Sunday, June 24, 2007

Another one from Argentina

The bottle I choose is from the Trapiche vineyard from their Broguel line of wines. Rather than a Malbec, I decided (ok, I was advised) to try a wine from a grape I never heard of -- Bonarda. The Bonarda grape is actually the most widely planted in Argentina, but is lesser known outside of Argentina. Most of the Bonarda wine is consumed in Argentina. Not much of it is exported mostly because the wine they make with the Bonarda grape tastes they way it was made -- cheap! In fact it is known to have a bouquet similar to a barnyard and therefore has a nickname of Barnarda. Now why did I decide to try this wine knowing this? Well first, I didn't know any of this until Friday. I went to this great liquor store near to wear I work and gave the assistant wine manager our assignment. That's where I got this fascinating history lesson as well as the bottle to try. This place really is great, so I decided to take him up on his recommendation.

Much to my delight this particular bottle did not exhibit the barnyard scent. It wasn't an overly strong scent, but it certainly wasn't unpleasant. It had a scent of berries with a hint of oak. The taste, I believe, was of blackberries, but I'm not great at identifying these types of things. The wine was smooth to drink and had a bit of a smoky finish that left my mouth a tad dry. This must be the reason that I drank the entire bottle myself. I would definitely buy this wine again. It would be great with a steak (I had it with a cheeseburger) I paid $13.99, so even with tax I was still under guideline of being under $15.


3 comments:

Mrs Big Dubya said...

Looks like the members had a busy wine-weekend!

Thanks for the review, and I'm thrilled to hear it didn't smell like a barnyard

Sue said...

You're very brave - the barnyard comments might have turned me off!
But it sounds like it was very tasty - one to put on the list to try...

Unknown said...

Came across your site and brilliant competition from a link on InterWined.com. (It’s my friend’s Web site – sorry for the shameless plug, but check it out.) He’s reviewed some great South American wines that would really suit your competition.

The first is a Chenin Blanc from Vida Organica. Don’t know if you can get them in the States, I suspect you can. Vida Organica’s a nice little winemaker.

The one that I thought you’d really like is the Peruvian wine reviewed. Who knew Peru produced wine? It’s a 2005 Tacama Gran Tinto. Apparently it wasn’t great, but as InterWined said it’s “more exciting” to try than a “Chilean Merlot or Argentinean Malbec”.