Interesting Wine Info - Wine Blog from The International Wine of the Month Club

20 DIY Wine Cork Christmas Ornaments

November 14, 2018 by Kristina Manning

With the holidays in full swing, we here at The International Wine of the Month Club™ decided to pull out our stash of wine corks (we tend to have quite a few by the end of the year) and make some Christmas tree ornaments. With a little imagination, some crafting supplies, and help from some of our kids, we were able to make quite a few fun and unique tree ornaments!

Here are our 20 favorite Christmas tree wine cork ornaments, as well as a few that the kids made for us:

A big thank you to our helpers Lizzy and Emily!

The 2015 and 2016 Bordeaux Vintages Are Not to Be Missed

October 19, 2018 by Don Lahey

In some wine regions of the world, the quality of wine varies little from year to year. The reason is that the weather in some wine regions remains fairly consistent and predictable. This is particularly true in areas with Mediterranean climates. In other wine lands, such as Bordeaux, vintage means everything. The weather in Bordeaux varies enormously throughout the growing season and from one year to the next, and because weather largely determines the quality of the vintage and the resulting wine, vintage speaks volumes in the most hallowed of French appellations.

The adage in Bordeaux is June makes the quantity, August the style, and September the quality. If the flowering and subsequent berry set go well in June, growers can look forward to a bumper crop. And by August, the vignerons know roughly what to expect in style. But it’s September and, to a lesser extent, October that ultimately determine how good the Bordeaux wines will be, particularly the reds, based largely on the amount and frequency of rain that falls during those months. If a tropical depression sweeps in from the Atlantic, all bets will be off. With this said, Bordeaux has enjoyed two of the finest back to back vintages in recent memory in 2015 and 2016, and neither should be missed.

Not only is quality superb top to bottom from Grand Crus to Petits Châteaux in 2015 and 2016, subsequent vintages can hardly match this dynamic duo. Although the resulting wines are different in style, each of these vintages enjoyed ideal weather in September and October. Consequently, 2015 and 2016 produced a bevy of exciting and downright profound wines, with the red wines surpassing those even in the heretofore exceptional 2009 and 2010 vintages. Consequently, I’m putting as many 2015 and 2016 red Bordeaux in my cellar as I can afford because Bordeaux doesn’t get much better than the wines of these two vintages and neither 2017 nor 2018 can match what 2015 and 2016 have to offer.

Salud!
Don

America’s Love Affair with Pinot Noir

September 24, 2018 by Don Lahey

America is in love with Pinot Noir, but it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. A generation ago, Pinot Noir was the proverbial step child of American grape growers, an afterthought and an anomaly at best. Only a few stalwart visionaries like André Tchelistcheff of BV vineyards dared to plant France’s most coveted, yet often mercurial, grape variety in California. And frankly, those early attempts yielded less than exciting results.

Today, Pinot Noir’s fortunes have changed. Pinot Noir is all the rage, not only in America but around the world where it stands at the pinnacle of the world’s grape varieties, but it is not because the planet’s other favored varietals (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sangiovese, and Tempranillo to name a few) are incapable of greatness; rather Pinot Noir is the rare grape variety that is capable of being transformed annually into the planet’s most complex red wines as well as the most exquisite rosé, still, and sparkling wines.

Although Pinot Noir was born in Burgundy a millennium before Cabernet Sauvignon made its appearance in Bordeaux, it now thrives in Champagne, California, Oregon, and in rare hallowed parcels across the planet in addition to its native Burgundy. However, the difficult to grow and often unforgiving Pinot Noir varietal demands attention, a cool, temperate climate, and a deft hand in the cellar. When all stars align, Pinot Noir yields light to full-bodied wines of stunning aromatics, depth, and length of flavor. Moreover, good Pinot Noir can age gracefully for as long as any wine when stored properly. Not surprisingly, it also yields the world’s most expensive wine on average, which makes it all the more attractive to collectors and a growing legion of admirers.

Salud!
Don

Malbec: Born for the Barbecue

August 17, 2018 by Don Lahey

For years I found Malbec to be one of the most overrated red wines on the American market, not because Malbec makes inherently inferior wine (nothing could be further from the truth), but because for too long there were so few really good Malbecs on store shelves to choose from. With the exception of Catena, Alta Vista, Archaval-Ferrer and a few other producers, most Malbecs struck me as being no more than a one trick pony – one dimensional wines that provided a jolt but little else. Well, all that has changed. Today, there are many excellent Malbec wines to choose from and one need not have an expense account to enjoy delicious Malbec.

Although Argentina is the major purveyor of Malbec, Malbec (mahl-bec) is one of the original red wine grapes of Bordeaux, where it is also known as Cot or Pressac. While Malbec plays a largely supporting role today in Bordeaux, where it adds color and body to the region’s Merlot and Cabernet blends, it remains one of the six legal grape varieties permitted in red Bordeaux (along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Carmenère). However, south of Bordeaux in the region of Cahors, Malbec still reigns supreme. It remains the chief grape in what historically has been called the “black wine” of Cahors.

Despite its deep French roots, Argentina has come to fore as the contemporary champion of Malbec, where the varietal reigns as the most important grape variety, both in terms of quality and quantity. The best Argentine Malbecs and Malbec blends offer considerable flavor and body at a relative young age, yet they remain age worthy wines capable of true distinction. They also make great summertime wines as any Argentine will attest. Born for the barbecue, what better red wine can one find for burgers, steaks, lamb, pork chops, barbecued-chicken and grilled vegetables than Malbec?

Although far from an exhaustive list, Graffito, Luca, Mendel, La Posta, and Casarena are consummate Malbec producers that consistently fashion excellent affordable Malbecs. One should also not overlook the top wines from France’s Cahors appellation where Château Armandière and other like-minded producers are making world-class Malbec. So why not fire up the grill, call friends over for a barbecue, and pour a glass of good Malbec?

Salud!
Don

Argentina: Where Quality and Quantity Abound

July 16, 2018 by Don Lahey

Argentina has long been one of the world’s leading producers and consumers of wine. Presently, this sprawling nation, which contains some of the world’s most diverse geography, including tropical jungle, barren desert, towering snow-capped mountains and windswept deserted islands that herald Antarctica, is the world’s fifth largest producer of wine and the planet’s third largest consumer of the fruit of the vine, placing it just behind Italy and France. As an interesting comparison, Argentina consumes more than five times the amount of wine per capita as does the United States, (10.5 gallons per capita in Argentina versus just 2.00 gallons per head in the United States). Moreover, Argentina is no longer just a source of good plentiful, every day plonk; it is increasingly a treasure chest of world class red and white wines.

Although Argentina has cultivated the vine since the arrival of the first Spanish missionaries in the 16^th century, the modern tale of wine in Argentina really begins with the Italian migration of the late 19^th century. Sparked by political strife and economic stagnation in their homeland, many Italian growers and winemakers headed for Argentina. Settling in the dry rain-starved Mendoza at the base of the Andes, Italian immigrants began to sluice the snow waters from the mountains onto their vineyards, causing the desert to bloom. In less than a century, the Mendoza, a state approximately the size of Illinois, has become Argentina’s leading wine producing region, accounting for the vast majority of the nation’s wine production and more than half of all the wine made in South America.

Driven by Argentina’s seemingly insatiable thirst for wine, as well as the burgeoning worldwide demand for fine wine, especially well-made reds, the “Mighty Mendoza” now comprises more than 700,000 acres of vines, and is still growing. The vast majority of wine from the arid, nearly insect-free environment of Mendoza is red, but the quality and variety of both white and red wines continues to grow exponentially. The recent attention to quality is much to the delight of savvy North American consumers, who are now gobbling up the wine wares of Argentina at an ever increasing rate.

Since the early 1980s, an infusion of domestic and international talent has helped to transform the Mendoza. With the likes of Achaval Ferrer, the Catena family and their scions Luca and Tikal, Roberto de la Mota at Mendel, Paul Hobbs, Jacques and Francois Lurton, and small boutique producers such as Graffito, Argentina and the “Mighty Mendoza” have finally come into their own. This once sleeping giant now houses a treasure trove of fine wines, with the wonders of Malbec in the vanguard. Excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are also being fashioned there, and in recent years Argentina has made great strides in the production of white wines, too, most notably with Chardonnay, Semillon and Torrontes. Viva Argentina!

Salud!
Don

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