With my dinner last night of sauteed fresh garbanzos and heirloom tomato, I tried:
1. Vina Casas del Bosque Syrah Reserve CasablancaVlly/Chile (EB; 13%; new Fr.barriques for 12 months; "elegant', "cold-climate") 2005: Very dark color; rather earthy/dusty bit reduced/sewer gas/Kansas outhouse peppery/spicy slight Rhonish rather interesting nose; quite sour/earthy/dusty rather charred/burnt/oak/ashtray slight sewer gas/Kansas outhouse slight peppery/spicy fairly tannic/hard flavor; med.long hard/tannic/austere very earthy quite sour charred/burnt/ashtray/oak finish; rather interesting nose but quite unpleasant on the palate because of the hard tannins and sourness; a real paucity of fruit; like a low-brow SouthAfrica Pinotage; overpriced at $28.00
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2. Sequana PinotNoir SarmentoVnyd/SantaLuciaHighlands (14.8%; www.SequanaVineyards.com) JamesPcPhail/Winemaker Sebastapol 2007: Med.dark color; lovely lush/black cherry/PN slight herbal/chocolaty some smokey/toasty/oak bit Burgundian/charred spicy interesting nose; somewhat tart bit tannic/hard some smokey/toasty/oak/Burgundian lightly herbal ripe/black cherry/PN slight earthy flavor; long bit hard/tannic ripe/black cherry/PN some smokey/charred/oak very attractive finish; needs 3-6 yrs; great structure and lovely Pinot fruit; somewhat Burgundian in character; fairly priced at $35.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I just don't get SouthAmerican wines. I seldom find one that my Calif palate can appreciate. So many seem to have a very rustic sourness on the palate that I find rather off-putting. This Syrah had that character in spades.
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2. Sequana: I'd heard a number of folks I trust sing the praises of JimPcPhail on the wine boards; but I'd never tried his wines. When this showed up on the shelf here in NewMexico, I felt compelled to try it. Glad I did. Hopefully his two GreenVlly Pinots will also appear here. I liked this Pinot quitte a lot. Seemed to have the structure that needed some age. The herbal character I get in SLH Pinots from Pisoni or Garys' was pretty subdued. I look forward to trying his other Pinots.
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3. Never done see'd fresh garbanzos before; so when I stumbled across them at WholeFoods ystrday, knew I had to try them. Grown in FLA...so much for being a localvore. They come in little pappery pods and look like ThompsonSeedless grapes. Pain in the a$$ to shell, but not quite as bad as fresh favas. Sauteed them in butter for about 15-20 minutes w/ some diced red peppers. Delicious.
OTOH, the heirloom tomato sucked big time...also a WholeFoods purchase. Abour the size of a softball and crinkled/ugly like heirlooms are supposed to be...part of their cachet I guess. But the tomato, Calif grown, was absolutely tasteless. Better stick to the farmer's market I guess if I want a good tomato.
Tom