On Tuesday the 5th November Sam’s Cafe had a wine tasting evening. The wine was provided by Wineservice supplied by the Gougenheim Winery based in Mendoza, Argentina. We were given sparkling wine, white wine and a variety of red wines to drink. This was provided to us by Santiago Gouguenheim from Gouguenheim Winery and Michael Ritchie from Wineservice. Santiago gave us an amazing backstory as to how his family’s business was first established as well as how the wine gets produced.
SPARKLING WINE – Sparkling Malbec Rose Extra Brut NV
This wine smelled strongly of a sweet strawberry, cherry and raspberry combination. This made me feel like I was about to drink a strawberry, raspberry and cherry soft drink. It tasted strongly of strawberry, cherry and raspberry blended in with a sweet sparkling champagne and white wine. It left a lasting taste in my mouth of strawberry, raspberry and champagne.
WHITE WINE – Torrontes 2023
Santiago told us that this was the only white wine grown exclusively in Argentina. The grape it is made of is called Torrontes grape type. It smelled strongly of a heated sweet sugary syrup. It tasted softly of white bitter grape. It left my mouth with a sharp taste of strong bitter white grape.
RED WINES
Malbec 2022
The Malbec 2022 smelled strongly of burnt strawberries being cooked on a kitchen hob. It tasted pleasantly bitter in my mouth, of burnt cranberries and strawberries that had been strongly cooked. It left a lasting sharp taste of burnt cranberries and strawberries.
Malbec Reserva 2021
Santiago informed us that Reserva in Argentina means government controlled. It is governmentally restricted and the production of this wine has to fit in with Argentinian governmental regulations. It had a strong smell of burnt cranberries. It tasted strongly of burnt cooked cranberry. As I drank to the bottom of the glass it tasted sweeter because it had more residual sugar. As I finished drinking the wine it tasted of residual sugar and burnt cranberries. It left a strong smoky aftertaste.
Flores del Valle Blue Melosa Malbec 2020
This wine had a scent of sweet syrupy burnt cranberries. It tasted gently of burnt cranberries and lemons. As I drank the wine it continued to have a strong citrusy taste of lemons towards the bottom of the drink. It left a lasting citrusy taste in my mouth of burnt cranberries that had been fused with lemons.
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2019
The interior of the glass smelled strongly of burnt cranberry combined with a lemony citrusy scent. When I first started drinking the wine it tasted of burnt cranberry. As I continued to drink through the wine it started to taste of burnt cranberry that had been fused with citrusy lemon. The wine left a taste mainly of burnt cranberry with a background taste of lemon in my mouth which tasted sweet.
Sam’s Cafe hosted an amazing wine tasting event. The wines are available to be purchased from Wineservice. It was interesting hearing Santiago talk about the history of how the Gouguenheim Winery was first established in Mendoza, Argentina. It was amazing learning about how the Gouguenheim Winery produces its wines. As well as the different features the wines have which make it unique.
Sam’s Cafe is a member of the iLPH Supporters Club.
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