Specifically Guillermo Garcia LaMadrid. His winery, named LaMadrid has gotten quite a bit of press lately for being a very quality forward winery. I had been recommended to try some of his stuff. Work has not been kind to my desire to write and drink lately. In truth, I have been drinking wine, just not much worthy of writing about. In a blog dedicated to finding good deals on wine writing about bad wine seems counter productive. Maybe not, sometimes it is fun just to write about what I notice. I participated in a blind tasting last week which featured wines from both Italy and South Africa. I nailed 4 of 5 of the Italians wines blind, but mistook all the South Africans for South American wines. I did pick out the varietal on 2 of the 5 wines, mistaking Chenin Blanc for Albarino and Pinotage for Grenache. This was a pretty good result all things considered for me, I really feel like my blind tasting is coming along. I thought to myself this would be a great time to brush up on some South American wines to re-familiarize myself with their terroir and traits.
With South American Cabernet I look for that bit of green bell pepper along with the tannic structure when tasting blind. I noticed some of that greenness anlong with black pepper and clove. Then I began to pick up on it’s meatiness. It had a chewy smoky texture like smoked pork BBQ, and finished with a hint of cinnamon. It had all the big Cabernet features, the cassis and leather notes with blackberry. At one point I said it reminded me of chocolate milk with its rich smooth texture. I kept noticing how unctuous and juicy this was. Seriously, as I am going over my notes it reads like a thesaurus. This is really good juice. It is exactly what you want out of new world Cabernet. It is the iron fist in a velvet glove, a great balance of power and smoothness. I really think this may have been slightly blended with Syrah, not that that is a bad thing. It just seems that this type of concentration and body in 100% Cabernet is a rarity. Tell me what you all think; I value the feedback and all your opinions. Definitely pick this wine up, at $15 grab a bunch. This is a great keep it around wine that really over delivers. This is better than many $50 bottles. Trust me on this one, you will not be sorry.
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