5 Producers to Watch in Lodi
I’ve been meaning to do something on this for well over a year now, so I’m happy to be able to give these winemakers some additional publicity as I really dig what they’re doing. I’m also hoping to make this a sort of regular series highlighting producers that I like but who haven’t received long-form features here on 1WD. Stay tuned…

Wine Recommendations for Beer Lovers
Beer (and wine) maven Ashley Routson and I worked on this one for *weeks*, and so I was really excited to be able to finally publish this wine-for-beer-lovers recommendation approach. I’m also really happy with the recommendations themselves, and the explanations that she chose, all of which show why Ashley kicks so much ass in the drinks world. If you don’t learn something new about beer, wine, and food pairings when reading this, then you probably aren’t paying enough attention (or you’re already a master sommelier… or both).

An Introduction to Uruguay wine
Because I did more than just eat and drink when I was down there… just not a whole lot more…; note that I would’ve liked to have included more stats on the country and its wine scene, but the Uruguayans, bless their hearts, didn’t get the additional material I’d requested back to me in time.

Book Review: Pairing with the Masters
My take on Master Chef Ken Arnone’s and MW Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan’s recent (and very technical) hardcover collaboration about food and wine pairing.

The Dos and Don’ts about Wine and Water
Look, just do yourself a favor and do NOT read this… Seriously, dude, you will never, ever look at a glass of water sitting on the same table as your vino the same way again without possibly going into an apoplectic fit about what type of water it is and from whence it came… you’ve been warned!

Cheers!

• 10 Tendril White Label Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley): Inching its way towards spicy awesomeness, should really bloom in 5 or 6 years $48 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 10 Euclid Sierra Foothills Syrah (Sierra Foothills): Not afraid of exploring the feminine side underneath the manly, smoky exterior. $40 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 09 Z'ivo Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills): Juicy wild cherry, slathering itself in spices as it admires its own sexy-thang-ness. $40 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Cloudburst Chardonnay (Margaret River): Like plugging into the Death Star's power generator, if made of lemon curd & stone fruit $150 A- >>find this wine<<
• 11 Altos Las Hormigas Terroir Malbec (Uco Valley): Argentina's silkiness + France's peppery spice and flowers = our crowd-pleaser. $17 B >>find this wine<<
• 11 Altos Las Hormigas Reserva Malbec (Mendoza): A well-lit view of a peppery, chalky and deep dig into their mysterious bit of earth. $30 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 08 Nieto Senetiner Cadus Finca Villa Blanca Malbec (Mendoza): From 100 yr old vines, this gaucho has far to ride & ain't in a hurry. $NA A- >>find this wine<<
• 11 Nieto Senetiner Malbec (Mendoza): High volume, high on the oak, but high on the quality, age-ability, likeability & nods to France $12 B >>find this wine<<
• 12 Nieto Senetiner Don Nicanor Chardonnay Viognier (Mendoza): Starts with honeydew, fnishes with grapefruit, cleans up along the way. $20 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 06 O Fournier Syrah Cabernet (Uco Valley): Kind of like artisanal Spanish tailoring on some high-end South American threads. $95 A- >>find this wine<<
• 06 O Fournier Alfa Crux Red (Uco Valley): Savory, herbal, meaty Malbec meal served up on stylish and elegant earthen dishware. $48 A- >>find this wine<<
• 11 O Fournier Urban Uco Torrontes (Cafayate): Floral, pithy, rich, structured, and coming to the rescue of your wine spending account $10 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 09 O Fournier B Crux Red (Mendoza): Leatehr-clad dark and light berries, duking it out over a span of austere, flower-laden territory $27 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 12 O Fournier Urban Uco Malbec Tempranillo (Uco Valley): Sweet, plummy, and a little forward, but underestimate it & you'll regret it. $12 B >>find this wine<<
• 11 O Fournier B Crux Sauvignon Blanc (Uco Valley): Melons & hay; also, about as sexy and heady as a passionate roll in that hay. $19 B+ >>find this wine<<

In Carmelo, about three hours drive from the bustling city of Montevideo in Uruguay, along the river that divides the country from Argentina, there exists the picturesque hamlet of Narbona, the kind of place with such  overwhelming quantities of irony that it causes story-relating fingers like mine to nearly freeze at the keyboard.

Where to begin?

It’s probably best to start with Winemaker Maria Valeria Chiola. Female winemakers aren’t exactly the norm in the relatively conservative sphere of Uruguayan winemaking, but the ironic (or maybe just surprising?) thing is not her sex, but the fact that twenty-eight year old Chiola is, at such a young age, making some of the best wine that I tasted during my travels there. And she has almost no sense whatsoever of what a powerful example she could be for the promotion of wine in Uruguay abroad, mostly because the cult of winemaker personality that dominates the fine wine media in the U.S. is pretty much non-existent in that small country (another irony).

Chiola has some pedigree, of course: her father has a winery in Canelones and she’s worked at Miner (among other places). She claims winemaking duties fall exclusively to her, an intern, and infrequent consultation with Michel Rolland (Rolland himself meets with her only twice per year). She suggested that there is healthy tension between the winemaking styles she’s after and the styles that are being pushed by the Rolland consultants.

Whatever is going on between tenderfoot winemaker and veteran consultant, much of that tension seems to be working in the wines’ favor. More on that in a minute or two, after we visit some of the other ironies dripping from the Narbona story…

Frenchman Juan de Narbona founded the first winery on the property in 1920, growing primarily Pinot Noir and Tannat; he was a quarry-man who supplied stones that helped to build Buenos Aires across the river, and built the stately Narbona house on the property in 1909. In the 1950s, the property entered into a state of disrepair and abandonment, until it got on the radar of Argentine hotelier and developer Eduardo ‘Pacha’ Canton in the 1990s.

Pacha fell in love with the place, and decided to restore it to its former glory (the site is now partially a National Historical Monument in Uruguay). He established a restaurant, inn and most recently a new winery – one that is aesthetically pleasing but, with relatively narrow, old-timey, bi-level staircases leading down from an open center into the barrel room, it seems one of the more poorly-designed and difficult to work designs I’ve yet encountered in a modern winery (ironically, wine quality seems unaffected).

If he’d known what it would take to get the place back on its feet, Pacha might not have bothered to start; renovations took almost exactly 100 years from when the house was first built, most of the work finishing by 2009. Narbona now makes 60,000 bottles of wine a year, exporting around 80%, much of the production being the value brand Porto Carmelo. The land is also a working farm, producing cheese, milk and other food products.

The former winery building is now a museum celebrating the winemaking of the previous time and the property on which it was founded. The ironic part (you knew that was coming) is that nearly everything at Narbona is made to look old, so that (apart from the obvious modern conveniences) it’s nearly impossible to discern what’s original and what isn’t without a guide to point it all out. If it wasn’t for the occasional ringing of cell phones, upon stepping into the restaurant on the bucolic property one might be forgiven for thinking he’d actually been transported back to about 1918.

Also ironically, the vineyard plantings mimic those that might have been in use in the early 1900s, despite the fact that they make viticulture more difficult. They planted using the lyra vine training system, mainly because that’s what the neighbors (long-standing producer Irurtia, where Narbona’s wines were made until the new digs could support production of the 2012 vintage) did. According to the soft-spoken Chiola, it’s now a constant struggle for quality versus quantity of fruit (though it’s working). The plantings are mostly on calcareous soils, not unlike the Narbona former seabed quarry (see inset pics of fossil evidence from the property), on a small amount of land that abuts the property and pushes out to the Rio de la Plata river plate.

So… to recap… we have an historic property now reborn making modern wines in an environment that’s made to look old, with an aging consultant providing advice that may or may not be fully followed by a much younger winemaker who seems to have little sense of her own innate talent.

For me, this is the wine equivalent of The Cask of Amontillado in terms of irony volume, and I mean actual irony and not the fake “irony” in the Alanis Morissette tune Ironic (which technically has no irony in it whatsoever, it’s merely a list of things that suck when they happen to you though none of them are actually ironic… except, perhaps, the title, but I’m not sure that was the game that she was playing when she wrote the tune… okay, whatever…).

Oh, they also have a dog named Wilson, though I found nothing ironic in his behavior… so far. He was actually much more of a straight-shooter-style character.

Anyway…

Narbona makes a few whites and a rosé, but I’m going to focus on the three reds that most stuck with my memory when I tasted them with Chiola (I was a guest of Wines of Uruguay for the trip, and stayed one night in Narbona’s wine lodge, in the non-ironically-titled Tannat Room):

2011 Narbona Pinot Noir (Uruguay)
Price: about $40
Rating: B+

For all of its red berry jamminess (which you might expect from the interior of Uruguay), this is a vibrant Pinot (which you might not expect). There are hints of citrus and tea leaf, which for this dude are the calling cards of the Pinots that I most enjoy drinking. While it is abundantly fruity (svelte PN lovers beware!), there’s good structure on the bones here with those tea-like tannins holding things up, like sturdy poles for a fruit-roll-up tent.

2011 Narbona Luz de Luna Tannat (Uruguay)
Price: about $100
Rating: A-

This wine wants to put a hair on your chest; like, an entire hair shirt. It’s the more Rolland-esque style wine of the Narbona bunch, I thought. Meaty, concentrated, very dark, very tight at first, densely-packed and demanding. It’s also very young at this point, though hints of interesting green and dried herbs begin peeking through after a few minutes in the glass, along with spice, leather and tobacco notes. For the reticence on the nose, it makes a grand, sweeping-away-of-the-curtains-and-steeping-into-the-spotlight-diva-style entry on the palate, going broad and grippy into a long finish. You will need to like it big, if you do, you will really like it.

2010 Narbona Tannat Roble (Uruguay)
Price: about $60
Rating: A-

From seventeen year old vines comes this single-parcel-sourced, tight and savory beauty. It’s got bitter dark chocolate, concentrated black fruits, dark leather, coffee, dried herbs, and… a fierce gaze into the blackest parts of your soul. It plays a bit of a switch on you on the palate, where it shows off the fresher side of Tannat’s acids, red fruits storming in to vanquish your attackers and carry the day on to victory, followed by a clean-up crew of darker plums and grippy tannins. I enjoyed this wine so much that the following day after tasting it, I more-or-less demanded that we drive out to see the plot in the vineyard, acacia thorns whipping themselves at my head as I ducked and weaved while riding standing in the back of Narbona’s small ATV. The crueler irony here is that the wine is probably not all that easy to find stateside…

Cheers!

Jeff Eckles!

Jeff noted that he’d like to try some of the wines on offer from ClubW, specifically the 2007 Chateau de Mattes-Sabran Dionysus Corbieres, the 2012 Banyan Creek Gewurztraminer
and the 2009 Domaine de Milliere VDP Vaucluse Rouge. And so now he’ll get the chance to do that (for about $0.00, I suspect).

For those of you who aren’t Jeff, but are interested in checking out ClubW.com, they are also offering a discount code to you for being a 1WD reader (and yet, most of you benefitting from that will have paid me $0.00 for all of my work in reporting wine to you all of these years… the irony!). The code is “4111wine” (minus the quotation marks, naturally) and comes with a $13 value for signing up (basically one free bottle of vino). To redeem the code, just access ClubW.com from here and enter 4111wine into the Voucher/Referral box when checking out with your order.

Enjoy!

While we’re together here, I’ll also take the opportunity to report on a few 1WD-related happenings (humor me, okay?)…

As you read this, I’ll be in Lisbon taking part in the Wines of Portugal Challenge 2013 (see page two), as one of about forty international judges. I only know a handful of the judging group, so I’m excited to meet the folks with whom I’m sure I’ll frantically be pacing to keep up in terms of evaluation chops.

And yes, this is more-or-less fresh off playing Team America while judging the 2013 Argentina Wine Awards earlier this year (you can read more on the assumptions-busting seminar from that one here). It’s also on the heels of two California-based competitions (in which many of the judges are people I already have the pleasure of knowing) in which I’ll be participating in June: The 2013 CA State Fair competition in Sacramento, followed closely by the 2013 Critics Challenge in San Diego (my first time judging both).

If you feel as though you’re sensing a theme here, it’s because… you are, thus proving that you possess extraordinary powers of intellectual observation, and probably good looks and meticulous tastes (this is what 1WD reading does for you, people… okay, maybe not…). Wine comps (and sensory evaluation gigs I’ve done for a new mobile wine app that’s in the works) have been a big focus of mine in 2013.

I’d love to say that focus was the result of some form of master plan, but the truth is that almost all of it fell into my lap, as so much of this wine-related stuff seems to do, and I’m reacting to it the same way that I did when a beautiful woman (my wife) told me she was in love with me: do not question, just be grateful to The Universe and accept it with the small amount of grace that I can muster. The most valuable lesson I’ve learned in judging so far… is to make sure that whenever the photographer is around you raise the glass to your nose instead of sticking your nose down in the glass. This is to make sure that in the embarrassing photo of you that the competition organizers publish – and they will publish it, because they love what amount to competition “action shots” and sniffing looks better than spitting in the pics – it doesn’t look as though you have 700 chins. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to minimize the apparent size of my schnoz using either method, presumably because that’s not possible without the help of Photoshop:

Anyway…

Before 2013, my last comp judging creds came via the 2011 Lake County Wine Awards, and so I’m excited to have sort-of jumped into the wine competition sphere more heavily this year, and part of me is just hoping that I don’t F most of it up.

More to come, probably on most of the above, so if you’ve got some aspects about the comps that you’re particularly interested in hearing more about (the wines, the process, the annoying habits of the other judges during breaks, how much beer is consumed after each judging day…), then shout ‘em out.

Cheers!

• 08 Rudolf Furst R Centgrafenberg Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs (Franken): Pinot centered Zen-like, to carry itself many years hence. $110 A- >>find this wine<<
• NV Berlucchi Cuvee 61 Rose (Franciacorta): Sweet & savory biscuits flecked with strawberries & cherries. And Yeah, we said flecked. $22 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 05 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon (Spring Mountain District): The kind of austerity measure that we should all be getting behind. $40 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 10 Trapiche Iscay Syrah Viognier (Mendoza): For those who dig that everything is bigger in Texas, because everything is *bigger* here $50 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 08 Trapiche Iscay Malbec Cabernet Franc (Mendoza): Rocks, silky richness, taught structure, all screaming Focus, Focus, Focus! $50 A- >>find this wine<<
• 12 Trapiche Pure Malbec (Uco valley): No wood, just spicy berry that gives a respectful nod to France before partying Argentine style. $18 B >>find this wine<<
• 11 Trapiche Oak Case Pinot Noir (Mendoza): Comes on bright, smooth, strong, and smoking, and leaves just when things get interesting. $10 B- >>find this wine<<
• 10 Zuccardi Zeta (Uco Valley): Begrudgingly shows off grit, softness, herbs & dark fruit; for now, hanging the Do Not Disturb sign. $45 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Zuccardi Emma Bonarda (Mendoza): Elegant Bonarda? Really? Well, this is pretty much a primer on how it ought to be done, people. $35 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Zuccardi Serie A Bonarda (Santa Rosa): Hanging on to the meaty, red-plummy juiciness, and letting go of the astringent structure. $15 B >>find this wine<<
• 11 Zuccardi Serie A Torrontes (Salta): Long on green fields of white flowers, and on displays of soulful, energetic character. $15 B >>find this wine<<
• 09 Familia Zuccardi Aluvional La Consulta Malbec (Mendoza): Like a gaucho who once apprenticed with The World's Most Interesting Man. $80 A- >>find this wine<<
• 12 Claypool Cellars CC Pachyderm Pinot Noir Rose (Russian River Valley): Cherry, peach, roses &… dang, somebody's getting serious! $NA B+ >>find this wine<<
• 10 Tenuta San Guido Le Difese (Toscana): It's gonna be bright, bright – and spicy – sunshiney, pasta-with-red-meat-sauce meal… $35 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 09 Chateau Mont-Redon Blanc (Chateauneuf-du-Pape): Just when it hit me somebody turned round & shouted Play that funky music whiteboy $35 B+ >>find this wine<<