I am the queen of procrastination.
No seriously, I’m really very good at it, and I work rather well under pressure.
Thank god.
But this month’s tasting is right up to the wire, and it’s totally not my fault. It’s the fault of the student at work who gave me the cold from hell. So despite having these two beautiful bottles looking at me, calling my name even, I’ve been able to actually do them justice. To be honest, most food this week has had a distinct hint of cardboard about it.
Finally, on Friday, I could pop those corks, and get my mouth around something other than soup, or lemsip (other cold remedies are available).
If you missed last month’s post (catch up here), to explain. I, and a few other blogger types, get two bottles of wine a month to sample. Which two, is a complete surprise. We then sample them, and offer our tasting notes, our experiences, and feed it back to those lovely people at Bon Coeur.
This week, once again, one red and one white arrived. A Carmenere from Chile, and a Chardonnay from California. Both grapes from the old world, rather far from home in the new.
First up, came the Los Vascos Carmenere Grand Reserva 2014. Yes, I did red first, no I’m not sorry.
In part, I’m not sorry because after finally getting my appetite back, there was a big beefy bolognaise sauce to go with it for dinner. But secondly because I bloody love Carmenere.
There’s something, oddly maybe, that reminds me of beetroot about it. Not just the lushness of the colour, but there’s just a hint of earthiness about it, in amongst the big cherry and blackberry flavours. It’s the kind of wine that I can pour, put to my nose, and my eyes close automatically. I know that the bold fruit, the refined tannins, a hint of vanilla and that aforementioned earthiness, a little peppery note, and I’m not going to want to share.
Los Vascos is one of the oldest vineyards in Chile and was taken over by Domains Barons de Rothschild (Chateau Lafite Rothschild) in 1988. And if you recognise that name, even if you don’t ‘know wine’, don’t worry, there’s reason. They’ve been known for wine since the 1700s.
And this particular Carmenere? On the nose, think cherries, plums and blackberries. A hint of black pepper. On the palate, it’s big, but not loud. It’s like someone turned the volume up on the flavour, but not enough to piss off the neighbours. There’s the black fruits, but it’s got a good backbone of soft tannins, and that peppery note. It meant that it was an ideal accompaniment to the pasta, and the perfect antidote to a rather meh week.
Of course, after the red, must come the white.
Chardonnay is not everyone’s choice of wine. But I do have a bit of a fondness for it. DeLoach vineyards in Santa Rosa, California are another transplant – the de Boisset family took over the estate in 2003, bringing with them their French wine know how to their new world vineyard.
The Heritage Reserve Chardonnay 2017 is barrel fermented, so it’s had contact with oak, which gives it a little of that classic buttery, nutty flavour. But it’s very gentle. On the nose, there was lots of floral notes – a little honeysuckle, a little orange blossom and a little something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. At least til I tasted it.
At first on the palate I got the round mouthfeel, but despite expecting something nutty, and buttery what I got was mangoes. Big fat Alphonse mangoes, the ones that are so sweet I can’t decide if I love them or not. It was tempered by a little herbal lemongrass note, but only just. Think mango lassi but make it wine.
Both wines were great, but whilst I love a Chardonnay, this one was just a little too sweet for me. Well that and the Carmenere was just too good for me not to love it. And we just have enough of both the wine, and the bolognaise sauce, to do it all again tomorrow.
Bliss.
