Sustainable Poetry?

Last night’s JavaMonkey tasting was advertised as “Sustainable Wines.” It turned out to be “Sustainable Wines from one particular winery in Chile.” However, considering it was brought to us by the same distributor who gave Jess the 2006 cask of Nouveau for the Beaujolais release party a couple of weeks ago, I’m not going to quibble over the details. By the way, I was at JavaMonkey when the rep brought a replacement cask, yet I don’t know what happened to that one. Hmmm…

We had almost a full cast of characters for this one, which made it all the more enjoyable. I’ll attribute quotes where applicable. Dan suggested that those of us who had them should wear our berets from the previous tasting. Three of us did. Maybe that’s why things got so silly toward the end.

2007 Natura Sauvignon Blanc Valle Casablanca, Chile:
Rating: Very Good
Funky, smoky nose with a hint of petrol, but the flavor was a citrus-grapefruit explosion on the palate. Here’s how the rest of the discussion went:

Dan: “It’s a little effervescent.”
TheLaw (his preference, not mine): “Speak f*ckin’ English, dude!”
Dan: “I can’t, I’m wearing a beret.”

2007 Novas Chardonnay Valle Casablanca, Chile:
Rating: Good
Metallic vanilla nose with a smoky, oaky taste. Others at the table described it as “olive juice,” and “everything I hate about Chardonnay.”

2007 Natura Merlot Valle Rapel, Chile:
Rating: Meh/Moo*
The wine rep described this one as having “surprising boldness.” My first reaction was, “It’s a bit rough.” Others at the table described it as “cough drop,” “could be vinegar — it would be good with some olive oil,” and “ah, the elusive eucalyptus!” (guess who that was?) It had an odd, salty finish.

2005 Novas Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot Valle Central, Chile:
Rating: Very Good
70% Cab, 30% Merlot
Nice dark fruit nose and dark berry/jammy on the palate.

2007 Natura Carmenere Valle Colchagua, Chile:
Rating: Very Good
Mostly Carmenere with 1% Malbec, 4% Tempranillo, 4% Syrah, and 4% Petit Verdot
With that blend, I shouldn’t have been so surprised at how dark and almost inky this was coming out of the bottle. The texture was buttery with lots and lots of dark fruit, almost like blackberry pie, but not too sweet. Dan described it as “meaty” and “unctuous.” This earned him another big word reprimand from TheLaw.

2005 Novas Carmenere/Cabernet Sauvignon Valle Colchagua, Chile:
Rating: Good
This one had a stinky nose. After that, it was fine with nice berry notes in the middle, but it disappeared on the end and left a disappointing finish.

After Dan spouted impressive adjectives all night, his brain put them and other interesting words together under the beret, and he started writing out wine haiku. I responded with:

Black beret, so flat
Gives you delusions of great
Profound artistry

It devolved — yes, there was room for things to spiral downward — into limericks. I won’t burden you with mine. Maybe Dan will post some of his at his blog.

Oh, and for those who are curious about what I look like, here’s another picture:

I didn’t say I’d make it easy for you!

*Wine Ratings go from Moo (very bad) to Meh to Okay to Good to Very Good to Excellent.