AnuvaBlog

I never realized how many people are in Buenos Aires until a main subway line breaks down and 30,000 people emerge from the depths.

Around 6 pm on my way to a tasting, subway line D from Catedral to Palermo broke. I wound up stranded in the city center packed in with everyone else and their moms. There was no way out. You couldn’t move.

Throngs of people lined every block waiting for buses and traffic slowed to a snails pace.  If you felt like a yell now was the time .I was surrounded by people screaming Spanish into their cell phones.

I called to let everyone know I might be a tad late. And thus began my taxi hunt. After 45 minutes of no luck I became aggressive stood my ground when woman tried to jump in front of me and steal my ride. I won and got in. Quickly afterwards I realized I may have  been better off walking to the other side of the city.

Fortunately my tardiness gave the wine time to breath and I arrive just before 8. We sampled 38 wines. I got to thinking how a person’s mood might alter their reception of wine. I was nervous the transit ordeal would make swill taste like a vintage reserve.

Thankfully the tasting was mixed as always. Some you hate, some you’ll forget, and some you say “ooo I’ll have a glass of that later please.”

We had some definite winners including a Finca la Serrera 2008 Torrontes, a Naiara 2006 Icono Malbec, Finca la Serrera 2005 Gran Guarda and a Carinae 2007 Gran Reserva Syrah.

When we got to round II, wines 8-14 I noticed a curious light colored wine, later revealed as a gift from Spanglish’s Maya May. This boxed liquid “vino tinto” Crespi got some laughs, sort of like my old friend from Europe “Don Simon” Sangria.

 But in earnest this wine could hold it’s own against other boxed competitors and reminded me of a funny site, Bum Wine http://www.bumwine.com/ . I’ll let their header draw you in “this page explores the top five.
So curl up on a heating duct and enjoy… “

Last Monday Anuva has its first class at Murray’s in NYC, given by Nicole Vest (me) and Taylor Cocalis.  If you live in NYC, or plan to visit and have not been to Murray’s Cheese Shop, you must go! Located at 254 Bleecker St in the West Village, this cheese shop has been around since 1940, and has expert cheese mongers to help you select the perfect blue, goat, soft, aged, you name it. They also have “virtual cheese mongers” online

What makes Murray’s so special is not only do they offer the best cheese in NYC, but they also place a large emphasis on educating their customer.  On the second floor there is a classroom that seats 24, which holds classes like Cheese 101, Cheese U Boot Camp, Honey and Cheese, and so much more.  It was at Cheese 101, where I met Taylor and we decided to join forces and teach a class on Argentine wines and their perfect cheese pairings.

We offered six wines including the Hom Espumante, Anecon Torrontes, Sin Fin Malbec, Finca La Luz Petit Verdot, Familia Mayol Cuatro Primos, and the Domados Zaino Reserve Malbec.  We paired each wine with a cheese that would compliment each other–including the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company Couple, La Tur, Jasper Hill Farm Winnemere, Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, Pecorino Foglia de Noce, and finished with the Columbus Salame Company Felino to incorporate a meat.  It seems that the Winnemere and the Sin Fin Malbec was the favorite pairing.  The Winnemere has a soft, velvety texture, with a woodsy, sweet cream flavor, that balanced perfectly with the earth hints and black fruit flavors of the Sin Fin Malbec.  The combination really made both the wine and cheese excel.  I myself loved the pairing of the Torrontes and the La Tur.  La Tur is a dense, creamy blend of cow and sheep milk, that is mild, but has an earthy, full flavor, with a lingering lactic tang.  The Torrontes, with its mild sweetness and clean finish, paired beautifully with the La Tur.  While I am writing this, my mouth is literally salivating over this pairing.

It is no question that the Hom Espumante and the Zaino Reserve Malbec were the class favorites for stand alone wine.  This was of course no suprise to me.  These wines were the perfect start and finsh to the class–light and bubbly to start, and a full well developed finish.  It was a pleasure working with Taylor, and I look forward to working with her again in the future!

This past Tuesday the Anuva team sat for an in-company tasting. We set the table with all the essential weaponry; water, glasses, crackers, note pads, pens and a giant spit bucket. We usually do this about once a month and have between 20 and 40 wines so at 21, this was a small tasting.

After uncorking 21 bottles our intern, Helen concealed their identities in numbered paper bags. Why? You have to taste blind. The only way to really judge the wine itself is to not know where it comes from and not see the bottle. Labels have an impact, appellations have an impact, varietal has an impact. I find it offensive that neither Wine Spectator nor Robert Parker and his team taste all of their wines blind. What are they afraid of? 

If wine professionals are true to their job, they will only taste blind and admit each palate is unique, variable depending on immediate influences (like what you ate, if you smoke, etc.) and is highly subjective. This would develop a trend toward truth in wine and not marketing to sell wine only.

We poured in sets of 5 sniffing, scribbling, sipping, swishing, spitting, smiling, sneering. We wait until the end of each round we exchange results. Ratings are based on bouquet, taste, mouth feel and over all expressiveness.

Many of the wines are clear and definite “no’s”. Descriptions are frank and honest. I like to be creative with my notes for example “It smells like bleach and tastes like an old boot with rotten vegetables, no”

 With quantification in mind we rate each wine on a 100 point scale.  All tastings are done blind allowing the best wines speak for themselves as we weed out the inferior stock.

             Consistency is the real goal. For one, accord between tasters “Do you concure?” sometimes tastings include two bottles of the same wine (that’s right we hated your rose, twice!) Blind tastings will even revisit wines from a previous tasting to ensure that the reactions are the same. For example two of the top rated wines from Tuesday’s tasting had also been rated highly in a previous tasting, Callejon Del Crimen Sangiovese 2006 & Los Quimiles 2006 Premium Cabarnet Franc from Vinos de los Andes.

Of the 21 we kept the top 12 to revisit the next day. Some wines can do a 180 with one day of air. And some simply are better down the drain.

Well, in a down economy it seems like wine tastings are the way to go. Anuva has done no less than 60 tastings in the last 75 days (all this with our 3 man team) featuring our collections of malbec, torrontes, and bonarda.

It seems like Anuva and Argentina are in line with the trend for the “value” wine purchasing that so many have headed toward in the last quarter of 2008. Wine connoisseur, enthusiast, novice and newcomer have all appreciated our wines and our service and I am proud to say that we had an excellent 2008.

Anuva just got a great write-up in The Oregonian! (They got a couple of the minor details wrong, but the gist is spot on.)

From Oregon to Argentina and back

“Two years ago, Portland native Daniel Karlin traveled to Argentina and fell in love — twice. His first love is named Lourdes Silvera, and she’s now Karlin’s fiancee. His second love was Argentine wine, and it’s now his baby.

Karlin’s company, called Anuva Vinos, sources small-batch, artisanal Argentine wines that aren’t available in the U.S. and direct-ships them to its members. (Anuva is a mishmash of “Argentina” and uva, which means “grape” in Spanish.) The well-curated monthly picks tend to be heavy on Argentina’s signature red, malbec, followed by lesser-known Argentine as well as international varietals.

If you’ve been reading this column lately, you know that malbec and the white torrontes offer tremendous bang for the buck…”

Check out the rest of the article here.

Three of my favorite people on earth have become Leslie and Mary and Erin. Why? They give of themselves when they feel compelled and ask nothing in return. They have helped me promote the Anuva wine club to a very high degree and have been super accommodating all the while.

Leslie and Mary hosted a tasting at San Francisco Massage Supply (www.sfmassagesupply.com). I was very impressed at the degree to which Leslie’s store provides products for massage therapists in the Bay Area. Being the only retail store dedicated to providing essential oils, massage oils, a vast array of massage tables and chairs really shows how much she is dedicated to supporting the massage therapists in her community.

Leslie is a massage therapist herself and so is Mary. Mary took pity upon my neck and shoulders after the tasting and have me a “tasting” of what she does. Heavenly! I have been lugging around cases of wine for the last 3 weeks and needless to say my traps needed some work. Check out  www.true-massage.com.

Now Erin falls into a more post-modern sort of category with her Namaste Mofo shirts and apparrel (http://www.namastemofo.com/shop/). While it maybe is not as wholly holistic as Leslie’s and Mary’s businesses, I love where Erin is taking her concept. Look for variations on the word “asana” as well.

Hats off to these 3 ladies!

Walking into The Beaumont on 150th last night, I felt at ease with the marble inlay and incredible decor of this gorgeous apartment building. My comfort and Janis’s wonderful ability to host (and project her voice) made this evening quite wonderful and enjoyable for all comers.

Although we did have a sock lady with lights on her ankles leave without trying any wine. Hmm. I got over that in about 3 seconds though, as we did have so many that were really appreciative.

Thankfully, we got an extra hour of sleep too.

Many thanks to Matt and Tatiana for organizing this event in their lovely home.

Lourdes was especially excited to have an even closer view of the Empire State Building which glowed red last night.

We had a full menu to go with the usual smattering of Torrontés, Bonarda, Malbec and other wines. Especially popular was the Mudai Pinot Noir. We found some great cheese combinations with the Bonarda especially. Combining the Bonarda with the brie we decided–after a supremely intellectual discussion of the subject of food/wine combining (”Eat what tastes good”)–brought out a decidedly pronounced black cherry flavor on the palate. A wonderful experience.

Equally wonderful was the dark chocolate with the Don Juan Reserve blend.

All the great food combining brought up the subject of biodynamic wines. We almost got Kelly to show us his biodynamic wine dance that evening, which apparently he may be taking off-Broadway shortly. He declined to comment how far off-Broadway.

First, thank yous to Carlos and Randy, two wonderful gentlemen who have been extremely generous and kind to us here at Anuva.

Last night saw a small gathering of friends and neighbors at Carlos’ house, exemplifying exactly what wine is all about: bringing together good people and good conversation. After getting the rooftop tour from Carlos, which was a delight for Lourdes’ first day ever in NYC, we went downstairs to pour wine. (Said Carlos as we traipsed his Zen styled roof terrace (from left to right in a near 360 degree panorama): “…the Empire State building, the Chrysler building, Mid-town, downtown, Martha Stewart’s house, Calvin Klein’s house, Tom (Brady) and Gizelle’s house. Oh right, and Bono lives there.”)

Besides the Zaino and Cavagnaro Malbec’s, and the Reserve Don Juan which always capture the attention of our crowds, Mayol Bonarda got a lot of “wow’s” and “very nice’s” from our guests. I am convinced that this has to do with the unique nature of the varietal Bonarda in general. It is something that simply doesn’t exist in the U.S. on a broad level. We hope to change this.

The surprise last night was the arrival of Amy. How was I to know that they had invited former faculty from my high school to this gig? After learning that she had switched from teaching English in Portland, OR (my home town), to becoming a professional photographer, we drank wine and continued the festivities.

For all you fans out there here is a blurb that might get you excited. Please feel free to send it to everyone you know-Lindsay Olson of Paradigm Staffing did (For all your PR and marketing needs… Lindsay rocks!):

Dear Friends,

Daniel and his Argentine fiancée Lourdes recently started an exclusive wine club called Anuva that sources limited production wines from Argentina for its members. They will be doing private wine tastings to launch the club in select US cities on the following dates:

• New York City: October 27-November 9
• Los Angeles: November 9-November 27
• Portland, OR: November 27-January 6, 2009

Tastings will be led by Daniel and will be for groups of 6-10 people, 12 max. Each group tasting costs $175 total (not per person) and includes:

• 6 different wines guaranteed to please. All limited production and exclusive.
• The glassware
• Set-up/clean-up
• The witty banter (he does a very good presentation I would say)

A host would need to invite the people, provide the space, and could contribute optional food items. Daniel will consult for this upon request (without charge of course).Larger groups can be accommodated, but please contact Daniel to discuss the particulars or if you have any questions:

Contact:

Daniel Karlin
Founder, Anuva Vinos
email: daniel@anuvavinos.com
phone: 310-601-8279 (U.S. landline in Buenos Aires)

Thanks!

d.

And thank you all for sharing!