Last night, Jean and I set out to investigate a recently opened wine bar
in our little town. Since the demise of the late, lamented Windows on
the Wabash [sic] we haven't really had anything like a wine/tapas bar in
this area. This new place is an outgrowth of a wine/cheese shop
downtown that featured very pedestrian offerings, so I went with no
great sense of anticipation. Fortunately, the new venture has hired a
very talented cook to make their various small plate offerings. This
month they offer a series of specials from Mexico and South America, so
we got a very tasty ceviche, smoked duck tamales, and a fantastic
stuffed poblano pepper, all of which were very well conceived and
prepared. After ordering our food, we were told to go to the bar, where
we were offered our choice of 3 different wines to taste. In keeping
with the theme of the month, the wines were mostly from S. America (not
my favorite region) but they had a few off-theme wines. I chose for my
3 tastes a 2007 Kunde Sauvignon Blanc (boring) and a Malbec/Syrah blend
from Argentina that was utterly international and bland. The third wine
was the winner of the lot:

2010 White Spanish Guerrilla Albariño (Castillo de Maetierra)
nose: ripe melon, minerals
palate: firm acidity, medium body, dry

Despite my aversion to cutesy names, especially when they are export
labels, this was the most appealing wine I tried and the wine that both
Jean and I got by the glass to go with our food. It was certainly a
riper rendition of Albariño than most other examples I've had, but by
the same token it had plenty of character and didn't seem hot or
overextracted. I suspect that this wine would not pass muster as a
"natural" wine or anything close to it. It was probably manufactured
somewehere, but still had enough character for me to like it.

For my bully pulpit, I'll note that this operation had better get a clue
about wine if they hope to match the excellence of the food they're
offering. Their selection of wines is small and focused on low price
point wines from obscure producers. With time, perhaps, I'll be able to
talk to them about upgrading their wine selections, but they may not
have the cash to invest in more ambitious wine offerings. We'll see...

Mark Lipton