Free Friday Tasting: Cowboy Cabernet, Juicy Monastrell, and Tropical Albarino Dear Friends, Lets start this email by discussing a topic extremely relevant to wine and cowboys, namely, astral constellations. If you go outside tonight and look up you will see a dramatic mythical slaying taking place: Orion, armed with a bow, arrow, his dogs (Canis Major and Minor) and his spectral quill (hiding, in what is becoming a sort of fractal zoo, the Horsehead Nebula) is launching an arrow across the heavens at Taurus, the bull. Of course, light pollution from the DFW metroplex might hinder your perception and all these constellations might appear to you merely as so many scattered twinkling dots (which is, of course, all they will likely ever be to us earthbounders). A trip to any one of the stars comprising these constellations would span a duration exceeding the whole of human history and even if each star was orbited by planets teeming with intelligent life, dont expect to friend them on Facebook anytime soon: a single exchange of the text message Hi :)! would take a minimum of 36,000 years round trip and might be corrupted during transit, arriving on the distant planet as Die :)! which is, youll admit, slightly different than the original message (and a bit Patrick Bateman-ish). Anyway, you could call Orion our first cowboy. Thankfully, I resisted an impulse to title this weeks tasting email, Rounder Up with Cowboy Cab! or some other such cliche marketing nonsense. The name of the wine, you see, is Vintage Cowboy. Im capitalizing on a mental association with Texas (the label does indeed feature a black brand of longhorns) even though no actual relationship exists (its made in California). Hence, aesthetics-as-truth: garden variety advertising as vacuity nearly interstellar in its dimension. What am I talking about? No matter; luckily, the product tastes rather astronomically spectacular (and its also good). Additionally, we will be sampling another red wine made from a grape called Monastrell and a white wine vinified from the sleek Albarino grape...So kick your spurs and rope up your bullwhip cause were a gonna have us a deeelightful Texas spring wine tastin! The Wines 1. Vintage Cowboy Cabernet Sauvignon (Red) This was one of the juicier, jammier, more plump-fruited cabernets we have been presented with recently. It is demonstrably lower in acid than Id been expecting, and that presents something like coolness to the palate. The tannins, while present, are more a complement to the main fruity aromas and tastes than the dominant textural characteristic: blackberries, blueberries, red cherries. Theres also an inky, slightly sweet smelling, dark non-fruit characteristic to this wine which I only tend to locate with either older or far more expensive bottles...something approaching a black olive/balsamic reduction savoriness. For all its complexity this wine is on sale for a very good price. It was one of those no-brainer, instant purchase decisions you dream of, so I really hope you enjoy it. Please buy a case and enjoy it all summer. 2. Hecula Monastrell (Red) Hecula is a Spanish producer but Monastrell is a French grape. Its original and indigenous name is Mourvedre which, like many wine grapes, admits of several competing pronunciations, none of which are exactly right but all of which exhibit the pretensions of the speaker who falsely associates their ability to pronounce a word with real subject acumen (More-ved, Moar-ved-rah, etc.). Mourvedre/Monastrell is like Malbec in at least one respect: its lower in acid than other popular red grapes. Unlike Malbec, Monastrell is more fruity and sprightly in character with more volatile aroma; whereas Malbec often exhibits the more darkly woody characteristics typical of a Bordeaux blend, of which it is an allowed blending grape. This particular wine is more lively than jammy with lighter, fresher red fruits brightening up the nose and palate with smooth tannins and little to no oak influence. A tasty food-friendly table wine. 3. Columna Albarino (White) Albarino (Al-ba-reen-yo) is a white grape indigenous to Spain. The traditional growing region for this grape is an extremely hard to pronounce place called Rias Baixas (something like Ree-ahsh-bay-shus). A number of people report a salty tang when they taste this wine, or, to invent something better-sounding, lime leaf or a bit of gingered orange peel. There are a number of tropical notes too: pineapple, mango, passion fruit. The density and structure of the palate on this wine belies its pale watery concentration. In fact, this is one of the weightier white grapes; its bigger than Pinot Grigio and can even rival Chardonnay (think unoaked Chablis) though it doesnt quite measure up to Chenin blanc or Viognier. Nearly everyone who tries this wine does a double take because its very very good. If Albarino isnt currently part of your cellars white wine portfolio, here is an opportunity to fill that void.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 19:14:59 +0000
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