Pacific Coast Adventures
For this week’s wine tasting we decided to pack our bags and head to the Pacific Coast.
With the seasonal changes in full swing, we have been excited to receive a new crop of Pacific Coasts wine that we wanted to highlight this week. With our passport in hand, we went first to Chile. Two of the wines are from Roberto Henríquez, whose carefully cultivated vineyards showcase flavor profiles that are more traditional and newer experiments that provide unusual, high octane experiences. The third hails from Division Winemaking Company in Portland, Oregon, whose annual skin contact experiment is a laboratory for next level ideas in winemaking.
Roberto Henríquez, Rivera Del Notro Blanco (2019)
Roberto Henríquez hails from Concepción, Chile but his emphasis on organic and biodynamic winemaking is cultivated from years of experience working in Canada, South Africa, and the Loire Valley with Rene Mosse. For the Notro Blanco, he uses Semillón, Moscatel, Corinto to create a more ambitious, slightly weird wine of the 2019 releases.
In the glass, it’s obvious how the wine reminds us of a gorgeous, hazy late summer sun. On the nose, what first appears as grew pepper notes grow spicier with subsequent approaches, veering more toward tropical peppers. This heat is reflected on the palette but balanced by a bomb of pineapple fruit and carried forward by generous acid into a fatty (in a good way!) mid palette. We really dug how minerality seems to build into the finish, cooling things down and prepping us for yet another sip of this highly addictive wine.
Roberto Henríquez, País Franco (2019)
If a more traditional wine is what you’re craving, do not fear! País has some of the longest history Chile’s winemaking culture but until recently has mostly been consumed domestically. This deep purple wine presents more vegetal green pepper spice than it’s hotter Notro Blanco cousin with touches of baking spice. Incredibly dry, it manages to highlight dark red fruit, silky tannins, and a generally breezy finish. Henríquez really manages to create levity for País using Carbonic macerations, among other techniques.
Want to try more of his wines? We are lucky to have 3 other 2019 vintages in stock right now. The best part is that all bottles clock in under $30.
For our final wine of the week, we head to Portland, Oregon and visit the talented Division Winemaking Team for a little skin contact fun, which is made from Müeller Thurgau, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay (some of which is fermented with carbonic maceration). The end result is a wine that showcases why skin contact wines are all about texture without bogging you down in intensely tannic qualities.
Deep salmon or slightly orange in color, depending on the light, this wine brings gardenia floral notes and tangerine peel to the forefront on the nose. On the palette, the softness of florals carries over with the citrus. As it develops, the wine is infused with herbal eucalyptus notes that echo the gorgeous label. There are good tannins and mineral structure present but this wine is ethereal, the perfect example of “orange wine” for those who might not be familiar with just how expressive the style can be.
We are also lucky to have 4 other Division wines in stock right now. It’s always sparkling wine season and their Carbonic Pinot Noir is always glou glou.
Until next time, happy sipping!
