JIM’S PICKS: INTERNATIONAL RED WINES

You could spend a lot of time—and buy a lot of bottles—trying to figure out what’s happening in the world of red wine.

Or you could just let Jim pick four of them for you.

For this tasting, Jim is digging through The Cellars and choosing four international reds that he thinks are genuinely worth sitting down and tasting side by side.

And these aren’t four wines that all taste basically the same.

We’re going from the bold Tempranillo-based wines of Ribera del Duero in Spain, to a rich and unusual appassimento-style red from Argentina, then to a mature 2015 Amarone from Italy, before finishing in Burgundy with a 2014 Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Spain. Argentina. Italy. France.

Four very different approaches to making great red wine—and a chance to figure out which style speaks to you.

WHAT JIM PICKED

Garmón 2020 Ribera del Duero – Spain

We’ll start in Spain with 100% Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero. The 2020 Garmón is made from mature vines and aged for 20 months in French oak. Expect a serious, structured red with ripe blackberry and plum, floral notes, sweet spice, licorice and earthy character, backed by firm tannins and a long finish.

Milamore – Bodega Renacer – Argentina

This one should make for a great conversation. Bodega Renacer makes Milamore using the Italian appassimento technique—the same basic idea behind Amarone—but with Argentine varieties including Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bonarda and Cabernet Franc. The grapes are partially dried before fermentation, concentrating their flavors. The result is rich and silky, with dried plum, floral notes, vanilla, sweet spice and dried fruit on the finish.

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2015 – Italy

Now we get to experience the Italian inspiration behind the previous wine. Amarone is produced from grapes that are dried before fermentation, concentrating the fruit and creating the richness and intensity for which the style is famous. With a 2015 Riserva, we’re also getting the added benefit of more than a decade of development in the bottle.

Expect a bigger, deeper wine with the dark cherry, plum, dried-fruit, chocolate and spice character that makes mature Amarone such an interesting wine to drink slowly.

Paul Bouchard & Cie Nuits-Saint-Georges 2014 – Burgundy, France

We finish in Burgundy with something completely different from the first three wines. Made from Pinot Noir in Nuits-Saint-Georges, this is our chance to taste a more restrained, Old World style of red wine—and, importantly, one with more than a decade of bottle age.

Nuits-Saint-Georges is known for producing Pinot Noir with more structure and depth than many people expect from Burgundy, typically showing red and dark fruit, earth, spice and savory characteristics. With a 2014 vintage, we’ll be especially interested in seeing how those flavors have evolved with age.

This may be the most interesting bottle of the tasting simply because it’s the complete opposite of the bigger, richer reds that come before it.

THIS IS WHY WE DO THESE TASTINGS.

You don’t have to know the difference between Ribera del Duero and Burgundy. You don’t need to understand appassimento. And you definitely don’t need to be able to pronounce Nuits-Saint-Georges before you walk through the door.

That’s what the tasting is for.

Come sit down with Jim, taste four reds from four different parts of the world, and experience just how dramatically different red wine can be depending on the grape, the region and the way it’s made.

You may come in thinking you’re a California Cabernet drinker and leave talking about Burgundy. You may discover Ribera del Duero. You may fall in love with Amarone.

Or you may simply find one bottle you really want to drink again.

That’s a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon in The Cellars.

No refunds due to limited seating.