B-21 on Facebook
grenache
What were we drinking? With Asian pork chop
2008 Garnacha de Fuego (Calatayud, Spain) $6.99
It’s still just me bach’ing in the kitchen so I treated myself to a thick pork chop, dusted it with cinnamon, clove, curry and ginger, and grilled it on the stove top with garlic onions and baby bok choy on the side. Asian on the manly side, not particularly delicate but surprisingly fiery.
Fight fire with Garnacha de Fuego especially in the Year of Grenache. That’s the Catalan bargain in the flaming bottle. This deep purple Grenache has the weight to go with grilled edge, dark cherries that dance with the the fatty pork and plenty of pepper to match the seasoning.
Wine Advocate says 89 pts. B-21 says $6.99.
That’s a fire sale.
How do you top off a weekend of wine? By opening another bottle!
It has been a long weekend filled with wine. We had a wine tasting in-store on Saturday with wines of Argentina, then a dinner at Currents with Jeffrey Davies on Saturday evening, and to top it off a day chocked full of seminars and Bordeaux that some people only have a once in a lifetime chance to taste! My favorite was the Chateau Pavie seminar put on by Jeffrey Davies. We had the fortunate opportunity to taste the 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, & 2005 Pavie all in one seating with the ever entertaining Davies to guide us through them all. My favorite was the 2000 … or will be in a few years when it is ready to come back to! I was also impressed with the 2004. Its a great wine and I think its greatly underestimated. Needless to say the weekend was winenormous!So how did I wrap up the night? With a juicy steak and a bottle of the 2007 Laurel by Clos Erasmus. All I can say is ”Wow!”. I think its better than the 2006 from my recollection. Very big and velvety with blackberries and licorice. It was the perfect ending to a great wine weekend.
2007 Laurel by Clos Erasmus $49.99
Some history on Laurel:
The Laurel cuvee is produced 100% from the Clos Erasmus vineyards but from the more recent plantings and is the result of declassification of some of the barrels of Clos Erasmus. It is approx. 50% grenache, 30% syrah, and 20% cab. In 2005, Clos Erasmus was chosen by Robert Parker (the million dollar nose) to be included among the 175 estates in his book “The World’s Greatest Wine Estates”. That says a lot, especially being that only six of the estates chosen were from Spain.
- Summer Martin, B-21′s Spain & Portugal Advocate
The year of Grenache; Make that La Granacha
La Granacha Signargues Cotes du Rhone VV - $13.99
Don’t know where this spelling came, but no quibbles about the authenticity of the 2007 La Granacha from Signargues. This is genuine old school Grenache, 100 percent, all old vines, unfiltered and organic soil. This is from one of the premier villages of the Cotes du Rhone Villages but the wine was hidden in the bottles of fancier labels until Eric Solomon rescued it.
The wine is full-one Grenache from the earthy nose on, cherries, licorice, pepper and spice, wrapped in a deep red coat on a sturdy frame with a long finish. Why go all the way to Chateauneuf du Pape when you can hang out in this lovely Rhone village for a baguette sandwich and stay for roast lamb.
One of the best tastes of the Southern Rhone – Parker says 91 – and it’s only $13.99.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
The Sardinian Paradox: Black wines
A beautiful view from Sardinia
“Sixty Minutes” told the white-wine-worried to drink red for their heart’s sake more than a decade ago. Now Good Morning America trumpets the health benefits of “black” wine, specifically the Cannonau of Sardinia as magic bullets of antioxidants and anthocyanin in a bottle.
This is not so much breakthrough science as a new wave of publicity for a veggie-heavy Mediterranean diet. In this case, GMA guest Dan Buettner touted his new book on “Blue Zones” a term he coined for clusters of great longevity. He hails Sardinians for a traditional peasant diet long on bread, cheese and wine. Meat? Not so much, Buettner says.
Well it is an island and, duh, home of sardines. Still Buettner says fish is not as important as sheep’s cheese and dark red wine. His other “blue zones” are not viticultural hot spots: Okinawan, the Nikoya peninsula of Costa Rica, and the Adventist/vegetarian center of Loma Linda, California.
Me, I suspect hard work and exercise have more to do with it. Yet Canonau, Sardinia and its distinctive cuisine deserve the plug.
Cannonau is the local name for Grenache or Garnacha, a dark-skinned and rustic favorite around the Mediterranean. Too many Americans think Grenache is a wimp grape for jug wines, especially pink. Hardly. Cannonau/grenache/garnacha can make rich stuff in America, Spain, the south of France and especially Sardinia, the big island west of Tuscany and north of Sicily. One of the best is Sella & Mosca’s riserva from 2005. Full of flowers and dark dried fruits, a lot of wine for $12.99. And yes, it’s very dark. Drink to long life.
2005 Sardus Pater Kanai Riserva of Sardinia - $34.99
Another darkling, more sophisticated and possibly more salubrious is the Kanai reserve from Sardus Pater, made from Carignane a compatriot grape of Grenache is the dark skinned Mediterranean gang. This won a three-glass Tre Biccherri salute from Gambero Rosso, even before the diet doctors weighed in. It’s $34.99 at B-21.
As to the healthful red wine, most research points to the dark est but researchers are still deciding which grapes varietals have the most punch. Dark colors, high tannins, high extraction, extra sunlight, high altitude are clues, not guarantees.
Still color is fun and purple black in a glass excites me and starts an old Isley Brothers tune in my head “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”
Besides Cannonau/Grenache , other dark wines are high in the right flavonoids, specificially the tannins and anthocyanins. These are found in the seeds, stems and skins of grapes that give red and blue colors to wine (anthocyanins color flowers too) and rather healthful.
These include Mourvedre/Monastrell, the tannat of Uruguay, and the Malbecs of Argentina and Cahors southeast of Bordeaux.
While we’re at it, the food in Sardinia is unusually fresh and primal. The island has its own pecorino, a couscous called fregola. flaky flat bread as fragile as old sheet music, and wood-fired meats. You can get a great helping of the island’s food and wines (black and otherwise) at Sardinia Ristorante and Enoteca on a quiet corner of Miami’s South Beach.
So drink up and live long. Very long.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Top 100 Wine: 2006 Mas Doix Salanques
2006 Mas Doix Salanques was #53 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2009 (34.99)
Coming in at #53 is Spain’s 2006 Salanques by Mas Doix. The Doix family has been making wine for 5 generations in Priorat where the vineyards of Mas Doix represent Priorat at its best, with slate soils and very old vines. Salanques is a “mini” Mas Doix and has always been a favorite of mine. It is an awesome blend of of Grenache that will please many of you Rhone Rangers out there. ¡Feliz Navidad!
Check out Wine Spectator’s review:
”A plush texture carries rich flavors of brandied cherry, dark chocolate, cocoa and mountain herbs in this expressive red. The tannins are firm but well-integrated, and the finish is bright and juicy. Drink now through 2014.” 92 Points, The Wine Spectator
Not only does Spectator think its great, but Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate rated it 93 Points. Top 100 Wines are a great way to kickoff the new year. Cheers!
What a Bitch: Ringland’s new love is grenache
2007 Bitch Grenache by Chris Ringland ($9.99)
I grant a rare silly-name indulgence to Chris Ringland and Dan Phillips for this label dangerously close to Marilyn Merlot. On the recent visit to top-secret Area 21 the man in black admitted Bitch is a crass attention-getter but in good cause, promoting the unloved Grenache.
Like Shiraz, Grenache is a great grape that pioneers of the hot dusty continent stole from a similar part of the old world, southern France and Spain. Ringland’s Shiraz get big praise, but to hear him, his heart’s with Grenache. It’s in a slew of his wines Down Under and he even began a Grenache project in Spain with Jorge Ordonez (Bodegas El Nido), which has already received love from Parker with scores of 97 Points and up. His current case of Grenache runneth over. Bitch is not lame swill hiding under silliness but an unoaked Grenache, juicy and bursting with spicy raspberries. Now in its 4th vintage, wows have followed the initial chuckles, and a tarty sparkler has been added (Bitch Bubbly – $9.99).
What kind of food goes with Grenache? Between tastings we dispatched him to Tarpon’s Mr. Souvlaki where he tucked into our home town dolmades. After that, his next stop was Hawaii.