Behind the Cork™ - Alto de la Bellena Reserva

2018 Alto de la Bellena Reserva ($24)

Nine miles away from the Atlantic Ocean, Alto de la Ballena is a small winery producing high-end wines from over 20 acres of vineyards in Uruguay. Starting vine plantations on a slope of Sierra de la Ballena (“Whale Hills”) in 2001, the estate opened new trends in wine growing by combining maritime climate, hills and rocky soils.

This Alto de la Bellena is a blend of 85% Tannat and 15% Viognier. Yes, it’s a blend of red wine and white wine. It is common to use Viognier as a blending wine to enhance the color, add floral aromas, and provide a silkier mouthfeel. The Viognier was fermented separately in barrels and its skins were co-fermented with the Tannat. The finished wines were then blended and aged for nine months in American oak.

This wine is deep ruby in color with aromas of plum and black cherry. On the palate, this full-bodied wine has jammy flavors of black fruit, medium-high tannin and acidity and a bit of tartness on the finish.

This Alto de la Bellena red blend is yet another great example of the fine wines being produced in Uruguay and a great fit as this week’s Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Alto de la Bellena Winery via Creative Palate Communications

Fun Fact - How to Reset Your Sense of Smell When Wine Tasting

While our tongue is only able to detect five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory), our nose is capable of detecting millions of different aromas. And that’s how we enjoy all the wonderful “flavors” that food and drinks have to offer.

When wine tasting, one of the Five S’s is smell.  You place the wine glass directly under your nose and inhale deeply. This can allow you to get a very quick idea of what the wine will taste like and you may even detect some of the wine’s fruit and herbal aromas. But after just a couple of sniffs, your nose tends to become less sensitive to further sniffs of the same aromas.

One way wineries and wine tasting rooms will address this issue is to re-set your olfactory system by having you smell a small container of coffee beans.  This shifts the receptors in your nose and brain to something completely different. That way, when you sniff your next wine, your sense of smell is reset and once again heightened.

But you may not always have coffee beans with you when you are tasting wines. The one thing that you always have with you is your arm. And it can come in very handy when wanting to reset your nose. Just take a quick sniff of your bare arm, right in the crease of your elbow (preferably while not wearing any scented lotions, sunscreen or other scented products). This quickly resets your nose and allows you to get back to smelling the intricate wine aromas.

So, try this quick trick next time you are wine tasting to experience all the wonderful aromas that wines have to offer. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Bouza Monte Vide Eu Red Blend

2019 Bouza Monte Vide Eu Red Blend ($67)

Red-blend wines are some of the best in the world.

This is a red blend from Bouza, is produced in the southern region of Montevideo in Uruguay. The name, Monte Vide Eu, loosely translates to “I see a hill” which is attributed to a sailor on expedition with Ferdinand Magellan upon seeing hills in southern Uruguay (today’s region of Montevideo).

This red blend is produced with 50% Tannat, 30% Merlot and 20% Tempranillo. The three varietals were aged separately between 9 and 16 months, depending on the plot, in French and American oak barrels.

This Bouza Monte Vide Eu red blend is deep ruby in color with aromas of cherry and plum. On the palate, this full-bodied wine has rich black fruit flavors, medium tannin and acidity, to go along with wonderful complexity and a nice lingering finish.

This is an excellent example of wines being produced in Uruguay with their signature grape, Tannat, as perfect as the Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Bodega Bouza via Creative Palate Communications

Ever Wonder? Why Do Wine Makers Produce Blended Wines?

In years past in the U.S., red wine blends were sold by the jug as "Red Wine" or "Table Wine."  These were inexpensive wines that were blends of grapes, vineyards or even vintages. This history has led to some people believing that blends are of lesser-quality than just pure varietals.

But we only need to look to France, home of some of the world’s best wines, to see that blends of high quality are very common.  France's famous region of Bordeaux produces red blends almost exclusively.  Depending on which bank the wine is from in Bordeaux, it will be a different blend. The Left Bank is known for its blends based on Cabernet Sauvignon while the Right Bank blends are Merlot based. These blends may also include Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec.

Other famous regions known for their blends include the Rhône Valley that uses Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre and the so-called Super Tuscans from Italy that may include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and others.

The main reason that winemakers produce blends is to make the best wine possible. Blending different grape varieties is useful in accentuating a particular grape's virtues. But winemakers have also learned never to blend an inferior wine with a good wine because the result is usually an inferior wine. Again, the goal is to produce a wine that is actually better than the sum of its parts. And blending allows for wines that are well balanced and complex in their aromas, flavors, colors and textures. The blended grapes can add layers of flavor that will change through the process of taking the first sip, letting it sit on your tongue and then as you swallow.

Another thing you may not realize is that most wines labeled in the U.S. as single varietals are actually blends.  The laws state that for a wine to be labeled as a single varietal, it must contain at least 75% of the noted grape. But that leaves the other 25% for the winemaker to be creative and generally to blend in other grapes that results in their best possible wine.

So don't turn up your nose at red wine blends.  These can actually be some of the best wines in the world. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Bodegones Del Sur Cabernet Franc

2020 Bodegones Del Sur Cabernet Franc ($20)

In Uruguay, Bodegones literally translates as “still lifes,” pictorial compositions that represent foodstuffs and daily objects where wine always has a privileged place. Del Sur mean “from the south.”

This Bodegones Del Sur Cabernet Franc is produced in Uruguay’s Juanicó region which is just north of Montevideo in southern Uruguay. And, just as a reminder, Cabernet Franc is the parent grape of both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon!

After a pre-selection of the grape clusters in the vineyard, a further grape-by-grape selection is then done at the winery. To extract all the desirable compounds from the grapes, maceration precedes as well as follows the fermentation with selected yeasts. Finally, 30% of the wine ages in American and French oak barrels.

This Bodegones Del Sur Cabernet Franc is medium purple in color with aromas of red fruit, raspberries and herbs. On the palate it is medium-bodied with medium tannin and medium-high acidity. It has red fruit and cherry flavors with just a hint of tartness. This is a young wine that could probably use a bit more time in the bottle to fully develop. (note: this wine was decanted for 30 minutes prior to serving).

The wines of Uruguay, including this Bodegones Del Sur Cabernet Franc, are great values that fit right in as a Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Juanico.com and Creative Palate Communications