Fun and Informative Virtual Tasting with Bodegas Caro!

September 25, 2020 by evebushman

I’m a fan of Malbec wines, and because of that I’m definitely a fan of Argentinian Malbecs. Either a 100% Malbec or a Bordeaux blend – the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon – are among my favorites. In the tasting below I enjoyed Malbec and Malbec Cab blends that ranged in price from $15 to $65, and liked them all. And, for Bodegas Caro, they will soon have another Bordeaux grape that may enter the mix in the future, and that is my current favorite varietal: Cabernet Franc. Color me happy. Let me share the details with you, from the invitation, the tasting and what we learned:

Invitation and Tasting (my notes are in italics below each wine listed)

Please join us for a special virtual tasting led by Philippe Rolet, Estate Manager of Bodegas Caro…in 2019 Philippe Rolet became Estate Manager for CARO, a partnership between Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) and the Catena family dating from 1999. Situated in the heart of the Mendoza region in Argentina, Bodegas CARO’s ambition has been to produce a unique range of wines that would combine two cultures, French and Argentine, two grape varieties, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, and the expertise of both families. Together, we will taste the following:

Aruma 2018 $15 – A pure Malbec made from a blend of grapes from the best terroirs in the Mendoza region. “ARUMA” means “night” in the language of the Quechua, the native Indian population of the Mendoza region. The name suggests the deep darkness of the nights in the Andes and the very pure mountain air: the wines have the same rich, authentic character as their terroir. (EB: 91 points on the 2017 from James Suckling and 90 on the same vintage from Decanter. This $16 sipper was my favorite in the tasting. The nose was rich and velvety smooth with dark ripe plums. On the palate I also got a LOT of spice that was balanced with blue to black fruit. I thought it tasted much older than a 2018. Rolet suggested serving it slightly chilled, with or without food.)

Amancaya 2017 $20 – Amancaya, like its older brother, presents a harmonious balance between the Argentine and Bordeaux styles. The wine is more fruity due to the higher percentage of Malbec and shorter ageing. The word AMANCAYA is the native Indian name of a flower found at high altitudes in the Andes in the Mendoza area. (EB: Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve Red Blend. This 2017 vintage was awarded 93 points from James Suckling. Lots of barnyard when I first opened the wine, which most quickly blew off, made it interesting. Lots of earthiness, brambly, grilled mushroom and oak all on the nose. Tasting the wine I found it a little brighter than the Aruma 100% Malbec, very clean and not as spicy. Rolet said this one came from a cold and dry vintage, pair with rack of lamb and to stay tuned for a new label. The name Amancaya refers to a flower grown in the region, that is also known as the “engagement flower” a young man would present to his intended during a proposal.)

CARO 2017 $65 – CARO, from Catena and Rothschild, has a strong Argentine identity, characterized by the Malbec grape, which is given further elegance and complexity through blending with Cabernet Sauvignon. The combination produces a voluptuous, refined wine with a harmonious balance between the wine’s Argentinian identity and its Bordeaux style. (EB: The 2015 was awarded 92 points from Wine Spectator and the 2014 got 95 points from James Suckling. Rolet said this was a limited production wine, comes from “specific sub divisions of terroir”, and since they don’t make it every year it’s scarce. I found a beautiful nose filled with lots of dark fruit, spice, tobacco and dark chocolate. Drawn in for a taste I got a rich spicy mouthfeel and that same luscious dark fruit. Rolet said it was also from a cold and dry vintage. The wine is known in the market as very elegant. This vintage spent 14 months in oak barrels, Rolet commented that it was very layered; he recommended that it be decanted – I didn’t decant. 2000 was the last vintage they made and he said the wine could age 20 years.)

My Takeaways from Estate Manager Philippe Rolet

Rolet, with decades of wine experience under his belt – that took him from Switzerland to Chablis to Chile – we learned that he now has 25 years of experience in Argentina alone. He explained that the winery was built in 1884, has underground cellars and, due to Covid-19 is not yet open to the public. During our Zoom session Rolet let the camera roam around in the winery’s “Cultural Center” that was home to many Mendoza-based painters and sculptors. (This is definitely a winery to visit as soon as it’s safe to do so. We are currently missing their snowfall and world renowned skiing.)

Most of their wine is sold between September and December, they have no plans to make a white wine as the terroir isn’t there for it. As far as the Cab Franc I mentioned in my intro, Rolet said that they have been interested in cultivating it for a long time in Argentina – ten years. They only have about two acres and plan to add two to four percent Cab Franc in a future vintage of their Amancaya.

IG @ Taub Family Selections

Wines are distributed by Southern Wine and Spirits in Southern California.

Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits.

The Lodge at Torrey Pines to Debut Beyond the Cellar: A Spring Collectors Tasting

April 2, 2020 by evebushman

LA JOLLA, CALIF. (PRWEB) – Winemakers and owners from some of the most exclusive California wineries will travel down the coast to The Lodge at Torrey Pines for its inaugural Beyond the Cellar: A Spring Collectors Tasting. The AAA Five Diamond La Jolla resort will host the wine tasting and purchasing event Friday, May 8, 2020 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. There are a limited number of tickets available for this exclusive event. Tickets are priced at $150 per person and can be purchased online at lodgetorreypines.com/beyond-the-cellar.

Riding off the success and model of The Lodge’s annual culinary festival, Celebrate the Craft, Beyond the Cellar is an event geared toward wine aficionados and collectors. Winemakers and winery owners will have the opportunity to showcase some of their rare and high-end vintages that are not readily available to the general public. Wholesale pricing of featured wines will range from $100 to over $1,000 per bottle and attendees will have the opportunity to purchase wine through the attending wineries, at retail value. The majority of the bottles available for purchase cannot be found in stores or ordered online.

Curated by The Lodge’s Advanced Sommelier Paul Krikorian, Beyond the Cellar will feature highly coveted wines and experts from Napa Valley wineries including Nickel & Nickel and Far Niente, Continuum Estate, Pulido-Walker, Spottswoode, Ramey Wine Cellars, Paul Hobbs, Flora Springs, Ovid, Lewis Cellars, Morlet Family Vineyards, Staglin Family Vineyard, Hundred Acre, Mirror, and Abacus by ZD Wines. Each featured wine will be poured by either the winemaker, owner or spokesperson, providing guests with an exclusive one-on-one guided tasting. Krikorian, along with other sommeliers, will be available throughout the event to provide expert insight and advice to attendees.

Wine tastings will be accompanied by artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, handcrafted chocolates, passed hors d’oeuvres, live entertainment by a jazz guitarist and a champagne greeting. Along with bottles and barrels from the wineries, guests will also have the chance to purchase fine glassware from Riedel, the premier wineglass and decanter manufacturer. Additionally, Riedel will provide guests with a surprise takeaway gift.

Guests interested in extending their Beyond the Cellar experience can also reserve a room package starting at $719 per night, which includes two tickets to the event.

About The Lodge at Torrey Pines:
The Lodge at Torrey Pines is an AAA Five Diamond award-winning property offering views of the world renowned Torrey Pines Golf Course and the Pacific Ocean. Guests of The Lodge can take advantage of the near perfect weather while hiking the Torrey Pines State Reserve, golfing on Torrey Pines Golf Course or relaxing at the spa. The Lodge pays tribute to the California Craftsman Movement and is modeled after Greene and Greene’s famed Gamble and Blacker houses in Pasadena, California, two of the finest examples of early 1900s Craftsman-style architecture. The Lodge features 170 spacious guest rooms and suites, a 9,500 square-foot full-service spa and two restaurants serving contemporary California cuisine. The Lodge is owned and operated by Evans Hotels and is in proximity to the San Diego International Airport, downtown San Diego and downtown La Jolla. The Lodge is located 11480 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. For reservations, call (858) 453-4420 or visit http://www.lodgetorreypines.com.

The Art of Toasting Moutai From China

October 11, 2019 by evebushman

Camus is delighted to invite you to a dynamic culture event to learn and experience the Chinese way of toasting and fine dining, with the iconic spirit Moutai and one of its kind Baccarat crystal drink set. Dress code: Elegant with a touch of red.

Well this was a new one for me. Never heard of the Chinese spirit Moutai or used the Baccarat crystal drink set. Intrigued by the idea of learning how to properly toast with a Chinese spirit, I was ready to learn. But first what is Moutai? From Wikipedia: Maotai or Moutai is a brand of baijiu, a distilled Chinese liquor, made in the town of Maotai in China’s Guizhou province. Produced by the state-owned Kweichow Moutai Company, the beverage is distilled from fermented sorghum and now comes in several different varieties. From the box: Made “only in small quantities” yearly, this “small batch blend” is “available only in the finest duty-free shops around the world.” 53% alcohol.

In the course of the evening (photos here) we tasted the spirit in two cocktails and on its own, both the Moutai Small Batch Blend ($275) and the Moutai Legendary China Collection Edition Li Bai ($375). This second edition “honors Li Bai (701-762) regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific poets of the Tang dynasty.”

But, before I get too ahead of myself, before the first cocktail we were entertained by a Chinese calligraphy artist, then before the first sip of Moutai on its own, we were told and shown the proper way to toast with Moutai and told that “in China we greet with spirits, with meaning and with gravity – to the future…Moutai is always considered the national symbol of China” and all Chinese enjoy toasting special occasions with Moutai.

To toast the spirit is poured at room temperature into a tiny glass “invented by Moutai” and then some simple rules are to be followed: Always fill to the rim, hold with both hands to toast each other, the person who wants to show respect to the host, for seniority or to ladies is to bring their glass lower than the person extending the toast. This last part can be quite fun as people will go down to the ground to get their glass lower than their esteemed friend. Then, more rules included “never leave a comrade’s glass empty” so you must help them to fill it. Never drink alone at dinner. If you are toasted then you must toast in return. Don’t toast before the host toasts – who may toast to each table in the room. Then, and only then, it’s fair game to toast more people. The Li Bai edition was served with small Baccarat red crystal decanters into small round matching crystal glasses.

For me, always the student, after noting all of the rules in toasting I settled in to smell and taste both levels of Moutai. I got strong umami notes, soy sauce, salinity, grilled mushroom and maybe a hint of the terracotta vats the spirit had rested in before bottling.

After that first sip we enjoyed a multi-course Chinese influenced dinner, while listening to different musicians and watching a cultural dance. By the end of the evening, and several more toasts of Moutai – for those that had drivers – I believe everyone attending walked away with not only more knowledge about the Chinese spirit, but an appreciation for Moutai and what China brings to the proverbial global table.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate Announces New Reviewers and Increased Coverage for 2018

December 4, 2017 by evebushman

Napa, California – Robert Parker Wine Advocate and RobertParker.com, the world’s most widely read independent consumers’ guide to fine wine, announces the appointment of William Kelley, who will join the reviewer team on January 1, covering the regions of Burgundy, Chablis, Beaujolais, California Central Coast and Washington State.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Castiglione Falletto, as photographed by Monica Larner.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate Castiglione Falletto, as photographed by our own Monica Larner.

During his time at Oxford University, studying history at St. John’s College, Kelley served for four years as the president of the Oxford University Wine Circle, the world’s oldest tasting group of its kind. In addition to tastings with the Old World’s greatest producers, he brought many of California’s most celebrated and exciting wineries to Oxford for the first time. Kelley cut his teeth as a taster on many of the great wines of Burgundy of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, providing him with a grounding in the classics. Having worked harvests in California and Burgundy, Kelley noted, “I feel my first-hand experiences further inform my writing and criticism with a deeper understanding of viticulture and winemaking.” A former correspondent for the wines of Burgundy for the UK’s Decanter magazine and a contributor for The Robb Report and Noble Rot, William was short-listed for the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer of the Year Award. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to be assuming this position as a critic for the world’s foremost fine wine guide,” commented Kelley. “To stand alongside the world’s greatest wine critics, led by Robert Parker, is truly an honor and a milestone for me.”

Robert Parker Wine Advocate is equally excited to announce that the coverage of Bordeaux for The Wine Advocate will be assumed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. A Master of Wine with more than 25 years’ experience working in the UK, Japan, Singapore and USA wine industries, Perrotti-Brown brings incredible experience, knowledge and expertise to The Wine Advocate’s reviews of the wines of Bordeaux. “Both as a longstanding lover of the wines of Bordeaux and as a professional who spent the first half of my career devoted to professionally selling, marketing and purchasing Bordeaux wines, taking on the coverage of this incredible region is without doubt the most exciting moment of my wine journey.”

Robert Parker Wine Advocate’s Editor-in-Chief Perrotti-Brown went on to comment, “In 2018, Robert Parker Wine Advocate will be dedicating even more energy and resources to increasing our coverage of wines from throughout the world. Not only will we be producing more tasting notes and articles than ever before, we will be producing them with even greater frequency and timeliness.”

Robert Parker Wine Advocate is currently the most comprehensive wine review publication in the world, with more than 350,000 tasting notes in its database, housed by their seminal wine reviews website, RobertParker.com. “We are in discussions now with hand-selected wine experts from across the globe to add to our current team of nine reviewers next year, expanding upon what is already the largest team of full-time reviewers of any of the major wine criticism publications,” said Perrotti-Brown. Currently producing over 30,000 reviews per year, Robert Parker’s reviewer team aims to produce more than 50,000 reviews per year by 2020. News about the other new reviewers to join the Robert Parker Wine Advocate team will be released in early 2018.

“As our coverage and reviewer team expand, it is increasingly our duty to our readers to make certain that we offer consistent ratings across the many voices and perspectives offered by our team of experts,” Perrotti-Brown added. “With the appointment of Joe Czerwinski as our Managing Editor earlier this year, together we will be implementing a rigorous editorial oversight system to ensure scoring consistency across our team.”

While remaining the foremost “Independent Consumer’s Guide to Fine Wine” is the core of Robert Parker Wine Advocate, the publication and team of experts will also look to step up wine consumer engagement by staging more wine events in the year to come. Highlights in the first quarter of 2018 will include iconic Burgundy dinners in Hong Kong and Rio di Janeiro, featuring rare gems such as Domaines Coche-Dury, Dujac, Raveneau and Ramonet, and another blockbuster two-day event in Zurich. Full details will soon be available on the Matter of Taste website, www.a-matter-of-taste.com.

About Robert Parker Wine Advocate

For more than 39 years, The Wine Advocate, and later RobertParker.com, have been the global leader and independent consumer’s guide to fine wine. The brand was established by the internationally recognized Robert M. Parker, Jr., the only critic in any field to receive the highest Presidential honor from three countries – France, Italy and Spain. Robert Parker Wine Advocate provides a wealth of information to its subscribers, including a searchable database of more than 300,000 professional wine ratings and reviews, in addition to articles, videos, daily news content, online retail availability and pricing, an active, professionally moderated bulletin board, a mobile app for easy access to the comprehensive online database of reviews, and much more. For more information, visit www.RobertParker.com.