Do you have some special wines that bring back memories? Maybe a wine you had on vacation or for a special occasion? Nancy and I have a wine memory we would like to share. A few years ago we rented an apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina for three weeks. It was really nice living in a neighborhood and finding all of the local merchants and restaurants. One place we found was a small shop that made empanadas for take out. Well, actually, the idea was to call the restaurant and order the empanadas for delivery, but we couldn’t figure out how to use the phone. We just walked the couple of blocks to the shop and ordered in person, then walked back to our apartment with our empandas. We couldn’t understand the Argentinian Spanish and they didn’t understand English but we always were able to get what we wanted by pointing and smiling.
Another place we found was a small neighborhood parrilla or grill restaurant, I can’t recall the name. The owner was the cook and his daughter was the waitress. The food was simple–salad, potatoes and meat grilled over an open flame. The owner’s daughter spoke enough English to work with our little bit of Spanish and always had a recommendation for dinner, beef of one cut or another, of course. For wine she always recommended a Septima Malbec and it always went well with dinner. We went there several times and on our last night we told her that we would not be back since we had to leave for home the next day. A little while later she came over to our table and gave us a piece of paper. It was a thank you note. She had gone in the back and with her English language dictionary written us a very nice note thanking us for coming to the restaurant and saying how much she would miss us. What a nice way to end a trip!
When we returned home I could never find the Septima, maybe they weren’t importing it yet or it just wasn’t available locally. Recently, however, it has been available and I have always planned on trying it again.
I was in one of the local wine shops yesterday and happened to see it on the shelf. It was the 2009 Septima Malbec and was rated 89 points by Robert Parker. Normally, I don’t pay too much attention to Parker’s ratings because I like my wine a little more restrained, but at 89 points I figured this would not have as much ripe fruit as a 90 plus wine. In addition, it would bring back some nice memories of our trip.
The 2009 Septima turned out to be quite nice. The color was a dark purple with rubber tire and ripe dark fruit aromas. The flavor followed the nose with an addition of leather and some vanilla. The tannins were somewhat grippy and smoothed out with food. There was a nice long finish, too. This is a very nice Malbec that I believe would age well for a few more years.
It was very nice to try this wine again and enjoy the memories that it brought back. We sat in the backyard sipping and remembering various locations, people and experiences from that trip to Buenos Aires. We look forward to traveling to Argentina again with the expectation we will create new wine and travel memories. It was great that we still enjoyed this wine even as we sat in the back yard. It wasn’t just the ambiance of the restaurant and the wonderful smell of the meat grilling over an open fire.
Do you have a wine memory? Please tell us about it.
Pete, Buenos Aires in a bottle—very nice! Here’s a memorable wine story of mine:
http://www.snooth.com/articles/my-wine-epiphany-2379/
Great story Tom, as good as the one about your sunday drive when you lost your wallet!
This is the best wine story I have ever heard. You must have had a great time in a country you wanted to know more about. What a memory, very romantic – life is all about “stories” and “bud break”. BTW, I’ve had the Septima Malbec and it’s pretty good.
Here’s my hectic wine story: I was in Chicago’s O’Hare airport 2 years ago on a business trip and had some time between connecting flights and noticed a wine bar in one of the hubs and decided to stop in. I opted for the 2009 Lopez Noceti “1919” Malbec and really enjoyed the moment. After the wine was depleted from my glass I pondered buying a bottle but instead headed to the gate for my connecting flight.
Well, I had about 10 minutes or so before boarding time and decided to go back and purchase a bottle (which I should have done before I left the wine bar) and it took the wine bar person a good 5 minutes (which seemed an eternity) to locate three bottles to find its way into my possession.
Rushing back to the gate to catch my flight…I should end the story here and let you make up the ending… the gate is closed and only one airline representative is there to give me the bad news. I inquire about my flight and get a big smile and she informed me that the walkway had a malfunction so the aircraft was diverted to another gate. When I arrived at the gate they were just calling for persons who needed extra time to begin boarding. I tired to purchase a few more bottles on my return trip, but they were sold out out. You never know what “stories” you’re going to bump into…
Thanks for the compliments!
I like your story, too. I’m glad you made your flight. I can really relate to that story as I used to travel a lot for business. Closed gates, late flights when you need to make a connecting flight, running through airports. I remember one time running through the Atlanta airport and finding them holding the door waiting for me.
Nice posting. Since I write about wine travels, I have lots of memories. I’ll have to think of a good one to share and get back to you! 🙂