It's been awhile!
Oh, hello. I'm Lola...I like to blog about wine and various other fun events in my life. I took a short hiatus recently due to the craziness of the Christmas holidays. I hope you're still around and will continue to read my offerings!
The latest:
I picked up a bottle of one of my preferred varietals as of late: Bonarda.
Tonight I picked up a new producer:
Ichanka, Bonarda, 2007, Famatina Valley, Argentina
There are different speculations on how this grape was brought to Argentina, but it is believed the grape originated in Italy. There are also speculations that this grape is thought to be the same as the Californian grape Charbono.
Nonetheless, I tried Bonarda for the first time earlier in 2010 when I was with one of my suppliers from, not surprisingly, Argentina. I was sharing with him my passion for Nebbiolo, and he suggested I try Bonarda as it has some similar characteristics. It tends to be quite acidic, and has similar sour cherry flavour which speaks to some traits of the Nebbiolo grape. (used in the production of Barolo and Barberesco most famously).
The Ichanka Bonarda I found to be quite pleasant. It had an especially rich nose, with overwhelming aromas of blackberry and fruit leather (read: fruit roll up, but fruit leather just sounds classier :) ). I was also getting a hint of oak and upon further reading discovered it had been aged in French and American oak for 6 months. On the palate the oak was definitely prominent with hints of smoke but finished with some sweet spice and a fluttering of blueberry.
I would say you could definitely age this for a couple more years at the fruit is still quite vibrant.
I am going to hold on to it and see how it tastes tomorrow night. Don't be scared to hold onto a bottle for a day or two. Sometimes wines can benefit from a little exposure to oxygen, especially younger wines which have the tendency to be what you might hear wine geeks call "tight". (hence why some wines benefit so well from a little decanting)
I bought this for around $20.
Happy Monday!
Lola
The latest:
I picked up a bottle of one of my preferred varietals as of late: Bonarda.
Tonight I picked up a new producer:
Ichanka, Bonarda, 2007, Famatina Valley, Argentina
There are different speculations on how this grape was brought to Argentina, but it is believed the grape originated in Italy. There are also speculations that this grape is thought to be the same as the Californian grape Charbono.
Nonetheless, I tried Bonarda for the first time earlier in 2010 when I was with one of my suppliers from, not surprisingly, Argentina. I was sharing with him my passion for Nebbiolo, and he suggested I try Bonarda as it has some similar characteristics. It tends to be quite acidic, and has similar sour cherry flavour which speaks to some traits of the Nebbiolo grape. (used in the production of Barolo and Barberesco most famously).
The Ichanka Bonarda I found to be quite pleasant. It had an especially rich nose, with overwhelming aromas of blackberry and fruit leather (read: fruit roll up, but fruit leather just sounds classier :) ). I was also getting a hint of oak and upon further reading discovered it had been aged in French and American oak for 6 months. On the palate the oak was definitely prominent with hints of smoke but finished with some sweet spice and a fluttering of blueberry.
I would say you could definitely age this for a couple more years at the fruit is still quite vibrant.
I am going to hold on to it and see how it tastes tomorrow night. Don't be scared to hold onto a bottle for a day or two. Sometimes wines can benefit from a little exposure to oxygen, especially younger wines which have the tendency to be what you might hear wine geeks call "tight". (hence why some wines benefit so well from a little decanting)
I bought this for around $20.
Happy Monday!
Lola
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