Wine School-Garnacha-May 1, 2013

Wines

Fuego Old Vines Garnacha

Color:  Vibrant purple
Nose:  The nose was wonderful - jammy with spice.
Mouth:  Vibrant fruit up front with a lovely finish.
Price:  $8.99/World Market

Pairings

Fontina Cheese:  This cheese seemed to enhance the fruit, almost too much.
Jarlsberg Cheese:  Initially it brings out the spice in the wine but detracted from the wonderful finish.
Spiced Gouda:  We all love the cheese, but it is too spicy for all the wines. Maybe with margaritas!!
Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives:  Not a match, completely took the spice away from the wine. It worked better when we ate the olives without the cheese.
Chicken Quesadilla:  As Lisa says, "Yum!".  A great pairing that balanced the fruit and spice of the wine.
Shepard's Pie:  Lisa enjoyed this pairing more than Mary Jo and Beth. Tamed the fruit a bit too much.
Lindt Chili Chocolate:  We all love this chocolate, and we loved it with the wine.
Dark Chocolate Covered Raspberries:  Wow - a fantastic pairing! They compliment each other perfectly. As Mary Jo said, "There are all kinds of things going on with this pairing!".

Conclusion

A great, jammy wine with a wonderful finish.

Zestos Old Vines Garnacha

Color:  Brick red with a touch of purple.
Nose:  The nose on this wine was more striking than the first wine with notes of black current, fruit, and spice.
Mouth:  A smooth and balanced wine with soft tannins.
Price:  $9.99/World Market

Pairings

Fontina Cheese:  Overall it seemed to pair better with this cheese than the first wine, but not a pairing we would recommend.
Jarlsberg Cheese:  The cheese overpowered the fruit of this wine.
Spiced Gouda:  Again, the cheese was nice, but too spicy for the wine.
Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives:  Better when the cheese was removed from the olives.
Chicken Quesadilla:  Nice pairing.
Shepard's Pie:  A nice match, would be great comfort meal in the winter.
Lindt Chili Chocolate:  A nice match although we enjoyed it with the first wine even more.
Dark Chocolate Covered Raspberries:  Nice match, the chocolate seems to work better with the first wine again.

Conclusion

This wine was the overall favorite for the three of us. It had a lighter body than the other two wines, and for the reasonable price we will definitely give this wine another try.

Vina Alarba Garnacha Vinas
Color:  Dark purple with a hint of brown.
Nose:  Pepper on the nose with a distinctive balsamic vinegar aroma.
Mouth:  More tannins than the first two wines. Fruitiness of the other wines was missing. This was our least favorite of the wines when dried on its own.
Price:  $9.99/World Market

Pairings

Fontina Cheese:  This cheese did not help this wine out and all. In fact, none of the cheeses paired with this wine.
Jarlsberg Cheese:  Not a match.
Spiced Gouda:  No, same problem as with the first two wines.
Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives:  It didn't enhance the wine, but worked better than the cheeses.
Chicken Quesadilla:  Nice pairing it helped to round out the wine.
Shepard's Pie:  No, we had a hard time finding anything to go with this wine.
Lindt Chili Chocolate:  The first wine was definitely the best with this chocolate, this was just average.
Dark Chocolate Covered Raspberries:  Not our favorite, but it works as well as anything with this wine.

Conclusion

This wine was a miss for the winos. It had a difficult time standing up to any of the pairings and was disappointing on its own.

Final Thoughts

Beth:  Spanish wines are such a great value! I would definitely purchase the Fuego and Zestos Old Vines Garnacha again. Fuego definitely had the best finish, but my overall favorite was the Zestos. My favorite food to pair with these wines was the quesadillas. It was great with Fuego as well as with Zestos. Unfortunately nothing really gave the third wine a boost in flavor, but you win some and lose some. Another great night with my wino buddies!
Lisa:  These wines were new to me.  I am used to Old Vine Zins, so the the "Old Vine" for Garnacha was something I was interested in trying.  You couldn't beat them for the price!! since Robert Parker had given the Fuego a 92pt rating, I was excited to give it a try.  I enjoyed the fruitiness and light tannins and especially loved the chili chocolate pairing!! The chicken quesadilla fit it well too, yum!  As for the Zestos, the smooth soft tannins and light finish were a delight.  Again, the chocolate pairings were delicious! Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the Vina Alarba, however, the chili chocolate did pair well. But then again, chili chocolate is never a miss!
Mary Jo:  This was our first "Old Vine" Garnacha class.  All three wines were very reasonably priced! My favorite of the three was the Zestos.  It had a wonderful nose and, while it had a shorter finish than the Fuego, it was very smooth and enjoyable.  It was an especially good pairing with the shepherd's pie and chicken quesadilla!  The Fuego was my second favorite, especially pairing well with the chicken quesadilla and the dark chocolate covered raspberries.  Overall, I wasn't especially pleased with the Vina Alarba, although it was okay with the shepherd's pie.  Unfortunately, the spiced gouda cheese was too spicy to pair, as it overpowered the wine.  Great class!  Can't wait to buy these wines again!