Tonight I opened a Jumilla Monastrell, Altos de la Hoya, 2004, and had a taste as I made the salad that was to be the evening's main course. It was a pretty good wine for US$11.95 -- good acidity, tannins a little brash, but I forgave, pleasant fruitiness of sort of a mixed berry character. Dinner -- light supper, really -- included the aforementioned salad of mixed greens with vinaigrette with pugliese bread and chevre. Everything was fine until I tasted the chevre. After that the wine took on a distinct peanut butter aroma and flavor that lasted for the duration of the meal. Now, a couple of hours later, there is still a trace of "peanut butter" in the wine. I didn't consider it a good thing. So, on my mental list of wine-food matches, I draw an imaginary line through "monastrell and goat cheese".
Jumilla + chevre = peanut butter
Apr 18, 2006
3 Replies
In fact I would draw the line between red wine and chevre cheese...
By the way, Bodegas Olivares wines are great. If you can find their sweet "Olivares", it is not made every year, but it is an excellent rare wine, reminiscent of a good Banyuls but with more fruit (it is naturaly sweet, no muté added), a mourvèdre with none of the animal side.
Mike Tommasi wrote in news:4ajfohFt6faeU1 @individual.net:
And their dry red is also nice. They have started to age the wine in large oak barrels instead of the 225l to allow for a better integration of the oak notes.
S.
Thanks. I will look out for Olivares. BTW, had a bottle of Banyuls for the first time recently and enjoyed it very much.
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