Talk-A-Vino

Enjoy Californian wine from Napa & much more!

Meritage Time!

First and foremost, here is the answer for the Wine Quiz #32 – A Guessing Game, Ultimate Challenge. In the quiz, you were supposed to match 6 red wine grapes with the reviews of the wines, and for added bonus provide country of origin for each reviewed wine. Before I will give you the right answer, let’s talk about the winners. Nobody managed to match all 6 reviews correctly, which was rather expected – but both Vinibouni and Whineandcheersforwine did quite well, correctly identifying 3 and 1 wines, respectively. Actually, Vinibuoni could even hit 4 out of 6, but he couldn’t decide between two reviews for the Merlot grape, so his final count stands at 3. In any case, I applaud the courage of both respondents, and considering the level of difficulty, I would like to declare Vinibuoni a winner of this quiz (as usual, the winner gets the unlimited bragging rights and have to pat him/herself on the back).

And the right answer (drum roll, please) is A5, B6, C1, D3, E2, F4 (looks almost like lottery numbers). Here are the details:

Cabernet Sauvignon:

“delicious stuff; not huge, but impeccably balanced, nuanced and tremendously long and pure. It’s a cascade of currant, blueberry and plum fruit shaded on one side by subtle, toasty oak, on the other by hints of minerality and exotic spice. But it’s the elegance and the length that make this a winner.” – Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley Kalimna Block 42 2004, Australia (WS97).

Malbec:

“torrent of blackberry, boysenberry and bittersweet ganache notes. But there’s exceptional drive and focus here as well, with a great graphite spine driving through the spice- and floral-infused finish. A stunner for its combination of power and precision” – Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Mendoza Nicasia Vineyard 2007, Argentina (WS96)

Merlot:

“complex, yet subtle, with blackberries, minerals and berries. Full-bodied and very velvety, with lovely rich fruit, with chocolate and berry character. Very long and refined. A joy to taste.” – Chateau Certan Marzelle Pomerol 2000, France (WS91)

Nebbiolo:

“a seductive red, drawing you in with its pure cherry and floral aromas and flavors, then capturing you with the silky texture and harmonious profile. Stays fresh and elegant, with a long, ethereal finish.” – Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi S. Lorenzo-Ravera 2008, Italy (WS95)

Pinot Noir:

“aromas of tar and smoke, with very pure, concentrated blackberry and spice notes underneath mark this exotic, seductive red. Silky and complex, it caresses the palate. It needs a little time to absorb the oak, but this is long and has great potential.” – Mommessin Clos de Tart 2003, Burgundy, France (WS95)

Syrah:

“still tight, with a wall of mocha and raspberry ganache covering the massive core of fig fruit, hoisin sauce and plum cake notes. This is extremely dense but remarkably polished, with a long, tongue-penetrating finish that drips of fruit and spice laid over massive grip.” – E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 2005, France (WS99).

As you can see, the line up look pretty reasonable (using best wines, nothing obscure) and includes all the wines which I would loooooove to try. I don’t know yet what the next wine quiz will be all about, but I think I’m done with wine reviews for a while.

And now to the “interesting items” department.

First, there was a very interesting blog post by Wink Lorch about her unique tasting experience of old vintages from Caves Bourdy, one of the best producers in Jura. Why am I sharing this? I have no idea why I’m so generous with you, my readers, as I’m giving to you one of the best-and-still-under-appreciated wine regions. Very interesting wines are made in Jura, and Jean-François Bourdy represent 14th (!) generation of winemakers – his wines are outstanding and very long living – but equally hard to find in US. I mentioned that “scarce availability” in my comment for the post, and Wink was kind enough to send me a list of distributors and retail shops which carry Jean-François Bourdy’s wines. One of the names on the list was Garagiste Wine, which I never heard of before and which attracted my attention. And that leads to the next interesting subject I wanted share with you.

Turns out that Garagiste is a wine buying service, where wine is available through e-mail newsletter. I looked through the sample, seemed interesting, but as I’m trying to limit the amount of wine I’m buying, I decided not to subscribe, simply to avoid temptation. To my surprise, a few days ago I came across an article by Dr. Vino about Jon Rimmerman, the man behind Garagiste, and all the controversial coverage which ensued from the article in New York Times, for which Alice Feiring, a well known wine writer and blogger, had to write her own blog post and provide her commentary. It is a lot of reading to do, but I think it will worth your time.

Now, here are couple of wine events for you, taking place on two opposite coasts of US. First, to continue the theme of Garagiste ( no connection to the NYT story and the wine selling service), The Garagiste Festival will be taking place in Paso Robles on November 10th, giving attendees an opportunity to taste wines from more than 50 small and unique wineries (I wish I can be there, sigh).

Another event is taking place in New York, which seems will be taken over for the next few days by a Sherry – Sherryfest will start this coming Saturday and will go on for a few days. If you like Sherry, or never had it before, and especially if you had it before and didn’t like it, you owe to yourself to give it a new taste.

That’s all I have for you today, folks! Happy Wine Wednesday and Cheers!