Yesterday's wine.

I had two wonderful wines with Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. 
A 2017 H&M Hofer, Grüner Veltliner (Weinviertal DAC), paired perfectly with my roast turkey and herby potatoes.  This crisp white wine even with the notoriously-difficult-to-pair brussels sprouts, sautéed with pancetta and onions, that are Vinomaker's favourite.  Delicious. 
For dessert, a traditional pumpkin pie with whipped cream, I imbibed in a 2007 Errazuriz, Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc (Casablanca Valley DO).  Again, delicious.  I gave thanks that my taste buds were having such a good time.

Meet the twins.

The Montes Twins, that is.
I am revisiting South America, Chile to be exact, but only because another Ralph Steadman label caught my eye in my local supermarket. C'mon, what is there not to love about a wine label with a nappy-clad cherub on it?  Better still, how about a label with twin nappy-clad cherubim on it?  Love it - even if the pudgy putti do somewhat resemble inebriated 2 year olds!
The Montes Twins 2011, Red Wine is a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  This wine is a deep, opaque, purple-red-inky monster: colour extraction like this is no doubt the contribution of the Malbec.  The bouquet displayed a tad too much new, toasty-cooperage for my liking, but the ensuing vanilla component, paired with the aroma of sun-warmed blackberries, was very pleasing.  The vanilla and berry combination translated well through to the palate where they were complemented by a felicitous acidity. Things were gustatorily-groovy until the rather strident tannins stopped my taste buds firmly in their, well, stride. In wine, tartness and astringency exaggerate one another and apparently my threshold for this particular amount of astringency had reached it's limit.  But all in all, for $10.99, this wine was a fairly decent tipple.

South of the border.

Wines of the World, week 13,  just happened to coincide with the occurrence of the third Thursday in November - which happens to be Beaujolais Nouveau release day.  Never one to miss a wine tasting opportunity, Dr. Krebs marked the occasion by adding two bottles of Georges Duboeuf to tonight's roster of wines. As one would expect from 10-12 week old, carbonically-macerated Gamay grapes, the wine was all fruity-bubblegum-ness.  I thought it perfectly pleasant, but the rest of the class did not share my view of this frivolous wine of limited breeding.
The real business of the night was the tasting of the wines of South America.  And as with the wines of the Antipodes last week I was on the whole underwhelmed.  For example, there were three Pinot noirs in the mix; one each from Uruguay, Chile and Argentina - all, in my humble opinion, barely recognisable as Pinot Noir.  If I had to pick a favourite white and a favourite red of the night...In the white flight I would have to choose a Chilean wine, an Amaral, 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (DO Leyda Valley).  For the red, I'm going with an Argentinian selection, a Ksana, 2006, Bonarda (IG Mendoza).  They were both drinkable, but I was left longing for something Spanish or Italian.
There were 27 wines in all, the most expensive wine that was poured, at $99.99, was a TeHo, 2010, Malbec/Petit Verdot/Cabernet Franc (IG Mendoza).  This last wine seemed to be the favourite of most of my classmates.  Replete with lots of vanilla-oakiness on the nose, it came across as the most Napa-like.
The wine in the photograph?  A Montes, 2006, Cherub Rosé of Syrah (DO Colchagua Valley).  The wine was alright, but it was the label that I really liked.  It is by one of my my favourite illustrators, Ralph Steadman, who, like Vinogirl, is a product of Merseyside.
As it's Thanksgiving next week there is no class, but stay tuned for the November 29th installment.
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