Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2016 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vine Garnacha ($14)

This wine is from the Valley of Valdizarbe, D.O. Navarra, in Spain. One of Navarra’s most historical viticultural areas. The grapes are from vines planted over 80 years ago.

After the Garnacha grapes were lightly crushed, they were cold macerated before fermentation. It was then transferred to French oak barrels for malolactic conversion. Finally, it was aged five months in new French barrels.

This is a very delicate Garnacha with flavors of red cherry and raspberry. It’s light on the tannin with moderate acidity. A nice easy wine that you don’t want to overpower with bold foods. Enjoy this one all by itself or with light fare.

Yet another wine that fits the bill to be featured in Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week as a great value for such a nice wine. Enjoy!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Rebekah Polster, Navarra Media Consultant, President 401 West Communications.

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2014 Ochoa Crianza Tempranillo ($23)

From the northern Spanish wine region of Navarra comes this 100% Tempranillo. It is one of six signature wines from Javier Ochoa.

Being a “Crianza” it has been aged for 12 months in American oak and then spends at least one year in the bottle.

The aromas of this Tempranillo are very mild with subtle hints of red berries.

It is medium-bodied, has firm tannin and noticeable acidity on the finish. It is lighter and more delicate than most Tempranillo and leans strongly toward the red fruit end of the spectrum.

If you prefer lighter red wines, this would be a great introduction to Tempranillo. Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Rebekah Polster, Navarra Media Consultant, 401westcomm.com

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2014 Ventisquero Grey [Glacier] Single Block Carménère ($20)

Carménère was first introduced into Chile in the mid-1800s. At that point, it was thought to be Merlot. That is until 1994 when testing showed it was actually Carménère.

While wines from Chile labeled as Carménère can contain up to 15% other grape varieties, this one from the Maipo Valley, is 100% Carménère. It comes from La Trinidad vineyard and is produced as a single block wine.

This wine has intense black fruit flavors of black cherry and blackberries, peppery notes and firm tannin.

The winemaker notes state “We age our Grey Carménere for a minimum of 18 months and another 8 months in bottle, or longer…Carménere needs some oak to tame it, but the variety’s beauty is its fruit, so you can’t go overboard on the oak.”

Give this one some serious time in the decanter and serve with big, flavorful meats such as game meat or marinated beef.

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White of Donna White Communications

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2017 Left Coast Truffle Hill Chardonnay ($24)

This Chardonnay is from Oregon’s Left Coast “Truffle Hill” vineyard that contains four acres of European Black Truffle-inoculated hazelnut trees, shrub roses and holly oaks.

This 100% Chardonnay is fermented in 100% French oak before being aged for 10 months.

Left Coast winemaker Joe Wright states “This easy drinking Chardonnay delivers golden flower aromas of honeysuckle and elderberry accented with brown sugar. A burst of acidity on the palate is complimented with ripe pear fruit, rounded out by vanilla, coconut, caramel and butterscotch on the finish.” Well said Joe!

I found this Willamette Valley Chardonnay to be terrific. It had great flavors of baked apple and spices with just a hint of oak. A wonderful pairing with any lighter fare.

This is a really good one that deserves your attention. Look for it! Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Will Rogers of Donna White Communications

Does Weight Equal Quality in a Wine Bottle?

You may have experienced it when shopping for a bottle of wine. You lift the bottle to look more closely at the label and you notice how heavy it is relative to other bottles of wine. And immediately you equate this substantial bottle with high quality. But, is it really?

There is no doubt that weight influences quality. And, a high quality product deserves high-quality packaging. Heavy just seems to feel good. Right!

Well, according to wine servers in restaurants, a heavy bottle is a pain to carry, open and pour.

Also, these heavier bottles tend to be slightly larger than a standard bottle, so they often don’t always fit in a standard wine rack.

And don’t forget that a heavier bottle means a case of that wine is going to be significantly heavier. And that adds to the shipping cost.

So, shouldn’t we really be paying more attention to the quality of wine inside the bottle than the bottle itself? In most cases, the bottle weight really doesn’t mean anything. The one exception is for sparkling wine. A thicker bottle is necessary to handle the high pressure inside the bottle. Otherwise, a heavy bottle is just a packaging option that the winemaker is using.

Then, there’s that ‘dimple’ in the bottle of wine. What’s up with that? Well, we’ll get into that next time. But for now, Cheers!