Navigating Blind Through The Mediterranean Basin (Apr. 8, 2021)

Now here is something my group has never done. A double blind tasting with a theme: tonight, the wines were from Mediterranean climates and made from what are loosely termed Mediterranean grapes - in other words no Bordeaux or Burgundy varieties. Actually, the first wine almost breaks the rules. The Etna DOC is indeed deep in the Mediterranean Basin, but the climate at the top of Siciliy's volcano is hardly Mediterranean.

Terre Nere, Etna Rosso, PrePhylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino, 2011

Terre Nere is not  the very first of the latter-day Etna wineries, but it virtually put the DOC on the map. This is the flagship wine, from a plot whose vines were never grafted unto American stocks to avoid the Phylloxera bug. I love Terre Nere! But, I've never tasted any Terre Nere, Etna, Sicilian or Italian wine quite like this. It's sheer elegance in a bottle, with remarkably fresh red fruit, bright acidity, and herbal notes that recall dry bush, maybe a local flavor of garrigue. It's very complex and, a word I don't often use, even though I always look for it in wine - beautiful.

Lewinsohn, Garage de Papa, Rouge, 2014

Until I checked older posts, I though this was the first time I've drunk a mature, yet prime Garage de Papa red, but no, it's hardly the first. A short perusal shows it's always lovely at 6-8 years of age. This bottle starts out meaty and heavy with a reductive stink that only evaporates as the wines opens up. At that point, a cracking display of fine elegance, the meaty character replaced by black pepper that would not be out of place in a young Saint Joseph. 

Tzora Vineyards, Misty Hills, 2015

When a Misty Hills hits its stride, it shows a fine balance of nuanced black fruit, rocks and pine needles. The 2015 is still too young to show that, or else was served before it had a chance to open up, so what we got was black fruit and spicy beef stew.

Feldstein, Grenache, 2016

Grenache is what you make of it. In Avi Feldstein's hands, its a bright saucer of elegant red fruit, garnished with dust and herbs.

If you hold a blind tasting of Mediterranean wines, you run the chance of actually, um, drinking Mediterranean wines.

Domaine de l'Horizon, Côtes Catalanes, Rouge, 2013, a Carignan/Grenache blend, and Chateau Musar, 2003, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Carignan/Cinsault blend both suffer various faults that I don't feel like listing. I will usually overlook faults if I'm charmed by a wine, but these two are like spending six hours in a Club Med discotheque.