#340 Royal Wedding Champagne

 

It had to be done, a tasting note of the Champagne being served at the Royal Wedding today.  The Royal couple will be toasting their future with Pol Roger Reserve, and whilst watching the wedding on television, I tried this non vintage fizz.

Pol Roger Reserve Non Vintage

Lovely honey coated biscuits on the nose, a little lemon and some gentle sweet floral aromas.  There is some lemon pith, a bit of subtle grapefruit pip flavour.  Some mineral notes come through, some pepper on the end and a long finish with some biscuit, lemon curd sweetness and some diluted lemon juice.  Always a stunning non vintage champagne.  8/10

I'd like to wish the couple all the happiness for their future life together.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#339 Wine & Whisky - Tullibardine & Coume del Mas

 Putting whisky, particularly single malt whisky, into wine, port or sherry casks is nothing new.  However, declaring the provenance of the casks isn't often done unless the distillery wants to shout about having barrels from a rather famous Bordeaux producer.

This isnt the case at Tullibardine, whe they have released a Banyuls casket whisky, and have declared that the wine casks were from Coume del Mas, and once housed the Galeteo Banyuls. 

I got a chance to try the new whisky, and thought it would be a good time to revisit the wine as well.

2009 Coume del Mas Banyuls
Lovely strawberry aromas with a lot of darker bramble and raisin flavours.  Good fruit on the palate, a tannic and spice nature coming through with lots of dark, liquorice and cocoa.  Very very good with with a long, dark aftertaste.  8/10

Tullibardine Banyuls Finish
A rich sweet aroma, lots of red berry fruit and a strawberry aroma.   Rose colour, some spice but then you get the dried fruit and a bundle of dried strawberry.  A lot of Jammy notes, some high alcohol but a lovely long, sweeter finish.  8/10 £30 per bottle

When trying both together, you can see that the wine has given a lot of it's flavour to the whisky,  with berry fruit coming through the flavour of the Tullibardine.  If this distillery builds relationships with other wine producers who allow them to put their name on the whisky, maybe even incorporate some brand identity too, Tullibardine could have an interesting, fun and profitable unique selling point.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#338 Perfect Picnic whites

We are all enjoying the lovely spring sunshine at the moment, and going off on picnics to the beach or to the countryside.  There is only one problem - by the time you get to your romantic picnic spot, the delicious white wine that you have chilled within an inch of its life has heated up in your picnic basket, and the condensation has made your sandwiches soggy.

So here are a pair of wines that taste really good at room, or picnic basket, temperature.  No need to cool them, and if you happen to have a rock pool or stream nearby your chosen spot, all you have to do is put them in that for twenty minutes to get any heat off them and then crack open and enjoy. 


2009 Kungfu Girl Riesling (Washington, USA)
Light, fresh lime and melon aromas with just a hint of lemon sorbet on the nose.  A lot of sherbet on the nose.  The palate has a freshness, some bitter minerally notes, but a gorgeous, immediate, lemon and lime sorbet flavour.  The palate has good acid, cleans your mouth out and yet gives you this delightful gentle citrus flavour.  8/10



2007 Quinta da Murta Classico (Bucelas, Portugal)
Made from the Arinto grape, this wine has a plastic and citrus aroma, mixed with some mango skin and fresh spring flowers.  The palate is dry, with some really tasty stone fruit flavours - peach immediately springs to mind.  The finish is soft, very long and with some really lovely fresh fruit and a bit of nettle coming through on the end.  7/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#337 Evolving Angelus

Watching a wine evolve over time is something that I love doing as, usually, if you are drinking a bottle of wine with friends, the bottle has gone pretty quickly and you never get a chance to see how it evolves.  Every so often, I like to open a wine, taste it and then leave it for a number of hours, just to see what happens.  Sometimes they fall apart, other times they improve greatly.  This was the latter.


1995 Chateau Angelus
The nose has a lovely rich sweet cherry aroma with some cassis coming through, but mainly dominated by the stone fruit.  There is a little chocolate and some meatier element, almost like roasting juices, followed up by a herbal and vegetal aroma.  There is a nice polish element on the end of the nose too, maybe a touch of cherry menthol too.  The palate is soft, the tannins firm but without attacking you.  There is a little bit of alcohol on the mid palate, but with lots of savoury notes - cocoa, leather and charcoal.  The fruit is pretty well hidden, with only the slightest bitter plumskin and cherry stone emerging.  It still has time, in fact it still needs time, for the tannins to soften further and the fruit to emerge from its savoury veil.  Having said that, when it does, this will be a super wine and I'm looking forward to trying it later.  8/10

After a few hours to open up, it softens on the nose, with a more harmonious aroma, less distinguishable smells and more of a simple, but elegant, olfactory delight.  I know it is a bit of a cop out, but it smells of really good old wine, something that you can describe but usually can't be bothered because you just want to enjoy it.  And when you put it in your mouth, you do start to enjoy it.  The alcohol has subsided, as have the tannins that are now gentle.  The fruit has emerged and is in balance with the more savoury, bitter flavours.  The finish is very long and dusty, and with a light, stalky flavour.  Again, a super old wine with a really long lasting finish.  9/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#336 6 Questions with... Robert M Parker Jr

How do you introduce the most influential wine critic of all time?  Well, I suppose like that really.  But for those of you who don't know, Robert M Parker is the most influential wine critic of all time.  Period!  Since the mid 1970s, his opinions on wine in general, and Bordeaux specifically, have not only aided people from all over the world in choosing what wine to buy, but have influenced the pricing and styles of wine made by producers who know that a good score from Parker will do wonders for their bottom line.  He tries over 5000 wines every year, down from a peak of over double that.  I emailed him through his website, thinking that I would get an email saying that he was too busy - this being Bordeaux En Primeur season and all.

Not only did I get a reply, I got extensive answers and a very pleasant end to the email, where he thanked me for giving him a few days to answer my questions!

Ever wondered what music Robert Parker likes, well we now know as I asked him six questions...

What is your most prized possession? 
Assuming you are talking about some tangible/material item and aside from some bottles of wine from my birth year and wedding year, I would say it is the Medal of the Legion of Honor that was personally pinned on my lapel by France’s President Jacques Chirac in 1999.

What is your favorite book and why? 
Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, which I have read twice over the years, remains my favorite book. I believe she saw the dangers of collectivism, group lynch mob mentality, and the blind following of charismatic and often dangerous people.

Describe yourself in three words. 
Optimistic, fun, transparent

What sort of music do you like listening to? 
With the exception of rap, I listen to lots of different styles of music, but I tend to have a preference for songs with a message. Obviously the great Bob Dylan music from the sixties still resonates with me today, but I love the sound coming out of West Texas from songwriters and musicians such as Danny Schmidt, Gurf Morlix, and the relatively well-known songstress Lucinda Williams.

Do you have any hidden talents? 
I am actually a fairly skilled chef and I know almost as much about many of the world’s cuisines as I do about the world’s wines.

Three people real or fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at a dream dinner party and what would you be drinking?
1) Winston Churchill; 2) Jeremy Brett (the British actor famous for his role as Sherlock Holmes); 3) John F. Kennedy.  As far as wines, I would probably use a great vintage of Dom Pérignon Champagne to cut any tension among the group, followed by several of California’s finest Chardonnays, such as Marcassin or Aubert, and then a combination of a series of mature 20-25-year old red Bordeaux followed by some 5-10-year old Grenache-based wines from Châteauneuf du Pape or from such California wineries as Saxum, Alban or Sine Qua Non.

As far as after dinner, I generally do not like or drink much Cognac, but I would offer the finest  Cognac I have ever drunk, the Lot 29 Tesseron Cognac, which is supposed to be an unblended, unmanipulated, undiluted, pure Cognac from stocks of the Tesseron family all from 1929.


With thanks to Robert M Parker Jr and Joan Passman
eRobertParker.com

By Peter Wood with No comments

#335 An aged bargain

Older wines are becoming scarce in most wine shops nowadays, such is the need for a quick turnaround of stock to maintain a fluid cash flow.  Long gone are the days that you could saunter into your nearest specialist and find a few aged gems for very little money.  If you want wine with significant age, you have to rely upon specialist merchants such as Peter Wylie Fine Wine or producers like Tondonia, Chateau Cissac or Chateau Tour de By, both of whom tend to hold back stock and release as mature wines. 

So this wine, the 1994 Corino Barolo Vigneto Rocche at £23.99 is a great buy.  Firstly, a Barolo at twenty four quid is a steal anyway, but for it to have 17 years of age on it is unheard of.  The nose is lovely, with stoney fruit aromas, a little blackberry and a bit of tobacco coming off too.  Then a lovely light tar like aroma - so soft though - and some hints of dried leather and maybe beef jerky.  The palate shows its age, with the fruit definitely on its way out and some more savoury secondary flavours including dark chocolate, more meaty notes, a little bit of alcohol spiking and a touch of liquorice.  It is very gently delivered though, and when paired with some Lamb Koftas, the pairing was superb. (7/10 on its own, 9/10 with the food) 

It reminded me why I love older wine.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#334 Convert to the dark side of the Force

 

One of the most memorable scenes from any movie of my childhood was when Luke Skywalker was dangling having just lost his right hand, and Darth Vader tries to convince him to turn to the dark side of the force.  Today I tried a pair of wines that reminded me of that scene - a battle verses the evil Empire of alcohol and the old rebellian ways of low alcohol and refinement.

Firstly was the 2003 Rockford Local Growers Semillon.  This eight year old from Barossa is an interesting, clean, fresh (despite its age) wine.  It has gunpowder on the nose, a little apple and some lettuce aromas with just the tiniest amount of honey, or honeydew melon, sweetness coming through.  The palate is all about pineapple skin and pencil, but what amazes me is that it is only 11.5% alcohol and you don't notice any of it.  This is an old school Australian white, and what I really want from this country, but sadly now wines like this are too high in booze.  Low alcohol is an old way of life in Australia, nearly extinct and except for a few old bottles. (7.5/10) Similarly, Star Wars Episode 4 tells the story of an old Jedi way of life, on the brink of extinction, with the evil Empire ruling all.  Until now, I have been a low alcohol Jedi. 

And then came The Empire Strikes Back, and the scene at Cloud City.  Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father and tries to convert Luke to the dark side of the force.  When I tried the 2006 Flaccianello della Pieve from Fontodi, I was being converted to the dark side.  At 15% alcohol, this is, in theory, far too big in alcohol for me, but such is this wines seductive ways, you become sorely tempted.  Very ripe fruit, lots of cherry and purple plum skin bitterness comes through on the nose with a good dose of chocolate, toffee and semi dried fruit including prunes and dates.  You are enticed further with big, powerful tannins that are delivered in such a soft way that before you know it you have been beaten up by them but don't care.  You get bitter chocolate, loads of leather and then the berries - at first slowly, but then a rush of more plum skin, then flesh and bramble leaves coated in juice.  A mighty wine with meaty elements, and earth on the finish. (8.5/10)

It is so seductive, instead of letting go and plummeting as Skywalker did, I'm getting Vader to throw me down a rope and I'm climbing up to join him in his high alcohol evil Empire.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#333 Georgian Wines from Chateau Mukhrani

 

I got three samples of Georgian wine recently and knowing diddly squat about this nation's winemaking history, I reached for my Wine Encyclopedia.  In there, there was one paragraph.

"Georgia has one of the oldest winemaking traditions in the world.  There is evidence that the first vines could have spread from here or, at least, been preserved in this area during the last major ice age.  Georgia has numerous valleys, each with its own favourable microclimate, and it is said that they contain 1,000 indigenous grape varieties.  This should one day propel this country to the forefront of the East European wine scene, but isolated pockets of enthusiasm have yet to be translated into a solid range of quality wines on the shelf." Tom Stevenson from The Sotherby's Wine Encyclopedia

So I needed to go to Wikipedia... I know, it isn't the best source for information, but in the absence of anything else, I did more reading there, so rather than rehash it all, I suggest you just follow this link!

The wines I tried were all single varietal wines from Chateau Mukhrani.  The first thing I noticed was that they were all twelve-ish percent alcohol, and this could be a big selling point for these wines.  Long gone are the days when Bordeaux or Australian wines were at this strength, so for those people who want lower strength wines - and there are lots - the Eastern block may be able to produce them.  Secondly, this country, with its own grape varieties, offer the true wine geek the chance to experience so many new styles of wine.  Sure, like any wine producing nation, there is going to be some rubbish, but from trying these three wines shows that there is promise. 

2009 Chateau Mukhrani Mtsvane 
Made from the grape called Mtsvane, meaning 'new, young and green', this wine really does what it says on the tin!  It is a young drinking, fresh wine but with a bit of complexity to it.  There is a sweet fresh pineapple on the nose followed by a little bit of bacon fat.  Then there is some citrus notes and a bit of beeswax - always a clean crisp element and then some fatter aroma.  Pineapple and a little bit of lemon on the palate, nice balance at first, then some alcohol heat in the mid palate but it calms down.  There is a nice forward fruit component and some more of the wax on the finish with a little bit of burnt match, but rather tasty and worth the £13 you will pay for it.  7/10

2009 Chateau Mukhrani Rkatsiteli 

This grape is often blended with Mtsvane and if this is how it tastes on its own, I can tell why.  It smells like a bit of clay with some lemon squeezed on and a bit of yellow plum skin wrapped around.  It is quite minerally with some sweeter aromas of tropical fruit at the end of the nose.  The palate is dry, quite minerally with some pear and pencil, and with a little sweetness on the end.  The finish is nice, a simple wine, but nothing to write home about.  OK.  5.5/10

2007 Chateau Mukhrani Saperavi 

Saperavi is not only the grape variety here, but the style of wine.  There are three wines, made from the same grape, but aged in cask for different times.  Mukuzani is aged for 3 years, Kindzmarauli for two and Saperavi for one.  It had a little bit of clay on the nose, some cherry fruit coming through with a little dusty note.  Some other berry aromas, maybe blueberry, come through but a bit of plasticine is offputting.  The palate is dry, with some cherry stone coming off and a little bit of earthy flavours mixed with some raspberry and crunchy berries.  It has slightly firm tannins, but not overpowering and it is a perfectly drinkable wine.  It is a bit pricy, I'd like to see it under £10, but for a 'new' region in the UK, it is not horrifically overpriced at £13.  6/10

As an introduction to Georgian wine, I'm pretty pleased with it.  I'm interested in trying more, if I can get hold of any, but these three wines are available in the UK priced between £12 and £13.  Now I just have to find something that isn't Wikipedia to learn about Georgian wine from.

By Peter Wood with 2 comments

#332 Biodynamic drinking - hippy or science?

Cynical Biodynamics Lesson 101
Biodynamics - a method of farming where you shove excrement in a cow horn and bury it whilst dancing naked around your vines, singing and sacrificing a virgin.  It involves magic potions that include ingredients such as deer urinary bladders, skulls and dandelions.  There are also all sorts of strange and wonderful things that you can do to encourage your grapes to grow better, most of which, a couple of hundred years ago, would have resulted in a hoard of hysterical peasants yelling "burn the witch".  Oh, and the concept was embraced by the Nazis to the extent that Auschwitz had a biodynamic garden.  End of lesson.

I'm not going to go into the pros and cons of whether biodynamic farming has any benefit - I'm neither a winemaker or a farmer so I can't pass any comment on this - and there are arguments on both sides, but there is one aspect of biodynamics that I am interested in - the biodynamic calendar.

Apparently every day of the year is either a root, fruit, flower or leaf day and the fruit and flower days are best for drinking wine.  So, in an exceptionally amateurish way, I tested this theory out.  According to the biodynamic calendar, April 13th 2011 is a leaf day and the 14th is a fruit day.  Therefore, on the 13th a wine should suck and on the day after it should be glorious.  But how could I test this without any variables such as bottle variation or oxidisation.

After I lightly made fun of their video, the people at WineSave kindly sent me a couple of cans of their WineSave gas for me to try.  This heavier-than-air argon gas forms a layer on the surface of wine and prevents it from going off or breathing.  So, after testing the WineSave on a sample wine to make sure it worked (and it does) the plan was as follows. 

Open one cheap wine and one more pricy wine on a leaf day.  Taste them, write a note and rate them.  Then, squirt a bit of WineSave over the top of the surface and keep both wines in one place for 24 hours.  The next day, a fruit day, I repeat the process.  If there is anything in this biodynamic calender, the wines should be better on a second day.  Simple really.  Here is what I found out.

Day 1 Leaf Day - wines are supposed to suck
2001 Trimbach Cuvee de Signeurs de Ribeaupierre Gewurztraminer
Beautiful aromatics of fresh flowers, a touch of honey and then some gorgeous sweetened grapefruit come off the wine.  The palate has a minerally note up front, then some grippy alcohol.  It is very minerally, some higher alcohol coming through.  The finish is nicely balanced, some good petrol notes too and a super clean finish.  It isn't gripping me as much as it should, but it is a good wine.  7/10

2008 Tramontane Grenache
Bright, vibrant cherry fruit, a little bit of cassis kicking in with just a touch of spice and leather.  There is some red apple skin, some leather, spice elements too with some really nice dusty flavours.  It has a slight peak of alcohol, but it softens well with nice balance.  The tannins grip a bit and then clean up well in the finish.  It is almost as though someone has taken the bright fruit and put a layer of dust on it.  7.5/10

Day 2 Fruit Day - wines are supposed to rock
2001 Trimbach Cuvee de Signeurs de Ribeaupierre Gewurztraminer
A bit more minerally up front, and then backed up with the floral honey aromas.  A little bit of white pepper too.  A lot of grapefruit coming through.  There is bacon fat on the palate, the alcohol has softened and it is much better integrated than yesterday.  It lacks some of the showy elements it did yesterday.  The finish is very elegant and it is no doubt a better wine today. 8.5/10

2008 Tramontane Grenache
A lot of cherries on the nose but they are delivered in a much more complete way.  You have more savoury aromas then yesterday too.  There is none of the red apple, there is no leather and the dust has been polished off.  The palate has a lovely bright fruit, leather texture and the tannins are nice but not imposing.  There is a liquorice element on the start of the finish that evolves into a very nice fruit fest with a bit of menthol coming in.  Again, this is a bit more complete than yesterday.  8/10

Conclusion
On the Fruit day, the wines tasted better than they did on the root day, and therefore the theory that the biodynamic calendar influences how you taste wine could be considered accurate.  However, these wines tasted no better than if they had had a few hours to breathe, so I'm still not convinced as the WineSave may allow a little bit of oxidisation to occur. I admit my test conditions had more holes in them than a lump of Gouda, so one day I may need to be a bit more clinical and repeat this test.  At the moment though, I'm a little bit convinced that this hippy-dippy calendar might have something to it after all.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#331 Blind Chardonnay

Blind tasting - nothing puts your wine tasting skills to the test like it.  A dozen Chardonnays that, although I will have tried most of them before, I don't actually know what wine is what.  I did know some of the wines in that there would be an Italian and a Chilean and some from America and Burgundy, but I didn't have a clue in what order they would be coming at me.

Wine 1 (2002 Chablis 1er Cru Bessin Montmains - Burgundy, France)
Smells a bit like flat champagne, but older champagne.  A lot of honey, some citrus fruit and a bit of over ripe mango.  There isn't much coming off the palate, there is, again, that old champagne flavour - with no oak.  A bit of dry honey comes through and then some sherry like flavours.  The alcohol peaks on the back end   I'd say this is reasonably old Chablis.  The finish is nicely minerally but it is a bit past it.  3/10  Got it spot on, but I was looking for

Wine 2 (2008 Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay - Oregon, USA)
An initial up front butter element, with some tropical fruit backing it up, but with a little bit of spirit coming through with just a touch of ginger.  The palate is ok, a little lacking in fruit and then with some more oak coming in.  It isn't a butter fest, but it just doesn't have much in the way of complexity, might have a bit of age on it too as it is a bit stripped out.  I'd say a cheaper end Burgundy as the heat doesn't come through that much and it would indicate colder climate. 6.5/10
Being from Oregon, and also made by a producer with French origins, I am happy with my assessment of this.  I know I got it wrong, but what surprises me is that it is only 3 years old.  It tastes a lot older than that.

Wine 3 (2006 Isole e Olena Chardonnay - Tuscany, Italy)
A lot of oak, probably French, with a baked element to it - almost like some pie crust but with a fatty element to it too.  Some nice fruit is there, just evolving merrily along, a bit of papaya and mango.  The palate is a bit bitter at first, some noticeable alcohol kicking you quite badly. It is lacking a bit in fruit, the bitter wood is dominant, but then it cleans up with a very slight ginger note giving some heat and then a pithy fruit finish.  I'd say a bigger Burgundy, maybe hotter year? 7/10  Again I got it wrong, but I think my logic was about right.  2006 was a good year in Tuscany, and a bit hotter, which is where I think the booze comes in.  It is a decent wine, but a bit pricy.

Wine 4 (2007 Chassagne Montrachet Domaine Ramonet - Burgundy, France)
Brighter, some citrus and fresh melon coming off.  Then the oak comes in, a bit heavy handed at first, but softens down.  Pretty closed though.  The palate is simple, light fruit and a gentle element of oak coming through as seasoning.  A creamy texture, some lovely spiced wood notes coming up from the back.  Very clean finish, and very well made.  Maybe Puligny Montrachet?  Not too old either.  8/10   I am annoyed as I wrote Chassagne Montrachet first and then changed it to Puligny - oh well!  It is a really lovely wine.

Wine 5 (2007 Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay - Margaret River, Australia)
This screams burgundy to me.  with bright fresh citrussy aromas and then a lovely cedar box aroma following, and then a bit of tobacco and some lovely bright fruit.  The palate is more of the same, some lovely balanced wood mixing with fresh fruit, showing restraint and elegance.  I really hope that this is good Burgundy because if it is cheap Chilean, I know sod all about wine.  Maybe a Chassagne about 5 - 7 years old?  8.5/10  This was the best wine.  It showed class and sophistication beyond what I tried a few months ago.  It was awarded the title 'Best Chardonnay in the World' and with this wine's performance today, I am not surprised.  I'm very glad that I got this wrong!

Wine 6 (2004 Puligny Montachet Folatieres Ch de Puligny Montrachet - Burgundy, France)
Very herbal and lots of honey and buttered toast.  Possibly a well made Australian or maybe South Africa.  Lovely lighter fruit coming off.  The palate has a bit of age, most of the fruit is lost although some pear juice splattered on dry dusty wood comes through.  It has a bit of heat, but that is coming to the fore through lack of fruit.  A bit of a disappointing wine due to the rather unpleasant fat finish.  Could be an older Italian Chardonnay.  5/10  A big disappointment after starting well on the nose.

Wine 7 (2005 Cloudy Bay Chardonnay - Marlborough, New Zealand)
Spritzy, some pineapple and fresh passion fruit. Then a little bit of oak comes through, but just a touch.  The palate is dry some nice fruit flavours but a bit of alcohol all the way through which is a bit of a problem for me.  Having said that the finish is nice, an oakier wine, maybe from a cooler area in America.  If it wasn't for the alcohol, I'd like this.  6/10  This older wine from Cloudy Bay is a decent wine, ageing well, but the alcohol just ruins this wine a bit.

Wine 8 (2010 Echeverria Unwooded Chardonnay Reserva - Curico Valley, Chile)
Brighter than anything so far - lots of fresh fruit, both citrus and tropical, a little bit of honey creaping through on the back end too.  A flour like start with some softer pithier fruit flavours.  Definitely unoaked with a massive focus on freshness.  It isn't too alcoholic, it is well made, a nice clean finish.  Cheaper Chilean is where I am going, young and unoaked.  I like this.  8/10  This is a really tasty, fresh Chilean Chardonnay and performs well against some bigger wines.

Wine 9 (1999 Beaune Clos de Mouche Joseph Drouhin - Burgundy, France)
A little oak coming off the front end with some really attractive cream covered pears and peaches.  A little ginger too but it is quite covered by the fruit.  The palate is a light start but a lot of minerally notes.  Some really noticeable booze in the middle - it attacks the front of your tongue.  There is a dry, pencil lead dunked in butter flavour - wood and graphite.  This is a bit of a pass.  5/10 I forgot to guess where this came from because it was bad!  I'm surprised at how poor this performed as it should be better.

Wine 10 (2007 Meursault Les Vireuils Jean-Yves Devevey - Burgundy, France)
Very pretty.  A gentle aroma, soft fruit mixed with a lovely bright vanilla pod aroma.  It smells lovely, with just a touch of golden syrup and cream.  The palate is gentle, some lovely dried tropical fruit with a bit of oak very noticable but not at all imposing.  Maybe a Meursault?  I'd say maybe five or so years old as it has some more oxidised flavours, but despite an alcohol peak in the finish, it really does evolve wonderfully with lovely warmth all the way to the end.  A honey note too.  8/10  A really nice wine, I was thinking it was more expensive than it is.  Very good and a wine you should search out.

Wine 11 (2004 Ridge Montebello Chardonnay - California, USA)
Soft and gentle, quite closed at first.  Just a little bit of panna cotta coming off! The palate is pleasant, gentle with some bitter woody, vegetal notes coming through.  There is a pungent flavour at the start of the finish that I am not too hot on and the finish is too aggressive.  I think that this is poor basic burgundy - flabby finish.  4/10  A big shock.  I hope this is just going through a dull period because it really didn't show well.

Wine 12 (2005 Nuits St Georges Blanc Clos de la Marechale Jacques Frederic Mugnier - Burgundy, France)
Herbs and fat - but in a good way!  A gentle style of wine - something strange.  It has elegance to it but it is very closed.  The palate is decent, some very subtle oak flavours with a lovely light, pithy flavour coming through.  The oak is there, dominating a bit but in a super restrained way.  It needs a bit of time as it is closed, but this is probably something like a Nuit St George Blanc.  7/10 with potential. I'm glad I got this back as it is a super wine, just not one that is at its best at the moment.  This Nuits St Georges Blanc is a glorious wine and you just need to cellar it.

I like tasting blind, there is always a curveball thrown at me and today it was the poor showing of Ridge and the good showing of Cloudy Bay.  I'll be doing this again soon with Pinot Noirs and hopefully I might get a few more right!

Postscript Apparently both the Ridge and the Clos de Mouche opened up after a few hours and became outstanding bottles of wine.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#330 Two random whites

I tried two random wines today - for no other reason than I've not tried them in over 2 years.  Firstly a Pouilly Fume from the Loire in France and then a Western Australia Chardonnay.  Two different wines, around a tenner each, widely available throughout the UK.  In a radical departure from the norm, this could be even considered consumer advice...

2009 Chateau Favray Pouilly Fume £11.99
A very soft, pencil lead aroma with lemon pith coming through big time.  There is a little grapefruit too, and some soft, summer flowers.  Very clean aroma, but quite closed.  The palate starts off soft with some lovely grassy notes.  Then you get a spike of alcohol mid palate, some watermelon and a lot of peppery, grassy notes.  There is an almost burnt wood taste on the finish that spoils this, a lot.  The finish dies pretty quickly too.  There are better wines out there and this is a pass.  5/10

2008 Hellfire Bay Chardonnay £9.99
Dried Vanilla pod on the nose at first, muted and a bit woody.  Slightly off cream on the nose, some peach notes with a little bit of honeydew melon.  The palate has sweetness up front, then ithas a richer mid palate, some tropical fruit but with a lot of yeast, bread & butter pudding.  The alcohol warms up towards the end and then there is a bit of a mishmash of creamy fruit, some vanilla and some harder graphite flavours and then you get a minerally finish which reminds me of smirnoff and sandstone!  It is OK, a serviceable wine but I wouldn't go out of my way to try it again soon. 5.5/10

To be honest, I'd give them both a miss.  They are boring wines and there are so many more interesting products out there to try, but if you get given a glass you can drink them and not be upset by them both.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#329 Ten year old Riesling

Another ten year comparison, once again Australia, but now Alsace - a pair of 2001 Rieslings.

2001 was a decent year in Alsace, with bad weather in the spring and there being no flowering until May and June.  Then a lovely summer meant that that things were looking up until rain hit in the autumn.  Fortunately it was saved again by an Indian summer and the wines   The Clare Valley however, started off well, but the year just got hotter and hotter resulting in scorching of the grapes.  Then, just to make things a bit bad for them, rain hit, and then the temperature went through the roof again, resulting in younger drinking wines.

Two wines with turbulent growing seasons, one starting good and the other starting bad.  How has the last ten years affected them?

2001 Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling 375th Anniversary
Soft, round, ginger notes on the nose with a light fresh honey aroma.  Soft, juicy, sweet lemons galore with a little papaya mixed with sweeter spices.  The palate is minerally at first and then becomes a honey flavoured, pencil lead and pineapple skin palate It is soft, well balanced, the 12.5% alcohol is nowhere to be seen and it has a lovely balance.  The finish has a warmth on the end.  Fabulous but still very young and with a long lasting, rich, gorgeous finish.  8.5/10  with more potential.

2001 Wakefield St Andrews Riesing
Very zingy on the nose, some freshly squeezed lemon and lime, with a good dollop of lime zest.  There is just a touch of lime cream on the back end of the nose.  The palate is a little oilier than expected, with lots of lime, a little burnt citrus zest and then a petrol note comes through.  There is also a clay like flavour which is a touch off putting.  There is minerality, but also some sweet elements that just shouldn't be there in a good, aged, dry riesling.  There is also noticable alcohol and the acid is totally off balance.  13% alcohol and you are aware of it. 6/10 It is a bit like a little boy trying to be a grown up whereas the Trimbach is an elegant young lady.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#328 Ten year old Cabernet

The wine critics of the world are in Bordeaux at the minute, tasting the 2010 vintage and everyone is eager to find out how the vintage after a 'legendary' year is tasting.  I am in Scotland, so decided to take a look back a decade to the 2001 vintage.  A year that started off well with some folk saying it could have been another 2000, but then in the early autumn, changeable weather put a stop to any plans for two stonking years on the trot.  On the other side of the world, the Yarra Valley Cabernets had a super 2001 vintage with it being viewed the star of the vintage.  I decided to see how these two regions have survived the decade since harvest, and opened up two wines from 2001 - from St Julien, Chateau Leoville Barton and the Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1 Cabernet Sauvignon.

2001 Ch Leoville Barton
A clear, purple colour, lots of dark cherries, some herbs coming through with a gorgeous vegetal note.  Some dusty rocks too and charred steak fat too.  A little bit of plum coming through with a lot of plum skin.  The palate is restrained, has initial up front vegetal notes, a dusty, leafy note.  But then you get a really nice earthy, spiced berry note with a load of cherry stones and plum skin thrown into the mix.  A really decent, old school Bordeaux, just needing a little more time.  The only complaint is that the tannins grip just a touch, but they will soften.  8/10

2001 Yarra Yering Dry Red No 1 Cabernet Sauvignon
Lighter, brighter fruit.  More strawberries and raspberries and a little bit of chocolate.  It has a little bit of candied berries coming through and although not jammy, you do notice a degree of blackcurrant compote.  Watermelon too comes through on the nose.  The palate has a light fruit sweetness, but with structure and spice.  There is some leathery component sticking out with a tiny degree of jam - but good quality jam - creaping into the mid palate.  There is a little warmth, but it is really well integrated into the wine. 8/10

Both wines are lovely and both wines are well made, but the Leoville Barton simply outclasses the Yarra Yering.  The Australian wine tries hard to be sophisticated and elegant and the French wine simply is sophisticated and elegant.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#327 Wine Web Watch... Leslie Phillips and Black Tower advert

The greatest British cad promoting the a German wine? There is something not right there.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#326 Fast Food Wine List... Subway

Founded with a borrowed $1000 in 1965, Fred De Luca started his first sandwich shop in 1965.  He was 17 years old and the first Subway was established in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  Now with nearly 35,000 franchised shops in 95 territories, this sandwich chain has never had a wine list.  We've created one for it...

 

Chicken & Bacon Ranch

Essentially this is barbecued chicken, so you want something that will match both the lightness of the chicken (so you would think white) but will also match the smoky, sweeter flavours from the ranch sauce (which would mean red).  Something like a Tempranillo should go pretty well with it with the oaky and balsamic notes working with the sweet sauce, but the wine has a floral note to not overpower the chicken.  

Solar de Carillon £6 from Independent Retailers

Marques de Caceres Crianza Rioja £11 Widely Available

Steak & Cheese

The rustic, grilled flavours of steak, onion and green peppers indicate going with a  rustic style of wine.  Go with a Cabernet Sauvignon from the south of France, or maybe something like a Grenache from the same region that should complement the darker, slightly smoky flavours of this sandwich.

Paul Mas Cabernet Sauvignon £7 Widely Available

Tramontane Grenache £7 Luvians Bottleshop

Meatball Marinara

Italian meatballs require italian wine, and what better than a cheap, gluggable Chianti that will work with a herby tomato sauce on the Sub.

Piccini Gran Selezione Oro Chianti Riserva £8 from Tesco

Lavacchio Chiant Rufina £10 from Swig

Tuna Sub

Maybe an unoaked Chardonnay from Chile for this one?  The creamy mayonnaise with the stronger flavoured tinned fish would need a fuller bodied white, but I fear that creamy notes from an oaked Chardonnay would be a bit too much with the mayo, which is why I think unoaked Chardonnay is best.

Errazuriz Unoaked Chardonnay £8 Widely Available

Echieverra Unoaked Chardonnay £10 from Independent Retailers

Chicken Temptation

We are talking Southern Fried Chicken here - chicken breast in a crispy crumb, similar to what the Colonel might have made.  Therefore, a southern French Sauvignon Blanc is my selection, giving a crisp fruity style that will cut through the fat of the breadcrumbs and compliment the light chicken breast.

Sensas Sauvignon Blanc £7 from Majestic

Naked Grape Sauvignon Blanc £7.50 from Waitrose

Subway Melt

I'm going for a traditional American Thanksgiving pairing here.  Turkey always goes well with Gamay as this grape produces a fruity, low tannin red wine.  You can find a decent, inexpensive Beaujolais in any supermarket, but if you want to splash out a bit, get a good producer's basic Beaujolais for around a tenner.

Georges Duboeuf Briouilly £9 Sainsbury's 

Beaujolais Chatoux £10 Independent Retailers

Veggie Patty

It is the red peppers and soy that dominate this Sub, so you are needing a big, smoky white here, and a Burgundian Chardonnay would go perfectly with this.  Rather than a butter or vanilla fest from an American version, the French wine will offer a tobacco box or vanilla pod flavour that should go with the fuller flavoured veggie patty.

Louis Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay £10 Widely Available

Chablis Grand Cru Jean Claude Bessin £27 Independent Retailers 

Italian B.M.T

Again, we are talking an Italian wine for an Italian sandwich, but I'm going a bit left field here and suggesting a white.  An Italian Fiano, with sweeter fruit flavours should cool the spicier notes from the sausage, but not overpower the ham.

Mandrarossa Fiano £7 Independent Retailers

Sannio Fiano Fremendo £9 Majestic

Spicy Italian

Particularly if you have the herbal Italian bread, this wine needs something like a Dolcetto.  Meaning 'little sweet one', the Dolcetto grape offers a sweeter, lower acid, young drinking style of wine but with a tannic element that will be masked by the spicy sausage.

Brown Bros Dolcetto Syrah £8 from Waitrose

Ascheri Dolcetto £13 Independent Retailers

Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki

Lets go sweet here, yet clean up the sweet onion and chicken with a bundle of acid.  Therefore, we have to go to Germany for a sweeter German Riesling that will complement the flavours and yet leave your mouth clean and fresh, which, lets face it, is what you need after eating all of these sandwiches

Dr L Riesling £7.50 from Majestic
Karl Jostock-Thul Piesporter Riesling Kabinett £10 Independent Retailers

All wine suggestions in "A wine list for..." are simply suggestions.  I have not tasted all of these wines or foods and am simply directing you to a product that is widely available for you to consider should you want to pair wine with your fast food.

Subway Website

By Peter Wood with No comments

#325 The battle for Oddbins

When you are fighting a battle, you want to do it in your own territory because you know the lay of the land and have an advantage.  If you are invading, you need much more manpower and strength.   The reason Oddbins died last week was because, under Castel ownership, Oddbins took its eye off the ball in its own territory, and tried to take on other company on their patch.  Then, when they realised they weren't winning these battles, they regrouped and found a stronger enemy now dominating their former kingdom, but they didn't have the forces to retake their homeland.

There are four main outlets for wine sales in the UK – Supermarkets, online, out of town and high street.  You would argue that Oddbins could have fallen into three of these, but the reality was far from the case.

Supermarkets sole goal is to make profit.  Their wines are bulk produced, bulk shipped and distributed throughout the nation.  They make a hefty margin, and give ‘hefty’ discounts.  The net result is they are still making more profit than most specialist wine shops do.  Supermarkets are the place you shop when you don’t care what you are drinking or can’t be bothered/have the time to go specialist retailer.  If an off licence chain tries to compete they will simply fail, as was proven with Threshers.  Thankfully, Oddbins didn’t really try to take on these guys as they would have gone belly up long before now.

Online retailers give convenience and, usually, keen pricing.  They also give a range of products but they are not conducive to company loyalty.  Sure there are companies like the Wine Society that have customers coming back, but that is generally because they just want a case of wine delivered to them on a regular basis, and, like the supermarket shopper, either don’t care what they drink too much or don’t want the hassle of shopping.  For most other online retailers, the customer goes where the product they want is, not because they like the online retailer.  Oddbins did launch a website, but they couldn’t transfer their high street loyalty to their webshop, and their range was not inspiring enough to warrant high web traffic.  At best, Oddbins.com was a token gesture, one that never really stood a chance of winning.

Out of town merchants, and by this I mean Majestic, offer bulk discounts due to their cheaper rates and warehouse format.  The range is good, but they aren’t much good for you if you want a bottle of wine for the evening.  Majestic sacrifice passing trade for bulk sales and a destination venue, and that business model has proven effective. Oddbins’ venture into retail parks was simply to take the high street concept and make it bigger.  They didn’t offer the USP or deals of Majestic, and were facing huge bills for a huge shop with fewer customers than a tightly run high street shop.

Finally, the high street.  This is where Oddbins ruled for a long period of time but their rule was cut short by the incompetence of Castel.  After the French takeover, the range of wines was lost and the staff, who had previously stayed loyal despite terrible pay, left as they no longer enjoyed their job.  These staff went to the independent sector and started competing against their former employer – and started winning.  When Simon Baille & Henry Young took over the company, they wanted to ‘bring the Odd back into Oddbins’, but the ‘Odd’ was established elsewhere in a huge selection of indie merchants throughout the UK.  Look around the many small wine shops in the UK, and you will see the famous 'Oddbins handwritten font' on signs and window drawings and you will find the Oddbins layout with strange and interesting wines scattered around the shop, such is the huge number of former Oddbins employers now in the indie sector.

Try hard as he might, Baille couldn’t offer to the wide range and local diversity that an independent could.  Maybe he should have offered out a form of franchise to the shop managers to operate under the Oddbins banner and focus his attention on the internet.  Maybe he should have hacked the company back to 50 shops in small hubs throughout the main cities of the UK.  Maybe he should have let Oddbins die in the arms of their temporary French master.  Hindsight is always perfect, but praise should be given to him for at least trying to keep the company going.

Oddbins wasn’t the problem and isn't the reason they went bust last week, Castel were.  They thought they knew best and instead of making the successful brand profitable by closing the unprofitable stores and listening to their managers, they went on their own misguided path and destroyed, perhaps, the greatest wine brand the UK has ever seen.  They allowed Oddbins to lose their high street kingdom by expanding into retail parks and online, but in the most half-arsed way imaginable.  Now a load of staff are unemployed, suppliers have lost money and Simon Baille has failed where his father succeeded, through little fault of his own.  He was trying to invade his former territory against a massively strong opposition force - his own company's former army.

By Peter Wood with 3 comments

#324 6 Questions with... Cosmo Sutherland

Rather than thinking of an elaborate April Fools Joke, I thought I'd do something different and go grass roots with my 6 Questions with and ask the questions to a part time wine shop worker, so I'm introducing to the world Cosmo Sutherland who works for me in Luvians St Andrews.  He is a language student at St Andrews University and has been in the trade for the past 10 months.  He is a beer (and food) enthusiast.

What got you interested in beer?
The sheer variety of ales available. There's a pub called The Guildford Arms in Edinburgh which has about 15 on at a time, so I spent much of my youth trying to taste them all.

Describe yourself in three words.
Hungry, Led Zeppelin

Since you started working in the trade, how have your tastes changed?
My tastes have definitely branched out more. I am much more interested in wine than I used to be and drink more whisky too. But just as much ale. 

What is the most memorable drink you have ever tried?
There have been a few, but  recent one which was both enjoyable and memorable was Brewdog's Abstrakt 05. All coconut, and dark chocolatey sweetness- pretty tasty.

Would you ever consider a career in the trade?
I couldn't see myself working for a big drinks company, but I would quite happily run or own a brewery, a distillery, a vineyard, a pub, a food and booze pairing bistro... 

Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?
Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. A keg of Trade Winds. And maybe an Uigedail for after dinner.

By Peter Wood with No comments