The next few wines will feature strange varietals because I recently discovered something called "The Wine Century Club"....to join, you have to have tried at least 100 different grape varietals. Looking at the list, we've had 63 and being a tad bit OCD, getting at least 37 done by the end of the year is a serious goal I intend to meet.
The good news is that since these varietals are unpopular, they tend to be less expensive. The bad news is they're lack of popularity makes them somewhat difficult to come by.
Right now it's not too difficult hunting down strange varietals but I'm sure once we get to 95 we'll hit a huge brick wall.
So, here we are...a $6 Bonarda from Argentina made by Colonia Las Liebre.
After a few sips, this just tasted strange to me...so I picked up the bottle and there it was: "unoaked red wine." Most red wine we drink is aged in oak, so this tasted a little off, but now that makes sense. And now that I understand what it is, I can judge it accordingly rather than "this is odd."
On the nose, we both get strawberries...almost Twizzler like.
So here's the funny thing...I seem to taste a bit of oak in this one. Since it's a unique varietal, it's something I never had before and I just can't place my finger on it. It reminds me of Grenache in a way. Plenty of earth with some berries and some smoke. I taste what I'd generically call "black fruit" (think plums, black grapes). But even without oak it's still get some body to it.
An excellent wine for $6, if you're in the mood for a new varietal this may be worth your time.
