Greybeard’s Corner, April 2010
Ξ May 9th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Greybeard's Corner |
Phew, what a month April was. It’s bad enough having 3 family Birthdays in quick succession but throw in an angry Volcano and several evenings out and this was a busy 30 days!
I was lucky enough to be at home in the U.K. when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption caused the week of air-traffic chaos over the Northern Europe, although a colleague heading back from South America ended up spending an unplanned week in Miami and another from Germany ended up using automobile and train to get home after his ‘plane was grounded. As far as the wine world was 
concerned some late departing en Primeur tasters had a few extra days in France and most of the Bordelais couldn’t make it to Bibendum’s Bordeaux 2009 tasting in London, but only CataVino made an attempt to look at any direct effects of the ash cloud and its economic impact, albeit a somewhat tenuous one. However, if the current fears that Eyjafjallajökull’s big sister Katla, could be due an eruption prove founded then a week’s flight chaos may seem like wishful thinking and ash-cloud related climate change may be something to contemplate.
Bordeaux’s en primeur circus is always big news in April, and once again we have the vintage of the century, although with many saying it is the best in living memory (and some of the tasters have been alive a long time!) then it seems ’09 will replace ’05 at the top of the lists for some time to come. Of course that means that probably only the very wealthy will be able to afford any of it, and apparently the Chinese were there in force!
Initial feedback suggests the left bank is superb (Stephen Spurrier gave Château Margaux 20/20), with Sauternes very good (although possibly not up to 2001 standard) and the right bank very good in patches. It also looks as though international palates are more closely aligned than at times past after Parker’s comments at the end of April matched what was previously being said from the Europeans – Adam Lechmere’s article over at Decanter.com encapsulates this year’s key points.
Also in the news in April were a couple of competition winners. First Gerard Basset took the World’s Best Sommelier title at the sixth time of asking in Santiago, Chile. French born Basset has been adopted by the British, runs the Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire and is currently the only joint Master of Wine and Master Sommelier with an MBA in wine. Moving to dining and Copenhagen was recognised when Noma won top spot at the 50 Best Restaurants in the World ahead of El Bulli and the Fat Duck. In a show of solidarity to Ali, their dishwasher who wasn’t given a visa to visit London, Chef René Redzepi and other staff all wore T-Shirts with his picture!
On the web the big news was the subscription wall that was erected around Mark Squire’s Bulletin board on eRobertParker.com. Vinography posted a good discussion piece on the story.
As a firm believer in an open web and transparency in all things then I can’t commend the decision but likewise am not too surprised. Mark, aka Chairman Mao for his sometimes Draconian policing of the forum, has been running the board for many years now and will probably appreciate the peace and quiet offered by having only relatively non-critical eBob subscribers left to oversee. Of course this isn’t the only wine forum for members only, Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages has always been run this way, but while I had access to this a couple of years ago I did detect a whiff of isolationism in some of the threads – of course this was at a time that I was active on the most chaotic of the boards, WLTV, so anything would be tame in comparison to that!
As Eric le Vine of CellarTracker wrote in a prompt eulogy “the value of a bulletin board…(is)..the critical mass of knowledge and active contributors”.
Although I spend little time on forums nowadays (a far cry from my early days tearing up the WLTV boards!) for those readers who want to check out the remaining free forums then here’s a set of links to start from;
— Wine Library TV is where I cut my teeth. Not for the fainthearted, and you could argue wine often takes second place to general ramblings, but a great bunch of people, several of whom have become good friends of mine.
— CellarTracker; an oft forgotten forum under the shadow of the database itself.
— Wine Spectator is a mainstream US focussed forum linked to the eponymous Magazine and brand, which brings it a fair share of critics as well as fans.
— UK Wine pages; as you’d expect from a Brit forum this is relatively polite and friendly, and is currently where I spend the few hours a week I have for forums. A good, but not exclusively, Euro-centric view of the wine world.
— Wine Berserkers which seems to be a natural home to the eBob disenfranchised.
— Wine Disorder has friendly conversation but so far I’ve been put off by the simple interface and navigation features.
Each of these boards has a different focus depending whether you want a regional or global view of the wine world, and whether you’re an everyday drinker of a First Growth collector, and most (all?) are male dominated, some more than others.
My general advice on joining a new community are;
— Be thick skinned, it’s too easy to take offence in the beginning.
— Start of humble and but don’t compromise your tastes or preferences to fit in
— Don’t be controversial for the sake of it – it’s easy to join in with the regular critical posts but if you do it before people know you, you’ll often become a target.
I was interested to see the launch of a UK based wine app for the iPhone at the beginning of the month – WINEfindr by Cortexica is an extension of the free Tesco app from last year, but with more retailers in its database, covering additional supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Waitrose along with online retailers Laithwaites and Majestic. For £2.99 I bought it and tried it out with mixed success. 2 out of the 3 wines I had open at home showed up (a Tahbilk Marsanne and a Graham’s Crusted port – both widely available in the UK). The 3rd was more obscure, Quinta do Tedo 2006 Douro from a local retailer (Corkscrew wines in Carlisle) and wasn’t recognised. Since then I’ve tried it on a half-dozen wines with limited success – it is OK for the main supermarket brands but doesn’t do well with labels from smaller independent retailers, which I tend to purchase from. As I type this I tried it on the last 2 bottles I bought, a Misiones de Rengo Cabernet Franc from the Co-op and the alta Battistina Gavi from Costco. It recognised the first as a Misiones, but didn’t have the Cabernet Franc in its lists, and had no record of the Gavi. The app is a great idea, and for supermarket only wine buying is probably worth trying, but if you get most of your wine from less mainstream sources then the database needs significant addition before it will be as good as it could be.
My only business trip of the month saw me among the dreaming spires of Oxford and a conference dinner in the main hall of Keble College, which included a talk from Professor Heinz Wolff (bringing back fond memories of early ‘80s TV) and copious quantities of Italian Pinot Noir (“quaffable” is as far as I’ll go in rating it). However, it was a Sunday evening meal at the Cherwell Boathouse which was most memorable with a delicious main of roast lamb rump and an excellent bottle of Quinta de la Rosa, a 2007 Douro, to wash it down.
Back up North and on a shopping day to the local market town of Hexham I found a worthy replacement for the Wine Rack that closed down with the collapse of First Quench. Dillies is an interesting business model – a flowers, chocolates and wine store which could be somewhat of a holy trinity of his & her indulgence (now Sarah comes into a wine shop with me and stays for more than 2 minutes!) I am being a little harsh comparing Dillies to Wine Rack, the range that owner Andrew Foster has brought in from Liberty Wines is much more exciting than Wine Rack’s ever was and I ended up talking to him for some time before leaving with 2 French Reds; a Cru Beaujolais, the 2008 Brouilly from Chateau de Pierreux, a 100% Carignan from the Languedoc in the form of Clos de Clapisses 2007 Carignan, and 2 New Zealand whites; Wild Earth 2008 Riesling and Yealands Estate 2008 Marlborough Pinot Gris.
This isn’t the first time Yealands has been mentioned on Reign of Terroir, my article on Babydoll sheep was prompted by their 2008 Sauvignon Blanc which ended up being rather disappointing – but Pinot Gris is an occasional favourite of mine from times past so, second time lucky?
The local tasting society added to busy month with the regular monthly tasting being followed a week later by a Spring dinner with a BYO (wine and partners!).
The tasting theme was Pinot Noir from around the world which had a slow start with a Dry Hills 2008 Marlborough Rosé and a French Moselle in the Alsace style from Les Hauts Brassieres 2008, before moving onto the first Burgundies of the night, a Ladoix by Domaine Chevalier and Potel’s Savigny les Beaunes. All were pleasant enough, but lacked any complexity or point of focus. The New World started well with Tasmania’s high acid, but juicy, savoury 2008 9th Island but California was a disappointment with Cartlidge & Browne’s confectionary style 2008; an overly smooth and full-bodied bubble-gum Pinot.
The best was definitely at the end with two excellent bottles from New Zealand and France; Neudorf’s 2006 Moutere from Nelson stole the night with a vegetal, slightly horsey nose and complex mouthfeel with some cabbage, herbs & sweet tannins, while the 2006 Maizières from Dureuil Janthial was a subtle and balanced Rully with a savoury mushroom taste, perfect with food or on its own.
Spring dinner was at the Newcastle College Chef’s Academy where local aspiring Chef’s try out their skills on the unsuspecting public – I’m reliably informed there have been no fatalities thus far! A tasty Broccoli soup improved on a bland Gravadlax starter and then came a delicious mushroom risotto as a main, finishing with a predominantly blue cheese board.
The wine got off to a great start with a dry Portuguese sparkler, the all Arinto Quinta da Romeira, with notes of apple & lime. D’Arenberg’s the Hermit Crab was a rich aromatic Viognier-blend which led us onto the two Spanish reds – the Faustino I 1996 Rioja Gran Reserva had good tannin and flavour but finished weakly, whilst Tamaral’s 2003 Finca la Mira was the reverse, starting weak but ending with a long, sweet finish. Out of curiosity I blended equal measures of both and ended up with something of interest from beginning to end to accompany the risotto!
My own contribution to the evening were two sweet wines to accompany cheese and desserts, one English, one French. The Three Choirs 2003 Noble Harvest Botrytis Siegerrebe had a massive lychee nose but a gentle, delicate sweet taste, relatively light compared to the full textured 2005 Haut-Rauly Monbazillac, although both were very enjoyable.
April’s remaining purchases were definitely veering off-piste , although is anyone who knows me surprised at that?
The 2007 Berg is Markus Huber’s Traisental Grüner Veltliner and continued my recent Gru-V buying spree, but I couldn’t resist moving south and adding the Svir?e Winery 2007 Plavac Hvar to my shopping trolley when I saw it in the local Waitrose. This unusual combination of consonants hails from Croatia’s Dalmatian coast and is made from the Plavac Mali grape, which is believed to be related to Zinfandel & Primitivo. It is actually my second Hvar Plavac Mali, I already have a 2005 Grand Cru from local maestro Zlatan Plenkovic.
My most obscure purchase for April was from the Weinhaus am Grindel in Hamburg. The last time I was there it was an interesting general wine store, but now is an arm of the Dalbergerhof Strauch winery and only sells their wines – the one I ended up with was the Chapeau vom Dalberg No. 19 2008 Acolon. The Acolon variety (yes, that’s the name of the grape – and you thought Plavac Mali was an unusual one!) is a crossing between Blauer Lemberger (Blaufränkisch) and Dornfelder and was created in 1971. Initially it was planted experimentally but is now starting to make a name for itself commercially as one of the more full-bodied reds in Germany’s arsenal.
Needless to say I haven’t even thought of drinking any of these, so keep a look out for their tasting notes on a Greybeard’s Corner sometime in the next year or two! However, I did manage to open one or two wines from my own stock over the month, and a few were over and above everyday quaffers.
Talhbilk’s 2005 Marsanne was a thought-provoking wine with a complex mix of sour & floral flavours, while the Felsner Gedersdorfer Moosburgerin 2008 Grüner Veltliner was lean, almost austere, with white pepper – completely unlike Ernst Loosen’s sweet, oily 2007 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett bottled for UK supermarket M&S, a moreish off-dry Riesling with clean acidity.
Lebanon once again vindicated my love affair with this country’s red wines with the medium bodied, savoury cherry Château Kefraya 2006 Les Bretèches playing warm-up to the stunning heavy-duty Clos de Cana 2001 Château de Cana. I got this during my visit to Vinopolis in London last year and I’d recommend it as a purchase to anyone wanting a herby, chewy mouthful with a perfect balance of flavor and fine tannins.
Finally I opened my bottle of Graham’s Crusted Port, bottled in 2001. Crusted Port is somewhat of a British favourite, almost forgotten but coming back into fashion now. The style is usually a blend of different vintages but unfiltered and sealed with a full cork like a Classic Vintage Port and aged for at least 3 years in bottle before release.
The Graham’s showed a deep, dark colour and a nose of smoky liquorice. Thick legs warned of the impending 20% alcohol but in the mouth it was the sweet, warm and exceptionally smooth texture that took hold with restrained tannins – one the best Ports I’ve had in a long time. And a good place to finish this piece.
Until next month, and with a nod to Eyjafjallajökull, Skál!
Greybeard
