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Monthly Archives: April 2013
Mourvèdre Monday #30, Double-Feature: Vinavanti Mourvèdre & Rosé
Vinavanti is an urban winery in San Diego whose Black Label wines emphasize a natural winemaking approach. Knowing my interest in Mourvèdre-based wines, Eric Van Drunen was kind enough to provide two bottles as samples for review. Both the 2011 Mourvèdre and Clara Rosé, sourced from nearby Temecula Valley, are hand-picked, native-fermentation, unfined/unfiltered, no sulfite wines. Au naturel, mes amis.
Let’s see what’s up.
Vinavanti 2011 Mourvèdre Temecula Valley (Summit Vineyard)
Nearly 100% Mourvèdre, with a little Grenache and Syrah
Dried fruit character — cherries and plums — infused with sweet tobacco. The flavors are rich and full, if a bit murky. Plump and weighty in the mouth with an impressively long finish, leaving a pleasant sense of coffee.
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Vinavanti 2011 Clara Rosé Temecula Valley
50% Mourvèdre / 50% Grenache
An intriguingly smoky nose leads to a lively palate that manages to hint at berries, melon and citrus all at once. It all rides atop a lovely combed-cotton-textured mouthfeel, finishing dry and reasonably long. Very nice.
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I enjoyed getting to try these Temecula wines, my first Mourvèdre wines from this appellation as far as I can remember. I especially dug the Clara Rosé, a wine I’d happily enjoy through our long Texas summers.
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Check out the Vinavanti website to see their full range of wines (which includes one other Mourvèdre-based wine, a GSM) as well as house wines available in refillable one liter bottles.
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Note: These wines were provided as samples for review.
Khal Drogo Says: Keep Calm And Drink Mourvèdre
It’s nice having Khal Drogo on #TeamMourvedre!
This wonderful image comes from the people behind Game of Rhones (why didn’t I think of that name!), a Rhone-focused wine event in Melbourne, Australia. Check out the website; they’re really all-in with the Game of Thrones theme. Oh, and the wine sounds awesome, too. I only wish I wasn’t on the other side of the world.
Hidden message? If you look closely, you can see the word “Hodor” just to the right of Drogo’s face. We’ll take Hodor on #TeamMourvedre, too.
House VINEgeek: We Drink Only Interesting Wine
In preparation for Game of Thrones Episode 2 tonight, here’s my sigil for House VINEgeek:
Make your own at JoinTheRealm.com
Mourvèdre Roundup: March 2013
Your monthly roundup of Mourvèdre-related interestingness from the interwebs circa March 2013.
- Last month’s roundup led off with a jealosy-stoking post about a major Domaine Tempier tasting, so let’s start March’s roundup with @ErinBScala‘s post on a vertical tasting of Hewitson’s Old Garden Mourvèdre, from the first vintage (1998) through the latest barrel sample (2012). If you don’t know, the Old Garden vineyard, in the Barossa Valley, contains the world’s oldest known Mourvèdre vines. In other words, holy ground. My post on the 2005 (her favorite of the tasting) here.
- March also saw the 16th Annual Rhone Rangers Weekend Celebration of American Rhones in San Francisco. One of these years, I’ll have to make it to this event. One of this year’s seminars, moderated by @jbonne, was Mourvedre, A Rising Star in the World of American Rhones, described thusly:
Mourvedre has taken center stage in many California Rhone strongholds, long since having outgrown its traditional role as a blending grape that brings structure and ageability to wines based Grenache. To show that Mourvedre is ready for its renaissance, seven Rhone Rangers winemakers will present their candidates for Mourvedre in a leading role: 2012 TERCERO Rosé (presented by Larry Schaffer), 2010 HOLLY’S HILL Petit Patriarche (presented by Josh Bendick), 2010 DAVID GIRARD Mourvedre (presented by Mari Wells), 2010 FOLIN CELLARS Mourvedre (presented by Rob Folin), 2009 KENNETH VOLK Mourvedre (presented by Ken Volk), 2010 VILLA CREEK “Damas Noir” (presented by Cris Cherry), and 2012 TABLAS CREEK “Vin de Paille Sacrerouge” Dessert Wine (presented by Jason Haas).
- Artisans of Barossa reminded us that the name Mataro still holds sway in Australia. (And reminded me that I’ve got to find a way to get my hands on more varietal Mourvèdre/Mataro from Australia here in the U.S.)
- In March, I discovered even more nooks and crannies of the wine world where Mourvèdre wine is made, including Tunisia, Greece, and Mexico.
- A funny exchange on Twitter about the World Sommelier Competition where the winner mistook a Jumilla Monastrell for an Italian Cannonau in the blind tasting portion. Includes this winning tweet:
@TomokoKuriyama Cannonau/garnacha resembles monastrell/mourvèdre like a cow resembles a horse… Oh well.
— Victor de la Serna E (@VictordelaSerna) March 29, 2013
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If you come across any Mourvèdre goodness, let me know and I’ll probably link to it.
Drink Mour Mourvèdre!
Still Life with Randall Grahm, MacBook Pro & Bonny Doon 2011 Clos de Gilroy
Bonny Doon Vineyard’s 2011 Clos de Gilroy is made from grapes not quite right for BDV’s top bottling, Le Cigare Volant (clos but no cigare, as Randall like to say).
83% grenache
7% cinsault
6% syrah
4% mourvèdre
from various locales around the Central Coast AVA
I love the freshness of this wine. It’s got lifted aromatics calling to mind exotic spices and red fruit, and a brightness and life on the palate that makes it highly quaffable. (I know “quaffable” can sometimes be a backhanded compliment, but I mean it in an exclusively positive way, as in I’d happily drink this all night.) A style of wine I wish was more common. You should definitely try this wine. Highly Recommended.
Lists at $18/bottle, but available for under $15 via several sources online.
Mourvèdre Monday #29: Merum 2009
A quick-hit #MourvedreMonday wine…
.Merum 2009 Monastrell – Jumilla
Dried cherry, raspberry, mossy earthiness and dried flowers. Rich, but with good acidity. This tasty and interesting little Jumilla is 85% Monastrell and 15% Syrah and well worth the $10.50 I paid for it. Grab a bottle if you come across it and let me know what you think.