AnuvaBlog

Thanks Akasha and Kelly so much for having us over.

It was a birthday party atmosphere last night with much discussion about how we select our wines and how we import them.  Anecon Torrontés seemed to be the early favorite but it was surpassed by Mudai Pinot Noir and the Don Juan Reserve.

We sang happy birthday toward the end as I quickly though over the idea of wine pairings with the cupcakes that were present. What goes with pink frosting over vanilla cake?

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.

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.

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!

It floors me the extent to which rule enforcers do not know the rules that they are supposed to be enforcing. A recent article in the Seattle Times talks about how visitors to wine country wanted to bring back wines with them to enjoy in their home, a very common thing to desire.

I will not bore you with a summary of the article itself, but I will offer the following commentary: the fact that both the agent for the TSA and the superior figure/manager for the TSA were totally unaware of the regulations that they were supposed to be enforcing not only causes real monetary losses for the consumer but the wine industry and the airlines themselves. If people hear horror stories about not being able to bring wine back from a visit to wine coutry 2 things happen:

1. Less people will be likely to go to wine country because they will assume that they cannot bring with them the souvenir and product that they are going to explore. This results in less people traveling which means that they airlines lose money.

2. Less people going to wine country represents an indirect loss of business for the wine industry in addition to the fact that people will assume they can only take 6 bottles with them (in reality there is no limit for wine (or spirited beverages under 24% alcohol content) but there is a weight limit that is determined by the AIRLINE not the TSA. This can be gotten around by simply paying more) and will thus only buy 6, and not 12 or 24. Another loss for the industry.

We must get away from our post-prohibition ways of protecting distributors and preventing free trade. It does nothing but hurt the consumer and the producer. I would also argue that it hurts the distributor as they lose the brand awareness generated through online sales and direct shipping. Free the Grapes!

The “Vinos y Bodegas 2008″ fair was this last weekend here in Buenos Aires and many a person turned out. One of the things that always amazes me about the vast majority of Argentine bodegas (wineries) is how few of them do any blending. All of them have a Malbec and most have Cabernet, Syrah, Chardonnay, Merlot and maybe some Bonarda, Torrontés, Pinot Noir, Tannat, Sauvignon Blanc, or other varietals, but they sell them only as that: varietals.

Certainly varietals make for great wines and also play to that genre categorization feature that people tend to like in their products (i.e. knowing what they are going to get), but it leaves out the possibility for more personalized “winemaker” wines. I love it when you get a wine like Don Juan where the winemaker explains to you how many iterations he went through in determining the 70/11/10/9 split of Malbec/Syrah/Bonarda/Merlot. This is what makes great wine.

I think that for starting out and for understanding each of the varietals and how typicity works, that single varietal wines are fine. More than fine. Many are great. I would have to say that blends often take the best aspects of many wines that a winery or winemaker does and brings them together to form a masterpiece.

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.