Argentine Malbec. The legendary black wine. It's a pretty popular style, there is always someone clamouring for a bottle these days in the shop and I can see why. Big, powerful and brooding with the top notch versions rewarding you with a chocolately mouthfeel and dominant fruit.
Malbec was first a French grape, used in Bordeaux and the South, where it produces powerful deep rich wines like those of Cahors(where it is still called Cot).
Today I've jumped over the Andes to see what the Chileans are doing with this wonderful grape and I've ended up with a bottle of the Perez Cruz Limited Edition Cot. These guys are calling this Cot as they consider this wine to have more in common with the Cahors style of Malbec to their Argie counterparts and they are sorta right.
I'd probably mistake this for a rich Cabernet Sauvignon if I were tasting this blind. It's missing that tell-tale overwhelming cloak of chocolate velvet that has made Argentine Malbec the mistress of men the world over. Don't get me wrong, this is a powerful red with cake spices and dusky blackcurrants on the nose. I can also feel the back of my head constrict just the way a domineering red wants me to feel, and those controlled tannins that approach on the finish leave me thinking more and more of the wines of South West France. I've gotta be honest, I prefer the Carmenere that Perez Cruz make. This isn't inferior but I'm yet to fall in love with this style.
For those dependant on that high altitude Argie Malbec style this might not be for them. However they should try it out. It's a great permutation on the varietal and a wonderful example of the higher end stuff coming out of Chile these days.
Perez Cruz limited edition Cot 2010 £13 from Oddbins
Friday, 17 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Why I love Chardonnay
So I started this post looking for quotes on Chardonnay, and I ended up on IMDB with a personal hate of mine. The movie "Sideways". Apt I realise as I'm about to discuss pre-conceptions of love and hate.
In my time working in a wine shop I have come to grow and love Chardonnay despite all the grief and hatred it attracts. Pungent stoney fruits explode and overwhelm the senses. Rich, decadent gorgeousity overloads me as I sniff deeply into the glass and I ask...how the hell does no-one else get this?
Hmm I need to preface this somewhat. I live in Edinburgh, one of the great cities of our world, and have been lucky enough to work in a great wine shop for the best part of two years. In that time, I've never encountered such hatred for a grape as that directed towards Chardonnay. What is that about? Aye, I've heard all about the shitty Aussie over-oaked beasts that lumbered the earth during the eighties but time moves on, and so do winemakers. I'm certainly sick of people refusing to touch a drop of this honeyed nectar purely down to some piece o' rubbish they picked up in Tescos for 4 squid.
But crack open any Chardonnay handled by someone who knows its trickery and you are in for one of the wildest rides of your tongue's life! Oaked or unoaked, steely or fruit-laden, Chardonnay does more to express terroir(y'know that crazy but true concept about the land and climate expressed in the wine that the french have) than any other grape I've drunk..and not just in France. Chilean, Aussie and more recently NZ Chardonnays all scream about their region first, grape second. How can you not love that? As people we draw our identity from where we came from. Chardonnay only asks the same, give it the chance. You won't regret it.
Chardonnay, if nothing else, is the one grape that can trick and deceive you more than any other. This little fucker can be obvious, or the most deceptive double agent, in a blind tasting, with so many variations on flavours that makes it impossible for anyone to declare disdain for this, the most august of white varietals.
Yes I love Chardonnay and I'm not afraid to say it! Happy St Valentines Day to you, my chameleonic terroirist! I've sent flowers to the Cote D'or, one day I shall grace your soils.
In my time working in a wine shop I have come to grow and love Chardonnay despite all the grief and hatred it attracts. Pungent stoney fruits explode and overwhelm the senses. Rich, decadent gorgeousity overloads me as I sniff deeply into the glass and I ask...how the hell does no-one else get this?
Hmm I need to preface this somewhat. I live in Edinburgh, one of the great cities of our world, and have been lucky enough to work in a great wine shop for the best part of two years. In that time, I've never encountered such hatred for a grape as that directed towards Chardonnay. What is that about? Aye, I've heard all about the shitty Aussie over-oaked beasts that lumbered the earth during the eighties but time moves on, and so do winemakers. I'm certainly sick of people refusing to touch a drop of this honeyed nectar purely down to some piece o' rubbish they picked up in Tescos for 4 squid.
But crack open any Chardonnay handled by someone who knows its trickery and you are in for one of the wildest rides of your tongue's life! Oaked or unoaked, steely or fruit-laden, Chardonnay does more to express terroir(y'know that crazy but true concept about the land and climate expressed in the wine that the french have) than any other grape I've drunk..and not just in France. Chilean, Aussie and more recently NZ Chardonnays all scream about their region first, grape second. How can you not love that? As people we draw our identity from where we came from. Chardonnay only asks the same, give it the chance. You won't regret it.
Chardonnay, if nothing else, is the one grape that can trick and deceive you more than any other. This little fucker can be obvious, or the most deceptive double agent, in a blind tasting, with so many variations on flavours that makes it impossible for anyone to declare disdain for this, the most august of white varietals.
Yes I love Chardonnay and I'm not afraid to say it! Happy St Valentines Day to you, my chameleonic terroirist! I've sent flowers to the Cote D'or, one day I shall grace your soils.
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