Marching hand in hand, the food and wines of South America are growing in their impact on St. Louis diners and drinkers. More restaurants with Caribbean and Latin American menus have come to town in the last few years, and they are busily pairing the meals of their ancestors with their local wines.
The wine industry in Argentina and Chile has grown by leaps and bounds (leaping here, bounding there like a puppy just off a leash) over the last half-dozen years. Foreign money and winemaking talent from Europe and the United States, has helped a lot, but most of the South American wineries are locally owned. Malbec, one of the classic Bordeaux grapes (the others are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Mourvedre), is the heart of Argentine wine, made as all of a particular wine or in a blend. In Chilean vintners do not embrace any particular grape as much.
We have said, for a number of years, that in the $10-$18 range, the South American wines are superior values, and they match well with the native cuisine, or any other cuisine.
And we were reminded of it recently at a party for the opening of a new South American-themed restaurant, Wapango, way out west in Chesterfield Mall, and with a strong South American wine list. We plan to review the restaurant soon, but we can attest to some delicious hors d’oeuvres to go with some interesting wines as we tasted offerings from a pair of Argentine wineries, Benegas and NQN.
Benegas, like most Argentine wineries, is based in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in the area around Mendoza, a charming community that benefits from water that melts from the mountain snows, just as it has done for countless thousands of years. Mendoza may go for more than a year without rain, but the mountains provide. NQN, a relatively new winery, has planted and makes wine in the Patagonia area, in the far southern part of the country. Lucas Nemesio, general manager of the winery, poured and talked, pointing out that the company had tested land and climate all over Argentina in a search for a good location for vineyards and a winery.
"We were surprised to find it in Patagonia, but we think the results so far show that we did the right thing," he said.
Nemesio poured two Malbecs, one a reserve, and a Merlot; interestingly, the Malbecs are aged in French oak, the Merlot ($22) in American oak. The reserve ($22) is aged a year, the "regular," ($13), only eight months. The lesser Malbec is a lesser wine; the reserve has more body, more flavor, a longer finish and all the qualities to make it a fine dinner companion. All are of the 2004 vintage, which would be 2003 by the Northern Hemisphere calendar. The Merlot also is a first-rate table wine.
Federico Benegas Lynch, president of the winery that bears his maternal name, displayed a delicious 2005 rose ($13), light and bright, with good fruit in the initial taste. Perfect for a warm day and a picnic basket alongside a lake. The Don Tiburcio ($15) from 2003 is a splendid wine, almost fully mature, rich and full-bodied. It’s a blend of 50 percent Malbec, 17 percent each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and 16 percent Merlot. Delicious, and probably will improve for 3-5 years, staying drinkable for a decade.
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Will Bucklin and his siblings farm the Old Hill Ranch in Glen Ellen, Calif., deep in Sonoma County, and home to a philosophy that promotes "viticultura promiscua," or "promiscuous viticulture," which means that different grape vines, on the same plot of land, cohabit freely and produce other vines. An adjacent property, the Old Hill Farm, produces flowers and vegetables, but the ranch is primarily for grapes.
The Bucklin label sits on some elegant Zinfandels, but I was struck by their Mixed Blacks Red Wine. The term is used by grape growers and refers to all the non-Zinfandel grapes in a field blend. Bucklin’s Mixed Blacks wine is a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet and Grenache, the grapes harvested on the same day and fermented together, with minimal use of sulfites and no filtration.
The result is a bright, fruity wine, with blueberries turning into plums as the tasting continues. It’s beautifully balanced, will improve for years and is a bargain at a recommended retail price of $22.
-Joe