Wines of Chile « UNDER THE GRAPE TREE

22Jun/105

THE HIGHS-AND-LOWS OF GOING ON HOLIDAY

I am beginning to think I need to go into rehab for being addicted to BBC America - I find myself overusing such Brit slang as "snogging," "punters," "bollocks" and "bloody hell" all the time, so it should be of no surprise to most folks who know me when I say that this week "I'm on holiday" as opposed to "I'm taking a vacation." It's certainly not anything ambitious - simply hanging around the house, doing some cleaning, and perhaps a trip or two to one of the local museums and maybe a visit to Mom's house and dinner with friends.

It's also a good opportunity to catch up on all the sample bottles that have piled up on my kitchen table. So as today unfolds (day two of my current vacation), I plan on pulling some corks and cleaning up this part of the house - at least my wife won't be able to say I was being lazy, right?

I am bit bummed-out however, not making the trip to the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla (my new favorite wine destination), which takes place this weekend (or as the venerable Hosemaster likes to call it, OOPS (Oodles of Poodles)). A lot of my blogging "friends" I haven't officially met yet, and it's always nice to meet your peers, even if they end up thinking your a horse's ass. The goal of getting back out to Washington State this year is becoming more remote than I would like, but one never knows what will happen from one day to the next in this business.

One sample I did want to get to right away was the Valdivieso Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley Wild Fermented 2009. This was the second bottle shipped out by the Wines of Chile, in conjunction with the live, online tasting they held for us Wine Bloggers back in May. The first bottle, many bloggers had said was corked. Mine, I believed was okay. Now however, I feel that while my bottle wasn't corked, it did indeed experience some maderization (the common term for this is "cooked"). This second bottle was cleary fresher, with much more lively acidity on the palate. There was still that sort of buttered toast element that I would associate with the wild fermenting, yet the Bourbon/Madeira element in this one was non-existent. This bottle showed off nice notes of lemon and lime, hints of verbena, lemongrass and grapefruit, slight notes of mineral and orange blossom, with a bit of meringue at the finish. I really liked this bottle. Grade=Outstanding.

One down, a lot more to go.

Tagged as: BBC America, British slang, Hosemaster of Wine, Poodles, Valdivieso, Wine Bloggers Conference, wine reviews, Wines of Chile 5 Comments

7Jun/109

LIKE ICARUS ON RE-ENTRY (CRASH LANDING IN BOREDOMVILLE USA)

The writer’s slump – it’s where we writers (or in my case, a hack writer) never wishes to visit, yet alone reside. Inspiration is everywhere, yet sometimes, we end up with something in our eyes, so we miss it, usually as it goes streaking by like a comet or a Reality TV star’s dignity. Yet here I sit, slumping, slumming in the grey area of No Inspiration.

I recognize all the signs – headaches, upset stomach, zero energy, not one sex dream in over a month. To paraphrase from the late great Patrick Swayze, I couldn’t get turned on right now if Christina Hendricks were twin lesbians in a vat of Mazola oil. (Now that’s some burnout.)

Further adding to the doldrums is the fact I had to bail out on going to the Wine Bloggers Conference this year in Walla Walla (my newest favorite place on Earth). The goal now is to find some overnight retreats out of town here-and-there before the madness of the “silly season” descends. The year is flying by, and I had hoped to work on taking my Wine Educator’s test this year, but lo and behold, reality has kicked my burned out ass with no reservations.

The agenda this week is to get to those pesky samples piling up on my kitchen table at home. Stuff from L’Ecole, Emblem, and the 2^nd sample of Valdivieso Sauvignon Blanc from the Wines of Chile deal a few weeks ago. Not to mention a plethora of stuff including Gordon Brothers Sauvignon Blanc, Les Deux Rives Corbieres, Poor Thing Grenache from R Wines Southern Gothic series, and some posts regarding Washington State and their burgeoning wine scene (since I won’t be at the Conference).

And I was sort of avoiding talking about the Wine Blogger Awards this year, despite the fact that new friends Sacha and Jason at Swirl Smell Slurp as well as friends Jeff at Good Grape and Joe at 1 Wine Dude and the folks who host this site and friend David Honig over at Palate Press have all been nominated. Congrats to them and all who have been selected. There has been a lot of sour grapes out there – as is seemingly standard procedure when these things are announced. It doesn’t really phase me all that much; I am a local blogger with primarily a local audience, and I think a lot of what I rattle on about is a bit too schizophrenic at times to merit any award. Sure it would be nice to be included in that select group, but there are after all over a 1000 different wine blogs and to hone it all down to 5 per category – that is a gargantuan task.

So for now, I am kicking around a few ideas, maturing a bit in my wine point-of-view, taking the critics out of my crosshairs, and focusing on rejuvenating my besotted brainpan. I feel like I may be chasing my tail today but here I am. Maybe a walk in the desert ingesting some Thunderbird and peyote might help, though I am afraid I might just hear ol’ Pat Swayze screaming from the cliff tops something like “WOLVERINES!”

Maybe I should do nothing but watch skINEMAX at night every night this week. Or maybe I should just read what Ron’s up to over at Hosemaster or Sam over at Sans Dosage. They have a knack for getting me thinkin’ (or laughing (Hose) or getting all randy (Sam)). Or maybe a Patrick Swayze Film Fest. Steel Dawn, anyone?

Regardless of what path I travel over the next few days, I am sure to find the most warped perspective possible and regurgitate it back to you all, my audience of 5 or so. Either that or earning that one-way ticket to a padded suite.

13May/102

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT WRAP-UP

So last night, I ventured into the foray of online tasting, joining Master Sommelier Fred Dexheimer of Wines of Chile, 8 Chilean winemakers and over 50 wine bloggers from all over the place for a virtual flight of 8 Chilean Sauvignon Blancs. I hadn’t ever experienced anything quite like it, and the end result was three-fold:

I was exposed to several Chilean wineries not currently available here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
I interacted with a lot of my peers for what was a fairly raucous time online.
I ended up slightly inebriated.

The set up was already established, yet I had to run down the street to pick up some food to go, thanks in large part to watching a movie before sitting down to taste (Milla Jovavich in “The Fourth Kind” – really disturbing stuff). Getting back from local restaurant Grandview Tavern with soup for the Mrs. (she wasn’t feeling well) and a salad for myself (at 6:55 pm to be exact) the tasting, which started at 7, was going to start without me. Throwing the wines open and on the table, and tossing the salad in front of me, I logged on just in time.

Master Sommelier Fred started things off, and we walked through each wine, spending 5-10 minutes with each winemaker, while the panel of winemakers and Fred fielded questions from the blogger chat stream, which moved faster than the cars at the Indy 500.

I had jokingly thought of pasting the transcripts to the blogger chats here, but I left the party after 1 hour and 15 minutes, and had about 6 or 7 pages of blurry blogger comments that meandered from the wines to pop culture references (some of the bloggers were commenting on how hot some of the winemakers were).

(Oh how one finds themselves at ease when wine is a-flowin’.)

Anyway, here are my overall notes:

Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva Casablanca Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding. This wine was a great way to start, with a lot of vibrant acidity and bracing citrus notes. Some pronounced mineral at the finish makes this a great value.
Ventisquero Queulat Sauvignon Blanc Casablanca Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding. Much more minerality than the Veramonte. Has a chalky element that reminds me of a Saint-Bris from Chablis. Some green apple and dried herbs add depth.
Undurraga T.H. Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding. Reminds me of a Muscadet with its hints of sea salt and oyster shells. There are some notes of lemon peel and grapefruit pulp as well. Very nice.
Valdivieso Single Vineyard Wild Fermented Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley 2009. Grade=??? Everyone else thought this was corked, cooked or just off, but I could get the sense that was the wild fermentation talking. Had a Chardonnay that was going through WF in WA that had similar tones. Kind of Madeira meets Bourbon in the nose. Some orange blossom and buttered toast. Not much in the way of acidity. An SB for the David Lynch crowd. Just still trying to ascertain if this was intentional or not. If so, I give it a score of “outstanding.” If not, a score of “no, really?”
Santa Rita Medalla Real Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding+. Grapefruit, haricot vert, dried herbs and flint in the nose and on the palette, with some guava and gooseberry notes as well. I really liked the acidic finish here.
Cono Sur Organic Sauvignon Blanc San Antonio Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding+. Certainly the best value of the lineup, this SB showed some tart Meyer lemon, honeydew melon, some white flower and pineapple notes. The acidity here was a bit less sharp than the others, making it a bit rounder and mellower. Really nice.
Haras de Pirque Haras Estate Sauvignon Blanc Maipo Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding. Reminds me of a good Graves, a bit rocky and minerally, but with some lemon meringue, citrus parfait, and fresh cut hay. The acid was mellower here too. Very nice.
Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc Colchagua Valley 2009. Grade=Outstanding+. I almost liked this one the most. More exuberant mouthfeel than the others, at least to me. Some kiwi fruit, guava, gooseberry and grapefruit, yet finishing akin to a Pouilly-Fume, with some lime zest and honeydew. Quite good.

I had a lot of fun and want to thank Fred, the winemakers who spoke to us, the wine bloggers who participated and to all at Wines of Chile for including me in this event. I admit, I got a bit rambunctious (apologies for the more humorous/less professional remarks in the blogger chatroom). Get some wine in me, on top of a long day at the store, and I am ruined.

Tagged as: Casa Silva, Cono Sur, Fred Dexheimer, Grandview Tavern, Haras de Pirque, Milla Jovavich, Santa Rita, The Fourth Kind, Undurraga, Valdivieso, Ventisquero, Veramonte, virtual tasting, wine reviews, Wines of Chile 2 Comments

12May/100

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT: CHILE

I received this package a few weeks ago, containing 8 Sauvignon Blancs from Chile, courtesy of Wines of Chile, a group dedicated to the promotion of, wait for it, Chilean wine. It is a given that Chile turns out great value, yet they also make some of the most incredible top-end wines on the market today (Montes Folly, Almaviva, Don Maximilano from Concha y Toro, just to name a few).

Turns out I've been invited to participate in a virtual tasting with Fred Dexheimer, Master Sommelier and WoC special guest host, tonight online. I'll have my notes up tomorrow, but you can follow along on Facebook or Twitter. On Twitter, you can follow the hashtags #SBChile. Pretty cool - I am getting excited about it, even though I get to do it at my very own kitchen table, with my Mrs., my 8 furry children, and some pan-seared shrimp and scallops to boot.

Let's hear it for the Internet (thank you Al Gore!).

Tagged as: Facebook, Fred Dexheimer, home tasting, Twitter, Wines of Chile No Comments