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Drinking Beautifully - week of 10th February 2014

Drinking Beautifully

Week of 10th February 2014

The Return of D’Oro

I am proud to announce that we now have our 9 barrel selection of our own wine, Vina Patricia, in stock in all our restaurants. Making this blend with our dear winemaker friend, Mauricio Lorca was Phil Crozier, our wine director. Here is his account;

“I am reminded of the first such blend that I made in 2008 with Mauricio. Each year we produce 90 barrels (each a standard 225ltr “barique” with the remaining wine stored and matured in tank. The average yield from the vineyard is in line with around 1.2 bottles of wine per vine. This is where the quality of the wine lies, and the quality of the vines lies in the age. These vines were planted in 1929 and the vineyard is mostly made up of those vines. So yields are low.

Each May, when it is time to make the blend and bottle the wine from the previous vintage, we taste all 90 barrels. Although I will get little sympathy about this, it is a truly gruelling task if you are not used to it. Mauricio is of course a dab hand at this, since much of his day is taken up with tasting the wines and seeing the evolution.

My first tasting took around 5 hours, during which I was given instruction to pick out any barrels that had any outstanding characteristics. I chose around 7 barrels that I really liked.

Mauricio, of course knew every barrel like they were family. He told me to try again. So after lunch I began the task in earnest. This time blind. I picked another 6 barrels, and by this time I was green. My palate had taken a pounding. Again, I was told that I had got it wrong.

So with a keen and refreshed palate, I turned up at the winery early the next morning, with a resolve to find the barrels that Mauricio had previously chosen. Having tasted all of the barrels twice already, I felt confident that I was getting the hang of the tasting. Oh how wrong I was, and again I failed to pick out any of his selection. So we went to lunch.

Over lunch I discussed the tasting with him and sought more advice. His comments were more about philosophy than tasting. He was asking me not to taste the barrels as they are now, but to see the future potential of the wine. With this in mind I went into the fourth tasting with a little more confidence. And low and behold, I picked out the exact same 7 barrels that Mauricio had. It was a major milestone in my learning, and was a very emotional moment for both of us. Although I suspect more of a relief on the part of Mauricio.

The 2009 vintage was a great one, but we felt that, after tasting the barrels, there were not enough great ones with a distinct difference in quality to warrant a separate blend.

And so we move onto the 2010. In May 2011, just at the point that we were going to blend and bottle the wine, we did a barrel tasting again. And on this occasion, much to mine and Mauricio’s surprise, I picked out the same 9 barrels as himself first time round. A wonderful moment. It is interesting how it is possible to know and understand the palate of someone wise. I think the process of repeating this exercise taught me a lot about the art of winemaking.“

This wine is drinking beautifully now, and has come into its stride. Hints of violets and sweet spice on the nose, with ripe sticky fruits and clove, a touch of chocolate on the palate. This is classic Lujan de Cuyo Malbec, all the better for the artistry of Mauricio Lorca.

Mauricio Lorca “Opalo“ Malbec 2010

This beauty is unoaked. I think that Mauricio is the master of unoaked wines in a country that excels in this style of wine at the high quality end. There seems to be a misconception that wines without oak are somehow inferior. Will they last? What will the fruit do over years? Well, it has been my fortune to work with Mauricio over the years and indeed it was when I tasted this wine that we became friends.

Mauricio brought land and planted vines in Vista Flores before the rest of the world caught onto the majesty and beauty of this place. Malbecs from Vista Flores have a very distinct style, showing violets, lavender and roses in abundance, ironic since the place means ‘view of flowers’. The purity of the red and black fruits shines through in this wine, and as it ages this floral and pure character shows through even more. Some spice is felt in the mouth, with very mineral characteristics and a soft and opulent finish.

These two wines are available to taste in the restaurants this week. And of course, they are drinking beautifully.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Amie Giardino .