Esprit du Monde: Bacchanalian Bliss by the Bottle

"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight…it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary."

Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (1964)

Hemingway was known for being rather particular with his words and his wine. Perhaps, if he were alive today, he'd be writing in his notebook, cigar in mouth, with a European beauty on each side--a Spanish Otazu to his left and a Portuguese Quinta da Pacheca to his right.

At Esprit du Monde, partners David Kupsky, Victor Marques and Rolf Roth select and import their favorite labels from abroad; Botega de Otazu and Quinta da Pacheca are two of their unsung yet classic wineries with rich historical roots.

Bodega de Otazu, located in Spain's Pamplona valley. Set on 350 hectares (2.47 acres) of land the winery borders the Pyrenees mountains near France. Active since the fifteenth century, its altitude--435 meters--provides the perfect conditions for grape ripening: rain in the winter and spring, abundant sunshine during the summer months.

Hand-selected Tempranillo grapes, a.k.a. black "Noble Grapes" of Spain, are used to make Otazu's full-bodied red wines. These reds, aged in brand new French oak casks and kept for a year, render robust, dense berry and plum flavors.

The Palacio de Otazu Altar 2001, for example, contains 80 percent tempranillo grapes, 15 percent cabernet sauvignon and five percent merlot. This wine is fermented for 22 days and aged for 18 months in new French oak casks and racked three times producing a slightly herbaceous, woody aroma, fraught with flavors of dry earth and fruit that complement sharp cheeses.

The Navarra Otazu 2001 Berquera is vinted from 50 percent cabernet sauvignon, 40 percent merlot and ten percent tempranillo. Cold macerated for one week, and then aged in New French oak for 18 months where it is racked three times, this blend then sits for 18 months in bottles slowly refining its deep crimson color. With its slightly floral bouquet and dark cherry-currant flavor from the cabernet, this wine is wonderful with pork tenderloin.

Bearing the Spanish word for "hues of rose" in its name, the Navarra Rosado 2006 is more delicate than her companions--scents of hibiscus, subtle at first sip, with a persistent and clean finish. Refreshingly tongue-tingling and crisp with notes of strawberry and citrus, an ideal dessert wine--especially paired with fruit (delightful with apples, strawberries or pears).

Esprit du Monde continues the European wine theme by presenting Behind the Burner with a wine label from sunny Portugal. In 1903, Dom Jose Freire de Serpa Pimentel bought an estate in the Douro Valley, now known as Quinta da Pacheca. More than a century later, Maria Serpa Pimentel, great-granddaughter of Dom Jose, continues the winemaking tradition, harvesting the grapes grown in schistose soil that produces high-concentrated, low-acidity wines. She ferments these grapes in granite lagares and ages them 12 months in French oak casks.

With its deeply oaky nose and a gorgeous garnet tint, the Quinta da Pacheca Tinto Douro 2005 is noteworthy. Its flavors of cherry, plum, currant and clover are faultless with sharp cheddars and crisp flatbread crackers.

You don't have to go to Europe to revel in bacchanalian bliss. Enjoy Otazu and Quinta da Pacheca wines with our special Behind the Burner promotion from Esprit du Monde when you visit Esprit du Monde's site.

— Written by Danielle Travali

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