AnuvaBlog

It is always a pleasure to sit down with someone who makes such intelligent comments about the business of wine, winemaking, wine sales and so forth. That was my conversation today with Hernan Cortegoso of Bodega Serrera. They make a killer Torrontes that I wrote about a little while ago along with a lovely Malbec and Bonarda in their medium price range, and a fantastic Gran Guarda Malbec that is a spectacular concoction of layers of chocolate, ripe black cherry, clove, tobacco and a hint of pepper on the finish. Lovely and long this wine has a 10 year life expectancy and just keeps getting better.

With 3 different “fincas” (small farm: it can refer to any small agricultural operation) amounting to about 100 hectares of planted vineyard, Cortegoso–who is also an agricultural engineer–spends most of his time tending to the vines. This is where the true winemaking is done, he says.

www.anuvawines.com

We began the Anuva video project with a visit to Bodegas Sin Fin and Carlos Caselles the owner. I usually beg not to have any wine poured during business meetings and the like, as I find it distracting to both the meeting and the tasting of new wine. But I could not resist, as at the same time, having the wine there for the camera also looked very good.

When he poured the Sin Fin Guarda Malbec, I took in the aroma and was immediately brought back to one of my first wine tasting experiences in Argentina with one of our sommelier consultants, Leandro Martinez. Sweet vanilla extract along with red berry aromas and a hint of baking spices jumped out at me and in the mouth, the ripe fruit lingered long and velvety.

My disappointment came when I realized that I would have to spit out the wine, since it was my first meeting of the day, and much business needed to be discussed, and footage shot.

Looks like we’re off to a great start here in Mendoza and I hope to share some great video footage of the wineries and their key players very soon.

In recent weeks, I have been astounded by the impact that food has on wine and that wine has on food. On the airplane ride back to Buenos Aires, I was lucky enough to sit in business class where there were 6 wines on the menu, none of which I had tried. Port never tasted so good as when I had it with a simple scoop of chocolate ice cream. The Pinot Noir complimented the salmon quite well, but nothing really burst. The Chablis, while really remarkable on its own, didn’t really go well with the green bean and tomato salad.

And so while the general theme of food combining is like with like, one never really knows what exact food will make a wine pop, or what exact wine will make a food pop. Looking for the pop is a new found passion of mine because not only do I find it extremely pleasurable to experience citrus burst when combining a celery-fennel-grapefruit confiture salad with Anecon Torrontés, I find the hunt for and discussion about the possibilities fascinating.

We are going to be doing several internal food and wine combining tastings to determine what exactly will work with our foods best. And I mean exactly. Not “red meat” or “aged cheese”. I want to be able to say “braised pork belly with 78% dark chocolate mole over cornmeal spaeztle” (we served this with the Cavagnaro Malbec at one of our internal tastings and I nearly fainted it was so good). That is what makes me excited about what I do these days, the search for perfection. And the oohs and ahhs and empty plates at the end of the correct combination.

Stay tuned, dear readers, for more on this subject in the coming months.

Pork bellies are not the most commonly eaten food in America. Mostly because we are not used to eating such a large quantity of fat–obvious fat–on our cuts of meat. We are trained to cut off the fat.

The luscious and aggressive tannins in the Cavagnaro Malbec, though, make it the perfect wine to go with such a fatty meat. The grease of the pork belly, coating your mouth with a succulent swine flavor, washes completely away with the tannin of this Malbec leaving  a slightly smokey aftertaste.

I personally had never been a fat of such fatty cuts of meat before trying this, but it certainly worked for me. I hope that you are all out there experimenting with new food and wine combinations and get lucky like I did. Learn by doing!

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.

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!

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.

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.