Mourvedre Wine Tasting - Episode #603

Mourvedre Wine Tasting - Episode #603 Gary: Hello everybody. Welcome to Wine Library TV. I’m your host Gary Vaynerchuk and this, my friends, is the Thunder show a.k.a the internet’s most passionate wine program, and the passion continues to expand your palate. It’s 2009, big year looking for values, looking to expand palates. And look at those, they did not give me the price of the Turkey Flat Mourvèdre. Sit in for a second so I can get the price. Keep them busy. Tell them something. Mott: Starting off. Let’s say Happy New Year everyone. I hope it’s a good year for everybody. I hope everybody had a nice long weekend and here he comes. Gary: Yes, something to see from the corner of my eye. We just put that 30 bucks. So actually, two of the three wines that are fairly expensive, but what I wanted to do is kind of talk about a grape varietal that does not get a lot of press, the Mourvèdre grape, Mourvèdre is really one of the really interesting grape varietals in the world, very tannic, very bold, does extremely well in France, does some nice jobs in other parts of the world, specifically Australia. In a lot of parts of the world, it’s known as Mataro. So if you’ve every seen Mataro that is also Mourvèdre. And you’ve might have seen Mourvèdre in parts of Spain, and that’s known as Monastrell. So those are all the same grape varietal, different names throughout the world, little confusing, but a little fun fact that you learn in the viniac show here in the Thunder Show. So, you know, there‘s your little fun fact kids for the day, Monastrell, Mourvèdre and Mataro, all the same grape. We’ve got one from California, one from Australia, and one from Bandol. Bandol, found all the way in the southeast corner of France, it’s like where Florida. About 2700 acres are planted in the Bandol region, close to 3000, very interesting wines in Bandol, very Mourvedre-based. And the one that we have is from one of the most famous Bandol producers, A Single Vineyard $60.00, 60 bones for some Mourvedre. Quite expensive for the 10BA wine and that’s a 70 to 80% of Mourvedre-based wine. But let’s get right into the first wine, Cline 2006 Contra Costa County, ancient vines Mourvedre, 15% alcohol, $13.00. Cline is one of the holders of Mourvedre in the US that really has the most dominant anchorage of Mourvedre planted. And so it is one of the few producers really even producing Mourvedre anymore in California. All vines, historical vines. So Cline had like choc, a little sleeper hold on the Mourvedre market in the US. I’m excited about trying this. I haven’t had their Mourvedre in a long time and let’s see what’s going on. Let’s get a sniffy sniff. Now what I love about this grape varietal is it tends to be tannic, rustic. I always find a hint of cinnamon in there and I do on this wine. I can’t forget about that and I’m sure up right at the back a little bit of that cinnamon action coming across. It’s a varietal that I think has a lot more flexibility with foods than a lot of people realize. And so it’s a kind of a grape that I think deserves a little bit more attention. I have a little bit of a gut feel that a lot of you have not had this varietal in the past and I’m excited about exposing that to you. Let’s give it one more sniffy sniff right down the nose. I get a rustic nail kind of thing going on. I get some beautiful plum action on the nose. Little hints of pepper and a tan of clove which maybe no one to hear in this episode 148 might link of episode 148 for all the new viniacs who’ve never seen that. So I get a little bit of that. Mott: They should. Even if you’ve seen it, you should go back because I went back and redid it so it’s thickened now. Gary: Oh yeah? You redid 148. All right, so if you haven’t checked that 148 in a while zoom down below and check that out. It’s very interesting nose. Definitely a little bit of that clove. Let’s give it a whirl. Big strawberry pie exploding directly in the middle of your mouth and there’s a little bit of oakiness coming through on this wine, which is fine. Very dinner ask. And I’ll tell you why it’s got a lot of very sappy pancake syrup flavors on the palate which always makes me think of a diner, little eye-hop or a diner action. I get strawberry syrup for pancakes on the mid-palate which is interesting. There’s a little bit of gaminess, little grilled meat action on the back end. I’m a big fan of Pittsburg style steaks even though I hate Pittsburg sports. Boo Pirates, just kidding. So I get a really charred component. Oh Mott, speaking of football, you probably went to Super Pump to see how the Eagles went. Mott: If I had my choice, I would prefer— Gary: All right, you got to beat everybody to win at all. But you know they’re probably the team that knows you well. It’s always a battle. So charred steak component, a little bit of like raspberry, strawberry jam there. In the beginning a lot of it, then charred, then a little bit more. So really interesting wine, very fruit drink. Now let me give it one more shot. Definitely a play for all of you people who love Shiraz out there. That’s why I’m wearing purple today to mourn the Vikings’ lost. If you’re a Shiraz fan, I can see you’re getting into this wine. It’s a little too fruity, candy, candy, candyland that’s why I tripled it up, for me. But I still think this is an 86 point wine. Good fruit, not bad, 13 bones, you know, doesn’t kill me. I definitely think this is something that some people would like. If you’re a Shiraz fan and you love fruit, you’ll definitely get into this in a 13 bones, not horrible. A little coated too much on the oak and use a little bit of its sense, that’s a little bit of an issue. Three to five years cellaring in my opinion on this wine, we go well with a variety of picnic, easy American cuisine, hotdogs, burgers, sausages. Not bad, not bad at all, but not great either. Let’s move on. All right, let’s see what this bad boy has. Turkey Flat, this is the reason we did this show. I saw this, I wanted to taste it. So you can blame every pro and con in this little wine here, Turkey Flat 2006 Mourvedre, 91 to 94 points J. Miller, $30.00, aged in French oak for 18 months. That concerns me. We’ll see if that was too overpowering or not. Turkey Flat is a very solid capable producer of Australian wine. Let’s see what’s going on here from Barossa, one of the great areas in the world to produce wine. Though collectively, I think the entire scene in Barossa has gone over the top. I hate that that is what has defined Australia and I make a statement right now, a commitment in 2009, even myself to shed that hair of the prejudice that all Australian wines are bombs. You know I always reference that Mott, and I’m doing a bad job so I apologize to Australia on a global level and not the movie. I mean the country. There are a lot of wines that are over oaked but one of the reasons we showed the Riesling the other day is I think Australia has a chance to really do a lot more. I think we need to look at some of the semi-owned that comes out of Australia in the white wine end, and there is a lot of cabernets in a lot of regions like the Clear Valley, like McLaren Vale. There are areas and even people within areas Eden Valley, even people within Barossa McLaren and things to that nature are making more balanced wines that I think Australia globally has a bad wrap on the low end because of yellow tail and on the high end because they’ve been over oaked. And fruit bombs as the tasting trends in the US have shifted down and worldwide. I think Australia is going to be a fascinating place to kind of poke around and I hope that vine nation out there, you guys do explore more parts of Australia. This is Barossa we’ll start looking at other places as we’re going forward. Gorgeous color undeniably, just beautiful dark raspberry black. Almost looks like pomegranate. You know pomegranate gets under your clothes, you’re dead. I feel like if this gets on my clothes, I’m dead. Let’s give it a sniffy sniff. Lots of candy coming through. I get a whole boat load of twislers stuck directly at my nose that kind of twist or action coming through my nose. I get lots of candies, bazooka jaw gum coming through, powdered sugar, cake toppings. This is a dessert out on the nose, which is fine, but definitely falls into the stereotype of being too bomby and too candy. Mott, did you get all the candies? Did you like the candies? It’s like a piñata was hit and everything directly went in my nose, broken to my nose. So, a lot of candies coming through, Skittles. Let’s give it a whirl. Maybe you can see by the extra half of pause, trying to make a commitment to keep it in my mouth a little bit longer. High tannin structure on the back end which I like coated with a shredded chocolate component. A very dense plum juice flavor attacks your palate immediately, coats it completely and it’s a very new world in that. However, the tannins are very sharp and kind of break down the fruit a little bit, which I find fascinating and worthwhile to mention. Definitely a wine that’s a little bit more fruit-driven that I would like to see. I like to see a little bit more of an element of surprise, something a little magic action. Little hooding in my wines never hurt me. That being said, it does have very gorgeous bright fruit, well-made, a hair over the top for me. Again I’m sensitive to it. Know your own palate, know yourself. A little over oaked for me. It feels like melted down. Great, jolly, rancorous on the back end. That being said, not grossly over the top. You know, me, like a pushup bra and low cup, but not naked. You know what I mean? So, not grossly over the top. Oh Mott, you wanted the naked? Excuse me for one sec, this is a very complicated wine for me. I’m like so on, this could go either way. Let’s start with this, I believe that the way this wine was made, hadn’t been the Shiraz grape varietal it wouldn’t been too over the top for me. But because it is the Mouvedre grape, and because it comes with a natural higher tannin structure, I like this wine more. So that’s really kind of neat for me, right, because this is really where the grape did its merit. And it should, right that’s what wines are made out. I feel like the way Turkey Flat handled this varietal was maybe a little too over the top, I think a little bit more balanced, would’ve done well. Mouvedre does extremely well in hot and dry areas. This is a place where you get that at least in the classic Barossa summer. I like this wine. It’s got a citrus bite at the end. I almost feel like Sangria. You ever eat the fruit after the Sangria is done like it’s all red like your orange, you know what I mean? That’s the kind of I get on this a little citrus play with the plums and the blackberries and the red fruit. I’m going to score this wine 90 points. Right there. And so for the 30 bucks, I’d probably tell you that this wine is a pass with seven Z’s. You can spend your money in better places. That being said, it’s an interesting wine. I’d like to see it evolve as it will over the next 5 to 15 years. It’s got a lot of back structure. And it is definitely a wine that I think you could drink by itself. Actually, the thing that I yearn for tasting this is cheese. I feel that this is a very good cheese wine and that’s kind of where it goes. Interesting wine. Very interesting. I ranged in my head from 92 to 85 through that experience which was a lot of math. Let’s move on. Let’s get a little rinse. Let’s talk about Bandol. Bandol is probably one of the favorite places I’ve ever been in the wine world. I think it is a gorgeous area in France. I think they produce some of the really sexy wines. I do feel the 10PA, which is the real bell weather has gotten too expensive. This is their ‘06 Bandol and this comes from a single vineyard that you can see it right here, La Tourtine, a single vineyard, very small production. This is about 70 and 80 % Mouvedre, 60 bones. Very pricey, I mean I do remember just 70 vintages ago just got rolling in the high 20s. So it’s a little bit uncomfortable for me to really taste this wine at this price point. But it still is a “go to” producer within Bandol. It’s probably the one that you’d most likely find if you go out to a fine restaurant if you wanna try Bandol. If you go out tonight on Monday night, a little party action for you and the kids, if you look for Bandol, they might and most likely will be especially in the metropolitan cities Chicago, New York, San Francisco, LA. If you find the Bandol on the list, this is probably going to be the producer you find, a very good producer. Let me give it a sniffy sniff. Right away you can get a totally different experience. I get absolutely like burnt rubber coming from like an absolute junkyard component like somebody took my big wheels and put it on fire. You know really like a big tire component coming through. Very rustic, isn’t it? Like totally different experience on the nose than the last two where they were fruit-driven, this is more like earth-driven. You get a little barnyard action, little ugly sheep running around they are little poopy smelling. It’s kind of like a classic old world farm, you know what I mean. You get an animal smell a little bit. You’re probably burning wood in the backyard and your garbage. That’s what they do. When you drive around these European countries they’re just burning their garbage or wood. I mean very much smells like where it comes from. I think it’s pretty darn good thing. I dod get a little black currant on the back end for the fruit component. Let’s give it a whirl. Let’s give it a sniffy sniff, we did that. Give it a whirl. Let’s give it a try. A whirl. Let’s try it. They’re overpriced but they’re damn good. It’s just well-made. I get a really lively cherry component on this wine. What if I did that every time? They’d probably get me a skin in SNL. This is very good wine, very complex, classic Mouvedre flavors. Rustic, tannic, good black fruit, a spiciness, a little pepper you get that cinnamon kick on the back end which makes me just happy. It’s a well-plain effort. A good game plan and executed. Great bitter tannins. This one will last for 15 plus years in my opinion. Easy. Well, let’s give it one more shot. You know, here’s the funny thing guys, I’m actually not a 10PA fan boy. The far majority of wine people that are in the industry, that I drank with, that are into wine, are much bigger 10PA fans than I am. To me, they’ve always been slightly overpriced and just kind of solid. This, however, in my opinion, is one of the better efforts that I’ve tried ’06. I don’t even really know at the top of my head if that’s a very strong vintage in the Bandol. I mean we’ll look it up after the show. This has an extra layer that I don’t normally come across with 10PA. The thing that a lot of other people have been telling me maybe I've been missing it and/or maybe it’s just getting better. I get this extra layer of gaminess, complexity. Good fruit. This wine is taking me on a journey. It’s a story-teller. Kind of like Biggie Smalls, cannot wait for generous 16, notorious. Mott, you want to come with me to Brooklyn? Brooklyn, we did it! Can’t wait to see that movie. Anyway, this is like storytelling. This really takes me on a journey. It has far more complexity. I like the black pepper, so distinct and the gaminess. I mean I really feel like I just rip the flesh off a deer and then just started biting it. I mean I’m tasting it, I’m feeling it I’m liking this wine. I’m going to go 93 points in this effort. I think this is spectacular and again understand, recognize I’m not a big 10PA fan. Usually I’ve scored them even the single vineyards, even the ones at Parker and other people scored at 90s and mid-90s, I’ve always been an 89, 88 kind of guy in this. I'm very caught off guard by this effort, extremely good. Maybe with my new technique, I don’t know, but I really, really like this. I can just pair well with a variety of heavy foods and a great supplement for shot of pop or hermitage or something of that nature, just an extremely well-made wine. I like it. I like it a lot. I still think 60 bones is a lot of money to pay for though. I still feel like we can float and find a $30.00 alternative that tastes like it. Maybe like that the one we had from the other day. That’s the scoop. That’s Mouvedre. A very interesting grape that has really made its name in the Rune valley, it does extremely well pairing up with ghanoush so it’s like a peanut butter jelly situation with ghanoush. That’s a little fun fact. You get high tannins. If you're could to put away wines these are the kind of wines you should look for. If you’ve not experienced Mouvedre then you absolutely need to because you tend to expand your palate to understand what you like in the first place. Question of the day: What is your experience with Mouvedre? You, with a little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world.