Bienvenido a South America!!- Part 1

Hang on to your hats folks!  It's about to be another marathon post!  Tasting nights with my classmates allows us to taste several different wines, and seriously cuts down the cost because we are all bringing one to share with everyone else.  And the best part is, the host gets to keep all the leftovers!  Sweet!  What's different about this post though, is that for all the newbies, I'm going to break it down into two posts, so your brains don't get all mixed up!



Michel Torino- Argentina
2011 Torrontes
$16 - Vinomania

 First up:  our only white of the night!  I would best describe this wine as a zippy-lounge-chair-patio wine.  We ALL loved it!  I'd never had the Torrontes grape before.  In fact, I'd never even heard of it!  And when I told the girl at the wine store that I needed a white from South America, this is what she offered me. What a beautiful wine for $16!  Nice aromas of peaches, white blossom and lime peel, and tangy tastes of peaches, pineapples, citrus, and other tropical fruits in my mouth.  As the night progressed, (i.e. 2 1/2 hours later) the citrus flavours really rounded out leaving me with much less sharpness.  Either way, poured right out of the bottle chilled, or even a little warmer to cut into that sharpness, this was a fantastic wine!  Tasted great with the spicy spinach dip that Daniel brought as well as the jalapeno cheese served by D'arci.

Casilleo Del Diablo, Chile
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
$15

Sottana Reserva, Argentina
Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Mendoza Region
$25

 There were 2 Cabernet Sauvignons on the table, one from Argentina and one from Chile.  We decided to taste them side by side, the same grape from 2 different countries.  It would likely have been a better exercise had these 2 wines been from the same vintage.  However, it was useful to takes them like this, going back and forth.  At first I didn't really like either of them...AT ALL. But after the requisite swirling, sniffing and sipping, I definately started leaning toward the Chilean.  Lots of really nice aromas here: bacon, smoke, coffee, caramel...and later...chocolate!  By going back and forth from one to the other, we were able to pick up aromas that we never picked up at first sniff.  Also at first, it didn't seem to "stick".  What I mean by that, is it didn't stay around in my mouth.  However, this was one of those wines that the longer it sits, the better it tastes.  And as always, most of these wines would taste WAY better with food!



Lots of earthiness, and some "sticky tar" in the Sottano Reserva.  I really tried to get more, and I really wanted to, considering that this wine was $10 more than the other.  But...that's all I got, bringing me back to the FIRST Cabernet Sauvignon (the Casillero del Diablo) and loving it even more!

Well...with part one at its conclusion...stay tuned for Part 2!  I promise you won't have to wait long...