47: Tasting Vinnie Fera Wines from Boulder

You're listening to Denver Wine Radio, the podcast about Colorado wine. My name is Paul Bonaquisti. I'm the winemaker at Bonaquisti Wine Company, an urban winery I launched back in 2006 in Denver, Colorado, where I've been making and learning about wine ever since. I'm sitting down with other wineries and wine experts to find out what makes Colorado wine so unique and to help you find the wines you like to drink. And now let's put some altitude in your glass. Hey, welcome back to Denver Wine Radio.

Cha Cha in the studio today, the best tasting non drinker in the world.

The palate is Clean, clean palette.

And we love that. So in case you haven't been listening the last couple of episodes, Colorado Wine Week happened in September, and we had a four winemaker wine tasting at Blanchard Family Wines, downtown Denver. Blanchard family wines.

Okay.

We tasted the 2019 Colorado Riesling from Carboy Winery. And we heard from Tyzok Wharton. So today we are going to taste Vinnie Fera Winery up in Boulder.

Oh, okay.

Okay. And we are going to have malbec. You like malbec?

I like it.

You know what malbec is?

What is it?

No, I'm asking you.

Oh, yeah. It's wine with lots of grapes.

How many grapes would that be in your bottle of wine? 25 grapes. Okay.

We are going to edit that. I believe it's 25 grapes per glass.

Oh, I'll go with that.

No. What is the malbec?

Malbec is a grape.

It's a grape.

It is a grape. Yeah.

Okay. The malbec grape.

The Malbec grape that hails from France originally and has grown around the world. Argentina has made it famous. When you go buy Malbec, most of the time it's from Argentina. It's from Argentina.

Wow.

But it is one of the Bordeaux varietals that come out of Bordeaux, France. Those grapes. Let me refresh your memory.

Okay.

Merlot.

Yes.

Cabernet Saignon.

Yes.

Cabernet franc.

Yes.

Petit verdot.

Yes.

And Malbec.

And Malbec. Okay. You're not gonna test me, are ya?

No.

Okay.

Not today.

Okay.

But maybe right after the show.

Okay.

So Malbec is used in very small percentages in those Bordeaux blends where you can find it, but it is very delicious, and it grows here in Colorado at our high altitude vineyards at 4700ft and above.

Okay.

Up Palisades.

Up in Palisades.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. So, we're going to taste the Malbec.

We are going to taste the Malbec.

Great.

This is called Hogback.

Hogback.

Yeah.

And we'll hear why, because you know what?

We're going to hear from Tim Moley. He's one of the owners and founders of Vinnie Fera Winery in Boulder. So let's listen in Hogback and see what he has to say about Hogback Malbeck. This is 2019 Grand Valley, and you're listening to Denver Wine Radio.

Hi. Welcome. And I'm Tim from Vinnie Fera Winery. And why am I holding a bottle of Hogback? Right. And who's Vinny? So Vinnie Fera Winery was named after the wine grape fitus vinifera. So Vinnie is actually the wine. And then why do we name a wine Hogback? If you drive from Morrison all the way up to Fort Collins along highway 36, you'll see a landform, little bits of limestone outcrops a ridge, and that's in vernacular called the hogback. Grapes happen to like limestone soil and we're going to talk about terroir. Thank you gentlemen, for covering a lot of subjects and leaving me terroir. I really appreciate that. So wine is from a place, and a really good, well made wine evokes images of that place. So we'll get back to that in a minute. I'm not the winemaker, but I'll pretend to be one for your benefit. I started making wine in 2009. Prior to that I lived in California, Sonoma County, and drank a lot of wine and studied wine and hung out with real winemakers. So I learned a fair amount. I've had the good fortune to travel to some of the best wine country in the world. I've been to Gaia in Italy, and that's like a rare treat to get inside those massive wooden doors. I've been deep beneath the cellars, in the cellars beneath the town of Champagne. So I've had a lot of experience exposure and I'm happy to say that my winemaker is making wine this evening and he sent me instead. So terroir, what does it mean? It's a French word and it means of a place. And when we talk about place, we talk about soil, we talk about water, we talk about sun, winds, and I also would add in the plants that grow around the vineyard. And so the environment in which this malbec grew is one that the malbec happens to like. So all different varieties of grapes happen to like different types of soil, different types of weather. And malbec for some reason happens to like Argentina and the high plateaus there around Mendoza, and it happens to like Colorado. And so when we as winemakers, and a winery that we started back in 2013, tried to figure out what Colorado wine was, we started to look for grapes that liked to grow in Colorado and produced grapefruit were maybe not necessarily cold hardy, but they like the environment and they really shine. So this wine is an example of that. The other thing I want to talk about with Colorado wines is food miles. This wine has 23 food miles since it was made, which means it's only traveled from Boulder to here. Our winery is in Boulder. For those of you who want to get to Boulder sometime, welcome your visit. We make a full line of wines, not just malbec. So Colorado has a wonderful opportunity in that the grape growers are getting better at their craft and they're finding grape varieties like Colorado terroir or climate. And Colorado wines don't travel all the way from Mendoza, for example, which if you had to go to Mendoza now and by the time you got there, you'd be tired you'd be worn out. I mean, let's face it, it might be great wine in Mendoza, but by the time it gets here, sorry, not so much. So Vinnie Fera Winery hogback malbec. Please enjoy. I like your questions. I liked your earlier question about pests, and I can speak to that in that this is a very big wine. So small decks in general are big because they have a lot of tannin. But this one, we got picked just at the sweet spot. So when we talk about balance of wine, we also want to look at balance of fruit in the vineyard. So some winemakers say the wine is made in the vineyard and is just cared for in the winery by the winemaker. So this wine naturally has lots of tannins. And then it had really big acid, like five, six total acidity and 384 PH. And so when we got it off the vine, it was so big that if you had it before the other wines in your flight, they would seem small by comparison. So your tasting order is bright white wines, like your reasoning first and then a walkthrough to a really big wine. This wine will stand up to barbecue. It tastes great with steak. It is a wine that can be enjoyed in the glass by the fire pit. So it's a great wine to have last. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Tim Moley from Vinnie Fera Winery with the Hogback malbeck. This is 2019 Grand Valley. What do you think, Cha? We tasted while he was talking, and I took down some tasting notes, and my first tasting note was, you're not going to like this one.

Yeah, exactly. It's a little too on the dry side for me. Yeah, definitely a lot of tannens, like you said, but it does have a very fruity flavor to it. And you can really, like, man, I'm smelling like a lot of oak.

Yeah, there's that vanilla. I get some cocoa. The vanilla is coming from the oak, so it does have a lot of oak, but there is a lot of fruit to it as well. It's like some BlackBerry. I even get a little tobacco. But very nice to me. It's a big style of malbec and Coacher palate, very easy drinking. So it is on the dry side?

It's on the dry side, but it's very full. It's very full bodied. I mean, there's a lot going on there.

Yeah.

And I think it's delicious. This is something he mentioned you could have with barbecue. It wouldn't be my first choice, but it definitely would stand up to barbecue, especially with the smokiness of a barbecue. Who's going to pull that out of this wine? But, yeah, definitely steak and grilled meats, but you could drink it on its own. You know how Americans just like to drink wine without food?

Well, and that's what I was thinking. It is like, man, you know my palate, it's a little too dry for me. But having said that, if I were having a steak, I could definitely drink this. But I sit in by the fire pit. I don't think so. But with a meal I could definitely drink it for sure. Because I think it bring out the flavor of the meat as well.

Yeah. And I would say this as I've gotten older, these big style of wines, I don't drink anymore. And if I do, they have to be with food. I can't handle them.

Okay.

What's wrong with me?

Well, age, Paulie.

Oh, come on.

You know what I mean. I have to drink more. Doesn't that fix the problem? 

No. I could definitely see this with a nice meal. Like I said, for me, just my personal taste. I'd have to have it with a meal. But it's good.

Yeah, it is delicious. It is large and would benefit from some decanting even. The longer it stays this bottle stays open, the more it's going to start to open up, is really going to let loose some of its flavors. So looking at the 2019 malbec off of Vinnie Fera's website, $27.50. So not bad.

Hogback. I like the name.

100% malbec from Grand Valley AVA, right up there in Palisade. Our favorite. Our favorite place. Alright.

Yeah. Maybe that could grow on me a little bit.

Yeah, I think yeah.

You need to have- now it's like, maybe the fifth sip now, and it's starting to taste a little bit different to me.

Get that Jimmy John's sandwich you brought in. Take a bite.

Check it out. Right. Serious. By like the fifth sip now, it almost took on a different kind of a flavor to me.

Yeah. And really the longer it sits here, it's going to continue to open up and not be so big. Big and tanic on your palette. But for me, it's okay.

Beautiful color too. Real deep. Beautiful.

Really nice. Beautiful color. Great job, Vinnie Fera. Very cool. Play on words. Vonifera. Vetus Vonifera is the winemaking grapes. Vinnie Fera. I like it.

Yeah. The more I drink this, the more I kind of like it. Maybe the Malbecs will grow on me.

I hope so.

Yeah. It'll just take time. Like the Broncos.

How quickly they have turned, how quickly that grape has rotted.

Well, you know, if we didn't know how much he brings me pain. Yeah, his wife does not. But he does.

He what?

He brings me pain with his performances, but his wife does not. Sierra.

Yeah. They have to go through the growing pains. This is what we're calling growing pains. It's like when we go to a new gig, it's always there's a learning curve, but the booing- 

But he knows how to play football.

I know, but it takes more than him. Look, is this a nap that I'm like- or is this magic gotten to me?

Yeah, we're fermenting in the winery today, so there's a few fruit flies around.

Yeah. But anyways, going back to wine, this is no Russ Wilson. This is Super Bowl right here. This is really good.

Good. I'm glad.

Like I said, I keep drinking it, and every time I take a sip, it tastes a little bit different to me. It's not as dry the sixth sip into it.

Hey, so you know what? How do you like the one wine format?

I like the one wine format.

Okay.

I really do. I like it.

Well, let us know to all of our fabulous podcast listeners, let us know what you think of the one wine format. Or maybe you'd like us to taste two or three. And if there's any wineries out there, too, that you would like us to taste, we'd love to hear from you as well. And you can do that at denverwineradio.com. You can click on the voicemail link or you can shoot us an email. Love to hear from you.

Right on.

All right.

Okay, Paulie, thanks for having me.

You're welcome. Have a great week. Bye.

That's our show for this week. Thank you so much for listening to Denver Wine Radio. Your homework for the week is to go out and taste some Colorado wine. If you have any questions or comments or just want to let us know what you're drinking, go to denverwindradio.com where you can email us or leave us a voice message. We'd love to hear from you. And remember, put some altitude in your glass.

Produced and distributed by the Soundoff Media Company.