This is almost too easy. Small production boutique winery making high end value priced wine, check. Extremely smart and talented winemaker, with impressive resume, check. Said winemaker, despite being one of the top and most sought after in his market, completely humble and really nice, check. Wow, Chile, why have you been hiding for so long?
American Ed Flaherty, like his Frenchman companion from MOVI highlighted last month, is kind of a big deal around here. He’s worked on some pretty big projects for some pretty important names in Chile and Argentina, such as Errazuriz, Zuccardi, and current employer Tarapaca. As an executive winemaker overseeing many projects, Flaherty Wines is Ed’s attempt to get his hands dirty again. It is winemaking for the soul, and it shows.
But this is no one man show. Truly a family wine business, Ed’s wife Jen Hoover is “the other half of the equation.” Aside from working on various aspects of the business, Jen notes on her blog “wine is ultimately a beverage that is meant to be consumed—and it is rarely consumed on its own.” Thus Jen spends a good deal of time updating the winery’s blog with “Jen’s Kitchen,” a series of recipes and musings about food. And she knows what she is talking about. My wife and I have spent countless hours scheming on how to be invited over for dinner again. The last time we were in Jen’s kitchen, I had three helpings of pie. And the time before that as well!
Dinner with Ed and Jen goes by too quickly. It’s how a dinner with friends should be. Good conversation, that flows freely like the wine, paired with wonderfully prepared seasonal and organic food, as likely to have come from a country cafe in Sonoma as anywhere. Did I mention the wine?
The 2008 Flaherty Aconcagua Valley, like all the Flaherty wines to date, is a truly handcrafted wine, heavy on the “hand.” For example, the Cabernet and Syrah were hand picked at nearby Manzur Vineyard, and delivered to the house in small picking lugs. The Tempranillo came from their own vineyard planted in front of the house. While this wine was literally being made in the garage, the family punched the caps by hand three times daily. It was then basket pressed and racked to barrel where the components were aged in 15% new American and Romanian oak, the remainder in 2-3 year old French and American oak barrels.
Jennifer, wife, mother, and Certified Sommelier, had this to say about the wine: ”This wine has a great balance and complexity, which can easily be overlooked as it’s a very accessible wine meant to be enjoyed and not overly analyzed. However, if you do take the time to savor it, you may notice that this cherry red, day bright wine with medium plus viscosity has some great fruit, savory, and floral notes. I picked up some plums, cherries, blueberries, rasberries, casis, cactus fruits, cinnamon,hints of chocolate, hazelnuts, white pepper, dried rose petals, hints of tropical flowers like hibiscus, damp leaves, mushrooms, smoky wood. There is a meaty character to the wine as well, and J (the meat expert) and I had a bit of debate around how to characterize it; apparently bacon wasn’t sufficient, and it’s better described as a proscuitto leaning towards a steak. The wine has a medium plus acidity and a long finish, making it a great wine to enjoy with food.”
We had ours with avacado and smoked pancetta steak burgers and japanese squash french fries. Yeah, we’re from California.
