#447 The start of the power shift? The Bulgarian Wine Club

What do you know about Bulgaria?  Not much I'd reckon and what you do know will no doubt involve their membership of the Axis in World War II, the communist uprising in 1944 or the fact that in the 1980s you found their cheap, crappy wine on supermarket shelves.  

The reason that you will remember the terrible wine is that the Communist state-owned company, Vinimpex, had a monopoly over their country's vineyards and exported up to 2 million bottles of wine per year to the UK, which accounted for just ten percent of their total wine exports.  Since the collapse of Communism in 1989/90, there hasn't really been a route to the Western markets for Bulgaria's wine, and even if there was, would we Brits buy it?  After all, the past twenty years have seen the wine buying public become a lot more educated and interested in what they were drinking.  We now know what is good and bad, and Bulgarian wine is cheap muck.

Over the past year, I've been eager to try more Bulgarian wines, learning that the last statement is totally false.  I've been drinking, and selling, Bulgarian Pinot Noirs and Mavruds and have found that there is a willingness within the public to explore less well known countries for two reasons.  Firstly, people brought up on Aussie Shiraz and American Chardonnay are getting bored of the same thing and want to try something new, but mainly, the traditional old and new world producers are raising their prices so there is a lack of good quality wine at the sub ten pounds price point.  Bulgaria is a country that is not only producing good wines, but is charging prices that people can afford, and is leading the way of the less well known wine producing nations in tapping into the lucrative British market.

The Bulgarian Wine Club was formed to bring Bulgarian wine back into the UK market.  Five producers - Vinex Preslav, Khan Krum, Terra Antika, Chateau Rossenovo and Medovo - produce around twenty million litres of wine every year, and are acting as their own agency in the UK, selling direct to retailers, enabling the wine to get to the consumer with one less layer in the supply chain.  I tried some wines from two of these producers, Vinex Preslav and Chateau Rossenovo.

Vinex Preslav was established four years after the Communist uprising, in 1948, and they have vineyards in the regions of Khan Krum, Novi Pazar and Veliki Preslav. I started with their whites.

2010 Vinex Preslav Rhine Riesling Novi Pazar

Bright, crisp fruit, a bit of lemon and lime, good minerally notes, a bit of lemon and fresh grass.  A nice Riesling, but a bit simple.  Why would you bother when there are other Rieslings that are better? 84pts £10

So not really a good start, and it didn't get much better with the next wine.

2010 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Sauvignon Blanc

Clean, slight grassy note coming through with  bit of pear and gooseberry.  Touch of flint coming off, nice simple fruit with a clean gentle palate. 85pts £10.50

Neither of these two were bad wines, it is just that they weren't particularly interesting.  They could have come from any number of countries, and whilst they are worth the money, you wouldn't buy them again.  I had heard however that Chardonnay can grow reasonably well in Bulgaria, so was optimistic for the next trio.

2009 Vinex Preslav Chardonnay

A round soft aroma, not a lot of fruit coming forward.  The palate is simple, pure and clean, it is just a bit boring, but at seven pounds, it is a damn site better than a lot out there! 86pts £7

2009 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Chardonnay

A little bit of oak coming out with some vanila and pineapple.  Sweet vanilla with a little bit of peach coming through.  Simple, drinkable and clean, I'd prefer it a touch cheaper though. 86pts £10.50

2007 Vinex Preslav Rubaiyat Chardonnay

Immediately a nice nose, some subtle oak, pineappe and pear.  The palate has lovely spice, pure fruit and a bit of honey coming off.  Very well balanced, fuller oak on the finish which I like. 90pts £22

Things were getting better.  Certainly, £22 is not a price that many people would pay for a bottle of wine, but I took satisfaction in seeing that a Bulgarian producer was creating a ladder of price points, enabling the drinker to trade up if they wanted to.  The Rubaiyat was a really excellent bottle of wine, and can compete on taste and quality with some white Burgundy at that price.

I moved onto the red and found things to be a bit of a mixed bag.  I understand the need for producers in countries such as Bulgaria to grow 'western' grapes like Merlot, but I want something unique to their nation.  They are competing on an international market, and have to provide what the customers want, but I was pleased to see with VInex Preslav continue to grow their indigenous grapes as well as the international varieties.  I started with their Pinot Noir.

2010 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Pinot Noir

A tiny touch of rubber coming off the nose with some light cherry fruit.  The palate is full of dry cherry, cocoa and tobacco.  It is ok, but I have had better Pinot Noirs from Bulgaria.  80pts £10.50

2009 Vinex Preslav Cabernet Sauvignon

Meaty aromas with some sweet rhubarb with some punchier dry, dark musky elements.  A gutsy palate, dark, with some tarry notes.  A good wine at first but then a bit too powerful which makes it crude. 80pts £7

2010 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Cab Mac Merlot

Think of the big vegetal aromas as the action hero Starsky, the sweet, pretty fruit as the Hutch and the spicy, slightly showy, elements as the Huggy Bear that emerge occasionally and steal the show.  And like the TV show, you will enjoy the occasional bottle but would get tired of it quickly.  85pts £10.50

2007 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Cabernet Sauvignon

Big, sweet cherry and some strawberry infused milk chocolate.  A bit of earthy tannin up front with some red berries coming through with cocoa, really nice balance - a really good Cabernet Sauvignon. 90pts £10.50

2007 Vinex Preslav Rubaiyat Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Nice, well made international wine.  Some green pepper, a bit of tobacco, mint and cocoa.  Good fruit, nice earthier elements and  bit of coffee coming off.  A big wine, doesn't scream out as being anything different though. 85pts £22

2008 Vinex Preslav Golden Age Mavrud Merlot

Some sweet, roast pork aromas mixed in with a lovely chunky cherry aroma.  Nice leathery elements on the palate with delicious simple cherry stone fruit. 86pts £10.50

The second producer, Chateau Rossenovo, showed three wines, from the South Black Sea Coast.  Named after the town in which it is based in South East Bulgaria, Chateau Rossenovo was established in 1997 and have 1500 hectares under vine.  The first wine was a Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz blend and I was glad that the bad start improved very quickly.

2008 Chateau Rossenovo Trilogy

I can understand why they made this, you want an international style wine to entice people into buying Bulgarian wine.  It is nice, some simple, tasty fruit, a little spice and some tree bark flavours, but it could be made anywhere.  80pts £8

2008 Chateau Rossenovo Cabernet Sauvignon

Sweet tobacco with some dark plum aromas, very inviting.  The palate has a nice balance, pure fruit with some coffee and a bit of leather coming off.  Rather tasty, but I prefer the Golden Age Cabernet from Vinex Preslav. 88pts £8

2009 Chateau Rossenovo Mavrud

Smoky on the nose, some lovely dark fruit, with some earthier, vegetal aromas with nice toasty element. The palate is rich, soft and silky with some cocoa, tobacco, spice and forest floor.  Delicious and I can't believe it is only eight pounds. 92pts

Ignore Bulgaria at your peril.  I spoke to an Australian wine maker who had just launched a cheap £7 Shiraz Cabernet onto the UK market and he said that his wine was the vinous equivalent of floor sweepings, such was the impossibility of producing good wines at the price the UK consumer demands.  With that attitude from winemakers, with wines like these coming from Bulgaria, and with the UK consumer embracing the spirit it had 30 years ago when wines from down under were undercutting France, we could see another shift in the balance of power in the UK wine trade and Bulgaria has the ability lead that movement.

Bulgaria Wine Club

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#446 Italian fizz with crazy prices

Champagne is expensive isn't it?  Back when everyone was surfing the wave of credit and prosperity the Champagne houses thought "we want a bit of that" and put their prices up to make a bit more cash.  Why not, after all, people could afford it.  Thing is, that wave has now dumped us all unceremoniously onto the beach of bankruptcy and no-one can afford to buy Champagne any more.  The result, for people still wanting bubbles, is a move to other countries' wines.   Cava sales are on the up, as are wines from America, other French regions, and remember that there is always Prosecco.  

Prosecco sales have exploded in recent years with people crossing the border from France to Italy in search of carbonated vino, realising that you are getting good quality wines at a third of the price of a Champagne.  Recognising they are onto a good thing and have a product people want, the Italians are thinking either 'hold on a moment, we want to make a bit more cash' or 'oh dear our country is in the financial quagmire and we need to make more money to stay in business', and as a result we are seeing prices of Prosecco rising quickly.  But even withup to a 10% rise every year, Prosecco is still cheaper than Champers as they know that they have to undercut the French producers to retain and grow their market share.  I mean, who is going to buy an Italian sparkler between thirty and fifty pounds?

Well Bellavista think someone will, as I tried two sparkling wines from Italy that are competing at the price points of a non vintage Champagne and a vintage rose Champagne.  They use Louis Roederer as their inspiration and pay meticulous attention to detail, having minimal intervention in the 200 hectares of vineyards, tasting every wine made before blending, having the wines hand riddled - they employ a team of five riddlers - and then given a minimum of three years ageing.  These are handcrafted products with high production values, so I was eager to try them

Firstly the Bellavista Franciacorta Cuvee Brut NV was a simple, bright wine, soft and subtle on the nose and citrus dominant.  The palate had a savoury start, with the small amount of Pinot Noir coming through at first giving a slight red fruit flavour, and then the Chardonnay kicking in with citrus and a yeasty toast.  It was a nice, clean wine that - if it was £20 a bottle - I would score in the high eighties.  However, it costs £33 and I can't even entertain paying that amount.  Bollinger is a better wine at the same price, as is Moet at five pounds less.  Sure, the bottle looks funky, but it is horribly overpriced.  75pts (because of the price)

The second sparkly was the 2006 Bellavista Franciacorta Gran Cuvee Rose, again a nice wine ruined by the price point.  Aromas of peach, some sandstone and cranberry come off with some strawberry skin as well.  The palate is clean, gentle and well made, with some soft red berries mixed with biscotti.  A touch high acid on the finish, but, at £50 per bottle, it is bettered by Laurent Perrier Rose, Bollinger Rose, Billecart Salmon Rose, Delamotte Rose.... all of which are cheaper.  73pts (again, because of the price)

These are nice wine, but you are paying for the horrifically high production costs and I fail to see why the customer should be paying double what the wine is worth.  If you get the opportunity to try them without having to pay for them, I would suggest you do, but keep your wallet firmly closed if the bill is coming your way.  If you do have the compulsion to spend between £30 and £50 on fizz, spend the money on Champagne, not because of the prestige of buying the French bubbles, but because they are better wines for the money and you aren't going to have to explain to your friends why you didn't go for Champagne.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#445 English wines that can compete internationally

I write this piece in Starbucks in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, after attending a trade wine tasting.  The reason I'm in Starbucks is because it is a known quantity to me.  I know that I can get a drink that I will like, I know I can get a comfy seat and I know that there is free wi-fi.  No matter how much we think we are adventurous, we humans like the familiar.  I like Apple computer products, Mitsubishi UniBall disposable pens and Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes because I'm familiar with them and know what I'm going to get.  This is why people tend to drink the same grape variety over and over again.  They find something that they like and stick with it, scared to venture out of their comfort zone and try something different.  That is all well and good if you are one of the established wine producing regions, as you have hooked the consumer with your Sauvignon Blanc or Syrah and all you have to do is keep producing the same wine.  But what if you are are making wine in a country like Bulgaria, Japan or England - what do you do there?

Part of the problem facing English wine is that they are using grapes like Bacchus, Dornfelder and Ortega - yep, I'd barely heard of them either - so the average consumer wouldn't be blamed for sticking to their French Sauvignon or Chilean Pinot Noir.  Because of the cooler climate, it isn't possible to plant grapes like Syrah, so the UK has to plant grapes from the northern extremes of winemaking in Europe.  It is why sparkling wine is doing so well, the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir being planted in England being perfect for fizz as it replicates (to a degree) the climate in Champagne.  But what about the other mainstream varietals?  Can England produce a good Riesling, Viognier or Pinot Gris?

After the tasting today, I can say yes.  I tried a pair of wines from Stopham Estate that proves if you choose the correct grape and plant it in the right place, England can produce still wines that can compete on an international level.  On south facing sandy soils in West Sussex, Simon Woodhead planted Alsatian varietals Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, alongside Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (both for sparkling wine) and Dornfelder.  His wines are the first English wines made from international varietals that I have tasted and not had to factor in the country of origin.

The first wine I tasted was the 2010 Stopham Estate Pinot Blanc.  It was bright, spritzy with a balance of fresh lemonade and lime on the nose.  The palate was lovely and clean, a nice oily texture rather than the thin acidic body you can often get from English whites.  There is a tartness on the finish, wonderful balance and a potential competitor for any similarly priced Alsatian Pinot Blanc.  £14.99 90pts

The next wine, the 2010 Stopham Estate Pinot Gris, has been given positive reviews by Jancis Robinson and Jane MacQuitty, but I preferred the first wine.  Having said that, it was a close thing!  This wine had a soft, subtle vegetal hint, with floral aromas and a little crisp green apple.  A fuller palate that is good, with gentle pithy flavours.  A lovely wine.  £14.99 89pts

These two international varieties would give the consumer a familiar grape variety that they often want, and be able to stand up to the same varietals from other countries.  Add into the equation that they have now got national distribution through Liberty Wines, rather than being the cottage industry that so many other English producers insist on being, this producer has the potential to be one of the leading wineries in England.  Mr Woodhead, you might not have been the first producer to make a good still wine in England, but you are the first to make it with grapes the rest of the world actually care about - good show sir!

Stopham Estate

By Peter Wood with No comments

#444 From Red to Brown - A wine drinker's prejudices about beer

I appear to be at odds with the beer world.  As craft brewing grows from strength to strength I find I can't embrace it.  Appreciating a beer, I can do, and I have identified that my tastes lean towards darker, porter style beers, but I just can't get into the craft beer spirit, and am actively prejudice against it.  And I think I may have figured out why - it is because I am 33 going on sixty.

A decade ago I joined Oddbins and the shop was full of colour.  There were little cartoon Oddbins men all over the place, and Ralph Steadman drawings dangling from the ceiling.  This was part of the Oddbins brand, with the chain being known for their cartoony shops.  I even became quite good at drawing these on shop windows with paint pens that had a habit of leaking all over your shoes.  All was well until someone in the buying department thought "hang on a minute, lets put cartoons over every one of our own brand wines", and a range of garishly coloured labels appeared on the shelves.  The net result was that I have associated the cartoony image on a bottle of wine with cheap filth within.  I was in Sainsbury's today and noticed that the cheapest bottles of wine on their shelves were the ones with the bright 'look-at-me' labels, showing that the plan of 'make the bottles look fun on the worst wine' still holds true to this day.

Another thing I shy away from is the 'lifestyle' rubbish about wine.  When I buy a bottle of wine, I'm not buying a brand - I'm buying a consumable product that I want to taste nice.  It is not going to change my life, it is not going to make me attractive, nor is it going to be something that is going win me any friends - all of which I have, from time to time, seen emblazoned on the back of wine bottles.  The phrase 'best drunk with friends' is the most patronising, annoying thing possible to write on any bottle of wine and makes me want to go on a smashing spree up and down the wine aisle.

Reinventing an alcohol category is something I also see as a bit pointless.  When The Easy Drinking Whisky Company was founded, claiming to bring the category up to date by shouting about how fantastic their whiskies were and promoting the hell out of them as something cool twenty-somethings would drink mixed in cocktails, they forgot to mention one thing.  The whiskies were crap!  They had created blends that were not only expensive but something nobody wanted to make cocktails out of, and bar managers certainly wouldn't entertain their cartoony labels on the gantry of a posh hotel.  Compass Box got on with making good looking quality whiskies and are still around today, something not to be said for the whisky revolutionaries.  I like subtlety, elegance, grown-up-ness from my alcoholic beverages, both inside the bottle and on the outside, and Compass Box provide that.  I don't see the point in shouting about your product if it is excellent - just get on with producing good booze and word will spread.

So when beer companies decided to stop trying to attract crusty old men in pubs and started going for the younger market, I backed right off, knowing that the image and the product was not for me.  There seems to be a childish element to the whole thing that just grates with everything I want from an alcohol company.  Maybe it is because I'm the wrong side of thirty, maybe because I don't like getting drunk and the beer world has something called a 'session beer' that indicates over consumption,  and maybe it is because I can't be doing with beer-pong generation and their arrogant marketing.  The Brew Dog punk-itude is juvenile and immediately puts me off their beers even though I know some of them are good.  Similarly, seeing garish labels with vulgar names similarly makes me stop paying attention - Stone Brewery, I'm looking at you - as there is no need to call a beer 'Arrogant Bastard' - again, nothing but an infantile attention grabber.  It doesn't stop there, as there are other things that annoy me.

I went for dinner once and the chef had decided to put vanilla in the mashed potato - it was a horrific error of judgement, but he did it because he could and he thought it would be whacky and different, and this attitude is rife throughout the beer industry.  I find it pointless.  There are two countries that are most associated with beer - England and Germany - and the Germans, being the organised race they are, decreed half a Millenia ago that beer was to be made of water, malt, hops and yeast.  Nothing else.  Now we are seeing brews with oysters, chillies, pineapple, rock (the boiled sugar kind, not dug out of the earth kind), Cannabis and Pizza thrown in the mix.  And why?  Because they can.  Companies can make their name as a producer doing something different and exploit the morons who will try anything new simply because it is a new beer.  Again, it makes me despair.

Also, and this is where I'm going to get the biggest criticism, I really don't give a damn about hops and I think neither should you.  The producers should, in the same way that wine producers should care about grape clones, but in most cases knowing what the hop variety is is just a way to make a drinker sound more intelligent than they actually are.  The fact is a majority of beer drinkers bluff their way through knowing the different hop strains but because they do it with confidence/arrogance - and because their peers are similarly bluffing, they never get questioned.  After ten years trying wine on a daily basis, I'm only beginning to be able to distinguish between terroirs, as my recent German post proves.  If I made a stupid comment about land in Burgundy, I would get a number of critics telling me the error of my ways very quickly, so I continue to learn and, only when I'm certain, do I speak.  Beer drinkers don't wait, they just open their mouths and let sound come out.  Do you honestly mean to tell me that a beer drinker can pick up a library knowledge of hop strains in less than a year, because the majority of people passing themselves off as experts have been doing it for less than that. Having said all this, for people who are genuinely experts in the beer world, there are companies like Kernel that do it right - they produce beers with different hops and they state what the hop variety is.  So if you really care, you do have producers who cater for your geeky whim.  For the rest of you, if a producer is putting Pizza in the beer, the hops matter not one bit regardless of what any hop-nut may think.  

To sum everything up - I find the modern beer world childish and arrogant.  Am I saying this from a position of ignorance?  You bet I am, but that is just another thing that we oldies do - have unfair opinions based on our own made up conclusions!

So why do I tell you of my hatred of the beer world?  Well circumstances at work mean I'm going to have to put all my prejudices aside and start paying attention to beer and learning more about it, when I really don't want to and my reviews will be based on the foundations of this dislike of the beer industry!  I'm going to be spending hours reading up on breweries, trying a multitude of candy floss and roast chicken infused concoctions and trying to avoid throttling the annoying pre-pubescent beer geeks that come out of their dark, strangely smelling tissue strewn bedrooms to talk to me.  Hey, I have the arrogant element of the beer trade sussed - I'm one step closer to ale-enlightenment!

Consider yourself forewarned - there is going to be lots of beer coming your way soon.

By Peter Wood with 1 comment

#443 Six Questions with... d'Arry & Chester Osborn of d'Arenberg

One century ago, in 1912, Joseph Osborn - a teetotaller - purchased the Milton Vineyards in McLaren Vale.  His son, Francis took the company one step further, increasing the vineyards from 25 to 78 hectares and, in 1928, constructed his own cellars.

But it was the next two generations of the Osborn family that took the company into another league, creating the famous red striped labels we know today.  At 16 years old in 1943, Francis d'Arenberg Osborn (known as d'Arry) left school to help his ill father run the business.   In 1957, after his father's death, he took over entirely and two years later launched d'Arenberg, named after his mother.  

His son Chester d'Arenberg Osborn took over as winemaker in 1984 and changed the operating practices by insisting on minimal interference, no fertilisation, cultivation or irrigation wherever possible.  A larger than life character, he has a passion for multicoloured shirts and is responsible for planting unfashionable grapes and then making fantastic wines out of the fruit, leading to the large, interesting range d'Arenberg have today.

For the first, and maybe only time, to commemorate the Osborn family's 100th vintage, I asked a father and son 6 questions...


What is your oldest memory of drinking wine?
d'Arry: At the family dining room table, mixed with lemonade in the 1930s.
Chester: My first wine was a taste of red from a glass that my father gave me when I was seven.  I didn't like it, probably wasn't ready to drink.


Aside from your own wines, what do you like drinking?
d'Arry: I enjoy wine, both white and red, depending on the food and surroundings.
Chester: I buy lots of great wines from every great region.  Always only 3 bottles.  I am quite passionate about Barolo and Barbaresco, however I love every great wine that has a certain finesse and amazing length of mineral fruit.


What is the greatest wine you have ever tried?
d'Arry: Max Schubert gave me some of his earlier Grange Hermitages on several occasions.  These wines today sell for thousands of dollars.  We drank them!
Chester: 1922 Hospice d'Beaune Paual Bouchard Selection, about 18 months ago.


What is the best, and worst wine you have ever made?
d'Arry: 1969 Grenache Shiraz (called d'Arenberg Burgundy in those days); 29 Gold Medals, 9 Trophies and 50 awards altogether.  The first attempts at white wine were awful!
Chester: The best was 2002 or 2010 Dead Arm, the worst 1989 Red Ochre - still quite palatable though.


Describe yourself in three words.
d'Arry: Happy, overweight and underpaid
Chester: Colourful, quirky, fun


Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?
d'Arry: Len Evans, Chester and Pauline (my late wife), drinking d'Arenberg reds
Chester: Issac Newton, Albert Einstein and Galileo.  Lots of great d'Arenberg wines, best vintages of course, including the Daddy Long Legs - a tawny port style over 45 years average age, and the 1922 Burgundy mentioned above - if we could get some!


d'Arenberg Website

By Peter Wood with No comments

#442 Tasting German soil

Mention the word 'Terroir' and immediately your mind goes to Burgundy.  We've all seen wine experts standing at a crossroads and pointing at one plot of land saying the wines from that vineyard are worth £300 a bottle and then to a second vineyard three yards away and saying that the wine from that one is only fit for cooking with.  The reason we think of Burgundy is because critics bang on about it the most, but we all know that it matters all over the world.  

New world countries, who have based their reputations on consistency of flavour, year in, year out, are now abandoning their tried and tested method of mass wine production and are thinking about the dirt they are planting vines in.  How the winds, the aspect to the sun and so forth will translate into what is poured into the glass.  And if the Aussies can accept terroir, there must be something in it!

Germany, like Burgundy, is all about Terroir.  They only plant one grape worth mentioning* - Riesling - and I had never really looked into how their soils effected the wines before.  To try and learn more, I tried three wines blind, all 2009 vintage, all Kabinetts and all made by Dr. Loosen.

The first wine I tried had a lemon meets clay aroma.  Some pungent elements to the nose that are quite nice, but mute the slight aggressive sweet, citrussy aroma.  The palate follows this through, quite soft, peach flavours and honey in texture but with a tiny bit of spritz.  It has a good linear palate, very a-to-b-to-c but not particularly classy and a touch crude!  i thought it was the Bernkasteler Lay, knowing that the mainly slate soils give punchier, richer textured wines.

Wine number two had pepper coming off the nose, and a little lime skin that made me think of more oriental spices.  There was some petrolly elements emerging.  The palate was more citrus and less sweet peach - a lime dominant palate, some spice does emerge and then there is a very lovely, bright, livelyness of citrus fruit and tart, green apple.  The spicier elements drew me to Urziger Wurzgarten - The spice garden of Urzig - with its volcanic iron rich spoils.

The final wine was gentle and elegant with some sprightly tart aromas.  It was just a pretty wine.  A sweet palate, unctuous with peach flavours, a little burnt lime skin and some tart apples on the finish.  A lovely, graceful wine and I thought, due to its refined nature, it would be the Wehlener Sonnenuhr from the blue slate soils in this steep vineyard.

So, how did I do?  My assumptions for the final wine were right, the elegance that was immediately apparent making the option of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr the only way to go.  However, what surprised me was that I got the other two wines wrong.  The first wine was the Urziger Wurzgarten, a wine that was supposed to show some signs of spice, but it didn't, and it did have the tropical fruit notes that the Bernkasteler Lay should have.  I was blind tasting these with a colleague of mine and he agreed with me.  The second wine, which turned out to be the Bernkasteler Lay, was more citrussy and had some spice which pushed me to the Urziger Wurzgarten.  I may need to try some more German rieslings to train my palate more - it is a hard life I lead.

The one thing that was undeniable here was that soil has a massive effect on the vines and therefore, on the wine in your glass.  It would be blatantly apparent to the most novice wine taster so if you want to learn about terroir, and see it very clearly, don't go to Burgundy, the wines there are too expensive.  Buying three bottles of Kabinett from Dr Loosen will set you back forty five pounds in total - the price of one decent bottle of Burgundy.


Six Questions with... Ernst Loosen

*Please don't email me mentioning Germany's other 'quality' grapes - you know as well as I do that Riesling is the big one and really all that matters.  We rarely mention Aligote or Sauvignon Blanc in Burgundy, so why bother mentioning Pinot Noir or Muller Thurgau when it comes to Germany?!

By Peter Wood with No comments

#441 Torres - The Starbucks of Wine

In 2005 I went to Seattle.  A lovely city with trams, a stunning market where shopkeepers throw fish and a building that looks like a spaceship on a stick.  I had some of the best fish & chips I've ever had in that city and, even though I have only been there once and for less than a day, it became one of my favourite cities in the world. 

Near the aforementioned Pikes Place Market was a Starbucks.  'So what?' I hear you cry, 'there is a Starbucks on my way to work', but this was no ordinary Starbucks, this was the original Starbucks.  Opened in 1971 by three partners, they opened their coffee shop at 2000 Western Avenue, and then moved it to 1912 Pikes Place where it remains, in its original condition, today.  Despite now being a massive coffee chain, producing (lets be honest) mediocre coffee that has mass appeal, it once started small, three guys seeing a customer need for good quality coffee beans and fulfilling it.

One of the things that I love about the wine trade is that there are a lot of small producers whose wines I can explore and enjoy, but it is all too easy to forget the bigger producers.  The Penfolds, Villa Marias and Gallos of this world may now be considered mediocre 'supermarket wines' due to their bulk production, but they have mass appeal and, like Starbucks, started small.  No matter how much I want to forget big brands and try small growers' wines, as a retailer and wine writer, I have to remember that the punter matters the most.  I should continue to re-taste these bulk produced wines regularly to keep on top of what the majority of the public drink, to give a relevance to the wines that most people drink.

One bulk producer I tried recently was Torres from the Penedes region of Spain.  Famed for the plastic bull that they put around the neck of their bottles, this producer has a few brands that are absolutely everywhere.  Their Vina Sol and Sangre de Toro brands are two and Vina Esmeralda is another, and it was with this wine that I started.

The 2010 Torres Vina Esmeralda may be bulk produced, but is actually quite tasty.  I'd not tried it since my Oddbins days nearly a decade ago, but I was surprised that it had a nice bright floral aroma with some slight soapy notes, but a bit of sweet melon as well.  The palate was drier than I recalled, with elderflower and a little green apple.  Quite tasty.  88pts

Their big brand Sangre de Toro and Vina Sol also have 'big brothers' - distinguished from the nomal wines as they have the word 'Gran' in front of them!  The 2010 Gran Vina Sol is a blend of Chardonnay and Parellada and shows a subtle use of oak barrels on the nose, with some peach aromas.  The palate has a nice flavour, but is a mess of texures - too high acid, then some wood tannin and a bit oily and flabby.  It may say 'Gran' on the label, but is anything but.  80pts.  The 2007 Gran Sangre de Toro was totally different in quality, with bright fruit, cherries and a little spice coming off the nose.  The palate has a nice balance of earthy fruit, some spice and a bit of dark peppery elements on the finish. 86pts.  The blend of Garnacha, Carinena and Syrah all emerge through this wine and it is a decent enough reserva wine, six decades after it was first produced.

Another advantage of big producers is that they have the money to experiment, and their 2010 Natureo is the first alcohol free wine I have tried that has actually been ok.  Made from Muscat, it showed a grapey, fresh floral aroma and then some pretty fresh melon and lemon flavours.  It was a touch flabby, but you wouldn't object to this wine being poured to you.  82pts

This desire to experiment is not a new thing, as Torres started planting Cabernet Sauvignon in the Penedes region in the end of the 1960's, and their Gran Coronas is their Cabernet dominant brand.  A blend of the french varietal and Tempranillo, the 2007 Torres Gran Coronas Reserva had lots of vibrant cherry, a bit of spice and a lovely veggie element to it.  It had nice balance, earthier notes and a spicy finish.  Quite a tasty wine, although a tiny bit simple.  88pts.  They have also ventured outside of their homeland and now have vineyards in other regions including Rioja, Priorat and Ribera del Duero.

Their Rioja is the 2008 Ibericos Crianza.  The wine has a very noticeable vanilla element, with lots of chocolate and sweet cherry.  The palate is nice and simple, fresh with a touch of earth, nutmeg spice and a bit of darker aniseed at the end.  I quite like it, but it is a touch pricy.  89pts.  From Ribera del Duero, their 2009 Celeste is called as (according their website) because at 895 metres in altitude, you can "almost touch the stars and shape the clouds".  I wonder who came up with that?  Anyway, the wine is quite nice, a gutsy blackberry, liquorice and pepper aroma with some cherries and dark brambles with big, powerful tannins.  It is a bruiser of a wine, but will settle down with some time in the bottle.  90pts.  Their Priorat wine, 2009 Salmos, is one of their more recent explorations, as they started planting vineyards in the region in 1996.  Big, juicy fruit with some powerful fruit and a handful of soil thrown in.  Dark, pruney with some bilberries and a liquorice element covered with cracked black pepper.  89pts

Finally, I went back to their homeland in Penedes with a single vineyard 2007 Mas la Plana Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon.  This wine has been made for decades, and has - in the past - triumphed over some legendary wines including Chateau Latour in the Paris Wine Olympiad.  It was nice, big and gutsy with polished dark fruit, a hint of musky mushroom, redcurrants, brambles and tobacco elements galore.  91pts.

A company like Torres is vital in the wine trade, as Starbucks is within the coffee world.  Both provide a range of beverages that show different styles and regional variations and although they may not be the greatest examples available, they are brands people trust and will stay loyal to.  Personally, I wouldn't thank you for a Vina Sol or an Iced Caramel Macchiato, but some folk like them, but when I'm next in an airport and I need a coffee, I will certainly go for a Flat White or extra shot Latte.  Similarly, when I'm next in a supermarket and need a bottle of wine, I'll know I'm safe with, and would be happy drinking, a bottle of Gran Sangre de Toro.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#440 A mixed bag from Joseph Perrier

I've never been overly enthusiastic about Joseph Perrier.  This company, founded in 1825 well outside the traditional heartland of Champagne, is family owned and appears to split a lot of reviewers.  Tom Stevenson called it "one of Champagnes best-kept secrets" whereas Jancis Robinson has never been "particularly excited by Joseph Perrier champagnes".  I've firmly been in the latter camp, enjoying a glass of their non vintage if one was poured for me, but never thinking it was particularly special and favouring numerous other houses instead.  

I tried their range this week and it confirmed some of my reservations, but also opened my eyes to a few stunning wines.  Starting with the Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut NV, a blend of 35% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier, this wine has a bright, salty lemon aroma with some lime and white pepper.  A nice mousse with lots of fresh, seaside elements with a underripe pear flavour.  It is a nice wine, but a little underwhelming.  86pts

I moved onto a pair of Chardonnay champagnes, starting with the Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royal Blanc de Blancs NV.  A fresh bright citrus nose greeted me, with minerally notes - a classic Blanc de Blancs aroma.  More of the sea salt and citrus flavours with a nice balance of graphite and grapefruit pith.  A good wine.  90pts

The next wine was the 2004 Joseph Perrier Blanc de Blancs.  It is the second vintage Blanc de Blancs that Joseph Perrier has released, and it shows lovely light oyster shell aroma with delicious lime and a touch of bread dough coming off the nose.  The palate has lemon and grapefruit flavours, good balance of acid and a supremely clean finish.  A very good champagne.  92pts

I felt that the high percentage of Pinot Meunier in the NV spoils it a bit, and was pleased when the 2002 Joseph Perrier Vintage came my way.  With only nine percent of the dreaded grape, this wine is rich and toasty in comparison to the NV, with brioche and butter coming off the lemon and crisp apple aromas.  The palate is delicious with lemon pith, rind and then some richer, almost under ripe tropical fruit flavours.  A good wine, noticeable as Chardonnay dominant.  90pts

I've never understood Cuvee Josephine, and the 2004 vintage is no exception.  A musky aroma, with redcurrant aromas and then some ripe pear and a touch of baked bread.  The palate has a bit high acid, yet feels slightly flabby with a soft, mushy mousse.  It reminded me of the texture of Angel Delight, I just don't get this as it doesn't show well against the company's own wines let alone other prestige cuvees.  85pts

A pair of Rose wines was next, with the Pinot Noir (75%) and Chardonnay (25%) Cuvee Royale Brut Rose NV showing a hint of rosewater on the nose with some of the fresh oysters and lemon, reminiscent of the Blanc de Blancs.  The palate has a lovely texture, some red apple and a little bit of raspberry as well.  A nice balance of flavours and textures.  89pts.  Basically, the 2002 Joseph Perrier Vintage Rose is just a more complex and elegant version of the non-vintage with similar aromas.  The palate has a bitter element that is lovely with some cranberry flavours and a lovely balance.  A really tasty rose champagne.  92pts

Finally, with the same grape makeup of the non vintage, the Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Demi-Sec NV has some spice, pepper and a little honeysuckle coming off the nose.  The palate has a touch of sweet pear with some honey, spice and a touch of marmalade.  It then dries up o the finish and the acid balances out the sweetness. 88pts

There are some good wines coming from this Champagne house.  They make excellent Blanc de Blancs and Rose wines, but they fall down when they start playing with Pinot Meunier.  Their vintage is good, but it was 2002 so it should be, and my experiences of previous vintages haven't been impressive so this could be a flash in the pan, and their Non Vintage and Prestige Cuvee both fall way short of the competition.  I would focus on their Chardonnay wines as these have poise, balance and can compete on quality and price with a number of dedicated Blanc de Blancs producers.

#439 Rugby, Crisps, Wine - too much time on our hands

An age old question - which flavour of Crisps goes best with Australian Cabernet Sauvignon?  Stuck in work whilst the other 4,999,998 people in Scotland are watching the England vs Scotland rugby match, my colleague (and fellow wine blogger) George Stewart decided to try three flavours of Tyrrell's Crisps whilst drinking a bottle of 2001 Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No 1 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Which goes best with the wine?

Ludlow Sausage and Mustard

An initial English mustard hit, followed by a herbal sausage flavour - sage and a bit of rosemary gravy flavour as well.  The savoury elements of the wine work pretty well with the meaty flavours, and the acidity of the wine balances out the snack's greasier elements resulting in a smoother wine.  A green vegetal favour on the palate at the end when you have consumed both together.  As a pairing, not bad.  

Mature Cheddar & Chive

So a posh take on cheese and onion, and the crisp is flavoured with quite strong cheese and the chive element is a bit too much.  With the wine, it gives a port like element - maybe that is just the cheese and fruit combo - but a cheap port.  There is a powdery texture with the two together that is actually quite repulsive.  Give this a miss.  

Sweet Chilli & Red Pepper

The crisp is tough - very hard texture and there is a nice heat of chilli coming off with some smoked paprika flavour as well.  With the wine the chilli spice really comes out, so that it is all you really taste.  There is none of the sweet flavour you get from the crisp on its own and the wine is a bit stripped - acid coming to the fore and a jalapeno pepper emerges as well.  Not repulsive, but not as good as the sausage & mustard.

So if you are ever in a wine shop, with no customers because the rest of the world is watching a rugby match, and want to know which crisp goes best with this wine, you now have your answer.  Now what are you going to do?


Follow George on Twitter @thegrapepress

By Peter Wood with 1 comment