#308 SITT down next to me

The last two companies from my Specialist Importers Trade Tasting trip were positioned next to one another in Manchester, and they couldn't be more different.  The Wine Treasury, with its huge American portfolio of outstanding quality wines - you won't find the word Gallo anywhere near them - and Richards Walford with one of the great French agency lists available in the UK, including excellent wines from Provence and Jura as well as the likes of Bordeaux and Burgundy.  Certainly, both companies stock things from the other countries around the world, but they are very different in the wines they stock.

Firstly, The Wine Treasury - a beacon of joy for American wine lovers with wines from Sean Thackrey, Sine Qua Non and Stag's Leap to name but a few.  They also supply some great wines from Italy, and a cracker from Spain.  Firstly, the Americans and then the few from other nations.

2009 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Karia Chardonnay (California, USA)
A very nice, clean aroma.  Subtle oak, pineapple and a bit of apple skin too with just a little toast.  The palate is decent, nice woody notes and a flavour of mango pith.  Alcohol comes out a touch, but then it calms down.  (7.5/10 £27.50)

2008 Duck Pond Cellars Columbia Valley Merlot (Washington, USA)
Lots of sweet fruit, brambles and a bit of cherry.  A very balanced, if big, palate.  Lots of coffee, sweet juicy fruit and a dark, brooding back bone.  Very good.  (8/10 £12.50)

2008 Willakenzie Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon, USA)
Soft, ripe cherries on the nose, lots of perfumed fruit and hints of flowers.  A really nice, balanced, dark fruit start to the palate and then the alcohol kicks in.  Quite firey on the finish.  (5.5/10 £19.95)

2009 Cline Cellars Ancient Vines Mourvedre (California, USA)
Tomato aromas and a funky, semi dried berries smell too, with a drop of cream.  It is soft at first on the palate, but ten an earthy, complex, vegetal flavour comes in coated in sweet berries and just a bit of alcohol heat.  (8.5/10 £17.65)

2006 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (California, USA)
A blend of Cabernet that has had 50% new oak and 50% once used oak for 25 months, and you notice it.  It is a massive oak fest, very rich, creamy, concentrated with dried fruit, vanilla pods, leather and chocolate, all finished off with espresso coffee.  The palate is more of the same, with cherry stone, more leather and a bit of spice - all with the omnipresent oak.  Yet despite this massive oak presence, it is a very well constructed wine, quite balanced and, although not my style, a good wine.  Shame about the high price.  (8/10 £64.00)

2008 Las Hermanas (Jumilla, Spain)
Wow!  Aside from having a really funky label, this wine has a rich, ripe nose with lots of spice, dark, brooding tarry flavours and a long finish.  A real peasant wine - rich and earthy.  A steal at the price.  (8.5/10 £9.95)

2009 La Spinetta Barbera d'Asti Ca di Pian (Piedmont, Italy)
Rich, dark and thick with spice, dark berries and a full on cherry fest.  The palate is big but delivered well, lots of liquorice and herbs - rosemary - on the palate with a floral note too.  (9/10 £21.50)

2006 Claudio Alario Barolo Riva (Piedmont, Italy)
Rich but without blowing your brains out.  Dark cherry, tar and some old wood, leading to a palate of flowers, old leather and cherry stone.  Tasty.  (8/10 £36.00)

Richards Walford has always been the place to go for the Loire, but is increasingly becoming known for its South African wines including producers such as The Foundy and Miles Mossop.  Here are some of the stars from their table.

2008 Domaine Merlin-Cherrier Sancerre Blanc (Loire, France)
Very vibrant, lots of green veggies and a little green chilli too.  The palate is very lemony, clean and fresh.  (7/10 £14.99)

2007 Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Sec (Loire, France)
Very closed, some sweet elements, lime and honey.  The palate is long, minerally with citrus and citrus pith. (8/10 £20.99)

2008 Morey-Coffinet Chassagne Montrachet Rouge Les Chaumes (Burgundy, France)
A lot of cherry, lots of sweet fruit and a nice balance of crisp raspberry and apple.  (7.5/10 £19.99)

2007 Camus Bruchon Savigny les Beaune Rouge Les Pimentiers (Burgundy, France)
A lot of light berries, soft with a touch of spice.  Fresh and clean and crisp.  Very good.  (8/10 £22.99)

2007 Domaine la Boutiniere Chateauneuf du Pape Tradition (Southern Rhone, France)
Very clean, soft with sweeter fruit.  A lot of dark notes with tobacco, spice and a dark fruit finish.  Very balanced and very good.  (7.5/10 £19.99)

Wine Treasury Website
Richards Walford Website

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#307 SITT - For the love of wine

 

You often find that in any group of people, you get a character or two that are loud, jolly, boisterous or simply just a bit crackers.  The next table at SITT that I went to was manned by a group of chaps who were all of these things, and from the stories they told us about the producers they represent, most of them are crazy too!

For the Love of Wine is a company that has a superb Italian selection, but also has a few oddities and, apparently, the biggest selection of Swiss wines.  Here is what I thought.

2009 Cantina Cerquetta Trebbiano (Lazio, Italy)
Light, minerally and floral.  A lemon pith and guava flavour. Very tasty.  (7/10 £7.50)

2009 Enzo Mecella Verdicchio di Matelica (Marches, Italy)
A hint of baked banana on the nose with some cream.  A little bit of pencil creaping through, but a good clean finish.  (6/10 £9.00)

2009 Vini Pregati Celli Albana di Romagna I Croppi (Emilia Romagna, Italy)
Sweet notes, some honey and a little pak choi!  The palate is darker, citrussy with an element of burnt lemon skin.  I like this a lot.  (8/10 £9.80)

2009 Cantine Farro Falangina Camp Flegrei (Campania, Italy)
Rich notes and very loral.  Light grapefruit and a citrus ht.  Really fresh and tasty.  (7/10 £11.50)

Volg Weinkellereien Muller Thurgau Chasselas Swisswine (Switzerland)
A bit like dried peach skin and some honeysuckle on the nose.  The palate is lean, minerally with a strange imbalance and flabby at the end.  (4/10 £11.00)

2009 Rene Favre & fils Fendant Chamoson (Valais, Switzerland)
Banana and lemon with lots of flint.  The palate has an insane oily texture, and with a spirity alcohol.  Very strange.  (5/10 £15.00)

2010 Tierra Alta Sauvignon Blanc (Chile)
A lot of grassy, savoury elements.  The palate is light, lots of lemon, lots of grapefruit.  High acid n the finish.  (6/10 £7.50)

2009 Domaine de la Feuillarde Macon Prisse Blanc (Burgundy, France)
Gentle, fresh but with a nice pineapple and some decent oaky flavours.  Very balanced.  (7/10 £12.25)

2009 Domaine Mont-Beauvais Pouilly Fume (Loire, France)
Very aromatic, some flowers in a field with a bit of flint.  Elderflower on the palate.  Lovely.  (7/10 £17.00)

2008 Weingut Studert-Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett (Mosel, Germany)
A bit of plasticine, then citrus erupts on the palate.  Lemon juice and sugar on a pancake fried in bacon fat.  High acid throughout.  (5/10 £14.00)

2009 Torrent Bay Wines Sauvignon Blanc (Nelson, New Zealand)
Clean aroma, lots of gentle chillies, vegetal notes too.   Very French in style, clean and tasty.  (8/10, £10.50)

Cantina Beato Barolomeo Silvola Rosato Spumante (Veneto, Itay)
Fresh raspberries with sweet sugar.  Rhubarb and custard on the palate - just with bubbles.  (7/10 £11.00)

2009 Cantina Sampietrana Tacco Barocco Rosato (Puglia, Italy)
Vegetal, lots of herby notes and a dirty palate - like drinking clay.  (2/10 £9.00)

2008 VOLG Wienkellereien Goldbeere Oeil de Pedrix (Eastern Switzerland)
A lot of veggies, strawberry leaves and then a meaty element.  Not keen.  (4/10 £14.00)

2009 Cantine Volpi Barbera (Piedmont, Italy)
A simple fruit driven nose.  Light, dried fruit and a cherry flavour with spice.  Very drinkable.  (8/10 £6.75)

2006 Cantina Sampetrana Squinzano Riserva (Puglia, Italy)
Clean, bright, some sweet fruit and a little dried fruit.  The palate is lovely, lots of cherry and dried dates.  (8/10 £9.75)

2008 Cantine Barbera Nero di Avola (Sicily, Italy)
Very juicy, very floral too.  A lovely light, clean wine with dried fruit and some firm tannin.  A peasant wine, with liquorice flavours on the finish.  (8/10 £12.25)

2006 Casa Emma Chianti Classico (Tuscany, Italy)
Very lush, rich, dark and concentrated.  It is tasty with herby rustic notes.   (8/10 £14.00)

2004 Olivastri Tommaso Montepulciano d'Abruzzo La Carrata (Abruzzo, Italy)
Oooh.  Very dark, liquorice, rich sweet fruit and very complex.  Dark and leathery, with dried herbs. Really tasty.  (9/10 £16.75)

2007 Cantini Lenotti Massimo (Veneto, Italy)
Rich dried fruit with lots of honey and dates.  A good, tarry mouthful with nice spice on the back end.  (7/10 £21.25)

2006 Marziano Abbona Barolo Terlo Ravera (Piedmont, Italy)
Rich and dark with violets.  A really dark, tarry palate with cherry and lots of power.  (8.5/10, £39.00)

VOLG Winkellereien Pinot Noir Gamay Swissred (Switzerland)
Orangey, lots of raspberries and some cherry.  It is clean, fresh and with an apple and toffee flavour.  OK.  (5/10 £11.00)

2009 Tierra Alta Carmenere (Chile)
Baking meat, sweet and sour aroma.  Clean and with lots of veggies on the palate with dried fruit.  (7/10 £7.50)

2005 Chateau Vieux Bonneau (Montagne St Emilion, Bordeaux, France)
Big, rich, stewed meat and a little bramble and cassis compote.  There is lovely balance, veggie notes with dark elements.  (8/10 £15.50)

2009 Torrent Bay Wines Pinot Noir (Nelson, New Zealand)
Sweet fresh berries, a little boot polish too.  Clean, fresh with cherry stone flavours - not at all like you would expect from a Kiwi Pinot Noir.  (7/10 £12.25)

2007 Bodegas Santiago Ijalba Vina Hermosa Crianza (Rioja, Spain)
Lots of vanilla, lots of ripe dried fruit.  An abundance of dried fruit, oak and some spice.  (7.5/10 £13.25)

2008 Vina Aliga Tempranillo (Navarra, Spain)
Sweet fruit, a lot of pepper and red apple.  Pomegranate and cranberry on the palate, with a touch of spice.  (7.5/10 £9.25)

2009 Cantine Volpi Moscato (Piedmont, Italy)
Fresh, clean, sparkly, semi sweet, wonderfully zingy, fresh and with peach nectar flavours.  Fantastic and fun! (8/10 £8.50)

For the love of wine website

By Peter Wood with No comments

#306 Trucking to SITT

It is 9.36 and I've been awake for five and a half hours.  Well, that is a slight exaggeration as I fell asleep for about twenty minutes, but either way I have been up for longer than I would want to be at this time.  I'm in the back of a car, by the Fleetwood junction on the M6, and I have noticed something.

Eddie Stobart trucks are everywhere the second you get into England.  For those of you who don't know about Eddie Stobart, it is a haulage company that operates throughout Great Britain, and their trucks are painted in green, white and red, and the tractor units (the bit where the driver sits) all have womens names.  Like most haulage companies, they started off very small, named after the founder of the company, but they have grown and grown so that they are everywhere transporting ever conceivable thing around the road and rail networks of the world.  They even sponsor a World Rally Team.  Yet despite being a huge company, they manage to achieve something that other large companies fail miserably at.  The general public have a genuine fondness for the company.

You may love your Starbucks Latte or your Tesco Finest sandwich, but you really don't have any affection for the companies who provide you with these products.  Despite thinking your life couldn't be without the things they make, nobody gives two hoots about Jaguar, Apple or Jimmy Choo.  Yet this large haulage firm, that produces nothing and isn't visible in your day to day life, brings a little warmness to your heart every time you see one of their trucks on a bleak, rainy day in your car.  And you see a lot of them.  The image that Stobart has created is that they are a northern trucking company, and if you go to their HQ, you expect to meet Steady Eddie, sitting behind his old desk wearing a sheepskin coat.  Eddie Stobart haulage is the warm and cuddly trucking company, despite being a global logistics operation.This warm and cuddly feeling is something that you tend not to feel about large wine companies.

"I don't want to give Diageo a hug"

You may like Koonunga Hill but you have no passion for Penfolds.  The UK's large wine distribution companies are the same, and as a retailer, I may like some products that Bibendum or Enotria sell, and may like the people I deal with on a regular basis, but I don't have any fondness for the companies.  I don't want to give Diageo a hug. There are exceptions to this rule in the booze trade.  People have an affection for Guinness, and I have a fondness for Liberty Wines, but only because they put across an image of their companies as one who has fun and is passionate about what they do.  This is why I tend to like dealing with smaller companies and smaller producers.  You get to meet the people, you hear their stories, you develop a personal affinity to them, and develop that fondness that you can relate to the customer.  And it is because I want to find out more about these cuddly little companies that I am on my way to Manchester for the second year in a row. 

Last year I raved about the Specialist Importers Trade Tasting (SITT), where I discovered the incredibly cuddly company, SWiG.  At their table I tasted Bulgarian wine, some outstanding Italians and a crazy South African producer called Badenhorst, and have developed a fondness for this company and the wines it sells.  SITT gets together a large group of these small importers to show the retail and restaurant trade a selection of wines that may often get lost amongst the large wine companies.  It is a place where the David can get bigger exposure over the Goliath, and where the wine retailer or critic can experience wines that they may not get a chance to otherwise.  Here are some stars

From Clark Foyster Wines

Champagne Jacques Picard Brut Reserve NV (Champagne, France)
A soft, gently citrussy wine, lots of fresh lemon and a touch of sherbet with honey coming through on the finish.  Very good (8/10, £25.50).

2010 Adegea de Moncao Vinho Verde (Vinho Verde, Portugal)
A rich, honeyed aroma with some melon and lemon pith.  Long clean mineral flavours with a gorgeous balance and small sweet notes peppering the palate.  (8/10 £8.99)

2009  Moric Blaufrankisch Burgenland (Burgenland, Austria)
Good, ripe, crisp fruit.  Some softer berries with some tart ones coming through.  Very long spicy palate with a sweet fruit finish.  (8.5/10 £16.99)

2008 Gerhard Pittnauer Pinot Noir Fuchsenfeld (Burgenland, Austria)
Soft, smoky and just a touch of sweet confection.  A crisp, appley palate.  Really tasty.  (8/10, £16.99)

2008 Umathum Beerenauslese Chardonnay Scheurebe (Burgenland, Austria)
Light, lemon and honey.  A rich, oily texture, good balance and very sweet, but cleans up well. (7/10, £14.99)

Raymond Reynolds is definitely a cuddly company.  Run by Raymond himself, Danny Cameron and Jacky Mundy, all three were at their table with Riccardo Diogo, the winemaker at madeira producer Barbeito.  Trying a bundle of their wines is always a treat as they remain the place to go for Portuguese wines, and finishing with a Madeira tasting with the winemaker of, arguably, the best Madeira company proves that they are the sort of company you want to deal with.  For me, Raymond Reynolds was the star of SITT 2011 as these smaller Portuguese producers have realised that if they are going make some truly fine wine, they need to make their wines look good.  Now a £13 Portuguese wine looks like something you would spend money on rather than something you would pick up in a supermarket for £4.  We didn't try one single dud on this table, and that is why Raymond Reynolds gets my nod for table of the tasting.

2010 Quinta da Raza Vinho Verde (Vinho Verde, Portugal)
Light, spritzy nose, a lot of sherbet lemons and limes.  Clean fresh and light.  A stunning wine for the money.  (8/10 £7.99)

2010 Luis Pato Maria Gomes (Bairrada, Portugal)
Light, clean, soft and floral with lots of pine notes.  Really tasty.  (8/10 £8.49)

2009 Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas  (Bairrada, Portugal)
Gentle, very pretty with nice fruit, slight honey notes too.  Mouthfilling, clean, a touch of creamy texture.  Very soft and lovely.  (8/10, £12.50)

2007 Quinta da Murta Classico (Bucelas, Portugal)
Lovely, soft, clean and honeyed.  A gentle minerally element - just a stunning wine.  (8/10 £12.99)

2010 Soalheiro Alvarinho (Minho, Portugal)
Very fresh, very zingy, lots of lovely gentle, subtle citus.  A really phenomenal wine.  (9/10 £15.99)

2009 Herdade Sao Miguel (Alentejo, Portugal)
Very tasty, citrus and tropical fruit with a mineral, salty note coming through.  (8/10 £12.99)

2009 Conceito Contraste (Douro, Portugal)
Very soft, minerally with a lot of flint, citrus and marmalade.  A very pithy finish.  (8/10 £17.99)

2010 Quinta da Raza Colheito Seleccionata (Vinho Verde, Portugal)
A fuller, honeyed aroma with fresh lemon and thyme on the palate.  Delightful.  (8/10 £10.00)

2009 Casa de Saima Rose (Bairrada, Portugal)
Light, a touch of plasticine on the nose.  Rather tasty.  (7/10 £9.99)

2010 Quinta da Raza Tinto (Vinho Verde, Portugal)
Light and funky!  (7/10, £9.99)

2008 Conceito Contraste Tinto (Douro, Portugal)
Soft initially, and then with crunchy apples and dark leather on the nose.  The palate is liquorice and tobacco, some red berries and violets.  A bit punchy, but great with sausages and mash!  (8/10 £12.99)

2009 Pato Rebel (Bairrada, Portugal)
I don't know why this has a picture of Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright on the label, but it does.  It has a sweet aroma of dried fruit, lots of stone fruit too - cherries and plums - and then a sweet, date like finish.  A lovely wine.  (8/10 £13.99)

2007 Vinha do Mouro (Alentejo, Portugal)
Light, fresh fruit with bundles of raspberries, apples and spice.  There is liquorice and cigar added in on the palate.  (8/10 £11.99)

2009 Monte de Peceguina (Alentejo, Portugal)
Soft and herbal with some fresh cherry aromas.  A really dark, spicy palate with lots of cocoa and aniseed.  (8/10, £15.50)

Barbeito Boal Reserva 5 Year Old (Madeira, Portugal)
A big, powerful dried apricot aroma, and lots of spice and salt on the palate.  (7.5/10, £12.99)

Barbeito Malvasia Reserva 5 Year Old (Madeira, Portugal)
Soft at first and then loads of spice and dates come through with dried apples, dates and honey on the palate.  Lovely.  (7.5/10 £12.99)

2000 Barbeito Single Harvest (Madeira, Portugal)
Lush, some sweet aromas, lots of salt and powerful raisin and straw aromas.  Made from Tinto Negra.  (8/10, £17.99)

Barbeito Malvasia 20 Anos Lote 10292 (Madeira, Portugal)
Dried fruit, lots of all spice, salt and lemon peel.  Vintage honey and marmalade on the palate.  Very very good.  (9/10 £50)

Niepoort Tweedle Dum Ruby Port (Douro, Portugal)
Rich, sweet, brambley and intense.  There is a toffee and chocolate flavour, leading onto a minty finish.  (7/10 £13.50)

Niepoort Tweedle Dee Tawny Port (Douro, Portugal)
A really rich, sweet, tea and berry aroma with dried cranberries and cinnamon  spice on the palte.  (8/10 £13.50)

Niepoort Crusted Port, Bottled 2007 (Douro, Portugal)
Made from offcuts of the 2003 and 2005 vintage ports from Niepoort, this wine is dark, sweet and very very well balanced.  Lots of juicy fruit, some toasty, baked fruit notes and a bit of caramel too.  Good.  (8/10 £19.99)

The star of SITT 2010 was very nearly the star for 2011 too.  SWiG has a range of interesting and wacky wines that never fail to put a smile on your face.  I really like this friendly company and I really love the wines they sell. 

Prosecco Spumante Zero Assoluto La Jara NV (Veneto, Italy)
Possibly the only zero dosage Prosecco on the market, this is a very clean , simple style of Prosecco with some minerally notes and a lemon pithy taste.  (7/10, £13.99)

Prosecco La Jara Brut (Veneto, Italy)
Peary, balanced, very tasty.  (8/10 £12.49)

La Jara Pinot Grigio Sparkling Brut (Veneto, Italy)
A pink, fizzy Pinot Grigio screams "I should be drunk on a Saturday night by my girlfriends while we get dressed and listen to Alan Carr on Radio 2".  It is your hen night in a Hummer, but although it may be a bit of a tart of a wine, it is very tasty.  Light, fresh strawberry flavours, very clean and with decent minerality.  (8/10 £13.49)

2010 Domaine Mardon Sauvignon de Touraine (Loire, France)
Very good.  Zesty with some clean, long lasting, fresh elderflower aromas and flavours.  A beautifully balanced wine.  (8/10, £9.99)

2009 Domaine Simone Tremblay Petit Chablis (Burgundy, France)
Light, fresh, minerally and crisp.  A slight tropical fruit element with some citrus pith coming through, but this is what I want from Chablis.  (8/10 £12.49)

2009 Domaine de Pellehaut Ampelomeryx (Gers, France)
A blend of Gros & Petit Manseng, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay!  This is very gentle, floral with some peachy aromas.  A minerality, then more peaches on the palte.  Very very good and very very interesting.  (8/10 £11.49)

2004 Ghiaia di Monte Ca Boffenisio (Lombardy, Italy)
A really cool lees element, some citrus and lots of slate.  This blend of Riesling and Sauvignon offers nothing to show which grapes it comes from, you get a funky, citrus and mineral fest.  (8/10 £16.99)

2009 Jean-Philippe Padie Milouise Calce (Rousillon, France)
Some honey and lemon zest, very minerally with a lovely salty note, then slate, then flint.  More rocks than a river bed.  (8/10 £24.99)

2008 Philippe Colin St Aubin Le Charmois (Burgundy, France)
Quite full on cream attack, yet with citrus galore on the palate and subtle wood throughout, this is a cracking wine from the Rousillon.  (7.5/10 £23.99)

2008 Yabby Lake Chardonnay (Mornington Peninsula, Australia)
A lovely oaky note, some pineapple with elements of mango and papaya too.  Lovely structure, a very elegant wine.  (8/10, £24.99)

2009 Philippe Zinck Portrait Pinot Blanc (Eguisheim, France)
Hmmmm.  One minute I'm loving it, the next I am not so sure.  My opinions went up and down more times than a.... oh, far too many rude jokes.  Lets just say that I remain undecided on this wine. 

2008 Philippe Zinck Portrait Gewurztraminer (Alsace, France)
Very sweet and floral - loads of rose and lychee aromas.  The palate has some up front sweetness, and then it cleans up but remains a chunkier style of Gewurz.  (7/10 £12.49)

2008 Pyramid Valley Kerner Vineyard Pinot Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand)
Gentle oak, then some savoury notes and some elderflower spice.  Really tasty. (8/10 £21.49)

2009 Lismore Estate Sauvignon Blanc (Greyton, South Africa)
Full on New Zealand-style aromas, but with lots of zingy, zesty lemon and a bit of nettle.  (6.5/10 £17.49)

2008 St Ilia Pinot Noir (Thracian Valley, Bulgaria)
A light, gentle, old fashioned tasting Pinot Noir from Bulgaria.  It has cherry notes, some soft fruit and is well balanced.  It isn't a fine wine, and the label looks like a ten year old has photoshopped it, but it is a tasty wee Pinot Noir at £9.  (7/10 £8.99)

2008 Yabby Lake Pinot Noir (Mornington Peninsula, Australia)
Rich, ripe and juicy fruit.  Lots of sweet berries.  The palate goes on and on with subtle spice, stone fruit and an uber clean finish.  (7.5/10 £25.99)

2007 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir (Oregon, USA)
Soft, juicy fruit.  Very lush and very clean.  A gentle beast of a wine with lots of spice, some dried fruit and a little herb on the back end.  (8.5/10 £47.49)

2004 Cupano Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany, Italy)
A beautiful wine, soft fruit with gorgeous balance.  Outstanding.  (8.5/10 £74.99)

2008 Barbera Vigna Pozzo Renato Corino La Morra (Piedmont, Italy)
Balanced and yet complex layers of cherry, liquorice, fresh raspberries and some long, stalky, vegetal notes.  (8.5/10 £21.99)

2008 Carlo Ferragu Valpolicella Superiore (Illasi, Italy)
Sweet parma violets on the nose with a rich, dense palate, lots of dark spiced fruit and leathery elements.  (8/10 £29.99)

To be continued....

By Peter Wood with 3 comments

#305 OMG US YN OK

I hate internet vernacular.  I despise the fact that everything has to be shortened to save time in typing but even more than that, people are now speaking these abbreviations.  My colleagues at work are doing this all the time and it drives me mad.  I hate it that phrases like "LOLS" is used, as is "WTF", "FML", "ROTFL" and "WOOT" are being banded about with monotonous regularity, and yet I have to accept this as part of modern society.  I blame the fact that I work in a university town and this sort of vocabulary is popular amongst teenagers, and it has filtered up the age scale to my 30 something co-workers who should have grown out of that sort of behaviour by now.

I watched the outstanding film "The Kings Speech" recently and at the end, when war is declared against Germany, there is a scene with a bunch of young soldiers in the back of a military vehicle, listening to King George VI on the radio.  These actors were all in their twenties, and I am certain that at the end of a days shooting, they would go onto Twitter or Facebook and be LOLing with their M8s until they had ROTFLed.  But the characters they were playing, soldiers from 18 years upwards, would be going off to fight against the Third Reich rather than shooting aliens in a PS3 computer game.  And their fathers had to do the same thing in the First World War, and, in America, their sons had to in Vietnam.  But the current generation, fortunately, can continue being juvenile right up to their thirties if they wish, fortunate that there hasn't been a war that has resulted in conscription and forced them to grow out of their blissful ignorance to the horrors of the real world. 

The blissful ignorance of harsh realities has been something that American wine producers have been able to hide behind for decades, safe in the knowledge that in America, American wine rules.  Now they are having to begin to wake up and realise that there are other countries producing wine, and selling lots in America.  The American market is becoming more educated, and the international market doesn't always want their senses obliterated by big, jammy, sweet wines.  The result is that more and more producers are looking at where they are located, working with the terroir and producing some outstanding wines of finesse and subtlety.  Unfortunately though, these wines are quite often at high price points so, on the international market, they are rarely seen.  However, I was recently invited to a lunch with a producer who is producing a more refined selection of wines, with subtlety, acidity and balance, but where this producer stood out from the crowd is that they start at an affordable price point.

2009 Morgan Winery Sauvignon Blanc £13.50
Light bready aromas mixed with a little plasticine.  Some very light elderflower and mango pith.  The palate is a touch alcoholic with a peppery element.  Good balance on the finish with just a touch of heat.  7/10

2008 Morgan Winery Metallico Unoaked Chardonnay £17
Very soft, some tropical fruit aromas that are very nice.  Quite subtle with lemon notes.  The palate is lemony, with melon and grapefruit flavours.  A lovely, clean and well balanced wine.  7.5/10

2008 Morgan Winery Highland Chardonnay £19
Vanilla and sherbet lemon on the nose with a touch of herbs.  Quite lovely.  The palate is clean with an oily texture, some nice oaky elements just kissing your palate.  It is very good.  8.5/10

2008 Morgan Winery Double L Chardonnay £28
Very zesty, lots of lemon with a delicious zing!  The palate is very soft with a lovely mineral element and gentle pithy flavours.  A touch of cedar on the finish that rounds up a very pleasant drinking experience, even though there is a touch of alcohol.  8/10

2008 Morgan Winery Twelve Clones Pinot Noir £22
Very soft with strawberries & cream and a touch of cranberry acidity.  The palate is gentle at first, then with a spicy, alcoholic fruit element.  Crunch berries, high acid and some alcohol.  A long, warming finish with lots of cherry flavours.  Very tasty but a food wine.  8/10

2007 Morgan Winery Double L Pinot Noir £27
Quite dumb on the nose at first but then it kicks in with a lovely sweet cherry menthol aroma seasoned with a little clove.  The palate is gentle with soft, clean fruit, and then some earthier tones.  A really lovely finish, soft and with fresh berries all over it.  8.5/10

2008 Morgan Winery Cotes du Crows £15
Big and funky with lots of sweet fruit but definitely darker fruits.  This Syrah and Grenache blend is very juicy with a little sweet jam and cream on the nose.  The palate is full with spicy notes, very bright and with a lovely texture.  Dried cherries on the finish with some alcohol spikes, but a stunning wine for the money.  8.5/10

I know that these wines aren't every day drinkers, but ranging from beneath £15 is a good starting point for wines that are both European in influence, yet definitely American.  Give them a shot when you are next spending hours LOLing on the internet.

By Peter Wood with 4 comments

#304 The worst wine I have ever tried... so far

The 2009 Terra Dacica Pinot Noir is simply the worst wine I have ever tried in my life.  It tastes of burnt grapes, and not only does it attack your palate once, but then keeps coming back and beating you up like the school bully who has pinched your pocket money, then your toy car, then your school bag and is now just doing it because he can. 

Simply do not buy this wine from Romania.  It is terrible.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#303 Terrific tanker wine! Tooma River wines

Despite Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley Whatchamacallit screaming and yelling about the cruelty of caged hens being bred for meat or eggs for the past few years, since the economy crashed, the sales on cruel meat has increased, simply due to the fact that people cannot afford £10 for three free range chicken breasts anymore. When times are hard, people's ethics and cares for provenance go out the window, and the same applies with wine.  Everyone wants an organic, sulphur free, vegetarian wine with a story, but they also want it for six quid, which simply won't happen.  So all of a sudden they care not a jot for a pesticide riddled, added sulphur wine fined with all sorts of animal products, but they still want a brand that will make it look as though they have gone to some effort.  They don't want "Tesco's Value/Finest Wine", but what they are actually getting is exactly that.  And they are being ripped off, even at six quid.

If you shop in a supermarket, it is highly likely that you will have bought a wine that you think is a producer in some far flung country, when in reality, it is a brand made up by the supermarket to con you into thinking they have many many hard at work wine buyers sourcing wines from many different producers.  Sadly, it isn't the case.  Firstly, they create a brand, they will create a small story for the back label, and will then ship mass produced wine over to Europe in tankers, where it is bottled, labelled and plonked on the shelf at £6.  Then they will 'reduce it' by half to promote it and still make potloads of cash from the customers who don't know any different.  This has been going on for years, but now, because it is increasingly difficult to get wines from the Antipodean nations under a tenner, we are seeing this made up brand wine on independent retailers shelves.

This isn't to say that your local wine merchant is doing this, but the agencies that he or she buys from are.  The main difference here, in comparison with the supermarkets, is that most independents will buy wine based upon what it tastes like and if it is worth the money they have to charge with a standard margin, not purely on making a massive profit, only to then 'give a deal' and cut back the price so they are making less of a massive profit.  Essentially, if the wine would retail at £6, it should taste like a wine should at £6, not a £3 one that you usually get from supermarkets.  Sure, these wines don't have provenance or an interesting tale of how a young chap from Bangladesh hitchhiked to Sydney and then bought a row of vines in McLaren Vale and started producing one case of wine every year, but what they do do is give the customer a decent wine at a decent price.

Some of the better wines I have tried under a tenner in the past year from Australia and New Zealand have been these 'own label' wines.  Stratfords Wine Agencies brands, Rosedale and Cliff Edge, are a decent pair of Australian Shiraz and Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc respectfully at between £7 and £9.  Hatch Mansfield have got a Sauvignon Blanc called Ruben Hall and made by Villa Maria (shhh, don't tell anyone) retailling at £6, and this is a decent enough drop at that price.  Today, from Enotria, I tasted a range of wines that were punching way above their price point.  These were wines that would sell between six and seven pounds, plus a sparkling wine under a tenner, that could sell at much higher.

Made by Warburn Estates in Griffith, a company of people of Italian descent (that explains the inclusion of a Pinot Grigio!) and they have produced a selection of tasty, inexpensive wines under the Tooma River brand.  This brand, owned by Enotria and aimed at the on trade, are really tasty wines, and a real bargain, without the need to hack back a price. 

Tooma River Brut Reserve Blanc de Blancs
Sweet melons and some yeast notes coming through.  It has a pencil lead element, some pear elements coming through.  It has a nice bubble, some decent acid with some sweet notes on the finish.  A bit too sweet for me, but this is an Australian sparkling wine that tastes as though it comes from Australia and isn't trying to be fake Champagne.  7/10 £9.99

2009 Tooma River Reserve Pinot Grigio
Sweet aroma, like lychee and melon and green eating grapes.  Then a strange mineral note comes through and isn't that appealing.  Palate is flabby, yet mean and light at the same time.  A total waste of time and energy.  Leave the Grigios to the Italians.  3/10 £6.99

2009 Tooma River Reserve Chardonnay
It has a lovely sweet vanilla aroma with lots of melon and pineapple pith.  The palate is clean, some really tasty tropical fruit, a bundle of oak but with restraint.  Some cedar notes and a lot of dry citrus.  It is a decent wine and a bargain.  7.5/10 £6.49

2009 Tooma River Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Rich, sweet berry compote on the nose, but it isn't leaping you out of the glass. It has a sweet note, some berry stalks and a bit of liquorice with a touch of burnt caramel on the end of the mid palate.   It has a nice finish, some lovely tarry notes with a decent dry wood and tobacco note.  Just a touch thin though on the finish.  7/10 £6.49

2009 Tooma River Reserve Shiraz
Jam meets black pudding, cherry menthol on the nose.  The palate has a nice texture, not a lot of spice, some leathery notes, then some bramble and savoury, meaty flavours.  A touch of spice, dark berry juice and a really clean and lovely finish.  Very good.  8/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#302 Stardate 2009 Burgundy

The past half decade of wine vintages in Burgundy are like Star Trek films.  You start off with an outstanding movie (2005 vintage) , a great story, great acting and staggering special effects.  Then you have a decent sequel (2006 vintage), that generates a lot of cash because the first movie did and people want to see the next one, and then by movie three (2007) the plot is a bit muddled, you have weak acting, some ropey special effects.  Then in the fourth film (2008) you are beaming whales into your flooded cargo deck but you get Spock saying “hell” in a comedic fashion, but you realize that it isn’t all that bad a film .  Then you get the fifth film and it is supposed to be the film that saves the franchise, but you put Shatner in as a director and it all goes wrong as overhyped but with the occasional good scene.

Essentially, from what I can tell from the recent Justerini & Brooks tasting, 2009 is looking like it could be the vintage equivalent of Star Trek V – The Final Frontier.  There are some gems within the vintage, truly great performances from some producers, but then you have some rather ropy wines and some truly horrible ones.  This vintage has been touted as the best vintage in years, of a par to 2005, but it would appear that the it, like Shatner’s film, it needs another attempt to replicate the glory of the first installment.

2009 Les Heritiers de Comtes Lafon Macon Milly
Quite spritzy and fresh.  Cream and mango with a little bit of pithy fruit.  The palate is clean, crisp with a creamy texture.  It starts a bit flabby though, but cleans up.  Very tasty.  7/10

2009 Les Heritiers de Comtes Lafon Macon Chardonnay Clos de la Crochette
Lovely aroma with tropical and citrus fruit, and just a hint of cedar.  The palate is full, lots of oak with a smoke and spice top note.  There is lime zest on the finish.  Very well nice but a bit of a lack in balance.  6/10

2009 Les Heritiers de Comtes Lafon Vire-Clesse
Creamy with lime and pine aromas.  A lovely palate, initially bitter but then softened with citrus peel and lime juice.  Very good.  7/10

2009 Bachelet Monnot Santenay Blanc
Oaky herbs, lime and melon.  The palate has lovely oak, biscuity elements and then the wood that has had lemon juice.  Impressive how it balances oak and tropical fruit and yet is wonderfully clean on the finish.  8/10

2009 Bachelet Monnot Puligny Montrachet Les Referts 1er Cru
Soft honey, great creamy flavours with lime sherbet.  The palate is citrus and spritzy, cardamon flavours.  It has high acid, but is great.  8/10

2009 Bachelet Monnot Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres 1er Cru
Olive oil on the nose coating some pineapple and sprinkled with torn basil and thyme.  The palate is zingy, lots of lemon and fresh tropical fruit.  Quite tart finish with high acid.  7.5/10

2009 Bachelet Monnot Santenay Les Charmes
Rhubarb & Custard sweeties on the nose, quite sweet with a lot of caramel.  The palate is really lovely, a gorgeous mouthfeel with light cranberry flavours, some strawberry and raspberry too.  The finish is very clean and balanced.  8/10

2009 Bachelet Monnot Maranges La Fussiere 1er Cru
Some light rhubarb notes with a sweet, softness.  The palate is quite gentle but then kicks in with some crisper fruit flavours.  Good finish.  7.5/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Les Chenevottes 1er Cru
Pineapple cubes and that is pretty much it on the nose.  The palate has pear drops, lots of wood on the finish, and is a bit flabby.  Not a good wine.  6/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Morgeot 1er Cru
Filthy stale water.  The palate has little acid, oak comes through and then is lean and mean on the finish.  4/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets 1er Cru
Pine aromas, some sherbet and a lite oak.  The palate has, like the nose, some oak seasoning, but with lovely pithy fruit and a touch of high alcohol, but it is cleaned up and is quite tasty.  7/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Batard Montrachet Grand Cru
Honey, citrus and a little pepper and toast with grilled pineapple.  The palate is balanced, delightful tropical fruit pith, subtle oak and the acid feeding in over time to clean your mouth.  A lovely wine.  9/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Rouge L’Estimee
Quite confected aromas, a bit spritzy, it just smells cheap.  The palate is ok, light bubblegum elements, some savoury notes, but it is a pretty poor effort.  5/10

2009 Jean Noel Gagnard Santeney Clos des Tavannes 1er Cru
Pretty closed nose.  There isn’t much coming off at all.  The palate is soft, some light fruit notes and quite pretty.  There is a juicy finish, with raspberry flavours.  6.5/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Bourgogne Blanc
Soft, slight citrus with oyster water aromas.  The palate is crisp at first, and then develops a fatter fruit element.  Herb stalks come in just before the finish that is actually quite nice.  7.5/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Meursault Corbins
Crisp apples and fresh honey.  Little else.  The palate is very creamy, lots of apple, but this isn’t really Meursault.  5/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Chassagne Montrachet Tete du Clos 1er Cru
Dirty oak, masses of cream that clashes with the fruit and then a fat oakfest on the palate.  BIG pass.  4/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Meursault Les Perrieres 1er Cru
Cedar box and more fresh, crisp fruit, but it is a bit more integrated.  The palate is hard, disjointed and boozy.  No thanks.  5/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Pommard Perrieres
Sweaty Socks and jam.  Tannic, cheap and sweet.  3/10

2009 Vincent Dancer Pommard Pezerolles 1er Cru
Sweaty socks and jam rammed up your nose.  The palate is again tannic, slightly less cheap and with a veggie element calming down the sweet element.  4/10

2009 Martelet de Cherisey Puligny Montachet Hameau de Blagny 1er Cru
Smells as though it is still fermenting.  Very appley and smells like cider.  4/10

2009 Martelet de Cherisey Puligny Montrachet Chalumeaux 1er Cru
A lovely aroma, some soft caramels with sea salt notes.  A lovely texture, some woody flavours with some soft appley fruit.  A little alcohol comes through, but it is rather nice.  7.5/10

2009 Martelet de Cherisey Meursault-Blagny La Genelotte 1er Cru
Fresh apples, both red and green, on the nose.  A delightful mouthfeel, engaging with some more apples, a little wood and a touch of spice on the finish.  8/10

2009 Martelet de Cherisey Blagny La Genelotte
Chinese savoury aromas with some red apple thrown in for good measure.  The palate is again savoury, with a leafy element hiding the fruit.  I think this is going to be a sleeper and will improve massively with age.  7.5/10 at the moment.

2009 Follin Arbelet Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Round, soft and lacking a bit of depth.  The palate is pretty much the same, a nice enough, pretty wine, but lacking any form of complexity.  6/10

2009 Follin Arbelet Aloxe-Corton
Ripe berries with some honey and cranberries.  Thepalate is dry, acidic, with fresh red apple notes, dried raspberry and cranberry. It is actually a decent wine.  8/10

2009 Follin Arbelet Aloxe-Corton Clos de Chapitre 1er Cru
Soft, complex with red apple skin, flower elements and then some apple flesh.  There are meaty flavours, some complex layers which are really interesting, and some sweater cranberry notes and a touch of vanilla custard on the finish.  7.5/10

2009 Follin Arbelet Corton Bressandes Grand Cru
Big, minty menthol and sweet liquorice, all mixed up with a bit of rhubarb.  There is a fresh fruit, slightly tannic, but then summer pudding with cream flavour that is very very tasty.  A really good wine.  9/10

2009 Follin Arbelet Romanee St Vivant Grand Cru
Great aroma, so balanced with lavender, jasmine and cherries.  The palate is super, silky tannins, some cherry with raspberries, mint and fresh strawberries.  A silky, sumptuous, sexy wine.  9.5/10

2009 Robert Chevillon Bourgogne Rouge
Full on cassis and bramble stalk aromas.  A crisp, dark, sweet and deep palate, leathery notes and dark chocolate.  Good.  7.5/10

2009 Robert Chevillon Nuits St Georges Vieilles Vignes
Meaty with savoury liquorice elements.  The palate is herbal, some mint creeping in, and then a savoury, dark liquorice, plum stone flavour.  8.5/10

2009 Robert Chevillon Nuits St Georges Les Bousselots
Jasmine, chai tea and rich chocolate covered cherries on the nose, with soft, vegetal flavours and ripe red berries on the palate.  A finish of dark tea, and some smoky notes at the very end.  Really lovely and complex.  9/10

2009 Bruno Clair Marsannay Blanc
A pithy, fresh aroma, with apples all over the palate.  Very well balanced.  8/10

2009 Bruno Clair Marsannay Les Longeroies Rouge
Soft, light and clean.  A lovely cherry aroma leading to some spicy notes.  The palate is a disappointment.  Backboneless and flabby.  4/10

2009 Bruno Clair Gevrey Chambertin
Violets, some cherry too on the nose with a soft, well balanced palate and nice depth.  7/10

2009 Bruno Clair Chambolle Musigny Les Veroilles
Rich, opulent with floral notes throughout.  The palate is clean and fresh, silky with a spicy note and crisp apple and plum flavours on the finish.  8/10

2009 Bruno Clair Savigny Les Beaune La Dominode 1er Cru
Mushroomy with chilli, cherry and herbs.  There is juicy fruit with some cherry and mint, silky tannins and a long cocoa coated finish.  8/10

2009 Bruno Clair Gevrey Chambertin Petite Chapelle 1er Cru
Dark, slightly brooding aorma with lots of cherry and leather.  The palate is deep, velvety with lovely balanced fruit, raspberry tartness and a cherry richness.  8/10

2009 Bruno Clair Gevrey Chambertin Cazetiers 1er Cru
Some oriental vegetables with a nice cherry, fresh raspberries and earthy aromas.  The palate is a bit spicy, some dark leather and although it has a touch high alcohol, it is clean with a menthol element.  Very young, but a complex, interesting wine.  8.5/10

Thanks to Justerini & Brooks

By Peter Wood with No comments

#301 Olly Smith's Wine App

A iittle tweet came up on my feed this morning, and it was Olly Smith saying for a limited time you could buy his app for £1.79.  So I did.  I downloaded it onto my mac and when I got into work (a wine shop) I loaded it onto my iPhone and had a look.  You are greeted by a video of Smith in his "Wine HQ", and then you get taken to a menu which is a series more-camp-than-a-field-full-of-Scouts of Smith looking holding signs with the relevant menu title on.  I realised then that every wine critic has a similar media character to be related to.  Jancis is Anne 'Weakest Link' Robinson, Michael Broadbent is David Attenborough, and Olly Smith occupies the Dale Winton role.

But I digress, I noticed that there was a "Find Wine" section and as I was sitting in a wine shop I thought I'd test it.  Sure enough, there was my shop, and the two local supermarkets, but I noticed that there were more places to buy or consume wine nearby.  Eager to find out the competition I clicked on one of the pins and was taken to "Strathkinness Under 5's Activity Group".  Now I'm a retailer and I've had to sit a wee test to prove I know the alcohol laws, and I'm pretty certain that kids under five shouldn't be drinking wine.  This needs some work it would appear.

I look to the wine guide and there is a simple, easy to understand guide to grape varieties and regions under the title "What do you usually drink".  It is written in Smith's normal style ("like cuddling He-Man after he's smashed his way through a spice rack"), but is actually very useful for a wine novice.  He has alternative suggestions if you like a particular wine, which although is what a wine retailer would normally do, this will be very useful for someone who shops at supermarkets where you won't be able to get any advice.  The content is very video heavy, and for that you need a wi-fi connection, so it isn't really that good if you are on the move.

There is also a "What's the occasion" facility that is a bit of a cliche, and a Wines of the Week, from his Mail on Sunday column, where the suggestions are Supermarket and Majestic heavy, but again, this is for the customer who shops in these stores so that is fine.

Up to this point, we have an app that is functional for the supermarket shopper with Brand Olly all over it.  And then you get to the section entitled "Larks" and I ended up wanting to put my iPhone in a blender and hitting 'go'.

Firstly, there are Olly's Words of Wisdom, where you shake your phone, then some photos of him thinking, before a 'ping' sounds and a picture of him having a 'eureka' moment appears with a message of incite like "My brother is Will Smith.  Not the Hollywood rapper turned actor, the other one in The Thick of It".    But by far, the most annoying thing is the Wine Horn.  What can only be described as an image that looks like an alien's intestine, you blow into the microphone and a ship's horn blows before an audio recording of Smith saying things like "Lets get hectic" and "Stand and deliver - your monkey or your life" blasts out of your phone.  I know I sound like an old cynic, but are people actually paid to dream up ideas like this?

But I realise that this app isn't aimed at me, it is aimed at people who won't dream of spending more than £15 on a bottle of wine and usually buy under a fiver.  If you like Smith's Saturday Kitchen style and buy your wines from Supermarkets or multiples, this is a decent app for you to use.  It is relevant on a week to week, with updates of his newspaper column and is a usable guide that isn't trying to sell you a product.  Plus it makes wine accessible to people who think that shell suits are still the height of fashion and that, believe it or not, is a good thing.  7/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#300 6 Questions with... Kevin Judd, Greywacke Wines

Try and write any article about Kevin Judd and not mention his former employer.  It isn't easy, as he was one of the winemakers who defined New Zealand wine, particularly Sauvignon Blanc, and made the style it is today.  If it wasn't for people like Judd, we may still be offered Muller Thurgau, Pinotage or other such dire grape.  He recently set up his own label, Greywacke, that I reviewed a few weeks ago and is getting critical acclaim as a photographer.  Whilst he was on tour of the UK, I asked him six questions...


Who has been your greatest inspiration?
David Hohnen and Mick Rock

Is there any job you would have liked to have done if you weren’t a winemaker?
Photographer for Victoria’s Secret

If you could make wine anywhere outside of New Zealand, where would it be?
Tasmania

What do you like drinking aside from your own wines?
Coopers Beer

What would you like to be remembered for?
Being an integral part of the establishment of the modern Kiwi wine industry and capturing it’s beauty on film

Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead, that would be the guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?
Ansel Adams, Bob Carlos Clarke and Jeanloup Sieff

Greywacke Website

By Peter Wood with 2 comments

#299 Getting joy out of your job

As I write this (Sunday afternoon), the Formula One driver Robert Kubica is undergoing an operation on his hand after he crashed his Skoda rally car during the Rionde di Andora rally in Italy.  He had no need to be in that car, he has a secure job racing the Renault team’s F1 car, a sport that, despite the obvious dangers, is as safe as it is possible for motor racing to be.  If Kubica crashed, as he did in Canada in 2007, he would have some of the world’s best doctors on hand, a helecopter ambulance with its motors running all the time.  Add into the fact that a Formula One car is built around his body and designed to divert shocks away from him, and designed not to be punctured by any scenery it hits, you can conclude easily that if you want to go 100mph or more in any form of vehicle, you want to be in a Formula One car.

So why, if Kubica was in the pinnacle of motor sport, was he in a rally car, belting along roads with all sorts of sharp and dangerous things to hit, in a car that is, compared to his F1 car, as strong as a tin can?

Simple.  He loves driving, he loves the speed, the competition and the feeling of being in a car.  He was unlikely to win the rally, he did it simply because he wanted to, and unfortunately he has severely damaged his hand, fractured his arm and leg, and will certainly miss the start of the 2011 F1 season, and, depending on how bad his injuries are, may never race in F1 again.  Fortunately though, his injuries are not life threatening and hopefully he should be able to continue to compete in motor sport assuming he has most of the use of his hand.

Thirty or more years ago, it was the norm for F1 drivers to be found driving other cars when they weren’t racing Grand Prix.  Indeed, it was in a lower Formula race that two time World Champion Jim Clark lost his life, but since the sport became highly commercialized, Formula One drivers have been limited to what extra curricular racing they can partake in. Kubica, because he loves the sport, had managed to get his Renault team, with Lotus and Lada sponsorship, to allow him to drive for rival car company Skoda in a rally simply because he enjoys it.  Sadly, it has resulted in his serious injury, but he was doing what he loved – driving a car on the limit.  He had managed to work a way out of the F1 corporate world that has become too serious for its own good.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I can get too serious in my trade, and that I am doing it not only because it pays me but because I love it.  I’m often too eager to judge a wine, taste it, give it a score and be critical of it when I should just sit down and drink the wine.  Last night I was having dinner with a few friends and was presented with some old Burgundies, and I had to remind myself not to be too critical.  These are old wines, the oldest was 22 years old, and I made the decision not to score them and just enjoy them for what they were.  Sure, I made tasting notes, but this wasn’t a time for analysis, it was a time for enjoyment and to see which went best with the Venison Wellington we were eating.

1989 Mazis Chambertin Faively

Soft and light berries, some tasty, but muted, bramble notes with sweet flecks throughout.  The palate was sweeter than the nose, with some alcohol creeping in, but then spice and black pudding coming through too.  There was some leathery texture on the finish, with dried fruit and cinnamon.  A lovely wine, probably at the end of its peak, but gorgeous.

1995 Clos de la Roche, Armand Rousseau

Staggeringly good.  Lovely floral elements, sweet berries with cherry and cranberry coming to the fore.  A lovely light honey element, covering raspberries and cherry stone.  Finally there was an elegant softness on the finish, just slowly creeping away. A simply stunning wine that is going to take some beating for my red wine of the year, and we are still only in February!  This wine is certainly one to just drink and savour.

1999 Givry 1er cru Clos des bois Chevaux, Domaine Joblot

Cranberries with a rich, honeyed aroma.  Lots of juicy fruit on the palate, lots of leather, spiced fruit and dusty cinnamon.  Quite a savoury wine, meaty flavours mixing with stalky fruit.  A gutsier wine than the other two, but still very tasty, and probably matched the food the best as it had a bit of youthful power to complement the rich game, mushroom and spinach dish.

Robert Kubica Website

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#298 Chile - Armani or North Face?

It is still winter in Scotland, and although the snow has long since melted and we are enjoying a few sunny winter days, this celtic nation is still getting battered by wind.  Whilst taking a stroll along the coastal path near my house today, it was a lovely sunny winters morning.  Glorious sunshine, blue skies, still sea, but a gale blowing off the water.  As it was a warm gale I trotted off without a coat on, but I noticed that every single person also out on a walk were clad head to toe in Gore-Tex, sheltering out the wind that was blasting through my jumper and warming me.  Now I don’t have a problem with the apparently omnipresent North Face brand in central Scotland, but I was wondering why the second anyone goes out for a walk, they appear to become colour blind.

Incredibly bright never-seen-in-nature shades of red, yellow and blue suddenly appear on people who would normally never be seen in anything but Armani.  I looked on North Face’s website and you can get neutral colours such as black or something they call bipartisan brown, but nope, everyone is in luminous green.  Just because they feel as though they are being outdoorsy and walking along a coastal path, they think that colour co-ordination can be abandoned.  Taste can be abandoned.

I know that these jackets are supposed to be bright if they are being used for mountaineering.  If you fall off a cliff and break your leg you don’t want to blend in with the scenery, you want to clash horrifically so the rescue helicopter can find you.  However the chances of needing the RAF search and rescue chopper if you are walking along the Fife coast is slim to nil. These bright Gore-Tex items of clothing are not only lacking taste, but they are in the totally wrong place.  They should be on Ben Nevis, not in Anstruther.

And this leads me onto Chilean wine.   I remember reading a book by a leading wine critic that said “the problem with Chile is that all of the vines are in the wrong places” which would indicate that the winemakers haven’t got the hang of making the wine that works with the climate and the terroir.  It doesn’t matter if you have old vines if the Pinot Noir is planted in a place far too hot and the grapes get baked or if the Syrah is too cold and cannot ripen properly.  You will only produce average wines at best.

Maybe it is this reason that quite often, I find Chilean wine as tasteless, boring, commercial wine.  It may taste of the grape written on the label, and be punter friendly, but it is always going to be bettered by a wine from somewhere else that works with the terroir.  It is rare that you will see a wine critic putting a wine from Chile on their “great wines” lists, yet this country’s wines are incredibly popular, as it would appear are brightly coloured jackets.  I’ve never understood Chilean wines and never really liked that many, so I went to the Wines of Chile tasting with an open mind, determined to find something that would impress me and convince me that Chile is a producer of great wine.

Starting off with a white Pedro Ximinez probably wasn’t the best plan.  The 2010 Vina Falernia Elki Pedro Ximinez was a simple wine on the nose, a touch of citrus but that was it.  Then the palate kicked in and it was acidic, lots of lime juice and that was pretty much it.  4/10 (£6.99 Enotria).  Onwards I progressed to Gewurztraminer and the 2009 Carmen Gewurztraminer Reserva.  It had sweet tropical fruit and rosewater on the nose, and showed promise.  This wine from Casablanca had a nettle element on the palate, some chilli peppers and then lots more rose on the palate.  A bit fat on the finish, but a pleasant drink.  6/10 (£8.99 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines)

The next table was Sauvignon Blanc, and this is where so many people claim is Chile’s strength.  I’m not so certain, as a lot of what I tried tasted like flour!  Having said that though, four wines stood out.  The first was the 2010 Errazuriz Estate Sauvignon Blanc from Aconcagua. Despite being from a big brand, this had a lovely green gooseberry and elderflower aroma with some floral notes on the citrus palate.  It isn’t a great wine but a very good example of Sauvignon from Chile.  8/10 (£8.99 Hatch Mansfield).  The second good wines was the 2010 Nostros Sauvignon Blanc Reserva from Casablanca.  A softer, less vibrant nose than the Errazuriz, but so easy drinking and fruit driven.  7/10 (£6.49 Alliance Wine).  The next two wines stood out for the wrong reasons.  The 2009 De Gras Sauvignon Blanc Reserva from Leyda was horrific.  It stank and was far too acidic and alcoholic 2/10 (£7.99 Enotria) and the 2007 Amayna Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc, also from Leyda, had far too much sulphur on the nose and was very fat and flabby on the palate with no taste other than oak  1/10 (£18.99 Alliance Wine).

Chardonnay too is a grape that should be able to be grown well, and two stood out as shining examples.  The 2010 Los Espinos Chardonnay (£5.99 Alliance Wine) was bright, vibrant with honeysuckle aromas, then a clean citrus and tropical fruit palate that was well balanced.  Worth more than its price point.  8/10.  The second wine was the 2010 Echeverria Unwooded Chardonnay.  With a burgundian-esque label, this wine was fresh, clean with lovely citrus aromas, and a grapefruit pith flavour mixed with mango and pineapple.  A great wine.  8/10 (£7.99 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines)

The next wine to grab my attention was another Hallgarten wine, the 2009 Oveja Negra Winemakers Selection Sauvignon Blanc Carmenere.  I’m familiar with the Oveja Negra label from its days being represented by Bibendum, but now they have stopped producing their entry level wines and are moving up a price point.  This blend of red and white grapes is really interesting.  It has hints of sweet fruit and elderflower up front with pears and honey notes.  There is a Gewurztraminer like element coming through on the palate, but then you notice red berries emerge – obviously coming from the 15% Carmenere.  A really interesting wine from the Maule.  7.5/10 (£7.99 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines).

Pinot Noir – so often done and so often done badly, and at best, the wines on show were of moderate quality.  The 2010 Nostros Pinot Noir was confected with sweet bubblegum flavours , 4/10 (£6.49 Alliance Wine), the 2008 Vina Litoral Ventolera Pinot Noir (£10.99 Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines) was very polished on the nose but far too try hard, very polished with a jammy palate, 4/10, and the 2009 Punto Alto Pinot Noir from Casablanca was rubbery, although it did have nice flavours, it was too alcoholic and expensive.  5/10 (£16.99 Liberty Wines).  The only saving grace was the 2009 Vina Leyda Las Brisas Pinot Noir, that had a herby, sweet fruit palate with a meaty element.  A bit too much alcohol but integrated well enough and clean on the finish.  But at £13.49 this wine from Enotria was too pricy. 

The selection of Carmenere was much better.  Liberty Wines’ 2009 Chocalan Carmenere Seleccion was quite vegetal with lots of blackened peppers mixed with liquorice and brambles.  There was a black pudding element on the palate that was quite tasty, and more liquorice coming later.  For some strange reason, I think it was the combination of blood pudding and liquorice, my mind wandered to the Roald Dahl book, Boy, where his friend Thwaites tells him that liquorice is made of squashed rats!  Anyway, at £8.99, this is a decent wine.  7/10.  But it was usurped by the 2009 Odfjell Armador Carmenere that is a lovely wine.  Smoky tea with meaty aromas and a blackberry and liquorice palate.  Lots of coffee on the finish of this thick, viscous wine.  8/10 (£8.99 Alliance Wine). 

I’m going to express a prejudice now.  I tend to get a smell of Pig poop from Chilean Merlot.  It is my least favourite grape/region pairing in the world – even more than South African Pinotage – as I know that Merlot can be great whereas all Pinotage is rubbish.  I tried the 2009 De Gras Merlot Reserva and it was soapy, sweet and poopy on the nose with a confected bubblegum flavour.  It was awful.  2/10 (£7.99 Enotria).  Having said that, there were two Merlots that stuck out as decent wines.  The 2008 Echeverria Merlot Reserva from Curico had ripe, sweet, creamy fruit.  The palate is nice, gutsy with firm tannin, but an Amarone like fruit flavour all the way to the finish.  It was dark, tarry and concentrated and for £9.99 it was super.  8/10 (Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines).  The other star was the 2009 Los Espinos Merlot was light, cherry flavoured but with incredible freshness.  A bit tannic at first, but lovely crisp, clean fruit.  A lighter style that was welcomed.  8/10 (£5.99 Alliance Wines).

The Cabernets were mediocre so I’ll pass by them, and onto a Carignan.  Again from Hallgarten, the 2008 Oveja Negra Single Vineyard Carignan was full of sweet fruit, blueberry jam aromas, with a dark, silky and savoury palate.  A decent wine but a touch expensive.  7/10 (£10.99).  There was also one Syrah that stood out, the 2007 Odfjell Armador Syrah, a peppered steak fest of a wine with silky, soft fruit and bundles of leather, pepper and chocolate.  8/10 (£8.99 Alliance Wine). 

And that brings me onto the final wine of the day, and it was the best I tried.  The 2007 Ninquen.  A blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon from Colchagua, this wine was a super balance of sweet fruit, dried figs with chocolate notes with rosemary and violets.  Firm tannin, but balanced by the chunky fruit that came on the palate.  8.5/10 (£17.99 Enotria).

I’m still unconvinced that Chile can produce top end wine.  Sure, I tried some very good wines, but also a huge selection of mediocre bottles.  What I didn’t try was a truly great wine, and that is purely down to Wines of Chile.  They didn’t show a single wine over £20 and if this organization wants to promote their nation, they need to show the best to wow the tasters.  It would appear that the Maule is good for Carignan, so putting a higher quality wine from this region would impress the taster and show them that the Oveja Negra Carignan is only the entry level of a great Carignan producing region, but there wasn’t that higher level representative.  Similarly, Maipo is producing a pair of good sub £10 Carmeneres, so why not show a £20 or £30 alternative to say “if you think those two wins from Odfjell and Chocalan are good, this is fantastic.” 

I know that most wines from Chile that are consumed in the UK are cheap, and I found a good number of wines that I will list in my shop.  What I didn’t find was a great wine, and that is something Chile needs to promote too if they are to join the big boys of Italy, France and Australia.  We don’t just want the bright yellow GoreTex, we need to see the Armani too.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#297 The Sun vs The land of the rising Sun

Last week a pair of Sky Sports commentators decided, off air, to make sexist remarks about a female colleague.  This was recorded and leaked to the tabloid press who called for their heads to be serperated from their bodies.  When further evidence came to light that one of them had made more of these comments, he got fired and the other fella quit citing dark forces working against them both.  Needless to say, one tabloid breaks the story, the rest jump on the bandwagon.  Then the Daily Mail really blow it out of all proportion and start hunting for other celebrities who may have at some point said something remotely sexist in their past and The Sun trumpet these two reporters as the last true men in the world and plaster the story all around the scantily clad lady on page 3.

Then the weekend broadsheets report the fact that the dailies have over reported the story, and it gets all churned up again in the Saturday papers.  Finally, just as you are sitting down to your Sunday breakfast, you look in the 'review of the week' section and find nothing but highlights from every paper's take on this story.  Everyone jumps on the fact that two TV pundits did something stupid and every paper has reported the same non-story in dozens of different ways and it all ends up wrapped around a Tuesday evening fish supper.

The same applies with the wine trade.  In the UK we are in the middle of tasting season, and at the moment everyone is writing about 2009 Burgundy, wines from New Zealand or Chile and the Bibendum Pop Up tasting.  At the end of February it will be the SITT events and then the Hatch Mansfield/Fells tasting in March.  I'm no different.  It is simply because when a scribe is presented with a load of wines to try, it is your role as a critic to comment, and if every wine writer - professional or not - is at the same tastings, there are going to be many takes on the same subject.  We are all no different from the writers in the Daily Star or the Sun, and we jump on the same story at the same time.  There are just fewer exposed breasts in wine publications and blogs.

I recently went to a 2009 Burgundy tasting, and I will write about that in all due course, but today I tried a bundle of wines from a selection of different countries today that were so interesting they commanded priority over wines that were so much better.  Sure, 2009 is a great year for Burgundy, but how often do you get to try wines from India, Japan and Thailand?  Here is what I found out.

India
I've been a fan of Grover Vineyard's Cabernet Shiraz for six months or so now, and it was interesting to take a look at a pair of wines from Sula.

2009 Sula Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc £7.99
Smells like chillis - baby spring oniony.  The palate has a bit more of the chillies, some mineral notes, a little bit of gunpowder and a bit of alcohol kicking in.  Clean on the finish with a very gentle, creamy texture element.  6/10

2010 Sula Vineyards Red Zinfandel £7.99
Smoked jam, tea and smoked barley.  Palate is confected bramble sweeties and with some smoke elements.  A big disappointment from this producer and I mimicked the wine by mixing Laphroaig Single Malt with some red wine.  4/10

Thailand
 I really didn't know what to expect from Thai wine.  The blended wines weren't great, but the single varietals actually were OK.  These higher quality wines were a bit pricy, but the Colombard would give some Chilean versions of this varietal a run for their money.  The vintages are also given in the Buddhist calendar, and I have included them below.

2552 (2009) Monsoon Valley Blended White £7.99
Chlorine on the skin followed by grass, spring flowers and orange sherbet chews.  Pretty bland up front, then you get a hit of alcohol, lots of acid and then some bad salt caramel.  Pretty boring.  It is not offensive but it isn't good.  3/10

2553 (2010) Monsoon Valley Premium Colombard £9.49
Some citrus up front with a little bit of grass on the nose.  Sherbet too.  Palate is a little vegetal, then some oily, olive oil elements come through.  A lot of acid on the finish, but it is ok but the price?  5/10

2551 (2008) Monsoon Valley Blended Red £7.99
Very unpleasant.  It smells of poop and cranberries.  It is like sucking on dried up green peppers, with a handful of Bertie Bassets thrown in.  1/10

2551 (2008) Monsoon Valley Special Reserve Shiraz £9.49
Black pepper spare ribs with a bit of berry juice.  Palate is peppery with hints of cherry and liquorice.  Some curried elements too just at the start of the finish.  Quite dark finish, a little heat.  A bit pricy but ok.  6/10

Japan
Finally Japan.  I really had no idea what to expect from these wines.  I did a bit of research into wines from Japan, and found that the Koshu grape is highly resistant to mould and rot, a necessity in Japan due to the typhoon and rain seasons.  They produce delicate, minerally, wines and would be ideal accompaniments to sushi or light fish dishes.  I was really impressed by these wines.

2009 Grace Winery Koshu Kayagatake £15.49
Lemon jelly beans, perfumey too on the nose.  The palate is simple, minerally, salty with citrus pith a touch of alcohol and acid that is softened by delicate fruit.  Very delicate, pretty and yet without being polished.  It is great and well worth the money.  8/10

2009 Grace Winery Koshu Hishyama £18.49
Really nice perfume, but with some red berry skin, some black bean sauce saltiness but much more delicate.  Some citrus comes through on the palate, hints of honey and some pretty phenols with a little sandstone and grapefruit pith.  Another excellent wine.  8/10

By Peter Wood with No comments