WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Happy Groundhog’s Eve! Yes, we must prepare for the most joyous of all holidays of February! It’s where we . . . well, I guess there isn’t a whole lot we can do on the holiday. In fact, it never really made sense to me, the choices being either six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Now, all the places I’ve lived throughout my life, six more weeks of winter after February 2nd WAS an early spring. Besides, isn’t it weird that if a groundhog sees his shadow it’s supposed to be a longer winter, but isn’t a shadow an indication that it’s sunny outside? Doesn’t sun generally mean it’s more “spring-like”? Heck, I think it’s time to get a new meteorologist. But that won’t stop the Carpe Vinum Groundhog Day Wine Extravaganza and Celebration, and this Groundhog’s Eve Newsletter! What are we tasting to celebrate this day dedicated to this oversized rodent? It’s the wines of South America!

So what do Groundhogs have to do with South American wines? Nothing! They don’t even have any groundhogs in South America. Heck, we don’t have any in Oregon either. But South America DOES have penguins. That fact, and I can’t emphasize this enough, has GOT to count for something, right? So if a penguin sees his shadow on February 2nd in South America, does that mean there will be 6 more weeks of summer? (Shrug.)

So there is a spectacular lineup already in the works for tomorrow night. We’ve got a little surprise ready as well. Up to this point, we’ve only seen wines from Chile and Argentina. Chilean wines are often lauded for value, but scorned (by me) for variable and questionable quality, and Argentina is a veritable wine empire just waiting to take over the world, if they could only stop drinking all that juice themselves and share with the rest of the planet. So the rest of the South American continent remained a mystery, although I had heard of vines grown in all the other South American countries. Well we can mark one more of those countries off the mystery list since we now have a wine from Uruguay!

“What the heck is an ‘Uruguay?’”, you may ask. It’s the country just below Brazil, on the coast. And yes, they make wine. We now have proof. The name is Casa Luntro and the wine is a Tannat. You might remember the Tannat grape as the key player in the Southwest French district of Madiran. Heck it was just two weeks ago I was mentioning the fact that I’ve never seen it grown anywhere else. So that’s like killing two birds with one stone. Perhaps I’m too easily excited about these things. At any rate, we’ll be debuting the Tannat from Uruguay tomorrow. (And Tannat is a palindromical word. Isn’t that cool?)

The rest of South America, as far as we’re concerned here, is Chile and Argentina. The wines represented from these regions reflect the areas from where the vines originated. Much of it looks like Bordeaux. In Chile there are the last remaining Carmenere vines, a variety that was practically wiped out by Phylloxera in Europe but survived in Chile. In Argentina, Malbec is king and all of the other Bordeaux varietals its royal subjects. I’ve been increasingly impressed with wines of South America, as a whole. The quality for the price is perhaps the best anywhere. It must be the exchange rate. Or, and I reiterate, the penguins.

So Friday, February 2nd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

South America!!!
Casa Luntro 2000 Tannat, Montevideo, Uruguay
Vina Maquis 2005 Calcu (Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Carmenere), Colchagua Valley, Chile
De Martino 2005 Carmenere, Maipo Valley, Chile
Luna Benegas 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, Argentina
Joffre y Hijas 2004 Grand Malbec, Valle de Uco, Argentina

Even More South America!
NQN 2004 Malma Malbec Reserva, Patagonia, Argentina
Alvaro Espinosa 2003 Kuyen (Syrah, Cab Sauv), Maipo Valley, Chile

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Italy’s Sicily! And 4 (-ish) shopping days to Valentines Day!

M