TNs: Expanding horizons just a little bit

[Michael Malinoski]

My wife invited another couple over for dinner recently, and we learned they had just started exploring wine through some executive seminars and such. We were having Indian food and the request came down for me to open some moderately off-beat wines for their education that might still work well with the food. So, I headed down to the cellar and this is what I came up with. Some pairings turned out to be more successful than others, but it was all fun.

2013 Bodegas Muga Rioja Blanco. This is pretty on the nose, giving off gentle aromas of cantaloupe, orange blossoms and light tropical bits. It’s light to medium-weighted, a bit waxy-textured, but generally clean, bright and full of pear, grapefruit, pineapple and sour crabapple fruit on the palate. It’s refreshing, maybe a bit too tangy with some of the starter cheeses, but otherwise possessing a nice easy-going summery feel with plenty of piquant flavor.

2012 Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Côtes du Rhône Blanc Au Bon Puits. This is soft and round on the nose, with fragrant aromas of honeysuckle, melon and peach pit. It’s surprisingly concentrated on the palate, with pithy, almost oily density and flow. It delivers very nice flavors of peach, melon, rosewater and crushed stones in a virile and driven package, but with soft edges and an approachable feel. This was well-liked.

2012 Il Censo Praruar Terre Siciliane IGT. An orange wine from Sicily made from 100% Catarratto grapes may have been pushing the experiment a bit far, but why not? This wine is a cloudy dark orange and amber in color, and it presents rather fleshy aromas of blood orange, raspberry, cranberry, apricot and honey that have some moderately wild angles but nothing too crazy. In the mouth, I’m expecting something with more edginess to its personality, but it’s actually fairly controlled, tight and dry in character. Still, it has some fun, airy flavors of cooked pineapples, apricots, cranberry, dried flowers and copper penny that are pretty unique but just a bit too much on the surface at this point. Give this one some time.

2013 Couly-Dutheil Chinon Rosé Domaine René Couly. This is fun and quite inviting on the nose, giving off juicy aromas of pink grapefruit, strawberry, pomegranate, minerals and stone. On the palate, it’s juicy, outgoing and nicely citric under the strawberry and cherry fruit flavors. It’s mouthwatering and refreshing, with good weight and all around solid stuffing. This is a delicious Cabernet Franc rosé that works really well for my tastes.

2012 Jacques Puffeney Poulsard Arbois. This is quite pale and cloudy in appearance, presenting a stony but effusive bouquet of granite, white pepper, pomegranates, cranberries, dried cherries, pressed red flowers, mushrooms, chalk dust and pencil shavings. In the mouth, it’s airy and light-weighted, but still very nicely concentrated with sour cherry, cranberry, licorice rope and strawberry flavors. It feels perfectly at ease with itself, unfolding gently with poise and effortless balance. It’s tasty, classy, effortless to drink, and was the best pairing of all the wines with the Indian cuisine.

2011 Larcherhof St. Magdalener Classico Alto Adige - Südtirol. This is pretty rustic on the nose, showing smoky, peppery aromas of grilled herbs, charred wood, tobacco leaf, black cherry fruit and a bit of black olive and rubber underneath it all. It’s thankfully much friendlier in the mouth, with round and almost plush flavors of red currants, raspberries and cracked pepper. It’s well-toned, fleshy and tinged with interesting herbal elements all the way through to the lightly tannic finish. It gets better throughout the course of the evening, and in the end performs rather well, I’d say.

All in all, I think it was a successful evening of expanding horizons just a bit. There weren’t any wines that were outright disliked, thankfully, and the Puffeney in particular was a big hit. Next time, I’ll have to dip into the reeeally geeky stuff for these guys!


-Michael

[Nicklasss]

I also had a Couly-Dutheil rosé onçe, and liked it very much.

Nic

[DavidG]

OK, Michael, knowing how broad your vinous horizons are already, when I opened this thread and began to read "My wife invited another couple over," I began to wonder if what was to follow would be wine tasting notes. Nice ones, BTW.

[Michael Malinoski]

Hah ha!! No, I'm sure there are plenty of other types of bulletin boards I can frequent if I want to go down that road, David!