Wine with Meg + Mel
The fun + frank podcast which helps you navigate the world of wine. Hosted by Australia's first female Master of Wine Meg Brodtmann, and self-titled Master of Sabrage Mel Gilcrist.
Wine with Meg + Mel
Tasting Tips: How to tell medium reds apart (Merlot, Carmenere, Tempranillo, Mencia)
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What Meg's drinking: 2018 Tyrrell's Semillon $35
Wines tasted:
- Terra Rossa Merlot Coonawarra 2020 $33
- Casillero Del Diablo Reserve Carmenere $26
- Earthworks Barossa Tempranillo $19
- Salterio Mencia Bierzo $17
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Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel . We are here to help you navigate the world of wine . I'm Mel Gilchrist . I'm a master of wine at Meg Brotman . This is our third
Welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel
Speaker 1in this series of tasting episodes , so we are doing how to taste and how to tell the difference . Basically , if you're a master of wine , like what meg did , how you're going to taste the difference between stuff ?
Speaker 2yes , yeah , yeah . So because a lot of you know anyone who's done wct knows that just that medium range , yes , a lot of wines are going to come in with medium acidity . Yes , medium tannins , medium alcohol , and then how the hell do you tell them apart ? Exactly , cabernet can smell like Merlot . Merlot can smell like Cabernet . So there are tricks .
Speaker 1So we did how to taste light red wines last season and I will link it in the show notes so that people can , I mean , probably start there , right , and then they're easier . Yeah , yeah , if you really want to get serious , I think if you want to go out and buy these wines and taste along with us , you would probably get a lot out of it . So how would they ? Well , they can look at the show notes and see the wines and , instead of listening to the podcast immediately good , oh , okay , you know , listen to the podcast tomorrow , because they can stop it .
Speaker 2It's not live , it's not live .
Speaker 1Meg , we're not on the radio . Bless , we're not on the wireless . You're so like cool and hip sometimes .
Speaker 2No , there's definitely elements and sometimes I think we're on the radio , okay Okay , and I listen to . I spend my life listening to podcasts , so I should know , you really should know , that you can stop them and listen to them later .
Speaker 1You can , they are infamously Because I do save my .
Speaker 2Rachel Maddow For when I'm cooking dinner .
Speaker 1Yeah , see , exactly , yes , okay , well , if you're still with us and you haven't gone off to buy these wines , we will get there shortly . But first , meg , what do you mean drinking ?
Speaker 22018 . Tyrell's Semi-Om Yum . As you know , tyrell's are the ones that put all the bling everywhere and Taylor's are the two that put bling everywhere , and I found it , I think , in Dan Murphy's , but just kind of a . I think it was under the current release , but it happened to be , but it was the same price . It was like line priced . It was $ . The current release , but it happened to be , but it was the same price . It was like line priced . It was $30 or something . Anyway , it was . I've said this a thousand times Hunter Valley Semi-Or is just one of the greatest drinks that have walked this
Medium-Bodied Reds Tasting Strategy
Speaker 2planet . It was so Aged , specifically , if it's aged , yeah , and I can't tell you what 18 was like . I know it was quite a dry warm , yeah , maybe I don't know , um , but it is . It goes with everything . It's a really good summer drink . It's got high acidity , so it can go .
Speaker 1It wasn't one of the was sorry , it wasn't one of the main . No vineyards , it was just like entry entry level yeah , really really good wine okay , I can't even link to it . You might have to go searching for it .
Speaker 2Oh , why , what's ?
Speaker 1Well , I mean , if I say Dan Murphy's , it's all just the HVD or the Stevens .
Speaker 2No , actually , maybe it was .
Speaker 1For the 2018 specifically . Maybe it was the .
Speaker 2Stevens , I was going to say did it start with ?
Speaker 1S . Oh yeah , Is there one with S $45 .
Speaker 2I think it was cheaper than that , but maybe that's through Terrell's , terrell's , terrell , terrell's , not Terrell's . Yeah , I know , it sounded really weird when I said it . What's his name ? Pharrell Williams , terrell Williams , terrell , yes , big .
Speaker 1Maybe they need to work with him . Okay , so that one is $35 in different drops , so it probably was that .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , that sounds about right . Okay , it was delicious . Get it , buy it , don't drink it , lay it down .
Speaker 1Oh , you mean get a current vintage and lay it down , or ?
Speaker 2even get the 18 and lay it down . It was so young .
Speaker 1Well , so how long would you age an Hunter ?
Speaker 230 , 40 years . Oh my God , this was drinking . It was a beautiful drinking window , don't get me wrong . I like my life too much to age wine that long . But it was the colour had . No , you would not have known it was six , nearly seven years old . Yeah , you would not have known . It was just like it had just been bottled Anyway , okay , beautiful Fun fact , so fun fact . Speaking of Pharrell Williams , I was interested to read the number of wineries that play music to their wine .
Speaker 1Oh , no , yes . So I knew that in this is ridiculous , right .
Speaker 2I knew that in my husband worked in South Africa with a winemaker and he would play classical music to his barrel , so it was just 24-7 . And then I knew in Montez , in Apelta in Chile , that they had Gregorian chants being played in their cellar , but that kind of connects because they are quite Catholic . But then in Burgundy Saint-Ainé Marc Jessum and his son Jean-Baptiste play classical music only Mozart or Bach while their white wine coalesces in barrel . In Texas , hill Country , canada , family Vineyards Brendan Canada sings to her only Mozart or Bach while their white wine coalesces in barrel In Texas , hill Country , canada family vineyards Brendan Canada sings to her vines the high notes of music and wine .
Speaker 1Do you know what ? Singing to vines annoys me less than people that will only play Mozart , Like it sounds so freaking wanky . You don't buy into this , do you no ?
Speaker 2I don't , but I just . Oh my God , he decides when the wines are ready by testing them with the ding of a tuning fork . Oh my God , far out . Read this article . I'm not sure where I got this article from , but I just thought . You know , winemakers are quite eccentric and that's just a little bit of eccentricity . But there was a woman , jo Bersiak . I could never pronounce her name . I'm sorry , jo . I think she's now a PhD in the way music affects the way you taste wine .
Speaker 1Well , yes , that's proven , because your perception is Cross-modal , exactly .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1I've seen that with music . I've done exercises with people where they put on red glasses versus putting on green glasses , and what colour you're predominantly seeing will bring out different notes in the wine . Oh , wow , so you could have . If you had a wine and you really wanted to bring out certain , you know , spice or whatever . You should paint your tasting room red and it will taste sweeter . Wow , yeah , yeah , yeah , I've done full-time workshops with people around this . You should paint your tasting room red and it will taste sweeter .
Speaker 1Wow , yeah , yeah , yeah , I've done , I've full done workshops with people around this , well , so maybe this does happen . No , but that's to do with perception , not to do with . This is to do with ageing . This is to do with the actual winemaking .
Speaker 2It would be different if they were playing different types of music in the tasting room while people were buying or blending , and that probably would change .
Speaker 1I'd bet money that that would change things .
Speaker 2Anyway , I just thought it was a cute little concept , you know , highlighting the eccentricity of winemakers , yes , or the wankerism , whatever you want to put it .
Speaker 1Me and Dan , the winemaker at Shandong , have this big joke at the moment because there was , I've read , or something meticulous , meticulously aged wine and it's like how do you ? He goes . Flawed aging of the wine , he goes . You know it's funny . You mention that because I walked past Loic the other day and he was just standing there meticulously aging all the wines , the shit , we come up with in wine . Yeah , that's bullshit .
Speaker 2Well , it's like you know grapes . I'm just testing this because it's undercooked . Oh okay , grapes were picked to their optimum ripeness .
Speaker 1Yeah , we laughed about that one too .
Speaker 2That's always a good one , because you know , we all , sub-optimally , pick our grapes . All right . So for our medium-bodied reds , I have got Carmenere . Yes , merlot . She probably should have done the Merlot first .
Speaker 1Yeah , we still have time . I think that's a good idea actually .
Speaker 2Sorry , we're tipping the wine out .
Speaker 1We're tipping it out . I think we should do , because that's a good baseline for a medium .
Speaker 2This is probably the world's most famous medium red . Surely Baseline for a medium , this is probably the world's most famous medium red . Surely this is the I was going to say .
Speaker 1Karen but it's not really Karen the most vanilla of mediocre of wines . Vanilla is a good word , but vanilla is also good because vanilla ice cream goes with everything and does make a lot of things better .
Speaker 2Including my beautiful crepe Suzette made at my table
Winemaker Eccentricities: Music in the Cellar
Speaker 2at Gimlet , the other night .
Speaker 1Ooh , gimlet Threw that one in there . Mm-hmm , I was just at Gimlet .
Speaker 2Yes , I know it was fantastic , but I'm broke now . Yeah , I know . So we've got the Parker Estate from the Coonawarra Terra Rosa Merlot 2021 . This is about $30 . Yeah , I didn't want to . You know how in the past we've done Merlot and we've kind of dissed it by buying cheap . Yes , I'm so glad you got a nice one . So I thought , even though some of the other wines that we've got are a little bit cheaper , I thought , no , I'm going to give Merlot your best foot forward .
Speaker 1And Merlot deserves it truly . It gets so much shoot Like let's give it the best shot here .
Speaker 2So one thing with medium-bodied reds is they'll usually be medium to deep in colour . Yep , they won't be light in colour , so the colour's going to give you an indication . Okay , right , then aromas have got nothing to do with it .
Speaker 1Sorry , can I just quickly jump in and ask you when you were doing your MW and you were doing the tasting segments , is that how you did it in your head ? Would you taste it and go all right , I'll be medium reds . Now we figure out what it will be , or was it ?
Speaker 2Not initially . So some people in the MW have a grid system .
Speaker 1Yep .
Speaker 2And they write it all down . I'm not quite sure how it works . If anyone knows how the grid system works , mw's write in and let us know .
Speaker 2I just wrote my tasting note and then you analyzed it and then I would go back and drew noon from noon's winery . Mclarenville said to me because I struggled with reds . Yeah , he said to me , you can taste , you're writing down the right note , you're just making the wrong conclusions . Interesting , so go after you've tasted the wine , forget you've tasted the wine , forget you've tasted it . I'm handing you this tasting note . Oh , interesting , what is that wine ?
Speaker 1And is that what you recommend people do ? Yes , this is how I tell all the diploma students to do it .
Speaker 2So write like a lawyer , think like a detective .
Speaker 1If you smell green capsicum , your brain might go oh I know , it's Cab Franc . And then you go down this and then everything you taste is Cab Franc .
Speaker 2Of course you force yourself to taste Cab Franc .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , you're subliminally .
Speaker 2And you are riding a Cab Franc nose .
Speaker 1And you retrofit it to Cab Franc .
Speaker 2Yeah , so we do an exercise in WCT Level 3 where we have two Shirazas . They it's in WCT Level 3 where we have two Shiraz's . They don't know what it is . One's from a cool climate , yarra Valley , yeringberg . One's from a warm climate . And then they're told this is the same grape variety . Taste the wines , give me a full tasting note . Then we want to name the variety and what kind of climate it's grown in . People see the first wine which is a cool climate Yeringberg , shiraz , syrah and their mind goes to Pinot and they write a Pinot note , wow . And then they say it's Pinot . And I said , well , what is wine ? Number two , that is purple , 14.5% alcohol . And oh well , I thought maybe that was central Otagan .
Speaker 1Okay , so this is a really good discussion to have at the start of this , so Write your note Just write what you're smelling in the glass , without bias , you know or conjecture .
Speaker 2Just write what's in the glass and then go back . And then go back and figure out what it is and pretend someone's handed you the note and say , okay , what is it .
Speaker 1I love that . That's really good advice to kick us off . Okay , so , merlo , before we get into what's in this glass , what are we expecting ?
Speaker 2So I'm expecting red fruits , red currant , maybe some plum , maybe some raspberry , maybe some cherry , could be thinking peanuts . Relatively lighter in colour , it's usually medium in colour . It's usually a sort of a ruby red Chocolate .
Speaker 1Yeah , I always get that like a dusty cocoa chocolate thing .
Speaker 2Yes , dustiness is another one , and the tannins are like driving behind someone on a dusty road . I like that . That is a Merlot tannin , even in its Pomerol form , which has got Cabernet Franc in it . It has this dusty element to it .
Speaker 1Yep , so this has a dustiness . It has that red fruits , it has like plum and strawberry , and I definitely get a dusty chocolate like like a drinking chocolate or something yeah , and you know , when you first snap dark chocolate , yeah , and you know that feeling that dark chocolate , high cocoa gives you about .
Speaker 1That's what a Merlot Tannin is almost like yeah , it's not super complex on the nose , so what else could this be ? Um , okay , so what else could it be if it was ? Just the thing is it's not bright , juicy red fruit , it is a more subdued fruit . So I guess it could be like it could be a pinot , but not like a super perfumed Pinot , like maybe like a cheaper Pinot .
Speaker 2Yeah , dry ready Pinot Sub 20 Pinot Malbec , malbec .
Speaker 1I expect floral from Malbec .
Speaker 2And I don't think the colour's deep enough for . Malbec and the colour's not deep enough .
Speaker 1It's not bright and juicy enough to be gamay or grenache . That's a bloody delicious one . Is that how it tastes ? Yeah , what about Tempranillo ? It could almost be a Tempranillo ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it could be .
Speaker 1Tempranillo yeah , yep .
Speaker 2So far , that's where we're at . Yeah , but Tempranillo for me tends to have more of a purpley colour and a bit of mulberry fruit but still , yes , and I that Tempranillo .
Speaker 1I smell a more array of fruits . I think Tempranillo is this beautiful grape that has the ability to have red and black fruits in it , whereas this is just pretty , yeah , whereas Merlot is
Merlot Tasting: Defining Characteristics
Speaker 1red fruit .
Speaker 2Sometimes I have had Merlots that smell like blackcurrant .
Speaker 1Oh my God , that is nice , it's lovely , isn't it ?
Speaker 2Yeah , okay , but see how the tannin is . And this is the trick , people . Yes , don't focus on the flavours and aromas , yep , don't focus on the structure . Yes , merlot usually has medium , maybe medium plus acidity . It never has high acidity . Yeah , tannins always around that medium level . Everything's medium , that's right . Yeah , alcohol may be high , but the tannin is just that dusty , dusty , dusty tannin . Once you've held that in your mouth , I think you can eliminate virtually everything else .
Speaker 1Yep , yep . So what was the other main thing that we said ? It would be A pinot , yeah .
Speaker 2The tannin isn't right for pinot . That's just not a pinot tannin . Even if you completely stuff it up , that is not a pinot tannin . No , it's not a pinot tannin . And don't forget that when you're in an exam situation , it's likely that this will . If you've got a merlot , it could be putting you in a particular location , or these are all made from the same variety from four different regions around the world . So you are getting some clues , say in your MW , yeah , but just write your note , forget that you've tasted the wine , and then go through and circle what things are and then say , okay , what great varieties are like this . So in my MWWI would write down so , if it were , obviously they're going Merlot , malbec , Tempranillo probably that's where I would land , depending on what the question was . Yeah , and then I would go okay , what backs up each of those ? You've got one where you'll have five . Yeah , what backs up each of those and what eliminates those ? And that's how you work through it .
Speaker 1And I think this is a nice representation of a good mellow . It's bloody delicious . You're right . All the ones I've tasted before have been crap Like this one's really nice , so that's probably my bias .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know what I mean . Like if it's going to be crap , so I'm not going to spend a lot of money . This is a premium , I mean , and Kunawara always over delivers for the price point .
Speaker 1Yeah , parker Estate . I mean , you've paid you , so that's good , that's great for this . Really , I reckon people would taste this and enjoy it so much that they would be surprised there's no , that is delicious . It is delicious , okay . Um , next we have merlots . Sorry , finish . Actually , what do you expect on the finish ?
Speaker 2medium is they don't , they don't ? They very rarely go long , long merlots yeah they sort of finished about five or six seconds . Yeah , you know you taste the flavour , but still you're left with that dusty driving down the dirty road , dusty road in your mouth , and the tannins aren't Cabernet , which are those blocky , chalky kind of tannins . So now we've got the oh my God , heavyweight bottle . This would have cost a fortune to import to this country . People . Casillero del .
Speaker 1Diablo . I should have all the people , all the wineries are sending us wines to taste this year . I should have put a note in being like just so you know , if you send anything in a heavy bottle , meg will hang shit on it .
Speaker 2Okay , this is Casillero del Diablo , so Conchitour is the biggest brand in the world . Didn't know that ? Reserva Privada Carmenier , from Valley del Repel , so Repel is the center . Well , you've got Santiago here , you've got . No one can see this , obviously . So you've got Santiago , and there's only really one wine region north of Santiago . There are a couple , but one main one the central valley .
Speaker 2Repel Valley is the center of the central valley okay so it's just at the base of the andes , so it runs from the andes to the coast . Okay , good for me , probably the best country for carmine in chile . Yeah , okay , um 2022 . So usually reserva 22 . So usually reserver in chilli means that it's been aged with oak .
Speaker 1Oh okay , people can't see what you just did . I did , she did some air quotes Oak . Yes .
Speaker 2So it would most likely be staves . Yes , so grown reservers in barrel , reservers in staves , and varietal , as they call it . Varietal sorry , I've just poured myself . Yeah , so don't forget , carmenere was mistaken to be Merlot in Chile until 1996 when a French ampelographer came through and said this is Carmenere , pretty much a lost variety from Bordeaux . Yeah , and there's a guy in Italy , in the Veneto now , who's trying to , because it is in the Veneto historically . Yeah , and he's trying to resurrect the two hectares that they had . So Carmenier , for me , usually has high alcohol , 13.5% to 14.5% Yep Warm alcohol . His roasted beetroots can have a lot of that capsicum methoxypyrazine aroma . Um can be blueberries , but again , key , the tannins are much more like shiraz tannins .
Speaker 1They're not mellow so I would smell this and I would immediately say okay , is this carmine cab franc or an underripe Cab Sav ? Yep , it is that like green capsicum .
Speaker 2It is green capsicum . It is hardcore and this is the problem . If it's shaded it gets this what's called methoxypyrazine , it gets this green cap smell . But that's good , because we are down to three great varieties now .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Yep , right , because they're only the three great varieties that really do that , and this is because this would be a high-volume wine .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2So they're growing a lot of crop on the vines . Yeah , so it's not a high-quality Carmenere , basically .
Speaker 1Okay . So that's good that we're down to three , and so I guess the the easiest way to figure out if you've got an underwrite cab . If you tasted an underwrite cab , the tannins would bite your face off and the acid would be quite and the acid okay . So it's pretty easy to have a taste and determine that it's not that .
Speaker 2So then we're down to two yep and carmine has pretty moderate , moderate acidity . It loses malic acid at a great speed of knots during its ripening process . Um , they can add acid in chili , but this has got pretty moderate acidity . But feel how soft and gentle . They're like bubble bath . Oh my god they are . They're like having bubbles in your mouth . Okay , and that would . That is carmineer tannins . So shiraz was the only thing that , youannin-wise , you can confuse it with .
Speaker 1Oh my God , that is so true . They have Shiraz tannins , whereas Cab Franc is probably closer to a carbonate tannin . Yeah yeah .
Speaker 2Well , it is the parent , one of the parents . So it is more clunkier Mm-hmm , and do we know many Cab Francs with this amount of alcohol ?
Speaker 1No , no , because they're often .
Speaker 2Grown in a cooler climate , cooler places . So we automatically say , okay , this is something that's warm , it's warm alcohol . It's got to be something that grows in a warm climate . So , just on flavour , just on structure , if we took all the flavour out and we didn't have that hint of methoxypyrazine , we'd be between Shiriraz and carmine Yep , yep , based on tannin and alcohol .
Speaker 1And then , as soon as you get the herbaceous , then you go bang , carmine , yep , awesome .
Carmenere: Mistaken Identity & Key Features
Speaker 1This is such a helpful episode . I reckon people will love this .
Speaker 2Mind you , this is how I do it . There are a million ways to do it , but this is the way I do it .
Speaker 1Yeah , well , you are one of a handful of master of wines in australia , so I feel like you're a pretty good person to uh take the lead off mech .
Speaker 2So next we have a wine that's been sent to us earthworks tempranillo 2022 , south australia . I don't know anything about it . Plus and juicy , with layers of chocolate , licorice and boysenberry , finishing with cocoa powder tannins do you find much difference between the Tempranillo grown in Australia versus Spain ? Not much difference between the Hoven of Tempranillo grown in Spain . But when you start having Reserva and Grand Reserva , I find that they are more layered and complex wines from Spain . No one's really doing a Reserva or Grand Reserva equivalent out of Australia .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's true , they should . Yeah , I agree . So first of all , colour-wise , this could be Pinot or Merlot .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2It's very light in colour .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Like it would be almost light , I reckon .
Speaker 1Yeah , it is . It's quite light , I get . I can just pick Tempranillo Straight away . I'm like bang Tempranillo , what are your ?
Speaker 2what are your it's ?
Speaker 1a specific kind of . It's a blueberry , I think it's a blueberry . I find in Tempranillo that I don't get really anywhere else . It's a blueberry , I think it's a blueberry . I find in Tempranillo that I don't get really anywhere else , and it is that it's like it's that combination of the red and black fruit that you can get .
Speaker 2Mulberry . Mulberry , that's the thing Beautiful If people haven't smelt or tasted mulberry . Mulberry is almost like blueberry meets blackberry , isn't it ? Yeah , it is , but with really high acidity , but it really high acidity . But it is this purple red in color that's beautiful . Mulberries will be coming out , or my mulberry tree's almost ripe , yeah , so it'll be coming out probably the end of march . Yep , um , get out , buy yourself a punnet of mulberries . They probably cost you five or six bucks , but it's well worth it , because once you've smelt it , it's like gooseberry .
Speaker 1You've never , you never , forget it I um , I find when I smell a wine and I like the nose that much , it becomes really high stakes because I'm like I hope they can follow through on this and it's really disappointing when they don't .
Speaker 2Okay , so we've got high alcohol in that wine .
Speaker 1It's quite a . It's like there's not a lot of structure or something . It's just quite pleasantly drinkable .
Speaker 2I think that the descriptors of chocolate , licorice and boysenberry finishing with cocoa powder , tannins , is kind of .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's it . It's got a really medium kind of body , a medium finish , but lovely it is lovely , but why is it Tempranillo ? Okay , medium across the board , I think . So medium acid , medium tannin , medium finish , medium unaged , aged it's different . Butaged you expect medium across the board and I think both kinds of red fruit and maybe that's it for me and tannins for me .
Speaker 2Tempranillo tannins are halfway between Malbec and Merlot . Oh my God , now you're testing me .
Speaker 1Malbec and Merlot . Oh my God , Now you're testing me . Malbec and Merlot .
Speaker 2Dustiness of Merlot , yeah , but more of that Pac-Man-y grip of Malbec .
Speaker 1That is next level and probably explains why you're a muscle refiner and I'm not .
Speaker 2Have you ever eaten , tasted quince when it hasn't been cooked ? No , okay . So my mum calls them quangers . Okay , the tannins on it are just . They're kind of like Tempranillo tannins . I don't recommend people go out and do it . Although this is quince season In Chile , there's a lot of quinces grown next to vineyards . Okay , so we would often have quince fruit at the same time as picking . But don't eat it by itself . It has to be cooked . Anyway , tempranillo is a tricky one , is this ?
Speaker 1a good demonstration of a Tempranillo Like . Do you think this is like ?
Speaker 2No , ah , it's not definitive enough . Okay , but again , in an exam situation , you're going to be given some clues . Yeah , so these , are you going to get a Tempranillo from Australia ? Unlikely , if they're doing Tempranillo , they are going Portugal or Spain .
Speaker 1Yep .
Speaker 2So it may have other Spanish grape varieties , it may have some whites thrown in there , but sit down with Navarro , rio , rioja , tempranillos , from Hoven right through to Grand Reserva and see what your hooks are . It's a tricky one I struggled with . Spanish Great varieties , for me , are the hardest because they are really medium .
Speaker 1They are yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2You know , and they can often masquerade as something else because they're all so similar , they're almost like from the same family , but everything's sort of related .
Speaker 1And age , just like
Tempranillo: The Red-Black Fruit Spectrum
Speaker 1if you taste a Hoven compared to a Gromit Zerva it's not the same thing , it's like a completely different wine . It's crazy . I mean it is a different wine , but you know what I mean . It's like it's not even from the same family .
Speaker 2So that's a tricky one , but my advice on those tricky ones is get a whole heap of temps around and then get some temps next to Merlot .
Speaker 1Yes , and just get that . I don't know . I represented Spanish wine for a little while , so I drank a lot of it , and I think , just when you get used to a particular like that Tempranillo , to me there's something in particular that I just tasted it and it shouted Tempranillo at me , so maybe it's one of those ones that you just need to drink enough .
Speaker 2of Memorise , memorise , memorise , memorise .
Speaker 1I mean , that's some good homework , right yeah . So , now we've got Menthea . Yeah , which was not on my bingo card for today . It's getting bigger and bigger .
Speaker 2The reason I kind of chose it is because the colour for me is very Merlot-esque , mm-hmm , but the tannins just set it apart . Yeah , so this is from Biezo . This is from Celterio . That's the winery Mencia , from Biezo . This is from Celterio .
Speaker 1That's the winery Mencia from Biezo yeah .
Speaker 2In Spain 12.5% alcohol and it's a 2021 . This is imported by Pinnacle Drinks .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2So Biezo is sort of on top of Portugal in the north . Got my geography shit , is it west ?
Speaker 1Northwest of .
Speaker 2Spain . Yeah , it's the left-handed side of Spain , up the top of Portugal , so it's sort of around Galicia . It gets a fair bit of rain and Minthea . For me again , like Tempranillo , describe the characteristics of Minthea , don't know no . Blue and red fruits .
Speaker 1My only context of the Minthea grape is I know that it's added to Tempranillo for ageability and colour . If you're turning Tempranillo and it's going to be a grown reserver Minthea is one of the main ones that add to it for colour and ageability , but that's beyond that . I couldn't tell you what it tastes like .
Speaker 2So it is becoming trendier and that's why I got it . One of the reasons I got it today because it can appear in MW exams and diploma exams . I think because it's sort of a bit of a trend set up . Colour could be Merlot . Yeah , climate exams . I think , because it's sort of a bit of a trend set up Colour could be Merlot . Yeah , medium ruby colour Smells of like raspberry and strawberry jam a little bit . That's been mixed together , mm-hmm , the fruit is more compote-y , it's more cooked fruit than fresh fruit .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's like a darkness . There's not a vibrancy to it .
Speaker 2I wouldn't say there's any blueberry or blackberry in there .
Speaker 1Do you get something almost like a forest floral ? There's something green in there definitely Something kind of manky , but not bad manky , good manky . I need to come up with a better word for manky , don't I ? For me it's a little bit like you know , when mud becomes a bit stinky yes , I get that all the time and I don't mean it in a bad way , I actually like it .
Speaker 2It's not a yes , bad thing , but it's got that sort of a green . I'm gonna say fetid , which is a terrible term , but there's an earthy greenness about it .
Speaker 1Dirty mud , I don't know . Yeah , we need to come up with a nicer way to say dirty mud , but it's what I'm getting to . But there is a hint of green .
Speaker 2I don't know if this is made with stems or anything , but the thing that will give it away it's only 12.5% alcohol . Those tannins , it , those tannins .
Speaker 1It tastes so different to how it smells . Hmm , it's yummy , though , do you know ? It almost tastes like a Nebbiolo . It's a little simple .
Speaker 2Do you get ?
Speaker 1that ? Yeah , it is . Is it a little cork tainted ? Yeah , probably Just a little yeah .
Speaker 2But the tannins . It was under cork . We're just saying it might be a little bit cork-tainted , so it's probably unfair to . We can't talk about the flavours but we can talk about the tannin structure , which is dustier and chunkier .
Speaker 1I was laughing . They were here when you said that . When you said it was under cork-taint , you said that into the microphone .
Speaker 2They heard , even though you were talking to me , but you can still see past cork taint to have a look at the structure of the lime . So we might try and get another bottle of this at another time . I'm not 100% sure . It's one of those cork taints where the fruit just seems dulled . It does , and , as you said , not what you expected . No , not at all . Yeah , but anyway , my taco message still serves the same . Mencia has these dusty , grippy tannins , a little bit like Mataro Mivedra .
Speaker 1It's got and have , like Chinon , wine from Chinon . So what if Merlot was a bit rougher ?
Speaker 2If Merlot had been kept on its skins for like six weeks ? Yeah , okay , yeah , merlot's the like elegant lady here . Lady , this is the brutal Merlot .
Speaker 1Not supposed to say things like that anymore .
Speaker 2Meg , yes , we're not allowed to use gender-related terms .
Speaker 1Okay , yes , we're not allowed to use masculine and feminine related terms . No , okay , I think this has been a really good episode , like I think , um , in terms of being able to break down what a wine is based off what you're tasting . Hopefully , um , there's some diploma or west at three students who are listening , who are fine . Well , actually , westesset 3 don't need to decide what it is , they just need to do a good note , but I don't know even . It's just nice to know . I think , as a wine , a someone who enjoys wine , that's what got me into wine in the first place . Um , we went to , of course it was . We went to Debilge . I know , you know , my friends are salad or manager there now oh my god , really tell them to send me some stuff , so .
Speaker 1But I remember standing there tasting stuff and I was like I just wanted to know . All I wanted was to be like I want to taste a wine and know whether it's a Riesling or a Chardonnay , and that is what set me off and I started doing courses and stuff . I mean , clearly I can tell you if it what we were doing and what we're doing now , but I couldn't back then . No , how would you know ? Yeah , so I think it's really handy to go through and do this with all the wines . So this was our medium reds . We will get to heavy reds later in the season , but bottom line is it's down to structure .
Speaker 2It's got nothing to do with flavours . Ignore the flavours . The flavours will give you . Okay , I'm here .
Speaker 1So start with structure , decide what it could be yeah and then come back and bring in the flavours to
Mencia: The Underappreciated Medium Red
Speaker 1Support or get rid of Okay . But don't start with flavours and aromas . All right , love it . Well , we will be back with you next week , but until then , enjoy your next glass of wine and
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