Dégustation de vin - 12 September 2008

Bodega Luigi Bosca Pinot Noir Reserva 2006, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina

A 100% Pinot Noir, aged 8 months in French oak, from Bordega Luigi Bosca's El Paraiso vineyard in the Lujan de Cuyo department (Argentina's first official DOC) located near Mendoza city.

Kevin's tasting notes from 25 July 2008:

"Light-bodied Pinot with flavors of black cherries and bitter-sweet chocolate.  Well-balanced tannins and acidity.  14% abv."

From Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:

"The 2006 Pinot Noir Reserva is similarly styled but with greater depth and concentration.  Both of these stylish Pinot Noirs can be enjoyed over the next 5 years.  89 points."

~~ Jay Miller, 1 December 2007, Wine Advocate

And:

"More than a century after his grandfather, Leoncio Arizu, planted the first vines for Bodega Luigi Bosca in the foothills of the Argentine Andes, Alberto Arizu finds, as he travels the world, he still has to explain that Argentina does, indeed, make wine.  Long a top-rated winery in the Mendoza region, Luigi Bosca for years has exported more than half of its wines.  Still, promoting them at the London Wine Fair, he found himself drawing world maps to demonstrate even to knowledgeable wine fans that Argentina is at a proper latitude to produce good wine.  Selling wine in such developing markets as China and Russia also is a challenge.  "People are very rich or very poor.  There's nothing in the middle.  The Chinese and the Russians drink all the best wines," he says - even if they don't really understand them.  On the other hand, he says he once watched a Chinese diner dilute his Chateau Lafite with 7-Up.  Even the wine-savvy United States is a challenge.  "The East and West coasts and big cities like Chicago are quite sophisticated about Argentine wines," he says.  "But smaller cities in Indiana, Ohio have very little experience."  [Article goes on to discuss how the Malbec grape has put Argentine wines on the map.]...

...Recommended:  ...2006 Luigi Bosca Pinot Noir Reserve, "El Paraiso", Maipu, Mendoza:  black cherries and cinnamon; very dry; firm tannins; $19.

~~ Fred Tasker, 9 July 2008, McClatchy News Service

[$16.63 (counting 5% discount for 1/2 case) at vinodivino in Newton MA, who also have the 2005 bottling that Wine Spectator gave 91 pts and called a "Smart Buy".]

Top 10 wine movies

Speaking of Sideways, W. Blake Gray of the San Francisco Chronicle has a list of the "Top 10 Wine Movies", based on the best movies that feature wine, but not necessarily the best movies about wine (hopefully the upcoming movie "Bottle Shock", about the so-called "Judgment of Paris" tasting in 1976 between American and French wines, will join Sideways in the latter category).

In no particular order:

1) "Casablanca" (1942)

2) "Dr. No" (1962)

3) "French Kiss" (1995)

4) "Gigi" (1958)

5) "Killer Bees" (1974)

6) "The Muppet Movie" (1979)

7) "Notorious" (1946)

8) "Sideways" (2004)

9) "Silence of the Lambs" (1991)

10) "The Earth is Mine" (1959)

Runners-up included:

1) "An Affair to Remember" (1957)

2) "Blood and Wine" (1996)

3) "Disclosure" (1994)

4) "Dracula" (1931)

5) "The Godfather" (1972)

6) "Mondovino" (2004)

7) "The Parent Trap" (1998)

8) "Seconds" (1966)

9) "Sex, Lies and Videotape" (1989)

10) "Star Trek: Nemesis" (2002)

11) "They Knew What They Wanted" (1940)

12) "The Unholy Wife" (1957)

13) "A Walk in the Clouds" (1995)

14) "Year of the Comet" (1992)

Of course, Gray came up with this list before the release of the hands-down greatest wine (& cheese) movie of all time:

Ratatouille

Do you want some popcorn with that '61 Latour?