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The Wines We Tasted
Santa Julia Viognier - Reception wine
Valdivieso Reserva, 1998
Lurton Reserve, 2002
Dona Paula, 1999
Las Hormigas, 2001
Dona Paula Seleccion De Bodega, 1999
Los Cardos, 2002
Catena, Mendoza, 2001
Catena Alta, Mendoza, 2000
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Our Setting:
Listel Vancouver Hotel,
Impressionist Gallery
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Our season opener started off with a flight of big, bold Malbec
wines from Argentina and Chile. Our speaker for the season opener
was Mr. James Nevison, the co-founder of HalfaGlass.com. In addition,
Kenji Hodgson, the other founder of HalfaGlass.com was also in
attendance offering his comments on our flight of wines.
 James
talked to us briefly about the origin of the Malbec vine from
France and it's now predominance in Argentina, and growing coverage
in Chile. He told us a bit about his first time tasting Malbec
wines in Buenos Aries, Argentina and how that first tasting has
had him hooked since that time. James noted that Malbec is also
grown in small quantities in the Okanagan, typically as a blending
grape.
The reception wine was the Santa Julia Viognier from Argentina.
The Viognier grape being very aromatic provided a treat with aromas
of peach and other white fruits.
Our Malbecs varied in age from 1998 to 2002. The 1998 vintage
still held it's own against the younger vintages and could still
increase in character with another 3-5 years of aging. All the
Malbecs generally had an earthiness component to them. There was
also a chocolately component to these wines, more or less, as
they were exposed to air in our glasses.
This was one of the most suprising tastings, as the wines flavours
changed significantly from the beginning to the end of the tasting.
It was very hard to judge one wine being a favourite wine, although
we did settle on one wine.
 Our
first wine was the Lurton Reserve, 2002. It was the lightest
in body of the flight of wines. The bouquet was sweet and of dark
cherries. There was medium tannin from oak, followed with more
sweet cherries flavours. This would be a nice wine to start off
a barbeque, followed by a heavier red for the main course.
The Valdivieso Reserva, 1998, was the oldest wine in our
flight. This wine was more deeply ruby coloured, and left legs
on the glass. This wine had an oak and herbal bouquet. This ine
was more oaky than the Lurton and had some earthiness to it. There
was also cherries and spice.
Dona
Paula, 1999, was the third wine we tasted. James indicated
that this winery is owned by the Santa Rita winery from Chile.
This wine was one of the wines that changed significantly in the
glass over time. At first it's aroma was of sweaty saddle and
earthiness, later followed by oranges, and lastly with some mintiness!
The flavours of this wine included oak, spice and chocolate. With
some discussion we noted that this wine may be at an awkward stage
and may become better with more time in the bottle.
 James
let us know that the Las Hormigas, 2001 comes from an Italian
family that had moved to Argentina. Las Hormigas, meaning The
Ants, in Spanish, was a description of how industrious the people
of this winery are, and how they grew. This is a food wine. It
complemented all the appetizers we had at the tasting very well.
The wine had a deep red appearance. The bouquet was of tomato
or butterscotch. As the wine breathed in the glass it had a chocolate
liquor bouquet. The wine had a smooth texture, with medium tannins
and some tomato flavour. This wine is generally available in BC
liquor stores.
The
Dona Paula Selecion de Bodega, 1992, comes from a high
elevation vineyard. It is a higher quality wine compared to the
regular Dona Paula, 1999 that we tasted earlier in this tasting.
This wine had more intense bouquet and flavours that we found
in the regular Dona Paula, but was more integrated than it's sibling.
The earthiness disappeared with time in the glass. The wine was
deep ruby red. The wine had oak, followed by cherries and blackberries
on the palate with a medium to long finish.
 The
Los Cardos, 2002, is also from the Dona Paula winery, which
as I mentioned earlier is owned by the Santa Rita winery. This
wine was quite closed but had some notes of red berries and mint.
The flavours was mainly of oak, with very little fruit.
The
last two wines were from the Catena Zapata winery. The wine maker,
Mr. Nicolas Catena, is probably the most famous of the South American
wine makers. The first wine, the Catena, 2001, On the palate
you experience soft, sweet mouthfeel and ripe, smooth tannins
with a long finish. Chocolate flavour was also present. The Catena
Alta, 2002, is a premium wine from Nicolas Catena. It has
a deep, purple appearance in the glass. On the nose, you experiencd
spice, cherries, violets and pencil shavings. This wine was very
smooth and full with nice tannins. Dark fruit and chocolate were
also present.
We tasted all these wines with the following appetizers:
- grilled flat iron steak served with wild mushroom & roasted
garlic au jus
- grilled pork loin served with blueberry & mint jus
- oven roasted lamb chop provencale served with red wine jus
- grilled wild salmon with a chopped bell pepper coulis
- oven roasted duck breast served with sour cherry & thyme
jus
 Tasting
Selection
Our favourite red wines are:
1. Catena Alta, 2002
2. Las Hormigas, 2001
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