Sunday 18 July 2010

Chateau les Arromans 2007 Bordeaux

Girls night requires fondue. And Fondue requires wine. Natalie came over Sunday night and brought her fondue pot (ah, the fruits of marriage). She brought me a bottle of Bordeaux from her summer travels to Europe - best souvenir EVER - but that's not what we drank. I didn't want to drink such a special gift on just any old Sunday night, so we opened a bottle I got a while back from Paul's wine tasting.

The bottle read "Appellation Bordeaux Controlee," which is a guarantee that the grapes came only from Bordeaux and were processed with traditional style and methods of the region. This is important, because each winegrowing region and vineyard has different terrior, which shapes the character of the wine. Terrior is a broad French term meant to encompass all the influences that might impact the wine, such as soil, climate, geography, human skill, and tradition.

All were in agreement - this wine was delightfully simple and drinkable. It was dry like most Bordeauxs I've tried, but not in the harsh way that some are. There was virtually no back-of-the-throat-smack if you know what I mean. Not much fruit, either. The girls and I decided there was some definite wood happening in this red, perhaps French oak, if we had to hypothesize. Oddly, this wine did not taste better with food. In contrast to most reds, the tang of tannins only came out after digging into the fondue. If I weren't into trying a new wine every time, I'd grab a few bottles of this for food-free enjoyment. Although it wasn't the most dynamic or interesting red, it's hard to find such a pleasant Bordeaux for only $10.

Tuesday 6 July 2010

MontGras Reserva 2009 Chardonnay

At the beginning of the summer, all my friends left DC. It was bizarre and I hated every minute they were gone. But finally! Chris and Natalie made it back from their respective foreign study programs, and I had both of them over to my apartment on Saturday afternoon for wine and avocado pie. The gossip flowed and it was glorious. It was like they'd never left at all.

The wine was left over from a dinner party the evening before. One of our guests brought this yummy Chardonnay from wine tasting at Paul's (the local liquor store). It was on sale for $10.99 and was sampled alongside other MontGras wines, almost all of which I also enjoyed.

The MontGras vineyards are in Colchagua, Chile.Colchagua is part of the Rapel Valley between the Andes and the Coastal Mountains, one of the most important agricultural areas in the country. The climate there is similar to the coasts of California and the Mediterranean, the Cape of Good Hope in S. Africa and the SW coast of Australia - basically all awesome places for wine making. The particular vines of MontGras were planted in 1993, the Chardonnay in a soil composed mostly of clay to hold in water allowing a long fruit ripening period. 40% of this wine was aged for 6 months in oak - 30% new oak barrels, 40% 2nd-use, and 30% 3rd use. The idea is that the newer the oak barrel, the stronger the oak flavor in the wine. So by splitting the vintage and only aging a small amount in new oak, and not letting some touch oak at all, the Chardonnay won't be overwhelmed and end up like the bottles of wood some people dread tasting when they hear "Chardonnay."

This wine was a total hit; I think 3 of 7 people who went to wine tasting actually brought this to the dinner party - and we tried 8 different wines at Paul's. The first sip tasted like pineapple or a yummy fruit cocktail, but the sweetness was balanced by just a little oaky warmth. There was no butter or smoke to the oak, so the wine tasted kind of tropical. But despite all the thick syrupy summer feelings this white invoked, it wasn't the least bit sickening, and it paired really well with the avocado pie I served Chris and Natalie. I think this is a perfect summer wine by itself, as an aperitif, or with desert. I'd also love to try the MontGras Carmenère, which they weren't sampling at wine tasting, but must be delicious.