in-home tasting business. The concept in my opinion was always going to be doomed because who really wants to mix the "Amway Approach" with wine? The reason we drink wine with friends is so we can enjoy eachother and have a great time.....Not so we can get our friends to buy the wine we're tasting.
Anyways, it was reported in the Boston Herald that the Traveling vineyard is filing chapter 7 bankruptcy.
"Just a year after selling off an online wine retailer for $2.5 million, Braintree-based Vinification Ventures Inc. has filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition for its in-home wine tasting company.
Vinification Ventures listed debt of at least $6 million for Traveling Vineyard in court documents filed on Wednesday. Traveling Vineyard is seeking to liquidate after eight years in business."
Looks like the in-home wine tasting thing just couldn't make during these difficult economic times. I'm sure people would much rather buy overpriced make-up and health products from their friends!
With the mind-boggling influx of self-published wine journals and weblogs, many wineries, wine marketing firms, and mainstream wine media folks may be contemplating this question quite seriously.
How many blogs out there are like this one? (having posted more than 500 wine reviews)
Last year my little "hobby blog" called The Blog Wine Cellar received more than 60,000 unique visitors. Now whether or not these web surfers give a damn about what is said here on this space is inconsequential, it's still a staggering amount of eyeballs.....
Now, take my blog and multiply it by at least a thousand and you all of a sudden have 60,000,000 eyeballs. Yes that's right.....Sixty million people visiting wine blogs.
Still wondering if we make a difference?
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