On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from - Terroirs & Signatures of Bourgogne 2011 ... March 22, 2011

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

Burgundy can be a confusing piece of France: regions, appellations, sub-appellations, vineyard specificity.  The basics are pretty easy to grasp: the white grape is Chardonnay and the red grape is Pinot Noir, after that the head starts to spin.  We can talk about the 5 regions: Chablis & Grand Auxerrois; Cote de Nuits; Cote de Beaune; Cote Chalonnaise; Maconnais ... but the key here is to find a region or sub-appellation or something else you can hang your hat on and stick with it.  I have to admit that before today I had no idea where I really stood in the world of Burgundy wines - but looking back at various Vintages releases I started to notice my poking fun at the name of a certain sub-appellation.  As it turned out I was crazy 'bout a Mercurey (or many of them).  Not sure crazy is the word, but I sure did like them.  I decided to take this opportunity to see if it was a fluke of the releases or that I truly had found my Burgundy region of choice.

Crazy or Not ...
I focused my attention on the red Mercurey (Pinot Noirs).  I found 8 within the room, and discovered, after tasting, I was a fan of 7 of them.  What a revelation - I can now say I like Pinot Noir from the sub-region of Mercurey (part of the Cote Chalonnaise) - here were my top 5 wines:
(to read further click here)

To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.

Report from - Montgras Properties Lunch ... March 21, 2011

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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

Montgras is a name you may have heard, and if not, maybe you’ve seen one of their other properties names adorning a bottle of wine.  Montgras was established in 1992 and since then has added 3 other distinct properties/labels throughout Chile.  Montgras started in the Colchagua Valley then picked up vineyards in Leyda, Maipo and decided to go up in-them-thar-hills in their own backyard with the addition of their Ninquen property (1600ft above sea level) in the Colchague Valley.

Today, we had lunch at Far Niente restaurant and tasted thru 6 different wines (at least one from each property) with head winemaker Santiago Margozzini (or as some of us prefer to call him “Magazine”).  From the Amaral property (in Leyda), home to crisp whites to Ninquen, Montgras and Intriga (in the Maipo) there was not a stinker in the bunch; but of course there are wines that are just more “wow” than others … here are my top three wines.

(see which were my top 3 wines, plus see pictures of lunch and other stuff, click here)

To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.