TableConversation.com

A Malbec to Fall in Love With

I fell in love this week--with a wine, a gorgeous red wine from Argentina.

It was the 2012 La Pampa Malbec from Bodegas Salentein (at the top). Round, full and soft, it felt so substantial in my mouth that I could almost chew it.

This is a single vineyard Malbec, from grapes that grow at high elevation--4,300 feet--in the Uco Valley. Uco is a premium growing area in Argentina's main wine region, Mendoza.

"Malbec loves the sun.  All the aromatic properties of Malbec develop in the sun," said José Galante, Salentein's head winemaker (above), at a tasting and lunch at Larsen's Steak House in Encino. Mendoza is a desert, so grapes there get plenty of sun. They're watered by melted snow from the Andes.

Aged in oak for 16 months, La Pampa is one of the single vineyard Salentein wines that are being launched in the United States in Los Angeles. That was one reason for his stop here on a nationwide tour.  The price is $50 (worth it, in my opinion).

Other Salentein Malbecs fit tighter budgets, like the 2013 Killka Collection Malbec, $14.95 (above), and the 2013 Reserve, $18.99.

The Reserve (above) spent 12 months in French barrels. It blends grapes from different altitudes--Salentein is  researching the relationship of terroir to altitude, as its estate vineyards range from 3400 to 5500 feet high.

I would be happy with either of these Malbecs, even though La Pampa is my first love. My second love would be the 2012 single vineyard Chardonnay from Salentein's highest vineyard, San Pablo (above).

It's a hugely rich, golden wine and worth $50, if you can spend that much on wine. "For me, it's my favorite Chardonnay. "It's incredible," Galante said. What looks like the back label is the front label, packed with information.

And then there's the 2014 Killka Torrontes (above), a heart stealer as well. Killka means "entry" in the local indigenous language. The wines in this line are entry level only in the sense that they are lower priced, $14.95. Each label features a painting by an Argentine artist. The one on the Torrontes label is "Looking for Love in the City," and you're sure to find it with this wine. 

Salta province in northwestern Argentina is the capital of Torrontes, so it was interesting to taste one from another region, specifically from the higher altitudes of Salentein's Uco vineyards.

"Torrontes from a cool climate is more delicado (delicate) and with more acidity than those from Salta," Galante said. "With a cool climate, you have more acidity."

Galante was one of those who retooled Argentine wines from low quality, mass produced wines consumed within the country to wines that could meet international standards.

The line includes a red blend, Numina, at the right of the Malbecs in the photo above. The blend changes each year. The 2012 in the photo is 62% Malbec and 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, with smaller amounts of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. In front is a steak sandwich--you can't taste Argentine wines without steak, the most popular meat there. 

This year, Galante is celebrating his 40th vintage, 34 of those with Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza. A Mendoza native, he joined Salentein in 2010. This is a good year for him to celebrate. The harvest is over (harvest in Argentina begins in February), and it was "very nice," he said.

Tasting Pinot Noir with the Experts

Making Pinot Noir sounds really easy. You just sit back and let the grapes do their thing.

 

But those sitting back aren't as casual as this may sound. They're expert winemakers, who talked about what they do at Wine LA's Stars of Pinot 2015, held recently at Sofitel.

 

"Thoughtful, minimal intervention" is the way to go, said Greg Miller of Flowers Vineyard & Winery on the Sonoma coast. His wine (above) was the first poured during the panel discussion that started the event.

 

"I want the fruit to speak," said Ernest Storm of Storm Wines in Santa Barbara County.

 

While Storm listens to the fruit, Greg La Follette (above) spends time in the vineyards "looking at the vines, listening to them and seeing where they want to go. Balanced vines make better wines," he said. La Follette introduced his Alquimista Cellars brand at the tasting. 

 

Marc Goldberg of Windward in Paso Robles is probably the most laid back. "I'm not even a winemaker, "he said. "I'm a wine shepherd. I watch it to make sure nothing bad happens."

 

Goldberg's shepherding involves more than watching, though. The French oak barrels he uses are made especially for him "so they give off their phenolics very gently," he said. The wine spends 12 months in those barrels, then is handled as little as possible.

 

Although winemaker after winemaker described himself as a minimalist, making Pinot Noir well is not that simple. Here's what Steve Felten of Felten Cellars in Paso Robles said:

 

"Crafting Pinot Noir requires more finesse than most varietals. Balance is the key; you can't go for a full extraction like a Zin or Cab or it gets bitter and unsubtle. Clone and rootstock, yeast strain, moderate fermentation temperature and barrel forest/toast level are critical in achieving the subtle fruit and spice."

 

Doing very little doesn't guarantee good Pinot, unless the winemaker is very skilled. "I personally cannot stand the tooty-fruity, bubble gum noses on many California Pinots," Felten said, "and overwhelming, unstructured tannins indicate poor winemaking." 

 

Another issue addressed briefly was color. A good Pinot does not have to be a deep, vibrant red. "Some of the nicest Pinots I have had looked like rosés," said Charles Hendricks of Hope & Grace Wines in Yountville.

 

So many wines were poured that day that it was impossible to taste and evaluate them all. For your shopping list, here are six, from the six winemakers who spoke on the panel, and a few extras.

 

1. Flowers Vineyard & Winery 2013 Estate Pinot Noir, Arroyo Grade Valley.  This wine has a "light, airy quality that evolves as you drink" and offers layers of complexity, said Greg Miller, above.

 

2. Talley Vineyards 2013 Estate Pinot Noir, Arroyo Grande Valley. Brian Talley said his vision is "to make wines that capture the character of the place."  Natural acidity brings energy and lift to his wines, he said. Talley is at the right in the photo above. 

 

3. Storm Wines (Santa Barbara) 2013 Pinot Noir, Duvarita Vineyard, Santa Barbara County. "I want the fruit to speak. I want ripe fruit but at a lower alcohol," said Ernest Storm, who is in the center in the photo above. This wine has an "earthy, desiccated leaf element," he said. But that doesn't mean it isn't elegant.

 

4. Storm Vrede Pinot Noir 2013 from Storm Wines (South Africa). The two Storms are brothers. Ernest resettled here. Hannes lives and makes wine in the vicinity of Capetown. "Up until 10 years ago, there was very little Pinot Noir produced in South Africa," he said. This one is handmade, with minimal intervention. There are only 350 cases, released a couple of months ago after the wine had spent 18 months in the bottle. Hannes Storm is at the left in the photo, in the purple shirt.

 

5.Hope & Grace 2012 Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County.  Charles Hendricks of Hope & Grace says, "I'm a texture drinker. For me, the Santa Lucia Highlands has some of the best texture in California."  Hendricks likes this wine for its long after taste. What he aims at is "balanced, lovely wine."

 

6.Alquimista Cellars Confluence 2013 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. "This is much less Burgundian than other wines at my table," said Greg La Follette. Made from grapes drawn from selected vineyards, It was bottled only four weeks before the tasting. "This more than other wines I have made in the past is a sense of who we are as a community," he said.

 

In addition to these six, look for:

 

7. Windward Vineyard 2012 Estate Grown Pinot Noir, Paso Robles. "Our wines are a lot more Burgundian than Californian," said Marc Goldberg of Windward. "This refers to the style of the winemaker," he explained. His approach is careful and minimalist. Just as important is the 15-acre Windward vineyard that yielded the grapes. "The vineyard really makes the wine," he said.

 

8. Felten Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir, San Luis Obispo County. Goldberg is the chief promoter of Paso Robles Pinots and headed a table where several were poured. One of them was this wine from Steve Felten, who describes himself as "kind of like a negociant." A consultant in the area for many years, he bought the fruit one place, made the wine in another location and barrel-aged and bottled it at still another site.

 

"The fruit for my wine comes from a high-elevation vineyard with marine influence in the Adelaida district, one of the cooler microclimates in the region," he said. This Pinot is intense, with spice and dried fruit, and Felten made only 280 cases of it. 

  

9. Donelan Rose 2014. Allthough the tasting was  supposed to concentrate on Pinot Noir, a rosé turned up at the table of Donelan Family Wines, a boutique winery in Sonoma County.

 

Its excuse for being there was that it contained 15 % Pinot Noir (along with Syrah and Grenache).  Cushing Donelan, who poured, said Pinot gives the rosé "an aromatic lift, a little bit of sexiness."  Crisp, dry and full, it's a good showcase for Pinot as a blending grape.

Radhika: Tasting Modern Indian Cusine

"Every dish is tweaked," says Karan Raina, about the food at his Indian restaurant Radhika in South Pasadena.

This means you are not getting just one more version of what you've tasted countless times at the average tandoori restaurant. 

The tweak can be as simple as leaving artificial coloring out of tandoori chicken (above) so that it is pale, not a gaudy red.

Or as unusual as adding blueberries to Gujarati style malai kofta (above). Made of vegetables, potatoes and paneer cheese, the kofta (dumplings) are bathed in a sweetened nut sauce--sweet because Gujaratis like a touch of sugar in everything. 

Paneer tikka masala (above) gets an unusual treatment at Radhika. It's prepared Indo-Chinese style, with crunchy sweet peppers, soy sauce, chile and sweet and sour seasonings.  

Then there's white gaspacho, so-called because it contains tomato dice and the liquid from pressed Persian cucumbers. The white is yogurt, seasoned with roasted cumin, salt and pepper. Fresh dill goes on top. 

When it turns cold, order Kashmiri style lamb shank (above), slow-cooked for four to five hours until the meat falls off the bone. Warm spices such as cinnamon, cloves and coriander are in the sauce along with onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and yogurt.  

Mesquite charcoal fuels the tandoor oven, adding to the hearty flavor of tandoori salmon (above). It too falls apart as you eat it. The mixed vegetables on the side are cooked until very soft, as is typical in India.

Appetizers include Punjabi chicken tacos, goat cheese and potato samosas and chicken pakoras (above) to dip in a mango and tamarind relish spiced with cayenne. The batter for the pakoras is seasoned with chat masala.

Raina describes Radhika as "modern Indian," but old classics are also very good, such as chicken tikka masala, slightly tweaked with basil in the tomato sauce.

And for dessert, a real classic--tender gulab jamun served hot in syrup (above).

Radhika, 966 Mission St., South Pasadena, CA 91030. Tel: (626) 799-2200