Keeping Warm on a Cold Snowy Winters Night with Art of Earth Wines

 

It was a cold and snowy winter night, and I reached for Argentina's Art of Earth Wines. It’s summer in Argentina, so at least I can think of warm weather and sunshine.

Art of Earth Wines is the largest viticultural group in the world. With 29 cooperatives and 5,000 winegrowers, they manage 25,000 hectares of vineyard plantings throughout the top-growing regions of Mendoza and San Juan.

Their wines strive for a pure expression of the region, true to their origins and free of pesticides and herbicides.

Art of Earth Chardonnay SRP $11.99 - You can’t beat the price and the taste. The grapes are carefully selected and undergo vinification in stainless steel tanks with no oak. My first sip took me poolside on a warm summer day. Aromas of lime and slate. Crisp with a nice roundness on the palate shows the malolactic fermentation with a great grape expression. Juicy pineapple and tropical fruit with hints of minerality. A nice lemony finish. I served this with Shrimp and Grits, and it was a perfect meal!

Art of Earth Cabernet Sauvignon SRP $11.99 - This Cabernet Sauvignon truly reflects the region's unique terroir, characterized by the influence of the Andes Mountains and the semi-arid desert conditions. The wine undergoes vinification with controlled temperature fermentation and aging in stainless steel tanks, preserving its bold and complex flavors true to the grape. This is a drink now, wine. Lovely black currant with a hit of cocoa and spice. Straightforward drinking and a good everyday Cabernet.

Blending Quimera with Santiago Achaval

Born in Rochester Minnesota, Santiago Achaval moved to Argentina when he was 6. He  grew up in Argentina and went to college there as well, but got accepted to Stamford Graduate School of Business and headed for California.

Well he got bit by the wine bug while in grad school.  Spending weekends in Napa and Sonoma he knew when he returned to Argentina he wanted to open a small winery and that's what he did in 1998.

Santiago believes that it's all about the vineyards.  Terrior  and low yields allow the vineyards to express their character.  He believes less is more.  So no sulfites at crush, no enzymes, no tartaric corrections, no extended macerations, no racking off the lees, no fining and no filtering.

The goal of the tasting was the Quimera a blend of 5 grapes. Quimera represents their quest for perfection. In this wine they are seeking increasing levels of complexity, balance, nuance, length and power.  They want people to drink the wine young as well as age it.

In this tasting we not only tasted the 2012 Quimera we tasted the components that went into it.  Each separately so we could see how each wine contributed to the blend.

The blend consisted of 50% Malbec, 24% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot.

Let's explore the components.

2012 Achaval-Ferrer Malbec - This was a young and to me personally it lacked a bit of maturity. It had very savory and earthy notes combined with dark plum and black cherry.

2012 Achaval-Ferrer Cabernet Franc - This brings the complexity to the wine. A bit of earth and leather.  The tannins show nicely as did the red cherry with a hint of spice on the finish. (for the record, I liked this wine on it's own, but then again, it's one of my favorite grapes)

2012 Achaval-Ferrer Merlot - He's looking for the Merlot to bring freshness to the wine.  This Merlot was very soft and round.Nice mouth feel

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon - Full of red and black fruit.  Fresh acid notes toward the finish, yet soft

2012 Achaval-Ferrer Petit Verdot - This is his unsung hero...This brings everything together as well as adds to the color.  This had nice notes of vanilla, soft and silky mouth feel.

Now when you put it all together you have the 2012 Quimera (SRP $35) with layers of complexity. As you think about each layer, each of the components come to play.  It had some earthy notes and nice dark cherry, plum, tannins and the mouth feel was soft and enjoyable.

Wine & White Russian

It's not all the time you drink a wine and it reminds you of the time way back when you drank those milky alcoholic drinks that go right to your waistline.  One sniff of the wine glass and it brought me back to those days.

I found this Verum Patagonia 2010 Pinot Noir very unique.  I have to say, I never tasted a Pinot quite like it. It took me back to the time when I was young drinking a White Russian at Capricorn II in Fishkill, New York. Oh the memories of my youth!

Produced by Bodega Del Rio Elorza, the grapes for this wine come from the Rio Negro region of Patagona, Argentina and are Dijon Clone 777.  It was fermented with indigenous yeasts and went through malolactic in the barrel. The vines are pretty young at an age of 5 years.  There were 500 cases of this Pinot Noir made and the retail price is $20

Right on the onset this Pinot Noir had a aromas of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and Kahlua hanging out in the glass. Small notes of vanilla and nut showed as well and in the distant you can detect some nuisances of strawberry. First impression on the palate was a White Russian layered with vanilla bean and hint of strawberry, raspberry and spice.

Definitely a different Pinot, but worth the experience. This wine and a box of chocolate covered strawberries for your loved one tomorrow on Valentines Day would be a great pairing.

The Rutini Portfolio - Good Value, Good Tasting

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a lunch in New York that featured Rutini Wines with their winemaker Mariano Dipaola.  Rutini has two lines out one being the Trumpeter and the other Rutini.  While I was familiar with the Trumpeter and really like the Torrontes, I wasn't with the Rutini line. Let me tell you both are very nice and affordable!

When I arrived I was greeted by a 2010 Trumpter Torrontes from Mendoza.  Crisp and fresh it had a nose of peaches and a bit lychee.  Hints of mineral latched onto the palate and hi had nice acidity.  Mariano feels this is the best expression of the land.

I was then given a glass of Rutini's 2009 Chardonnay. This was very nicely balanced with aromas of minerals, lime citrus and a little notes of honey and vanilla.  It had a soft butterscotch finish.  (Take note of this, because a post in the future will deal with this wine and a food pairing)

When we sat down for lunch it was more like a dinner.  Five courses all paired with a wine.  The Trumpeter Torrontes was paired with Langostino Encendido which was a grilled spicy prawn and homemade peach chutney.

The Raviolinis de mi Vieja were paired with the 2009 Rutini Chardonnay.  Mariano told us the the grapes sourced for this wine come from the Tupungato region of Mendoza.  It's high in the Andes on an elevation of 300-5--- feet above sea level.  They have hot days and cool nights.  He prefers to make his wine on the minerally side and he's been reducing the oak used.  The aging takes place for 9 months in French oak that is 50% new oak and then he uses barrels that are 1 - 2 years old and goes through 50% malolactic fermentation.

Rutini 2009 Malbec was paired with a Gazpacho which was nice and refreshing.  This wine is made for pleasure.  It's elegant and drinkable and has nice expressions.  The Malbec vineyards are 65 year old vineyards in the San Carlos district. I found aromas of wild berries and vanilla and a palate full of black fruit with a nice black pepper spice finish.  (love that spice finish)

Right about now I was ready for a walk around block but it was time for the beef.  Grass fed short ribs paired with Rutini 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.  The nose was very complex.  Aromas of coffee, black cherry and chocolate lead way to a palate that had was soft and fruity with a hint of spice.

Free range chicken was next paired with Rutini 2009 Encuentro.  First I was concerned, red wine with chicken, especially this which was a blend of 5 reds, but it went fairly well due to the mushrooms in the chicken and the thyme sauce.  The Encuentro is a blend of 50% Merlot, the rest of the blend is Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.

The last course of the afternoon was grilled grass fed rib eye served with argentine blue vein cheese sauce and grilled asparagus tips paired with Rutini 2009 Apartado.  This wine is 100% Malbec but from three different regions and terrior.  This wine goes under a 20 day fermentation with 100% malolactic fermentation in custom designed conical fermentation tanks for better extraction and phenolic concentration.  Aged for 18 months in new French oak.  Each barrel is fined with one egg white and the wine is unfiltered.  The wine had aromas of cigar box, dark cherry with a silky palate of cherry, coffee, and was very complex.

The Trumpeter line of wines retails around $10 and the Rutini line retails between $20 - $30.

Here is what winemaker Mariano Dipaola has to say about his wines.