Blog #17 A Delicious Ribera del Jucar

Spain can make some really incredible wine there is no doubt about it. In the past I think producers were accused of leaving their wines far too long in oak and to have outdated wine making practices. Luckily for us wine consumers Spanish wine has been having a renaissance and now produce some of the world's greatest wines, yet the prices have hardly caught up. Most wine from Spain is really undervalued and although you still run into an oaky mess of a wine here and there when Spanish wines are on they are really on.

This wine made by Elvi is one of those really delicious Spanish examples with really interesting and tasty notes. I find the more you drink wine the more difficult it is to be impressed by a bottle, but this wine is great and I really was impressed. It comes from the youngest D.O in Spain (officially recognized in 2003) the Ribera del Jucar which is part of the Castile-La Mancha region of central Spain. It has 9,100 Ha of vineyards that sit 650-750 metres above sea level the soils of which are composed of argillaceous chalk which is covered by small stones and pebbles from the Jucar river. It has a Meditteranan continental climate of hot and dry summers and cool winters. The main grape varieties of the region are Tempranillo and Bobal, both of which feature in this wine.

Elvi wines is a family owned winery quite new on the scene and was only began in 2002. They focus on making high quality Kosher wines using international and indigenous varietals. They are an ultra modern winery using their own innovative technology known as RavNet which can be read about on their website. They represent a modern quality oriented producer who use modern wine making technology to its fullest.

Elvi Wines- Ness - 2007 - Ribera del Jucar - Spain

This wine is composed of 39% Merlot, 32% Bobal, 25% Tempranillo and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel where the juice is slowly removed from skin contact using a gentle pump where the juice is drained into an oak barrel. Once in oak the wine is still pumped a few minutes each day until 3 weeks before bottling when this ends. The wines are not filtered nor clarified and like all wines made by Elvi are Kosher.

Ruby red in colour with a purple tinge. The nose is just great and really interesting. Lovely notes of ripe raspberry, cedar, juicy blackberry, and subtle spice mingle together in an interesting and beautiful way. In the mouth the wine is medium bodied and begins with ripe juicy sweet red fruits that are really tasty, by the mid palate the well integrated tannins come to the fore with some earthiness that balance out the sweet red fruit. The finish is a nice and subtle mingling of sweet fruit and earth. This is a really delicious hedonistic style of wine that tastes and smells great and is quite interesting. The nose especially is unique and beautiful. It went extremely well with the lamb stew Becky made tonight, a recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. All in all I would definitely buy this again and I think this has some aging potential. Very Good +

Blog #16 Eastern European Value

Many people do not think about Eastern European countries when they think of wine, but I think this will be changing over the next few years. Most countries in the region have been growing grapes for thousands of years and if it was not for communism and very poor agricultural policies many, I think, would have vibrant wine industries. Now 20 years after the collapse of the USSR many of these countries I starting to find their way and are producing some really great value wine.

Most of these countries have really just started to make quality wine so they definitely do not make absolute stunning examples, but I have found they can represent a real bargain for good quality solid wine. This is especially true for true to type international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon. These countries do have many indigenous grapes, but they are difficult to find and have yet to fully realize their full potential.

I would encourage wine fans to give these countries a chance, the prices are very good and are worth discovering. The two wines I have written reviews for here are from Bulgaria and Romania. Both with very impressive not only because of their price, but also because you would never think that these countries could do so well with these grapes. So explore places such as Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic you will likely get your money's worth.

Domaine Boyar - Blueridge XR - Cabernet Sauvignon - 2006 - Bulgaria

Domaine Boyar is Bulgaria's first private wine producer and a leader in developing the wine industry within the country. It is now a huge company with shareholders in France and the United States. Unfortunately the English version of their website is not working so the actual information as to how this wine was made is not available, if I can find any more I will post it.

Dark red with a plum red rim. A nice classic Cab nose of dark berries, cassis, cedar, and a pronounced cocoa note. It is medium bodied in the mouth with replays of berries and cocoa. It has drying tannins on the mid-palate and finished light and pleasant with a short bitter berry finish. This wine is very well made and very drinkable. I loved the classic Cab nose, but this wine is much lighter than your traditional Cabernet Sauvignon making it much more easy going and approachable than many renditions. Very well made and real quality for the price and any Cab lover's who want to try a lighter version would really enjoy this. Great value. Very Good.

Chateau Sarati - Pinot Noir - 2005 - Dealu Mare (AOC) - Romania

This wine from Chateau Sarati made by Stephane Montariol and Pierre Degroote is grown on a 175 Ha south-east facing vineyard composed of marl-limestone and is rich in iron deposits in the Dealu Mare of Romania. The wine is harvested by hand and eighty percent of it is aged in French oak barrels for 5-6 months. This wine is only 1 of two the estate makes the other being a Merlot. The winery is known to be committed to organic and sustainable agriculture

Dark ruby red in colour, quite dark for a Pinot. Very subtle nose with notes of ripe red cherry spice and earth. It is smooth round medium bodied in the mouth with notes of juicy sour cherry, hints of earth and sweet fruit core. It is finishes nicely with notes of spice and sweet red fruits. This is really quite impressive for the price. It tastes like a Pinot Noir, which is saying a lot at this price range and has some earthy interest to it as well. It actually drinks better on the second day and really shows off its spicy sour cherry core which is surrounded by earthiness. This will not astound you, but for the price it is a great value well made wine. Good+

Blog #15 Blog Tasting - A Montagny

Sorry I have not posted in the past couple of weeks I was away last week and have really not had much of a chance to blog. That will soon be changing as beginning next week I will have much more opportunity to write with a nice change in the job schedule. So anyway I thought it would be fun tonight to blog as I taste. What I usually do is taste make my notes then a few days later actually write about the wine, but tonight I am going to just write as I am tasting to see if this changes how I describe and write about a wine.

So tonight, for Valentine's Day we are having a pork roast with a mushroom sauce, couscous, and corn. The roast is smelling lovely, but I will taste the wine now then have it with the meal. Tonight we are drinking a wine from Montagny which is in the Cote Chalonnaise in Southern Burgundy. It is 100% Chardonnay and sourced from the 1er Cru vineyard Les Chaniots from the 2007 vintage. The wine is produced by the Vignerons de Buxy, which is a winegrower collective made up of 120 growers in the region.

Vignerons de Buxy - Montagny - 1er Cru Les Chaniots- 2007 - Cote Chalonnais - Burgundy - France

This wine as I stated before is 100% Chardonnay grown in the Les Chaniots vineyard in Montagny. The vineyard is on a hillside above the villages of Jully les Buxy and Saint Vallerin it faces East South-East. The soil of the vineyard is comprised of limestone and calcerious clay. The wine was aged for 12-14 months in oak barrels.

Pale yellow with touches of gold in colour. Definite first impression of ripe apples, some apricot, spice like clove, with a really pretty mineral depth. The nose actually has some nice complexity and smells quite lovely. I really like the fresh mineral type background and how it intermixes with those apple, apricot aromas. Smooth medium bodied in the mouth flavours of apple spice and minerals all nicely framed by a good stream of acidity. Finishes fresh with just subtle lingering notes.

With a little bit of air the nose is taking on more notes of floral blossoms which nicely compliments the other aromas. Nice structure and balance it is definitely well made Chardonnay. The oak is definitely well integrated and well used. It is also taking on a longer finish with what tastes like baked apple. I like it its quite nice stuff. The acidity is actually really refreshing. The wine really complimented the meal, the structure and balance are so food friendly it just added little touches to round the whole meal out. So overall I like this wine its a nicely structured light on its feet Chardonnay. It has a nice level of complexity it's quite good. It certainly doesn't blow me away, but is a solid wine. The plan is to revisit this wine in a couple of days to see how it opens up I will post the notes when I taste it then. So as for right now I'd say Good/Very Good.

I tasted this wine again after 48 hours. The nose displayed light apple, mineral, apple blossoms and a bit of nutty depth. On the palate it is still nice an light showing a lot of purity with a new dimension of spicy earthy depth that cuts into the palate. Overall this is a pure and stylish wine I would have to bump up my overall rating to a Very Good.