A Decad of Wines for You
In which I taste through another batch of wines, with several rosés again (summer approaches).
Just random wines outside of these fancy walkaround or sitdown tastings. Wines in restaurants, wines at home, wines on the street…. In the order tasted over the last couple of weeks.
Lala Lá Tempranillo Merlot Rosé 2022, Mendoza - I simply don’t understand businesses that take the time to setup websites, Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, and the like, and then just never update them with current information (restaurants are among the worst at this, often displaying menus and prices from six months or two years ago). If you were to look at the website for Lala Wine, you’d never know that they produce rosés, and based on the one post for this wine on their Instagram account, all you’d know is that it’s an organic rosé - you wouldn’t even know what grapes go into it or the vintage without blowing up and peering at the photo. So, all I know is it’s organic Tempranillo and Merlot, no idea the proportions, fermentation, or even outside of being Mendoza, where the grapes are grown.
It’s a decent rosé, nothing to go wild over. It’s got some red and black cherry fruit to it, and just a hint of brambles. It’s slightly off-dry, medium bodied, moderate acidity, and a medium length finish. It went reasonably well with a couple of seafood dishes at La Mar, where it sells for 34,100 pesos, or a tad over $27, which is about 50% more than retail prices for other Lala wines I’ve seen, where it would probably sell for around 23,000.
Mundo Revés “Asa nisi masa” Malbec 2020, Los Chacayes, Valle de Uco, Mendoza - 100% Malbec, an occasional label that… changes… asa nisi masa being a nonsense mystical phrase from Fellini’s movie 8½ - 2015 was also a Malbec, 2017 was a Bonarda, 2019 a Cabernet Franc. Fermented in concrete eggs at low temperature using indigenous yeasts. It’s a very classic, typical Malbec, with plum fruit, notes of violets. It’s fruit forward but dry, medium bodied, moderate acidity, and a decent length finish. It went well with an ‘nudja pizza at Picsa. I believe we paid around 22,000 pesos for it, it retails for 15-16,000, or just over $12.
Valle del Cóndor “Taruca” Multivarietal Rosé 2022, Salta - although I know that the wine is primarily Petit Verdot, it is blended with several other grapes. The seller I bought it from thought it might be Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon. The odd blend of flavors - strawberry, papaya, melon, along with some hints of herbs and wet stones - would back up a rather unusual blend. It’s dry, moderate acidity, medium bodied - almost creamy in texture like maybe it went through a partial malolactic fermentation, and has a long finish. I liked it, wasn’t as wowed by it as the sommelier who recommended it. But quite good for 18,900 pesos, or about $15.
Fabre Montmayou “Terruño” Cabernet Franc Reserva 2022, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza. 100% Cabernet Franc, cold fermented for 25 days, then 60% of the resulting wine is aged in French oak for one year before blending back with the other 40%. Beautiful blackberry fruit with notes of pencil lead and black olives. Fruit forward but dry, soft tannins, moderate acidity, medium bodied, and a lingering finish. Paried with carapulcra, a Peruvian dish of pork slow cooked in a spicy peanut based sauce, which it complemented beautifully. 13,350 pesos, a little under $11. Highly recommended.
Pelihueso “Tinto Villa Seca” Merlot 2023, Argentina. 100% Merlot, with a semi-carbonic maceration in stainless steel tanks, then fermented and aged in concrete eggs. Although the winery is located in Las Chacayas, Mendoza, the wine is labeled as just a product of Argentina, so I’m guessing they have grapes from a variety of areas, perhaps outside of Mendoza included. I don’t often order Argentine Merlot because I’m too often disappointed. But this was by the glass at a local wine bar and I thought it would pair well with a milanesa and cacio e pepe spaghetti. I’m glad I did, as this might be the best Merlot I’ve tasted from Argentina. Fantastic cherry and dark berry fruit, a herbal note hovering in the tarragon arena, and aged tobacco. Dry, full bodied, medium to high acidity, slightly dry tannins, and a long finish. Looks like it tends to run around 19-20,000 pesos retail, somewhere between $15-16. Highly recommended, and it went great with the meal.
Finca Decero “Remolinos Vineyard” Syrah 2020, Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza - - 100% Syrah, 10-day cold fermentation in stainless steel followed by two weeks of extended maceration, and then 14 months aging in French oak. This was tasted as part of an online professional tasting. The winemaker seemed to want to make sure we understood that he had made a Syrah that is different from other Syrahs, with a different aroma and taste profile. First, why would you want to? If someone goes to buy or order a Syrah, they’re doing so because they like the aroma and taste profile of Syrah. Second, not really - this was easily identifiable as a Syrah, with black plum and raspberry fruit, aromatic herbs like eucalyptus and basil, and a solid note of black pepper. Fruit forward, dry, slightly green tannins, moderately high acidity, medium to full bodied, long finish. Excellent Syrah, and they should promote it as the high quality recognizable Syrah that it is. I’m a big fan of Decero wines - if I had to pick a single producer of red wines from Argentina that’s at the top of my list, it would likely be them (their Petit Verdot is stunningly good). This wine retails at a wide variety of prices - I see online everything from 16,000 to 40,000 a bottle, depending on the store. I’d say figure on around 30,000. Tasted as part of an online, single-wine tasting.
Bira Wines “Rosa di Rosso” 2023, Valle de Uco, Mendoza - 60% Sangiovese, 40% Syrah, mixed together and co-fermented, half in stainless steel tanks, half in concrete eggs, and left to develop for four months in each. Light and easy drinking, with cherry and lemon aromas and flavors, and a hint of something floral. Dry, light bodied, fairly high acidity, medium length finish. An easy quaffing wine, and it paired well with spicier Asian-inspired dishes at a local restaurant. Recommended when you want a cold, lightly bracing wine there’s no need to think about. Shared around a table of various moderately spicy Asian dishes - probably not the best choice for those as it was slightly overwhelmed.
Finca los Dragones “Alfil” Claret 2022, Valle de Calingasta, San Juan - 95% Torrontés, 4% Bonarda, 1% Criolla. Let’s start with the story part of this bottle, which we drank over lunch recently. On the wine list of the restaurant, it was listed as “Alfil Clarete”, and our server (not the sommelier) pronounced all the syllables - clah-re- teh. Not surprising, it’s on the wine list that way, I did the same. Then the bottle arrived, and there’s no final e, which I simply noted, saying claret, to which, our server corrected me, “it’s clarete”. I pointed to the bottle, she told me that was clearly a mistake, because “I know my wines”. Okay….
…and then she went on to comment on us having made a good choice of this Pinot Noir based rosé. I suggested that it was not a Pinot Noir, but, Torrontés, Bonarda, and Criolla… to which she informed me that that too was an obvious mistake on the label, because, “I know my wines”. Alrighty then… I do appreciate her complete surety in the face of factual counter-evidence. I wonder, had we continued in that vein, would she have suggested that the word and picture alfil, or the bishop in a chess game, was actually a roque or torre, a rook… because “I know my wines”.
Regardless, an interesting wine, I’d not seen before. I can’t find much info on it, so just a tasting note. An intriguing, but odd combination of apricot, red berry fruits, pineapple, and floral elements. It’s also noticeably tannic, with rather green tannins, an oddity for a rosé. It’s dry, but fruity, fairly high acidity, medium bodied, and a lengthy finish. I enjoyed it, it was interesting to taste such an unusual wine, but I’m not sure I’d order it again it’s just so particular. It was a bit light for our milanesas, but it’s what my other half wanted to drink.
Piccolo-Banfi Winery “Via Flavia” Petite Verdot 2021, Agrelo, Mendoza - 100% Petit Verdot fermented in small concrete eggs and then aged for 18 months in French and American barriques. This is plum pudding in a bottle. Without the sugar. Beautiful notes of ripe plums tinged with cinnamon and clove. Bold, rich, dry, moderate acidity, full bodied, soft tannins, and a long, lingering finish. One of my favorite Petit Verdots from Argentina. We paired this with chicken that was braised in a moderately spicy fennel and orange sauce. Runs a bit pricier too, around 39,000 pesos, about $32.50.
Traslatienda “Traslapiedra” Rosado 2024, Valle de Uco, Mendoza - 100% Merlot? I know nothing for sure, since, once again bizarrely, the winery doesn’t even acknowledge its existence on its website (there is one mention of the 2022 release, apparently the first release, from two years ago, on their Instagram account, with no details other than that it’s Merlot based). One store gives it a brief technical writeup asserting it as all Merlot, fermented and rested in stainless steel tanks over seven months. Bright cherry and raspberry fruit. Dry, fairly high acidity, medium bodied, medium length finish. We paired this with two different pastas - a puttanesca, where it balanced well against the sharpness, and a cockle and cream sauce, where it cut through the richness very nicely. Recommended, runs around 13,000 pesos, or just under $11.