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Patagonian Beer, Part 1

11 Aug

I miss living in a wine region, there I said it.  Since spending considerable time living near some of California’s most renown wine regions, such as Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and some underrated wine regions (i.e. great values) such as within the sub-appellations of the Sierra Foothills AVA, and half of a year in Mendoza, Argentina, I had become quite accustomed to recognizing the scent of the soil in my wines.  Although there are many excellent wine-growing regions in Chile, none of them extend quite as far south as my new home in Patagonia.   However, the region was host to a wave of German immigrants who brought with them the knowledge and appreciation of that highest of crafts:  beermaking.  Today there is a beer renaissance happening in Chile, and I’m living at ground zero.  There are quite a few interesting beers being brewed in our backyard, and this is the first in a multi-part review of a few of our favorites.

Three Patagonian Beers to Try

Kunstmann  

  • Patagonian beer produced since 1997 by a German immigrant family in Valdivia, with beer flights available at their brewery on the road to the Valdivian coast.  A local favorite, and all of their beers can hold their own.  Kuntsmann has great distribution, and can be found in Santiago and throughout Chile.
  • Best Bet:  Torobayo Unfiltered.  This balanced amber beauty has aromas of almonds, chestnuts, and a long finish where the slightly bitter hops shine through the clean malt.

Salzburg

  • Also headquartered in Southern Chile, they are the new kid on the block.  They opened their brewery in 2009, and are now producing four beers with a daily volume of 2,000 liters in their main brewery in Frutillar.  Earlier this year they opened a smaller brewery in Valdivia, which produces two beers for local consumption.  Salzburg also has wide distribution, and ships 40% of their beer to Santiago, with the rest remaining down South.
  • Best Bet:  Doppelbock.  This very dark beer has dark toasted malt and acorn aromas, and is best on draft.  Creamy upfront, with a dominant dark roast barely flavor, and a toasted chestnut finish.  Medium body, not too syrupy.

Petermann 

  • This brewery is also newcomer, created in 2008 and produced in small quantities at a Patagonian nature reserve.  Their production is 5,000 liters a month for their four varietals, which are not widely available outside of the reserve.  When we discovered them at a gourmet expo, my husband was as excited as a kid in a candy store.  We bought a few bottles, and at the end of the afternoon emptied our pockets to buy as many more precious bottles as possible.  Something is telling me that a roadtrip is soon to follow.
  • Best Bet:  Pozo de Oro.  Very floral blonde ale, with aromas of wild blossoms, spice, dried apricots and quince.   Waves of creamy, salty sweet malt, apricot, with clean hops and hints of ginger on the finish.  It has it all, balance, complexity, and a great finish.
 
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24 Hours Off the Beaten Path in Buenos Aires

15 Jul

I spent my birthday in a brief calm, suspended in time between an old life in Argentina and a new beginning in a small town in Southern Chile. The previous day we packed all of our belongings into our two carry-on suitcases, a diaper bag, and a computer bag, and moved out of our apartment in Buenos Aires.  Decision made, airline tickets purchased, and apartment keys returned to their rightful owner, we breathed a sigh of relief as we took a taxi to our temporary refuge on the edge of Palermo Soho.  We had some shopping to do, and several meals to enjoy in our last 24 hours in Argentina.

Before getting commencing our shopping and gluttony, we checked into our hotel, Reyna Violeta, which is a nice budget alternative within walking distance from both shopping and cafes.  One of the owners is a sommelier, so you know you’re in good hands.  For shopping, after browsing through the pricey boutiques of Palermo Soho, we meandered to the outlets in Villa Crespo where we stumbled into some good sales and hit gold with a boutique leather factory, stuffed full of hand-sewn leather jackets and purses.

However, the real star of our mini-retreat was the food, which consisted of the best pizza we’d eaten in Argentina and also a Parisan-style cafe with amazingly fresh and creative food owned by a Frenchman who detested wines aged in oak.

Pizza from La Ruka Palermo

We take food seriously, and during our time in Buenos Aires tended to eat in more than out, and took advantage of the opportunity to buy organic produce and milk from El Galpon market whenever possible.  Eating out in Buenos Aires is tricky, and it is quite easy to spend $50 on a meal for two and leave disappointed with either the food or the service, as we did on many an occasion.

Within Buenos Aires are a few hidden culinary gems which present authentic, well-crafted food within a nice ambiance with professional customer service.  One of these is La Ruka Palermo (Uriarte 1689 at El Salvador), which knows food.  The steak is simply prepared and delicious, and their pizza is the best we’ve had since leaving San Francisco (we miss you Pizzeria Delfina!)  Service was impeccable, and they even brought my daughter crayons and paper to color on, and a plastic cup for her water.  Best of all, if you make it there for lunch on a weekday, you can enjoy a menu ejecutivo special for $10/person, a steal anywhere in Buenos Aires, and especially within fashionable Palermo Soho.

When heading out earlier in the day, we noticed a cute cafe a couple of blocks from our hotel.  It stood out for its chalkboard menus, tables covered in books, and interesting photography.  We stopped by this intriguing cafe called A Nos Amours (Gorriti 4488 at Aráoz), and were amazed from the experience beginning to end.  I was still impressed by the winelist, which was as interesting and quirky as the cafe’s owner, a Frenchman with strong opinions on wine (redundant?!) He doesn’t like oaked wines, so his wines don’t contain it, and all seemed to come from smaller artisan wineries.  The owner is generous with wine samples, and though I didn’t fall in love with anything I tried, I was impressed by the thought and care he puts into selecting and storing the wines.

Pasta from A Nos Amours

Quirky wines aside, food is the reason to head to A Nos Amours as it was  made from fresh, local, organic produce, selected and prepared with care and skill.  We ordered simple things like soup and pasta, and were blown away.  The Frenchman’s take on French Onion Soup was an amazing, savory broth was succulent onions and a large wedge of cheese on top that gradually melts into the soup, simply amazing.  The pasta was perfectly prepared and with vegetables that taste the way only fresh, local vegetables can taste.  The fruit for dessert was organic, in season, and a wonderful finish to one of the best meals we had eaten in quite a while.  The staff were all friendly, and even gave us an orange to take home with us as a snack for our toddler.

This was a birthday to remember.  Our last 24 hours in Buenos Aires, and the meals in particular, were enough to make us want to hit pause, and linger a bit longer in the crazy tango that is Argentina.

 
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Argentine Wine Adventures

01 Jul

One fall afternoon we decided to go wine tasting in Mendoza like true Slow Travelers, riding the bus.  From our maps, it deceivingly looked like all that would be required was a quick bus ride followed by a short stroll to reach Alta Vista, the winery producing some of our Argentine favorites.  We made an online reservation and headed out, toddler in tow.

We were running a bit behind, ended up on a local bus stopping every two blocks, and found that a short walk on the map wasn’t so short after all.  To make up time, I carried Siena as J strode ahead to verify whether we were even heading in the right direction as my navigational skills had been a bit off-kilter since jumping continents.  Meanwhile, dusk quickly enveloped us on a back country road in Mendoza’s wine country.

By the time we arrived at the guarded front gates, the only cars in the parking lot belonged to winery employees.  We explained to the guard that we had an appointment, and he then put us on the phone with the tasting room manager who explained that they were closed.  But, I explained, in Spanish, we have an appointment!  Incredulous, he came out to chat with us further and explain that the winery was actually closed.  However, as luck had it, he decided to open the doors to us so we could sample some wine and have a personally-lead tour.

Once we were inside the winery, we had the opportunity to chat with some nice people, watch home videos on our new friends’ cell phones, and sample some interesting wines.  I enjoyed that they had a tasting list, so that those more wine-savvy or adventurous visitors could purchase wines by the glass and taste wines which wouldn’t otherwise be poured.

Already familiar with both their Premium Torrontes, high-end Alto blend, and in love with their mid-tier Atemporal, I was excited to try something new.  Not wanting to take advantage of their kindness, and considering my familiarity with their product line, I limited my tasting to the Terroir Selection Malbec.   This classic Malbec is worth trying, and educational as well as the label shares with you the proportion of grapes from specific vineyards, with a schematic depiction and additional information about the vineyards on the back label.  In the tasting room itself, there are posters further describing the vineyards, their altitudes, and their soil characteristics, in both English and Spanish.

After the personalized winery tour, to our pleasant surprise, we were offered (and gladly accepted) a ride back into downtown Mendoza.  This reminded us, once again, how fortunate we felt to be living in South America.

 
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Artisan Winery in Argentina’s Uco Valley

27 Jun

Bodega La Azul

After many puzzled looks from enologists, sommeliers, and random acquaintances, a friend finally vocalized the question we had been reading on faces since arriving in Latin America earlier that year, “Why are you interested in artisan wines?”

This caught me by surprise as my experience, apparently not the norm in South America, is that wine is often best when produced by a small number of loving hands rather than on an industrial scale.  Some of my favorite artisan wineries, such as Flaherty Wines produce wines with a depth and complexity that showcase artisan wine-making at its best.

Our Argentine friend explained to us that artisan products have often been perceived as inferior in Latin America, more likely to be cheaply made, defective, or of lower quality. Artisan wines were what you bought if you couldn’t afford high-quality wines produced by more sophisticated wineries, definitely not what we were seeking.

However, perceptions are slowly changing.  In both Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, a handful of wineries have been receiving international recognition, which has started to change the perception of “artisan” wines within Latin America.  One winery of note in Argentina is one of J’s all-time favorites:  Bodega La Azul, in Mendoza’s well-esteemed Uco Valley.  We visited this winery on a tour, and the experience was a deciding factor in our decision to spend half of the year in Malbec-soaked Mendoza.

There are many international winemakers leaving their mark on Uco Valley and receiving much critical acclaim.  La Azul is a bit smaller than most, growing and vinifying only Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, and their product line consists of two young wines and two reserve blends.  We first became familiar with La Azul in February, 2010, and were impressed.  At that time, we were drinking the 2004 Reserva, which continued to knock our socks off through the end of the year.  This wine, an interesting, complex Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec blend, was a great value in Mendoza for less than $15/bottle in 2010; and still tempting in the US at $24/bottle.  La Azul also produces interesting un-oaked single varietals for less than $10; their Malbec is worth trying.

Enjoy a glass of wine from an artisan winemaker, and please share your feedback if you have an opportunity to sample any of the wines we’re so excited about.  What are some of your favorite artisan wineries in Argentina, Chile, or Uruguay?

 
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Ruca Malen Winery Lunch

15 Jun

View through Stemware at Ruca Malen

Like confused birds, each of the past two years we have migrated from temperate Argentina to cooler, coastal Chile. Last year, before heading across the Andes from Mendoza to Vina del Mar, we had a hit list of wineries to visit before the flight, as we were unsure whether we would return to tranquil, Malbec-soaked Mendoza.   At the top of our list was the wine pairing lunch at Ruca Malen Winery, which was to become one of our favorite meals in Mendoza.

We decided to attend this lunch after I had become well-acquainted with the Ruca Malen’s 2006 Malbec through dinner at a lovely molecular gastronomy restaurant in Mendoza called Molokai.  A few months later, its big sister, the 2007 Kinien, impressed me with its nuanced balance when I tried it in the Wine Republic Wine Tasting. What I most enjoy about this winery, is their old-world approach applied even within wines made within the New World deserts of Mendoza, Argentina.

The food at the winery was both delicious and precisely paired to each of the wines.  To top it off, the view of the Andes was exquisite, and the servers were very professional, making the lunch a great value for the price.  However, the best part of the experience was the family time we had together. There was enough meat to make J. happy on this Father’s Day outing, and a server he befriended poured him an extra tasting of the 2007 Kinien Cabernet Sauvignon (worth trying if you come across it!) Since it was Latin America, children are always invited, even in formal restaurants and wineries. We therefore felt very welcome bringing along our 1-year-old, Siena, who made friends with other diners in the restaurant as she nibbled from our plates and enjoyed drinking from our large glasses of water.

 
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