Known as “the black wine of Cahors” for its inky character, Cahors wines had their heyday in the early 14th century when production was high and half of it was exported. Then, rivalry with downriver Bordeaux led to taxes and levies that severely crimped exports and thus renown.

The marketing campaign today exclaims, “Cahors is back, Cahors is black, Cahors is Malbec!”

Hitching the Cahors wagon on to Malbec train is easy to understand. The grape has experienced sharp growth in popularity over the past few years. But Malbec has also become the signature grape of Argentina, which has almost three-quarters of the world’s Malbec plantings and is stylistically and literally oceans apart from Cahors.

So I wonder if the folks from Cahors are setting expectations incorrectly since Malbec is often understood to be big, soft, and gentle (a Bloomberg story suggested it was “stealing” Merlot sales). Those are not terms usually used to describe the wines of Cahors, which, though some can be charming and surprisingly age-worthy, can have fearsome tannins and acidity. In fact, in my book, A Year of Wine, I suggest trying a Malbec from Argentina and “black wine” of Cahors as a way to understanding the term “rustic.”

I brought a couple of Malbecs to a late summer grill-fest at some friends’ house, bagged them and poured them blind. The two wines were the Clos la Coutale 2007 for about $11–a firm but somewhat modern Cahors–and the Bodegas Salentein for about $19–not the most over-the-top Malbec form Mendoza. Generally speaking, I described the Cahors style as having higher tannins, less fruit, lower alcohol and more “rustic” and the Argentine style as having more fruit, higher alcohol, and generally a plusher feel. Although the assembled group was able to nail each for what it was, they were divided on which they liked better, particularly with the grilled meats, which improved the Coutale for those who favored the Salentein.

Maybe the new slogan should emphasize food? “Cahors Malbec: meat, your match.”

In other news, a friend who has consumed many Argentine Malbecs over the past couple of years recently admitted to getting bored with them. So maybe Cahors should just play the Cahors card in case the seeds of a Malbec backlash are germinating?

What are you most worried about this fall?

Well, a few things. The high-end market has been very weak. So I’m worried about our Burgundy promotion. The 06s are really delicious wines but of course more expensive than the 05s and there is a good amount of 05 in the market.

Another thing I’d be worried about is price deflation. We importers have been taking it in the neck with the weak dollar, obviously, and I wonder if the market is going to be asking for big discounts because they see the uplift in the exchange rate. The market is going to yell when the prices go up but ya know, they’re not really happy about it. You’re never really increasing your prices enough to cover, really. But see prices going down—my guess is that’s going to happen in January. If the exchange rates hold, you’re going to start to see discounts. You have prices going down, you have a weak economy, what’s the result of that going to be? And of course being in New York where Wall Street is a big part of the overall business, I think that reverts back to my original point about the high end, which has been weak all year.

What are you most excited about this year?
The stronger dollar! I would be very excited by a stronger dollar.

Are you locking it in?
To a certain degree, yes, such as my allocation of Cotes du Rhone or Chateauneuf du Pape, such as Paul Autard. We’re looking to set prices early in the year, lock it in, and make up a few dollars that we lost. So that’s important. I think we’re going to see these exchange rates through the end of the year because there’s talk about interest rates going up. I’m very excited by us, as a company, getting much stronger in Greek wines where we’re doing importation directly. We’ve added a new winery, which had been in the market already but is new to our portfolio, Kir-Yianni, one of the top top top players in Greek wine. So that I am very excited about.

And I’m just excited to have some wine in stock! This summer across the board has been the summer from hell for shipping. I don’t know if you’ve heard much about this but there were strikes in Argentina, Italy, and France. It’s gotten very little play in the news—I do not know why. These ports were shut down. Normally we ship wine out of Le Havre in France but we had to have it trans-shipped out of Antwerp, Belgium at great expense. We had a container that left Greece and then went by way of Romania, you know, up in the Black Sea! Crazy stuff! People had no rosé this summer! Crazy stuff! So I’m just happy to have wine in the warehouse. That’s a good thing. It’s been really rough this summer.

And Greek wine—tell me why you’re excited about wines from Greece?
For many reasons. As an area, I’m always excited by places that have autochthonous—there’s a word for you!—varieties, something distinctive. Some people bring up South African wines, but there’s nothing to get excited about from there. Ooh another Chardonnay! When you go to a place that has distinct varieties, that has distinct terroirs, what’s not to be excited by. That’s what got me excited about Hungary and Argentina. For me personally, as an importer and distributor, that got me excited.

And then there’s what’s going on with Greek wine making. It’s very exciting. They’re not making the oxidized wines any more. They’re really spending money on technology—technology can be a good thing, properly, it’s not all new oak chips. It’s temperature controls! It’s non-oxidized wine. But the number one reason I’m excited about them is because they fit the flavor profile of what we want today. Wines with not a lot of oak, good acidity, flavorful—that’s why we love sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. To me those are the futrues of wine profiles—not that they are going to taste like sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, but these wines have the profile of the wines—the attack, the finish, the acidity, the oak regimen. Good fruit, clean bright flavors, lively, food friendly, they fit our market perfectly. They have a great story to tell.

Rosé—summer wine or all year wine?
We have been selling rosé all year round. I’m happy that the rosé revolution happened on the other hand, I’m less happy since I’ve been a touter of rose since day one, we can sell rose every year, and now everyone’s got rose! There are so many roses in the market now. We have certain roses, one from Argentina and a cabernet franc from Chinon in the Loire—those are perfectly geared for year-round selling—and we sell them year round! Obviously it is a big push until the summer, but we sell them year round. It’s really happening.

As an importer and a distributor I try to strategize: this is a rose that will be selling in summer; this is one that will sell in winter. which kind will sell when. [A winter rose] is a Malbec, cabernet franc, they have more mouthfeel, a little more richness; they’re almost like red wine….Any time there’s a boom, whether it’s from Argentina or it’s rose, there’s a lot of crap. I find that there are a lot of roses that don’t understand roses! Someone heard roses are happening! So we need one! But they’re gloppy and they’re sweet. To me the bar is set in Provence. Like it or not–it’s kind of like French cooking. You don’t have to cook like a Frenchman, but that’s where it starts! At least for Western cuisine. It’s the benchmark and you take it from there. It’s like that for rose. Beautiful fruit, delicious acidity, goes well with so many foods—rose is definitely becoming all year round. And it’s a great trend! At the beginning I had two roses, then we added another one—now we have 21 roses!

Matthew Cain, regional sales director for fine wine importer Kermit Lynch for nine years, will be importing the wine through his new company, J. Soif. “Over a period of time I came to the realization that the wine business just doesn’t work,” he told me in a telephone interview last week. “Eighty percent of wine is drunk within a week. It doesn’t make sense to put nine liters of wine in a 40 pound box and ship it thousands of miles.”

So Cain, 38, looked to TetraPak. In other countries, he noted, “people are using alternative packaging to bring down the cost of wine. It’s not just for poor wine but for good wine. Here in the US, it’s only been used as a gimmick.” He added about his wine, “I’ve been in the fine wine trade my entire life and I have no interest in bad wine.”

Explaining his motivation, Cain said that he has seen wine prices go up, transportation prices go up, and that made him want to “bring a great wine to the market at a reasonable price.” His interest in environmental issues and research on this site about wine’s carbon footprint pushed him to make a sustainable wine from beginning to end.

Used his contacts in the fine wine business, he went to Argentina to find a producer growing certified organic grapes. The grapes were destined for bottled wine, not bulk wine, but Cain bought them. Instead of bottling the wine in Mendoza, he put them in a 24,000 liter flexitank. The wine was trucked over the Andes, loaded onto a ship on the Chilean coast, then shipped through the Panama canal and up to Montreal below deck in an insulated container (but not refrigerated). There it was trucked to Toronto where the TetraPak packaging material was waiting. Click on the map to the right to see the route.

The facility in Toronto is also certified organic. The wine is put in the one liter boxes that weigh 40 grams each (compared to 500 – 750g for a bottle) and loaded onto a truck for a warehouse in New Jersey. The total amount of wine will be about 10,000 nine-liter cases.

Using my carbon calculator, I ran the numbers on this wine, called “Yellow + Blue” (makes green–get it?). I figure that each 750 ml of Yellow + Blue Malbec has about half the greenhouse gas emissions of a conventional bottle of wine from Argentina that followed the same route.

The price will follow a similar discount: Yellow + Blue will sell for $10.99 in stores and Cain suggests that the same wine in bottle would sell for about $20. But Yellow + Blue, weighing in at one liter, holds a third more wine than a regular bottle. I look forward to trying it. Are you?

find this wine (release about May 1)

In this vein, I offer you my visual tasting note for the Colome Malbec 2005 from Salta, Argentina (find this wine).

Where was the small man with the big hat? Or was it a big man with a small hat–and even bigger vines?

I stopped by the Cavas Wine Lodge in Mendoza, Argentina last spring after it had just opened. Proprietor Cecilia Diaz was showing us around the new lodges interspersed among the vines with breathtaking views of the Andes. This guy rode out and started doing his thing but posed for me to take a picture. Cecilia said that he had worked there forever so they kept him on when they bought the property and gave him a new bike. And, no, he wasn’t very tall, in fact.

Nice guess, Luiz, with Zuccardi in Mendoza! In fact, I took another photo of Jose Zuccardi gesticulating wildly under his similar trellis system. They grow them vines big there!

It was a wide range of guesses that emerged in the comments including: Golan Heights; Bekka, Lebanon; Brazil; Rias Baixas, Spain; Greece; Portugal; California; the Swan and Barossa Valleys of Australia; Thailand; and “the outback region of Mukwonago, Wisconsin” (thanks, Gary!).

There were good captions for the photo too, including “Frodo Baggins better destroy that damn ring or I’m going to be making wine for that sulky serpent Saruman!”

So without further ado, thanks to a roll of the dice at random.org, the winner of The Emperor of Wine is: Philippe Newlin! Congratulations, Philippe! And thanks to all for the participation and humor.

You can read more on my trip to Argentina. And send in a photo if you’d like to stump us the next time.

SPIT: Blind tastings
Eric Asimov writes “maybe as wine drinkers we’re all a little more grown up now and don’t need to taste blind all the time.” Indeed! Three cheers wine evaluation without numbers! [The Pour]

SIPPED: Gringo vino
Are Americans finally heading to Argentina to make wine? Fortune Small Business found a few. I hope they read my article from January about the pitfalls! [Fortune SB]

SIPPED: Bambino vino
Gabriella writes up her experience taking 55 elementary school kids on a winery tour in Spain. Could this ever take place if it were in America? [Catavino]

SIPPED: green wine
Whole Foods rolls out an “organically grown” wine in a tetra prisma! [Seattle dbusiness]

SIPPED: merlot
The grape, spit in Sideways, will get it’s own defense on the silver screen with a new documentary. Key question: will anyone notice?

SPIT: The greenback
The US dollar falls to 15 year lows. Say hello to more expensive imported wine–and wine travel overseas!

(Photo credit: Fair use is made here of a reduced-size crop from a larger image in Business 2.0 attributed to Michael Kelley)

Last week I had the chance to taste with Jay Miller, Ph.D., whose duties include vast swathes of the wine world ranging from Australasia to Iberia to the Pacific Northwest. I met with him to taste wines of Argentina. Dr. Jay and Dr. Vino, mano a mano. Or at least Riedel a Riedel.

I didn’t have to travel to Monkton, Maryland. The setting was actually the Argentine Consulate in midtown Manhattan. I walked into the palatial room, which must have been 40 x 25 w 12 ft ceilings, complete with friezes. On one side, Jay Miller was seated at a table with two settings. On the other side were hundreds of wine bottles, even more hundreds of Riedel glasses, and a small flock of people to pour.

Miller paused in his tasting and rose to greet me. A place had been set for me to his right. I had no idea it would be just the two of us. I arrived at 10:05 for the 10 AM tasting (I figured that was on time–if not early–in Argentina) but he had already almost tasted his way across the northern region of Salta, which specializes in the white grape torrontes.

The helpers traversed the room bringing two samples for him and me at a time. They brought the bottles over and placed them in front of him for his inspection. There was a notebook with information importers and retail price on the table. The PR woman who coordinated the tasting then launched into a freewheeling disquisition about the winery. We then would taste the wines, often going from chardonnay to malbec, sometimes via rose and syrah only to start with the pinot noir from the next winery.

After an hour and a half of this ping-ponging of wine styles, I had to inquire why the PR agent had set up the tasting like this instead of by stylistic flights. She said that she wanted “to show each winery’s DNA.” She asked how I would have done it and I said I would have organized it by style, tasting some whites, roses, entry-level malbecs followed by mid-level malbecs and so on. I turned to Jay Miller to ask if this was how he normally tasted. He said this is how he tastes “since it’s easier to write up by producer afterwards.” Case closed. Back to the sauvignon blanc-syrah roller coaster.

At one point the an Economic Affairs official at the consulate–who also did a stint pouring–rushed in holding his Blackberry in his outstretched hand. “Dr. Meeller–do you know Clarin? It’s the most important paper in Argentina. In fact, one of the most important newspapers in the world. I have a journalist here from them and she would like to speak to you about the wines of Argentina.”

Jay Miller took the call. He praised Argentina for having different wines in the face of an obvious grilling about the inevitable comparisons with Chile, pointing out the distinctiveness of malbec, bonarda and torrontes (who knew he liked whites?!).

Anyway, on our tasting went for three hours. At one point I lamented the quantity of wines and he replied “well when you’ve been working for Bob Parker for 25 years, you’re used to it.”

He did not offer in what capacity this was although he only started as a critic last fall. He actually holds PhD in psychology and was a clinical psychologist from 1973 – 1998 (”by the end of it, 2/3 of my work was filling out forms,” he said, implying he left out of boredom). He said he started a side career in the wine biz in the mid 80s working, first for a retailer and then a wholesaler, eventually opening his own shop, Bin 604, which he said he has sold (though the web site still sports some goofy pictures of him). He also mentioned being a former partner in some Baltimore restaurants.

It’s not my intention here to scoop his scores–the newsletter with his scores and write-ups will appear in late August. But I report on this since I had little idea about the specifics of how tastings happen at the influential Wine Advocate. I didn’t know they were organized by producers or their agents. I didn’t know they were not tasted blind and were tasted by winery, not style. And I was surprised at how we basically had no discussion about the wines themselves, essentially having our own separate, parallel tastings. Maybe that’s because he didn’t know me but it could also be that it’s uncomfortable to talk about the wines in presence of the third party PR person, even if she did repeatedly ask for Miller’s instant evaluation.

I’ll have something more to say about the wines in future postings. But I will leave you with one seasonal pick: Alta Vista, rose de malbec, 2006, which has pleasant acidity, notes of rose petals and red berries, and a delicate balance. And for $12 (find this wine), it’s one to stock in your cooler on the deck this summer. Whether or not it gets 95 points from the Wine Advocate, is anybody’s guess–and you won’t find out until the end of rose season anyway.

The wine’s oversized bottle complemented the flavor profile perfectly since the bottle weighed about as much empty as a regular bottle full. I pity the wine store clerk who has to lift a case of it.

The heavy bottle took a long, meandering route to get to me in New York City. Starting out at the winery in Mendoza, Argentina, the wine’s American importer trucked it over the Andes to the port of San Antonio in Chile. There it loaded a boat and went to Oakland, CA. From there it came across country by truck to me in New York.

That’s a lot of carbon used to bring me this bottle of vino. But is it too much? At least the heavy bottle didn’t come by plane, which would have really jacked the petroleum per ounce of wine.

I was intrigued to read in the SF Chronicle that several restaurants have stopped serving (imported) bottled water because it is deemed too carbon inefficient.

Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma prompted many eaters to think about the “carbon footprint” of their food and consider locally produced foods. Does that translate for you to your wine consumption?

The key issue for me is ease of substitution. I may be able to get water from local sources, but I can’t get any malbec locally. A tough call. Perhaps any eco guilt could be assuaged by buying carbon offsets?

Related:
“Local tap water bubbles up in restaurants” [SF Chronicle]
“Carbon neutral is hip, but is it green?” [NYT]

The participants were Susana Balbo in Argentina, Italian wine importer Gregory Smolik in Chicago, and the small shop Big Nose Full Body in Brooklyn’s Park Slope.

The reason I bring this up now is twofold. First, I have just transfered all the pieces over to this new site, posted to their original dates. You can find the lead-off piece here. And thanks to the new categories function, you can find all the pieces under The Real Wine World. The pieces now have space for your comments!

Second, I thought I should bring closure to the project. Everyone got busy and the project didn’t make it the whole year. Susana Balbo had further demands on her time as she became president of the Wines of Argentina trade association. Gregory Smolik’s career as an independent importer of boutique wines from Italy came to an end but he now brings his passion and knowledge to his new job at the importer Domaine Select. Big Nose Full Body is still lubricating the palates of Park Slopers with free tastings on Saturday afternoons and 15% case discounts every day.

Who knows, maybe we’ll try for a second season of the Real Wine World sometime?!

Have you ever thought about how wineries use the internet to market wine? Or why sports fans are asking for “mas vino” instead of a nice cold one? Or whether Costco will make the three-tier system crumble? Then fire up your iTunes and listen to the most recent installment of “Unfiltered,” a podcast hosted by Tim Elliot of Winecast. I joined four others to taste wine and chew the fat. Oh no wait, since we were in four different time zones and connected via Skype, there was no imbibing (at least collectively), just talking.

tags: wine | argentina | podcast

When I was in Argentina earlier this year, I tried some of the local bubbly. Moet controls the Argentine market for bubbly through its local subsidiary. In fact, their local label has risen to a level of brand awareness on par with Kleenex and Xerox. Instead of asking for a glass of “champagne” Argentines mostly ask for a glass of “Chandon.”

The sparkling wines made at the Mendoza Chandon winery serve many Latin American markets but don’t ever go north of Panama. Domaine Chandon in Napa provides American domestic sparklers to the US market alongside the Champagne brands in the LVMH portfolio such as Moet, Veuve Clicquot, and Krug.

In Argentina, Pascual Toso plays the Avis of the bubbly market to Moet’s Hertz. This family-owned company has been making wine since 1880 and now provides something like five percent of the bubbly to the Argentine domestic market. But unlike Chandon Argentina, which you would have to go there to taste, Toso brut is exported to the US. It is a blanc des blancs made of chardonnay and chenin blanc. If you’re looking for a bargain bubbly, to stock for a large party or simply for a break on the budget, the Toso retails for between $6-8 in the US (find this wine). Light in color, with notes of yeasty brioche, it’s some farmer fizz that will add bubbles to your budget.

tags: wine | bubbly | LVMH

On my trip to Mendoza earlier this year, one of the most exciting wineries I visited was the Clos de los Siete project. Seven French investors, including many wine making families such as Rothschild (Lafite) and Cuvelier (Poyferré) joined forces under the teutalage of Michel Rolland, the “flying winemaker” par excellence who is also a stakeholder. They bought a vast plot of 850 heactares (over 2000 acres) in the Val de Uco at the base of the Andes and planted a small sea of vines, mostly malbec.

Each of the families either makes or will make their own wine but collectively they pool some grapes to make the Clos de los Siete wine, available for about $15 (Find this wine). This 2003 is mostly malbec but also includes some cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and some syrah (!).

Against this wine, I poured blind the 2002 Clos la Coutale, which I bought in NYC for about $12 (Find this wine). From Cahors, the Clos La Coutale, a blend of mostly malbec with a little merlot and cab franc, is imported to the US by Kermit Lynch.

One wine exploded with rich aromas and flavors of violets, blackberries and tobacco from the glass. It had a round, soft complex mouthfeel and a good finish. The second wine was inky dark in color, and had a much more truncated flavor range with a certain tartness on the finish.

After the unveiling, wine #1 was the Clos de los Siete and wine #2 was the Cahors.

Although the malbec from Mendoza showed better that evening, a note of caution is necessary because of the 15 percent alcohol stated on the label. It’s big. The complexity would probably make a great BBQ wine for those tired of zinfandel.

This wine reminded me of a Cadillac Escalade: it’s fun to take it for a spin once, but who wants to own it and pay the gas bill? Drink too much of this one and you may be paying for it the next day.

* * * * *

Now in France, I found a bottle of the Clos la Coutale 2003 and tried it. The bottle showed much better–more full-bodied, more round, more complex, and even “bigger.” Pity I couldn’t taste this much better vintage against the Clos de los Siete. Especially since I got it for 7 euros ($8.90). Ah well, I’ll throw it in a future malbec match-up with some more wines from the two regions.

tags: wine | malbec | wine tasting

tags: wine | tasting notes | malbec

The other day a friend poured me some $6 Borsao, a wine that I discovered several years ago as a go-to value. Well, move over Borsao, here comes something meatier. A phenomenal value, this Sorbus displays the depth that a cab-malbec blend can give and has that same, crowd pleasing “ah” of the Ruca Malen Yauquen. I found it at PJ’s Wine in Manhattan for the bargain price of $5.97. This is one to buy by the case! Importer: Mediterranean Wine Co, Dover, NJ.

tags: wine | tasting notes

“…words came readily enough to sum up the tasting — two-dimensional, narrow-gauge, simple. Nothing wrong with those words, but not very many thrills among them.”

Chilling stuff for the traveler to Malbec Country! I didn’t really understand what “two-dimensional” meant but it certainly sounded like damning with faint praise. When I was on the ground, I put the question to Manuel Louzada, winemaker at Domaine Chandon. His reply came with a sketch on his tasting mat, which I attempted to recreate here:

Essentially he said he could understand such a criticism because Malbec has a good attack and very good midpalate while it trails off at the finish. (If you think an attack is a military or a soccer term you’d be right; in wine tasting it also means how the wine tastes when it first enters your mouth—besides wet).

The other various arcs show the profile of other grapes. Tempranillo (blue, above) has a good attack, weaker midpalate, and a strong finish. Cabernet (red) has a similar arc he suggested but not quite as much on the attack. Syrah (yellow) has a broad midpalate but is kind of weak on the attack and the finish. Pinot Noir (green) has a finish that goes on and on—when done right.

This explains why some of the most expensive wines from the region are blends. The $70 Cheval des Andes 2003 (find this wine), perhaps my favorite of the big boy “grand cru” wines I tasted in Mendoza, is a blend of Malbec and Cab to give it a full style. Paul Hobbs added 5 percent Cab to his $100 Magadalena Toso (find this wine). And the $85 Nicolas Catena Zapata 2002 (find this wine) is a 72-28 blend of Cab and Malbec. This makes sense since Malbec has traditionally been a blender in Bordeaux and the Loire. Looking at the graphic above, a blend of the red and the black lines hits all the highs.

“The force of the Cabernet is softened by the Malbec,” José Galante winemaker at Catena said. “We make the best wine that we can in the Nicolás Catena Zapata.”

The various vineyard sites also have different tasting arcs for the same variety Galante said (see my notes on tasting Menodoza’s terroir). He works to blend those and give the single varietal wines more heft and character.

But what about Malbec on its own? “Malbec is sexy, it seduces,” said Manuel Louzada of Chandon. Indeed, this traditional backup singer is ready for a starring role. The prolonged growing season for the grapes in this high desert, which can have 50 percent more growing days than cool Bordeaux, makes the tannins in the Malbecs from Mendoza sweet and approachable. For white wine fans who object to the dryness or mouth-chomping tannins in Cabernet, reach for a Malbec from Argentina and you will not only have a wine that is easy on the palate but also easy on the wallet. If Malbec wines are two-dimensional, then the world is flat.