South or Sweet (Q2 wine party)
The Apartment
Tasted Saturday, May 16, 2015 by MC2 Wines with 534 views
Introduction
Another quarter, another wine party. This time we had a split theme - South American wines or sweet wines (which could be from anywhere). Had about the right balance (11 from South America, 8 sweet) and a good crowd of folks to enjoy with. As usual, request was $50 minimum for the bottle (or $25 for the 375s).
Flight 1 - South American wines (11 Notes)
A few takeaways from this - 1) We should definitely have been more proactive in decanting. A lot of these wines would have shown better with some time for the tannins to come down a bit. 2) The skew was more towards Chilean - heard from a few folks that it was hard to find Argentinian wine around that price point, most was either much cheaper or much more expensive, 3) The Chilean blends are quite interesting and will be fun to try to some different wines down there, 4) the Malbecs were really all over the board (from one of the most fruit forward wines of the day to one of the most earth focused).
Flight 2 - Sweet wines (8 Notes)
On the sweet side I found myself with less strong opinions. In general, everything was tasty (I happen to like sweet wine, we had some tasters who were less convinced), but with fewer wines that were true standouts. Some interesting ones in there including the Almond liqueur and the Blueberry Port.
Closing
In addition to the wines that were part of the official tasting we also opened an NV Veuve Cliquot (to cleanse the palette between reds and sweets), a 2012 Footloose from Napa and two bottles of the 1997 Bodegas Roda Rioja Roda I Reserva (which was on it's last legs, time to drink up). No detailed notes on those though.
As far as favorite wines, I thought the Don Melchors showed particularly well. I also really enjoyed Wine #4. In general, it seemed like the group enjoyed most all of the wines so a successful tasting overall.
2007 Viña Alicia Malbec Brote Negro
Argentina, Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo
(Wine #1 - South America) Opened probably 3 hours before drinking, but didn't decant. Could probably have used one. A bit on the peppery, some red currant (the kind that is sour and almost doesn't seem like a fruit), strong tannins, easy drinking wine although not too complex or extra interesting.
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2008 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor
Chile, Maipo Valley, Puente Alto
(Wine #2 - South America) Don Melchor was the star of the wines today - showed up with three different vintages. This again was opened about 3 hours before drinking, but without a decant. Compared to the Vina Alicia, this was much more fruit forward, get some raspberry, decent tannins but they are not overpowering, very soft wine. Towards the end I could taste the alcohol so here again maybe a decant to let some of that air out. One of my favorites of the day.
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2011 Bodega Noemia de Patagonia A Lisa
Argentina, Patagonia, Río Negro
(Wine #3 - South America) I'm almost 100% sure that I drank this wine in Italy last year at Sassicaia. I think it's a joint venture with them and a local company in Argentina. I'm afraid it's not quite to my tastes. Came across as bit more syrupy with acidity that didn't balance the wine but instead was a bit offputting.
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2008 Antiyal Antiyal
Chile, Maipo Valley
(Wine #4 - South America) I really enjoyed this wine. Might even have been my favorite of the day (at least the most interesting). A blend between Carmenere and Cabernet, I got almost an evergreen flavor to do, some red fruit, noted that it could probably have used a decant as well, but unlike some of the later wines it was relatively approachable even without one. Very different wine, but it worked.
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2005 Ventisquero Syrah Pangea Apalta Vineyards
Chile, Rapel Valley, Colchagua Valley
(Wine #5 - South America) This wine was clearly very well made. Good structure, nice balance of fruit, an edge to it which kept it from being overly fruit forward. Very easy drinking. Get more of a plum flavor. I think it got a bit overshadowed because wine #4 was so different (2008 Antiyal), but still enjoyable.
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2005 Carmelo Patti Cabernet Sauvignon
Argentina, Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo
(Wine #6 - South America) This felt like it wasn't in the right drinking window right now but that maybe with a bit of time some of the disparate pieces would come together. I got almost a moldy flavor from the wine, black fruit, harsher acidity. It didn't feel over the hill at all, just not quite together.
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2001 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor
Chile, Maipo Valley, Puente Alto
(Wine #7 - South America) I really liked this wine and think I would have liked it a lot more with a decant. It just came across as a touch young (probably because the tannins were almost chewy). Some good fig notes, less ripe blackberry. Dusty. After swirling it for awhile I get a touch of cranberry as well. Part of the 3 Don Melchors each of which I thought showed pretty well.
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2010 Terrazas de Los Andes Malbec Single Vineyard
Argentina, Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo, Las Compuertas
(Wine #8 - South America) Heavy blackberry, very young tasting, strong tannins, needs some more years to settle down (or maybe just a few hours in a decanter).
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2010 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor
Chile, Maipo Valley, Puente Alto
(Wine #9 - South America) The baby of the Don Melchors, but with quite a bit of promise. Good blackberry flavor, but overpowered a bit by the tannins which I suspect just need some more years or a good decant. Also the 9th wine in a line-up of pretty intense reds so was a bit harder to parse through.
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2012 Montes Purple Angel
Chile, Rapel Valley, Colchagua Valley
(Wine #10 - South America) This was pretty closed down when I poured (which had to have been a few hours after the cork was popped). Opened up for me in the glass some. Very young wine. Cigar box (from a previous note) sounds about right. Some black fruit as well. Enjoyable. I didn't get the grassiness that I normally do with the Carmenere grape this time around.
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2009 Bodega Catena Zapata Nicolás Catena Zapata
Argentina, Mendoza
(Wine #11 - South America) Would love to see this wine in a few years. We have the Adrianna vineyard (same year and producer) and I think we're going to end up letting that one sleep for a bit more time. Very elegant wine, mostly red fruit but a touch of black, the dominant trait right now is tannin, but that will fade.
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