Friday, March 27, 2009

Cafayate Valley


The second to last wine of the night that we tried, the 2006 Cafayate Valley Tannat was a great teaching device. A lot of the Brown Baggers did not understand what was meant by a chewy wine. After trying this wine made from Tannat grapes we all know. This deep purple red was a puckery, chewy beast. It seemed like something that British confectioners would take and turn into a wine jelly that they would sandwich between chocolate, biscuit and marshmallow.

It was definitely not a crowd pleaser. Although some gave it some props - my wife suggested that it could be served with a carne asada burrito and that the pairing might elevate the wine.

Now me saying that this was not a crowd pleaser does not mean I am unappreciative of the Brown Bagger who brought the wine. Hey, we have to try a range. And we're weeding through labels to find the gems. There's a lot of wines out there, and it's good to know what is a bargain and what ain't.

But I suppose that trashing a wine that someone has brought to a casual tasting like this could cause some hardships. If you do this with friends, please emphasize that judgements passed on a wine are not personal attacks.

Wine tastings like this should not be a competition. They're really just good excuses for people to get together and bullshit while at the same time discovering great wines to pursue and villainous wines to avoid.

Cafayate Valley get to work on your Tannat - it's a good enough grape just step up your game.

RATING: .5 screwcaps
LABEL: Cafayate Valley
GRAPE: Tannat
Price: $5.99

1 comment:

Chocolate and Steel said...

mmmm, carne asada burrito. Finally a wine pairing I can be on board with.