Gourmet Lunch Highlights Unique White Wines

A rare grape, wine from Uruguay, and a special dessert treat highlight our opulent meal

Wine – It’s What’s For Lunch

Lunchtime on a Friday isn’t usually anything special. We’re usually trying to finish up dangling to-do items from the workweek and looking forward to the weekend. That changed recently when we received a lunch invitation from Arthur and Mary Barham. Arthur is the man behind Merlot2Muscadine.

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Arthur also has considerable flair as a gourmet cook. Last week he decided to treat the Green Dragon and me to a truly memorable meal prepared by him at his house. Of course, the dishes were carefully paired with some unique and delicious wines.

A Rare Rhone Grape Appears

The memorable afternoon opened with Lemonade Mimosas. As Arthur explained, he likes to “experiment” on us. This drink was Champagne with a dash of lemonade. Interesting – but it couldn’t hold a candle to what was about to come.

The first course required a trip to the outside deck, where Arthur put crispy grill marks on Romaine lettuce. This was a prelude to the scrumptious Charred Romaine Caesar Salad with creamy Caesar dressing, shaved parmesan, and croutons. The salad alone would have been delightful, but the wine pairing of a 2020 Acquiesce Bourboulenc propelled it to the next level. Acquiesce is a Lodi winery that focuses on Rhone-style white wines. I was introduced to Acquiesce wines some years ago at the Wine Bloggers Conference held in Lodi. I was thunderstruck by the quality and variety of the Acquiesce wines.

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The aroma of the Bourboulenc smelled of lemon zest. In the glass, it is a light golden color and has a medium body. This hard-to-find French grape has green apple on the palate and rollicks with bold citrus. The wine is nicely textured and wrapped with nice acidity. It was just perfect for the dish.

The Meal Is Stacked

The main course was Seasoned Tuna stacked with red onions, tomatoes, celery, radish, and ranch dressing. This was Arthur’s first foray into using a mold to prepare a dish. It all hung together nicely, and, in fact, was a foodie-photographer’s delight.

Not just any wine could be paired with this tower of culinary art. The wine was a 2020 Bodega Garzón Single Vineyard Albariño. I’ve had Albariño from many different regions including Rias Baixas in Spain, but this was my first from Uruguay. The tuna stack continued the theme of light, tasty summer fare, while the Garzón amped up the white wine goodness.

With a few exceptions, Albariño has a nice groove with lime, peach notes, and occasional salinity and much of it tastes the same. Garzón is quite different, packing much more of a punch (14% ABV) than a typical Spanish or California Albariño. It has some nice floral touches, tropical fruit notes, and good minerality.

Liquid Gold

We had a sweet finish to the meal, a Sorbet Trio with Lemon Girl Scout Cookie paired with Linville Falls Late Harvest Riesling. Linville Falls is a North Carolina winery tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The elevation of 3,200 feet allows it to grow grapes that would fail at lower and hotter elevations. They call their Late-Harvest Riesling “liquid gold.” Late harvest wines get more “hang time” on the vine and start to dehydrate, concentrating the sugar in each grape.

The sweetness was balanced out by a trio of sherbet (I still continue my campaign of telling people it is “sherbet” not “sherbert!”). Joining the sherbet was a Girl Scout Lemon Cookie. Who knew what a great combination this would be? 

Thanks to Arthur and Mary for a magnificent meal.

Establecimiento Juanicó 2010 Don Pascual Roble Tannat, Juanicó, Uruguay

Juanicó is the heart of the burgeoning wine industry in Uruguay. There are more Tannat vines planted there than any other place in the world.

Sipping Uruguay’s Signature Grape

A number of years ago I received several bottles of Tannat from Uruguay. We tasted through them a half decade ago, but one bottle lingered on: the Don Pascual 2010 Tannat.

Tannat is a thick-skinned grape that produces a rich and tannic red wine. It can age longer than wines than wines with less structure. Even so, this wine was nearing the end of it drinking window. Time to uncork!

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This is not an expensive bottle of wine, retailing for less than $10. That combined with its age made me wonder what I’d find when the bottle was opened.

Aging Gracefully

One of the things that always piqued my interest about this bottle was the label. The vintage date of 2010 clearly had been pasted over something else. Now was the time to find out.
The “2010” easily came off and underneath was “2009.” Either there was a bottling mistake, or new labels weren’t ready yet. Now that the wine was unmasked, it was time to uncork.

The initial aroma was off-putting, smelling a bit like swamp water. Once the wine was poured into the glass, thankfully, it was a different story. The wine is deep ruby in color and almost opaque. Swirling the wine reveals long legs on the side of the glass.

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Sometimes Tannat can be too tannic, closed and lacking in nuance. With the Don Pascual, on the other hand, the tannins had mellowed and integrated nicely.

On the palate, the Don Pascual has notes of cocoa and tobacco with a medium-plus body. This is a satisfying bottle and a prime example of great values coming from South America wineries. Don Pascual is a smart choice for your introduction to Uruguay’s signature grape.

Technorati Tags: Tannat,Uruguay,wine

Familia Deicas 1er Cru D’Exception 2006 Tannat, Uruguay

The Familia Deicas 1er Cru D’Exception Tannat is a dense, robust heavyweight from South America.

Familia Deicas is a label of the Establecimiento Juanico winery in Uruguay. The winery dates back to the 1800s.

Then owner Don Francisco Juanico broke with traditional farming methods to build an underground cellar, enabling him to make better quality wine due to the cooler conditions.

In 1979 there was a big change when the family headed by Juan Carlos Deicas took over the winery. Since then three generations of the family have worked with passion and innovation to create great wines to share with the world. Juanico is the most technically advanced winery in Uruguay.

In color the wine is an intense violet with black notes. The wine is full of earthiness, chocolate and brown sugar. It’s a darker, firmer palate than Cabernet Sauvignon, but it opened nicely. It has a full body without excessive tannins. While Cab might be a warmed up bowl of cherries, the Familia Deicas is more a mysterious mixture of dark spices and fig.

This is an effort to create a wine in the garagiste style – high quality, limited production wines in an expressive style – sometimes even made in a garage. Familia Deicas grabs your attention with its contrasting flavor profile – so different from the fruity California reds.

Technorati Tags: wine,Tannat,Uruguay

Rating: 4 of 5  Value: 2.5 of 5

Full disclosure: We received this bottle as a marketing sample.

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Atlántico Sur 2006 Single Vineyard Tannat

We usually celebrate Mardi Gras even though we are typically in the midst of a nasty Northwest Ohio winter. It started many years ago with a trip to New Orleans. We loved the vibe of the city, the people’s joie de vivre, the richness of the culture and the great music. (I’m a big Zydeco fan.) Since then we’ve typically hosted a Mardi Gras party.

This year it snuck up on us. I drove home from work sort of bummed that we didn’t have anything special planned.

All that changed when I walked inside the house. The sounds of Rockin’ Sidney performing Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot was blaring forth, the house was decked out with streamers and decorations in gold, green and purple and Green Dragon was cooking up some delicious red beans and rice.

She asked me to pick out a wine and I grabbed a bottle of 2006 Atlántico Sur 2006 Single Vineyard Tannat. We’ve enjoyed getting to know this national red grape from Uruguay. I thought it might be a great match with our Creole dish.

One thing I’ve learned is that there is a spectrum of quality for Tannat. The inexpensive Tannat doesn’t compare to the more elegant mid-range and premium bottles.

The Atlántico has a very smooth approach, showing just what winemakers can do with this grape. The tannins are very light and the alcohol is 13%. The mid-palate has delicate raspberry and blackberry chords. The medium-duration finish has a puckering berry flavor. We both enjoyed this wine but wished for a touch more body and complexity.

It’s a very enjoyable wine, probably the best Tannat I have had in my limited experience. This comes from the Paysandú Region in Uruguay which has a terrain of rolling hills with clay and loamy soils.

This wine has a single vineyard designation. It would have been nice to know the name of the vineyard, or perhaps in Uruguay they do not follow the American practice of naming specific vineyards.

Our trip to the “South Atlantic” was an enjoyable one. Could wines like this make Tannat the next Malbec? We encourage you to pick up a bottle and judge for yourself.

Full disclosure: We received this wine as a sample.

Technorati Tags: tannat,Uruguay,wine

Pueblo del Sol 2010 Tannat, Juanico Region, Uruguay

This guest review is by Larry, an IT professional in Bowling Green.

Today my wine crew received the pleasure of testing the 2010 Pueblo del Sol Tannat.

This wine is of product of Uruguay. I had not heard of the Tannat grape.

Research shows It  originated in South West France, and is now the favored grape of Uruguay. Once opened there was the aroma of oak, and black cherry. The color was a deep ruby red. It was a dark, but beautiful wine.

First sips were tart and a little chewy. You could taste the oak, and a hint of coco. While being a tasty wine, we agreed that this was a wine that would would be even better with food. We started with some Brie and crackers. This made the Tannat taste even better. This evening, our main meal was Jambalaya. The Tannat complemented the tomato sauce, peppers, and sausage.

We really enjoyed it with the food. We agreed that this would be excellent wine to have with steak and mashed potatoes. The main complaint from my crew was that we ran out of wine. We thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it as a very reasonably priced wine to have with meals.

Full disclosure: This wine was received as a marketing sample.

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Don Pascual 2010 Reserve Tannat

Wine review by Glorious T.

We were appreciative to be gifted with a bottle of Don Pascual Tannat Reserve 2011 (Uruguay) for our review. I made the mistake of reading the winemaker's notes as the bottle was being opened. Typically I like to be surprised and make my own judgment, and I know what I really like.

Upon reading about this wine's notes of ink and robust tannins, I was immediately prepared that this wine would not pass muster. Thank goodness Ace of Bass encouraged me to give it a chance anyway.

A lovely violet color gives way to a pleasantly fragrant mix of heavy spices. The tannins are really well balanced with big jammy flavor for a really interesting and flavorful taste. It's a full bodied wine with a long and delicious finish. The Tannat is thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

It is hearty enough to be paired with a meal, but interesting enough to stand on it's own. In fact, we rated this much higher than several wines we had sampled over the holiday season.

Rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5.

Full disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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