Great Show! Love the obscure varietal, love that you have 3 different regions of the world! Great refresher course on Mataro, Monastrell, Mourvedre. I forget that they are the same!!!! Great job on the fill in time in the beginning Mott!!

QOTD:
Have had excellent experience in France, but less than memorable from Spain and new world.
Great show!

That was just me calling Gary to tell you about the 2001 Amador County Mourvedre by TKC winery that I had this year, pretty good. On another note when you get the time could you speak a bit on the advantages or disadvantages of cellaring? This is still an absolute mystery to me and I would like to know more. I know you have said most of us drink our wines too young. What changes occur and what wines should I pick to lay down and for how long? What wines should be consumed now? Thanks D.

Thanks Gary for doing a show on Mourvedre. I absolutely love the varietal. All you need to know about me and what I think about Mourvedre,if you ask me my two go two winerys in France and the U.S. its Chateau de Beaucastel in CDP and Tablas Creek in Cali(Mouvedre based in both reds). You also might try Core Elevation Sensation it might suprise you how good Dave is doing with the varity.
Mourvedre picks up flavors of dark, dark fruit, gamyness, spice and believe it or not citrus that other varieties just don’t reach. Yes they do need a little time for the flavors to flesh out. For some reason Mourved takes a little time in hiding before the flavors explode. I have read Parker reviews were he describes Mourvedre varieties and will say tastes of “Peking Duck” I swear he is dead on I have tasted the tasty Chinese duck in Mourvedre. yum yum yum.

P.S. when you find the 30 dollar Bandal that kills it like you believe exists let us know I will be first in line.

QOTD: The only 100% mourvedre wines I’ve had were from Spain. I do appreciate GSM blends from various parts of the Rhone and Southern France. I’ve had a couple of nice GSM blends from CA too.

Thanks for expanding our palate Gary!

QOTD: No Mouvedre, but I am exploring Cono Sur wines from Chile. Tasting their Pinot Noir now.

Love the Mouvedre. Had an awesome blend from the Lang, forget the name but had roses on the label. I think it was Mouv and Cinsault; mighty fine.

Nice episode Gary!
Good to see you throwing some love our way again(Australia)…

QOTD: never had a straight Mouvedre… i’m going out now to get one!

QOTD: I have been drinking Bandol from Tempier for almost 3 decades. These wines need much time from vintage to hit their prime….I’m talking 20 years in the top vintages. However, almost every wine of producers of Mourvedre I have tasted has been relatively tight and tannic when young. But Tempier is the “king of the hill” in my book. As you noted, they are rustic, gamy, tannic (when young), but for me they become unbelievably complex after 15-20 years. Thank you for including a Tempier in your tasting.

Thanks for all of the good info. I learned a little something new today.

QOTD: I have not had any experiences with Mourvedre. But now I am excited to expand my pal…

Go Steelers!

I prefer the small berry Mourvedre from Cline!

QOTD: Never had an experience with Mourvedre, but after this episode, I will go in search for it.

Congrats on being one of the most influential people in NJ (but we Vayiancs already new that!) – saw an excerpt about you in NJ monthly!

QOTD: I’ve had that Turkey Flat Mourvedre. I thought your review was fairly dead on. I might go 89 rather than 90. There are some other producers doing better things with Mourved in Australia I think – specifically some of the efforts from Hewitson, Spinifex and d’Arenberg have been very good (depending on vintage).

QOTD: Mostly blends with Mourvedre, never a 100% that I can remember.

Great episode to get the new year going.

QOTD: I’ve had the 2005 (I believe) Tempier you recommended a year ago. The price has gone up, I don’t recall it being near $60. Otherwise, Monastrel.

QOTD: Not much experience with mourvedre. I think I remember the el Nido Clio – wasn’t crazy about it but didn’t dislike it. Bandol sounds very intriguing.
Where did you find a purple shirt?

QOTD: none yet! It’ll be something to look for, certainly, to expand my pal!!

My pal tends to move more towards sweets so I’m very interested in Cline as you have described it.

Syncline Cellars in the Columbia Gorge AVA of Washington makes a very nice Mourvedre. On a recent trip to Walla Walla I bought a mourvedre from Trio Vintners which I have not yet opened, but have high hopes for.

QOTD: I’ve had a few. May re-try the Cline, which is readily available here.

Excellent, informative episode.

QOTD: Really enjoyed the YECLA MONASTRELL – CASTANO “C”, which I didn’t realize was mourvedre.
It’s a real QPR winner North of the 49th. Now I know it’s the “m” in GSM (and another variant, SGM which is also big on QPR, I’ll look for more, and watch for the North West mourvedres mentioned here.

Gary, good show and I love you, but you keep making a major mistake. You often taste licorice, black or red, and say it’s as though your grill was bombarded with Twizzlers. There is no licorice in Twizzlers, In fact, I don’t think there is any real fruit in them either. They are crap.

Great show. I really enjoyed the Mourvedre that we tasted from barrell last month at Zerba Cellars in the Walla Walla Valley (but in Oregon geographically).

Also, a question: How long before the show do you open your wines, and do you decant them? (and pour them back into the bottle)

Gary, Gary, Gary,

First off, welcome back! I missed you during your short New Year’s break.

Second, when you first 3-4 times you mentioned your third wine, the Bandol, I kept thinking you were saying Bob Dole, so I was cracking up when you were saying to visit the Bob Dole!

Great show!

BEER RECOMMENDATION: I just tried the Goose Island Bourbon Stout. Give it a whirl, the crazy folks at Goose Island decided to ferment this brew in bourbon barrels, so it tastes like bourbon beer. Amazing!

Dany
http://raad.wordpress.com