Basic Juice - the wine blog for my generation

Fri. Random 5 + 1 Chewy Chilean

Friday Random Music 5

1. Holly Golightly - This Ship
2. Of Montreal - We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling (?)
3. Alexi Murdoch - Song For You
4. Miles Davis - I Could Write A Book
5. Pearl Jam - Sonic Reducer (listen .mp3)

1 Chewy Chilean

Erasmo Reserva di Caliboro 2005 (~$25) - To those who think there is no distinct terroir in Chile, I say, "thhppphhhttt!"  This is the the 3rd Chilean Bordeaux (60% Cab S., 30% Merlot, 10% Cab F.) blend I've sampled that has a unique something-something.  That something is a nifty scent compilation of cherry liqueur, charred cedar and orange peel.  I dig it.  While the wine's flavor is straightforward black cherry-blackberry, it possesses two types o' tannic textures: 1) slightly abbraisive & attention grabbing followed by 2)smooth and supple.  Quite a trick.  Give it a go with a standing beef rib roast and/or crock-potted root veggies.

WBW23: All 'Bout the Salt

WineBloggingWednesday has become an institution.  Of course, it's always about the wine.  However, with this month's theme of, "BBQ Wines," it was salt, not wine, which stole the show.  I discovered something called, "Danish Viking-Smoked Salt."  If you are a serious BBQer, I can promise you that this salt is for you.  It is essentially sea salt, which has been evaporated over a fire stoked with oak, cherry, elm, beech and juniper.  I can only describe the resulting product as, "crystalized, smoky goodness."

I took my BBQ-inspiration from a recipe on the Salt Traders Website and made barbecued pork shoulder. It is incredibly easy. Simply rub the smoked salt into the pork, place it in a roasting pan, add about 1/3" water and cover tightly. Place the pork in a preheated 300F oven and roast for 2-2.5 hours. Once the pork is tender and smoky, fire up your grill (high for 10 minutes and then lower heat to medium) and baste the pork with basic/simple barbecue sauce (like this, or, *gasp* from a bottle). Grill and continually baste until pork shoulder is sporting definite grill marks. Voila!...simple, easy, smoky, delicious BBQ.

Cabernet, Wallace Style

I love wine. Wine tasting notes - not so much. The traditional tasting note is brief, descriptive and entirely unimaginative. Occasionally I daydream of ways in which my passion for wine might be more creatively communicated. I've experimented with wine love letters, fake wine news shows and avant-garde poetry. However, I always return to the David Foster Wallace-style tasting note. Why? A Wallace note maintains the traditional form, yet at the same time, it opens wine up to adjunct information, brief and extended asides, and random weirdness. And hey, who doesn’t enjoy a glass of wine, chased by a shot of random weirdness? If you’re a Wallace fan, sit back and enjoy. If Wallace gives you hives, prepare the tomatoes!

 

Montes⁽¹⁾ Alpha⁽²⁾ Cabernet Sauvignon⁽³⁾ 2003⁽⁴⁾ (~$20)
Deep⁽⁵⁾ indigo⁽⁶⁾ in color, fading to an intense pink rim⁽⁷⁾. Classic Cabernet nose⁽⁸⁾ of cassis⁽⁹⁾, leather⁽¹⁰⁾, cigar box⁽¹¹⁾, black plum⁽¹²⁾ and vanilla⁽¹³⁾. Dry, with balanced acidity⁽¹⁴⁾ and soft mouth-filling⁽¹⁵⁾ tannins⁽¹⁶⁾. Medium-full bodied⁽¹⁷⁾ with a fruit-dominated palate⁽¹⁸⁾ and slightly abbreviated⁽¹⁹⁾, vanilla-heavy finish⁽²⁰⁾. A reasonably priced Cabernet from the Colchaqua valley⁽²¹⁾. This wine may be drunk now⁽²²⁾, but may develop more complexity⁽²³⁾ over the next 2-4 years⁽²⁴⁾.

Ten Buck Gem Recipe

The latest contributor to this month's meme (Ten Buck Wine Gems), Chef Melissa recommends a $6.95 Chilean Trio from Concha y Toro.  It's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Cab Franc.  She then went and got all chef-y on us and provided a Trio-friendly recipe:  Empanadas Chilenas con Salsa Chimichurri.

Thanks to the Cooking Diva, I got a plan for the weekend - whisking some chimichurri & sippin a TBD Cab-Shiraz blend.

And lo! I've discovered two new-to-me wine blogs from the great Pacific northwest: le wine blog and Through the Grape Vine.  So, Jameson & Catie, gotta ten buck wine gem you'd like to add to the list?

Clos Apalta

2002 Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta ($65)   
Clear, opaque ruby core fading to a dark pink rim. Clean, youthful and medium-high intense nose of oak, black plums, smoky oak and cinnamon. Dry, with medium acidity, and moderately high, ripe tannins. Full-bodied, with an intense palate of vanilla oak, spicy black plums and dark, almost raisined red fruits. High yet balanced alchohol, with long length.  Exellent quality merlot-based Chilean wine. Drinks well now, but could use some time - up to 10 more years of aging.   

2 quickTakes: one hit/one miss

First the miss (just a slight miss) -
Treana Central Coast 'Mer Soleil Vineyard' '01 ($23).  This big 'un is 39% Marsanne and 61% Viognier.  Smells delicious - apricot, peach, honey, flowers.  Yet, as a food wine it's a bit overthetop.  That said; it's a-OK by itself.  The reason?  Full-body, lots of alcohol, and lowish acidity.  It clashed with my meal, but was perfectly fine (and mouthiflling) as a solo sip. 

Now the Hit -
Montes Alpha Syrah, '00 ($17).  Not an XL Syrah; yet not a wimp by any means.  One of my favorite Chileans to date.  Black plums, pepper, and some sweet spice.  Solidly balanced in the mouth with pro-food tannins and a luxurious finish.  Would that more sub-$20 Syrahs could be so lovely.

Chile con Car[me]nè[re]

Carmenère was one of the earliest varieties to be grown in Bordeaux.  It's a tough vine to raise, so it has been mostly yanked out of its French home.  Carmenère was taken to South America pre-Phylloxera.  Chilean winemakers have since shown an affinity for this somewhat Merlot-like grape.  Enter Envero (No! not this Enver)

The Skinny
Apaltagua 'Envero' '01 ($14)

• 91% Carmenère & 9% Cabernet Sauvignon
• From the Colchagua Valley, central Chile
• A leathery-red color with narrow coral rim
• Overall, a faint nose.  Sweet spices (oakyoakyoak), black cherry, and some blueberry
• Medium-bodied; slight, coating tannins; a little low acidity; somewhat 'green' tasting

**.5 (2.5 stars out of 5)

This wine received numerous accolades.  I, however, wasn't won over by the lack of character.  It's not bad - yet for fourteen bucks I expect a little more.

(ed's note: apologies for the wacky text formatting in this post.  I just can't seem to fix it w/o losing the entire post.)