AnuvaBlog

Warm breezes have been sweeping through the city. Singing birds, blooming flowers, Portenos lounging in the parks signify the change in seasons.  I sat outside and watched the sunset for the first time in months and almost welcomed my first mosquito bite with a large SMACK.

The drink selection is crucial. It is officially white wine season. On a hot day nothing beats a crisp fruity cold glass of white wine. We went with  Las Perdices Sauvignon Blanc perfect for fresh dishes like ceviche. https://www.anuvawines.com/wine/sauvignon-blanc/las-perdices-sauvignon-blanc-2006/ Sauvignon Blanc and fresh sea food are two things you might not expect to find in Argentina but which are done very well.

As it turns out Peruvian restaurants are very hip in the city, most are located Abasto. While boutique wineries like Las Perdices devote their production to creating to a wide variety of styles beyond Malbec and Cab Sauvignon. So fill up and drink to the start of a beautiful summer. 

Amelia and Andrew came to us with varying degrees of wine experience.  Both were young, but while Andrew was rather experienced, Amelia was just getting her feet wet in the world of wine.  It was her first wine tasting and she said that she generally preferred white wines, which is commonly how people begin enjoying wine.The shift in appreciation in wine generally goes from whites, to new world reds, to old world reds and beyond.  My personal experience followed this track.My favorite wine two years ago was a dry white from Orvieto (in Italy) which can across the tongue with light fruit, a creamy mid palate before ending in crisp acidity.  I left Orvieto sure that white wines were superior to red, and that the wine world was simply too stuck up in the mysticism of “aging” too realize the truth.Fast forward a few months and I was infatuated with new world style of red wines, specifically Malbec, Shiraz and Zinfandel.  While they had the big taste of reds they did not have the bitterness of heavy tannins or come with flavors like “manure” or “sweaty socks”, instead I could be delighted by their bright fruit and lingering finishes.A few months before I left the state is when I first started to really enjoy the old world style reds.  A tasting with all high quality pinot noirs, and a last night that included a Grand Cru from Burgundy tends to awaken you to the possibilities of good old world wines.  I am not at the stage yet to say I prefer old world reds, but they are growing on me, and I see as my tastes develop and wallet grows that it is a possibility, if not a likelihood.35 years through a time machine and you have my father, who loves wine, but is currently enamored with a specific single malt scotch that while I find barely potable, he swears by its smokiness.This is a normal progression for wine drinkers, and one that Amelia will likely mimic.  The older crowd prefers to believe that it is due to a more experienced palate, which can decipher the complexity in more intense wines.  I prefer to believe that it is due to the dulling of the taste buds as one ages, making older wine consumers in need of more intense tastes.  Whatever the reasons the process can take months, years, work backwards or not progress at all.  Robert Parker, the most well known wine critic in the world, is known to prefer the new world style of reds.  The important part is to realize that your palate is consistently changing and not to completely block yourself off from wine styles that you may like in the future. (guest blog by Stu)

When I read the recent article “How to Engage Millennials” by Kate Lavin from Wines and Vines I had to smile and think of Virginia Tech’s most popular geography professor, Dr. John Boyer.

Every semester 500 students take his wine introductory course. He can usually be found at the local wine shop, The Vintage Cellar giving advice to students or promoting his comic book/text book The Plaid Avenger. With his bright colored plaid jackets and eccentric personality John Boyer does for wine what Bill Nye did for science. 

Most people enter the class knowing a bit about Franzia and maybe a little Gallo rose. By then end of the term most are excited to try new wines and learn more about the subject. Boyer makes wine accessible to an age group the wine industry has neglected.

The article describes consumers who turned 21 around the Millennium and their spending and drinking habits. According to the article Millennials are tech savvy and have a growing interest in wine. We use Facebook, twitter and other social networking sites to learn about many different products.

The wine industry has a great opportunity to reach young consumers by facilitating different social networks like blogging and You Tube. I am all for sparking curiosity in young drinkers to explore wine. However I am leery of shameless advertising aimed to create brand loyalty through the use of loveable mascots.

Some major brands like Fat Bastard, Red Bicycle and Monkey Bay are seeing an increase in sales with this group though internet advertising. Jim Clarke’s article The Millennials Take Centerstage from Wine Review Online, points out that some wine producers take advantage of Millenials’ geographical ignorance and advertise with fetching labels. Could create a generation of drinkers interested in brands rather than terroir?

I’ll admit when I first turned 21 I took my id and bought my first bottle of wine, Toasted Head. I am fond of bears and was struck by the fire breathing beast on their cover. The curiosity was always there to try something new but the wine aisle was intimidating. In a previous post I mentioned that when you first learn about wine you panic and go for a catchy label.

It is a shame that in the US we don’t have much of a wine culture. With a whole world of wine it seems unfair that unless your parents are huge wine nerds or own a liquor shop that you learn about wine. Even then in the US there is no attention given to young drinkers.

It seems most young wine drinkers are curious but also intimidated by wine. The wine industry does not need to dumb-down wine to make it accessible to young drinkers. The goal should be to promote wine as part of everyday life with a focus on wine education. Will the focus on Millennials create an elevated wine culture in the US focused on curiosity and education or transform wine into another empty commodity?

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, the couple behind the “Tastings” column in the Wall Street Journal discuss great value wines, in particularly the Malbec and Torrontés.

Check out the program here.

(Photo Source: NPR.org)

As Thanksgiving approaches later this week, everyone seems to be putting out their must-drink wine list. However, it was really refreshing to see a post on Vinography (one of the more well read wine blogs around) today about how there is no such thing as the perfect wine for Thanksgiving. It may just be the case that all these lists are products of editorial calendar requirements and may actually have very little to do with there being really approrpriate Thanksgiving wines. Alder writes:

“Most people’s Thanksgiving meals, even the most modest of them, are a vast cornucopia of flavors so diverse, contrary, and strong, and people eat them in such different combinations at different times that the idea of finding ‘a’ wine to match with the meal is a ridiculous proposition. “

I have always said that good goes with good well. So as long as you’re sitting down to a good meal with good company (even if that does include cousin Bobby…), then it doesn’t matter if you open something rich, full and oaky like the 2004 Don Juan Reserve Blend or something much more fruit forward and puckering like the 2007 Naiara Malbec as you long as you enjoy it. Or you could open both and decide for yourself which goes better with your turkey and stuffing…

Happy TDay from Anuva Vinos!

While the world market rumble and tumble, wine seems to be getting all the better. So if you’re looking for a place to put that hard earned investment cash, wine just might be a good bet (click here for the full article):

With the stock market as volatile as it is, more and more people are finding that investing in items is preferable to investing in companies. The primary commodities investors look for are art and wine – and those two are doing quite well while many other investments are failing around them.

While world stock markets have foundered, Liv-Ex, the London-based wine exchange, has seen a 40 per cent increase in its index this year.

“More and more people are looking at wine as an asset class, discovering it is uncorrelated to bonds and equities,” said Andrew della Casa, a director at the London-based Wine Investment Fund.

It’s sample tasting time at Anuva, and we had 8 Malbecs yesterday, most from the high desert region of Salta, near the Bolivian border. Unfortunately, we were highly disappointed with yesterdays showing. Most were medicinal (overly so), undeveloped and unexpressive. Some were downright flawed. But this is the process that we so nobly suffer through at Anuva in order to bring you the best of the undiscovered wines of Argentina.

What included at this tasting a group of Chardonnay, that several winemakers/wineries insisted we try and were pleasantly surprised with one in particular. Urraca oaked Chardonnay is one Chardonnay that I might consider putting into the wine club. I always hesitate to put Chardonnay(or Cab-Sav for that matter) into the club as they are two varitals that are produced in enormous quantities in other regions of the world.

But this buttery-as-hell Chardonnay was really quite enjoyable. As full as a white wine can get, with a supple texture and oozing butter aromas and buttery taste (along with some green apple and a nice dancing feel on the palate), we were quite pleased with this wine.

We shall see if it becomes the first Chardonnay varietal to make it into the club.

Such a hideous time in the marketplace has not occurred since the Great Depression. Indeed, many an expert and novice alike predict the likelihood of dire economic conditions. What is interesting is that investment in vintage wine and first growth wine is up.

Could this be a real way to invest your money in a time where every investments seems risky and uncertain? It certainly seems possible.

www.liv-ex.com has a wine market index that includes many of the most historically sought after brands. The index us up 9.5% since the beginning of the year and 7.1% year-on-year. Seems like a good time to invest.

People see the words “Reserve” and “Grand Reserve” printed on wine labels all the time. Anuva also has many wines that are designated with these titles. But what does that really mean?

The only way to really compare a reserve wine to another wine is to compare the wines that one winery makes. For example, one should compare Cavagnaro Malbec to Cavagnaro Reserve Malbec when attempting to discern relative quality. The reason for this is that each winery uses the word reserve in its own way. This term, in fact, is completely overused in the wine industry, as many huge wineries will simply put the word reserve or “Vintner’s Reserve” on every single bottle of the lowest quality wine they produce. This is simply a marketing tactic and in this instance the word reserve means nothing.

Many wineries have now started using the term “grand reserve”, “icon wines” or “flagship wines”to denote their higher level productions because the word reserve by itself is so overused. Another term that has been used often is “cuvée” but this is more of a “special batch” or a particular vat that the winemaker has noticed is superior to the rest of his wine of that vintage. The key again, though, is to compare this to the “normal” wine that that winery produces. If no “normal” counterpart exists that costs less than the “reserve” or “cuvée” of a particular winery, be careful, it’s probably a marketing tactic only.

Originally, however, the term was used to denote wines of special quality that the winemaker would “reserve” for further aging or for a special occasion rather than put directly on the market. The most important part of making any wine is of course, the grapes. Reserve quality grapes must be of lower yield, higher density (in sugars, tannins, acid and polyphenols–i.e. the stuff that makes good wine) than their “introductory line”, “entrance line”, or “classic line” counterparts.

Higher quality grapes are harder to grow and must be managed more carefully. They also make wines that stand up to oak aging better, and thus are usually given more time in oak, new oak especially, since this will add complexity and other favorable characteristics. Many over-oaked wines that are deemed reserve or grand reserve by their makers,  are made with grapes of insufficient quality to stand up to oak and result in wines where one feels like one is chewing on wood instead of drinking a luscious, complex wine.

Another typical characteristic of true reserve wines is that after oak aging they will be left to age in the bottle for sometimes up to several years before being released to the market.

Clearly, the difficulty and rarity in growing/harvesting of higher quality grapes and the costs involved in barreling and aging drive the price of reserve wines up. But remember, price has nothing to do with quality directly. I have tried many a famous wine that costs well above 100 dollars retail that has not only disappointed me, but come in behind wines that cost 1/3 of the price in blind tastings.

Needless to say that the king of determining wine quality, ultimately, is you and you alone. Ignoring what the label says and doing blind tastings is the only true way to determine your preferences. So compare the classics to the reserves to the grand reserves to the cuvées  and see what you find.

As many of you may have read in the news last week, Wine Spectator has gotten caught with their pants down a bit. Pretty much at their ankles.

Robin Goldstein, author of The Wine Trials–a book that critiques the wine industry’s own methods of wine criticism, publicity, ratings, advertising and pricing–sent in an entry to apply for Wine Spectator’s “award for excellence” for restaurants and his Osteria L’Intrepido restaurant in Milan, Italy won.

The enormous, gargantuan problem with this, however, is that his restaurant does not exist. Oops!

Besides the obvious problem of not doing their homework–and perhaps worse than giving an award to a restaurant that doesn’t exist–is the fact that Wine Spectator itself had berated many of the wines that Goldstein put on his phantom list. I quote the Chicago Tribune article: “[the wine list includes the] 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe S. Sofia, which the magazine once likened to ‘paint thinner and nail varnish.’” Another wine that was included on the list was described by Wine Spectator as “earthy, swampy, gamy, harsh and tannic. ” So not only does Wine Spectator give out bogus awards, but they give awards to wines lists that include wines for which they have given terrible reviews. Oops squared.

As if that weren’t enough, Wine Spectator charges each applicant a $250 fee to “apply” for the award. They get roughly 4500 applicants per year. Let’s do the math: 4500 x 250 = 1.125 million dollars.

So let me get this straight, ostensibly the most prestigious, auspicious and well-known wine publication in the world not only gives out awards to entities that do not exist but they clearly do not check to see if those entities carry products that they have already declared in print to be inferior, flawed or distasteful and at the same time they make millions of dollars doing it?

What is unnerving to me is that our new publicist and I wanted desperately to find a way to put our product into WS. How can I now, as the sole full-time defender of my product, consciously make the decision to go after publicity in WS? The answer is that I cannot.