Spanish Winemaker Meet & Greet Announcement

Hello everyone! We had a great weekend, and a delicious Easter dinner with a brilliant 2006 Pinot Noir made by Ehren Jordan (previous winemaker of the year). We hope that all of you enjoyed your weekend, and that the new week, and beautiful weather are treating you well. Those of you that made it out for ‘Wines With Cool Labels’, thank you! We had a blast, and can’t wait for the next one.

That being said, we have an exciting announcement for you! As many of you already know, we will be having a Spanish winemaker meet & greet on May 5th at Rulis’ International Kitchen. Today, we sat down with Justin & Xabier to finalize the list of wines and winemakers that will be present at the event. We are proud to tell you about this exciting event, and want to let you know to clear your schedules for May 5th. This is going to be an absurd amount of fun based on the stories we heard about a lot of these winemakers, but we’ll let you find out for yourselves upon meeting them.

The final list of winemakers is as follows (in no particular order, and includes some of the wines we will taste from each of them):

1. Ruben Simon–Laxas- 2009 Albariño–Rias Biaxas, Spain

2. Alejandro Migeulez–2006 Abad Dom Bueno Mencía, and 2008 Abad Dom Bueno Godello–Bierzo, Spain (We love these wines!)

3. Paco Puerta–2008 Lorca Monastrell, Bullas, Spain

4. Rafael Cambra–2008 El Bon Homme, Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell–Valencia, Spain

5. Felipe Alvarez–2008 Milcampos Tempranillo–Ribera Del Duero, Spain

6. Jose Alberto Casajus–Casajus Ribera del Duero Vendimia Selecion 2006–Ribera Del Duero, Spain

7. Diego Ibañez–2004 Heras Cordon Reserva (Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Graciano)–Rioja, Spain

Just writing about this has me excited! Olena, Chef, and I have tasted all of these wines, and we promise you that this is a wonderful treat. As the date approaches, we will be able to release more information about the Tapas menu for the event. Please stay tuned, and confirm your intent to attend. I for one can’t wait to share a few drinks with these guys. Talk to you soon!

Cheers!

– El Zak

Creative Juices Wine Show: Episode 4 (w/Video)!

In Episode 4, Zak & Olena taste a 2001 Bierzo. Enjoy!

Bierzo is in the Northwest Corner of this Map. Cheers!

Creative Juices Wine Show: Episode 4!

Hey everyone! We just wanted to let you know that we finished taping Episode 4 of Creative Juices Wine Show moments ago, and it will be up for viewing shortly. This was a fun episode. We’re really excited, so when it posts, please check it out, and let us know what you think! Cheers!

Zak & Olena

Cuatro Pasos 2007 Mencía, Bierzo, Spain

Last night, we opened a bottle of Cuatro Pasos. It is made from 100% Mencía, and comes from the Bierzo region in Northwestern Spain.  If you haven’t heard much about this grape, don’t feel bad.  It’s one of those grapes that there isn’t really a lot of hype over, but there will be.  The same goes for the region from which it is indigenous to.

The people of the Bierzo region have been growing grapes, and making wine for longer than this country has been in existence.  Then again, who hasn’t been?  Mencía, as a grape, is a very exotic fruit that produces some very interesting, World Class wines.  Bierzo is in our opinion, the next Mendoza in terms of wine growing areas.  The transition has already begun, and you will start to hear a lot more about the amazing wines coming out of these Spanish vineyards.

Cuatro Pasos (Four Steps) is made from grapes that are harvested from 80-90 year old vines.  This is a pleasant change from the everyday wines that we’ve grown accustomed to drinking.  Finding a rare varietal such as this, with a low price tag is always a good time.  The question, as always, is it any good?

Our Tasting Notes:

Date   10.20.09
Wine Name Cuatro Pasos
Maker Bodegas Martín Códax
Region Bierzo, Spain
Varietal Mencía
Vintage 2007
Alcohol 14%
Price $13

We tasted this bottle on October 20, 2009.  It came well-equipped with a 90 point score from Jay Miller at Wine Advocate, so it was safe to make an assumption that this was a good value wine.

Cuatro Pasos displays a dark ruby, opaque purple, midnight black coloration .  Luckily for those of us with night vision, it is still clear enough to see through.  You never know what kind of creatures you might meet on a black night.    Its light ruby rim showcases its playful youth, and leads one to believe, as we did as children, that there is a world of possibility in store for us.  That being said, the nose boasts little more than black peppery notes.  (We expected more from the nose, but found its offering sufficient.)  Once on the palette, it is rather dry.  Not unpleasantly so, but dry.  The tannins are short-lived, yet pronounced and well-developed, providing the wine with a solid backbone.  Flavors of strawberry rush in on the attack, but quickly retreat, succumbing to delightful flavors of cherry, blueberry, and black raspberry.  The mixture of red and black fruit comes off as bitter, yet remains balanced.  As the wine finishes, its acidity becomes present, which brings everything together the same way a nice area rug might in your living room.  The only downside is that after 10-15 seconds the flavor fizzes out, providing the same disappointment you might feel if you spilled this wine on that nice area rug that we mentioned before.  We award Cuatro Pasos with 88 points.

Overall, we enjoyed this wine thoroughly.  We were a little surprised that despite being aged in both French and American oak for 4 months, it went undetected.  Don’t let the 88 points we awarded it fool you into thinking this wine wasn’t a tasty treat.  That score is by no means a slap in the face.  Not only will we recommend this wine to friends (and we are recommending it to you now) we will also be drinking this wine again in the near future.

In terms of aging this wine, one will be able to lay this bottle down for the next 4-5 years, but we recommend going ahead and enjoying it now.  To answer our own question, yes, it was good.

Keep checking for future updates as we will certainly be providing them.

Zak & Olena