A lot of people tend to prefer one style of red wine. One side of the spectrum is the light and nuanced pinot noir used to make the fantastic wines of burgundy. Very good pinots are also being produced in California and Oregon, as well as New Zealand. On the other side is the jammy, thick, fruit-bomb style of Zinfandels, and pure Cabernet Sauvignons. I happen to like both ends of the spectrum and most things in between. Last weekend I had the opportunity to drink some of Kosta Browne's 2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which was fantastic. It went perfectly with the ground pepper I had seasoned our grilled salmon with. It is pretty costly though, and near impossible to find. The previous weekend I tried Orin Swift's "The Prisoner" Zinfandel 2006 from Napa Valley, and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. We drank that with medium-rare steak, and the moist, rummy tobacco bouquet was a great complement to the char on the steaks. It is a huge production wine and should be available just about anywhere for $30.
My favorite red wine varietal, though, is an esoteric one. It is more on the heavier, darker side of the pinot-zin scale, and has the potential to be very bad when poorly made. When done right, though, Mourvedre is an interesting and rewarding, not to mention delicious, wine. On its own it can be what a wine critic would call gamey, and I would call wet dog. Maybe a little mildewy. As a result, it is usually blended with another grape variety to give it more fruit--Syrah and Grenache are its typical blending partners, and Cabernet Sauvignon is sometimes added as well. And while pure mourvedre can be problematic--its nickname in France is "Estrangle-Chien," or dog-strangler!--, blended, properly aged mourvedre is, to my mind, the most enjoyable wine to drink in the world. I definitely agree that the great growths of Bordeaux are technically better wines, but they require a lot of aging and then decanting, etc. Too much effort. I think mourvedre is the best of both worlds on the continuum I mentioned above--big and fruity, yet elegant and nuanced. Many wines with a lot of fruit and alcohol burn out your taste buds after one glass, but mourvedre remains interesting for an entire evening.
One of the main reasons that mourvedre isn't as widespread as it might be is that it is notoriously difficult to graft. In the late 19th century a large percentage of Europe's vineyards were wiped out by phylloxera, an aphid that decimates grape vines. Following that plague, Europe's vineyards were replanted, largely from New World vines that had themselves been grafted from European vines in Columbian times. Mourvedre, however, proved almost impossible to graft until a new method was introduced in the 1980s, and thus is fairly obscure whereas in the 1800s it was one of the most important varieties of grape.
There are several regions in France that produce Mourvedre-blend wines. It is prominent in both the north and south Rhone regions, but comes into its own in the small appellation of Bandol in Provence, near Marseilles on the Mediterranean coast. My favorite Bandol wine is Domaine du Gros Nore. I love it because it runs the gauntlet from plum and strawberry aromas to charcoal on the finish (aftertaste). The 2005 is available in better wine shops, and costs about $26, a huge bargain. The most famous Bandol producer is probably Domaine Tempier, and is also consistently good. Their wines should be easier to find than Gros Nore.
The other main producing area of mourvedre is the south-eastern Spanish region of Jumilla. Known as monastrell in Spain, mourvedre is at its best in this warm, seaside climate. If I could only drink one region's wine for the rest of life, Jumilla would be it (besides good Bordeaux, and who can afford that?). On the budget end, you have Bodegas Luzon's, "Altos de Luzon" 2005. At about $14 a bottle, I challenge you to find a better bottle of wine for the price. This is a wine that would cost $50-60 if it were made in California. Its immediately fruity--maybe raspberry?--but has a long finish with great acidity that will make it a happy companion for anything with a decent amount of fat in it. Red meat, soft cheese, your mom. This could be tricky to find, so if you see it I suggest you snap it up.
A second Jumilla bargain in Bodegas Juan Gil 2005. This wine smells like a trusty leather jacket that has kept you dry in the rain, but tastes first of berries and then of cocoa on the finish. Again, this one will go with about anything, and at $16 a bottle is a spectacular value.
My favorite Jumilla wine, though, is Bodegas El Nido "Clio." I've had the 2003, 2004 and 2005, and this wine features prominently in my limited collection. Of those vintages, the 2004 is probably the best. It smells like melty vanilla ice cream, and initially tastes like warm, buttered toast. This is because it is aged for a good while in new oak barrels. The finish is very nuanced though, something hard to find in wines that have been heavily oaked. It ends with acidic, smoky tones, something like the smell when you open a humidor. At about $43 a bottle, this is a little more expensive, and also challenging to locate. If you're in Chicago though, stop by my place and we'll break out a bottle.
Besides France and Spain, mourvedre is grown in Australia, California and South Africa. The Californian stuff is not impressive in the limited contact I've had. In Australia, mourvedre is exclusively a blending grape, and used to produce GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) wines which are a great value, though not as intricate as the wines of Jumilla. One producer in South Africa, Eben Sadie of Sadie Family Vineyards, however, does it right. His Columella 2004 mourvedre blend is the best South African wine I've tasted by a long ways, and the 2005 is supposedly even better. These aren't cheap bottles--$70 range--but if you ever come across a Sadie Family wine and want to treat yourself, I highly recommend it.
I hope those of you that have access to decent wine stores will try out a mourvedre (or monastrell if its Spanish) in the near future. Start with a cheaper Jumilla, and you won't go wrong. If you like it, great. If not, it was $15.
