Issue XL: Juan Gil 12 Meses [Monastrell] Edition

Juan Gil 12 Meses [Monastrell]

A couple things in order on this one. First is the “meses” part of this. “Meses” translates to months and is used here to denote how long the wine was aged in French barrels prior to being bottles. The second is the varietal itself. While not specifically mentioned, rather there is some indication Jumilla, which is a wine region of Spain, is in the name, the grape used is Monastrell, which is growing in popularity there. This is one of the best parts of the HSC, at least from my perspective, a chance for me, in the name of this column, to experience grapes I would never have dreamt of and certainly never tasted otherwise.

This particular grape is a very dark, dense one, which produces wine both high in alcohol, but also notable for its very earthy aspects, dark violet color and a certain fullness to the body. This is yet another of the so-called “heavy grapes”, which show up in the list. There’s quite a lot going on here, from aspects of smoke, leather and toastiness to a very smooth mouth feel (trying to find the alcohol here, despite its relatively high content, can be a bit of a chore) to some very rich fruit flavors that are at once reminiscent, yet difficult to pin down as they seem to shift a bit between sips. That busy of a wine can be a bit off-setting and this is not one of my wife’s favorites, yet I will happily and contentedly churn through a bottle, marveling at the differences.

It rather defies comparison to a Syrah, lacking the characteristic sweetness there and while a bit similar in heaviness to the other full-bodies types, namely the big bad Cabs and the Zins, it has a completely different taste and mouth feel. It is not, however, easy-going in that if you’re going to get into this one, it’s a bit of a commitment. It’s not there to be idly consumed; it’s there to be experienced. Its heaviness also plays into that and it does not do well as a light, casual wine. It is, perhaps all in all, that one wine that makes you wish you had a fireplace if you don’t already and that the fireplace was lit and roaring and you in front of it, if you do.

Given that Standards have a bit of touch and go, namely that if my wife isn’t a fan, it generally can’t be a Standard, unless I want to slug and plug through a bottle solo (not averse to the idea, but she can get a little weird if I do…), it’s best to confine that to wines we both can enjoy and it’s not enough that I’d choose to make a stand over it. I’ve never seen it on SPA and it’s relatively high price point also work against it there, so, for all those factors, it comes in at a Mixed, albeit a highly enjoyable one.

Issue XXXIX: Terra-Barossa Shiraz Edition

Terra-Barossa Shiraz

Let us, as they say, start at the start...Barossa refers to a specific geographic locale, which houses the vineyard producing this wine. As we know by now, Shiraz is the Australian name for Syrah. As I was talking a bit last week about my favorite region of wine, I thought I might take a minute for some metrics of the full HSC list, including ones that are now discontinued, just to get a glimpse at where the numbers statistically are falling. Feel free to skip the next 3 paragraphs if you don’t care about such things, but I do have a point to this…sort of.

As of this writing, [Editors Note: the date this installment was written was 01/25/15: several of these numbers have changed considerably since then, however, for the sake of posterity, let the verbosity continue] of the 62 wines currently on the list, California, as a wine-producing region, is by far the most well-represented, with 24 of the entries, or ~39%. However, it is worth noting that they have by far the largest selection in the various liquor and wine stores, do not face strict import laws and tend to be overall the least expensive, which gives them huge advantages in this regard. The next closest, Italy and France, both tied at 9 each, both have a fraction of the selection and have little opportunity to change that, as I’ve already gone through all of the French wines that meet the price criteria for the list and almost all of the Italian ones. The least well-represented on this list, conversely, is a 5-way tie with Austria, Germany, Portugal, Chile and Argentina all having 1 slot each on the list. So, we don’t have anything telling there. Greater opportunity results in greater numerical results and doesn’t accurately reflect my personal preference, that being the Italian wines, though California is admittedly a closer and closer overall second. There are more metrics to analyze here, but I’ll defer in favor of the meta-analysis.

As to ratings, to further cloud the issue, we have the ratings, which are the Standard, Mixed and SPA-Only. Refer back to the first couple posts for what they mean respectively. The entire HSC list is intended that one can simply buy any wine on it and enjoy a good quality wine and/or value, but the Standards are ones that price ceases to be a consideration, which makes them sort of the crème de la crème, whereas conversely SPA-Only means that price is the main consideration. As of this, my 39^th posting to the HSC blog, taking out the whites, which are not rated, we have a pool of 35. Of those, 11 are standards, which is right around 31 percent. In that 11, 2 are dessert wines, which I’m throwing out.  9 remain and California again leads the charge with 4 and Blends represent type best with 5.

From there, we next look at types of wines. Discounting the cooking whites, the dessert wines, including champagne and the non-grape wines, such as mead and sake, we have a pool then of 51. Of this shallower pool, we have “Blend” showing up 16 times or ~31% of the time. Next closest does not reach double digits, with Bordeaux, Syrah and Pinot Noir showing up 4 times each. The lowest is not worth mentioning. In light of those overwhelming numbers, when countries represented ceases to largely matter, it would be foolish for me to say that anything other than Blends was my overall favorite type of wine, as it is represented right across the board in the presence of any statistically significant numbers.

When we go to single varietals, though, we can see some different shapes emerging. Bordeaux was far and away my former favorite. However, I definitely enjoy a great Pinot Noir as well, but for some time, Syrah has done a great job of nudging itself into the slot as my all-around favorite. Yes, I certainly harbor strong fondness for the Nero d’Avola as well, but the wonderful Syrah has resonated well with me and if I had to pick one that was the best of all possible worlds, it would be hard for me to look past it.

Australia was, for quite some time, most prominent with this grape and this wine is a wonderful example of that grape, robust, a bit toothy, solid, with plenty of depth and that wonderful mouth feel and flavor that is a hallmark to me of this varietal, when done right, of course. This one is a bit softer and has a longer finish than some of the others, but this just provides further evidence to the potential complexity of that truly special grape.

Price on this one gets a bit into the upper ranges of the HSC cap and I’ve not ever seen it on SPA. While I like it, it’s not of sufficient measure to deem it a Standard, thus is comes in at a Mixed.

Issue XXXVIII: Bogle Essential Red Edition

Bogle Essential Red [Blend]

In many ways, this wine sort of sums up what the HSC is all about. You have here a very moderately priced wine that would be fine to take or bring nearly anywhere. It is not really an ultra-cheapie, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be out of place with wines costing much more, say 4 or 5 times the cost of this one, maybe even more. It is Blend and that blend is of some of the heavier ones, Syrah, old-vine Zin, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah, yet it does not drink that way at all.

This should be a somewhat aggressive and heavy wine, yet, while not quite light, the body is not imposing at all. The taste is something far more fruity. In fact, if someone asked me for an example of fruit-forward, this would be among my short list to choose. There is a decent depth to this as well, but it is balanced and structured extremely well and holds that nearly all the way through, one of the beauties of wine, I’d say, in that it doesn’t require constant agitation to keep all the elements in play. I’m not sure if stunning is too strong of a word to use for this one, but it is both spectacular and delicious.

This goes a long way to sort of bring to the fore that a blend, when done right, is nearly always competition for my favorite type of wine. It’s been quite a while now that I make it a habit to check the blend area of my favorite wine store in Salt Lake in the hopes I’m rewarded by gems such as this, which more than makes up for the more frequently misfires. Much of the HSC testing and drinking is frequently done to sort of establish favorites. My favorite region, by quite a margin, is the southern part of Italy, though California, with entries like this, keeps on banging my door, perhaps to remind me that while other parts of the world may be more famous, California can more than hold its own in terms of quality. Quite simply, some of the best wines in the world are made within the bounds of the United States and they produce wine just as good as – and frequently better than – anyone else on the planet.

This one I’ve never seen on SPA, but it is relatively new to the shelves, so that could change. It is low-priced enough at $12 or so that I wouldn’t ever hesitate to pick up a bottle, making it a Standard. It’s also one of the few I’m semi-interested in storing, just to see the complexions of it change and any of those wines I’ve mentioned tend to be good for racking. Then again, though, it is aged, so that strategy may not work. It is certainly one that is eminently drinkable now.