This morning, I’m driving to the Bodega Catena Zapata, the winery that changed my opinion of Argentine wine. I remember drinking a Catena red wine one night at a friend’s house and guessing that it was Australian Shiraz. My body hummed with contentment as I let myself down into its berry-decadence. I was pleasantly surprised to find out what it was, and started buying more Malbec. Now, as I follow the long gravel road, a space-age stone temple rises from the vines, framed against the Andes silver peaks. This extravagant architectural statement is the concrete gesture of one man’s desire […]
Red Wine
First Argentine Wine: Malbec Calling Catena
Continued from Part 1 of Catena Wine That robust work ethic has been in the Catena family for generations. In 1898, his grandfather Nicola left a small village in Sicily for Argentina. He started planting vines in 1902 and raised a family. His eldest son, Domingo, married Angelica Zapata, a daughter of a large land owner, increasing the family’s holdings. By 1973, the winery had become the country’s largest producer of cheap wines, pumping out 240 million bottles a year. Nicolás, the son of Domingo and Angelica, was a brilliant boy and finished high school at 15. At the request […]
Science and Wine: The Argentine Marriage of True Vines
Continued from Part 2 of Catena Wine That “little project” lasted fifteen years and involved planting 145 Malbec “clones”: the same grape, but from different parent vines, to see which clones would do best in different sites. (“Wine caters to obsessive personalities: it makes you worse,” Nicolás observes with a sigh.) He knew that until the late 1800s, when phylloxera destroyed most European vineyards, Malbec had been one of the most planted grapes in Bordeaux whereas today, it’s less than ten percent of vineyards there. Malbec still thrives in the warm region of southwest France called Cahors, which makes a […]
Argentina’s Wine Visionary Sees the Future Rooted in the Past
Continued from Part 4 of Argentine Wine The 1982 Falklands War with Britain also didn’t help the economy or exports. Then there was hyper-inflation that exceeded 3,000 percent a month, which discouraged foreign investment. Vintners made up for the lost revenue by producing high volumes of poor-quality wines that smelled like bananas rotting in an attic. Meanwhile, neighboring Chile’s economy was much more stable and the country was already producing more wine than it could consume, so it was focused on export in the 1980s. Chile took advantage of this to position itself at the very low end of the […]
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Recipe by: Courtney Flood This recipe is a great dish to feed a crowd. It can be prepared completely in advance and easily doubled without any extra effort. It’s also an easy wine-pairing dish. It is great to use some of the fall vegetable bounty. Ingredients: 1 large eggplant 3 medium zucchini (or summer squash) 6 red or orange peppers 1 jar of prepared tomato sauce (or make your own) 1 500g package of oven-ready lasagna noodles 2 500g packages of ricotta cheese 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese 1 cup grated parmesan cheese 1 egg 1 clove […]
10 Best Carignan Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Carignan
It’s hard to imagine that the Carignan grape used to play such a big role in France’s wine history, yet most wine drinkers have never heard of Carignan. Today, this red wine grape is mostly used as a blending wine, known for its rich dark color. You’ll find my Top 10 Carignan reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Carignan: 1. In France, Carignan was the most planted grape variety from the 1960s to 2000. In fact, in the late 90s there were more than 150,000 acres of Carignan vines planted in France. 2. Why so popular? Two words: large […]
10 Best Barbera Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Barbera
Barbera is both the name of a grape and of the red wine it produces. Its ancestral home is in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, from the vineyards around the towns of Asti, Alexandria and Casale Monferrato. You’ll find my Top 10 Barbera reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Barbera: 1. Unlike Barolo and Barberesco, Barbera is not considered a classic grape. It is Italy’s most common red grape. 2. In 1985 Barbera producers added methanol to their wines. Thirty people died as a result, and many were left with affected sight including blindness. The fallout from bad […]
10 Best Cinsault Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Cinsault
Cinsaut, or Cinsault as it is sometimes called, is a dark-skinned red vitis vinifera grape that’s often blended with Grenache, Carignan and Syrah grapes to add softness and bouquet to a wine. You’ll find my Top 10 Cinsault reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Cinsault: 1. Cinsaut is the fourth-most planted grape in France. 2. A French grape in origin, it’s unusual to see Cinsaut produced as a single varietal comprising 100% of the wine. 3. Cinsaut is light in body and low in tannin, and adds lovely perfumed aromas of red berries to its blends, especially when harvested […]
10 Best Nebbiolo Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo is a red wine grape from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. Nebbiolo makes the classic wines of Italy, Barolo and Barbaresco, as well as Gattinara, Ghemme and Nebbiolo D’Alba. You’ll find my Top 10 Nebbiolo reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Nebbiolo: 1. Compared to other Italian grapes, Nebbiolo buds early and ripens late with harvesting taking place mid to late October. 2. The Nebbiolo grape produces lighter style red wines that can be highly tannic in youth with aromas of tar and roses. Prolonged aging is essential to mellow this wine and soften tannins. Aromas such […]
10 Best Petit Verdot Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot is most famously associated with the Bordeaux blend, and is added to the blend to increase the tannin, colour and flavour. You’ll find my Top 10 Petit Verdot reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Petit Verdot: 1. It usually only makes up 1-3% of the Bordeaux blend, which also includes the grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. The exception is Chateau Palmer, in which it is 6% of the blend due to the vineyard’s microclimate. 2. Petit Verdot can be a problem vine, as it ripens late in the season, if at all. It has […]
