Mendoza Regions

I am trying to get a firm definition of the regions and sub-regions of Mendoza, hopefully these can be defined by one of the wine authorities of Mendoza & Argentina. Laura Catena perhaps? But really any informed help will be much appreciated and duly noted.

I’ve broken the larger areas into North, Region Central, Region Est, Region Sud and Valle  de Uco and then… the subs from there which are sometimes official communes and other times the area surrounding a city.

Here I’ve put Agrelo, Las Compuertas, Perdriel and Vistalba under Luján de Cuyo and Coquimbito, Cruz de Piedra and Lunlunta under Maipú.

I believe that La Consulta is in San Carlos, Vista Flores in Tunyán and El Peral in Tupungato. But confirmation is needed.

I’d like this to be confirmed along with the rest of the regions so I can have them listed in this platform with fun quiz questions and a little gaming experience to understand wine regions and travel to wine regions:

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Randall Grahm Do’on it right

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Blogging, Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz, Wine, Wine Critics, Wine Regions, Wine Reviews, Winery

Great, but very long blog post on Randall’s site. I found it through two wine news outlets I follow: Wine-searcher and Lewis Perdue. Wine-searcher is new to this but seems to being a good job of it. Maybe doing this will help redeem them in in the eyes of all the luxury wine producers who see their price-points getting crushed and exposed on the search bot. Lewis Perdue is certainly someone to follow, he puts out a list of top wine business stories several times a week.

Please visit his site and blog and call the winery to buy some of his wine. Anyone this passionate about his craft deserves our attention. Also watch the speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hEZs9pCUK8

So here are a couple favorite bits from Randalls Rant:

anyone who entered the business – as a retailer, wine writer or wine maker – did not harbor the illusion that the wine business was going to make him or her rich. We did it because it was something that we loved. But some “visionary” individuals and companies perceived the possibility of unlimited sustained growth and began to build wine brands and wine empires.⁵ This, coupled with the consolidation and tumescent growth of a few wine wholesale companies and mega-retailers, has led to a sort of seamless virtual vertical integration of the wine business, with relatively few players controlling essentially the lion’s share of the game – a pretty good mirror of what has happened in the rest of the world economy.

We need to speak up on behalf – this is maybe a little self-serving here, forgive me – of those who are innovating new styles, or preserving something precious: an old style, an old variety, respecting the authority of a great terroir. The reality is that with the consolidation of wholesale and gradual disappearance of fine wine retailers every day, great and maybe just very good producers are losing access to markets. We have to speak up for those wines that don’t have goofy, eye-catching labels, flavor profiles that are not squarely down the Middle of the Road, and will never be floor-stacked in Safeways.⁸

Wine List Whining & More

Wine List Whining & More.

via noblewines.

Let’s revisit the wine list again. I’ve done a bit of wine buying and selling in my day and even I feel the pressure of choosing a wine for a group of friends at a restaurant. If it is a short list it doesn’t take much time to find a wine, the question is often which is the wine that will fit everyones financial constraints and work with the most palates and foods. A smaller list may allow for a quicker decision but on most small lists I only find a small group of wines I am willing to entrust to my guests. The setting that I find most grueling is a dark, loud dining room with a list on some esoteric paper with too many fonts and font sizes.

Look it’s pretty simple, for a restaurant the wine program is a revenue center. Don’t make it difficult for the buyers. If you do they’ll skimp or skip. Maybe even the wine experience will sink the whole dining experience and send a group of dollars going to some other place.

The whole concept of selecting wine for a table is wrought with little pitfalls and if a restaurant allows those pitfalls can become large ones that can turn-off customers. As a former Sommelier and current consultant to restaurant wine programs, I have experienced many of these pitfalls. The goal for any wine program should be happy customers through the whole spectrum…newby to wine geek. This is a very difficult task but important.

Domaine Bertagne Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Murgers 1er Cru

If anyone is interested …1st come 1st served on this limited production wine from Domaine Bertagna in Vougeot. The estate has been owned by the Reh family of Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt in Mosel since 1982. The estate has hit its stride starting with the 1988 vintage according to Clive Coates. This is a serious Burgundy Estate with significant changes and investments over the past decade.

Location is key in Burgundy and you could throw a rock into the Grand Cru Clos du Vougeot from the back of the Bertagna facility. Their vines in Nuits St. Georges are in some prime real estate as well.

The wines are all hand harvested in small boxes and brought into the
winery for sorting. After about a one week cold soak, wines are fermented in stainless steel for about three weeks at up to 28 degrees. The wine then goes in small barrels for about 18 months before assemblage for bottling. The Murgers sees about 30% new wood. The price is $400 for 6/750ml. See attached Decanter Review.

Also attached a picture of the cellars…yup even the Bourgogne Hautes
Cotes de Nuits sees the same care – half barrel aged and half stainless. Sourced
from vines sitting on limestone slopes just above the Nuits St.
Georges, the HCDN Called” Les Dames de Huguettes” is darn good Pinot
Noir priced at $200 /12 750ml.

Please let me know if you are interested in the wines of Domaine Bertagna.

Culinary Adventures

My Culinary Adventures started by accident many years ago. I stumbled into the Culinary world via a Colorado Ski Bum experience in which I had planned on using my newly acquired Ski Instructors Certificate. Being a Ski Instructor (especially as the newbie) is more about Bunny Slopes than Steep & Deep as I had hoped when I landed in Denver and headed for Summit County and Vail. A cooking shift from 3pm to 11pm offered more money and more time to enjoy the real skiing of Colorado. And that is where my Adventure began.