We come to the end of the wines we drank during August with a final six bottles forming Part 3 of my Recent Wines. Not strictly six wines, because one is an ice cider, but it is one of the most amazing ciders I’ve had the pleasure to drink, on a few occasions over the past seven or eight years. We kick off with an older Vin Jaune, before the Czech cider. We then continue with a stunning Austrian, a beautiful Welsh wine, and a rather different kind of Bordeaux red. August ends on a wine that could quite aptly describe our times, from Hungary. Some very special bottles here.

Arbois Vin Jaune 1986, Domaine de la Pinte (Jura, France)

Previously, in Part Two, we have had a relatively youthful Vin Jaune, a 2010 from Domaine de la Touraize. It isn’t often that I get to drink a Vin Jaune from the 1980s though. Domaine de la Pinte was the first biodynamic domaine in Arbois. They have been making wine just outside the town for not far off 75 years, still under the ownership of the Martin family who originally set it up, but are not involved in the viticulture nor winemaking. The 35ha of vineyards are now managed by François Duboz, who as Director oversees La Pinte stalwart Emmanuelle Goydadin in the cellars.

This bottle has quite a deep colour and the bouquet is a mix of ginger, turmeric and walnuts. You get a hint of yellow plum too. It is rich but no longer has the intensity of a younger VJ. In fact, if you were expecting acidity and the sharp nuttiness of flor, you will be surprised by its absence. On the palate the flavours meander slowly, a stream of consciousness on the tongue. In fact, a very “Zen” wine.

I only bought this maybe seven years ago, at the domaine. I had a nice personal visit. The cellars are big but simple, and the old bottle safe had a few bottles of my birth year (not for sale). This 1986 cost €130 if I remember correctly. The domaine’s shop in Arbois often has some older vintages, but they can call in even older ones from the cellars if you are not able to visit.

Patience Ice Cider 2019, Utopia (Bohemia. Czechia)

Eva and Ivo Laurin make unapologetically natural ciders at Tábor, south of Prague. Their home is right next to a very old castle-fort, Sudkuv Dul. Their orchards are a mix of old Czech heritage apple varieties along with some English varieties they planted as an experiment. No sprays are used, and fermentation takes place in 225-litre barrels. Most of their output is deliciously dry, this ice cider being the exception.

After twelve months ageing on lees, post-fermentation, it goes through a second fermentation in bottle to create a rich and deeply honeyed cider with tropical fruits and significant levels of intensity. When young, the acids balance the sweetness of the residual sugar, rather like an Auslese wine in Germany. At six years old, however, this has changed. There is less acidity, and also far fewer bubbles. You don’t get the youthful hit, which I will admit I find massively attractive, but you do get a lot of complexity to replace it. If there isn’t intense acidity, the fruit flavours are no less intense.

Always a remarkable drink, this is special. Although you may have drunk Ice Wine, Eiswein, or even other Ice Cider, this is wholly additive free. Not even a dash of sulphur is added. It’s definitely something to seek out if you haven’t tried it. It is currently out of stock at importer Basket Press Wines (according to their web site as of 15 September), where I bought this for £30/375ml. Forest Wines might still have some.

Josephine Rot 2017, Gut Oggau (Burgenland, Austria)

Gut Oggau farm a little north of Rust, at Oggau, a small village on the western shore of the Neusiedlersee. To say they make natural wines is to understate what they do here. This is one of the most holistic wine-producing operations in Austria, if not Europe. The work carried out by Eduard and Stephanie since 2007 has been wholly focused on regenerative viticulture and biodiversity, plus, in my experience, more love focused on the land than at almost any other wine estate I know. Some places feel special, like Iona, which I visited last week. In the same way, some people just feel special. I don’t know what it means, but I really do feel that.

I was last at Gut Oggau in September 2022, and I drank, among other bottles (which you can read about if you search for the article here), the 2018 vintage of Josephine during a meal at their unmissable Heuriger. This 2017 now has the benefit of age.

You will doubtless know the idea of the Gut Oggau “family”, each cuvée representing a family member from three generations (largely depending on vine age). They don’t really like to publicise grape content, but of course everyone is keen to know. Josephine is always a distinctive wine, and that is probably the Roesler (Rösler), a 1970s cross between Blauer Zweigelt x Klosterneuburg 1189-9-77 (= Seyve Villard 18-402 x Blaufränkisch). There may be some Blaufränkisch in the blend as well, of course.

The grapes come from a sunny, south-facing, limestone slope and vines average thirty years of age. The result is a deep and dense wine, inky-dark and a purply-red. The bouquet is intense too, dark fruits dominating (blackberry, blackcurrant, a little blueberry). On the palate the tannins have faded but there is still a freshness and crispness, and also a certain lightness despite the intensity. It’s a wine of elegance and finesse, but also one that is alive, and even one with a touch of a wild side to it. That makes it complex and a wine to ponder over rather than just knock back.

This bottle came from Antidote Wine Bar’s shop in Central London, but Dynamic Vines has the UK agency for Gut Oggau. I suspect you won’t find any 2017 knocking about, but the 2023 might deprive you of £60-£70 for a bottle now (a lot more than I paid for this 2017). Well worth it if you are sufficiently endowed with disposable income. Gut Oggau now runs a subscription scheme where members subscribe at differing levels depending on the wines you want. This is a fantastic idea, and the wines seem well-priced, but of course you do have to factor in shipping to the UK if you are based here, which is not so inexpensive as it was before Brexit.

Rhosyn 2023, Mountain People Wines (Monmouthshire, Wales)

David Morris moved from his family’s Ancre Hill Vineyard in 2019 to his own biodynamic Parva Farm at Tintern, where he has two-hectares of vines on a steep, south-facing, slope rising 100-metres above the River Wye.  He makes wine from grapes grown here, and from a friend in Somerset. I drank a wine made from the latter fruit source back in March (TAM Chardonnay). This Rosé (Rhosyn in Welsh) is from grapes grown at Parva Farm.

We have a field blend, with a long list of red and white grapes, which do bear repeating (you can always skim it). Pinot Noir is planted alongside Regent, Seyval Blanc, Bacchus, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Ortega, Schoenburger, Müller-Thurgau, Reichensteiner, Gewurztraminer, Scheurebe and Huxelrebe. Wow!

Not only are we in extreme “gemischter satz” territory here, we also have a long list which includes so many heritage varieties, ones which do not originate in the UK, but were integral to the British Isles in the 1970s to 1980s wave of plantings, with their part-protection from the ravages of a very wet climate. Mind you, Monmouthshire is a relatively dry corner of Wales, hence the planting of some of those better-known grape varieties alongside the hybrids etc.

This cuvée is made by layering whole bunches in stainless steel and fermenting by carbonic maceration. It is a zero-intervention wine that comes out pale, light, sensually scented with red berry fruit, strawberry perhaps dominating. A gentle, thought-provoking wine, one which comes in at just 9% alcohol. I called it pretty when I first tasted it earlier this year, on meeting David. He agreed. I did say I meant that very much as a compliment.

The UK agent is Carte Blanche, although I think it goes through Element Wines in Scotland. My bottle came retail from Spry Wines in Edinburgh.

Tattarrattat Rouge [2020], Château Picoron (Bordeaux, France)

This is an organic and biodynamic Merlot from a single plot on a 4.5ha estate near Saint-Emilion. The property is run by Australian couple Glenda and Frank Kalyk, although the estate has been in production since 1570, apparently.

Just 4,200 bottles were made, fermenting the grapes very deliberately by carbonic maceration to maximise the fruit. It is a no-intervention wine, which includes no added sulphur. It has a nice, and very “Merlot”, ruby red colour and it’s very fruity, with red fruits, plenty of sour cherry, and an apple crispness. The label exhorts us to serve it lightly chilled, and even for a 13.5% abv Merlot, that works really well. You don’t really perceive that much alcohol.

These days we are seeing a lot more winemakers in the wider Bordeaux region trying to do something different. This estate is indicative inasmuch as they are making natural wines, and wines intended to be fun, wines to drink not keep. Such a philosophy is impressive, given the region’s wet climate, necessitating the frequent application of synthetic chemicals in the minds of most producers.

It’s also refreshing to see people making, well, refreshing wines for early consumption, in a region where the norm is to try to emulate those making wines which require decades of ageing by collectors purchasing at high prices en primeur. But thankfully Bordeaux has been changing for a while, if slowly.

This is delicious, fun (irrespective of whether you appreciate palindromes as much as Glenda and Frank appear to) and great value at £22 from Cork & Cask (Edinburgh). The importer is Moreno Wines. I tasted it at Cork & Cask’s Summer Fair, reminding me that their Winter event is not too far off…Saturday 15 November. Well worth a detour.

Disorder #4 2021, Réka-Koncz (Barabás, Hungary)

Annamária is based at Barabás in far Eastern Hungary, but the fruit for Disorder comes from a friend at Mád, in the Tokaj Region. It’s a 100% Furmint cuvée, a collaboration with Annamária’s friend, Stefan Jensen, owner of Terroiristen Vinbar in Copenhagen. Annamária happened to have done her Masters in microbiology (on yeast evaluation) in that city.

Disorder is made from fruit coming from 30-year-old vines planted on a loamy topsoil over (volcanic) rhyolite and clay. Half the grapes were destemmed and pressed into 400-litre amphora, whilst the remainder of the fruit spent fourteen days on skins in open vat before going into amphora.

Only 800-litres of this cuvée were made, which is a shame because Disorder vies for my favourite of Annamária’s wines, and it is hard to come by. I love its beautiful minerality and precision, which somehow is matched with a softness of fruit not always apparent in Furmint. The colour of this 2021 has deepened a bit over the 2022 (of which I also still have one bottle), but its scents of orchard fruits and the texture on the palate are really beguiling.

Basket Press Wines imports Réka-Koncz into the UK. Every time I review one of this producer’s wines, I have to mention that it is sold out. Annamária’s wines last a few weeks, if that, so one needs to be swift off the mark to get some. They are not really expensive but worth grabbing. Last time I spoke to Zainab at Basket Press Wines she seemed to think the new vintage would arrive in the coolness of Autumn, so perhaps not long to wait? I do hope she remembers to remind me when they arrive.