Argentinian Wine Tasting at The Wine Store

James Morrison convened another tasting at the Wine Store in Westerly. This time it was wines from Argentina. There were 4 wines being showcased including Crios Torrontes, La Posta Tinto, Tikal Patriota and Luca. Vic Zelinsky was there to transport us to Mendoza, Argentina, a place he described as being like a New World Babylon Garden.

The first wine served was the Crios Torrontes, a white wine. The nose was powerfully aromatic and the wine was crisp and delicious. I wanted to know more about the Torrontes grape so I turned to the 3 J's (I read it on some one's blog, Jancis, Julia and José) new book, Wines Grapes. I learned that there are three Torrontes grapes in Argentina. Torrontes Riojano is the most important, followed by the two lesser known Torrontes Mendocino and Torrontes Sanjuanino. Through DNA analysis, it has been shown that Torrontes Riojano and Torrontes Sanjuanino is a cross between Muscat of Alexandria and Listan Prieto and that Torrontes Mendocino is descended from Muscat of Alexandria and an unidentified variety. All three grapes belong to the Criolla group.
The second wine that was poured was the 2010 La Posta Cocina Tinto, a blend of 60% Malbec, 20% Syrah and 20% Bonarda. Vic explained that the wine was made from grapes from various vineyards and that label refers to the fact that the growers met at a tavern (La Posta) to discuss all things wine. We next tried the Tikal Patriota 2011, a blend of malbec and bonarda. I knew that malbec is the red wine of Argentina but I had no idea what bonarda was. Vic mentioned that it came from the Piedmont region of Italy. I thought that it had the deep inkiness of a Barbera (too much Barbera on the mind!) I looked up bonarda in Wines Grapes and found the following information: Bornarda Piemontese is often confused with Douce Noire, known as Bonarda in Argentina. In the U.S., Bonarda is also known as Charbono! DNA analysis showed that the origin of the Argentinian Bonarda is most likely Savoie, located in eastern France. The last wine that we tasted was a Luca made from 100% Malbec. We always enjoy going to James' wine tastings, it's a nice way to taste different wines and meet like minded people.
References:
1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours.

Frost Friday and Sowing Oats

Our first frost event happened on Friday morning. We are still sowing cover crop seeds so we headed off to the land first thing Saturday morning. We finished sowing 17 rows of oats, nitro radish and hairy vetch by 1 p.m. This was a good thing because the winds really began to kick up and by mid-afternoon, it was howling! The good news is that all of our cover crop seeds have been sown and even better, we had a rain event early Sunday morning. Hopefully the rain will aid in the germination of the seeds. We are alternating our 35 row vineyard with 2 mixtures of seeds: (1) winter oats bob, crimson clover and nitro radish and (2) winter rye, hairy vetch and nitro radish.
The following drawings and information comes from the online publication Managing Cover Crops Profitably from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) site:

	Oats or Avena sativa is a cool season annual cereal that is used for suppressing weeds, preventing erosion, scavenging excess nutrients, and adding biomass.
	Crimson clover or Trifolium incarnatum is a winter annual or summer annual legume that is used for providing a N source, building soils, preventing erosion, and reseeding inter-row ground cover.
	Winter (cereal) rye or Secale cereale is a cool season annual cereal grain that is used for scavenging excess N, preventing erosion, adding organic matter, and suppressing weeds.
	Hairy vetch or Vicia villosa is a winter annual or summer annual legume that is used for providing a N source, suppressing weeds, conditioning the topsoil, and reducing erosion.

The other seed that is in both mixtures is called nitro radish. Nitro radish is also known as Raphanus sativus, but we Japanese also know it as daikon. We incorporated nitro radish in our cover crop mixture because it is important as a bio-driller, biofumigant, and is also used in erosion control and nematode control, and is effective in nutrient scavenging.

Dinner and Wine Fest at Ella's in Westerly

Last night, we joined our friends for a treat at Ella's Fine Food and Drink in Westerly, Rhode Island. I think this event was the brain child of James Morrison from The Wine Store, also in Westerly, whose wine selections were the basis of the 6 course meal extravaganza created by chef-owner Jeanie Roland. James Roland (husband and owner of Ella's) and James Morrison were there to welcome the guests who packed the dining room.

The preview of the red wines that were to be served at the dinner was laid out on the table as guests filed in. The meal began with appetizers and champagne. I have to confess, I left my menu at the restaurant so I'll go from what I remember---may get more vague as I progress. The first course was a seared tuna served with Hugel Gewurztraminer, second course seared scallop with Louis Latour Puligny-Montrachet, third course, duck with Ondines Vacqueyras, fourth course braised short ribs with Clos Siguier Cahors and lastly dessert was a chocolate mousse with a 1997 Offley Port.

It was quite the evening! Great job Jeanie, James and James!

Turkeys vs. Tractor

Not all the time that we spend in the vineyard can be classified as work. Sometimes, we are amazed at what will appear. Yesterday, while my husband was on his tractor and I was picking rocks, he let me know that I needed to look in his direction. There they were and one was actually taunting him: "Hey, farmer, wanna race?"

It took me a while to whip out my camera to catch this amazing (to us) flock of turkeys walking from the south side of our vineyard.

That's what draws us to our vineyard---you never know what the day will bring while tending the vines!