Matchbook "The Arsonist" Red Blend

Some times we just have to laugh at ourselves.  Matchbook is a fairly well known California winery so we were shocked that their Arsonist Red Blend was sourced from Dundee Hills, Oregon.  Wanting to learn more, we started researching Dundee Hills until we learned seventy-seven percent of their grapes were Pinot Noir.  Huh?  This wine isn't pinot.  Oh...Dunnigan Hills, not Dundee Hills!

Then we started researching Dunnigan Hills, a California AVA where the giant in the industry there is R. H. Phillips.  Since we thought the Matchbook packaging resembled an R. H. Phillips product, we went that route only to learn Matchbook isn't from Phillips.  It is a standalone estate.  For that matter, we also learned R. H. Phillips isn't R. H. Phillips anymore since it has been sold twice, most recently to Constellation which transferred winemaking to their mega-facility at Woodbridge fifty miles away.

As we said, Matchbook is an estate and the red blend asserts its bonafides right on the label.  If a label says "estate bottled" then you better believe everything about the making of that wine is done on the property.  In this industry, that matters.  It's quality control.   

The grape composition for The Arsonist Red Blend is half Petit Verdot (pet-tee vur-doe) with equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  What's interesting there is that large percentage of Petit Verdot.  Historically Petit Verdot has been limited to no more than ten percent of the traditional blend.  It is a full-bodied, strongly flavored grape that adds punch to the mid-palate of a wine.  In the warmer Mediterranean climate of California's Dunnigan Hills, however, it ripens earlier moderating some of the stronger character traits.  

In a typical Bordeaux blend, Petit Verdot adds color, tannins and floral aromas to the mix with flavors that might include plum, sage, lavender, black cherry and dried herbs.  The grape originated in southwest France but is now planted on every continent.  As we said earlier, in the warmer Mediterranean climates it is softer which probably accounts for its predominance in The Arsonist blend.

The Judgment of Berlin

Twenty-eight years after the earthshaking "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting in 1976, a similar tectonic shift took place in 2004 Berlin.  If you recall, it was the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1974 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that won Best of Show back in '76 sending the wine world recoiling into a protracted spell of the heebee-jeebies.  Back then California was a primitive backwater, unworthy to be on the same table as sophisticated Europe.  In 2004 Berlin it was Chile's time to play "David" to King Europe's "Goliath."  Chile took the top two places out of a field of sixteen of the finest wines in the world at Berlin.

The prevailing wisdom with regard to Chilean wines is that they are a great value.  We consider ourselves to be very much in that camp.  We even extend our valuation to their finer, higher ticket types that compete at higher price points.  Recently we sold through a case of Apaltagua Domus Aurea at eighty dollars a bottle.  That fine red would have compared well with acclaimed types at fifty dollars higher.  So as much as we enjoy our Chilean wines, we have to admit we think of them in relative terms, with the underlying assumption being that the other one, the one the Chilean is being compared to, is really the better wine.

The Berlin quaff-off was the project of Eduardo Chadwick of Vina Errazuriz located in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, forty or so miles north of Santiago.  Among the French wine glitterati Chadwick had the audacity to challenge were Bordeaux Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Margaux.  Among the Italian Super Tuscans were Tignanello and Sassacaia.  Of course, it was a blind tasting and the judges were beyond reproach.  

Think Chadwick had any anxieties as the first glass was poured?  He claims it would have been a crushing defeat if his wines failed to measure up.  We're not so sure.  Chile isn't really supposed to compete with first world wines, is it?

The number one wine at the Judgment of Berlin tasting was the 2000 Vinedo Chadwick, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon effort.  Number two was Chadwick's 2001 Sena, a Bordeaux blend featuring 75% Cabernet.  Number three was the 2000 Chateau Lafite.  Number four was the 2001 Margaux.  Five was the Sena 2000.  Six was Chadwick 2001 and down at number nine was Chadwick's Dom Maximiano.  So out of sixteen of the world's best wines; six Chileans, six French and four Italians; Chile scored five of the top ten.  Not Bad.

Since then the tastings have been repeated twenty-two times around the world and the Chileans have repeated similar results to Berlin.  Fifty-five percent of the time they dominate the top five and 90% of the time they place in the top three.  Not bad.

Chile

We got some updated numbers on Chilean wine sales recently.  Depending on the news source, Chile is either the fourth or fifth largest wine exporter in the world behind Spain, Italy and France but still ahead of the United States.  They are also either the third or fourth largest importer into this country behind France and Italy and perhaps Australia.  So how did they rise to such heights when they only control 4.6% of the worldwide wine market?

The Chilean wine industry was started by Spanish settlers in the 16th century.  It was a thoroughly domestic market they served for centuries before American demand changed things in the 1980's and 90's.  A 180 degree turn followed when American investment from our industry leaders led to purchases of specific vineyards and wineries AND purchases of bulk wine.  20-25% of Chile's exports have been bulk wine imports to America, China and elsewhere.  So, after centuries of being a domestic-consumption wine country, Chile turned into a global player seemingly overnight.

So where do huge tanks of bulk wine go when imported by American wineries?  They are worked into California wines where, unless the label says estate bottled, only 75% of the wine in the bottle needs to be sourced from California.  Why supplement with Chilean juice?  Two reasons: The stuff is good, better than the bulk wine from California's Central Valley.  Secondly, when a label achieves mass market appeal and the sales numbers indicate a juggernaut going forward, the giant industry players will pay millions of dollars for that label.  They are, in effect, betting their future on it.  Then they need to fill those bottles as economically as they can to make their venture profitable.  Chilean wine is perfect for that purpose.

Eat This, Not That

Eat This, Not That is an American media franchise including the eatthis.com website, quarterly magazine, videos, e-books and downloadable pdf's, according to wikipedia.  We are familiar with them from scanning news aggregator websites where they post regularly.  They are kind of like a Consumer Reports for foodies.  

Sugar is definitely a hot button issue for them.  In their 2010 publication, Drink This, Not That, they focus primarily on the heavily sugared drinks Americans love.  We're interested in them today because one of our suppliers sent us the provocative October 19, 2022 article, 6 Wines Made from the Lowest Quality Ingredients.  Frankly, we were shocked, not that adulteration was going one - that's an open secret - but rather that someone had the guts to out the crooks. 

(Because there are no laws preventing adulteration of wines sold to a public and we shouldn't have to think of such a thing anyway; the term "crooks" isn't meant literally.)

90+ percent of the American wine business is controlled by the thirty largest companies in the world and they are overwhelmingly American.  To say they are powerful in this industry is to understate things just a tad.  They are the domestic wine industry.  They control the chain store wine business.  So why poke the bear?

Back in 2015 Constellation Brands, the second largest wine company in the world, purchased the Meiomi label from Joe Wagner of Caymus Vineyards fame.  Constellation is the well known long time owner of Mega Purple grape concentrate, since sold to Vie-Del.  Tintura grape concentrates have been around a long time and go by many different brand names.  Mega Purple is just the best known brand.

According to the Eat This, Not That article, Meiomi is the number one wine made with the lowest quality ingredients because of the use of the grape concentrate.  That's where they stop.  After all, they are a food magazine.  If a wine-writing muckraker had done the expose, they would have gone further.

Sandhi Central Coast Chardonnay

Our last post was almost three month ago, making that interval the longest dry spell we've had since we started this thing 543 posts ago.  We've tried to post in that interval, by the way.  Just last month we thought we had a good one about Bonny Doone wines but when we sat down to do it, it just wouldn't come.  What could the problem be?  It's just a silly blog.

So, we're going to overcome this writer's block thing slowly, with baby steps.

If you go to sandhiwines.com or to their marketer, skurnik.com, you will be greeted by an exceptional and classy professional presence.  Contrast this approach with the mass marketers who try to mask what they are doing with their transparently fictious, romanticized winery backstories.  Those stories can leave you cringing from their patent obfuscation.  They obviously don't want you to know anything about their product.  Sandhi (and Skurnik) want you to know what makes what they are doing better than others.  Their winemaking intentions in particular are absolutely noble compared to those who merely intend to turn out a commodity.  They also believe in passing along the kind of critical product information so lacking at other sites.

The Sandhi wine we have in the store currently is the Central Coast Chardonnay.  While the Sandhi/Skurnik websites assert their fine wine bonafides, this particular wine is not mentioned.  The Central Coast Chard is an entry level effort that gets eclipsed at the website by their estate wines.  So how do we know it's good?  We have it on good faith from an Atlanta sommeliere.  A real sommeliere.  That alone should tell us this one is food friendly.

Violets & Tar

"Violets and tar" has to be one of my favorite wine descriptors.  I can't remember when I first heard it but it fits a Rhone-style (Grenache/Syrah) red blend like a glove.  Soft purple berries and spice.  What could be better?

By the way, honorable mention for wine descriptors goes to cardboard, new garden hose and wet dog; all of which strike me as being, shall we say, less than complimentary.  Cardboard?  Really?  Guess that creative writing class paid off for somebody.

So about a month ago a fella was in the store who quickly revealed himself to be a wine industry insider.  His eyes would scan the shelves and when they settled on something, he quickly grabbed it and put it on the counter.  No fooling around.  He knew what he was after.  So I called him on it and sure enough, he was retired from the business in another state.  And I think to myself - opportunity!  Here's a resource brain for me to pick.  Someone who knows wine and isn't a commissioned Atlanta wine salesman.

The first bottle he picked up was Folded Hills Syrah from Santa Ynez Valley, California.  He couldn't believe we had it here.  While he didn't give me his verbal violets and tar appraisal, his excitement said it all.  His other two purchases were similar Euro-red blends from France and Spain.  So he was a violets and tar guy after all, even if he didn't say it.

So before he left I hit him up for some recommendations which included Andrew Murray and Tablas Creek Central Coast, California Rhone-style blends.  Oh yeah, he's violets and tar all the way.

The best thing about Rhone-style red blends has always been value.  Ten dollars can get you a decent red dinner wine.  Tablas Creek is exceptional at fifty.

Domus Aurea

We intended this post to be about the Big Red Monster Paso Robles wines but as often happens with California wines, information about the stuff is lacking.  In our research we learned one corporate entity contracted with another to secure the juice for someone else to make the wine before it then gets put into the bottle with the ever so cute label.  That, apparently, is all they want you to know.  Buzzkill.  Then, if you want a real mega-buzzkill, check their ever so cute posts on facebook.  It's as if they think we're stupid.

If you like good California Cab and Zin, you should pick up the Monsters.  We have been assured by our usually very reliable vendor, they are indeed quite good.  Even if they aren't forthcoming with product information.

Clos Quebrada de Macul is a family-owned, hillside vineyard overlooking Macul, Chile's oldest wine region.  It was planted in 1970 before grapes were valued for quality and not merely as tonnage.  Hillside vineyards are more labor intensive with lower yields so unless you have a hopeful vision for the future of the wine business, this move wouldn't make sense.  This time they guessed right.

The owners sold their grapes for twenty years before American investment money facilitated the building of a physical winery in the early 1990's.  The first Domus Aurea Cabernet Sauvignon was released in 1996.  The wine always uses estate grown fruit made with a non-interventionist winemaking ethic.  Their website offers tasting notes for the last fifteen vintages so these are indeed cellar selections.

The 2019 vintage is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.  The color is ruby red with purple hues.  The nose is herbal, balsamic, black currant, black cherry and fig.  In the mouth the wine shows dense power and structure with evident oak and fine tannins.  The finish shows more berries and minerality.

The descriptors above are from their website.  We tasted the wine a month ago.  It would compare favorably with California Cabs at considerably higher prices.  As a formidable steak wine, it should be decanted for at least an hour before serving.

Domus Aurea is one of a family of Chilean wines we tasted before purchasing this week.  Our pricing reflects fine value for each type.