Super Syrah

A couple of great Syrah/Shiraz that I’ve enjoyed lately, they both show the elegance that this versatile grape is capable of.

G6 Bethany 2006 Barossa Shiraz £14.50 Lancelot Wines, East Molesey

I bought this expecting the the big block-buster shiraz one might expect from the Barossa, it was to go with some spicy BBQ food, however it was better than that! Certainly the nose lived up to expectation; intense red fruit with plenty of red and brambly fruit, spicy cinnamon, pepper and vanilla with a hint of cocoa. The colour is more subtle, paler than many of it neighbours and the favour is gentle and elegant, smooth, deep with pronounced red cherries with a touch of pepper.

Paul Jaboulet Aine, St Joseph “Le Grand Pompee” 2007 (half), £9.25 for the 2009 Wine Society

I was luckily enough to win this bottle and thought it would be wonderful with some grilled lamb, I wasn’t wrong. The colour was mid plum, with a hint of brick at the edges indicating some bottle age. The wine smelled divine, sweet red and bramble fruit with liquorice and old leather chairs, soft but restrained. It tasted wonderful, smooth but with balanced, firm tannins, a delicate mouthful of bitter strawberries, dry but with luscious fruit, a very classy wine.

Imbibe Live–Part 1

The were some excellent wines on show at the Bar and Restaurant show this week, the Portuguese and French stands had a broad range and impressive quality, whilst the New Zealand stand tried to show that there is more to the country than sauvignon blanc. There were some attractive wines from Lebanon.

France

Alsace Grand Cru Kirchberg Ribeauville, Riesling Domaine Henry Fuchs 2007 (£17)

Rich and honeyed this is steely and dry with a marvellous flinty finish. Still plenty structure and will develop in the next couple of years but a refreshing drink right now.

Alsace, Pinot Gris Grand Cru Kitterle, Domaines Schlumberger 2007 (£25)

Big honeyed nose with and off-dry finish, toffee apples, lemon and pineapple this wine is rich and crisp. Truly fantastic.

Chablis Premier Cru, Montee de Tonnerre, Damien et Romain Bouchard 2010 (£30)

A very modern, new world style from the sons of one of Chablis’ best families. It has a rich toasty nose with concentrate fruit, lemon and orange rind, with chalky minerality. Very classy

Chablis Grand Cru, Blanchot, Domaine Vocoret et Fils 2009 (£46)

Full and rich, a massive wine with the noble character you would expect from this tradition style Chablis – chardonnay at it best. Plenty of clean citrus fruit and crisp, well balanced acidity.

St Joseph, Guigal Blanc 2009, (£15)

Full, rich and elegant with plenty of peachy fruit and lemony acidity from the marsanne grape, excellent value at this price.

Cote Rotie, Guigal 2005, (£32)

Full with jammy brambly sweet fruit, delicate with subtle tannins, drinking very well now, a very classy and a very fine example of Cote Rotie, Syrah at its supbulent best.

Non-Bargain of the Week

If I see a bottle price of £21 and a by the case price of £12, I am thinking it's the bottle price ripping me off not the case price is attractive

Chilean Bargain of the Week

 

Luis Felipe Edwards Mountain View Chardonnay 2011 (from £4.99 Majestic)

You are not going getting 1er Cru Chablis for £4.99 but you are getting a crisp, buttery chardonny with bags of flavour and good balance. The price is for a limited time but even at full price it is worth having

Definitive Italian Tasting

I went along to the trading tasting last week, there was a staggering selection of Italian wine on offer and understandably super-market Pinot Grigio, Lambrusco and Chianti was is short supply. Italy is a country that always surprises me with its quality and variety, it is such a shame that most of what we drink is mediocre or plain bad. Imagine a country where Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet (CSBC) are rare rather than ubiquitous? So often when trying Italian wines I find myself enjoying them in their own right rather than trying to figure how they compare to the (perhaps excellent) identikit producers in the 30km radius.

The challenge for Italy in the modern era is attracting customers who have become wine drinkers in a world of clear labelling and consistent quality in a price band, particularly in the sub-£10 arena. The supermarkets lead the consumer here and this is where I fear the global march to CSBC is turning Italian producers away from their greatest strength, their indigenous grape varieties. The good news is the quality that is appearing in names that have reputations for bland or uninteresting wine, Soave and even Lambrusco. There were a large number of producers who clearly had embraced modern techniques and enhanced the quality of wine on offer.

Here are some of the highlights;

Bianco Maggiore Grillo 2011, Cantina Rallo, IGP Sicilia (£15)

Lovely and concentrate from low yielding grillo grapes, a dry Masala finish but with fresh zesty fruit

 

Roero Arneis 2010, Bruno Giacosa, Peidmont (£21)

Top quality white wine from Barolo, intense and aromatic with a clean citrus finish

Amarone Della Valpolicella 2006 , Romano Dal Forno (£240)

The Dal Forno winery nestles in the foothills of Monti Lessini and production is tiny. It takes an astonishing six vines to produce one bottle of Valpolicella, and an eye watering nine for a bottle of Amarone. The concentration in the wine is incredible, thick black fruits, great complexity and superb balance. This wine is superb and will develop over the next 20+ years.

DOC Valle Isarco Gewürztraminer Aristos 2011, Cantina Valle Iscarco

Alto Adige is Italy’s most northern province, up in the Southern Alps it makes wines in a cooler style, with a strong Germanic influence. This wine comes from one of the colder areas in the region and is typically planted on the south facing slopes rather than the valley floor. It has all the tropical spice you might expect from Gewürztraminer but it does not overwhelm you. A great clean finish and super balance.

Jema Corvina Veronese IGT 2007, Genardo Cesari, Veneto (~£15-20)

Corvino is one of the principle grapes used in making Valpolicella but can only be labelled such when blended with rondinella and molinara, hence the IGT designation for this wine.  Aged in wood for two years, this has plenty of dry leather and sweet cherry flavours. It is more modern, new world style than better known wine from this venerable producer.

Amarone delle Valpolicella Classico DOC 2007, Genardo Cesari, Veneto (£25)

A more typical style, with great intensity and complexity, soft and rounded on the palette, it has plenty of sweet cherry and leather. Lingering finish.

Amarone Delle Valpolicella ‘ Il Bosco’ Single Vineyard 2005, Genardo Cesari Veneto (£38)

More sweet cherries and leather, this time with great depth and spice and chocolate notes, very smooth with plenty of body.

Soave Classico DOC ‘Foscarino’ 2010 Azienda Agricola Inama, Veneto (£20)

Made from 100% garganega grapes from 40 year old vines, this wine is barrel fermented. It has great flavours of toasted almonds, with a hint of spice and oddly, peat. A wonderful, clean and herbaceous wine.

Morellino Scansano 2009, Roccapesta Toscana (£18)

This area of Tuscany is close to the sea and give this wine a cooler feel. There is lots is sweet brambly fruit and vanilla, with a back note of rosemary.

Calestaia Morellino Scansano Riserva 2007 Roccapesta Toscana (£30)

Made from old vines and 100% sangiovese, this is a wonderfully concentrated wine, with lots of black cherry fruit and leather. It is still coming together but plenty of potential.

Fiano Pietrariccia 2010, Masseria Surani, Puglia

Fiano grapes from down at the heel of Italy. A wonderful clean white wine, a surprising big body with aromatic flavours, sage and apple with plenty of crisp citrus flavours

Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC – Vigna Cristo 2011 Cavicchioli Emilia Romagna

Even a wine style as derided as Lambrusco (the grape variety too) can have great examples. This wine is candy pink with fine white bubbles, its is crisp and as a dry as a bone. Despite the dryness, the favour can described as strawberries and sherbet. A very pleasant surprise.

 Santannella 2010, Mandrarossa, Sicilia  (£17)

A mix of Italian (fiano) and French (voigner & chenin blanc) this is a great example of how modern styles are transforming Italian wine. It has fabulous peachy and almonds flavours with honey & quince from rich chenin fruit too. This is balanced with good minerality and acidity from the volcanic soil on which the vines grow.

Great Big Brand Aussie

It was trophy day at the International Wine Challenge this week and also a chance for the trade and consumers to try 130 of the 400+ gold medal winning wines. I was pouring some top grade Aussie wines from Wolf Blass. The brand is very familiar for its reliable, large chain red and yellow generic Aussie classics but offers some premium blends that are worth seeking out. Up from the red and yellow label, the firm offers a silver, gold, grey, black and its top platinum labels. No doubt someone at brand development was recruited from Mastercard!

Here are my thoughts on the IWC winning wines;

Wolf Blass Gold Label Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills 2008 (£15)

Adelaide Hills is one of the cooler Australian wine regions and the grapes are sourced from across the area. Pale straw in colour with a rich, clean nose, no mistaking this as an Aussie chardonnay. The flavour is led with a strong citrus flavour with a little pineapple behind. A very refreshing flavour and a well balanced wine.

Wolf Blass Gold Label Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills 2010 (£15)

A better vintage from, the 2010 was still coming together, but was clearly richer on the nose and palate. The citrus notes where still abundant with a rounder, buttery back bone. Not finished and will be a much nicer wine in two years time than the 2008 is right now.

Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling, Eden Valley and Clare Valley 2010 (£15)

Great value from Australia’s top Reisling growing areas, at 400m+ both these regions are cool and this give this wine is crisp, limey acidity. With Clare known for its minerality and Eden for a more floral style, this wine brings both together, there is a hint of the petrol notes that will develop over time. A beautifully clean and refreshing wine that I would match with grilled sardines.

Wolf Blass Platinum Label Shiraz, Barossa 2006 (£75)

A block-busting Shiraz from the best area in Australia, this is as close as Wolf Blass does to a single estate, 80% from one lot, which can vary each year. The wine is still very young, dense and deep purple in colour it boasts and intense nose of leather, dark fruits, ground coffee and liquorish. The flavour is intense and still closed, if you are going to drink it now decant hours before drinking. Despite its youth, its is still yielding oral pressure and will develop for another 10-15 years at least. 

Alizarin Wine Tasting

Unexpected Spanish wine

A good friend of mine has started a new wine business and held his inaugural client tasting this week. The aim is to highlight some of the lesser know regions bordering  the Mediterranean. His first batch are from Utiel-Requena near Valencia as well as couple of Greek wines. Here are my thoughts on some of the highlights

El Cava Reserva Brut Nature (2008) £18
This was truly excellent and a long way from the cheap fizz you might expect to have Cava on the label. Made from chardonnay and macebeo grapes with some of the wine being oak aged before secondary fermentation, this gives it a marvellous level of complexity and a slight reductive character more usually found in top Champagne. Yet is clear and fresh with a wonderful herbaceous edge, wonderfully refreshing now, I am certain there is more to come from this wine with a little bottle age.

Las Dos Ces - Blanco (2011) £9.95
"The two grapes" this is pretty much the house white, 89% sauvignon blanc and some macebeo, you don't get much of the character usually appreciated with SB instead its closer to viognier in style; crisp, peachy and herbaceous.

Mylonas Savatiano from Keratea, Attica Greece £11.95
The best of the white wines on show, the savatiano grapes is at its best on Santorini where it gives lovely crisp and flinty wine. Here the wine is more rounded, full and grassy with apple acidity. It was screaming out for a plate of fresh calamari.

The reds on show where generally typical old world food wines, lighter in style than you may be used to from the new world but packed with character

Casa Don Angel Malbec 2007-08 £16.90
The odd date in the name is due to this being a blend of two vintages though it is 100% malbec and has been aged from 6-24 months in American and French oak. This is certainly not the intense black malbec that we would expect from the Argentina or even Cahors, it is surprisingly light but with bags of flavour, cherries on the tongue and cedar and leather on the nose. It has great balance and complexity, again made to accompany food.

Vera de Estenas Crianza 2007 £12.60
One of my favourites from the evening, a mixture of 45% Bobal with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. An excellent nose, lots of red jammy fruit with leathery notes, a mature flavour with clean fruit and a refreshing twist of rosemary, making a excellent choice with barbecue lamb.

el Cabernet F Chozas Carrascal (2009) £26
The top wine from Chozas Carrascal, a limited edition release with a signed label. Made from 100% cabernet franc and aged from 9 months in French oak, the flavour is deep and dark with a roasted chocolate, cedar and leather balanced with black fruits. A great finish.

Las Ocho (2008) £17
As wonderful as the Cabernet F was, the star of the night was Las Ocho, "The Eight", a blend of bobal, monastrell, granacha, tempranillo, cabernet sauvigion, carbernet franc, syrah and merlot grapes all aged from upto 14 months in French oak. The wine maker has managed to bring a great deal of complexity into the blend with a wonderful level of intensity of colour, smell and flavour. The wine is still young and closed but the mouth is clean and black, with mint and leather backed up with good acidity and firm tannins. Rewarding now but I expect some wonderful layers still waiting to appear.