Mendoza: Adventures in Argentina Wine Country

Hola! He regresado de Argentina, y tengo mucho que decir sobre los vinos! Not sure if that's 100% perfect, but at least I can say my Spanish got a lot of practice, as did my palate! We tasted so many wines, I can't really begin to go into detail about them all. Instead, I'm going to summarize what I discovered about Argentine winemaking vs. Napa.

Everybody knows Mendoza is Malbec country. And i was definitely not let down! Most of the wineries have multiple lines of wines (a "clasico," "reserva," and maybe an ultra premium). These lines are sometimes distinguished by grapes used (from 1 farm, or finca, vs another), but mostly are defined by the oak used (or not).

Most of the cheapest wines did not use oak. I liked this idea in whites (especially Chardonnay...I'm over oaky chards!), but not in reds. Reds really do benefit from oak influence. That being said, the results are still very different. I tried Malbecs that were medium bodied, tight, slightly spicy, with notes of cherry and hickory, and others that were full bodied, really jammy and rich, smooth over the palate, with more succinct and barely tannic finishes. Personally, i preferred the latter. We get a lot of big tannic cabs from Napa, and i appreciated the juicy mouthfeel of the rich but smooth malbecs, although i will note that the brighter malbecs paired pretty well with rich beef empanadas.

I wasn't surprised to find a great range of delicious malbecs, but i WAS surprised to find one great pinot grigio and one great pinot noir! The Pinot Grigio was from Casnati Winery. It was light to medium bodied, had a lot of great fruits on the palate and a nice crisp finish. it was not watery at all (which is what i often, and admittedly unnecessarily assume with pinot grigio).

The Pinot Noir was from Palo Alto Winery, but apparently some other winery "stole" the name from them and patented it, so their higher end line (to which the Pinot Noir belongs) is now called "Amadores." I don't know if it's just because I haven't had pinot in a while, or because I had really low expectations, but their Pinot Noir was really great! Lots of barnyard on the nose, and it was smooth, well rounded, and medium bodied on the palate. I heard the pinots from Patagonia are really great, but I only tried this one in Mendoza (which was also great), so I'm really excited to see what comes out of Patagonia!

Argentina is a huge country with very different appellations, so I'm excited to see all the great wines that continue to emerge from there!

Napa w/ the Folks

My parents jokingly say that when they're on vacation, regardless of the proposed itinerary, everyone should just expect to push it back at least an hour and a half. And this was the tone for our Napa trip this past weekend. Unexpected thunder/lightning/rainstorms in San Francisco lead do a leisurely morning and a slow start out the door, stopping for gas and desperately seeking a coffee shop extended that slow start, and long story short, we ended up pretty much winging it, and missing the 1 reservation we made (at Paraduxx winery).

But that's what I love about Napa. There are so many wineries, you can pretty much drop in anywhere you want (except for those wineries that are only open to the public by appointment). So we started at Peju Province Winery between Oakville and Rutherford. The property is beautiful (excellently groomed gardens with fountains, etc) and the tasting was low-key with no wait. We tasted their Chard first, then Sauv Blanc, then a Red/White blend, a Zin, and a Cab. (By the way, I'm going to try to keep this entry as brief as possible...) The Chard was actually pretty nice, because they use only old french oak, so it's not overwhelming. The Sauv blanc was pretty typical, if not boring, the Red/White blend was too sweet for my palate, but the Zin was really nice. It was smooth, and had moderate tannins that framed it nicely without overwhelming the plum and other fruit flavors. Plus, it was only $18! This was our favorite from Peju.

Next we went to Mumm Napa off Silverado Trail. This was my favorite, because I not only love sparkling wine, but we got to sit outside on their lovely patio overlooking the valley, we could choose from 5 flights, and I became a member so I got a bunch of discounts and free stuff. I tasted their Brut flight which included their classic Mumm Prestige. It also had the Prestige Extended Tirage (18 months) and a third sparkling wine with a 3 year tirage, I believe. My sister got a flight that included their delicious Rose which was refreshing but still had nice balanced fruits on the palate, and my mom got their "fancy flight" of 2 vintage wines (DVX). 2000 and 2001. Many of their other wines are non-vintage (which apparently means it's because they're expected to taste the same regardless of the year the grapes were harvested). These higher-end wines were definitely more nutty and sophisticated. While we were there, we also tasted the 2 wines I'd be receiving as a club member: Sparkling Pinot Noir, and the Cuvee M Red. The Red was a little to thick and heavy for me, so I opted to receive 2 of the Sparkling Pinots this month, but both would be great for the holidays.

Trinchero: This is in the Northern part of St. Helena, just south of Calistoga. By nature of the location, it's a lot less crowded and more peaceful. They have a great deck and a barbecue, so I'm guess you could post up for a while and picnic there. That being said, their 3-wine flight was $20 a person, and they don't waive the fee if you purchase wine! Disappointing. They do pour large tastings, so just split one if you go there.

Alpha Omega: Their wines were our favorites, and were also the most expensive. The property was really nice too: huge fountain, nice sitting area outside, etc. The Sauvignon Blanc had a lot of flavor on the palate, refreshing apple, citrus, grass, etc and the finish was tart and succinct. Maybe one of the best Sauv blancs ever. no wonder it was $34! Their Cab was really nice too, developed tannins were not over whelming, chocolate and plum on the palate. At $75 a bottle, my dad bought 2 for the cellar.

Folie A Deux and Napa Wine Cellars: They share a tasting room, and they're also two of few tasting rooms that stay open til 6 (as opposed to 5). We all really enjoyed the value of their wines: great flavor and a nice price point. The Folie a Deux cab was $26 I believe, but still had a really interesting nose, nice berry flavors on the palate and balanced tannins.

So long story short, I didn't really want to go into too many details about each of the wines we tasted because many of the wines are new releases and could use a few years of bottle aging anyway (so I can't really judge the specific flavors they have now). The wine tasting experience is very personal, and for me ambiance is a lot of it. I prefer to go to more comfortable tasting rooms, that have nice outdoor seating areas. I don't need to go to the fancy places that charge $30/tasting. Also, writing in all the tasting notes would make this even longer than it already is... who knows if any of you even read this far!

Labor Day Weekend, Beer, and Cocktails (but no wine or bbq for me)

Labor Day is a great time for barbecueing, relaxing, and consuming a delicious beverage of your choice. I did not taste much wine this weekend, but I tasted some other really interesting things, all of which functioned to enlighten my palate.



Tsunami Sushi (Western Addition/NOPA area): YUM! We had the chef's selection of sushi and totally scored! They have an 8-piece combo of the fish specials for $27, or they have a 16 piece combo for the same price. I was with my sister and we decided to split the 16 piece, especially since the server informed us that it would still have some of the fish specials. That day, the specials happened to be Walu (hawaiian butterfish and our pet betta's namesake) and Toro (pure deliciousness). We thought maybe we'd be lucky and get at least one piece of one of these. She ended up bringing us 2 pieces each of both walu and toro, and a bunch of other delicious stuff (salmon, tuna, etc). This was really exciting!



The other exciting item I enjoyed at Tsunami was a libation called the "Cucumber Sparkle" made with vodka, cucumber, cava, and agave syrup. It was delicious and perfect with my sushi. It was effervescent from the cava and retained its dry/bitter flavors, pairing nicely with the fresh cucumber and it was definitely not too sweet.



After dinner, we went to Noc Noc on Haight. Small bar, interesting decor, way better than Marina venues, and a beer selection to be remembered! I'm not really going to go into detail because I don't even know the names of the beers I got (their knowledgeable barkeep just poured me a few). They were delicious though, and I would definitely go back to this place.



Yesterday, I went to Dosa for dinner and, recalling the mistake I made last time trying to pair Indian food with Cab Franc, I got refreshing, palate cleansing beer. Not really knowing what I was ordering when I requested Lindeman's Framboise Lambic beer, I ended up with something very interesting and unexpected-- beer fermented with raspberries! Sure, it said "raspberry" in the description, but I thought that was just a flowery descriptor. Anyhow, it was really interesting, a bit too rich for me to finish the whole glass, but it did work well with the food (better than wine would, in my experience).

If I did want to drink wine with sushi or Indian food, what would I have?....any thoughts?