Reign of Terroir » Greybeard’s Corner

Greybeard’s Corner, June 2010

Greybeard — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:46:44 +0000

Greybeard writes…

The Wine News for June saw Auction Houses breathing sigh of relief at the beginning of the month as a New York Appellate court ruled that Bill Koch may not sue Acker Merrall and Condit over alleged counterfeit bottles bought by the Billionaire collector, although Koch’s representatives said they’d appeal the decision and this could end up in the Supreme Court. For an insight into Koch’s motives there’s a good article on Bloomberg by Elin McCoy from February this year.

Over to Europe and the controversial Mosel Bridge looks like it is going ahead despite continuing protests. UK daily newspapers The Telegraph and The Independent carried similar articles, with the Independent also posting an emotional piece by Hugh Johnson, one of the bridges most vocal opponents.

Across the border in France and there were changes to two Rhône wine regions. Fed up with being associated with the bad press of the Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant, especially after the 2008 Uranium leak, the Côtes du Tricastin appellation, founded in 1973, has now become AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégé) Grignan-Les Adhemar, while the renowned Rasteau region has finally been promoted to the ranks of the Crus des Côtes du Rhône, joining Condrieu, Châteauneuf du Pape, St. Joseph and others nearly a decade since its application.

The new UK Coalition government’s “Emergency Budget” in June did not change the already high Excise Duty for wines, much to the relief of the wine buying public (well, me anyway!), however, the increase of VAT from 17.5 to 20% in January 2011 will see prices rise accordingly. We already have one of the highest rates all European countries for wine taxes – working out at £1.69 ($2.50) for most still wines, £2.16 ($3.25) for sparkling and £2.25 ($3.40) for fortified – so any additional targeted taxes will be keenly felt.

As for me, one event at the beginning of the month took centre stage – the inaugural North East Wine Festival (NEWF) held in the quiet Northumberland country town of Corbridge on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th June. The weather surprised everyone and remained perfect for the open air event; a good dose of sunshine and no rain to scare off potential visitors. Saying that, attendance was not as high as hoped for with only about 350 on the Friday and approaching 800 on the Saturday, however, retailers I talked to at the end of the show seemed happy that they’d more than covered their costs and spread the word about their wines to a group of new people.
I gave a talk on both days entitled “The World Wine Web” on how to use the internet to get what you want out of wine, discussing a range of useful web based resources and links – although targeted for the North East of England you can download a PDF of the handout sheet for a taste of my first ever public speaking roll!

Of the other speakers I really enjoyed Massimo de Nardo’s engaging description of Prosecco production at his Fasol Menin winery in Valdobbiadene, while Ian Cobham, ex-winemaker and now Sommelier at the Hotel du Vin in Newcastle, kept us all guessing with a blind tasting session as part of his presentation on understanding wine.

Over both days the 11 attending retailers poured their way through hundreds of bottles, but what really made the festival were the three local eateries who set up mobile kitchens and cooked a delicious selection of snacks and light meals to be eaten in the open air Cafe environment at the tables laid out between the marquees.

Bouchon Bistrot, winner of the Best French Restaurant on Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” TV show last year, put together a Gallic inspired menu with wines by local stalwart Michael Jobling – the delightful Chicken liver Parfait with Onion Compote & Cornichons was my only real food on day 1.
Renowned local Chef Terry Laybourne of Café 21 was behind the pass at the temporarily renamed Casa 21 with a selection of delicious Tapas dishes accompanied by wines from Spanish Spirit, the event organiser.
Finally the Feathers Inn, one of the best Gastro-Pubs in the region, put on a menu including the incredibly popular Lindisfarne Oysters and a damn fine cheese board.

My star wines of the festival were;

* Patricius 2007 Dry Furmit (£10.99. Carruthers & Kent). This elegant dry Hungarian white had a honeyed floral nose and textured, full bodied mouthfeel – another delicious example of a style I’ve yet to have a bad example of.
* Amayna 2007 Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc (£19.49. Carruthers & Kent). This was a thick, fruity wine with nutty complexity – savoury and dry but suffering from 14.5% alcohol and its hefty price tag.
* Morgado Sta Catherina, Quinta da Romeira Vinho Btanco (oaked Arinto) (£16.15. PortoVino). Another oaked white, this time from Portugal’s Arinto grape, the Morgado was light and inviting with a lemon sherbert taste, dry mid-palate and long, almost sweet finish.
* Domaine Pattes Loup 2007 Chablis (£12.95. Tyne Wines). A good example of the Chablis style; clean and flinty with a refreshing citrus fruit aspect, this was an uplifting wine with a full mid-palate, although the finish was a little short.
* Cossetti 2004 “Il Conteso” Nebbiolo D’Alba (£18. Castello). A fruity and complex Nebbiolo with a herb and tar nose, strong tannins and a very long finish. This has been nicknamed the “Baby Barolo” with good cause, as good as many a Barolo in the £20-£25 range.
* Latium Morini 2003 Campo Leon Amarone della Valpolicella (£29. The Hop, The Vine). Possibly the most expensive wine of the festival this had a smoky, savoury nose with some cherry wood. In the mouth it was juicy with lots of fruit and a very, very long finish. Although the tannins were fine they were also in abundance and a few more years would soften and improve the wine. At 16% abv this was a big wine in every sense, however, the price tag puts this well out of many people’s range.
* Château Vespeille 2007 Muscat de Rivesaltes Vin Doux Natural (£6.70. Michael Jobling). This wasn’t even on the lists as Michael poured the wine as part of his Food & Wine pairing presentation on the Saturday. The floral, uplifting nose, thick texture (but not cloying) and very long finish marked this out as one of the better sweet wines available on the day and a QPR hero as well!
* Jordan 2008 Mellifera Noble Late Harvest Riesling (£10.75. Proteas Wines). A decadent delight, this candied Botrytis wine oozed richness, with a mouth-coating texture but acidity to balance the high sugar content – one for the hedonists!
* Quinta do Infantado 2004 LBV Port (£18.15. PortoVino). This is what every LBV should be – a hint of sweetness and the character of a Vintage Port. The nose was more of a rich, deep red with plenty of liquorice, while in the mouth there were firm tannins and juicy complexity.

The dates for next year’s Festival have already been announced as 3rd & 4th June 2011, this time with a possible 3rd day on Sunday 5th, so if you’re anywhere near the North East of England then put it into your diary and I’ll see you there!

As if one major event for the month wasn’t enough the following weekend had a large commercial tasting organised by Newcastle Wine School as part of the Newcastle and Gateshead EAT festival. The usual suspects were present, with most of the NEWF independent retailers plus the addition of local store Fenwick and the National chains Oddbins and Majestic.
There were no talks, food or the luxury of a whole day to browse the offerings here, it was the quick-fire taste and move format with a deadline to work to. Naturally I avoided wines I’d had from the week before and found a few more gems worthy of mention;
* Cossetti 2007 Roero Arneis (£18. Castello). A wonderful Italian white with a deep, musky nose which pulls you in. A textured mouthful, a little oily with a creamy buttery finish.
* Lammershoek 2007 Roulette Blanc (Proteas Wines). Extremely perfumed nose with some honey & toasty oak. Slow to start but a full mouthfeel with a long honey finish with this Cheni-Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier blend.
* Alpha Domus 2008 Viognier (Fenwick). Herbal nose with a little rubber and a wonderful texture; smooth & rich, medium dry with a lot of subtle flavours.
* Casa Ermelinda 2006 Quinta da Mimosa (PortoVino). This fruity red was flying off the shelves and had a beautiful warm nose with some liquorice, crying out “sunshine”. I found it a little light in the mouth, very smooth on palate with subtle tannins on the finish and a savoury aspect – an easy drinking wine but it didn’t live up to the promise of the nose.
* Cantina Mesa 2008 Prima Scuro (Carruthers & Kent) This Sardinian Cannonau (Grenache) had a savoury, roasted herbs nose and was smooth with good acidity. Relatively light bodied it was delicious with a range of complex flavours and tannin, one to look out for and for £10.99 I’m definitely getting a bottle or two.
* Priests Hill 2009 Pinot Grigio (Michael Jobling). For only £5.52 this was the best white QPR by the Hungarian label, part of the Hilltop group. It had a fruity nose and, while not thought-provoking or complex, was very, very quaffable.
* Mountain Pass 2008 Pinot Noir (Fenwick). This took best red QPR at only £5.93 after Fenwick picked up a job lot of cases from the defunct First Quench group. This Victorian Pinot Noir was made by Yering Station and had a savoury nose with a little mushroom, was light & smooth in the mouth with a touch of sweet tannin and was an absolute bargain.
* Veiga Serantes 2008 Albarino (Spanish Spirit). This had a subtle lemony nose and light texture – a very good example of Albarino but, at £12.99, was unfortunately also a typical price for this fashionable grape which is becoming expensive to taste.

I’m not going to put any detail on June’s NEWTS premium South American tasting as it received a full article of its own a few weeks ago, other than to say my predictions for the World Cup proved way off mark! As I was not sent off anywhere with work there are no tales of exotic restaurants or wine exploits either, so I’ll finish off the post with the usual round up of bottles bought using my hard earned cash and consumed in the privacy of my humble home.

June saw the final flourish of my Italian White Wine buying quest with 2 more bottles, the Cossetto 2008 Roero Arneis and Della Valle Isarco 2008 Müller Thurgau, added to the Deltetto 2008 Favorita Sarvai, alta Battistina 2009 Gavi, Borgo San Michele 2005 Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio and 2005 Greco di Tufo dei Feudi di San Gregorio which I bought in May. Now all I have to do is start drinking some of them! An Australian oaked Chardonnay, the McGuigan 2009 Bin No. 156, and an Argentinean Torrontés from Vinalba concluded the whites for the month and only one red made its way home with me, a simple 2003 Grenache blend from the Languedoc destined for uncomplicated drinking within the month.

The unusual weather (i.e. not raining) meant that it was time for the first BBQ of the year and what else could there be for a pleasant evening sitting out on the patio but a Rosé? The fruity Jacob’s Creek 2007 Shiraz Rosé was an uncomplicated sipper to complement with the various chargrilled vegetables and ribs. Most of the rest of the bottles opened during the month were uncomplicated or uninspiring, except for Salentein’s 2004 MCM, a Malbec, Cabernet, Merlot blend which had an earthy, almost animal nose with smooth, integrated tannins and a smoky, sweet complexity which made it a pleasure to drink.

July promises to be equally interesting with two blind tastings to detail amongst the usual background noise. Until then, Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner May, 2010

Greybeard — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:23:36 +0000

May was a relatively quiet month for news but sent a steady trickle of wine and events my way, including a welcome addition to my Château Musar collection. My involvement in the inaugural North East Wine Festival at the beginning of June means that this post is even tardier than usual but, while it may seem strange posting a piece about May in the middle of June, I suppose it’s no different to the Decanter Magazine I get in June July on the front cover yet being full of stories from April!

The biggest news for May must be the rise in opposition to HR5034, the dreaded bill for State based alcohol regulation: in the US which threatens free wine trade across the country. Although proposed in April it was last month that saw a concerted outpouring of opposition to the bill with a dedicated web-site and Facebook page. Anti-HR5034 Tom Wark of Fermentation has put together a compelling set of posts on this subject while Jon Bonné has written a good piece over at SFGate.

Over in France researchers at the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences (ISVV), in Bordeaux released details on their study of wine stored in different packaging types; glass, bag-in-box, single-layer PET and small multi-layer PET. The initial results don’t indicate any obvious negative effects for red wines, but for white it suggests that signs of oxidation are apparent after only 6 months in the plastic packaging.
Moving across to Burgundy and Decanter.com reported the news that Domaine de la Romanee Conti was the victim of a blackmail attempt which threatened to poison vines at the famous Estate.

Keeping with a French theme but moving to Asia for Vinexpo in Hong Kong at the end of the month and Decanter.com reported on the Bordeaux 2009 Vintage being the main talking point. The exhibition ended with a 40% increase in attendees compared to 2008 and confirmed a resurgent Asian wine market, at least when it comes to Bordeaux.
Australia’s woes continued with news of falling grape prices and unsold wine in warehouses as an era comes to an end in Antipodean winemaking and sees thousands of hectares of vineyards being grubbed up. The most likely outcome of the expected 3–5 year realignment of the industry will be a smaller but higher quality production and the disappearance of the ubiquitous cheap Australian brands from UK supermarket shelves.

Bringing the news summary to a close and I had to smile when I heard that Gary Vaynerchuk is to be an airline wine consultant for Virgin America and that passengers will have the delights of WLTV broadcast on the in-flight entertainment. Having watched my fair share of these videos I’d be interested to see how an average passenger takes to his enthusiastic presentation style!

So to my little corner of the North East of England and Château Musar proved to be a running theme throughout the month. My occasionally random tweeting as @KSLaczko persuaded one of my followers to pick up a 2002 Musar from our local Waitrose store and open it for her husband’s birthday at the beginning of the month. I haven’t even tried the 2002 myself yet so I was relieved to hear it went down very well, so well in fact that by the end of the month she’d bought the 2001 and tried it over a supper of Fish & Chips (which apparently was a lovely match!). However the best Musar news came with an e-mail from the Wine Society with a special offer of a mixed case; 2 each of the 2003 Rouge, the 2004 Blanc and the 2003 Père et Fils. Since the 2003 Rouge would normally only be available in the UK towards the end of the year the decision to spend £84 was almost instantaneous and less than a week later I added these early release bottles to my cellar.

Spain supplied a large proportion of drinks while out and about during May. A week on the South coast of England courtesy of the day job required a cheap bottle of wine for hotel room drinking and £5 at the local Sainsbury’s got me the Castillo de Calatrava 2001 Gran Reserva Tempranillo from La Mancha, which punched way above its price range. Later on a Thai meal was accompanied by the young and fruity Torrelongares 2003 Reserva, a Grenache/Tempranillo blend from Carinena, while night-time drinks in the hotel bar had me trying out a selection of Sherries including a fine dry Amontillado – although after all that the most memorable wine turned out to be the Vidal 2009 Hawkes Bay Riesling, a racy citrusy white from New Zealand.
Back home and I had cause to dust off the kilt for a friend’s wedding, however the evening meal at one of the local hotels didn’t have an inspiring wine choice. A rather sharp, chemical Chilean Carmenere underwhelmed, followed by an inexcusable Vin de Pays du Gers Blanc (Cuvée Lamartine). A passable Pinot Grigio Blush was an improvement but luckily Spain came to the rescue with a fruity Viña Sanzo Verdejo and a half-decent 2005 Rioja Crianza to dull the senses and lubricate the rest of the evening, ending up with me dancing like my dad into the wee hours!

The monthly NEWTS meeting was a showing of some of the latest offerings from UK retailer Majestic, although due to a booking mix-up store manager Greg wasn’t available to give the presentation.
The first big wine was a white in the form of the Astrolabe Kekerengu Coast 2009 Sauvignon Blanc with a heavy citrus flavour, but with a quick finish and a £20 price tag this didn’t receive a lot of enthusiasm from the members with comments about “why produce another (Sauvignon)?”. A Beaujolais then provoked a mixed response; the Domaine Christophe Cordier 2008 Morgon, Côte du Py Vieilles Vignes, was decreed an atypical Beaujolais but for me it was the better for it, with smoked strawberry nose, chewy tannins and a cherry mid-palate. It had a slightly bitter aspect and plenty of acidity which cried out for food, and could possibly have benefitted from a year or two more in the bottle.

The reds moved up a gear with the Contino 2005 Rioja Reserva which had a turbo-charged nose with vanilla and smoky liquorice. This full-bodied, modern style of Rioja had plenty of sweet fruit and received unanimous approval befitting it’s price tag approaching £30. For significantly less than that the £13 Bordeaux Blend Craggy Range 2006 Te Kahu Gimblett Gravels from New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay also met with group approval. This was a superb wine; a slightly vegetal nose with blackcurrant and liquorice, smooth and rich in the mouth with plenty of tannin on the mid-palate and finish, but could have done with a few more years to integrate.
In comparison the D’Arenberg 2006 Coppermine Road was rather dull, good for a second before turning rather flat and with nothing to commend its £25 price, so we moved to South America for the final wines of the evening; the Catena 2006 Alta Malbec from Mendoza and the Viña Mayu 2007 Syrah Reserva from Chile’s Elqui Valley. The Mayu had only recently been lauded in Decanter magazine as a 19pt, 5 star wine so I was looking forward to trying it, especially as it retails for less than £12. Unfortunately it was a confected, syrupy wine with a chemical nose and a cloying texture that impressed no-one – “alcoholic Ribena” was shouted out, the reference to the sugary blackcurrant juice not a sign of appreciation! Argentina didn’t fare too much better with the premium Catena Alta either, as I don’t usually pay over £25 for an easy-drinking “quaffable” wine which doesn’t elicit much thought while you drink.

The Contino (owned by Spanish Stalwart CVNE) was voted best wine on the night but for less than half the price I’d recommend the Craggy Range Te Kahu – if you’re in the UK then look for the Marks & Spencer Lone Range Gimblett Gravels Red, which is effectively the same wine made with an M&S label.

And so finally to my monthly roundup of bottles at home and it was definitely a month for the cellar with 17 incoming and only 8 outgoing, suggesting June will be a lean month! Apart from the 6 bottles of Château Musar there was another country theme with the Feudi di San Gregorio 2005 Greco di Tufo, Borgo San Michele 2005 Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, alta Battistina 2009 Gavi and Deltetto 2008 Favorita Sarvai catering to my current quest for Italian white varietals.
I also managed to pick up a couple of good Australian deals in local stores; first with a Tim Adams 2006 Riesling hiding amongst the 08s in Tesco, and then with a Tempus Two 2003 Botrytis Semillon for only £5, however, it was 2 bottles of another dessert wine which had me most satisfied as it completed a search for an unusual German example – the Schales 1999 Huxelrebe Beerenauslese from Rheinhessen should be the perfect close to a tasting I’m planning for next year.

Of the drinkers only 2 were of note. A classic English white was first, the Chapel Down Winemaker’s selection 2006 Bacchus reserve. This crisp aromatic wine had similarities to Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of lemon and nettle – not great QPR at £11 but worth it for the experience. The £10 Heredad Ugarte 2005 Crianza proved to be an excellent Rioja from a very good vintage, ticking all the boxes for a medium bodied, food-friendly and easy drinking red.

And so to June, already upon us, but you’ll have to wait a short while for news of the Wine Festival.

Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, April 2010

Greybeard — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:52:31 +0000

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

Greybeard’s Corner March, 2010

Greybeard — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:57:40 +0000

March started off with the sad news that Alois Kracher Sr., Patriarch of the famed Austrian sweet winemaking dynasty, had succumbed to cancer at the age of 81. Unfortunately he wasn’t the only loss to the wine world with the passing of Fess Parker, aged 85, in his Californian home of natural causes. Although I knew of Parker as a winemaker it was his past acting roles as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett that I fondly remember from TV when I was a child, as I suspect many do.

At least March had no natural disasters on the scale of Haiti or Chile – unless you count the inelegant entry of Stephen Tanzer onto the World Wine Web with his faux pas introduction on the new Winophilia site. Reigniting a heated debate, Tanzer thoroughly stirred the pot; “At Winophilia, we’re not armchair tasters who pretend to speak knowledgeably about regions we’ve never visited. We’re not amateur bloggers whose coverage of wine is limited to a handful of random samples we’ve just received, a trade tasting we’ve attended, or a press junket we’ve just been treated to. We live wine….”. The paragraph, since removed, went on to cover the admittedly good reasons why Winophilia could and should become a bookmarked reference site for winos, but many didn’t get past the unnecessary effrontery and arrogance of the opening lines.
Jon Bonné at SFGate and Adam Japko from Wine Zag both provided commentaries worth reading again.

?Equally ridiculous was a Decanter magazine article by Andrew Jefford and on-line poll on whether fine wine can be made over 14%. I’m not a great personal fan of high alcohol dry wines and tend to avoid anything over 14.5%, but, even if you temporarily ignore the fortified styles, so many New World wines (and plenty of Southern European) routinely pass the 14% level that the premise of the article was pointless and merely padded 4 pages of the magazine (the Chinese Wine article was much more interesting).
However leave it to the French to steal the thunder for most stupid story with the news that the first French language TV wine channel may end up being banned in its home country under their tough alcohol promotion laws. Sometimes you have to wonder whether the French government is trying to destroy its wine industry, although Bordeaux is probably indestructible as shown when the en primeur campaign for the 2009 vintage started off briskly at the end of the month – once again the vintage of the century is upon us, only this time they could actually be telling the truth!

My best wine related laughs came on the discovery of the Drink Tank videos by British critic Ollie Smith. Ollie is a regular on food & drink programs on British TV and the Drink Tank videos give a glimpse of his eccentric presentation style, education and humour mixed in equal measure from someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously – refreshing after the Tanzer story!

Pulling the focus back to my small corner of North East England and the monthly NEWTS meeting was the AGM and committee tasting, so no fixed theme. We started with an excellent oaked Chardonnay, the 2008 from Hamilton Russell Vineyards in South Africa which had some lemon minerality, before moving onto the Dog Point 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc which was complex and atypical enough for a Sauvignon for me to really enjoy it!
Of the reds my wine of the night was the Torres 2004 Gran Corones, an 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Tempranillo blend which had plenty of liquorice on the nose and a full mouthfeel with complex flavours – and for only £12 it was a bargain. Also excellent was the Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards 2005 Syrah-Mourvèdre blend, white pepper and dry tannins, and the Château Aydie 2006 Madiran, an unbelievable smooth wine for 100% Tannat. We also had a blockbuster on show with the Rothschild/Catena 2004 Caro from Argentina , a Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec blend which had a concentrated mint & blackcurrant nose, firm tannins and a long finish – a well made wine but highly extracted and too “manufactured” for my taste (I know many would disagree).
We finished with a rarity (for NEWTS anyway) – a sweet wine in the form of a Sylvaner based Beerenauslese by Ferdinand Pieroth of the Rheinhessen. This was my first German Beerenauslese and I felt it needed a touch more acidity to balance the sweetness, but had a wonderful floral nose and an excellent finish, if a bit flabby in the middle.

At home the drinking was restrained, just 6 bottles over the month! With the exception of an over oaked, over alcoholic Viognier from Zilzie in Australia it was all Spanish and Italian with a pair of Italian whites being the most interesting.;
First an Offida Pecorino by Tenuta Cocci Grifoni, their 2007 Colle Vecchio from La Marche which had a lot of complex flavours going on, although I couldn’t really get a grasp on them so just enjoyed drinking it! Second was the Terredora 2007 Greco di Tufo from their Loggia della Serra single vineyard in Campania. This had a full sour, savoury nose with some honey and a touch of petrochemical with a clean, fresh taste in the mouth and very dry. Both these wines had character that made you think while drinking, as many Italians seem to do.

As for purchases a visit to Richard Granger’s store and a Food & Drinks fair in Newcastle, where several local retailers were exhibiting, led to 12 bottles topping up the cellar, so a net gain of +6 for the month! The mix is also revealing; 7 whites, 3 reds and 2 dessert wines – of these the SIPIVA 1996 Moscatel de Setubal , a Bonny Doon 2006 Le Vol des Anges Botrytised Roussanne and a Château Musar 1999 seem worthy of a mention.

Finally the North East Wine Festival was formally announced in March. This is a summer festival being organised by my local retailer, Spanish Spirit, where the hope is to create an annual 2-day open air event celebrating the best of food & wine in the North East of England. The month came to an end with the clocks moving forward into British Summertime and the lighter evenings and improving weather are an encouraging sign looking ahead to June.

From this armchair taster and amateur blogger, Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, February, 2010

Greybeard — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:02:02 +0000

Germany, Rhône Grapes and Indian wine all contribute to this month’s Corner post, but sadly, for the second month running, a natural disaster heads the wine news – this time the 8.8 magnitude earthquake which hit central Chile on 27th February.

The epicentre was north of Chile’s second city, Concepción, and hit the key wine regions of the Bio Bio, Itata and Maule Valleys.
Thankfully there have been no reports of loss of life or serious injuries from the wine industry, but there has been significant structural damage and loss of stock. So far estimates put the loss between 150 and 200 million litres of wine, approximately 12.5% of production and worth $250 million.

James Molesworth, the Wine Spectator’s Chile correspondent, immediately started to pass on news from his contacts on his twitter feed (@jmolesworth1) and since then has been the best source of Chilean wine information, with summary posts from 1st March and 3rd March on WineSpectator.com. There was also a moving first-hand blog post from Derek Mossman Knapp of the Garage Wine Co.
The Chilean Embassies in the US and UK are currently accepting bank donations for Earthquake relief efforts; in the US go to Embassy of Chile website while for the UK Jancis Robinson has posted details on her Purple Pages.

Elsewhere it was the newspaper wine writers making their own headlines with the rumour that author and born-again wino Jay McInerney will start a column in The Wall Street Journal from April. Dr Vino dropped the news first, but if true then it shows remarkable prescience from South African Agent Provocateur Neil Pendock who wrote his piece “Jay for the WSJ” back in December after the unexpected departure of Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher from the WSJ pages.
On the other side of the Atlantic Tim Atkin has now moved to The Times shortly after The Observer cut his weekly contribution – read his first Times piece here.

Back in my small northern corner of the UK the month started with a trip to Heidelberg in Germany. Although predominantly business, the visit got off to a good start with an evening meal accompanied by an enjoyable Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris), the 2008 Fitz-Ritter from Pfalz, and the Alsace-style Schriesheim 2007 Baden Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir); however, the following two evenings were at a “Tapas” restaurant which only had Italian wine (I had beer) and a nearby Medieval theme-Castle where uninspiring white and red wine was poured from clay pots! I did manage to quickly locate the nearest wine shop, Weinhaus Fehser, where Marius Biskup was very helpful in helping me choose some less common examples to bring home; the Hans Winter 2008 Heidelberger Herrenberg Spätburgunder “S” was the most traditional, followed by Bernd Hummel’s 2005 Malscher Rotsteig Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) and another Spätburgunder, but this time in the guise of Meyer-Nakel’s 2007 Illusion Eins, an Ahr Weissherbst (Blanc de Noir). I’m planning on using these as the core of a German presentation to my local tasting society next year (this year’s slots already being fully booked).

That leads us nicely into February’s NEWTS tasting, Rhône varieties from across the world. The presentation was given by was by Richard Whinney, who coincidentally, after many years in the wine business (including a spell at Oddbins), is currently Town clerk of Prudhoe where I live.
We started with two white grapes, Roussane and Viognier, where Australian challengers were up against the French – in both cases the Australians fared poorly. The brutish, petrol-nosed D’Arenberg 2008 Money Spider paled in comparison to the elegant and fruity La Nuit Blanche 2008 Cotes de Thongue by Domaine Sainte Rose, while Kangarilla Road’s pleasant 2007 Viognier didn’t stand a chance against the Pagus Luminis 2008 Condrieu by Louis Cheze (my first Condrieu) which had a lemon/orange citrus nose with a subtle and complex set of flavours. While I found it a little flat on the mid-palate it was clearly a quality wine which had most of the members enthusing – as it should at over £30 a bottle!
We moved onto the reds with another Australian, Barossa Valley’s 2007 Cigale GSM blend, a comfortable, easy drinking red with plenty of sweet fruit and soft tannins. California then put in a strong appearance with the Cline 2007 Small Berry Mourvèdre which had a strong, slightly medicinal nose, but was superbly balanced in the mouth with good texture and smooth tannins, hiding its 15% abv well – some in the room complained it was too well integrated!
The evening finished with Syrah and two powerful examples from Chile and France, both retailing at £20 (as did the Cline). Matetic’s 2007 EQ Syrah was a formidable wine but far too young, a little harsh at first with pronounced vanilla and a refreshing finish. Given a few more years (or a lot more decanting) this would be a satisfying “big” wine, but on the night Paul Jaboulet Aine’s Domaine de Thalabert 2005 Crozes Hermitage had everyone agreeing on its sophistication; smoky liquorice and bacon on the nose, herbal in the mouth with savoury acidity and a clean finish.

The end of February saw me on another trip, this time to India for a week. A hectic schedule meant little time for socialising so I only had one evening where I could try any local wines, all from the Nashik Valley wine region which is the heart of Indian viticulture and just Northeast of Mumbai (Bombay). Two Sauvignon Blancs provided direct comparison, with the tropical and creamy Nine Hills 2007 much better than the limp Sula 2008, although I’m not sure I’d go so far as to recommend the former. Two-thousand eight was not a great vintage for India so the Nine Hills 2008 Shiraz shouldn’t be regarded as an advert for the best the sub-continent has to offer, with a burnt nose and disjointed, jammy flavours. Unfortunately the best wines of the week were on the Emirates flight from Dubai to Chennai, where I had a crisp Wild Rock Marlborough 2008 Sauvignon Blanc and the light and fruity Torres 2008 Atrium Merlot from Penedès – India definitely has a way to go before its wines are going to be on show in the west as anything more than a curiosity.
As an aside to the visit notes I had planned on picking up some wine from the well-stocked Duty Free section in Dubai airport – on the flight over I had seen Château Musar 2001 Blanc for $15 a bottle. Unfortunately my return flight was late arriving and I had a mad dash to (just) get the gate for my connection, which meant I had to leave the Musar on the shelf.

So to the bookkeeping for February’s purchases and openings and by far the best wine of the month was the Villa Narcisa 2006 Verdejo, Fermentado en Barrica by Javier Sanz. This oaked Verdejo has started to take on an oxidative style over the last year with a full, oily mouthfeel and a strong burnt orange & tangerine component on the nose and taste. Some may consider it too unusual but I was intrigued by the complexity which I am more used to in a rich sherry or dessert wine rather than a dry white, so much so that I went out and purchased two more bottles from the local retailer, Spanish Spirit. At the other end of the pleasure spectrum was the Yealand’s Estate 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. This wine prompted my article on Yealand’s green credentials last year on Reign of Terroir but unfortunately when it came to drinking it was so over the top with Sauvignon pungency that we couldn’t finish the bottle. I have no doubt that lovers of the full-frontal style of New Zealand Sauvignon would enjoy this wine, but I am not one of them – a supercharged Marlborough offering where more was definitely less!

I’ve already mentioned most of my purchases for the month (unusual Germans and Spanish Verdejos) so that only leaves the Felsner Gedersdorfer Moosburgerin 2008 Grüner Veltliner I picked up from Waitrose worthy of a comment. I feel I have neglected Austria in the last couple of years, especially as I have good memories of Grüner Veltliner, so I’m making an effort to buy more and the Felsner from Niederosterreich joins Willi Bründlmayer’s 2008 Kamptal bottling for The Wine Society which I purchased in January in the cellar. Who knows, I may even open one of them this year and let you know if my memories are accurate!

Looking forward to March and the onset of spring, I’m hoping I won’t be starting the next Corner post with more tales of woe from around the world. Until then, Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, January 2010

Greybeard — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:14:52 +0000

Ice and snow were to the fore in January and there wasn’t much warmth in the news either, with one event on January 12th overshadowing pretty much everything else last month. Since that tragic day there have been some heart-warming displays of generosity and the wine world has not been absent, with Decanter reporting on several initiatives including the online Wine for Haiti auction at Palate Press. One hopes that the generosity of the donors and bidders will be translated into efficient relief for those suffering unimaginable hardship.

Although the recession finally came to an end in the UK its effects were still being seen as the First Quench saga continued with news that the failed business owed drinks giant Diageo nearly £2m – although that paled into comparison to the nearly £14m owed to the UK Government in unpaid taxes. Slightly more hopeful was news that many of the 88 franchises are bidding to buy the stores they were running.

On the other side of the world Australia’s biggest grape buyer, Constellation, confirmed it was not renewing contracts of 300 South Australian growers in the next few years as part of downsizing efforts to combat the recession, while wine and health hit the headlines again when the World Cancer Research Fund called for drinking less alcohol to cut cancer risk – the research prompting calls for lower alcohol wines. Jeremy Laurance took a factual stance with some depressing statistics in The Independent, while Jonathan Ray was more realistic in The Telegraph.
Finally, poetic justice made an appearance as a French Sauvignon Blanc from Loire producer LaCheteau was banned in Australia for sounding to much like a New Zealand wine with its screwcap “Kiwi Cuvée”.

I managed two tastings in January, with the first at my monthly NEWTS meeting where Portugal was the focus with Paul Raven and Alan Holmes of PortoVino contrasting some of their new Reserva wines with the same estate’s standard offerings. We were told that Reserva in Portugal is not based on aging, as in Spain, but on quality (and often alcohol level) determined by committee judgement.
The Reservas did not fare well to begin with, with the citrus fresh Prova Regia preferred to its oaked Quinta da Romeira stable-mate, the Morgado de Santa Catherina Reserva – both made with the Arinto grape. 2 sets of reds followed from Alentejo and Estremadura, all acceptable drinkers (with the Reserva a little better overall) but nothing inspiring enough to detail until we moved to the Douro and a well made 2006 red blend from Quinta da Fronteira which everyone seemed to enjoy. When the 2007 Reserva was poured it was also popular, with extra complexity and a longer, fruity finish – however at £25 for the Reserva the £8.50 Tinto suddenly looked like the bargain of the night!

The final red was something of a luxury, as it is not available for retail in the UK and was given to PortoVino by the producer for special tastings only. This was the 2004 Icon d’Azamor, an Alicante Bouschet, Syrah, Touriga Franca blend from the Alentejo. I’ve enjoyed the standard Azamor wines before but this had one of the best noses I can recall with a mix of aromas, including sweet tobacco. It was very smooth to drink (all the more surprising as it was aged for 16 months in new French and American oak) although there were comments about not enough complexity and being a little one dimensional, and as the retail price in Portugal is about 50 Euros it was hard to recommend for value but I found it a gentle wine which caressed the palate, no faults and 4 stars (the nose was 5 stars!).
We finished the evening with a delicious 10 year old Tawny Port from Quinta da Romaniera which had a warming raisined richness to it that reminded me more of a 15-20 year old tawny – very good indeed.

The second tasting was a week later, and was hosted by The Wine Society in Newcastle. The theme of the night was “If you like that, try this…”; 10 bottles from a mainstream region or variety and then 10 of something unusual as a contrast and an attempt to move people outside their comfort zone. Given that I am a seasoned wine adventurer then some of the choices seemed a bit conservative, but I relished the chance to try some of the pairings starting with the Boizel Brut Champagne alongside the English Nyetimber 2003 Brut Classic. This was my first taste of Nyetimber, an English producer frequently in the news for its award winning wines, and it was a positive one; a full and creamy nose was very floral with none of the yeast, biscuit or bread aspects typical of Champagne – it was dry in the mouth with an elderflower and citrus zest and long finish, much more refreshing and interesting than the pleasant but quick finishing Boizet.

Other stars of the night were the subtly perfumed and bone dry Hatzidakis 2008 Santorini, showing lemon with a long finish, and Château de Beauregard 2007 Macon-Vergisson which had a strong honey nose continuing into the taste, good body and complexity. Stand-out reds were Hahn Estates 2006 Monterey Merlot – relatively subtle for a Californian with a deep fruity nose, creamy with some vanilla, balanced tannins and rich complexity – and the Warwick 2007 The First Lady from South Africa – a weird nose of Hungarian Pickled Vegetables was a minor detraction to an otherwise a delicious wine. As to the unusual, then the 2005 Tandem Syrah from Alain Graillot’s Moroccan winery showed well with nice balance (maybe a touch acidic) but was let down a touch by a rubbery nose.

Normally I’d not detail the wines that didn’t show well, but there were a couple I felt should have been so much better, such as the Crozes-Hermitage 2007 la Matiniere by Ferraton – much too lean and acidic – and I was also disappointed by the only red Burgundy on offer, the Societies St Aubin Rouge (Domain Henri Prudhon 2007), which was very light and over acidic.
All in all I felt it was a successful evening and, although it did get a bit crowded around some of the tables, was well hosted by the Wine Society’s John Granger and the two Sarah’s.

The Wine Society was also heavily involved in my January purchases as I took advantage of the £20 joining discount and placed my first ever order with them. Like a child in a candy store I’d read my way through their wine list (twice) before deciding on a mixed case of 9 wines befitting my eclectic tastes – so 9 countries and 9 separate blends came together; Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Lebanon, Portugal, France, England, Germany & Austria. I am most looking forward to the Catena 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, the L’Avenir 2005 Pinotage and the Henriques and Henriques 15 year old Bual Madeira – although the Hochar Pere et Fils 2002 is a safe bet as I’ve had it twice before and any Grüner Veltliner by Willi Bründlmayer should be good!
Other purchases during the month included two bottles of English white (including the excellent Chapel Down 2006 Bacchus Reserve) and Tim Adams 2008 Clare Valley Riesling to replace his deliciously rich 2005 which I finally opened after 3 years mellowing at home – a petrol-heavy, crisp and precise wine.

I’m not sure whether it was the aftermath of the New Year season but January had me opening some wonderful bottles along with that Riesling; the jam & chocolate Eos 2004 Petit Sirah, the sweet and salty Arnaud de Villeneuve 1982 Rivesaltes Ambre Hors d’Age (a delight with Marzipan), the fine-tannin Port-wannabe Domaine de La Maurelle 2003 Gigondas and the cream & berry Philipp Kuhn 2003 Kirschgarten Spätburgunder from Pfalz (my first “quality” German red).

The month drew to a close with Burn’s night on the 25th of January where some of South West Scotland’s finest Haggis was washed down with a very palatable New Zealand red, the Seven Canoes 2007 Syrah Viognier from Hawkes Bay, which was a pretty good match for the peppery offal and oat mixture.
I’ve neglected direct mention of the weather as most of you will have seen in the news how the UK was covered in a thick layer of snow for the beginning of the month. Apart from providing an easy method of chilling sparkling wine, the novelty value of the Arctic conditions wore off quickly once the holidays were over and the daily commute to work began anew. It seems that although January is over the winter continues with forecasts of more snow throughout February on both sides of the Atlantic, so stock up on warming reds and have a glass on me!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner December 2009

Greybeard — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:29:18 +0000

December – the festive month where most people have at least a few days vacation time over the Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year period. Typically it’s a time for over indulging and, as ice and snow closed in on the UK, waistlines and livers were prepared for the onslaught.

In wine news Web Wine Wunderkind Gary Vaynerchuk predicted the US would avoid 2009 Bordeaux en primeur in a Decanter interview, Calistoga became the latest AVA while Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella were promoted to DOCG status – but Italy also made the headlines for the wrong reasons with yet another scandal surfacing, this time in Tuscany where illegal blending is being investigated covering several sub-appellations including Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino.
On the lighter side of the news Decanter reviewed the claims about wine and health with a handy fact sheet on the all that’s good and bad (sometimes at the same time!), new Wine Personality of the decade Eric LeVine presented a tantalising preview of the upcoming CellarTracker changes and we at Reign of Terroir welcomed back Donna with her wonderfully amusing and insightful post The Many Faces of Wine and for inspiring our combined Decade Of Wine Industry Highlights.
Here in the UK a few more First Quench jobs were rescued when Hampshire based Wickham Vineyards took over 14 local stores and quality UK supermarket Waitrose lost top wine man Justin Howard-Sneyd MW to Direct Wines Ltd, which includes Laithwaites Wines and the Sunday Times Wine Club.

I had the delights of 2 festive meals at the beginning of December. First the NEWTS annual gathering at the Newcastle College Chefs’ Academy restaurant, where the food was prepared and served by the hospitality students. Drink was BYO, just as well for a Wine Tasting Society, but even better there was no corkage charge!
Our table of 7 began with the excellent Ployez Jaquemart 1999 Brut Champagne (my contribution) then moved onto the Château Pesquie 2007 Viognier to accompany the starters (I had a delicious Pigeon breast salad) and soup. For the main course my pan-fried Duck was superb and complemented by a smoky, spicy & vegetal glass of Cloudy Bay 2007 Pinot Noir. A cheese-board finished the evening alongside my second contribution, a very disappointing Trimbach 2000 Cuvée Frédéric Emile Riesling; all kerosene and no complexity. Much better was the bottle of 1984 Vintage Port brought by another diner – I forgot to note the producer but it had a nice raisin component and drank well, although I suspect Port aficionados would have been merely satisfied.
The following evening it was the turn of the office party and we moved away from traditional fare with a Chinese meal at a local restaurant on Newcastle’s Quayside. I admit I did not expect to have much wine that night but I was surprised by their very drinkable options which were on the table;
–Cristobal 1492 Torrontes from Mendoza was a great matching for the Chinese meal, with good aromatics.
–Caliterra 2008 Reserva Merlot from Chile’s Colchagua valley added a bit of youthful tannin to the table, and enough fruit for a very enjoyable drink.
–Tyrrells 2008 Old Winery Pinot Noir, a familiar favourite and good with Peking duck pancakes, although not as elegant as the ‘06 or ‘07.

Once again I headed south to New Milton in Hampshire where my company head office is – camped in hotels for nearly two weeks isn’t my idea of fun, but at least I get a chance to visit a few local restaurants on expenses! This time round the Boathouse in Christchurch provided a good meal for a group of 8 of us and the Campo Viejo 2006 Rioja Crianza was a safe bet for the table, smooth and easy drinking.

Later on a visit to the Pacific 23 restaurant (part of a traditional British pub) saw a choice of Gewurztraminers to accompany the Thai food; the Chilean Casa la Joya 2008 by Viña Bisquertt was a good example of a New World Gewurz, but too dry for the meal and better as an aperitif, while the 2007 Cave de Ribeauville from Alsace was perfect with the rich and spicy food.

At home I saw an interesting recipe on a TV show and decided to try it out – Wild Mushroom and Spinach Lasagne. I added my own twist to it by making a Béchamel sauce using the mushroom stock and adding Comté cheese before pouring over the mushroom and spinach layers – it was such a success that by month end I’d made it again! The Cata Mayor 2006 Tannat from Uruguay was a good partner to the first dish, but I suspected an earthy Pinot would have been better so second time round I opened the Brook Ranch 2006 Pinot Noir from California’s Marmesa Vineyards. This was my first Californian Pinot and the colour was darker than expected for the variety, with a lovely smoky bacon & resin nose and a mouth-watering cherries and tannin finish which made it very enjoyable to drink, however, a poor mid-palate kept it firmly in the 3 star category. At £10.99 it was encouraging as an introduction to the region and I have a couple of more expensive ones from Cuvaison and Au Bon Climat nestled away for some time in the next year or two.

December purchases were very light; only 6 bottles in total and three of those were Champagne and a Crémant du Jura for drinking over the holidays. The best deal was probably the Palais des Anciens 2008 Chateauneuf-du-Pape by Vignobles du Peloux (an obscure producer in the Boisset group) from the Co-op at £11.99. Of course it was Christmas that was the main focal point of the month, and a full 2 weeks off work allowed me to wring every last drop of enjoyment from the time. Even better, Christmas day’s dinner was at my parents in Scotland where my mother (a retired cook) was doing the largest beef 4 rib roast I’ve ever seen! Needless to say the food was stunningly good and the wine I brought up to accompany it didn’t let it down.
The first drink of the day was Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top NV Champage, chilled outside in the snow (yes, it was a White Christmas where I was); a medium mousse released strong apple fruit and was perfect for the Christmas toast. This was followed by the floral Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt 2004 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling; sweetness and acidity in good balance with a lemon finish.
The main course was partnered by the Château St. Georges 2003 St. Georges St. Emilion which had a delightful toffee nose and a strong acidity that worked well with the beef.
Finally the evening was brought to a close by a Sauternes, the 1999 Château Filhot. I’m still not sure about Sauternes, at least in the < £20 category, as this medium bodied sweetie had a good shot of honey but didn’t inspire me (I’d rather have had a Tokaji).

Of the other wines drank over the month one was so good it made it into my Top 10 wines of 2009. This was the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve from Agur Winery in Israel. I also had a delicious dry Pedro Ximenez from Chile, the Marks & Spencers label 2008 PX made for them by GEO wines, the perfectly typical Villa Maria Private Bin 2007 East Coast Gewürztraminer from New Zealand and a tasty bottle from Australia’s Brokenwood winery, their 2004 Cricket Pitch Red.

I forgot to mention Christmas presents! My wine obsession was catered for this year by a gift membership to the Wine Society, a veritable British Institution where £40 for a lifetime membership gains you access to some wine gems at great prices, I plan on putting in my first case order soon.

I hope you all had a good time over the holiday period, ate some good food and drank some good wine (and had less snow than we did here). The noughties are now done, onward into the next decade!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, November 2009

Greybeard — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:20:45 +0000

As winter approached the U.K. a major wine retailer succumbed to the bitter climate, England’s Vineyards reported a good harvest and somehow I ended up in places I rarely visit – London, France & Germany.

The main news in the wine media for November was the bankruptcy of First Quench, the parent company of Wine Rack, Threshers, The Local, Haddows, Bottoms Up and Victoria Wine retail stores. The company went into administration at the end of October but initial reports suggested most stores would continue trading while new buyers were found. However, by the end of November it was confirmed that over 780 of their 1200 stores would be closed by Christmas. Apart from a few single stores scattered around the country only 14 stores in the South East & London were saved as a group, along with the Wine Rack name, as reported by Decanter.com. By the end of November over 4,000 redundancies had been confirmed with more guaranteed, including my local Wine Rack in nearby Hexham, the last dedicated wine outlet in the market town other than Supermarkets.
Better news came with the first reports of England’s 2009 harvest, which appears universally good. I received an e-mail from Three Choirs Vineyards which confirmed that 3 weeks of picking had brought in 200 tonnes of grapes with “excellent” quality and sugar levels – more than the 2007 and 2008 harvests combined (although still only half of the bumper crop of 2006). A good 2009 looks to be a consistent theme across Europe as vintage reports keep coming in.

As for me, the beginning of November had me in Ingelheim-am-Rhein, a small town in the Rhineland Palatinate, west of Frankfurt in the Rheinhessen wine region. Ingelheim is known as the Rotweinstadt (Red wine town) and while I didn’t drink anything remarkable while there I came home with a box set of 6 wines; two each of a Riesling, a Blauer-Portugueiser and a Spätburgunder from the local Ingelheimer Winzerkellar. More memorable was a delicious Luxembourg Riesling in the KLM lounge at Schipol on the way home, the 2007 Paradaïs from Château Pauqué which had a honeysuckle and honey nose with an oily texture and a zesty light taste.

My other main business trip was just outside of Paris. It’s not often I travel to France so I try and make the most of the experience and this time it was made easier by my French colleagues treating me to an Haute Cuisine meal in the small town of Osny. The restaurant was Le Moulin de la Renardière and the classic menu and wine list promised a good evening. While my French colleagues all went for the Foie gras de canard to start I decided on the decidedly more rustic Aspic de queues de bœuf – a meaty oxtail brawn.

My main course of Parmentier of Duck Confit with a thin layer of Foie Gras and parsnip puree followed the same rustic theme, and both were delicious. For wine accompaniment we decided to stay with Givry in Burgundy for both white and red, starting with the 2007 Blanc by Remoissenet Pere & Fils of Beaune. This had plenty of oak, dry with good balance and complexity with a citrus finish. The Givry Rouge from the same producer was a step up in quality; the 2000 Vintage started with an earthy, almost dirty nose but had perfect balance and was delicate, subtle and elegant in the mouth. I am unfamiliar with the Givry Appellation but was impressed by these introductions, and the refined atmosphere of the classic restaurant reminded me that good French food and wine takes some beating!

The day before at our hotel, itself a converted Chateau we’d enjoyed a much less ostentatious meal along with the Domaine du Roncee 2007 Chinon, a wine that was a bit light on its own but with enough fruit & complexity to be perfect with food, especially the chèvre salad which was my starter.
The return trip through Paris Charles de Gaulle airport had me tasting some pleasant wines in the lounge before take-off, including the smoky, spiced fruit Chateay Tour Seran 2004 from the Medoc and the 2005 Probus Cahors by Baldes which had deep berry fruit and a liquorice nose, however, the 2006 Côtes de Beaune Villages by J. Drouhin was dull and disappointing.

In between these trips I had a long weekend in London as travelling companion to my better half as she attended her own business meeting. I usually try and avoid the capital if at all possible (I’m just a country boy at heart!) but once there a trip to Vinopolis, the wine-themed visitor attraction, was essential.

Vinopolis, on the South Bank of the Thames near London Bridge, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and I plan on expanding on this visit in a separate piece, so suffice to say I spent a long and enjoyable afternoon wandering through the various exhibits and tasting some of the dozens of wines available, including the Clos de Cana 2001 from Lebanon’s Bekaa valley. This rich red had liquorice and aniseed on the nose, with firm tannins, balanced acidity and fruit and some caramel on the finish – impressing me so much I had to pick up a bottle to add to my ever increasing Lebanese section at home.

Back in Newcastle and the main wine experience was the monthly NEWTS (North East Wine Tasting Society) tasting – this time a producer I am more than familiar with, Château Pesquié from the Côtes du Ventoux. You may know I spent a fantastic week there in 2008 as guests of the family, including working in the vines and winery, therefore it was with interest that I tried the wines as part of a presentation by 2 other society members who have also visited the Château.
It is fair to say the tasting was a success with the exception of the 2008 Perle de Rosé, which was embarrassing for me as, during my stay at Pesquie, I picked some of the grapes destined for this wine and was present at its inoculation.

However, the other Pesquié wines were well received with the 2006 Quintessence Rouge voted best on the night and the 2005 Quintessence Blanc praised for being one of the best Rhône whites tasted in recent years. The opulent 2005 Artemia was enjoyed for its style and concentration of flavour, but its higher price raised questions of value compared to the Quintessence.

Unsurprisingly November’s purchases reflect some of the travelling done with the average price (and hopefully quality) greater than usual. Prolonged browsing of airport Duty Free can sometimes be dangerous and at Schipol I couldn’t resist the Marchesi di Barolo 2004 Barolo, for just under £40, to make a trio of ’04 Barolos in my collection (the other two were much cheaper!). The well stocked (and mostly French) wine section of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport tempted me with the Steinert Grand Cru 2005 Pinot Gris by Pfaffenheim and “les Marchais” 2004 Gevrey-Chambertin by Faiveley – purchases which continue to see France as the largest part of my modest store at 25% of bottles. For reference Australia and Germany are joint second at 11% each followed by Italy & Lebanon at 8%.
The majority of the remaining bottles bought came from the demise of Wine Rack as I joined in amongst the circling vultures to take advantage of the 30% off death-throes and ended up with bottles including the Duetorri Amarone Classico 2005 and Château Filhot’s 1999 Sauternes, which is likely to end up as a Christmas dessert wine this year.
Thanks to the generosity of a colleague I also acquired the 2006 and 2007 vintages of Château St. Georges, St. Georges St. Emilion to join the 2003 which I am planning on opening shortly, again possibly for the Christmas festivities.

And so onto drinking, and the various glasses tasted at multiple restaurants mean a month with far too much to detail to fully recount, although most of it merely of quaffing value.
A few notables included the Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr 2005 Gewurztraminer Reserve which was a model of typicity with a sweet floral aroma and spicy lychee nose.
The 2007 Tamar Ridge Tasmanian Pinot Noir, made especially for Marks & Spencers, was an elegant and fruity New World Pinot with light forest fruits and some Christmas spice, while for a venerable wine the Lagunilla 1999 Rioja Gran Reserva showed delicate elegance, with an auburn & brick colour on the swirl and a smoky nose. Light-medium bodied with gentle acidity and smooth, aged tannins it had some cherry and a refreshing finish.
Of course these are dangerously close to mainstream drinking, so I redeemed myself with a pair of slightly more off-beat offerings.
First was the very drinkable Alsace Pinot Noir (my first) from Cave de Turkheim, the 2004 Élevé en Fût de Chêne which had a pleasant smoky bacon aspect. Second was the Disznókö Tokaji Dry Furmint 2006 was also very good, showing how this newer style of dry Tokaji coming out of Hungary is to be embraced as equally as its sweeter relation.

November has gone, December is upon us and the festive month is no doubt likely to provide a Bacchanalian tale for the next ‘corner, until then, Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, October 2009

Greybeard — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:58:34 +0000

A Wine Festival and an Alsace & Germany tasting added an extra twist to the usual libations and made the month look a lot more interesting on paper than I initially recalled – isn’t it strange how unreliable memory is?

I’ve already detailed the Wine on the Tyne festival so I’ll leave the link and remind you how Malbec dominated for the reds, a sweet Frontignac had me coming back for more and a Roero Arneis caught my eye in the whites.

The beginning of October had me jetting down to the South Coast for business and spending several days in Christchurch, Dorset where I was lucky enough to be put up at the Captains Club Hotel, a step up from the typical hotel room I get on trips out of the U.K.

Christchurch is a retirement hotspot, but for some reason also has a disproportionate amount of Thai restaurants which I took advantage of during my stay.
Most memorable was the Rising Sun which looks like a typical English pub but has a top-class Thai menu and the added excitement of Dorset Naga chilli amongst the ingredients, possibly the hottest chilli in the world. That evening a refreshing Short Mile Bay 2006 Riesling from South Australia helped cool things down and once my taste buds had recovered a raisined Warres Otima 15yr old Tawny Port substituted for dessert. Back at the hotel I pampered my neglected sweet tooth even more with a Cazes 2004 Rivesaltes Grenat (tar and sweet resin) and a Gran Fuedo 2007 Moscatel (fresh apricot). It was only the fact that the bottle behind the hotel bar was unopened that prevented me indulging in my first ever Château d’Yquem (the alcohol coursing my veins numbing me to the fact they wanted £19 a glass!).

Later on in the week the Sabai Thai restaurant in the centre of the town provided a pleasant chicken green curry washed down with the predictable Gewurztraminer combination, although this one was from South Africa – the 2008 Weltevrede from Roberston.

After a hiatus of more than a year I signed up for an evening’s tasting with Chris Powell at the Newcastle Wine School, who was my first real introduction to the joys of wine three and a half years ago. This time it was the lure of Alsace and German wines which brought me along but initially the list looked disappointing with a selection of reasonably priced but uninspiring Alsace wines and only one German offering, the good but widely available Dr L. by the Loosen Brothers. A last minute entry by the Chapel Down 2007 Bacchus was an inspired inclusion, as this aromatic sweet pear and lychee white impressed everyone present, and then Chris then turned the evening around completely by pouring the Dr Hermann 2003 Erdener Treppchen Auslese which had a full -on petrol/kerosene nose with a great dry/sweet balance and a taste of lime wrapped in caramel – definitely the star of the night but the Bacchus was a close second (and still tasted good AFTER the Auslese!).

Almost immediately I was off to another tasting, this time my regular monthly NEWTS (North East Wines Tasting Society) meeting. After last month’s Majestic showing it was the turn of Oddbins to show what they had to tempt with new store manager David Tindale presenting. David has replaced Clare Carruthers at Newcastle’s Gosforth store after Clare started up her own wine retail business (as mentioned in the Wine on the Tyne post).

Yet again a Roero Arneis was outstanding, with the Cascina Ca’ Gialla 2008 providing lots of fruit and a nutty finish which ticked all the boxes – after the 2008 Cossetti Roero Arneis from earlier in the month I’ve made a mental note to look out for more of this variety wherever possible. Most unusual white was the Bellanotte 2008 “Ranato” Pinot Grigio, made in a unique style with an intriguing copper colour and flavours of burnt orange. Somewhat sherry-like this was interesting but not really to my taste and neither was Australia’s Tapanappa ‘Tiers’ 2007 Chardonnay which was like chewing an oak post – you could tell there was some good fruit hidden amongst the splinters but at £44.99 price was over-oaked too!
Much more reasonable (at £15) and enjoyable was the Cline ‘Cashmere’ 2007 GSM from California, which took the best vote for a smooth, elegant and fruity red, hiding its 14.5% abv well. Also worthy of a mention was the Vignobles David ‘Le Mourre De L’isle’ Côtes du Rhône which had great, youthful tannins and forward blueberry fruit (and it’s Kosher!).
The next NEWTS tasting is of Château Pesquie, so I will most definitely be attending to re-sample some of the delights that the Côtes du Ventoux has to offer.

As the month drew to a close I started to restock after a period of reduced buying. I finally managed a visit to Corkscrew Wines in Carlisle after my earlier abortive attempt (when they were on vacation). I was impressed by the range on offer in the shop (although each time a train went by overhead the rumbles were slightly disconcerting) and ended up with a mixed 6-bottle case including the Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Dulce Viejo 30yr Oloroso sherry and the 2007 vintage of one of my favourite Sauvignon Blancs, the Concha y Toro Terrunyo.
I couldn’t help giving into my humorous side as well when I saw Charles Back’s “The Goatfather” staring out from the South African section and an Alsace Pinot Noir, an Australian Marsanne and a Douro red completed the half-dozen.

Another 3 bottles joined the collection after a trip to Wine Rack in Hexham which was prompted by news that the parent company, First Quench, had gone into administration. I chatted to the manager there and he seemed upbeat that Wine Rack, out of all of the First Quench brands, would be the likely survivor of any liquidation. Recent news on the closure of 373 of the group’s 1300 stores does include the loss of some Wine Rack outlets, but fortunately the Hexham branch is not on the list.

As to the wine; I left with a 2008 Pinot Gris to add to my growing collection of Tim Adams wines, the Seven Canoes 2007 Syrah Viognier from New Zealand and a Faustino I 1996 Gran Reserva. This prestige Rioja was on the shelves for £19.99 and as a single bottle I would never have considered paying that price, but as part of the perpetual 3 for 2 promotion at Wine rack it worked out at £12.50, which was much more reasonable (although I later found out that Costco is selling it for £11.99!).

Finally, as the month drew to an end, I was in my local Waitrose and saw the new (2002) Vintage of Château Musar on the shelves. You may know by now that I have a thing for Lebanese wines, Château Musar especially, so at £17.99 a bottle immediately went into the basket. As with other Musar vintages I’ll end up buying at least two more but I’ll hold off for the moment to see if Waitrose lowers the price on promotion as they did last year (otherwise it’ll be two bottles before January 1st, when the VAT rises back up to 17.5%). I celebrated this later at home by opening my last remaining 2002 Hochar Père et Fils, the Musar’s baby brother. This was superb; a warm, autumnal brick red on the swirl with some funky chocolate and smoky liquorice on the nose. Very smooth in the mouth the tannins were well integrated and a touch of barnyard wasn’t too overpowering – this was a complex wine with a little of the trademark Musar volatility and some bitterness/sourness & heat on the finish that was only a small detraction for what was a very well made wine and bodes well for the ’02 Gaston Hochar Rouge.

I can’t finish without quickly discussing another of my wine favourites, Tokai Aszú. My parents opened the delectable Royal Tokaji 2000 5 Puttonyos Aszú and I savoured its rich honey and caramel aroma and fresh acidity to cut the sweetness. Earlier I had bought the Marks & Spencer 5 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszú made for them by Hilltop winery, and while in the store I also couldn’t resist buying their Chilean 2008 “PX” Pedro Ximenez dry white produced by Geo Wines. Of course this isn’t a complete list of what I’ve encountered over the month but hopefully it gives a flash of insight into the mix of traditional, unusual and reasonably priced bottles that manage to constantly refresh my interest in the world of wine.

Slainte!

Greybeard.

Greybeard’s Corner, September, 2009

Greybeard — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:45:57 +0000

September started with a larger than usual Decanter magazine (352 pages!) thumping its way through the letterbox, the annual tome that covers the Decanter World Wine Awards competition held in April. With nearly 7,000 awards it took the rest of the month to work my way through the results picking out the interesting or relevant winners, but with 41% of entries being below the $15 level then this is a good way to add to the quality of your everyday drinkers.

This was the 6th year of the DWWA and this time round 10,285 wines were entered, the largest ever. 4 bottles of each wine are submitted so over 40,000 bottles were received and sorted for the judging, an enormous undertaking (although an entry fee of $150 per wine gives $1.5 million to help cover costs). As with many wine competitions don’t expect to see first growth Bordeaux or cult Napa Cabs in evidence, but the strong representation from wineries all over the world means plenty to choose from across the more affordable price ranges. Even though many wines are not available in the U.K. or U.S. there’s still more than enough to make a decent wine list from, you can browse the results on Decanter’s web-site here.

Two of the top awards, the International Trophy, went to U.K. supermarket own-labels; the co-operative Santa Helena 2008 Pinot Noir and Sainsbury’s 2006 Amarone della Valpolicella by Cantina Valpantena – both of which are now in residence at my home!
For the (British) retailer awards Waitrose and Marks & Spencer (M&S) cemented their reputation as winner and runner up in the Supermarket of the Year award, while by-the-case retailer Majestic took Wine Chain of the year.

I spent a few days in Oslo in the middle of the month through work and had a delicious meal at “The Edge” restaurant at Aker Brygge, the popular night-life area in the renovated Oslo docklands. This is a new establishment (it wasn’t there when I visited Oslo last year) but is well worth a visit with a small but delicious menu and an interesting wine list. To go with our meal that night I had a glass of Vielles Vignes Sylvaner, the 2007 by Domaine Ostertag, which went well with the smoked salmon starter.

Unlike some other Sylvaner/Silvaners I’ve previously tried this was a well flavoured, dry wine with a strong honey aspect in the mid-palate – although the nose was closed with only a suggestion of flowers.
The main course was a hearty wild boar steak in a rich berry sauce and a bottle of M. Chapoutier Côtes du Rhône Villages 2007 Rasteau alongside. The wine had a sweet smoky nose with a little spice and good fruit with some liquorice and cherry, but was too young – overly tannic for its medium body needing some more years to mellow.
To finish I spied a Kracher 2006 Beerenauslese on the menu. This vintage dessert wine from Burgenland was a blend of Welschriesling and Chardonnay; medium-sweet, elegant and refreshing, strong on apricots and 4 stars all the way.

I went to my second NEWTS (North East Wine Tasting Society) meeting in September and tasted some Spanish treats at a presentation by Greg Wilson from the Newcastle Majestic store. As well as a selection of the current Majestic range Greg had also brought some older bottles no longer in stock, including the delicate delight that was the 1985 Marques de Caceres Rioja Gran Reserva. Some around the table said it was past its best but for me it was still a pleasure to have something so venerable which still drank well and offered subtle, almost ethereal flavours to contemplate.
The group vote for best wine of the evening went to the Torres 2005 Mas la Plana, DO Penedès. While I thoroughly enjoyed this I preferred the Bodegas Emilio Moro 2006 Ribera del Duero which I felt had more character – both had plenty of balanced fruit and tannins to keep them going for several years.
The last wine of the evening raised a few eyebrows as it was an overt “blockbuster”, the Bodegas Muga 2005 Torre Muga Rioja. This was much too over-extracted – a tannic and fruit laden points-seeker which didn’t sit well with the more elegant bottles which had preceded it.

As September marked the anniversary of my visit to the Côtes du Ventoux I dropped a line to Château Pesquié to see how the harvest was progressing. Frédéric Chaudière told me that picking began on the 25th August with the Viognier and they were expecting to be finished by the first week of October. First indications were very good and they are hoping for a great vintage after a very dry summer – of the vinification Fred said that the “extraction processes are the easiest ever seen”. This matches news coming out of all the French regions this year, 2009 promises to be an excellent vintage.

I attempted to add another wine store to my list when I went looking for The Corkscrew in Carlisle, on England’s North West border with Scotland. I only infrequently visit the city I was born in even though it’s less than an hour drive from where I live, and it was somewhat ironic that the wine store was shut when I did, the owner’s taking a late summer vacation! I’ll be back though, as this is where the best Rose of the year came from (via my parents); the Vina Valoria from Rioja.
I still managed to end the month with another store though, courtesy of The Italian Wine Cellar in the beautiful old University City of Durham. The store is nestled in a corner of the indoor market and it was a bottle of Pecorino by Tenuta Cocci Grifoni that caught my eye, another unusual and rare variety to try out sometime soon.

Other wines purchased this month include Tim Adams 2006 The Fergus Grenache blend, another wine from this respected Australian producer to go into my stores. After 3 years of buying his wines I still haven’t tried one, although the 2005 Riesling is steadily creeping up the drinking list and I’d expect to have it within the next few months to find out if he really lives up to the praise heaped on him by the likes of Oz Clarke!
Along with the co-op Santa Helena I also purchased the Meerlust 2006 Pinot Noir to add to its predominantly Californian brethren and replenishing my stocks of this variety which, up until May, had fallen to a single bottle (and that was a German Spätburgunder!). Given my budget and anti-establishment purchasing tendencies it probably won’t come as a surprise that I don’t hold any red Burgundy at this time.

On the drinking side September’s wines fitted more into the quaffing category at home. A spectrum of the French regions was covered with serviceable efforts from Fitou, Cahors, Bordeaux Supérieur and Muscadet – even a St. Emilion Grand Cru, the 2004 Château Grand-Pey-Lescours, was uninspiring. South America fared slightly better with a fresh, dry 2007 Sauvignon Gris from Cousiño Macul and an enjoyable Torrontés, the 2006 Crios de Susana Balbo – although it was showing its age a little. Only the Henriques & Henriques Malvasia Madeira added an element of sophistication to the month; deep, dark and rich with complex burnt caramel flavours this was delightful with fresh and juicy acidity.

As for September’s weather – it started off wet but by the middle of the month the sun returned with some dry and relatively warm spells, heralding an Indian summer which should be good news for the English grape harvest.

You will have noticed October is half-way through and I’m only just getting round to September. I apologise for the tardiness of the latest ‘Corner post and can only blame the demands of the day job (the bills have to be paid!). I have some free time coming up soon so expect to be a touch more prolific than recent months, but for those wanting more real-time notice of my monthly ramblings try looking me up on Twitter.

Slainte!

Greybeard

Greybeard’s Corner, August 2009

Greybeard — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:59:13 +0000

August, the month where the British summer finally admitted it wouldn’t be able to make it this year and offered alternating bursts of spring and autumn to fill the gap in the schedule, mostly with rain. Luckily some shining wine experiences managed to make up for the lack of sun with a selection of excellent bottles opened at home, a new tasting group uncovered to continue my wine education and the re-discovery of Australia after a long period of neglect.

The beginning of the month continued one of July’s themes with another visit to Richard Granger. This time round I bought an off-dry Vouvray, the 2007 Domaine Brunet , another Cali Pinot Noir, the Au Bon Climat 2006 Santa Maria Valley, and the Brokenwood 2004 “Cricket Pitch” red, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend from an Australian producer famous for its iconic Graveyard Shiraz.

I realised that this was my first Australian purchase in months, and a quick check revealed that this year I’d only bought 3 bottles (including the Brokenwood) whilst over the same period last year I’d already bought 11 bottles . I can’t say this was a conscious boycott of Aussie wines, but for some reason when confronted by the selection in the Supermarkets and high-street retailers there is usually some other country that intrigues me more. That’s not to say I’m running out either, my collection still stands at 15 bottles (second only to France which is way ahead with 35 bottles) but I don’t seem to be replenishing them as much as I used to and it seems that it’s not just me either, with Decanter reporting in January that global sales had hit a 15 year low.

Given that we are in the middle of a recession it would be foolish to say that the British love-affair with Australian wines is cooling, but what I’m looking for in a bottle nowadays tends to be different from the bulk brands or high-octane blockbusters that have previously made Australia’s reputation in the U.K. It is also worth pointing out that Australia still tops the chart for U.K. consumer wine buying – with the U.S. (California to be precise) second & pushing France down to 3rd – however Australian (and Californian) brands often feature in the depressing glut of “3 bottles for £10” which seem to be everywhere in UK supermarkets at the moment. This may help explain why the value of Australian sales has dropped by 19% even though the total volume purchased has only fallen by 1%, (Harpers Wine & Spirit, July 2009) .

In the middle of the month I attended my first meeting of NEWTS, the North East Wine Tasting Society (see my report of the wines in the recent article Red Wines of the Western Languedoc). I had chanced upon this group after the recent PortoVino tasting from July, although to be honest they had chanced upon me as my ramblings to the friends I attended the tasting with were overheard by two other attendees, prompting introductions and an invite to the next meeting. I was a little apprehensive as there isn’t a lot of local publicity about the group and I had no idea what to expect, but I had a great time and felt at home with the conversation. I’m optimistic that joining the NEWTS will be good for building on my wine knowledge and experiences with most of the monthly meetings presented by the members themselves, with wine from their own collections, on a theme of their choosing – although the next meeting is one of the occasional “trade” presentations, this time from Majestic, the by-the-case retailers who lowered their minimum purchase from 12 to 6 bottles in Newcastle at the beginning of the year and have now rolled out this change Nationwide.

I found myself doing more than the usual amount of entertaining with both family and friends visiting and dining at Chez Greybeard as the month progressed. Needless to say there was no shortage of wine, but what surprised me a little was the overall quality compared to the usual monthly offerings. It’s not often I rate a wine high enough to merit the attentions of the “point seekers” (that’s 4 stars or 90+ depending how you swing) but this was a bonanza month for me with 5 wines which I’ll happily laud over and discuss in more detail.

It’s worth pointing out that the dearth of high scores for what I drink at home is not because I’m a particularly tough judge of a wine but a reflection of the realistic limits I place on my wine budget. The majority of the wines I’ll drink are in the £5-£10 ($8-$16) range with only one or two a month over £10 (and over £20 is usually reserved for Christmas or the New Year). Taken in this context this month’s famous five are more remarkable as they cover the complete spectrum of styles; a white, a red, a rosé, a dessert and a fortified.

- The White. The FMC (Forrester Meinert Chenin) 2005 Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch. This well known dry white from Ken Forrester cost me £12 in early 2008. I had been tempted to open it to complete a trio back in 2008 (see A Tale of Two Chenins) but decided it could handle a little more bottle-age. This overtly oaked wine had a rich, juicy nose, a full mouthfeel with a gentle sweetness and a creamy long finish with some honey. It was well balanced with a lot of complexity – the only criticism was that the oak wasn’t shy and it was starting to show signs of age.

- The Rosé. The 2007 Viña Valoria Rioja Rosado, 100% Tempranillo. This came with my parents and was bought from Corkscrew Wines in Carlisle, a retailer I must remember to visit if I find myself heading west anytime soon. This was easily the best rosé I’ve had all year, a sublime Rosado with a gentle nose of forest fruits. In the mouth it had a savoury watermelon taste and was extremely well balanced, a joy to drink on the one and only sunny Saturday afternoon.

- The Red. Reschke Bull Trader 2004 Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot. Named for the winery owner’s City Trading past this was a gift during my business trip to Sydney in 2008. Unfortunately note-taking was absent during drinking but memory dictated that this was smooth with integrated tannins and good complexity. Cherry was the predominant flavour and it held a fine line between elegance and fruit-bomb resulting in a very well made and drinkable wine.

- The Dessert. Jackson-Triggs 2006 Proprietor’s reserve Vidal Icewine. My first ever Canadian Icewine and based on this I’ll be coming back for more! Lime jelly and honey on the nose this was rich and viscous in the mouth. Whilst the sugar hit was a little extreme at first the finish showed balancing acidity and ended with gorgeous honey tones.

- The Fortified. Boplass Cape Tawny Port (NV). This was bought in South Africa (where they’re still allowed to call it Port on the local market) for the equivalent of £5. Made primarily from Tinta Barocca, by a winery with a long tradition of fortified wine making, the nose was warm raisin and sweet toffee, luscious in the mouth with the warm alcohol spreading out over the palate. There was good acidity into the finish, with a medium length and a touch of heat on the throat, equal to many a 10-15 year old tawny I’ve had from Portugal for a fraction of the cost.

It should also be noted that I opened a bottle of Château Musar 2001 Rouge this month, but I was a little disappointed with its overall acidity and couldn’t rate it as high as the others mentioned here, 3+ at best. More ageing is allocated for my remaining bottles but I doubt this vintage will reach the heights of the ’99. Even the Musar was significantly better than my biggest disappointment this month, the CataMayor 2005 Cabernet Franc from Uruguay. I generously put this down as a 2+ as it was pleasant enough with food, but for my first foray into this South American country it was not encouraging.

As for my other purchases, it turned into a lean month with a net reduction of 6 bottles in my stores. Italy was represented with an entry level Barolo and a supermarket own-label Amarone (more on that next month) while South America brought August to a close with the single vineyard 2001 Manso de Velasco Viejas Vinas from Miguel Torres and an old favourite of mine, the 2006 Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontés, both of which are likely to be opened soon.

It’s raining again as I write this, September continuing as August left off. Here’s hoping the wine also follows last month’s trend!

Greybeard.

Greybeard’s Corner July 2009

Greybeard — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:55:23 +0000

Discovering a new source of wine in your area is always an exciting experience so finding two is a double cause for celebration. Add on top of this a vacation in a vineyard and you’ll realize why this was a very good month indeed, even though the weather was atrocious!

My first discovery was somewhere I’d known about for about 3 years but just hadn’t actually gone to (for no other reason than apathy I guess) – I soon learned the error of my ways. Richard Granger Fine Wines is a wine merchant in Newcastle Upon Tyne who have been in operation since 1970. Sadly Richard Granger, the man and founder, died in 1997 but the store is run by proprietor Alastair Stewart (who worked with Richard from the early 80s) & Mark Rennie. A 2005 piece from the local Journal newspaper adds some extra information here.

The store is nestled in the corner of one of the local Metro stations and has a great selection of classic and quality labels, including some of the best Sherry, Port & Madeira I’ve seen in the North East of England under one roof. The Californian section is well represented, with Au Bon Climat and Bonny Doon amongst others, however it was a pet country of mine, Lebanon, which grabbed my attention with a winery I haven’t tried before – Massaya.

Alastair happily gave me a potted history of the winery set up by Sami and Ramzi Ghosn when they returned to Lebanon after the civil war ended, backed by French expertise and investment in the form of the Brunier family (owners of Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe) and Dominique Hébrard of Saint Emilion (whose family owned Château Cheval Blanc until it was sold in 1998).

I bought 4 bottles that first visit but it wasn’t until I got home that I realised the Massaya Silver selection was their white offering and not the red I meant to buy, so back I went the week after to exchange it. Since I was there it seemed a waste not to get a couple of extra bottles, so I left this time with the Cuvaison 2006 Carneros Pinot Noir and a bottle of Randall Grahm’s finest – the 2003 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volante. I have no doubts these were the first of many wallet liberating trips to this fine wine emporium over the coming months, especially as I have 3 years of neglect to make up for!

The second discovery is a new enterprise set up in Newcastle, PortoVino (but don’t click on the link just yet as it’s not due to be active for a couple of weeks). The company has been set up by two local businessmen looking for a change in direction; Paul Raven and Alan Holmes have known each other for 30 years but wine was always a hobby until now. I had the misfortune to miss their first tasting session a couple of months ago and was even more disappointed when I heard that it was a sort of X-factor event with 50 Portuguese wines from prospective suppliers being judged on the night to make up the final 24 in the PortoVino range – power to the people! On this occasion they were doing a joint tasting with my favourite Spanish retailer Spanish Spirit – a taste of Iberia evening with a welcome selection of Spanish cured meats and cheeses to help with the wine.

On the Portuguese side I tried a delectable, apple-scented Quinta da Romeira 2005 Espumante Brute, the first traditional method sparkling I’ve ever had out of this country. We moved onto the dry whites with the 2008 Prova Régia which had a citrus nose and a smooth, full-textured mouthfeel, then the Morgado de Santa Catherina 2007 Reserva whose 18months in French Oak gave a heavy floral nose and a complex, full bodied taste. All three were made from the Arinto grape by the same producer out of Bucelas, Estremadura.

The colour shifted with a 2008 Rosado from Casal Garcia which was a light (10.5% abv) Vinho Verde (I thought they were always white!) with strong frizzante and plenty of berry fruit from its Vinhão, Azal Tinto and Borraçal varieties.
Finally onto the reds from Quinta da Fronteira, also in the Companhia das Quintas stable. The 2006 Douro Superiore was young with a bitter, spicy wood component and peppery green tannins, needing some bottle age – unlike its sibling the 2006 Douro Selecção do Enólogo which, while being capable of several more years ageing, was drinking beautifully now with a strong hit of coffee and chocolate on the nose and a smooth, rich, smoky flavor and fine tannins, easily the best wine of the night for me (so much so I bought the bottle that had been left unopened!).
I hope to try out some more of PortoVino’s range in the next few months and find out a bit more about this new venture which is bringing wines from one of the most promising countries in the wine world at the moment.

The end of the month had me spend a short vacation at an English winery, the Three Choirs near Gloucester as discussed in my last article. I concentrated on the wines and vineyards in that piece, so here I’ll mention the lovely food we had during the trip.

First at the Three Choirs restaurant itself, a fine dining evening with their own wine by the glass (some non-English wines were also available if you dared!).
A generous portion of smoked salmon was a melt in the mouth starter with some delicate capers sprinkled on top and a salad leaf garnish. The main course was pan-fried lamb’s liver on mashed potatoes with bacon and onion topping – delicious, although I asked for it pink and it came a little overdone for that description.
My partner Sarah had the meaty duck confit & black pudding terrine to start and then moved onto an even larger portion of smoked salmon for a main. We both finished with the cheese-board and some of the Siegerrebe & Schönburger late harvest dessert wine which had lychees jumping out of the glass! The cheeses were delicious, but for £8 the pieces were too thinly cut for my Northern tastes! In total the 3 course meal for two, with wines, came to just under £90 – not cheap, but a must for at least one evening if you’re staying at the winery.

The next evening we ventured a little farther afield (well, 10 miles down the road) on the recommendation of Jo from the Three Choirs. As soon as she mentioned a pub serving Nepalese curry I knew I had to visit, so we drove to the Roadmaker Inn in the village of Gorsley, near to Newent. From the outside it looks like a typical middle-English tavern but it is owned and run by Keshar Sherchan, Ratna Baharder Rana, Del Baharder Thapamarger and Ganesh Baharder Sherchan, retired from the 1st Royal Ghurka rifles with 76 years of active service between them.
As you may know Ghurka’s hail from Nepal and have served alongside British troops for nearly two hundred years, with recent changes to the U.K. law to open up immigration rights for ex-Gurkha’s to live in Britain.
We arrived on a busy Wednesday evening and the main restaurant area was already full! We were directed to a table in the public bar (several other tables were already set up) and browsed a menu of Nepalese and Indian-style dishes, each of which sounded wonderful. For starters we had chargrilled Sekuwa lamb and baked Rara chicken with a cashew and cream cheese marinade. For the main course the Ganga Jamuna was a chicken Tikka with garlic, ginger and fenugreek served hot by request (and boy, was it hot!) along with the slow-cooked Nepalese lamb in a rich sauced liberally dosed with coriander. A Peshwari naan bread and Pilau rice were the perfect accompaniment and a cold beer washed it all down. I can’t recommend this place enough if you’re passing Gloucester or Ross-on-Wye, the food and busy pub atmosphere were a joy and we left well-fed, very happy and prepared for the drive back North after the vacation.

Other than all the English wine I managed to work my way through a mixed bag of bottles during July. The best of the bunch was also one of the cheapest; the medium bodied Cantina di Merlara 2006 Valpolicella Ripasso from Aldi at £5.99. This had a rich, dark, smoky nose with a mix of complex flavours in the mouth along with a juicy fruit finish, albeit a little short.
Best white was the 2005 Clefs du Papes Blanc Chateauneuf-du-Pape , a Roussane blend with a rich honey perfume, floral with white stonefuit and a full mouthfeel with a honey mid-palate and dry finish. This full-bodied white made its 14% abv known but was still very enjoyable and was purchased from Costco late last year for £10.
Also worthy of a mention was the oaky La Motte 2004 Millenium Bordeaux blend, strong on chocolate and liquorice, and the refreshing Château Pesquié Perle de Rosée 2007 which I brought back from the Côtes du Ventoux – a balanced and moreish dry Rosé.

July came to a close as it started with rain managing to hide the threat of a summer, but even without the sun it was a busy and enjoyable month which saw new wine experiences continuing and the promise of more to come.

Greybeard.

Greybeard’s Corner June 2009

Greybeard — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:09:47 +0000

Lebanon, Israel, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey & Uruguay are countries whose wines are encountered as way-points by many in their wine journeys, but how many see that list as a typical summary of their monthly activities? I consider myself an eclectic wine enthusiast and tend to find the unusual & unorthodox more interesting that the mainstream (although I know some people would use that as a criticism). June turned into a showcase for my wine eccentricities with a spread of “off-piste” regions and varieties factoring heavily in both my drinking and purchases.

Ironically the month started off as traditional as you can get with a tasting at my local Spanish retailer covering a sample of wines from Toro, Rueda, Rioja and Ribera del Duero. I’d enjoyed most of them before, but new that evening was the Dominio de Ugarte 2004 Reserva, from Bodegas Heredad Ugarte, in Magnum. This was tasted next to the 2003 Reserva in standard bottle size and I was so taken with the freshness and depth of flavour of the ’04 compared to the ’03 (which I like a lot) that I bought my first ever large format bottle.

We’d been chatting to a couple during the course of the evening and once the tasting had finished we invited them back to the house to continue the conversation and open up another bottle or two. When I discovered that neither had tried Lebanese wines before I knew I’d found the excuse to open the bottle of 1999 Château Musar I’d earmarked for drinking this year. A quick decant and pour released some beautiful aromas including smoke and tobacco with a subtle hint of V.A. and barnyard. Sweet and savoury in the mouth this had a Rhône style and was very, very smooth with fine-grain tannins and a long finish. A sublime 4-star wine drinking beautifully the two of us (the girls favouring a Pouilly-Fumé instead) polished off the bottle in two hours – which explained my hangover the next morning!

June weather in the North East of England was dire; thunderstorms and persistent rain with infrequent glimpses of the sun, however one of those rare moments coincided with a Saturday shopping excursion to the nearby market town of Hexham. I tend to come here once or twice a month if only to go to the local Waitrose supermarket for its excellent wine selection, but this time Sarah & I decided to have a treat for lunch and we strolled along to the Bouchon Bistrot for some French cuisine. I’d heard good things about the restaurant and had been meaning to go for some time now. I was not disappointed and, after 2 excellent starters, savoured the Boudin Noir (black pudding/blood sausage) while Sarah had a delicate fish course of Coley in a white wine sauce. To wash down the earthy Boudin Noir I had a couple of glasses of a fine Coteaux de Tricastin from Maison Delas, a young , fruity red perfect for a lunchtime drink.

On the way home I stopped by the Hexham Wine Rack (part of the Threshers group) and took advantage of their perpetual “buy 3 bottles for the price of 2” promotion. The selection is not terribly exciting, but there are some good deals to be had and this trip I can away with the Huber 2007 Gruner Veltliner from Austria, the Kanonkop 2007 Kadette from South Africa and a 2007 Cave de Turckheim Gewurztraminer (part of their own “Radcliffe’s” range).

A business trip to Israel towards the end of the month had me travelling via Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
I dislike this airport for several reasons I won’t bore you with, but its saving grace is the Air France Lounge(s) and an enjoyable selection of wines (French, of course!) to distract you while you wait for your onward connection. I had an intriguing white (Limoux I think) which had a peaty aroma not unlike a fine malt whiskey, while a red Cru Bourgeois was surprisingly complex and enjoyable – unfortunately as I write this my notes are sitting in the office so I’ll have to post an update later. Not so good was the Château Le Bonnat “Jeansotte” 2007 Graves served on the flight – I know I was travelling Economy Class, but this thin, acidic, 2 star wine was not what I was looking for. After that experience I read with a wry smile Michael Broadbent’s column in Augusts’ Decanter Magazine where he bemoans British Airway’s Economy wine offering on a flight to the U.S. as “beyond redemption”!

On the return leg of the trip I decided to get rid of a 20 Euro note I’d had in my wallet for the best part of a year and went to the Duty Free wine section at Paris. After a perusal of the ranks of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone I ended up with the Gueberschwihr Goldert Grand Cru 2004 Riesling, taking my stock of this grape variety to over 10% of my collection.

In Israel itself work kept me out of fine restaurants and there was no time for visiting any wineries, so my only note is of the Ramim 2003 Riesling which I bought for about $15 at a local supermarket to drink in my room. I couldn’t tell much from the label as it was in Hebrew but Kosher is guaranteed as it was from a standard state supermarket. At 11.3% abv I expected it to be a dry or semi-dry, but it was heavily sweet, with a golden honey colour and a very luscious and aromatic nose. It was slightly oxidised, but not enough to spoil the oily component (not quite petrol) and, while there was no real complexity or length compared to a Northern European sweet Riesling, it was enjoyable when served well chilled to take the edge off the sweetness.

The final weekend of the month was a family trip to my parents in the South of Scotland. We visited the small town of Moffat and took the opportunity to drop in on the local wine retailer, the Moffat Wine Shop. I’ve been before and I am always surprised about the quality and choice for what is essentially a Scottish country village with a population of only a few thousand – this time round I came away with a Uruguayan Red, the Cata Mayor 2005 Cabernet Franc by Bodegas Castillo Viejo, and a Sauvignon Gris from Chilean producer Viña Cousiño Macul.

The remaining wines in my “around the world” tour were from my weekend drinkers at home. The Domaine de Biéville 2007 Chablis Vielles Vignes and Domaine Raimbault-Pineau 2007 Pouilly-Fumé Cuvée Cassandra were both good French whites but both were bested by the 2007 Auxerrois from Apostelhoeve in Maasstricht, The Netherlands, which was a delicate, floral and slightly sweet white with a lot of charm. Moving up the sweetness scale was the Valbene 2004 Picolit from the Colli Orientali del Friuli region of Italy (next to the Slovenian border). Picolit is a rare grape, it is rumoured there are only 25ha of plantings in Italy, and this dessert wine was light and perfumed – not outstanding, but good for £10. Better still I remember to save the half-bottle for future use when I open a bottle of red I know I am not going to finish – a topped-up half-bottle re-corked and put away in the refrigerator lasts several days longer than if left in a standard bottle.

For Reds I revisited Corsica with the Domain du Mont Saint Jean 2006 Pinot Noir but was disappointed by its awkward mid-palate and lack of character. France fared much better with a Chinon from Domaine du Colombier, this was one for those that like edgy, medium bodied wine with a touch of the cabbage patch, as I do! Switzerland was next, with the Cuvée E. Obrist 2005 Vaux Rouge by Obrist Vevey, a Pinot-Noir/Gamay blend typical of the Vaud region, although the wine itself was a little thin and one dimensional. Turkey showed well with the 2005 Bo?azkere by Doluca, a fresh and beautifully fruity easy-drinking red with cherry, raspberry and a hint of herbs and menthol.

We move back into familiar territory with a young red from Portugal’s Douro region, the 2006 Fabelhaft (Stamp) by Niepoort. The nose was the star, smoky with sweet dark berry fruit and although the flavour couldn’t quite match up in the mouth, it was perfectly balanced and a joy to drink at 3+ stars.

I switched to South Africa later on in the month and opened up the Beyerskloof 2005 Pinotage from the famous Stellenbosch producer, prompted by a comment on last month’s Greybeard’s Corner by Peter May of the Pinotage Club. The bottle had been sitting in my cellar for the last 3 years and although only the standard White label Pinotage it had stood up relatively well and was smooth in the mouth, balanced with a little tannin at the end. However there wasn’t any stand-out flavour, fruit or otherwise so I could only just push this into a 3 star – hopefully the Longridge 2004 Pinotage I have will prove a better buy.

And so June came to a close with bottles spanning 12 countries and more than 16 different varieties or blends – welcome to my world! To tell the truth this is a little more on the fringe than even I am used to on a regular basis, but highlights what I’m looking for in the world of wine…..everything!

Greybeard.

Greybeard’s Corner May 2009

Greybeard — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:09:09 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed May, if only for the public holidays at either end, and this one was made all the more glorious by clear, sunny skies and rising temperatures hinting that there may be a real summer this year. Supermarkets were the running wine theme throughout the month, possibly not that surprising as, on average, supermarket wine makes up 40% of my purchases.

As I reported in my recent post on the Newcastle Wine Fair this enjoyable event confirmed the strong wine ethic of both Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, and only a week later I found myself in the food-hall of M&S showing just how much I liked their Ernst Loosen 2007 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett by buying a bottle. I had also intended to buy the Bonny Doon Shiraz that I’d raved about, but instead opted for another of Randall Grahm’s finest, the 2006 Central Coast Sangiovese.

Things then quietened down as far as drinking goes, although this didn’t stop another corked wine appearing (my second this year). This time the offending bottle was one I picked up from Tesco in early 2007, their own-label (Tesco’s Finest) 2004 South African Shiraz by Boschendal Winemaker James Farquharson. Tantalisingly I could tell that behind that undeniable “off” aroma and taste there was a decent hit of fruit hinting at the quality I had been hoping for.

This was bought at a time when Tesco were improving their wine range, unfortunately they look like they’ve reversed this trend in recent months with a noticeable change back to the bad old days of “pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap” – the last few times I’ve been in my local stores (for my sins I have 2 of their “Hypermarkets” near my home town) I struggled to find much to interest me. Their regular Wine-Club magazine has similarly seen a drop in quality as well, the last one was nothing but front-to-back page advertisements without even the pretence of a wine “story” hidden within, and hardly any of the usual vouchers to entice you to buy an extra bottle in store – I guess even this corporate giant is being affected by the recession.

For only the second time this year I opened a bottle of U.S. wine, the 2003 Ravenswood Lodi old vine Zinfandel. Having been patiently waiting in the cellar for two and a half years this was bursting with aromas of dark berry fruit & spice and in the mouth there was a melange of secondary flavours; some tar, chocolate, leather and coffee – an excellent 3+ drink and so enjoyable that, only a few days later, I picked up the 2006 vintage from ASDA (a rare purchase from another supermarket I tend to have difficulty buying from).
Image, US-Can Flags.jpg
As the month progressed an unusually high number of (North) American wines were added to the cellar; joining the Bonny Doon and the Ravenswood were the Brook Ranch 2006 Pinot Noir from the Edna Valley (Marmesa Vineyards) and the Jackson-Triggs 2006 Proprietors’ reserve Vidal Icewine. However to put it in perspective my inventory still only stands at 7 bottles and shows the relative difficulty of buying good quality but affordable American wines here in the U.K.

One of the final purchases was another supermarket own label, but this time it was the Cooperative that caught my eye with their relatively new “Reserve” wines. I picked up the St. Gabriel Vineyard 2007 Viognier made by Jean Claude Mas (of Domaine Paul Mas in the Languedoc), as reviewed by Tim Atkin in The Guardian. It was actually the end of last year the COOP introduced this new line of premium wines in refreshing contrast to the direction Tesco are taking, but I’ve only just seen them in my local store and expect to be trying out more from the range in the future.

Of the wines drank during May a few others seemed worth commenting on. The Château Romer du Hayot 2004, my first bottle of Sauternes, was a fresh, honeyed sweetie – light on the palate in spite of a relatively thick texture. I enjoyed the floral, slightly bitter finish with an undertone of honey, but it will take more interesting Sauternes than this to move me away from Tokaji as my go-to dessert wine.

I’ve already mentioned the Ravenswood Lodi, a solid 3+ wine, as was the Viña Peñalolén 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon – a very drinkable, although slightly over the top, fruit-bomb. Less enjoyable was the Château Ksara 2005 Le Prieuré from Lebanon, light and acidic in the mouth, a little medicinal at first, weak in flavour and concentration and a dull 2 stars – not what I’ve come to expect from this country and my previous outings with Châteaux Musar and Kefraya.

The last wine of the month was a Dutch red, the Domein van Stokkom De Linie 2007 Rode from the Netherlands that I purchased on vacation last year (and wrote about the winery in a previous article). Although no more than 3 stars I was very satisfied drinking this, and not just for summer memories. The nose was full of fresh cherry & berry fruit with creamy aspects, and while the flavour couldn’t match the aroma there was a good balance of acidity and (light) tannins – it went exceptionally well with roast lamb and benefitted from being slightly chilled.

Overall the month started bigger than it finished, which went for the weather as well with June starting with a drop in temperatures and rain clouds on the horizon – maybe summer isn’t here just yet!

Greybeard.

Greybeard’s Corner, April 2009

Greybeard — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:59:01 +0000

April passed through with the early promise of a nice summer, Easter celebrations and a trio of birthdays to toast.

A run of fine, sunny weekends led to the opening of the first Rose of the year, the Château Kefraya 2006 La Rosée du Château, another wine highlighting my fondness for this small country which makes up nearly 10% of my cellar. Kefraya may be less well known than the cult Château Musar or Lebanon’s largest winery, Chateau Ksara, but like both of them it produces well received wines – it’s prestige Comte de M receives good reviews and the affordable Les Bretèches is a personal favourite of mine.
This was the first time I’d tried their rosé, which had a rustic nose, sweet yet earthy. As a descriptor rustic matched its taste as well, dry, somewhat unbalanced in the beginning yet finishing beautifully with some berry fruit, an acceptable 2+ start to the summer drinking season.

April has always been a busy month as it sees three family birthdays in quick succession and as one of them is mine then there is always the hope of wine involved in the presents and in the celebrations. This year the star of the proceedings was a fine old Tokaji, the Chateau Messzelátó 1988 Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos, dark caramel in colour with strong raisin aspects, the sweet and sour, sherry like tang had delightful acidity behind the subtle sweetness. At 3+ this wasn’t a great Tokaji, simply very good and always appreciated by the family, especially my Hungarian father.

The Tokaji was bought earlier in the month from Oddbins, my first visit back to this retailer since its buy-out in August last year by the founders of Ex Cellar Henry Young and Simon Baile (son of Nick Baile who ran Oddbins during its heyday in the 1970s).
I can’t say that I noticed a great deal of difference in the store selection, although it is still early in the process of trying to recover the reputation of this high-street retailer, which suffered under the management of French company Castel. There were a few tempting wines on offer and, as well as the Tokaji, I came away with the Terredora Loggia della Serra single vineyard Greco di Tufo and the Fernand Grandjean 2006 Sancerre Rosé from Domaine Hubert Brochard. Had I not restrained myself I probably would also have bought the Gisselbrecht 2003 Riesling Vendage Tardive as well (and maybe should have!). I plan on re-visiting Oddbins more frequently over the next year to see how the change in management affects its wine selection.

Given the relative purchasing (and drinking) drought over the last couple of months April was far more active. A tasting evening at my local Spanish retailer saw the rosé theme continue with a fine fresh 2008 Rosado from Reinares having just been delivered. The beautifully dry wine, a blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha, had a slight candy fruit nose and was very smooth and creamy with forest fruit flavours, warming as it went down and worth a buy at. The one I brought home ended up being taken to a neighbour by my better half so I didn’t get any of it, but at only £6 a bottle I’ll happily pick up some more soon!
Including those bottles already discussed 13 new wines went into the cellar, a varied selection including the Eos 2004 Reserve Petit Sirah from Paso Robles, a Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the Rhône, my first crusted port from Grahams and the Montes Alpha 2006 Merlot, currently my only single varietal holding of this maligned grape.

13 wines also came out of the darkness and onto the dining table over the course of the month. The best red was a 2006 Douro, made for UK Supermarket Sainsbury’s “Taste the Difference” range by Quinta do Crasto – this full and fruity wine was dark and rich, very smooth with a touch of chocolate, only its lack of a finish stopped it being 4 stars. This meant Tyrrell’s 2006 Old Winery Pinot Noir was pushed into second place but still proved a faithful servant for a cheap but very cheerful Australian Pinot – I’ve yet to have a bad bottle of this wine.
The best white by far was the Kamptaler Terrassen 2005 Grüner Veltliner by the excellent Austrian winemaker Willi Bründlmayer. This crisp 3+ white had a honeyed, floral nose – rich, sweet and fragrant – and honey was also a noticeable presence in the taste with a dry mid-palate and good length.

Finally April 2009, or specifically my birthday, was also an anniversary of sorts, as it’s now 3 years since a present of a wine-tasting ticket sent me spiraling into this wine appreciation obsession that has become such a large part of my life, and a not insignificant drain on my wallet! Although I don’t have any remaining purchases from then I still have a half-dozen wines bought from June and July ’06 which shows I was already thinking about aging wine so soon after my wine epiphany. True, none of the wines were over £10, but I’m still hopeful that they were up to being forgotten about for a time period most UK wine drinkers still wouldn’t consider when they pick up their bottles from the supermarket or high-street wine retailer.

And so onto May….

Greybeard.