Saturday June 15th, 2013
11am - 8pm
ALL DAY LONG!
Featuring:
2010 La Peira
2011 Caymus Cabernet (new vintage!)
2009 Petrolo Galatrona
2009 Closa Batllet 5 Partides
2010 Saxum Broken Stones
2009 Mustiguillo Quincha Corral
2010 AALTO PS
They say that men are better than woman at math, but then the people who usually say that are men. Go figure. When it's comes to figuring, we're told that men are better with numbers, with figures (I feel a pun coming on but I'm going to back away quietly from that one), that there is something about the certitude of numerical depiction that appeals to a man. Or maybe that men are just obsessed with numbers: .300 batting averages, 50 quarterback ratings, triple doubles or maybe even a 5 handicap.
Maybe this is why the 100-point system appeals to so many men. Despite the inherent ambiguity of wine (it changes, some people like certain styles more than others), there is something so reassuring about knowing that the god of wine has assigned it a number and now you know that your cellar has thirty 95 point wines and above (and that you still don't have a 100 point wine notched on your bedpost, I mean gun).
Fret not, gentlemen, numbers mean nothing! Taste is everything (like the beer commercial says); so why not enjoy Father's Day weekend tasting some of the most delicious wines any father (or son of a father) could hope to taste?
For starters, we have one of my obsessions: 2010 Bodegas AALTO PS; the brainchild of Mariano Garcia (the genius for more than a quarter century behind Vega Sicilia) and Javier Zaccagnini, poster child for how the wine business is filled with the nicest, smartest people. The wine represents everything that is wonderful but challenging about new Spanish wine: a traditional, even ancient grape (Tempranillo) made in an utterly modern style – tons of new French oak, color and extract. A reasonable first response might be to consider this wine “international” in style, but the character of the Ribera del Duero region and Spain’s noblest grape are integrated into this bold, gentle giant.
If Ribera del Duero represents Spain’s most elegant iteration, then Priorat is its big, raunchy brother, farting and pinching all the girls. 2009 Closa Batllet Five Partides is an all Carinena behemoth that has the richness one expects from the moonscape vineyards of old vines Priorat. The Carinena grape is now on the wane in Priorat, but the old timers still believe in it, especially when the vines are fifty plus years old. Something happens that isn’t readily available with younger vines: weight and seriousness are accumulated, just like with guys.
The 2009 Quincha Corral is a more genial, affable wine, it could be argued: the Bobal grape is a delightful fruit bomb, if wholly unknown outside of a handful of vineyards in southern Spain. The world shall soon know of its greatness, but until then you get to be the smartest person in the room. Bodegas Mustiguillo is the king of Bobal and one of the greatest estates of southern Spain.
Spain isn’t the sole province for new discoveries, even if it has an overwhelming advantage by sheer numbers. Places in the U.S. are still very much in transition: Paso Robles is still finding where its best sites can be best focused upon the region’s many grapes. Rhone varieties, in the hands of wineries like Saxum, ought to be on your short list. The 2010 Saxum Broken Stones bottling (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and a touch of Petit Sirah) has garnered high praise from mainstream critics, and the cool vintage of 2010 created wines that appeal to rogue writers like me. Everybody wins.
And as Spain has improved its game immeasurably, southern France, awash in the same grapes, climate and soils, ought to be doing the same; and they are. We're going to be pouring the wine that has most recently made people rethink everything they think they know about Languedoc: 2010 La Peira. Comprised of the grapes that are de rigeur in the southern Rhone, La Peira offers Grenache and Syrah in fascinatingly rich form. You deserve a little seduction in your life, even if you’re not the one initiating it.
The Italians have their own skills in this arena: the 2009 Petrolo Galatrona is a Merlot of almost Napa voluptuousness, but with greater manners. And speaking of Napa, anyone care for Caymus? The 2011 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is from a cool vintage that will take years to show what it's capable of showing: intensity subdued by elegance. I may seem to denigrate the bigness of so many California wines (just because so many of them have nothing but size going for them), but size isn't everything, and some of my favorites offer balance in addition. Best of all, the wines we're tasting this weekend for Father's Day are worth many, many points. How many points? Well, that's up to you. You're the numbers man.
Happy tasting and we'll see you Saturday!
Doug Frost, MS MW
Master Sommelier & Master of Wine
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