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Put Some Altitude in Your Glass
6: Malbec Tasting Part 1: Cha Hair Highlights and Used Barrels
Feb 20, 2018
6: Malbec Tasting Part 1: Cha Hair Highlights and Used Barrels
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
0:00
[upbeat music] Denver Wine Radio with Paul Bonacquisty and Cha Cha Chavez, presented by Bonacquisty Wine Company and Cha's Back in the Day Cafe. We gonna groove tonight. Oh, we're gonna groove tonight.
0:19
Make us groove. Get to the move. We're gonna groove today in the Mile High City because it's National Drink Wine Day. I'm Paul Bonacquisty. Cha Cha Chavez with me.
0:28
Special guest in studio, John Garlich from Bookcliff Vineyards in Boulder, and, uh, we're drinking wine. I, I like this kinda radio. Yeah. [laughs] Me too. I mean, come on. What kinda radio were we in before this, Paul?
0:41
[laughs] Come on. This is radio right here. Everybody did it in the closet. That's right. [laughs] That's right. Never in the studio, always in the closet. Yep, so anyway, um, yeah.
0:53
Well- So we're, we're featuring Malbec today 'cause, uh, w- we think it's a really good grape that grows well in Colorado. It's, uh, as we mentioned earlier, uh, it's grown in Southwest France is where it comes from.
1:05
Cahors is the name of the little area that, uh, it comes out of. Uh, legally they have to, um, use at least 70% Malbec. Uh, they can blend in, um, like Merlot or something, uh, uh, to bring it up to there. But the...
1:20
So I stopped by, um, I went to Mali's yesterday to grab a couple of, uh, Malbecs and, uh, course, uh- Very good... yeah, [laughs] and, um, uh, Bookcliff, uh, Malbec right there.
1:31
In fact you're the only Colorado Malbec- Yeah... I believe on the shelf. I can't, I can't- There's a few others out there but- But there's a few others out there, so...
1:39
And there's others that make it, just probably not, uh, distributed. Right. Um, but, um, so and the, uh, I knew you were bringing yours, so I picked up, uh, a French- Nice...
1:49
Cahors Malbec and, um, anyway- This is a classic Cahors... so let me just tell you what happened this morning, okay? Uh-oh. On the way- Uh-oh... on the way out of the house. [laughs] Uh-oh.
1:59
I had the two wines I had picked up in the bag. I picked up the bag from the bottom of the bag- Uh-oh...
2:04
like you're supposed to, but I only had my hand cupped under one of the bottles, and the other one just went whoop- Ooh... right through, hit the, hit the porch, busted wide open. Ah.
2:13
And, um, yeah, uh, snapped a picture, posted it on Facebook- [laughs]... and off back to Mali's I went. [laughs] Oh, man. And your porch is enjoying a nice, a nice blend of wine. Yeah.
2:25
I'm sure there's a football ana- analogy in there somewhere but- There's, there is something. [laughs] So- Fumble... hey, so anyway, we picked up the, uh... We tried to stay, we're...
2:33
Actually the wines that we're tasting all fall in within the same price range, which is, uh, between, uh, like 15 and 20 bucks. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Well, we're gonna bust that at the end. We're gonna go to 28 bucks.
2:44
Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what I like to hear. All right. So, uh, pick up your glass, Cha, take a sniff and tell me what you smell, and then no, there's no wrong answer.
2:53
And if it smells like wine, hey, that's an answer that we'll accept. Uh, it smells like wine. Okay. [laughs] See, now you're, you're learning. You're at the top of the scale. They're teaching me. It smells like wine.
3:04
[laughs] I, a- a- and, and he literally is teaching me. I don't drink. I'm not a drinker. Uh-oh. So he is literally teaching me how to drink wine 'cause I wanna- Okay... learn how to drink wine. I- It's easy...
3:12
you know, I see everybody enjoying a glass of wine- Yeah... relaxing. You know, you go out, watch a beautiful sunset. Yeah. You have a glass of wine. You know- You don't need to learn... not a Diet Coke.
3:21
You don't need to learn. You just drink, you just drink it, right? Well, I'd like to, but I would like to kind of, you know, kinda learn a little bit about it, you know? Okay. All right. Fair enough.
3:28
What makes a good wine? What makes a wine a $300 bottle of wine as opposed to a $20 bottle of wine? Right. What's the difference?
3:36
No, it, it, it is fun that there's things behind all that, but you know, just tasting is- Yeah... is great in itself. Oh, now I taste orange. Orange. Orange? Do you really? Yeah. Well, okay.
3:47
I get a lot of earth in the nose, you know- Yeah, I do too... that, uh, lot of Cahors kinda character. Real, yeah, real, real earthy, um- Yeah, I can smell that now. Mm-hmm. And, uh- Wow... almost, uh,
3:58
like, uh, like olive brine to me is what I smell. So- A little bit in the flavor too- Yeah... I'd say. Yeah, probably, uh, like Colorado, they probably have a lot of high potassium, a lot of calcium,
4:10
and so it's gonna give you that kind of, uh, stone character. And more medicinal benefits? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it, uh, they say that the high elevation is really good for the things that help protect your heart.
4:26
You get- Really? Yeah. Like, okay, like tell me more.
4:29
Well, you know, I'm not the expert on it, but, uh, they've done studies where there's more phenols and, uh, anthocyanins, all the things that, you know, they believe helps protect your heart. Wow. Yeah.
4:42
That's very interesting. Yeah, you know, they've all had the, the French Paradox, you know, really rich food, but, uh, not a lot of heart, uh, ailment. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And they, they...
4:54
You know, mainly red wine is, uh, attributed to that kind of characteristic. Okay. And, uh, you know, at higher elevation you get more of these components that add to that or- Interesting...
5:07
they think, they think that, uh, causes that. Huh. So- So what do you think of that one, Cha? Did you like it? I liked it, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so notice with Malbec it's, uh, it's real inky, kinda purple- Mm-hmm...
5:18
purple-ish. Yeah, I really like the color.
5:20
And, um, and, and hopefully, you know, as we go along you'll probably notice, we'll s- we'll see that same color characteristic across all of them even though they're gonna have different, uh, tasting profiles.
5:30
Yeah, good body. You know, Malbec always has a, a lot of oomph to it, and, uh, this one is no exception. It's probably a little lighter on a, on the, that end of the scale. Um, you can get ones that are super heavy.
5:45
I love the color, the hue of this, uh, purple. That would make a great high- uh, uh, color highlights for my hair. [laughs] I think you're onto something there. I am. Look how beautiful that is. [laughs] Okay.
6:00
So let's- There you go... let's dump this one. Oh, there's a lot of people out there going, "Don't dump it." Save it We gotta make it through the hour here Bring it to me, Ja. [laughs] Put it in a to-go cup.
6:13
[laughs] Empty out your stupid coffee cup. [laughs] Okay, let me smell this. What? All right, so the next one we're gonna try is, uh, Bookcliff Vineyards', uh, our regular Malbec, which- All right...
6:25
what's it, did you notice the price in the store? What's- Yeah, it was, um, yeah, like 17.99. Yeah. Something like, right around there, 16.99, 17.99. Very good. Okay, what were you doing there, Paulie?
6:39
I was, I was looking at the color- Besides, [laughs] besides being a tipper... because I wanted [laughs] I wanted to see if I was a liar. [laughs] What?
6:45
[laughs] He's tipping over the glass of wine, almost to the point where it's gonna, you know, come out, and I'm like, "What are you doing?" Yeah. All right. All right, lesson number two on wine.
6:53
That's a great way to look at the color. Okay. Yeah, tilt it so it gets a little bigger fringe. Okay. And then hold it up against to something white, you know, just right there, and see, you know- Ooh...
7:02
you get more of the- Whoa... color coming through. You sure do. That is a gorgeous highlight. That's nice. Oh, that's beautiful. Oh, my goodness, look at that. Yeah. It's like art. [laughs] Really, seriously. It is.
7:19
No, I believe you. You guys are laughing at me- I'm not laughing at you... but for someone who is a complete novice on any kind of alcohol, this is very, uh, this is very intriguing to me, seriously.
7:27
My, my thought's al- Look at that... I've never looked at the glass and go, "Wow, I see art." I'm always thinking, "Get it to your lips." Yeah, exactly. Like I think that's pretty [laughs] Yeah, don't spill it.
7:34
[laughs] But look at the way... Uh, I, I'm gonna put it right here for the camera, but look at the way, when I swirl this around, look at the, the, the purple beautiful... Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
7:44
That is just absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, Malbec is just fantastic that way, just that really intense purple color, and, uh, even as it ages, it, it holds a lot of that. And I'm smelling some kinda, like, oak or... Yeah.
7:58
It'll have a little bit of oak. This is probably less oak than the reserve. Ooh, look at me on the second glass. See? Winner. [laughs] Whoo. We need a- [laughs] I'm smelling oak... we need a little bell, so.
8:06
[laughs] All right. [bell ringing] Hey, thank you. Yeah. [laughs] I'm a child of the '70s, so, you know- All right... it was Boone's Farm at that time. And what did you smell? I smell a bad hangover the next day. Yeah.
8:19
Oh, that smells so good. Yeah. So tell me, okay, so why you called this your regular Malbec, and I, uh- Right... and, and then you have an, an upper level Malbec, but, um- So less, less oak aging...
8:28
so where is this one... Okay, less oak aging. And then the vineyard source is different.
8:32
Uh, the vineyard is, uh, a little lower in our kind of four different vineyards, it's the lowest, and produces good quantity, but, um, is just not as intense as you'll see in the reserve version. Okay. Yeah.
8:47
So, uh, we oak age the reserve a lot longer, like 18 months, and it's mainly new oak barrels, whereas this one's gonna be more of your, um, you know, used barrels.
8:59
It's been a little more neutral, so it doesn't impart so much oak character. Sure. Sure, and real quickly about barrels, uh, this is what I, I always say when people ask about them. They work like tea bags.
9:11
When barrels are brand new, you get a lot of oak flavor. Then every year as you cycle wine through them, a little bit less, a little bit less- Oh, okay... until, uh, they go, uh, what we call neutral.
9:20
So you still age wine in them, still good, you just don't get, uh, a heavy, uh, oak flavor- Oh, okay... impairment. Yeah. All right. What do you- And so the idea is to get, yeah, a lot of, um, fruit flavor. Yeah.
9:31
You get more of the flavor of the grape. Or you split the barrel and plant petunias in it. Oh, no. [laughs] The brewers would kill you. Oh. No, they, the brewers are always bugging me, "Can I use barrels this week?"
9:45
So- Oh, they do? Oh, yeah. Do they really? Yeah, yeah. No, they, they love the flavors that they get from the oak that- Oh, okay... have the wine soaking in it.
9:52
They love to take our, our barrels we've used up and we're ready to get rid of, and then they, they ba- uh, yeah, they throw, throw beer in them. Really? And they throw in a nasty yeast strain that- Oh, yeah...
10:02
every wine maker in the world hates, and, um- Right, they Yeah... [laughs] Oh, my goodness. And then they- See? They make, they make winners out of them. [laughs] It's a plethora of information here. Oh, yeah.
10:13
No, uh, Avery gets a lot of our barrels, and they do their sour beers. Oh. Which are really... I, I'm not a fan, but, uh, there's people that line up, like two hours in advance. To get sour beer? Yeah, yeah.
10:25
They, they release it, uh, one day, and they, people line up for, like, 100, 100 people long, and they sell out. What? Yeah, they sell out in just a couple hours. Oh, yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. [laughs] It's crazy.
10:37
Yeah, they limit them. All right. Hey, we're, uh, we're coming back in a few, and, uh, taste some more wine with the Colorado Grape Grower of the Year. Yeah, we didn't mention that. Oh, my God. I know.
10:48
Yeah, John Garlich from Bookcliff Vineyards right here on Denver Wine Radio on Mile High Sports. Gonna do it if you really wanna take a chance. By standing on the water-
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