Bonarda / Charbono / Douce Noir / Corneau
We had to make a decision today -- where do we go? We decided to head back to the Mendoza region of Argentina, jusr east of the Andes and closer to Santiago, Chile than any other city we have heard of to drink wines made from Bonarda. The decision was complicated because we could have gone to Napa or Sonoma to drink Charbono, the Piemonte of Italy to drink Douce Noir (Noire) or the Savoie region of France to drink Corneau. One thing about all of those areas is that they are in the foothills of some mountains, mostly what I might describe as serious mountains.
Since we're in Argentina, we go out into the vineyards to inspect our Bonarda grapes. The grapes are small and black and generally bud late although some growers do an early pruning right after the beginning of the year to accelerate bud break. In either case though, Bonarda may be the last grape in the vineyard to be harvested. Failure to harvest early gives the wine particularly green flavors reminiscent of a bad Cabernet Franc.
For our particular wines that we are tasting, we notice a consistency. All are a very inky, dark purple in the glass. On the nose, there are strong aromas of licorice, both black and red. As we taste the wines, we notice that they are especially intense on the mid-palate (Bonarda when added as part of a blend is usually there to add structure to the mid-palate). We get notes of cherry, fennel, cassis, and lots of fig, both ripe and dried in the mouth. This is different than the European expressions of the same grape that are of an earthier style and tend to be loaded with tar and leather, particularly as our wine ages. While historically most have consumed Bonarda as a young wine, enthusiasts have found that the best vintages may produce a wine that can lay down for 15-20 years.
Because Bonarda is quite high in acidity, but not particularly tannic, it is probably more of a food wine than a wine that the typical wine drinker would have just to sip. While it is red and some will happuly drink it with the beef from the Argentine Pampas, I'd love for you to try it with some seared salmon or other similarly fatty, oily fish.
Since we're in Argentina, we go out into the vineyards to inspect our Bonarda grapes. The grapes are small and black and generally bud late although some growers do an early pruning right after the beginning of the year to accelerate bud break. In either case though, Bonarda may be the last grape in the vineyard to be harvested. Failure to harvest early gives the wine particularly green flavors reminiscent of a bad Cabernet Franc.
For our particular wines that we are tasting, we notice a consistency. All are a very inky, dark purple in the glass. On the nose, there are strong aromas of licorice, both black and red. As we taste the wines, we notice that they are especially intense on the mid-palate (Bonarda when added as part of a blend is usually there to add structure to the mid-palate). We get notes of cherry, fennel, cassis, and lots of fig, both ripe and dried in the mouth. This is different than the European expressions of the same grape that are of an earthier style and tend to be loaded with tar and leather, particularly as our wine ages. While historically most have consumed Bonarda as a young wine, enthusiasts have found that the best vintages may produce a wine that can lay down for 15-20 years.
Because Bonarda is quite high in acidity, but not particularly tannic, it is probably more of a food wine than a wine that the typical wine drinker would have just to sip. While it is red and some will happuly drink it with the beef from the Argentine Pampas, I'd love for you to try it with some seared salmon or other similarly fatty, oily fish.
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