#358 Gruaud Larose Vertical Tasting

Chateau Gruaud Larose is a fantastic wine.  Aside from its neighbour, Ducru Beaucaillou, Gruaud is the only wine from Bordeaux I have been following for the past decade, and because of its reasonable pricing for wines both old and young, I have tried more vintages than I have of Ducru.

Gruaud Larose is a wine that needs time.  It is a wine that doesn't show off much in its youth, needing to have all of its character coaxed out of its dark, savoury mask, only through the passage of time.  This is what I like about it.  It is a top wine from Bordeaux that anyone can attain, put away and watch how it evolves and fortunately, for the consumer, it doesn't attract the speculators that other Bordeaux do.  I've not done a vertical tasting of this Chateau for a number of years, and to do one spanning a decade and a half was superb.

1990 Chateau Gruaud Larose
Soft cherry fruit, very balanced with some dark chocolate coming through.  A little sweeter fruit  - cherry and damsons - with some cocoa on the nose as well.  The palate starts with green pepper, a little cherry and then some dusty leather flavours coming through, with an earthy element on the finish.  A lovely wine, nicely balanced with some dark aniseed and liquorice coming through on the finish.  8.5/10

1995 Chateau Gruaud Larose
A juicy wine, lots of herbs, and sweet and sour cherry.  There is a lovely dark, savoury element coming off the nose, but with a lot of delicious fruit being there as well.  A dark note underlying it all.  The palate has a full, creamy texture with some spice emerging first, and then tobacco and herbs coating the gorgeous, beautifully balanced fruit.  The finish is dark, with lots of veggie flavours - this is proper Bordeaux.  I love it.  9/10

2000 Chateau Gruaud Larose
A big sweet wine, lots of juicy berries with dark brambles and chocolate.  Very very dark with a dark, bonfire toffee aroma and sweet aniseed balls mixing with the sweet fruit.  The palate is big and tannic.  Leather, lots of earth, but also lots of jammier fruit.  It is almost a fruit reduction coming through with some green peppers, liquorice and some woody note.  A bit of a big wine, with the savoury notes you expect from Gruaud Larose, but a bigger fruit presence that I'm not keen on. This wine just lacks the balance I want from Gruaud, and is a bit too juicy and, dare I say it, American.  7/10

2006 Chateau Gruaud Larose
Dark, broody and with a lot of cherry but with it all covered by tobacco and chocolate.  A meaty element on the nose, some dark leathery flavours, cocoa and green pepper too.  Some spice with a very clean flavour, all full of green pepper and earthy, savoury flavours.  It is still closed, still dark and still young, but it doesn't have the sweeter, jammier, American fruit of the 2000 vintage.  8/10

Gruaud Larose produce stunning wines, but I tend to prefer the more classic Bordeaux years over the juicier, jammy fruit forward and Parker pleasing wines.  1990 and 2000 don't do it for me as much as the earthy, gutsy yet refined and elegant 1995.  Parker rated the 2000 the best wine since 1990 (with the exception of 2009), showing he loves this style of Gruaud, but I am not as much of a fan.  1995 floats my boat and I hope that the two thousand and six vintage does the same in the next decade.

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By Peter Wood with No comments

#357 Three Blind Pinots

Another small blind tasting, comprising of three Pinot Noirs.  I knew what the wines were but hadn't a clue which glass they were in.  The specs were simple.  All wines were from the 2006 vintage.  There were two top Pinots from America and a Burgundian wine that was at least £20 cheaper than the Americans.  I was looking for two things, firstly which I liked the most, but secondly, would the French wine stand out?

Wine 1
Soft light cherry with a wonderfully light, fresh strawberry and raspberry aroma.  Some parma violets comes through with a little bit of crisp, tart raspberry.  It has a lovely, dusty note at first, then a bit of alcohol, before settling down to a spicy, crisp berry fruit and crunchy, red apple flavour.  A dark note on the finish, with rather lovely balance and a lot of old worldy fruit.  I think this is the Volnay as it really does scream old world. 8.5/10

Wine 2
A bigger aroma, lots of richer, sweeter fruit.  Some stewing raspberries and just the slightest hint of stewing rhubarb too.  A much fuller, and creamier texture.  There is a dark, blackcurrant flavour, mixed with lighter, red fruit flavours.  Crisp cranberry comes through with some tasty spice.  The alcohol isn't as noticeable, and it is super clean.  I think this is the Thackrey as I feel it has a little bit of the funky, fun element that I see in his Pleiades.  8/10 

Wine 3
The aroma, is fuller than wine 1 with a darker berry fruit.  A touch of mint comes through as well with a lovely savoury note as well.  This is a much better balance between the first two.  A bit more full sweet fruit with some dusty, twiggy like flavours.  A raspy palate, a touch high acid, but it then settles to reveal delicious savoury notes.  I think this is the Flowers, as it is a more traditional wine but with a warmer new world nudge. 9/10

Results
Wine 1 - 2006 Flowers Andreen - Gale Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Wine 2 - 2006 Sean Thackrey Andromeda Pinot Noir, Marin County
Wine 3 - 2006 Volnay Domaine Michel Lafarge, Burgundy

Firstly, I'm impressed with the Volnay from Domaine Michel Lafarge.  The wine is £35 per bottle and it severely over delivers on quality.  However, it did have a bigger slightly sweeter nose, which confused me as to its origin.  The Andromeda from Sean Thackrey was lovely, and definitely showed as American - which is good - and it has a fun, complex flavour.  Finally the Flowers, is Burgundy!  Quite simply, this wine smells, tastes and is Burgundy except in where it comes from.  The problem is, if you say it is Burgundy, and is getting beaten by a wine, from Burgundy, that is nearly £30 cheaper, it doesn't offer good value for money!

By Peter Wood with No comments

#356 Graham's 1963 Vintage Port

I don't often venture into the cellar looking to take out one of my old wines.  As prices keep rising, buying old, mature wines is getting far too expensive so I do tend to treasure my old stock, and my port collection especially so.

But last night, I thought 'what the hell' and after a lovely dinner, I cracked the wax seal on a bottle of 1963 Grahams.  Granted, I picked the bottle that was slightly seeping, but found that this wine was in superb condition.

A bricky red colour greeted me in the glass, with a light, yet rich, sweet aroma of cherry, blackcurrant and a lot of prunes.  There was also some toffee, coffee and mint coming off with a bit of Cherry Tunes (cough sweets) - cherry and eucalyptus - followed by mint chocolate.  The palate was quite boozy at first, with darker, leathery flavours.  These led onto a spicy, raisin and date flavour, mixed with coffee beans and black pepper.  There was a slight rich honey sweetness on the start of the finish, with toasted spices and sweet berry compote.  This is a super wine, approaching its half century, and is still too young.  I have two bottles left, and I want to keep one until it is a pensioner, as I think it will be getting great then.  Currently, 8.5/10 but this could, at the right time, be a perfect wine.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#355 Riedel Glasses - Functional beauty

Glasses.  Everyone has their own favourite type of glassware, and usually, it comes down to one of two things.  Aesthetics or function.  A lot of wine enthusiasts have tulip shaped glasses, or tasting glasses, that are wide at the bottom and thin at the top, allowing the aromas to concentrate on your nose.  The ISO tasting glass is a perfect example of a glass that has a function.  Then you have the ornate glasses, or the cut Edinburgh crystal glasses that your granny uses.  Big and chunky glasses, flared outwards to the top, or the stumpy glass shape akin to a tennis ball cut in half and stuck on a stem.  These glasses are for appearances only.

But what if you actually want to maximise the potential of your wine over a dinner party?  What glass do you use? One that is stylish or one that will show off the wine?  Well, without this meaning to sound like an advertising advert for a glass company, you could try Riedel.

I've liked Riedel for years.  I own several of their beautiful sommelier series glasses, and usually use their Restaurant Chianti glass when I'm drinking anything from Champagne to Bordeaux, but I've never had systematically experimented and compared the same wine in different glasses until today.

I attended a Riedel masterclass, conducted by Maximilian Riedel, whose grandfather Joseph was the first man to realise that wine tastes different in different glasses, and who laid the foundations for the company we know today.  We were presented with four Riedel glasses and a plastic beaker, and we tried four wines in these glasses

The first Riedel glass was the O Series stemless Sauvignon Blanc/Riesling glass.  We were tasting a German Riesling in this glass, and it showed a little bit of honey, some pear and melon coming through with a little bit of lime.  The concept of this glass is to bring out the fruit to balance ith the acid, and it succeeds.  There is a crispness in the wine, with some subtle sweetness coming through with a little bit of creamy texture.  We then poured the plastic beaker - an often used tool for tasting in American wine shops and a similar shape to the crystal glasses of the 1950s - you expect the nose to close down as all of the aromas are escaping.  This it does, but what you don't realise until you try it, is how much the palate changes too.  The acid becomes more prominent and the wine is very sour.  the soft, subtle sweet flavours are totally gone and the wine is stripped bare.  The wine is ruined.


We moved onto the second glass, a Vinum Extreme Chardonnay glass, with an Californian Chardonnay.  This was a diamond shaped glass, with a wide waist and a bigger bowl with a much larger rim.  The bigger bowl is needed with oaked wines, giving the wine a larger surface area and enabling it to breathe, and the rim has to be bigger due to the wine having a lot more power to show and a smaller rim would concentrate the aromas too much.  In this glass, the wine had aromas of apple and mango with some lovely grapefruit coming off.  There is oak, but not over the top.  It was a very fruit driven wine, with an oily palate, balanced with the minerality.  There are cedar flavours, a bit of tobacco and then a little spike of alcohol.  We then put the Chardonnay into the first glass, and it loses most of its nose, with the oak being killed off and the fruit dampened.  The palate too is bitter, with a hint of vodka coming through and far much more alcohol.  All the depth this wine had is gone.  But it got worse when the wine went into the plastic tumbler.  Not a single aroma came off, and the palate was flat, dull and with no fruit.  A wine ruined by a plastic beaker!

The third glass was the Restaurant XL Pinot Noir glass.  We were told that this is not only good for red Pinot Noir, but also Champagnes with a high percentage of Pinot in the blend, and Dom Perignon has determined that this style of glass is perfect for showing off their wine.  We tried a Sonoma County Pinot Noir in this glass, and the flared rim, or 'acidity pumper' as Maximilian called it, and gives the wine lift.  The aroma was of cherry and strawberries coated in a little white pepper, with lovely crisp red fruit aromas.  The palate had soft, balanced tannins, you don't notice any alcohol, and has flavours of cranberries, and a nice acid cleaning up your palate, leading onto a gentle, sweeter red fruit finish.  Moving to the Chardonnay glass, the wine becomes sweeter, more confected, and also muted.  There is a baked fruit element coming through and dried cranberries too.  It has a thinner palate, very linear and bitter, with all the richer elements of the palate gone.  In an effort to wreck the wine some more, it too went into the plastic beaker, and it just killed the nose and the palate became a green, bitter mess.


Finally was an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, in the XL Cabernet Glass.  The wine showed aromas of black olives, brambles with a minty note too.  The palate had a chocolate and coffee flavour with soft tannins.  This glass calmed down a big, powerful wine, showing the more subtle, floral notes with the vanilla oak acting as a seasoning rather than a dominant flavour.  The same cannot be said when the wine went into the Pinot Noir glass, where the nose was only about the creamy, oaky aromas and then sweeter, more confected aromas.  It became more stereotypically Aussie with the Pinot Glass.  Then, moving to the Chardonnay glass, you only got burnt vanilla and charred wood on the nose with no fruit, not even the confected from the Pinot glass.  There were harsh tannins, and unpleasant leathery dark flavours.  Finally, into the plastic cup, it became a savoury, tannic, bitter, green abomination.

Most people just drink from one style of glass, so when assessing new wines, I'll still use a tulip shaped glass as it gives a more relevant tasting for my customers as I will try the wine in a glass similar to the one they will use.  However, when I am drinking my wines I am singing from the Riedel hymn sheet.  To adapt the analogy from Maximilian Riedel, you can play 18 holes of golf with one club but it won't be a good round.  You need a bag of clubs to play well, and the world of wine is the same - you need a number of glasses that enable you to get the best from your wines and Riedel are the Titleist of the glass world.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#354 Furmint from Hungary

I adore Tokaji.  The Hungarian sweet wine that, to me, is preferable to any Sauternes is one of the most decedent and delicious wines in the world.  The grape which normally is the backbone of their sweeter wines is the Furmint.  Thought to have come to Hungary in the 13th century, Furmint tends to be planted in the eastern European nations and former Soviet states, and is taken from the word 'Froment', that refers to the wheat-gold colour wines it produces.  I was eager to see if Hungary could do as well with dry wines as they can with sweet, and tried two dry versions of this grape today.  There could not have been more of a difference! 

2009 Patricius Tokaj Furmint
Pale in colour with a nose of steely, metallic aroma and some grapefruit pith.  A lot of minerally, chalk like aromas and just a slight squirt of lemon skin oil over the top.  The palate was lean, very minerally with lots of citrus pith, a bit of lemon rind and a slight lime taste.  Mainly though, it is all minerals.  The finish is long, and not unpleasant, it is just boring.  5/10

2008 Royal Tokaji Furmint
More golden in colour, some rhubarb coming off a richer, darker nose, with a sweeter vegetal aroma, almost like spinach water.  The palate has a bit of Tokaji funk, some more of the rhubarb and some wet greens coming through.  A strange wine, you notice its Tokaji origins, lots of spice, a bit of nutmeg, and a really interesting finish with nice dried honey flavours mixed with spiced apple.  Really interesting and really tasty with a great clean finish.  A totally different wine from the Patricius.  8/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#353 Port in Springtime

The wind is howling, the sea is covered in white lines where the waves are crashing and the roses that are attached to the front of my house are pulling their securing pins out of the wall and trying to smash their way through the bay window.  It is another lovely spring day in Scotland and what else do you need to try except that famous spring drink.... port!

Before you say anything, I know.  Port is something to review in November, not May, but it is freezing outside and aside from it being light much later, there is little to tell the difference between the 23rd May and 23rd November.  So port it is, and ports from Niepoort.

I decided to try a pair of cheaper ports and also a couple of different vintages of their Late Bottled Vintage.  First up was the Tawny Dee and Ruby Dum.

The Niepoort Tawny Dee was a super wee tawny.  It looked more like a lighter ruby as there was still a lot of red in the colour, but it was quite transparent and looked more like an older vintage.  The nose too had a lot of sweeter, juicier red berries, but there was a definite Tawny element.  Some raisin elements, a lot of brown sugar and prunes came through.  The palate was quite sweet, with a combination of brambles and prunes, blueberries and leather and then with a dried fruit soaked in rum flavour on the finish.  It was very well balanced, with a lovely, long lasting finish.  8/10

The Niepoort Ruby Dum was similarly good.  It was big, juicy, slightly jammy, with a bundle of spice and herbs rammed up your nose.  There was a gorgeous creamy texture with an almost nectar like quality to it, warming your mouth with small pricks of alcohol, tempered by cocoa, milk chocolate and sweet autumn berry flavours.  The main criticism was a slightly alcoholic finish, but it was a lovely port nevertheless.  7/10

Then we went to two vintages of their Late Bottle Vintage.  Niepoort, along with Noval and Warre, produce proper LBV's, not these filtered and cheaper LBVs from Graham or Taylor.  The former group of producers embrace what an LBV is really about, producing a vintage style of port at a younger age without the need for decades of aging.  Whereas Graham and Taylor produce more of a vintage ruby port - not that there is anything wrong with that - it is just that it is a different style.  The traditional style of LBV is a wine that can age, and so I decided to try the 1996 vintage against the current 2005. 

The 1996 Niepoort LBV was a bit passed its best, although that could have been down to storage.  It still showed some lovely fruit aromas and flavours, but it was a bit acidic, and there was a very strong alcohol element coming through.  Secondary flavours of spice were to the fore and it was a bit unbalanced.  Still a port you can drink, but not one that was great.  5/10

The 2005 Niepoort LBV was, at first, a bit volatile, but with time it softened, offering lush berry fruit, a bit of caramel on the nose with some lovely cinnamon and aniseed aromas.  The palate was lush, dark and tannic, with lots of chocolate, honey and brambles galore coming through.  A lovely port that I think needs a few years to settle, but maybe not as many as the 1996 had.  6.5/10

The forward fruit of the Dee and Dum wines won the day for me.  I have no doubt about the quality of either the 1996 or 2005 LBV wines, but today, with the rain pouring and the wind howling, I wanted some instant gratification, and got that from two cheaper bottles of port.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#352 The legal six - Wines of Champagne Moutard

Champagne Moutard is still family run company, with its 17th century origins firmly in the wine business, as they have documents relating to their activity as vine growers.  Like a good proportion of Champagne producers, they use grapes from their own vineyards and from growers that they have worked with for decades, if not centuries.  What Moutard do that is different is that they grow the lesser known trio of grapes, and make a wine with all six legal varietals. 

I tried five Champagnes, and found that they were all pretty good.

Champagne Moutard Cuvee Brut Prestige NV
A 50:50 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, this has soft, light, minerally aromas with a little oyster water and lemon pith thrown in.  Good citrus fruit, nice balance and a clean with a slightly biscuity finish.  Good. 7/10

Champagne Moutard Pinot Noir Extra Dry 'Vignes Beugenux' NV
A little funk on the nose, some more tropical fruit, but definitely noticeable as predominantly Pinot Noir - and this is entirely Pinot Noir!  A little raspberry, rich flavours of red currant, peach with some toast coming through coated in a little bit of honey. 7/10

2002 Champagne Moutard Vintage
In complete contrast to the previous wine, this is entirely Chardonnay.  Despite of this, it has a richer nose than you would expect, some fresh lemon mixed with burnt toast aroma.  Some pear coming through with  bit of brioche, lemon ,marmalade and honey.  8.5/10

2004 Champagne Moutard Cuvee de 6 Cepages
Moutard produce this wine that has equal quantities of the six grape varieties used, and still legal, in Champagne a century ago.  While all the other producers focus on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this also contains Petit Meslier, Arbane and Pinot Blanc.  You notice oyster shell coming off first, then lemon squeezed into some cream and smeared on melon skin!  A creamy texture, some tart and toast aromas, brioche and bread with a light savoury element. 8/10

Champagne Moutard Prestige Rose NV
Containing both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this has light redcurrant aromas with raspberry leaves, but it is pretty closed.  Quite raspberryish with an apple tartness, sour orangey notes and a touch of toast on the end.  Not a bad wine, but there are better.  6.5/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#351 Dopff Wines - "Don't try my Pinot Noir"

The impressively named Balthazard-Georges Dopff was born in Riquewihr, he became the first of a long line of Dopffs to be involved in the wine industry.  He became a master cooper, and his descendants followed him in his trade.  Then, a couple of centuries later, Jean Dopff became a wine merchant, and the company has been passed, father to son, ever since. 

Dopff are most famous for Cremant d'Alsace, not only for producing a wide range of sparkling wines, but for being the first producer of the style of wine in 1900.  In the years preceding the First World War and when Alsace was part of the German Empire, it was called Champagne Dopff, but after the region was returned to France, the term 'Champagne' was protected for wines produced in that region.  The term 'Cremant' was resurrected, again from Champagne, but which had become obsolete in Champagne but it wasn't until 1976 that the AOC Cremant d'Alsace was defined by decree.

So that is one thing that the Dopff family have given to Alsace, but Julien Dopff, who created Cremant, also had the idea of bottling Alsatian wine in flute bottles, which was made a requirement for all still wines from Alsace in 1972.

Pioneering ideas from a century ago are all well and good, but are the wines of the current generation any good?  I was guided though the range by company President, Pierre-Etienne Dopff.  I started with the Cremant;

Dopff Cremant d'Alsace Cuvee Juilen
A blend of Pinot Blanc and Pinot Auxerrois, this is light fresh and perfumed, with a very good raspberry aroma.  The palate has a minerally note, some graphite elments with a lemony finish.  A lovely sparkling wine.  7/10

2009 Dopff Pinot Blanc
Little mineral element with a pithy note, some honey elements too.  A fresh apple taste, some nice lime and sandstone too.  Good. 7/10

2009 Dopff Pinot Gris Reserve
Again, fresh and lean, some nice creamier notes with a little bit of honey.  Greener notes some mineral notes and a bit fat. A pear drop finish but a touch chemically.  5.5/10

2009 Dopff Riesling
Fresh and limey with, very gentle, some light lemon elements.  Very clean and tasty.  7/10

2008 Dopff Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenbourg
Light lemon notes, some honey coming through with a bit of lime.  A lovely long palate with some really good lime and clay notes.  Very long lemony finish.  8/10

2009 Dopff Gewurztraminer
Soapy aroma with a bit of turkish delight, the palate is more floral with an initial lack of minerality, keeping the sweet rose flavour through.  There is a touch of sweetness too but it cleans up.  A slightly different style of Gewurztraminer, with the rich aromas translating onto the palate.  7/10

2007 Dopff Brand Grand Cru Gewurztraminer
A low yield wine.  A honey and lemon fest then with roses and gentle notes of spice.  The palate is soft, floral with a little bit of mineral and burnt toast.  Lovely clean, elegant and beautiful.  9/10

Like a lot of producers in Alsace, Dopff also produce a Pinot Noir.  I have heard stories before of Alsatian producers saying that their red is 'alright' but Burgundy does better, and that another well known producer only ever made one good vintage of his Pinot Noir and the rest have been 'merde'.  After being so eager and passionate about his whites, Pierre-Etienne Dopff wouldn't let me try his Pinot Noir!  That makes me like him, and his wines, even more.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#350 Peter Lehmann Art Series Wines

Here we go, a generalised statement to annoy a nation.

Australian wine is a complete rip off.

I've been hunting for good, cheap, Australian wine recently that would retail under £10, and most of what I have tried is either rubbish or overpriced for what it is.  The number of wines that are worth no more than a fiver that are being punted out at eight or nine pounds is unbelievable.  I know that people will say that it is due to the economy, and I'll accept that to a point, but when prices rise by a quarter for the same vintage of wine, I think twice about blaming the governments of this world. 

So in my desperation to find inexpensive Aussies, I decided to revisit a company I'd left back in the days I worked for Oddbins - Peter Lehmann.  I have a lot to thank Peter Lehmann Wines for in my early days of my career, as it was their single varietal Shiraz and Cabernet that taught me the differences between the grapes.  So I thought, a decade on, I'd look at these wines to see what they were like.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.  The price has only gone up three pounds per bottle in ten years, so I assumed quality would have had to gone down.  To exaggerate this, I expected that the buyout by the Hess Group in 2003 would have demanded more bulk production, and therefore quality would have further plummeted.  I was wrong...

2010 Peter Lehmann Art Series Classic Riesling
Grassy, mixed with a little charred lime skin. There is also a chalky element there too that is interesting.  The palate is limey, quite clean and fresh with lots of citrus.  It is a bit boring, but not in any way unpleasant.  There is a slight spritz with just a touch of sweetness coming through, but not a bad wine.  6/10

2009 Peter Lehmann Art Series Chardonnay
Very simple aroma, some lemon emerging, with some grapefruit, but that is it.  The palate is simple, zesty with a little bit of tart lime coming through.  A bit unbalanced and with an acidic finish.  This is the weak wine of the range.  4/10

2008 Peter Lehmann Art Series Semillon
Fresh, crisp, appley with a charcoal like aroma coming through the citrus fruit and pineapple.  The palate is balanced with good flavours of tropical fruit, a nice soft texture with some tart flavours and a little bit of bitter lime pith.  Good balance, nice, clean finish.  Decent.  7/10

2008 Peter Lehmann Art Series Shiraz
Big, meaty with lots of sweet, jammy fruit.  A little bit of cherry creeps through with some leather and black pepper notes and some vanilla.  The palate is big, but not overpowering.  There is some sweet fruit flavours mixed with a dollop of pepper.  Black pepper and chocolate mixed with a wallop of alcohol, but then a nice, savoury finish.  6/10

2007 Peter Lehmann Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon
Cherry and bramble jam mixed with just a touch of sweeter tobacco and green pepper.  Some boot polish too.  The palate is fruit driven, lots of leather, tannin, fresh berries and a little bit of raspberry coming through on the palate.  Quite a short finish, the cocoa, leather and stalk fruit is soft and delivered pretty well.  Quite a nice wine.  7.5/10

In conclusion, these wines - Chardonnay excepted - are perfectly acceptable, commercial wines.  I think the Riesling is very drinkable, the Shiraz starts bad, but significantly improves, but it is the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Semillon that stand out.  They are good, solid wines, and I really do like the red.  At under a tenner, these wines are two examples of what Australia can do - shame very few producers do it.

By Peter Wood with 3 comments

#349 Elegance from Schloss Johannisberg

Riesling is, to me, the greatest grape.  I grant you, I may love Bordeaux, I am passionate about port, but if I had to pick my favourite grape, I'd pick Riesling, simply because, when grown in Germany, you can do pretty much anything to it and still get a decent wine!

I attended a masterclass with Christian Witte, domain director of Schloss Johannisberg.  This producer's vineyards are one of the oldest documented wine regions in the world, with the region having a viticultural history of over 1200 years.  We started off with two wines from challenging years.  A 'first growth' wine from 2006 that is outstanding despite heavy rain just before harvest and a 40 year old basic Riesling.

2006 Schloss Johannisberg Silberlack Erstes Gewachs Riesling (Silver Seal, First Growth)
This means "1st Growth", stemming from the fact that a couple of hundred years ago, Berry Bros imported these wines in barrel and marked them with the phrase 'First Growth', to rank these wines alongside the top wines from Bordeaux.  It had a fresh lemon mixed with honey note, some fresh lemon juice too coming off and lots of delicious grapefruit pith.  Some salty aromas came out as well with a richness that I can only assume came from its time spent in old oak.  The palate is creamy in texture, again an indication of the oak, but without any oak flavour.  There is a spice, a stunning minerality with all parts of the lemon coming through.  A beautiful wine from a year that was hit by heavy rain just before harvest.  8.5/10

1970 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Gelback (Yellow Seal)
What is staggering about Riesling, and particularly Schloss Johannisberg, is that their wines last forever!  This wine is a perfect case in point.  Firstly, the yellow seal, or 'Gelback', wines are the entry level wines.  To put that into context, that is a wine that would cost you around £15-£20 today.  Secondly, 1970 wasn't a good year for Germany, with lots of rain.  So we were presented a cheap, forty year old wine from a rubbish vintage, and it still tasted outstanding!  It had a musty nose at first, with a touch of kerosene coming through, mixed with a lot of citrus fruit.  There was almost a touch of burnt wood about the nose as well.  The palate was rich, again with a musky element, but with warm, dark lemons and spice.  Savoury flavours, mixed with honey and lime, with a wonderfully soft palate.  Caramel on the long lasting, dry finish.  9/10

Schloss Johannisberg is best known as the company that discovered Spatlese wines.  Meaning 'late harvest', Spatlese was discovered by accident when, in 1775, a courier was sent to the owner of the vineyards, Prince Abbot of Fulda, to get permission to start the harvest. By the time the courier returned, late, the grapes had been infested with Botrytis and had gone bad.  Rather than make no wine, the cellar master decided to make bad wine, and when he tried it the following year, he found that the dehydrated grapes had produced a sweet, and delicious, style of wine.  Nowadays, Schloss Johannisberg don't use botrytised grapes for their Spatlese, preferring a cleaner style of wine that the use of rotted grapes doesn't allow.  The result is a superb, late harvest wine with purity of fruit, without the phenolic nuances botrytis brings.

I tried four vintages of their green sealed Spatlese wines, spanning 43 years and they were uniformly stunning!

1964 Schloss Johannisberg Grunlack Riesling Spatlese
Again a wine from a vintage that was decent, but nothing exceptional.  This wine had old, dried honey, and an aroma as if you had cooked lemons and then squeezed the concentrated, sweetened citrus juice  into sawdust, with just a touch of fresh lime cutting through the sweeter aromas.  The palate had lots of burnt wood, dark caramel and then brightened up by grapefruit.  Pencil shavings came through, with a never ending fresh, citrus dominated finish. 9.5/10

1975 Schloss Johannisberg Grunlack Riesling Spatlese
This was a very, very good year.  Initial aromas of chlorine, mixed with lots of lime and lemon, led onto a peach nectar fragrance with pork fat cut with lemon.  There was a little sweetness up front on the palate, and then some beautifully rich honey, lemon marmalade and lime zest.  Wonderful freshness on the palate, the acid matching the remaining sweetness of the wine perfectly, with just a few sherbet notes dusting dried, charred limes.  The mouthfeel was like honey, and the finish lasted so long I was still tasting it half an hour later.  One of the best wines I have ever tried.  10/10

1996 Schloss Johannisberg Grunlack Riesling Spatlese
Fresh green peas on the nose, with a bit of citrus mixed with oyster water and grapefruit.  There is lots of citrus flavours ranging from marmalade, through bitter orange to fresh lemon.  The palate has a honey note, some sweeter, lemon tart flavours, with an orange seed flavour.  The acid grips you and battles a bit with the sweetness, but then it becomes harmonious after a small tussle.  the finish is beautifully balanced, with delightful pithy notes all the way through.  A wine that is emerging as a more mature wine but with the playfulness and youthfulness of a wine a decade younger.  9.5/10

2007 Schloss Johannisberg Grunlack Riesling Spatlese
This wine is superb.  At the perfect point of its youth, this wine has some gentle honey and lemon aromas, a bit of salty rock and grapefruit pith on the nose.  A very sweet palate, lots of honey and lemon coming through, but more lemon zest and juice than anything else.  It is very lively, some darker flavours emerge, but are livened up by the fresher elements of the wine.  Beautifully balanced, but then it mellows just before the finish.  Talking of which, the finish of this wine is unlike anything I've experienced before.  It rises and falls like a wave with every breath you take!  As you breathe in it gets richer, more honey flavoured, and then as you breathe out it develops more of a pithy note!  I have secured 6 bottles of this wine - I love it that much.  10/10

This masterclass not only showed the Riesling grape at its finest, but showed the elegance and quality of Schloss Johannisberg.  I have long been a follower of these wines and prefer their gentler style over other bigger, bolder producers.  A perfect wine for me is one that gives you an emotion rather than just a series of tasting notes, and with every one of these wines an emotion was provoked. 

They were beautiful.

Post script
I also tried the current releases from this producer, and despite some of their youth, they were exquisite wines.

2009 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Red Seal
Some gutsier citrus aromas, floral with a touch of marmalade.  There is just a touch of sweetness, some lemon but again minerally.  Needs some time to settle down as it is a bit youthful. 7.5/10

2009 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Kabinett Trocken Red Seal
Very crisp, citrus, lemon and grapefruit.  Minerally, crisp, lovely acid and minerality.  A gorgeous lime pith and lemon flavour.  A wonderful dry wine that would rival some of the great dry Alsatian producers.  8/10

2009 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Spatlese Green Seal
Sweet citrus, honey and lots of lime.  The palate is honeyed, stunning balance with citrus notes coming through with lovely spiced finish.  Too young, with not a lot of harmony yet, but it will come. 8.5/10

2008 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Silberlack First Growth
Some richer fruit, a lot of clean minerally aromas with lovely citrus notes. Very clean and with a gorgeous freshness.  Again, stunning balance, and a super youthful wine. 8/10

2008 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Auslese
Loads of honey, lemon, lime and with some floral notes, some pencil too.  The palate is honeyed, lots of lime, lime skin and lime juice.  A fantastically elegant wine that will only get better.  8.5/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#348 6 Questions with... Roy Cook of Sedlescombe Vineyard

There was a television programme in the 1970's called The Good Life, where a couple decided to take shun modern life and be self sufficient.  Winemaker Roy Cook and his wife Irma of Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard in East Sussex are possibly what Tom and Barbara Good may have become if they had run the series for thirty odd years! 

Since they inherited some land in 1979 when self sufficiency was very popular, they decided to earn an income from vegetable farming.  Since then they have been growing organic produce, but they soon realised that their land was good for viticulture and started producing organic wine.  This year they released England's first Biodynamic wine, aptly called First Release.  I tasted it, wrote it up and then asked Roy to answer six questions.

Why make wine in England?
England is the most exciting place on the planet to make wine!  -it's the new wine frontier!  Virgin territory, and all that.  It's not quite anything goes, because there are of course wine standards that must quite rightly be adhered to, but there is such a lot to discover in terms of the best sites, the most suitable wine styles, and the best business model - as well as how to be the most environmentally sustainable.

Aside from your own wines, what do you like drinking?
I enjoy a wide variety of wine styles, anything organic really.  My absolute favourite is the biodynamic Gewurztraminer 'vendage tardiv' from Pierre Frick of Alsace - absolute nectar!  Others would be Shiraz and Reisling Auslese.

What is the best, and worst, wine you have ever made?
Best wine I ever made was the Sedlescombe 2003 Dry White which won 1st prize at the English wine festival for Best Dry White.  Worst was probably one of the small trial batches of early red wine made in early 1990's, or maybe it was the pea-pod wine I made when wine making was just a hobby.

If you didn't make wine, what would you do for a living?
Tennis coach.  I love this sport and play at least once a week at a drop-in coaching session at my local club at Amherst in Hastings on Saturday mornings.  I encouraged both my sons (Alex ,21 and Danny, 14) to play from a young age, now even the youngest beats me easily!

What is your most prized possession?
Not really into possessions, having to think about this one.........

Name three people, real of fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?
Guests at my dream dinner party would preferably be some old personal friends, but if I had to choose publicly known figures then it would be Mick Jagger, John McEnroe, and either Jonathan Porrit or Karl Marx.  We'd all drink a full-bodied red with a green label and play tennis to loud rock music like 'Satisfaction'!

Follow Roy on Twitter @organicwineryuk
Sedlescombe Website

By Peter Wood with 5 comments

#347 The first Biodynamic wine from England

In the week that it was announced that Her Majesty The Queen was to plant vines at Windsor, I tried the first certified Biodynamic wine from England, the 2010 Sedlescombe First Release.

This blend of Bacchus, Rivaner and Solaris, it offers out fresh underripe pear and banana skin.  A light buttery note too, with lemongrass.  A clean palate, some lemon, grapefruit and  little bit of granite coming through the sweeter apple flavours.  A little bit of alcohol, but it cleans up quite well for a long finish peppered with sweet and minerally notes.  7/10

The main thing you should take from this is it doesn't matter if it is biodynamic, English or made from three grape varieties that everywhere seems to shun, this is a bloody good wine.  Maybe it is a couple of pounds overpriced at £13, but I can forgive this  as English wine is a cottage industry and that you would be happy paying £30 for this in a restaurant.

Winemaker, and English Organic pioneer, Roy Cook has done a really good job here, and should be rightly proud of his creation.

Sedlescombe Website

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#346 A confusingly named wine from Richmond Plains

Doing something just because you can doesn't make sense.  There should be a reason for doing something, and I tried a wine today that I just couldn't understand.

Richmond Plains in New Zealand is a certified organic and biodynamic producer of various types of wine.  Situated in Nelson, at the top of the South Island of New Zealand, they were established 20 years ago by Samantha and Lars Jensen, and are still a family run company. One of their wines was labelled 'Blanc de Noir', and I couldn't for the life in me figure out why. 

The 2009 Richmond Plains Sauvignon Blanc was fine.  Priced at £14, it had an aroma of hot lawnmower box then grass and nettles galore with a bit of elderflower creeping in.  There is more of the grass on the palate, a lot of acid  but quite nice at the same time and all its little flaws (alcohol, acid) merge together at the end and disappear into a finish with sweet citrus on the finish and green pepper too.  It is worth the money, is a tasty wine and I scored it 6.5/10.

The 2010 Blanc de Noir is a different kettle of fish.  Made as a white wine, with whole bunch pressing and getting the grape juice away from the skins as quickly as possible, this rose had a little redcurrant coming off, with graphite aromas.  Then there was, strangely, a lot of white cabbage!  There is a little sweet fruit off the front end of the palate with some very subtle red berries and crisp pear.  A bit  minerally and  then with peach stone coming through on the finish.  A creamy texture but a touch too high acid but I quite like it.  6/10 

My problem though, was why not label it as a rose?  Nobody is ever going to ask for a Blanc de Noir unless they are buying a Champagne, and even then the likelihood of that happening is slim to nil.  I grant you, a wine geek (and for that I include myself) may try it specifically to see what a Pinot Noir is like when made as a white wine, but I can just see this causing more confusion to the punter than it is worth. 

Today I tried two decent wines from Richmond Plains - a Sauvignon Blanc and a rose.  It is a lot easier for the majority of people to understand that then a Sauvignon Blanc and a Blanc de Noir.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#345 A load of bull

I've never got Spain.  In my decade of retailing, I've never had to hand sell a wine from Spain.  I've never been asked for my advice on a Spanish wine.  I've also never paid the country that much attention.  In fact, such is my indifference to the country, that when I was doing my WSET exam, I knew that if I had questions on Spain I would be up the creek without a paddle.  And lo and behold there were a bundle of questions on Spain and so I didn't do as well as I could have done!

But the one thing that I have learned is that even the big producers in Spain produce drinkable wines.  Maybe this is the reason that I don't have to sell wines from this nation, people can blindly buy wines from Spain without the need for advice and get something, at very least, drinkable.

So I decided to try two wines from the major wine maker Torres, their Sangre de Toro and their Gran Sangre de Toro. 

2008 Torres Sangre de Toro
This blend of Garnacha & Carinena has a little bit of sweet strawberry aroma, some meat fat element coming through too.  There is just a bit of dried herb as well, but the nose is pretty simple.  The palate has a lot of sweetness, no structure whatsoever.  It has sweet fruit, overly confected licquorice and not a slightest element of interest.  There is a bitter darker note on the back end, with something that reminds me of cheap Cabernet.  If you get it for £5 or £6 it is worth it, if boring, any more than that and you are wasting your money.  5/10

2005 Torres Gran Sangre de Toro Reserva
Again a sweet nose, but this shows some depth and quality.  The aroma is of dried fruit,  richer, sweeter dates and prunes with some chocolate and sweet cherry on the nose.  Also some dates as well.  The palate is rich, with some good cherry stone and leather coming off.  There is also a hint of teriyaki beef jerky.  A chewy, chunkier wine, some interersting cocoa flavours, firm tannin but it is the finish that lets this down, tasting almost like a dried out Australian Syrah.  This Garnacha, Mazuelo & Syrah blend retails around the £10 mark, and there is just so many better wines available for this price, and that scores massively against it.  3.5/10

By Peter Wood with No comments

#344 Slovenian Wine

In my quest to try wines from different nations, my tasting trip takes me to Slovenia, and two wines from a company called Quercus.  Apparently, Quercus means 'oak', with at least a small percentage of all of their wines going into wooden barrels, with their philosophy of "without oak there is neither a good wine cellar not a good wine". (I'd debate that, but won't here!)  The grapes are grown just over the border from Marco Felluga's Collio vineyards in the Goriška Brda region - which is Slovenian for Collio Goriziano and with consultant Angel Muir MW on board, I had hope for these wines that cost between £9 and £10 per bottle.  I tried two of these wines, liked one and wasn't impressed by the other.

2007 Quercus Pinot Bianco
Smells like it has been a white wine left open for two days at room temperature.  A bit of bacon fat, caramel and a little apple Smirnoff!  The palate is initially ok, some alcohol coming off the front, with some lemon pith, a bit of citrus juice on the back end but with a fuller texture.  It is ok, but not a great wine and I'd be struggling to justify this at £9. 4/10

2009 Quercus Pinot Grigio
Some light, minerally elements on the nose, a bit of lemon rind and some lemon pith.  Some mineral notes coming off with a light, fresh zing of lemon and yellow grapefruit.  Some bitter elements on the palate, with some sandstone too.  A bit of alcohol coming off, but pretty well integrated.  The finish is long, zesty, with a nice freshness.  Pretty good and would put a lot of Italian Pinot Grigio at the same price point to shame.  6.5/10

There is always the problem when trying a more obscure country's wines that you may allow them flaws that you wouldn't forgive in an Italian or French wine.  I think that the Pinot Bianco needs work, but the Grigio is a good wine and well priced.  It reminds me of the Zagreus wines from Bulgaria, or the Grace Wines from Japan - they are good wines that are worth the money regardless of where they come from.

By Peter Wood with 2 comments

#343 Wines from the Cotes de Thongue

Thirty miles south west of Montpellier is the Cotes de Thongue and in the middle of this region is the village of Alignan du Vent (population 1200).  In the 1970's, this region that has an ancient winemaking history, decided to start planting new grapes to match the many varied soil types in the region, and more importantly, what will be commercially advantageous.  The wines I tried today, Moulin Montarels, are made by the cooperative, Les Vignerons d'Alignan du Vent and are four single varietal wines, with their French 'homelands' in very different regions.  How do grapes from as diverse areas as the Loire, Rhone, Burgundy and Bordeaux fare in 850 hectares of Southern France?

2010 Moulin Montarels Sauvignon Blanc 
Fresh and grassy with a little bit of green bean, nettle, orange too.  Some salt note coming through, a little bit of salty rock as well.  The palate is well balanced, a slightly creamy texture, some lovely floral elements and some light mineral flavours - some sandstone and granite!  A really nice, balanced, soft, unaggressive Sauvignon Blanc that just tastes good, is fresh and easy to drink.  I really like this.  8/10

2009 Moulin Montarels Viognier
Round but light tropical fruit.  Some pineapple and mango and with a little citrussy zest coming through on the end of the nose with a touch of pear drop.  The palate is full, pear and mango flavours with just a touch of lemon peeking through.   Some structure, a slight pea pod flavour mixed with some apple core, but it becomes disjointed. The finish is a little high on acid and it isn't that good a wine.  4.5/10

2008 Moulin Montarels Pinot Noir
Confected blueberries with raspberries and some strawberry coming through - all with a sprinkling of dirt.  There are more savoury, liquorice aromas underneath the fruit, but you do get the impression they are going for a sweet fruit aroma.  The palate is dry, tannins come to the fore, with savoury notes but with some sweet fruit acting as seasoning.  Then you get the bitter fruit flavours - plum skin and leaves - with some dust on the finish.  It is ok, but nothing special.  5.5/10

2010 Moulin Montarels Merlot
Full on Merlot attack!  Berries, some chocolate and meat juices - no, raw steak, on the nose.  Then there is some sweeter spices, a bit of sweet cherry and cream.  The palate has a green note up front, some pepper and a bit of green pepper.  Then some sour cherry, bark and dark chocolate comes in on the back end.  The tannins are firm, but would be disguised by some food, and then there is more green pepper on the finish.  All in all, a good Merlot.  7/10

All these wines retail for between nine and ten pounds.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#342 Cheaper Sicilian wines from Calatrasi

After an iconic tasting of American wines, I've gone right back to basics and tried some £10 and under wines from Sicily today, from a company called Calatrasi.

The Micciche family has been growing grapes in Sicily since the mid 18th century,  but it was in 1955 that Dr Vincenzo Micciche saw the potential of the highlands close to the Kalatrasi bridge and bought 450 hectares of land in the Ginestra area.  The company is now huge, owning over 1100 hectares of land in Sicily, Pulgia and Tunisia.  The Terre di Ginestra range are in Organic conversion, and are sustainably farmed and handpicked.

Calatrasi Bellamente Vino Bianco £6.00
This non vintage wine has light minerally notes with a bit of honey and citrus coming through.  A touch of pineapple as well.  A strange, almost olive oil aroma though.  The palate is ok, decent enough acid, some citrus pith and a little heat spike, but not unpleasant.  Finish is a bit alcoholic, but it calms down and leaves you clean with lots of stone.  An ok white wine.  6/10

2009 Calatrasi Terrale Grillo £7.00
Green peas, a touch of underripe banana skin as well and then a bit of lemon.  It is a light palate, more peas, and just a little bit of lime coming through with a blast of lemon.  Clean and fresh, a bit of fresh grass on the finish.  Nice summer drinking 6/10

2009 Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra Catarratto £7.50
A bit of honey, some oak and a wee bit of overripe pineapple.  A bit of a gutsy wine, some full on fruit attack and then it settles down to become a more balanced, oaked style of wine.  Very little but the oak and alcohol.  A bit of a disappointment.  4/10

2009 Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra Magnifico Viognier £10.50
Pepper and soap on the nose with some Smirnoff thrown in.  The palate has a bit of peach stone, but then lots of harsh alcohol and pepper.  It has high acid that initially cleans and then strips out your mouth.  A pass.  4/10

2009 Calatrasi Terrale Nero d'Avola Sangiovese £7.00
Light, fresh strawberries and cassis mixed with some earthier liquorice aromas.  The palate is simple, some savoury notes, a bit of firm tannin, but altogether a pretty nice, stone fruit flavour.  Throw this with something like spicy pasta and you will have a good pairing. A little confection on the back end, but pretty tasty.  7/10

2009 Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra Q Franc £9.00
A blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Quite closed, only a touch of strawberry coming out of the aroma and a bit of polish.  The palate is, well, generic red wine flavoured.  It is pretty boring, but does have some structure and a bit of sweeter berries.  It is just too expensive.  4/10

2008 Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra Magnifico Syrah £10.50
Meaty, some pepper, some gutsier fruit too.  A bit of cherry menthol coming off the nose.  The palate is more berries, some bitter plum skin flavours, mixed in with some full on tannin and a bitter, bark like finish.  OK but too pricy. 5.5/10

2008 Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra Nero d'Avola £7.50
Big, perfumed aromas with some nice sweet and sour cherries going on. A bit of sweet fruit up front and then it becomes more meaty.  The palate is nice, savoury mixed with some dried fruit flavours, a bit of spice and herb coming through.  A decent wine and very well priced.  7.5/10

I'm not certain how to describe these wines!  I think that the Terrale and Bellamente wines were offering decent priced, drinking wines, but I thought the Terre di Ginestra wines were, on the whole, too expensive for the wine you were getting and I'd question if you were paying for the increased costs of sustainable and organic farming.   Still, with a plate of pasta or a warm summers day with some cheeses, olives and meat, I'd be happy with any of these wines!

By Peter Wood with No comments

#341 American En Primeur? Ridge pre release wines

Since I discovered Ridge about 8 years ago, I've always loved them.  The fact that they don't scream about their brand that is respected worldwide, the fact that they have had the same chap making the wine for forty years, the fact that they have very simple plain labels, and the fact that they put the exact makeup of the wine on the front label, right down to if there is only one percent of a particular grape in the blend.  Oh, and the fact that they make bloody good wine.

Paul Draper has been the man in charge of the liquid since 1969, and was the subject of this sites '6 Questions with...' in 2008.  His wines have always been of outstanding quality, and although I have been fortunate to try numerous of these wines before, I have never got to try them before they were released.  Today I got that opportunity and tried the 2011 offering and things are still excellent!

Ridge release an en primeur offering in two ways.  The first, with their top wine, Monte Bello, they release as the Bordelais do, two years before shipping.  Therefore, it is the 2010 vintage that I got to try.  The other wines are shipped in the Autumn of this year, and are wines that already are bottled, and are just six months younger than Ridge would like them to start being drunk.  I also tried some of their current release to give me a reference point.  These wines are clearly identified in my notes below.

2009 Ridge Estate Chardonnay
A lot of lovely up front sweet oak aromas, some pepper and a lot of mango too.  It is quite fragrant with honey coming off too and a little pork fat. The palate has a bit of alcohol up front but then has a lovely, creamy nature. Some pepper comes through, nice balance and beautiful acidity on the finish.  A delightful wine, with only the mid palate lacking a touch, but that will develop.  8/10

2008 Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay
A much more elegant wine, more balanced on the nose with super creamy aromas mixed with some spice, tropical fruit and a little bit of ginger.  Lots of freshly cut flowers too.  A complex palate with layers evolving with more ginger, mango and some vanilla pod coming off.  It has a slightly tart finish that develops into a lovely, rich, woody flavour.  Just. Bit of sweet tobacco coming off as well.  A super wine. 9/10

2006 Ridge Geyserville (Current release)
72% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 10% Petite Syrah
Bright strawberry and chocolate on the nose, a little menthol and some boot polish like aromas.  Very well balanced, some cherry jam coming through with some herbs and pineapple.  A little bit of red liquorice as well.  The palate is well balanced with a little tannin and booze coming to the fore.  Darker flavours of twigs, earth and leather mixed with cherry stone, a bit of plum skin and more cinnamon bark.  Very well made, but very young.  8/10

2009 Ridge Geyserville
74% Zinfandel, 17% Carignane, 6% Petite Syrah, 2% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mataro
A bigger wine, lots of meatier aromas with veggies and sweeter berry fruit.  Some polish too, but with a herbal note all the way though.  Overripe banana skin as well.  The plate is coffee at first, with a mocha chocolate note to it.  Then you get some lovely dark berries, more coffee beans and a really delicious pomegranate mixed with cocoa on the finish.  A super wine, well balanced.  8/10

2007 Ridge Santa Cruz Cabernet Sauvignon (Current release)
58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot
Very chewy berry and sweet bramble mixed with some green pepper.  Lovely rich honey elements mixed ith a touch of coffee.  The palate is super balanced, again coffee beans and a lot of strawberry jam.  Really good tobacco flavours mixed with a bit of wood.  Firm tannin, gentle finish and a lot of fruit and cocoa all the way through.  8.5/10

2008 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (formally known as Santa Cruz Cabernet)
75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Very dark, like a very hot Bordeaux year and very lovely.  A lot of cassis and tobacco mixed with green pepper.  A little bit of twig on the nose, and then some earth, but a gorgeous leather aroma.  Dark cassis and cherry, firm tannin and a lot of darker flavours.  It needs time as it is very closed.  6/10 at the moment, but I'd see this being just as good as the 2007, if not better.

2009 Ridge Lytton Springs
71% Zinfandel, 23% Petite Syrah, 6% Carignane
A bit of wet dog, some closed berries and a little bit of Brussels sprouts coming through.  A lot of dark berries, all under ripe with some cocoa, a touch of leather and a good, rich chunk of vegetal flavours.  It is a bit of an older world style with good, raspy flavours.  A sleeper 6/10 but with so much potential.

2005 Ridge Monte Bello (Current release)
72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot
Lots of really beautiful sweet berries, ultra ripe and with cassis, strawberry, and bramble.  Chocolate comes through with such finesse and then a lovely toffee and coffee aroma just adds to it.  There is vanilla infused milk chocolate too and the lightest hint of green peppers.  Stunning balance, soft tannins kicking in with lovely cocoa and leather.  Cherry stones, some leather. And some pomegranate seeds too.  A stunning long end to this winie with leather and bramble leaves all the way through.  8.5/10

2010 Ridge Monte Bello (Tank Sample)
70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc
Dark, intense leather and stewed berries.  A lot of boot polish and leather coming through with more earth and just the slightest hint of cherry and strawberry.  This wine has a dark flavour, a lot of espresso coffee and bramble leaves with just a tiny amount of bubblegummy sweet fruit, no doubt due to the fact that it is an unfinished wine.  The tannins are powerful, yet not blasting you into oblivion and it has lots of liquorice flavours and some bitter chocolate coming through.  A light pencil lead element on the finish, but a super wine that I could still taste half an hour after trying it!  9/10

By Peter Wood with No comments