Creative Juices Wine Show: Episode 5

In Episode 5, Zak & Olena taste and review a 2008 Miguel Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé from Chile. Enjoy the show! Cheers!!!

The wine from today is from the Curicó region in Valle Central, Chile.

Wine 101: Chile & Argentina

It’s that time again!  This Saturday, November 14th, we will be hosting our third installation of Wine 101 at Rulis’ International Kitchen at 318 N. Mesa St here in El Paso. We  will be taking a journey through the wine growing regions of South America, where we will be pairing regional cuisine to the wines that have put places like Maipo Valley, and Mendoza on the map, and into our homes.  Please join us this Saturday at Rulis’. This should be our most exciting class yet!  As per usual, the price is $35 in advance, and $40 the day of the event.  We hope to see you there!

For more information, check http://www.rulisik.com or call 915.541.9990.

Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon-Chile 2007

Last night was date night for us. We waited until around 7pm to head out for a bite to eat. Our plan was to go to Hello Pizza to visit with our good friend Larry, and drink a bottle of Vino Nobile Riserva 2004 from Vecchia Cantina, but our plans kind of fell apart upon arriving at a closed restaurant. There has to be another place that is open on a Sunday night that allows one to BYOB in El Paso, right? If anyone knows of one, please let us know.

Ultimately we ended up at Ardovino’s on Cincinatti. After some light-hearted debate, we ordered a Margherita Pizza, and a bottle of Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. A fun fact about Ardovino’s is that it doubles as a retail location. One can purchase a bottle for $5 above retail, and drink it with dinner. This is a pretty rare deal for a restaurant, so we took the advantage of the offer. Why not?

Our Tasting Notes:

Wine- Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon
Region-Maipo Valley, Chile
Vintage-2007
Varietal(s)-93% Cabernet Sauvignon
7% Cabernet Franc
Cost-$17 (restaurant)

Carmen offers a bright ruby color with red and black fruits such as cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and a hit of black currant on the nose. It mostly tastes like a Margherita pizza when paired with one. This can be blamed on it’s light, fruit forward mouth feel, and absence of tannins. his was by no means an accurate representation of what Cabernets have come to be known as. This wine drank like a Beaujolais or Dolcetto. It was very light, and had very little tannic structure to back it up. As we said, the pizza overpowered it. Overall, it was a little disappointing, but at the same time, not entirely offensive. It drank easily, and pleasantly. If presented with another bottle of Carmen Cab, we would drink it, but maybe with a walnut salad or Duck Confit. (Something light) We gave this wine 86 points, and walked away feeling like we just consumed a bottle of wine. Nothing to write home about.

It’s always fun to experiment, but given the way the Alto Maipo (as it’s known) thrives off of the success of Cabernet, we were surprised to say the least. We will have to play around a bit more with Maipo Cabs to make up for this one, and it’s lack of complexity.

It is now our short-term mission to find at least one (great) Cab from Maipo Valley, Chile before our next class on November 14th; where as you all know, we will be discussing Chile and Argentina. Until then…Cheers!

Zak & Olena