Winemaking, a revered calling for those fortunate few; working the land, toiling the vines, something handed down from generation to generation, something that fate alone chooses. Er….well, no – not really, or at least not any more. Barry Manilow wines anyone?
In today’s society money and fame can obtain pretty much anything, and the wine world is no exception. There is an ever expanding list of celebrities and businessmen who are getting involved in wine and, while generalisations are always dangerous territory in writing, there does appear to be three categories that you can slot the majority of these ventures into – Marketing, Business or Love.
Marketing - The celebrity is predominantly a name or face on a label and is unlikely to have been anywhere near a grape press or fermentation vat (or even the winery!). It’s not hard to see why this model works, with legions of fans clamouring to buy anything linked to their idol a bottle of wine is an obvious addition to the merchandising arsenal. Cynics would argue promotion is the name of the game here and the contents of the bottle are a secondary consideration.
Celebrity Cellars is a good place to start if you are interested in labels , with Madonna and KISS included in the range all the wines are from Temecula Valley winery Miramonte. Barry Manilow has covered his bases with his M Line Wines, produced for him by Flora Springs in St. Helena, Macchia in Lodi and White Crane in Livermore.
Business - In this model the winery may have a rich or famous name on the deeds but they are involved in a business, and probably not their only one. The role is predominantly a figurehead, the name helping with the marketing but the resulting wine is a result of managers and winemakers with little or no influence from above. From what I’ve heard Dan Ackroyd’s new venture fits into this category as well, although one would hope that Dan, having invested $1 million into Niagara Cellars in 2005, is aiming to become one of those more serious and respected winemakers.
However the final category is what many of us dream of, the romantic ideal of someone who, through fame or fortune, is able to realise their dream of making wine…. this is for Love. Here the name is not just an owner, but is actually involved in many or all aspects of the wine process and, although in the end it may still be a business, profit isn’t the most important factor. A couple of years ago The Discovery Channel broadcast “The Grape Escape” about the Eaglevlei Estate in Stellenbosch, bought by North East (U.K.) businessman, Tony Hindhaugh. The series followed him from first buying the ailing winery through the trials and tribulations of producing his first vintage. I’d also put music legend Sting in this category - he bought his Tuscan summer home (and Yoga retreat) Il Palagio in 1997 and the wines produced here are currently only available locally and for family friends.
What about the “first lives” of these people who have decided to become involved in all things vinous, what careers allow such later-life luxuries?
With the millions that top Sportsmen earn it’s no surprise they are well represented in the lists, such as former SF 49ers Quarterback Joe Montana who paired up with Beringer’s Ed Sbragia to produce Montagia wines.
In Motor Racing NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon linked up with August Briggs Winery out of Calistoga to produce his Napa Valley wines and F1’s Jarno Trulli bought Podere Castorani in Abruzzo, Italy, although it was Italian Mario Andretti who originally bridged both sports & countries with his Napa Valley winery.
Top golfers have also moved into Wine, with the Great White Shark himself, Greg Norman selling wine from California and from Beringer Blass vineyards in Australia. Nick Faldo’s wines come from Katnook Estate in Coonawarra, Arnold Palmer wines are made by California’s Luna Vineyards and even John Daly, that renowned wine drinker, is getting in on the act, although I couldn’t identify where his are made! However it is South African Ernie Els who has the best credentials here, with a winery in Stellenbosch in collaboration with Jean Engelbrecht from Rust en Vrede.
Music and wine also seem to be a perfect match. For the girls Olivia Newton John founded Koala Blue Wines in 1983. For the boys Bob Dylan’s “Planet Waves” is made by Fattoria Le Terazze in Italy’s Marche region, while Mick Fleetwood has wine produced for his Private Reserve line by Casa Cassara in the Santa Rita Hills.
British crooner Sir Cliff Richard bought Quinta do Moinho in the Algarve, Portugal, in 1993, planted a vineyard in 1997 and, together with 2 other properties in the area, established Adega do Cantor making “Vida Nova” wines. 
The Algarve is not overly renowned for its quality wines and Vida Nova is for general drinking at around the $16 price range, but apparently each vintage has been steadily improving. Cliff was famously “stung” by celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay, on his show The F-Word in 2006, in a blind tasting of his own wine - the Video clip shows several other celebrity wines in the “tasting”. Unsurprisingly the press sensationalised the story at the time, even though it seemed to have been taken in good nature by Cliff on the show.
It can be argued that TV and Film have provided the most recognisable names and also, so far, the most credible participants in the Wine World, although not necessarily both together. Paul Newman has his “Newman’s Own” wines produced by Three Thieves, part of the Rebel Wine Company, while Davy Crockett himself, Fess Parker, has been making wines out of the Santa Ynez valley since 1989. Parker’s grand tasting room was the site of the scene from the movie Sideways where Miles eventually downs the dregs from the Spit Bucket!
Two actors that have been noticed by the professionals since they took to winemaking are New Zealander Sam Neill and Frenchman Gérard Depardieu. Jurassic Park’s Neill owns Two Paddocks in Central Otago and has gathered a good reputation for his Pinot Noir, although it is difficult to find as production is limited. Depardieu (U.S. readers may know him from Green Card, while in Europe his Cyrano de Bergerac and Obelix are more renowned) is so dedicated to winemaking that he has acteur-vigneron on his passport. He makes wine out of his Loire Valley property near Anjou, Château de Tigné, and has shares in Domaines Alain Paret in Condrieu and Château Gadet in the Médoc.
However the name most people think of in this category has to be Francis Ford Coppola. In 1975 wine-lover Francis and wife Eleanor bought a Victorian house in Rutherford, California, as a country retreat, “a cottage, a place to write and a couple of acres to make a little wine.” The house was the Niebaum mansion, and came with vineyards that were part of the famed Inglenook Estate, a winery set up by Finnish sea-farer Captain Gustave Niebaum who had Californian wine winning awards in Paris 87 years before the better known 1976 “Judgement”. In 1995 Coppola bought the remaining acreage and the Inglenook Château for his Niebaum-Coppola brand, eventually changing the name in 2006 to Rubicon Estate, named after its most famous wine. Separate to this is the Rosso & Bianco brand out of Geyserville, Sonoma, which produces more affordable wines including Director’s Cut and Diamond Collection.
So does any of this make a blind bit of difference to the quality of the wines produced? In an attempt to put some of this into perspective for the average wine drinker (is there such a thing?) I carried out a simple tasting with 3 of the easier to buy bottles from some of the wineries mentioned above, all less than $20.
Eaglevlei 2005 Merlot $14. This had a really smoky nose with a lot of red fruit and oak. Smooth in the mouth with mild tannins, a little cherry, tobacco and a rich chocolate undertone, this was light-medium bodied and has a very quick finish which lets it down, but otherwise was a very pleasant Merlot and, for the cheapest of the three, was my favourite. 86-87pts.
Vida Nova 2005 (Aragonêz, Syrah, Trincadeira) $16. A raspberry jam nose, with a dose of alcoholic spiciness. It had good general mouthfeel and body, but there’s an imbalance with too much heat on the finish and a green bitterness that doesn’t sit well with the fruit on the nose and first taste. Overpriced for what it delivers, 82-83pts.
Francis Coppola Diamond Collection 2005 Gold Label Chardonnay $18. Citrus and zesty nose with a buttery texture, a little wooded finish, nice enough taste. Quite dry with a quick finish and a touch of heat on the end. Not a bad Chardonnay, but for the most expensive wine it didn’t match up to its price tag. 86-87pts.
This is by no means a comprehensive coverage of who’s who - I could go on, but there are too many B-List celebs getting involved in this sort of this to cover them all. In attempt to satiate my OCD here a quick list of some others you may find…
Richard Branson, Lorraine Bracco, Celine Dion, Sir David Frost, Jerry Garcia, Lleyton Hewitt, Mick Hucknall, Vince Neil, Jamie Oliver, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Savanna Samson, Michael Seresin, Barbara Streisand, Alex Trebek.
For most of these wines you’re unlikely to be getting a bargain, but for Manilow, Madonna or Mötley Crüe fans that’s probably not their prime concern anyway, however for the rest of us you should at least be getting something moderately drinkable and not too far out of the typical Quality-Price-Ratio range, and for this it is more likely to be the hands-on owners and those with a some passion for wine who are likely to deliver - the Neills, the Depardieus and Coppolas of the world. Who knows, should that lottery win come in a Greybeard Cuvée may be in the offing!
Greybeard.
Antichi Poderi Dei Marchesi di Barolo 1967 Nebbiolo d’Alba
This was a present from my partner for my 40th Birthday last year, one of 2 1967 wines she got me, the other being the Vignamaggio Chianti Classico (Vignamaggio is famous for being the location for Kenneth Branagh’s 1992 movie of Shakespeare’s Much ado about nothing). Wine from my birth year was the perfect present and since then I had often wondered whether either of them would still be drinkable and, if so, when would be an appropriate occasion.
Both companies continue to produce wine so I’d e-mailed them enquiring what they thought about the chances of the wine being worth opening. Vignamaggio quickly responded suggesting their one would be better kept as a memento, since Chianti from that era was blended with white grapes and is less likely to have withstood the rigours of time. Marchesi di Barolo didn’t send a reply, but the more I read about Nebbiolo the more it looked like this one may have some life left in it, even though Barolo tends to be thought of more as Nebbiolo’s long-lived incarnation.
So onto the occasion, and what better then the evening before my 41st birthday? I was visiting my parents for the weekend and my mother is known to enjoy a glass or two of red so I’d have someone to share with (my father and partner don’t usually drink red). There were a few raised eyebrows once they’d realised what the wine was, but there was no going back now, the time had come.
I carefully cut and removed the foil to reveal the top of the cork level with the bottle, no signs of leakage, so a good start.
The corkscrew went in easily and came out easily….too easily, the cork had broken on the way out, leaving the bottom 3rd still in the neck but unfortunately not enough to get the corkscrew back into, I pushed it into the bottle instead. 
Unperturbed I gently decanted the wine past the cork remnants until the bottle was empty - there was no sediment and as it poured I could see the rich dark, burnt toffee colour. Apart from a couple of small specks of cork the wine was clean and, more importantly, didn’t smell bad.
I quickly poured the first glass, if there was life left in this old Italian I wanted to make sure I tasted it at all stages. There was a definite age to the nose, my mother said it smelled of an old museum, but after a couple of minutes this mellowed and a toffee sweetness came through. In the mouth this was smooth and a little acidic, with a hint of oxidation at the front, but not too much, the mid-palate has some mustiness (the museum again) with some dryness on the finish. The next glass was about 10 minutes later, and it hadn’t changed too much with the toffee sweetness smell still coming through, maybe a little stronger. There were some features of aged sherry at the beginning, a little Oloroso nuttiness, and I could detect tannins on the top of the palate, the finish was a bit longer this time. This was a light-medium bodied wine with good acidity. 
After 30 minutes another glass delivered a hit of mushrooms, the sort of smell you get when you pour hot water on dried Porcinis. It was still a bit funky, a bit sweet and showed delicate legs down the side of the glass when swirled. The taste was still the same, with a touch of stewed tea for good measure, in the mouth this was a wine of textures rather than true flavour (most of which, to be honest, had probably gone 10 to 20 years ago). It seemed to be getting drier in the mouth with time, and those rehydrated Porcini mushrooms kept coming round again.
We decided to see how it went with food, cheese to be precise. A selection of white Stilton with apricot, Wensleydale, Edam and a creamy goat’s cheese was brought out and tried with a sip or two. The Goat’s cheese was the out and out winner, its salty sharpness seemed to complement and enhance the wine perfectly, turning it sweet and delicate and removing the musty acid/tannin combination. While the Edam was neutral, the white Stilton and Wensleydale went the other way, making the drink bitter. 
1 hour on and I get some cigar ash on the nose and oak, like an old wooden beam, slightly toasted and darkened with age. At the end of this glass I notice the sweetness back again and suddenly it hits me – dark Muscovado sugar! We get a jar of the stuff out of the cupboard and compare, and it’s a perfect match. This similarity was the residual smell of the just emptied glass, freshly poured it was hidden by the mushroom and musty wood.
As the end of the evening drew near I had one final glass and was surprised at how little this wine had changed since opening. The nose was still the star, a heady mix of complex aromas which I’ve never experienced before in one glass. In the mouth the slightly sweet, slightly sour, slightly acid bitterness and the tea tannin finish was unremarkable except for the fact that it was not unpleasant, a dry delicate and relatively light wine, but heavy in years. I hope that I’ll be able to try more aged wines in the future and was not disappointed by this introduction.
Greybeard
Newhaven Harbour, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland
I was not expecting a business trip to Edinburgh to provide much material for an article - deep fried haggis balls and very good curries washed down with gallons of beer doesn’t fit into the Reign of Terroir mission statement! However I was pleased to discover the hotel was next to a Loch Fyne Seafood restaurant and managed to have a pleasant evenings dining on the recommendation of my colleague Matt, who has frequented their sister restaurant in Newcastle’s Gosforth area.
Loch Fyne is named for the sea-loch on the west coast of Scotland famous for its oysters, and the company started as an oyster farm and bar in the 1980s, with the first restaurant opening in 1990. Since then it has grown to 38 premises throughout the UK (39 if you include the Sheffield restaurant due to open this week) and has garnered a reputation for quality seafood and a dedication to sustainability in its produce - they use the Gaelic saying “Nach Urramach an Cuan” (How worthy of honour is the sea) on their site. In 2007 the chain was bought by Greene King, the largest British owned brewery in the UK.
As I looked through the wine list (a copy of which is available on their web-site) I noticed a lack of obvious brand names and, although predominantly French, an interesting range of styles and types. The menu had enough variation to come up with several tempting alternatives for the meal, but as the waiter went through the evenings specials and came to “Fish & Chips” I knew what to go for - I’m a sucker for the traditional stuff! Once that decision was made I chose a Muscadet Sevre et Maine, Sur Lie, as an accompaniment, the Domaine des Dorices Cuvee Choisie 2006 Vieilles Vignes. I’ve had this style of Loire Valley white before and have not been disappointed.
A bowl of lobster bisque came first, served with bread and aioli. The rich soup had an almost “earthy’ flavour and was delicious, and I appreciated the strong garlic mayo! Matt went for the peppered smoked mackerel pâté and oatcakes, a full flavoured pâté (from the small taste I had). The Fish & Chips arrived with a small bowl of minted mushy peas (good taste, although a little desiccated) & tartar sauce. The fish, a good sized haddock fillet, was delicious and full flavoured, very meaty with a golden batter, while the chips (that’s fries to the Americans!) were the best I’ve had for a while, especially dipped in ketchup and mayo! The fish was maybe a touch dry but that’s more of an observation rather than a criticism.
Throughout the enjoyable eating experience was the Muscadet. This had a delightful pear and apple nose and a slight frizzante on the tip of the tongue, moderate glycerol texture and a nice creamy dryness and good acidity - overall a very good wine with the food.
Before leaving I asked restaurant manager Lisa about their wine list. She was very helpful and explained how the company MD, who owns a chalet in France, visits the country regularly and is keen to source as many wines as possible direct from local suppliers rather than through merchants or wholesalers. This explains the mostly brand free, predominantly old-world wines on the menu, many of whose producers are, as stated on the wine list, “eco-friendly or organic in their grape growing and vinification techniques”.
A case in point it the Domaine des Dorices Muscadet I tried, 
produced by the Boullault family, near the town of Vallet, this winery proudly reports controlled chemical fertilisation, minimum chemical pesticide use and intervention with non-polluting products.
After a filling meal the prospect of dessert or coffee was too much for both of us, so we thanked Lisa for her help and happily settled the £50 ($100) final bill. I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Loch Fyne, the food and wine were excellent and I now need to try out the one in Newcastle to see if this is true of all their restaurants!
Greybeard.
Did you ever wonder how some wine professionals can look, smell and taste a wine and deduce the grape, country, region and year produced without knowing what the wine was in advance? Some even can tell the producer or the winemaker. The name for such sleuthing is called Blind Tasting. It takes years of practice and lots of skill to be an accomplished blind taster. Especially in today’s wine world where modern winemaking has blurred the traditional typical designators that indicate where a wine is from.
All the major wine education programs, the WSET & Master of Wine program, ISG, Society of Wine Educators and the Court of Master Sommeliers, have designated tasting rules to train palates for blind tasting. 
The Court of Master Sommeliers is unique in the respect they deduce the wine origins orally whereas most the other programs the blind tasting is written. To pass the certifications within their program you have 4 minutes to individually give an oration on the different aspects of the wine to come to a decision of where a wine comes from and its detailed components that tell you what it is. They call the process “The Grid”.
I brought a bottle of wine to Chef Peter Garcia (PG), Certified Sommelier and Cathy Nguyen (CN), Certified Sommelier of El Meson Restaurant in Houston to blind taste. Instead of the customary “double blind” where they know nothing about the wine in the glass in front of them, they did know the theme was Cabernet Franc, but they had to figure out where in the world the wine came from and what year it was produced. They know I write about Bordeaux for WWW.ReignofTerroir.com, but they also know from previous experience, I’m likely to throw them a serious curve ball, so nothing could be certain. They still haven’t forgiven me for switching an inexpensive lean California Chardonnay into a Premier Cru white Burg bottle a couple years ago. True to form, I threw them another with this tasting.
Instead of doing the tasting as the quick 4 minute grid, and giving their results, we still followed “The Grid” rules, but we audio taped the entire detailing all their thoughts. So we have for you all the intricacies of the deductive reasoning skills of finding out where the wine came from. So, if you ever wanted to know how wine professionals amazingly blind taste wines, this is how they do it:
Donna (DCT): To start, I’d like to talk about people taste wine, but they don’t taste it like professionals do, they understand professionals blind taste, but they aren’t exposed the processes and the reasoning behind those processes, paying attention to “The Grid”. The grid is rigid in it’s processes, but I’d like to display for the readers what goes on in your minds while your working your way through a blind tasting.
PG: I’d like to say, it’s a 4 minute procedure and instead of quickly running through it, we’ll detail it and footnote it as we go along. Immediately we’ll jump in and look at the appearance. And right away I see this wine color it is of high concentration, in other words as I’m passing my hand underneath the glass, I can’t see my hand, so it gives me a full concentration. If you see half your hand or a part of it, that’s medium and then if you see your hand clearly that’s light concentration. That could either be an indication of a variety of things, of the varietal or the youth of wine. This is a red wine of course, it should be said, right now I can see the rim to core variation and that’s the difference between the density in the center of the appearance as you tilt the glass away from you to the rim and the appearance of the rim. Right now I see a light color on the rim, but it’s very dense in the center so the variation is minimal, an older wine would show much more variation, more graduation of hues and colors. This wine is not that old. We’ll see what “not that old” means in a moment, we’re going to put that in our back of our mind, because not that old could be 7 years, 3 years or 1 year.
PG: Also the brilliance of the wine will give you an indication to the varietal of the wine and even how it was made. Right now I say the brilliance is moderate plus, this wine is not exceptionally brilliant, but it’s not lackluster wine by the looks of it. The color is say dark coffee to red cherry color, this is not a garnet wine, garnet is more ruddy more rusty colored to that direction, this wine is more ruby red. That immediately takes care of the appearance, there’s no gas or unusual things you should be concerned with, it’s clear in all respects, from the appearance, well made.
PG: (smelling the wine) on the nose, immediately you note it’s not defective, it has a wonderful aroma. Strawberries and Cherries. Cherries primarily, big cherries, it has a lot of zing. It has fennel, cocoa, (smelling again) once again, cherries, herbs, some dill, cinnamon, baking spices, that leads me to believe this wine has been aged in oak. Cassis! Currants, the Crème de Cassis behind any American bar. Take a whiff of that and it’s what you get. But the aromas are highly pronounced, they come at you, they don’t have to be coaxed out. That also leads me to believe this wine is relatively young.
I get vanilla, definitely vanilla, dill, not so much dill, but vanilla.
DCT: I’m getting that dill aspect on it, it’s like whenever you open up a package of Gravalax salmon, it’s like popping out at me. (Laughing) Minus the fish smell of course!
PG: The vanilla is workin’ it. Dig out the vanilla. This is all oak footprints here.
What I like about these aromas is they are welded together nicely; it’s a nice one perfume. It’s got some floral characteristics as a secondary.
DCT: Cathy, what would you add to that?
CN: Like the herbs, I mean, I’m getting a lot of herbs, like rosemary, eucalyptus.
PG: It’s definitely highly complex; immediately you’re elevating it in your mind, this is a wine of quality. Because you’re smelling a lot of different things on many levels.
DCT: I agree.
PG: There’s no defects in the nose, we’ve identified our descriptors, fruits…..
CN: Combination of red and black fruits…..
PG: Have we discussed minerality?
CN: We haven’t?
PG: Yea, we haven’t. I’m definitely getting wet pebbles and wet river stones.
CN: Well, I mean, definitely as far as minerality is concerned, it’s dark soils, there’s a wetness to the stones, you don’t get the damp clay, it’s got a little bit of that funk like in after its been raining and kind of mildewey. After it’s been raining all night and it’s really humid out, that funk after you walk past fresh cut grass.
PG: After it’s been raining?
CN: (Laughing) It’s got that kind of funk after its raining and really humid…….
PG: Slick streets in the city of New York (Laughing), yes. Yes its wet pavement, wet slate, if you grow up in Catholic school, which I did, and you’re told to clean the black board and you get a wet cloth, you can smell the wet slate and chalk. I find that a lot in good quality wines. It takes me back to my elementary school days.
CN: It’s like on the exhale after taking a drink; it has that dry sense if you’ve been inhaling wet chalk.
PG: Speaking of more fruits, I’m getting big blueberries here. What do you think?
DCT: Hmmmm, (smelling deeply) but it’s not cooked fruit for me though.
PG: That’s another dimension, is it cooked or fresh?
CN: It’s pretty ripe though.
DCT: It’s ripe, but it’s more like where the berries are sagging on the vine and they haven’t been picked, but they haven’t gone over the edge to the cooked stage yet.
PG: Another distinction is whether the wine is very winey in the smell or fruity.
CN: At first it was winey, but as it’s opened up, it’s fruitier. Nice vinosity.
PG: I think here it’s a perfect balance, it gives you the best of both worlds, if it’s overly fruity in the nose, I tend to fear it’s flabby in the palate.
CN: I feel the longer it opens up, the more fruit showing, but at the same time it’s not losing any of its mineral or earth characteristics.
PG: I failed to mention viscosity or it’s “tears”. By looking at how the tears run or how the color of the wine attaches itself to the glass. Shiraz is classic for that. It’s going to give you an indication of high alcoholic content, indicating a warm climate, warm climate of course, providing more sugars in the fruit, providing more alcohol in the wine because of the heat. On the other hand it could be highly viscous wine as a result of residual sugar.
We all taste the wine with lots of rolling and slurping noises.
PG: Let’s confirm our nose experiences. Strawberries.
CN: Bing Cherries.
DCT: Screaming bing cherries. It’s like when you open a bag of those Chilean cherries and you’re sitting there munching in the supermarket….those big huge suckers that paint your mouth…….
CN: And then on the finish you get that nuttiness from the pit of the cherries.
PG: Yea! Now you’re getting the tannins, is that the tannins from the skins or of the barrels? Now, I wasn’t overwhelmed by wood on the nose….and the tannins I’m feeling on my palate, now there’s some wood there… but …
DCT: I’m getting more tannins from the woody stems versus the oak barrels. It’s not that upfront tannin from oak. I don’t think it’s going to be a really long ager, but a really graceful ager. It’s really elegant.
PG: Like one of the things….sometimes I look at a wine and I get the sensation of a bloody mary with a celery stick in it except it’s not a bloody mary, but it’s a wine and it’s got a 2×4 in it.
CN: Exactly.
PG: It’s a pity, this wine though shows elegance in the way it balances the tannins of the wood and the fruit. So that’s interesting and it’s got that cherry pit thing going on.
DCT: It’s like rolling those cherry pits around in your mouth.
PG: Can we confirm any baking spices in the wine?
DCT: Big on the vanilla, but no baking spices….no cinnamon…..there’s absolutely no heat on this wine.
PG: I don’t get any white or black pepper on the back palate.
CN: There’s no cloves or anything like it. But at the same time, the fruit, I’m not saying it’s a fruit forward wine, it’s standing up to the wood, we were smelling dill, but the fruit is standing up to it, so I’m debating whether this is a higher alcohol or warmer climate….
PG: So lets call it. Is this a high alcohol wine?
CN: Oh no, I would call it medium. If it was high alcohol it would be filling the cheeks of my mouth.
PG: The acid really balances it out. If the acid could mask the high alcohol level, I think it’s around 13% or 13.5% alcohol. So this wine has higher acid than what you would expect, but it matches the alcohol and balances it out.
Now the minerality,……..it’s all there, the rocks we talked about earlier.
CN: It’s dusty though…..
PG: Dusty tannins…that indicates some age….
CN: It’s just a little bit….
PG: Well I mentioned earlier the colour led us to believe it’s not that old, but the finer the tannins get the older the wine is, so I think we’re in the 3-7 year range.
CN: I agree with that….
PG: Not younger than three, at least 5, not more than 7, after 7 years of age, you’re going to see more rim to core variation, more ruddy color in the rim.
Now we know it’s from a continental climate at least. We know this wine has a high quality, it has an excellent finish, it’s balanced, high minerality, we’re not talking new world here. This is certainly not Napa Valley; this is a little cooler than Napa. Besides Bordeaux where else do they make Cabernet Franc?
CN: Washington State.
PG: Maybe you’re on to something……
CN: But Washington is not gravelly.
PG: You’re right……
CN: Washington is new world, but it has that volcanic minerality.
PG: Are you getting any Bret?
CN: No, but there’s that after the rain funk.
PG: We’re eliminated California, Washington is on our radar scope, but not really considering it. What about Australia?
CN: I don’t have a 2×4 in here.
PG: What’s in New Zealand…..??
CN: Definitely not that….
PG: Chile?
CN: This has more acid, Chile, unless you’re talking top of the peaks, you’re not getting acid from Chile.
PG: Argentina?
CN: Same thing as Chile and the 2×4 is not there.
PG: Where does that leave us?
CN: Not Spain, it’s not cooked.
PG: Spain would have more intensity…. South Africa
CN: Not funky enough, doesn’t have that dirty feet smell…. What about Italy?
PG: Okay, let’s consider Italy. Where are they making Cabernet Franc in Italy?
CN: You’re right. Point taken.
PG: So we’re back to France, go back to the nose, smell the nose and the aromas and see if you can plot out any bicycle tire.
CN: Its not as potent a bicycle tire. A new sneaker.
PG: Converse Chuck Taylors!
CN: Yes, that rubber, vulcanized rubber, no glue, smells like an ointment.
PG: These chemical odors, you see them a lot in Bordeaux, iodine etc. This strengthens my case for Bordeaux.
DCT: So name it.
PG: It’s not St. Emilion, it’s too masculine for that, it’s Pomerol, 2004.
CN: Pomerol, 2002 or 2003.
PG: So what is it?
DCT: Chateaux Vieux Certan 2003. 80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot.
PG : A Pomerol with 80% Cabernet Franc ?
DCT: Remember the vintage of 2003?
CN: The summer was really hot so more Cab Franc was used in the blend.
The debate on the wine then went on another 20 minutes. 2003 was called the California Vintage in Bordeaux. Ripeness levels were a record high. While the right bank of Bordeaux is made primarily from Merlot, on very warm vintages, the Cabernet Franc begins to shine and you see more of that grape used in the blend, with the winemaker balancing the higher acid of the Cabernet Franc with the over ripe Merlot. If a traditional blend was used of 80% Merlot to 20% Cabernet Franc, the wine due to the ripeness levels of the Merlot would have probably been on the flabby side.
This is case in point of why Bordeaux blends their red varietals, maintaining the consistency of the wines. When one year a varietal doesn’t perform as well due to weather conditions another may perform very well with those factors bringing a consistent and excellent product regardless of vintage. Chateaux Vieux Certan has a very clever winemaker.
I’ve been critical on the 2003 vintage, even though the critics have been lauding it. I’ve found quite a few wines ready to drink now and that’s been a good thing, but I personally don’t think they have the aging power of a traditional vintage. Chateaux Vieux Certan shocked me with how excellent this wine was. Can’t speak highly enough about its elegance.
Though it was a tough year for France, this is a wine that shows careful decisions made with the blend. And it’s case in point why Bordeaux blends their wines versus bottling single only varietals. Cabernet Franc performs exceptionally well in soil of Chateau Vieux Certan. This Chateau is well worth collecting.
Alexandre Theinpont turned what for others was a difficult vintage for Bordeaux into something truly extraordinary. He should be very proud of this vintage.
Donna
Moshav Agur 17, Judean Hills
In the foothills west of Jerusalem, about half-way to Tel Aviv and a touch south, is Moshav Agur. Moshavim are cooperative communities where, unlike in the collective Kibbutzim, property is privately owned and Agur was originally settled in 1948 by Kurdish Jews fleeing Northern Iraq and Iran.
In 1997 Shuki Yashuv, 
master cabinetmaker and history graduate, left Jerusalem with his wife and 2 daughters for Agur and in 1999 set up his winery, briefly working with Ze’ev Dunie (who then set up Sea Horse Winery in 2000). Since then Shuki has been steadily increasing the wine production, from a modest 1,800 bottles in the first vintage to 14,000 a couple of years ago and increasing. Agur has local vineyards and also in the nearby Ella Valley, where the Biblical story of David and Goliath is believed to have been played out.
When I visited the winery this month it was Shuki’s wife, Evelyn, who met us at the gate because the man himself was giving a presentation to a group of guests elsewhere on the property, I wonder if it was the “Winemaker Dance” I’ve read about? The more I hear about Shuki the more I’d really have loved to have met him, however Evelyn was the perfect hostess and offered tastes of the 2 main labels from the winery, the 2005 Kessem (Magic) and the 2005 Shmira Meyuchedet (Special Reserve).
Kessem may be Hebrew for Magic but it is also a phonetic acronym, CSM, for the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (with a little Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot for good measure). The wine was well balanced with plenty of berry fruit, and nice firm tannins down the sides of the tongue. It was while tasting this that I picked up on a Scottish accent from Evelyn, and we had a brief chat about my early years in Scotland. As we talked she poured a taste of the Special Reserve, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 18 months in new oak barrels. This was a much deeper drink, strong tannins on the top of the tongue which make me think of at least 2 years on this before enjoying to the full, but the abundance of fruit hiding behind the oak should be worth waiting for.
As I only had room for one bottle in my bag this trip it had to be the Special Reserve, but the Kessem is a lovely wine and for early drinking would be the better choice. The Judean Hills has been called by some as Israel’s winemaking frontier and, with over 28 wineries at the start of 2007, a wine route of sorts is developing there. These are mostly boutique style enterprises, many producing non-Kosher wines for the discerning drinker and, more increasingly, the export market. Agur started exports to the U.S. in 2006 and, with wines like the ones I tasted, I hope they will find a following, and also that one day I get to meet Shuki in person.
On a final note, the Agur web-address is www.agurwines.com, but Evelyn said it wasn’t on-line yet but hopes it will be sorted out soon!
Greybeard.
A short business trip over to Germany raised the possibility of trying out some of the less obvious local wines, and since German red wine not easily available in the UK, and has such a poor reputation, I decided to look a little closer at what was available in the country itself. I started in Giessen, a University town just north of Frankfurt which is closest to the Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Franken growing regions.
My colleague on this trip was Steffi, who favours dry and full bodied wines, so as we perused the wine list on the first night we were both concentrating on the reds. However the first to attract our attention was a white, the 2005 Silvaner Trocken from Weingut Hauck in Rheinhessen. Coming in at 12.5% abv this was rich and floral, a delicious wine to start the evening and only my second ever Silvaner (in Germany it is written with an ‘i’ unlike Alsace and Austria which use Sylvaner).
The hotel was the Altes Eishaus Weinstube, originally an ice-cream house but now a cosy lodging with a very quaint restaurant called the Pfannkuchenhaus (Pancake house) specialising, unsurprisingly, in savoury pancakes. For a main course I went for the Bauen Pfannkuchen with a smoked ham and onion filling. To accompany this we had the 2006 Portugieser Rotwein Trocken Qba by Weingut Volker Pfaffmann in Pfalz. Despite it’s name Blauer Portugieser is actually an Austrian variety used to make light red wines and this one was very light, but easy to drink with the mildly flavoured food.
In an attempt to add a bit more body to the evening’s drinking we finished with what promised to be a much richer red, a 2005 Spätburgunder, also from Weingut Hauck at 13% abv. Spätburgunder is a clone of Pinot Noir and is grown widely in Germany and Austria (where it is known as Blauburgunder) and is used to make medium bodies reds. Our one was a much deeper colour than the Portugieser and had a smoky nose that promised much, but unfortunately too much, as the flavour lacked depth, was bitter and it finished exceptionally fast. It seems that Herr Hauck is better at whites and at the end of the evening we both agreed that the Silvaner was the best of the selection.
I managed to pay a quick visit to a small convenience store before we had to leave Giessen, but unfortunately the selection was limited and mid-range at best.
A Dornfelder seemed the best option for a red, the Hemer 2005 Dornfelder Trocken from Rheinhessen. The label indicates Gutsabfullung meaning Estate Bottled and matured in Holzfass barrels. This came in at £5 ($10).
Hemer also produced one of the whites I selected, the Primus 06 Rivaner Trocken, also at £5. Rivaner is another name for Müller-Thurgau (a Riesling-Silvaner cross ) - although there are some claims that it is a distinct Riesling clone. In the 1970s more Müller-Thurgau was planted in Germany than anything else, but a bad winter in 1979 devastated crops and it has since suffered a popularity slump after being associated with the cheap and cheerful Liebfraumilch and Piesporter so prevalent in the 80s.
Finally I had to get a Riesling, but with the selection so limited I went for a historic and local reference instead, and chose the Justus von Liebig 2006 Rüdesheimer Riesling from the Rheingau. This is a commemorative bottle celebrating the 200th birthday of famous German chemist Justus von Liebig, after whom the University of Giessen is named and who also founded the company who created OXO! This set me back $11.
While none of these wines are for aging I’m hoping they will at least provide some pleasant drinking within the next year.
The next day saw a long drive up the autobahn to Bremen. Here we were staying in the very elegant Hotel Munte am Stadtwald next to the main city park and woods, close to the University. It was late when we arrived so we only had a light meal and a couple of glasses of wine to wash it down. I was determined to continue on the German red theme and ordered the Grossbottwarer Wunnenstein, 2005 Trollinger, 12% abv, from Bottwartal-Kellerei. I hadn’t even heard of Trollinger before, not having seen any on the shelves of the wine-stores back home, but it is also known as Schiava Grossa in Italy and is rumoured to be able to produce full bodied wines. Unfortunately this one failed miserably as any form of red, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway once I had mentally re-categorised it as a rosè, as which it was one of the best I’ve had! The deep ruby colour matched many a Spanish Rosado, it had a light berry nose and a Strawberry & Cream flavour to match.
If the manufacturer had marketed it as a dry rosè I’m sure it would win many fans, unfortunately this was the last nail in the proverbial coffin for my investigation into German reds, it had been 2 days and I needed something dry and full bodied. Before finishing that night I ordered a glass of South African Merlot, the Lourensford Five Heirs 2004 Merlot. W.O. Stellenbosch, 14.5%. Smooth and rich it just what was needed.
For the final night in Bremen we went to Del Bosco Trattorria, the Italian Restaurant in the Hotel. To my delight the menu contained one of my must have foods when I go to Germany, pan-fried calf-liver with onions (Kalbsleber mit zweibel), preceeded by a fantastic baked artichoke with prawns in a tomato sauce with grilled cheese topping.
We decided to stay Italian for the wine and went for the Masi Campofiorin 2004. IGT, Veneto. This is a Double fermeted Valpolicella Ripasso, made from Corvina & Molinara varieties, and is from a classic producer from the region - I’d had their Costasera Amarone Classico a few years ago which was an experience that has guaranteed a lifelong love-affair with Amarone. The ligher Campofiorin was a delicious and fruity accompaniment to the meal and the perfect red wine to finish a visit to Germany!
I have to say that, following this trip, my opinion of German red wines has not improved. Of the 4 main varieties used, Spätburgunder, Dornfelder, Portugieser and Trollinger, it is the first two that can (and I have to assume do) produce the more full bodied wines the British and American markets generally like, however locally the lighter reds seem to take preference and with these on offer I will stay with Riesling (or Silvaner if I can find it).
Greybeard, December 2007/ January 2008.
Yes, the historically important Mission grape is still being used in California for blends and even for 100% variety bottlings. About 1000 acres of Mission remain under cultivation here, roughly the same acreage as Petit Verdot! Though a far less distinguished grape than PV, nevermind Cabernet or Zinfandel, the other ‘founding’ California vine, the Mission grape possesses an unrivaled caché in the state. Still used as a blending grape for fortified sacramental wines and inexpensive Gallo and Robert Mondavi bottlings, there also exist a few higher end, charming efforts, more about which in a moment.
The padres vinified as they were able, using cowhides stitched together for the crushing, done underfoot. The juice was then poured into any available receptacle for fermentation. (Often the results, if fermented to dry reflected poorly on the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, shall we say. So Brandy was frequently added to the grape juice at the crush, arresting fermentation altogether, California’s first contribution to the world of wine: Angelica.) But with respect to modern expressions of Mission many a palate comes away with the impression of a sweet, simple wine, very pale, almost rosé in color. While not exactly disappointing, drinkers find Mission wine has very little structure. Tannins are virtually absent, alc tends to be nearly 15%, with little effort on the winemaker’s part to manipulate largely because of the historical significance of the drinking experience itself.
Yet it is also true that the term Mission 
may refer to any number of cultivars brought initially from Spain, often as seeds, to be grown not only on the lands of the Catholic Church’s 21 Missions in California over a 75 year history, but also in the larger South West and in Mexico for far longer. It has only recently been determined by using modern DNA techniques that at least one cultivar is in fact Listan Prieto, a grape rare in Spain today. Yet, apart from probable clonal variations of the Listan, we have historical ‘tasting notes’, typically the passing observations of travelers and explorers, which suggest when compared today, that at a minimum, two other varieties of early vines were planted in Alta and Baja California. Additionally, it is possible hybridization took place between Mission grape(s) and wild species Vitis girdiana and Vitis californica. The difficulty of teasing out the historical facts of the matter are multiple, the greatest of which is the paucity of surviving vines.
Be that as it may, for the purposes of this article I recently had the pleasure of drinking one of the finest 100% Mission wines still available: Rocco Malvini’s Com’ è Bella 2002 Vallecito Vineyards Mission. 
The nose is sweet, (alc. @ 14.3%, though I think it is closer to 15%) with dark, ripe plum and fig. Color quite light, a hint of orange, but does not taste oxidized. Vanilla cream and milk candy, followed by an expansive soft mid-palate of vanilla and plums. Finish has just a bit of acid, no tannin to speak of. Very fruity, oak notes close the experience. All in all, quite a bit better when done in French Oak rather than cowhide!
A very simple wine, to be sure, but also charming, like the man himself. I had the pleasure of speaking with Rocco. Somehow ended up with his home number. A humble man, he’ll sign your bottles should you make it to Com’ è Bella’s tasting room in Murphys, Ca., though now under very capable new ownership, renamed Bodega del Sur Winery. Wander in, have a chat with the man. Rocco is an important link to a swiftly changing vinous landscape.
Admin
The Algarve is not overly renowned for its quality wines and Vida Nova is for general drinking at around the $16 price range, but apparently each vintage has been steadily improving. Cliff was famously “stung” by celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay, on his show The F-Word in 2006, in a blind tasting of his own wine - the Video clip shows several other celebrity wines in the “tasting”. Unsurprisingly the press sensationalised the story at the time, even though it seemed to have been taken in good nature by Cliff on the show.
