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.

Enter the province of San Juan. It’s geographically located just to the North of Mendoza, and is the second largest wine producer to its Southern counterpart. As of last week, it had already produced over 800 million kilos of grapes this year and has over 260 registered wineries. Topping the list of most well known are Callia and Graffigna , the latter of which has been operating in Mendoza for generations and is one of the most recognized names in Argentina wine making.

But in as much as we’re seeing this happen in Sonoma and Willamette Valley and Santa Barbara County, some of the most interesting, lesser-known wines are coming out of San Juan. And now, as the provincial government is supporting wine tourism more, it’s becoming easier and easier to discover these up-and-coming gems. For example, Fincas Rewen, located on the regions Western Wine Route makes an incredible Petit Verdot in addition to a great Reserve Malbec. Finca Morera, located in the Tulum Valley along the Southern Route, follows the tradition of handpicking all of its grapes, and produces an amazing Oak Viognier. Then there’s Bodega Augusta Pulenta, located on the Western Route, is named after one of the brothers in the duo behind Pulenta Estate, one of the most respected names in boutique wine making in Argentina.

To visit region and the great wineries in the area, check out San Juan’s tourism site. Or to get a taste of San Juan, from the comfort of your home in the States, both Fincas Rewen and Morera’s wines are featured in the Anuva Vinos Wine Club.

Check out the program here.

(Photo Source: NPR.org)

Put a Bow on These Bottles
By Lessley Anderson
Wines are chosen by a panel of local experts through blind tastings, and you can reorder anything that you like. It’s a great opportunity to learn about fun regional Argentine varietals other than Malbec, such as the rich, …
http://www.chow.com/wine_and_drinks/6817

(Photo Source: Chow.com)

In fact, not only did Las Perdices win for its Don Juan Reserve Blend as well as Sauvignon Blanc, it was also awarded one of the highest accolades of the event, winning a Double Gold Medal for its Tinamú Blend. Though Anuva Vinos currently doesn’t feature it, it’s coincidentally sitting one of the desks in our offices right now, an artifact from a recent blind taste test for our next shipment.

It’s great to see Argentina garnering more and more recognition not only for the great price-to-quality wines its producing, but also for the sheer high quality of the wines its producing. Salud!

(PS. Don’t be overly shocked if you happened to find the Las Perdices Sauvignon Blanc in one of the next upcoming shipments….)

Photo: Courtesy of MDZ Online

“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!

Various studies both in the US and the UK have already shown how spending practices are getting tigthened and people in bars and restaurants and shops are simply just spending less.

With that said, people like wine and drink it. And will continue to drink it. But they might start changing their choices. This is the moment that, WineSur says, Argentine wines could surge as people begin to realize the Malbec’s great “price-quality ratio.”

Well, this is something we’ve realized for a while now. You don’t have to sell blood to drink great wine, that you can drink a great wine like the Naiara Malbec Reserva 2005 and pay probably half of what you’d pay for a comparable French Bordeaux.

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!

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.