David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

Aeble Cider Bar and Shop – the Face of Cider in Scotland

Posted on 20/08/2024 by dccrossley

There were a lot of corny puns I might have been tempted to use in the title to this article, but I don’t want to make light of either cider as a drink, nor Scotland’s first, and as far as I know, only cider shop/bar. There’s no question that cider has increased in popularity manyfold in the past decade, and one major beneficiary has been artisan cider. As with wine, there is a mass of (semi-)industrial product, and a smaller market for well made, small production, cider and perry.

Cider of this sort, and indeed perry (made from pears), especially the sparkling versions, seem to appeal to the same people who are drinking natural wines, and the sparkling petnats (pétillant naturel). In fact, there are some wags who would say that petnat is just sparkling cider but at least twice as expensive. They can have their joke, but I won’t deny that sparkling cider is a similarly refreshing beverage which mostly (not always, as we shall see) costs much less than a natural wine made by the méthode ancestrale.

Aeble Cider Bar and Shop was started by Grant and Jaye Hutchison in May 2021. Grant is, like me, a drummer, and toured the world (he also, unlike me, had a #9 album and played Glasto) with the successful Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit. He moved into running a cider distribution company, re:stalk, when based in Glasgow, whilst Jaye worked for homeless charity Social Bite as an events coordinator and social media manager.

Moving to the East Neuk of Fife in 2020, Anstruther offered a perfect location. A good mix of locals who know cider, because Fife has a number of thriving artisan cider producers, plus a good dose of tourist traffic. The East Neuk is really very pretty indeed, with several small harbours along the Firth of Forth and the famous Fife Coastal Path, and you have St Andrews not far up the road. You can even get there from North Berwick, by occasional boat, as I did in July when we ended a long walk with a trip to Aeble to quench our thirst.

A passion for cider was a good enough reason to open a cider shop, but Grant and Jaye had also noticed the bars they had visited on their Japanese honeymoon, in Tokyo’s Golden Gai (which I agree are inspirational). Here, a small space has a specialist focus for a few people to enjoy food and drink. This was what inspired them to add in the bar, which has proved a good move, and leads to crossover between those drinking in and those after a bottle to take home. It’s a perfect avenue of discovery for the adventurous drinker.

What makes artisan cider special? Lots of things but Grant highlights provenance as a major factor. It mirrors the increase, albeit slowly, in people wanting to know where their food comes from and then how it is produced. Artisan ciders are a good bit more expensive than supermarket fare, but most people can appreciate the difference, even if not everyone can afford to follow the better path. But it’s also easy to argue that the artisan products are better value too when some supermarket ciders are price-inflated by mega marketing budgets and multi-national mega-profits.

Anstruther does have a lot of tourists, many staying every year in static caravans and camp sites. These provide a good cohort of returning customers in the summer months. Also, as I have found, there is a strong will here, as throughout Scotland, to support local businesses in a population which in general is considerably more community-minded than in the South of England.

The key, Grant says, is to provide a welcoming space which doesn’t intimidate anyone. They have their “aficionados”, both visiting and online, but no one should be made to feel they don’t know enough about the subject. Jaye and Grant have the knowledge to help sell someone a product they will enjoy.

Post-Covid trade has been good, especially this year. Word does seem to be getting out, even UK-wide. I asked Grant what is selling well and what are his and Jaye’s favourites. He cited Artistraw from Herefordshire (for their holistic approach), and Wilding from Somerset. These are “natural ciders”, made like natural wine without chemicals. Often you will find varietals listed on the label just like wine. Single apple varieties like Dabinett, Yarlington Mill and even Bramley have noticeably different characteristics.

As I mentioned above, Fife has become a thriving hub for cider. I discovered this through Robbie Fleming who makes small batches, much from fruit foraged from wild apple trees, from a base at Leuchars, just outside St Andrews. It was tasting these ciders at a Cork & Cask Winter Wine Fair in Edinburgh a couple of years ago that drew my attention to Aeble.

Fleming’s Wild Blend includes fruit foraged in Fife as well as some of Robbie’s own apples. £11.50 from Aeble.

Naughton Cider comes from a farm very close to our friends’ place on the Tay. Peter Crawford has experience in Champagne distribution and so he fashions Traditional Method bottle-fermented ciders from the orchard on his parents’ farm. These are the ciders I mentioned that cost as much as a petnat (around £25). Aipple makes cider currently in Perthshire, but using Fife fruit, another producer that comes highly recommended.

Among the most popular sellers in the shop, we have Little Pomona (their Table Cider), a producer probably known to many readers of this blog. Pomme Pomme by Pilton Cider in Somerset is also very popular. Pilton make “keeved cider” where the juice doesn’t fully ferment so you get a sweetness, but they blend in some quince wine, which balances the sweetness with a hint of acidity. That Little Pomona is their entry level cuvée, and the easiest for first timers to get into.

Naturally Grant and Jaye know their international ciders, a few of which they sell in the shop. It wasn’t hard to get a long list of favourites out of Grant. They stock Bordelet, Kerisac and Fournier from France, and they recommend (if you come across them) Baumans, Seattle Cider Co and Original Sin from the USA. According to Grant, Original Sin makes some of the best canned apple cider in the world.

I suspect a lot more bottles would hit the shelves if space were less of a constraint, including some Spanish ciders from Asturias (they do have Trabanco), Galicia and the Basque Country (where cider and Txacoli, the local white wine, bear many resemblances). I’ve also noticed the famous Swiss Cidrerie du Vulcain (their “Transparente” for £22.50) on the shelf.

Needless to say, I have already mentioned to Grant some of my own favourites, like La Garagista’s cider and wine blend, Fleurine (Vermont), Utopia (Czechia’s Bohemian Highlands) whose “Patience” Ice Cider must rank easily in my top-five ciders ever tasted, and Charlie Herring Wines’ various masterpieces of inspiration (Hampshire).

I had to ask about perry, the pear equivalent of apple cider and something I am only starting to discover. Apparently, it is only getting better known slowly, but Grant says “it can be just as, if not more, elegant a drink [as cider] and also more appealing to a sweeter palate”. Ask Grant for a recommendation, as I shall on my next visit.

What else does Aeble stock? They do keep a small selection of wines, but the natural wines they like are often too expensive for their usual market. Their sweet price point is closer to £15 than £25-£30 as is required for most natural wine. They do stock Ciello from Sicily, and Funkstille from Austria, as well as Little Pomona’s own skin contact Orange Wine. These go hand-in-hand with a very good range of snacks (Superbon seaweed flavour crisps sell well in this location). Cloudy apple juice and a small beer selection can also be picked up, including Futtle, whose brewery is just down the road from Anstruther, in St Monans.

To this, you can add, among other products, Pommeau (cider brandy blended with apple juice), ice cider and eau de vie. I have seen the odd product from Julian Temperley’s Somerset Cider Brandy Company too. I remember meeting Julian, via a friend who knew him, in the 1990s, and we used to get plastic containers filled from the vat when we visited. Now his products are found all over the world, and he’s almost as well-known as his famous daughters.

Finally, a bit of fun…extremely popular in the summer are the cider slushies you can see rotating in glass behind the bar. Winter, of course, sees these replaced with mulled cider. Cider is always available on draft, including their own house cider (which also comes in bottle).

As with any self-respecting and hard-working wine shop, Aeble has a full range of events on offer. The next is a bar snacks evening with Edinburgh bakery Hobz on 30 August. A full list of events can be found on Aeble’s web site at www.aeble.co.uk

As can their opening hours. These vary seasonally, but right now they are open Wednesday to Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday) from 12.00 until 6pm (8pm Friday and Saturday), but I recommend double-checking before making a journey. Of course, they ship throughout the UK, and also offer a cider club option (six bottles with notes every two months, for currently £80 if you like surprises).

Needless to say, I’m only writing about Aeble because, like the few wine shops I’ve highlighted this year (hopefully one more to come soon), I think this is a brilliant place to get to know cider, whether in person or online. If I imparted all the information Grant relayed to me on his way down to London to help judge the International Cider Challenge it would probably be almost enough for a book. They have a very exciting range in the shop, and cider is a drink many of us are keen to drink a lot more of (and perry too, in my case). There are certainly recent books on artisan cider, and even one dedicated to perry due soon, but I think Grant is the perfect person to give anyone wanting a basic grounding in the subject just that.

Anstruther may be a bit off the beaten track, but UK-wide shipping makes it easy to discover what they have on offer. And, of course, Grant (I’ve yet to meet his wife, Jaye) seems an amazingly nice bloke. As many of you will know, that counts an awful lot in my worldview.

Aeble Cider is at 17 Rodger Street, Anstruther, KY10 3DU. It’s just up the hill on the western side of the harbour, where the main car park is located (there’s one disabled space near the shop).

See info@aeble.co.uk or @aeble_ciderbar on Insta.

Recent Wines July 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 06/08/2024 by dccrossley

July Part Two kicks off with two wines from Spain, one from the south and one from the north, totally different but both special wines. Then we head east to Austria’s Burgenland, from where it’s just a short drive to Moravia in Southern Czechia. The penultimate wine here is a North American gem, then we finish our six-pack back on the Baden border in Germany.

“Lumière” 2019, Muchada-Léclapart (Sanlúcar, Spain)

David Léclapart is, of course, one of the star “growers” in Champagne. This is a collaboration with Alejandro Muchada. David brings his expertise in biodynamics and Alejandro brings grapes from 2.5 hectares of the great Pago Miraflores at Sanlúcar, a source of fruit for so many wonderful wines I seem to feature here. They are making unfortified natural wines, with no flor interaction, from Palomino vines over sixty years old.

After fermentation this “Lumière” cuvée is aged 15 months in 400-litre French oak. There were 3,760 bottles made. The bouquet is sophisticated, with stone fruits and lemon zest to the fore, but other subtle notes, mineral and nutty, beneath. Hints of hazelnut, and less so, almond. The palate has some pear fruit softness and an intense salinity. It doesn’t have the directness of a biologically-aged Sherry, yet it seems a perfectly balanced table wine, as balanced as the finest Chardonnay.

Frankly, this is sensational. It’s a terroir wine, but there’s such purity. The long finish is magical. This retails for £58 from The Solent Cellar, although there’s a cheaper cuvée, “Univers”, at £38. Both appear to be in stock. These wines have a reasonably wide UK distribution.

“Quite” VV 2020, Veronica Ortega (Bierzo, Spain)

Veronica’s sensibilities must have been influenced by the places she worked at before breaking out on her own, because her winemaking is both sensitive to terroir and refined. Those estates were Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Comte Armand, both either side of Beaune on Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. The main criticism levelled at Bierzo when it became fashionable, at least the more commercial bottlings, was that the Mencia grape was not meant to produce big, even bruising, wines. Veronica’s are not like that.

She is based at Valtuille, near the town of Ponferrada. Bierzo is technically in Castilla y Léon, yet it undoubtedly shows a similar Atlantic influence to the wines of Galicia, to the west. There is also the River Sil’s influence too, which lies just north of Valtuille. Bierzo is well known for her old vines, the region having only started to achieve real commercial success in the 2000s, but Veronica’s Mencia is over 80 years of age, grown on iron-rich sandy soils.

After a two-week maceration, “Quite” is aged 50% in used oak, 50% in 800-litre amphora. The fruit is amazing, and indeed everything that Mencia should be about. Smelling the glass after an initial swirl, mulberry fruit leapt out. The first time I’ve smelt very distinct mulberry on a wine in a long time, but unmistakable. Let’s not forget the spice and herbs too, but they play a secondary role. The palate has smooth bramble fruit with a bit of texture (more than tannin).

I tasted this at the Cork & Cask Winter Fair last November. It was excellent, and of course I already rate Veronica’s wines highly, so I bought a bottle. Drinking the bottle in July it was even better. It cost £24, although they are currently out of stock. Vine Trail imports. Cork & Cask (Edinburgh) do have a good value Mencia from Castro Ventosa for £16, although it’s not Veronica Ortega, and it may not be a natural wine (though it is “vegan”).

Piroska 2021, Joiseph (Burgenland, Austria)

After a few forays down to Luka Zeichmann’s own small operation in the south of Burgenland, we head back up north here to the more familiar territory of his Joiseph partnership, around Jois, a village which sits almost exactly at the northern end of the Neusiedlersee, just west of the town of Neusiedl am See.

Piroska is a light red, and as such is a beautiful colour. The grape blend is 40% Blaufränkisch, 50% Zweigelt and 10% Pinot Noir. It makes a light and fruity combination with a little spice adding extra interest.

Luka’s wines are thoughtfully made and they are impossible not to like in summer, and Piroska should definitely be served cool or slightly chilled. The red and black fruits are zippy and lively, and this is a wine to refresh the palate, not to linger over with a dictionary of tasting terms. I bought mine from Cork & Cask for £24 (still available, I think). Prost Wines has some for a little more, and importer Modal Wines, although sold out of the 2021, seems to have a price of £29 on their web site.

I’d call this a brilliant wine for £25 but once it hops over £30 it may be a tough ask. I say that whilst continuing to believe that Luka Zeichmann is one of the young stars of Burgenland, with plenty of vintages in front of him with which to stun us.

Dark Horse Brut 2022, Petr Koráb (Moravia, Czechia)

Petr Koráb farms at Boleradice, where he is building his new cellars, hopefully just to complement his historic underground cellar which I was lucky enough to visit in 2022. I was already a fan of this magician, who fashions more wines each vintage than many an Alsace producer, which is saying something. Like that vintage’s tasty “Raspberries on Ice”, much enjoyed but not seen again, Dark Horse may be a one-vintage creation never to be repeated. If you can find a bottle, grab one.

The label has a strap line “Like a horse to run with the smell of dust and herbs toward the sunset”. It’s a poetic image, mirrored by a label which features a horse full of vigour. The wine reflects all of this.

Petr blends Amber Traminer with Karmazin (aka Blaufränkisch) and the local variety, Hibernal. It’s a red petnat, made by the Ancestral Method, fermented for the second time in bottle after undergoing a first fermentation and ageing in a mix of ceramic vessel and robinia wood barrels.

This has very good strawberry and raspberry fruit but it also has a real edge to it, created by texture and the very fine and vigorous bead of bubbles. Add bite and a little grip and you get a rather interesting, bright, red sparkler that coats the palate with ripe but slightly tart fruit. Concentrated, even intense, perhaps. Definitely a petnat with attitude. I think last time I mentioned this wine I said it was the best petnat I’d tried all year, and nothing has come along yet to better it, good petnats as I have consumed.

The problem is that there isn’t much around (hopefully you saw me mention Dark Horse back in March and bought some). A search on importer Basket Press Wines’s web site (my direct source for several bottles) shows no Dark Horse (though frankly any Koráb is worth trying), though that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have any. A search on the web will show one or two sources, of which Prost Wines may be your best bet (£26).

Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Blanc 2022, Kelley Fox Wines (Oregon, USA)

Kelley Fox makes some truly wonderful wines, not least those which rank among the finest Pinot Noir of a state renowned for scintillating examples of that variety. Perhaps a little hidden within her range, however, is this gem. Freedom Hill vineyard is located in the large Willamette Valley. More specifically, this site, established in 1981 by the Dusschee family between Dallas (not that one) and Monmouth, to the west of Salem, borders the Eola Hills AVA.

The vines here are on marine sediment, and the soils seem to have quite a profound influence on the wine, perhaps thanks to Kelley’s hands-off winemaking. The Pinot Blanc grapes were pressed gently as whole clusters, saw two days for the juice to settle, then were racked and fermented in stainless steel. Ageing was in the same medium, and the wine went through malolactic.

The colour is a pale lemon yellow. The bouquet is wonderful, citrus combining with sensual tropical fruits. The palate has a real mineral tension. It starts very refreshing, but builds complexity and a little gras in the glass. The abv sits at 13% but the balance is spot on. Subjectively, this ranks as my favourite Pinot Blanc, no question, and I like Pinot Blanc. I know I’m not alone in my opinion. I’ve been lucky to meet Kelley a couple of times, and I’m sure her thoughtful personality and kindness come through in her craft. Very human.

Not sure of the price, but I’m positive it’s affordable, at least compared to her top Pinot Noir cuvées. The importer is Les Caves de Pyrene, from whom I purchased it at the Real Wine Fair this year.

“Pur Jus” 2021, Max Sein Wein (Baden, Germany)

I’m sure by now you are pretty well-versed in the origins of Max Baumann’s wines, from Wertheim-Dertingen on the Baden/Franconian border. He continues to weave his magic, establishing himself among the best of young German winemakers. And you know what? Unlike some other countries, wines made by the German newcomers are generally still affordable, and certainly remain good value. For now.

This 2021 “Pur Jus” is a blend of 50% Kerner, 40% Gewurztraminer and 10% Müller-Thurgau. As with Pinot Blanc, I think Kerner is a wrongly neglected variety. It makes a few excellent wines on its own, and here it really adds to the blend. What I like particularly about this wine in general, even more than the specifics of its floral bouquet (the Gewurz certainly evident here), and its mineral palate, so full of tension yet not in any way dominating the very generous fruit and acid balance, is its overall feel. I’d call it its soul.

Max worked for a time at Gut Oggau (as well as in New Zealand, and with Judith Beck in Burgenland as well), and fanciful as it may seem, in this wine I somehow felt he was channelling something of the soul of that domaine. I know, it’s just a feeling, but it did strike me in that way. After all, most of us who drink their wines, and visit their cellars, are somehow changed so it must have a real and lasting effect on people who work there.

Max makes some excellent red wines, from Pinot Meunier as well as Noir, but his white wines seem to have evolved, and matured. This 2021 was as excellent as any of his reds, and although only coming in at 12% abv, it has become even more rounded with age. It remains well priced too. I paid £26 from Basket Press Wines. They may possibly have sold out, though they do show some other cuvées. Perhaps the 2022 is on the way?

Posted in Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Czech Wine, German Wine, Natural Wine, North American Wine, Petnat, Spanish Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Austrian Natural Wine, Bierzo Mencia Veronica Ortega, Czech Wine, Dark Horse Brut 2022 Petr Koráb, Freedom Hill Vineyard, German natural wine, German Wine, Joiseph Jois Burgenland, Joiseph Piroska 2021, Kelley Fox Freedom Hill Pinot Blanc 2022, Kelley Fox Wines Oregon USA, Kerner blend in Baden, Luka Zeichmann Joiseph, Max Baumann Winzer, Max Sein Wein Baden, Max Sein Wein Pur Jus 2021, Moravian Wine, Muchada-Léclapart Lumière Sanlúcar, North American Pinot Blanc, Oregon Wine, Palomino table wine, Petr Koráb Boleradice, Recent Wines July 2024 Pt2, Sanlúcar table wine, Veronica Ortega Bierzo Quite, Veronica Ortega Valtuille, Willamette Valley, Wines of Northern Spain | Leave a comment

Recent Wines July 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 01/08/2024 by dccrossley

July marks the start of the second half of the year, and also, finally, the arrival of nice weather in our sunny corner of Scotland. It’s strange, though, how my drinking doesn’t substantially change between summer and winter. I drank a powerful red with 14.5% alcohol here, but it was perfect with a steak barbecued by an American (ie properly) on the same evening as the most beautiful sunset of the year so far. It was one of three reds and three whites which make up Part One, the same colour split to follow in Part Two. But here we have wines from Aosta, Penedès, Sussex, Bergerac, Jura and Alsace.

Torrette Superieur 2016, Elio Ottin (Aosta/Aoste, Italy)

Aosta is a tiny region, and like another tiny region whose wines I love (thinking of Bugey here), although their wines are hard to find, they’re not as hard to find as they were five years ago. Elio Ottin’s wines have been around in the UK for quite a while though, and bottles appear on random shelves a couple of times a year.

There is a unique beauty about Aosta, crammed into one river valley, the Dora Baltea, and a few decidedly Alpine side valleys, filling a tiny, mostly French speaking, bit of Italy between the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the Grand Saint-Bernard Pass in the west, and Piemonte’s northern reaches to the southeast.

Elio Ottin started working his estate in 1989, which was not all that long before I first visited Aosta, falling in love with its wines through the tutelage of the now retired owner of the tiny Hotel Perret at Bonne, just above Valgrisenche. It was an amazing auberge back in the day, where there was no menu, second helpings were always offered, and frequently guests arrived with crampons and backpacks as often as by car.

First visit I think I ordered Brunello (Bruno was an experienced sommelier in his younger days) but over the years this kind man tutored me well in Aostan wines, and latterly I’d carry home some of the region’s amazing dessert wines (Malvasia Flétri and Moscato Passito), well-aged in his cellar, along with an axle-crunching selection of other local wines foraged among the villages and from Aosta itself. I do so miss that place.

Ottin was only twenty-three when he began farming grapes, converting to organic viticulture. He was intent on reviving the steep vineyards (at 650 to 700 masl) at Saint-Christophe. He forged out, bottling his own wine, in 2007. The red Torrette grapes here are cooled to receive a short maceration before fermenting (spontaneously with ambient yeasts). This wine is aged 12 months in old Austrian oak.

This is an eight-year-old wine made from a variety one would hardly call “noble” by any stretch of the imagination of those writers and critics who made their fame in the 1980s by preaching the gospel of uniformity. But this is very much hitting its stride and full of interest. Quite dark in colour, yet bright, you get both dark and red fruits making up a bouquet which also gives hints of pine needles. The palate has a little tannin, not a lot but enough to add texture.

I wouldn’t call it complex, but it has 13.5% abv and is a good food wine. I think the altitude helps retain freshness and acidity, so there’s a brightness to it. It went very well with a roast vegetable (butternut squash, cauliflower and padron peppers) risotto. £26.75 from St Andrews Wine Company, but I think it could have been one of those last bottle situations. That said, they always have something on the shelf that grabs my wallet’s attention.

Sotaterra Oníric 2021, Celler Entre Vinyes (Penedès, Spain)

I think I recounted before how two people recommended this producer independently but on the same morning back in March this year. One was fellow blogger and Coutelou alumni Alan March, and the other was a wine buyer who I asked to recommend just one estate from her list. It took me a while to track down some bottles, and I managed to grab a couple of different cuvées a couple of months ago.

Entre Vinyes was started by a very young couple who took over some old and neglected parcels of vines in the Penedès appellation in Catalonia in 2012. At the same time, they converted a derelict chicken coop and pigsty into a winery. As you will imagine, they were determined to follow a path of natural wine and a regeneration of their land, and by all accounts they have succeeded wonderfully. I get the impression that a lot of people with their fingers on the pulse are either raving about these wines or trying to keep them secret.

This is an amber/orange wine. Macabeo, planted in 1935, saw fourteen days on skins and nine months in total in amphora that are buried in the ground. The result is certainly a skin contact wine, but lightly textured, boasting only 11% abv and real freshness. Yes, there is texture, but it is soft texture, not harsh or rasping. It has peachy fruit that runs deep, with an overlay of orange peel, but that freshness I mentioned is the freshness of a lighter white wine. Maybe I can describe it as nimble. It’s really lovely, and elegant too. My other bottle is a white wine without skin contact. I doubt it will see out August, so watch this space.

I found this at Smith & Gertrude (Edinbugh – Stockbridge and Portobello) for £23.50. Modal Wines is the UK importer, from whom you can buy direct if you are not lucky enough to have a S&G close by.

Pinot Meunier 2022, Walgate Wines (Sussex, England)

I was glad to catch up with Ben for the first time in ages at the Real Wine Fair in London this spring. Now that Ben is working out of his own winery in the beautiful town of Rye on the Sussex coast, he is searching for top fruit. Here, I think, he has struck gold, wherever this Meunier was sourced (though I believe he brought his own wine with him from Tillingham).

This bottling is mostly Meunier, but with a dash of Pinot Noir, Ben told me. It saw whole bunches macerated for three weeks in concrete before transfer to stainless steel and oak. The fruit on this is enormous. The back label mentions cherries and pomegranate, and that’s certainly what you get, but the language is too pedestrian for such an explosion of fruit on both nose, and especially, on the palate. It paired magnificently with a fricassée of mushrooms in a cream sauce with a dash of wine to finish.

Ben sure knows how to make wine, and I do hope his new venture allows him the freedom to make the wines he wants. I know that competition for fruit sources is far greater now than when he had his vision for Tillingham, and the fact that there are now a lot more small operations looking for grapes is in good part down to him and a few other artisans who pushed the boundaries back and gained a reputation for their wines. Ben’s wines shown at Real Wine were going down well, his Rosé especially, but this “Pinot Meunier” is, in my humble opinion, even better.

Agent in the UK: Les Caves de Pyrene.

No 1 Saint-Cernin 2019, Maison Wessman (Bergerac, France)

Usually, I pay for what I drink, but I should declare here (as I always will) that everyone who attended the Maison Wessman tasting and lunch at the beginning of July this year went home with a goodie bag containing a couple of bottles. I’m hoping you will forgive me a very rare perk and trust that I’m being honest about the wine. I should mention though, as I did in my article about the tasting (published on 4 July 2024), that Bergerac was randomly the first wine region I ever visited, so I will not deny the dose of warm nostalgia that the event brought with it.

Maison Wessman is the umbrella name for several estates in Bergerac and Limoux. These include the vineyards of Château de Saint-Cernin, the French home of Robert Wessman, situated on some fine and fairly unique limestone terroir near Issigeac, south of Bergerac and the Dordogne, for which there are moves to get a specific appellation. The vines are farmed with “a commitment to eco-responsible and sustainable viticulture”. Although I always find it hard to interpret that kind of language, what I am certain of is that Wessman have a serious commitment to quality.

Here we have a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a prestige selection, and comes in a far too heavy bottle, and packs 14.5% alcohol. But it has a smooth elegance, concentration and power. Those things don’t always come at the same time, as some Napa drinkers will know. We get cherries, blackcurrant, truffles, tobacco leaf and spice. Theres a little texture rather than harder tannins in a wine that has almost five years post-harvest age, and a bit of evolving complexity.

Now aside from the heavy bottle, this is both impressive and enjoyable. I found myself a little nostalgic for the Cabernet/Merlot blend, so perhaps the pendulum of taste is swinging back. What helped was that it was drunk as the evening began to cool alongside a barbecued steak, done just right by an American friend on the banks of the Tay. A great food match always elevates a wine, as the wine elevates the food.

I looked around for the price and availability of this wine. As such, Maison Wessman is looking for a UK importer, though Hedonism Wines did appear to show the 2018 (previous vintage) for £50. But French prices are more like 26€ for this 2019. Interested in importing these wines? Contact Westbury Communications.

L’Etoile “Selection” 2019, Jean-Luc Mouillard (Jura, France)

L’Etoile is one of the least-seen appellations in the Jura Region, the village of the same name being close to Lons-le-Saunier and southwest of Château-Chalon. It is a marl-based terroir, but the name may derive from the star-shaped fossils found in the appellation’s limestone, which is mixed in with the marls in the best parts of the vignoble.

There are fewer “names” here. Château de L’Etoile used to appear from time to time, especially in Parisian wine shops. The best known today (a natural wine and a bit of a bargain) would be Domaine de Montbourgeau, in L’Etoile itself.

Jean-Luc Mouillard is based way to the north, in a village called Mantry, in the AOP Côtes du Jura, but the majority of his vines are in and around L’Etoile. This producer appeared on the list at the retailer named below after they paid a visit earlier this year. I asked Simon Smith which was the best from the selection they have, and he suggested this one, for which I am grateful.

The assemblage for this “Selection” is Chardonnay and Savagnin, the wine being aged two years sous voile. It’s another fairly big wine, boasting 14.5% alcohol, but the balance is very good, with the flor elements to the fore, coupled with good acids. The nascent complexity is illustrated by lemon citrus, hazelnut, lime, mango, paprika and ginger. It’s almost as if all that alcohol can carry all that flavour. The more it opened up, the better it got. The flor element is pretty evident, but it doesn’t dominate.

This producer isn’t all that well known, and Wink Lorch (Jura Wine, 2014) suggested that at least back one decade ago Jean-Luc was mostly selling to the passing public and a few restaurants. Perhaps he’s a little better known now? I’d certainly enjoy drinking this again, and his straight Chardonnay from vines at Mantry might be lighter and also sounds interesting. Wink says the reds are much improved too.

This was £30 on recommendation from Solent Cellar, via importer Dudley-Jones Fine Wine.

Riesling Sur Schists Cuvée Nature « Rabari » 2021, André, Anna and Yann Durrmann (Alsace, France)

My soft spot for the wines now made by Yann Durrmann at Andlau stems from my discovery of the domaine, almost by accident, on the first evening when staying in the town back in 2017, before these wines had a UK importer. I try to buy three or four bottles every vintage. André grew the domaine in the 1980s and established its credentials for “natural wine”, sustainable viticulture, biodiversity and so much more. Son, Yann, has taken the domaine one step further, eliminating the last additive from the wines, sulphur, via the Cuvées Natures.

This is definitely a terroir-driven cuvée. The Riesling is taken from a single, very steep, parcel on schist. The grapes are gently pressed over ten-to-twelve hours and fermentation and ageing take place in stainless steel.

A salty, citrus, bouquet leads to a palate that hits you with its minerality. A faceful of schist! It also has electrically charged acidity. But I mean this as a positive, a call to acid hounds. Nothing of the battery acidity you’d find in this estate’s all-electric vehicles. The lack of sulphur is ameliorated by the addition of CO2, and so you get tiny bubbles (though it is emphatically not fizzy) which carry the minerality. It has almost the lightness of a Mosel (or more specifically Ruwer) Kabinett, but it is very dry. Maybe a bit like a Kabinett Trocken, but very sprightly.

It’s a wine that is genuinely thirst-quenching on a hot day, with 12% abv just right for the fruit. It was the right bottle to open on what, back then (mid-month) was the warmest day of July so far. I’m pleased that the Durrmann wines are getting a bit of recognition, thanks in large part to Yann’s efforts, and I’m pleased to see it up here in Scotland. I got this from Cork & Cask (Edinburgh) for around £28. Domaine Durrmann is imported by Wines Under the Bonnet.

Posted in Alsace, Aosta, Artisan Wines, English Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Spanish Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alsace Natural Wine, Andlau Natural Wine Domaine, Aostan Wine, Ben Walgate Rye, Bergerac Wine, Catalonian Wine, Celler Entre Vinyes Penèdes, Château Saint-Cernin Bergerac, Domaine Durrmann Andlau Alsace, Domaine Jean-Luc Mouillard Mantry, Elio Ottin Aosta, English Pinot Meunier, Issigeac Terroir, L'Etoile Jura, L'Etoile Selection 2019 Domaine Mouillard, Maison Wessman Bergerac, No 1 Saint-Cernin 2019, Penedès Natural Wine, Recent Wines July 2024 Pt1, Riesling Sur Schistes "Rabari" 2021 Dom Durrmann, Sotaterra Oníric 2021, Sussex Wine, Torrette, Walgate Wines Pinot Meunier 2022 | 2 Comments

Recent Wines June 2024 (Part 3) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 23/07/2024 by dccrossley

The bumper June edition of my Recent Wines of 2024 runs to a third part this year. The final half-dozen wines here start with a Bugey (yawn, but you’ll thank me one day). Then we stay off-piste with Lagrein Rosé, a Moravian rendition of the well-known André grape, a rare sighting (too rare in this case) of both region and variety with a Luxembourg Moselle Elbling, a slightly more mainstream wine in a not so mainstream version (Amontillado), and finally something slightly more normal…a Jura Chardonnay. I can tell you, I loved every one of them (that’s why they’re here).

Bugey-Cerdon NV, Philippe Balivet (Bugey, France)

I swear to you, we are seeing a noticeable increase in the availability of Bugey wines in the UK. Well, I’m doing my bit. I’ve seen pink and red Mondeuse, and a couple of Chardonnays this year, and even a Poulsard, but Cerdon seems to be awakening a few wine geeks to its charms. Actually, this very old méthode ancestrale sparkling wine from the region on paper should have a lot of appeal, but of course production is too limited for it to become commercial.

Philippe Balivet’s children, Cécile and Vincent, now run this domaine at Mérignat, in the appellation’s northern sector. Up here, off the old main road to Geneva, long since relegated to almost a country lane by the Lyon-to-Geneva Autoroute, the wines make a nod towards Jura, whereas in the southern sector the wines most often resemble Savoie.

This cuvée is 100% Gamay, although you will find a few farmers who still grow and include some Poulsard in their Cerdon. Not here. The beauty of Bugey-Cerdon is that it is a grapey, fresh, Rosé with only around 7% alcohol, which can be drunk at any time of day or night. It’s like drinking strawberry-scented fruit juice. Lightly sparkling and frothy, the residual sugar is balanced by acidity. It doesn’t taste acidic but it does taste clean and pure alongside the sweetness, which the acids diminish on the palate.

I have now seen three different Cerdons in the UK in the past year, and all are good, although it should be noted that Philippe Balivet did more than almost anyone to promote Cerdon in France. I’ve bought this from Cork & Cask and Smith & Gertrude since I’ve been living in Scotland. Guess what, I still have more in my cellar (so let’s hope summer arrives soon, or at all). It costs around £24. The UK importer is Vine Trail.

As I know a number of readers travel to the Jura periodically, look out for this and other Balivet wines at Épicurea/Fromagerie Vagne in Poligny (and maybe in their Arbois store just off the Place de la Liberté). This is where I bought them regularly before they appeared in the UK.

Lagrein Rosé 2023, Cantina Terlano (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)

If you’ve tried Lagrein without having been born in its region of production, then you are already in a small minority of grape hunters. If you have tried it, chances are it was in its most usual form, an autochthonous red grape variety of Italy’s mountainous Northeast, making a red wine of some density and a little weight. In the past, certainly when I first ventured there, it was only just beginning to be taken seriously, and as a red wine from a good producer it is well worth the proverbial detour to seek out. But here, we have a pink version.

The Cantina Terlano (Terlan in the local Austrian dialect) is the oldest co-operative wine cellar in Alto-Adige/Südtirol. They farm, among their members, a massive 150-hectares of vines. They are based right in the north of Alto-Adige, just before the Adige itself reaches the town of Bolzano, a little to the south, above which is the Brenner Pass and Austria, a little over an hour away by car.

In the past there were two versions of Lagrein Rosé made here, Lagrein Kretzer and Lagrein Dunkel. The latter was darker and maybe less fruity, but both could age, even if they were looked down upon by the old school wine writers. This excellent version is made with whole clusters undergoing a slow fermentation in stainless steel, followed by ageing on lees for seven months. As far as I can see, it is labelled as neither Kretzer nor Dunkel, just “Tradition”.

It certainly is a fruity wine. Red fruit sweetness on the bouquet (it’s a dry wine, but I’m sure you know what I mean), with soft red fruits on the palate. There’s freshness and a velvet texture, so that it refreshes the palate with fruitiness rather than acidity as such. It may not be a natural wine but with all its strawberry/raspberry/cherry concentration I’d defy anyone not to like it. Okay, it’s a Rosé for summer, yet it has the weight to go with quite flavoursome dishes and, as the weather has proved this year, sunshine is not essential to accompany it. For me, it just hit the spot that evening.

From Solent Cellar (£24), imported by Astrum Wines.

André 2017, Syfany Winery (Moravia, Czechia)

I have shown an interest in the André grape variety in these pages before, but most often I have encountered it in blends, not just in Moravia but also, notably, in Northern Burgenland as well. It is a late-ripening crossing between Blaufränkisch and Saint Laurent from the 1990s, developed in Moravia. People have said that it bears a closer resemblance to Zweigelt than either of its parents, and trying it as a single varietal wine, I can kind of see that.

Syfany is run by Jakub Zborovsky and his wife, Káya, who make natural wines together in Southeast Moravia, close to Vrbice. Not only do they make natural wines but they also try to source their wood locally, so this André is aged in Acacia. Acacia has become a popular alternative to oak in many parts of Moravia. It grows in the region and so it is very much part of tradition here.

This is a very easy-to-drink wine. The top note is cranberry on the nose, the palate starting with cherries but cranberry comes in on a slightly more bitter finish, along with a good lick of acidity. It has a lovely garnet colour and just a little tannic structure to hold it together. Just a little sulphur is added, but nothing else.

Two things worth noting. First, it tastes light and fresh yet it does pack a hidden 13% abv. This makes it more versatile than you might think. Secondly, you might have noticed the vintage, 2017. It may seem “easy-drinking” right now, but it has aged well.

Syfany were new last year (I think) to the Basket Press Wines range, and they make a number of quite exciting wines, especially as they are also one of the best value producers Basket Press imports from the region. This was just £20. I enjoyed their Ryzlink Vlašký last year (see Recent Wines September 2023 (Part 1) published 2 October 2023). I have a petnat to try as well, perhaps if the sunshine returns.

Elbling “Roche Liquide” 2022, Racines Rebelles (Moselle, Luxembourg)

This is a new natural wine producer based on the Moselle in Luxembourg. Kaja Kohv is originally from Estonia, but her winemaking journey began in Beechworth, Australia, working at one of the greats of Victorian wine, Giaconda. Her Luxembourg experience began with Abi Duhr, who has long been at the forefront of quality Luxembourg wine from his base at Gravenmacher.

It is at Gravenmacher that Kaja farms a small holding of vines which are over forty years old, directly over the river from her friend, Jonas Dostert. In fact, I was going to buy some of Jonas’s Elbling but I was nudged to try Kaja’s and I’m glad I did.

Elbling has long been a variety hated by the wine writers on the basis that it was an over-cropped grape which, apparently before the 1970s was Germany’s most widely planted variety. It is still planted widely in Luxembourg with around 123 hectares. I just read that it is now so unloved it has slipped to Number 23 in the German Grape Charts. Still, I doubt I have seen a grape variety with quite so many synonyms!

The key to Roche Liquide is low cropping of old vines, the trick that miraculously manages to turn any once-derided ugly duckling grape variety into a tasty swan. To extract flavour this gets a whole bunch press then eight months on lees, half in acacia and half in stainless steel. But the key is in the vineyard, where these mature vines sit on clay over limestone (remember, Dostert unusually has vines on limestone just over the river), and undergo serious regenerative farming.

No one would argue this is a complex wine by any means, but it has a lovely soft, appley, bouquet and a nice apple freshness on the palate, matched with a flavour that reminded me of pineapple chunks. Just 990 bottles were produced.

So, I’m just putting in a word for the Elbling revival on this stretch of the Mosel/Moselle. 24€ from Feral Art et Vins in Bordeaux old town. No known UK importer, currently.

Amontillado “I Think”, Equipo Navazos (Montilla-Moriles, Spain)

The Sierra de Montilla and Montilla Altos both possess white chalky soils, but unlike the Jerez region, 200km to the southwest, here, way north of Malaga, in the Province of Cordoba, the grape of choice is Pedro-Ximenez (PX).

This is a rare wine, around 1,000 half-bottles only. The idea behind “I Think” came from Equipo Navazos’s UK importer, Alliance Wine. I’ve only seen the Manzanilla “I Think” before, but this Amontillado is a saca of June 2023, taken from a single cask at the bodega of Pérez Barquero in Montilla. The average age of the wines in the cask would be fifteen years. Although you will note the abv on the bottle to be 16.5%, the wine is unfortified and the alcohol is natural. Well, it is sunny here.

We start with very intense aromatics in a dark-coloured wine. Walnut and fresh lemon citrus combine with a very noticeable spice element. There’s also a hint of the broth you get from adding water to dried mushrooms, it’s uncannily the same. But it’s just a hint, not overpowering. It’s a unique wine in many ways, and dry, whereas PX is better known for its sweet wines. Very distinctive, very “gourmand”.

It retails for £22 at Solent Cellar, but despite its rarity it is available in a few other independent wine stores as well. £20 or more might not be cheap for a half-bottle but this is fantastic, and a very good way to sample the Equipo Navazos magic for less money than the “Botas” will cost you. As I mentioned above, Alliance Wine is the importer.

Chardonnay “Le Glanon” 2020, Fruitière Vinicole de Pupillin (Jura, France)

I’m all in favour of checking out the wines they sell in cheese shops, whether in France or the UK. You never know what you might find. This was a bit of a find on several levels. I won’t deny that what drew my eye to it on the shelf was its label. It turns out that this Chardonnay is from the Pupillin co-operative, Juravinum, thirty members farming 60 hectares of vines around the village. This is also a zero-intervention wine with no added sulphur. At least one co-op in the region has woken up and smelt the coffee.

The 25-year-old Chardonnay vines are grown at 250 masl on iridescent marls. The fruit is harvested by hand, destemmed and pressed after a few hours on skins into wooden vats. It ages for twelve months in foudres. There’s a fragrant bouquet of lifted white flowers and the palate has creamy pear with apple acidity. The acids on the finish show lemon and lime citrus.

It’s not a complex wine, not in the sense of some of the Chardonnays now coming out of the region. Yet this bottle was pure, satisfying, very tasty and for sure I would drink it again with pleasure. It’s nice to see a hundred-and-fifteen-year-old wine co-op doing something a bit innovative and different, taking note of what the wider region is making a success of, and indeed sticking a nice, eye-catching label on it (especially as I have a wild swimmer in the family).

I found this in IJ Mellis Cheesemongers (St Andrews Branch, also in Edinburgh and Glasgow) and it cost around £27. It is available at a few indies, and you can also try Sip Wines online.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Czech Wine, Italian Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Sherry, Spanish Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alto Adige Lagrein Rosé, Amontillado "I Think" Equipo Navazos, André Grape Variety, Bugey, Bugey-Cerdon, Cantina Terlano Lagrein Rosé, Chardonnay "Le Glanon" Juravinum, Czech Wine, Elbling in Luxembourg, Elbling Roche Liquide Racines Rebelles, Equipo Navazos, Fruitière Viticole de Pupillin Natural Wine, Kaja Kohv Winemaker Racines Rebelles, Lagrein Rosé, Luxembourg Wine, Montilla-Moriles Spain, Moravian Wine, Moselle Wine Luxembourg, Natural Wine, Natural Wine Jura, Philippe Balivet Mérignat, Pupillin Chardonnay, Recent Wines June 2024 (Pt 3), Syfany André 2017, Syfany Winery Moravia | Leave a comment

Recent Wines June 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 18/07/2024 by dccrossley

Recent Wines, June Part 2, is a little different to Part 1. No spectacularly old and expensive wines I can no longer afford, but plenty of quality and interest, inspiration and pleasure, in this second half-dozen wines. We begin with a Manzanilla with a difference, followed by a great value Champagne in magnum, a Langhe Nebbiolo that makes no pretence at being a Barolo and an easy-going Swiss red which is actually affordable. Then we head down south in Italy, to Sicily, before finishing on a high note with another new Mosel name working his family’s centuries-old estate on the Mosel (think Jonas Dostert levels of star quality but even less well known in the UK).

Manzanilla “Florpower” Bota 101, Equipo Navajos (Sanlúcar, Spain)

What is different about this Manzanilla? It is bottled under Equipo Navazos’s “Florpower” label, in an ordinary wine bottle. It is in fact a proper vintage Manzanilla (2016), yet fully fortified to 15% abv. So, unlike the regular Florpower wines, it is not an unfortified table wine.

We have here what has become a standard EN route of 100% Palomino Fino grapes harvested from the chalky white soils of Pago Miraflores La Baja at Sanlúcar. It was fermented and aged as a table wine (to 12% alcohol), having the same origin as their Florpower Bota 84, but some lots were reserved to be fortified and saw an extra three years ageing in butts. It is intended as a vintage expression of the vineyard, but equally as the traditional fortified product of that vineyard of a given year.

This is a magical and complex Manzanilla. If you are looking for a simple wine to slake a thirst before dinner this is not it. It is certainly salty, delicate, racy, flor-influenced, but it also has much more than a mere streak of vinosity. Whatever the complex background to this wine, what they did worked. It’s magnificent, and a little different, both in concept and flavour.

A wine from my last direct import from Equipo Navazos, before post-brexit shipping became uneconomical. The UK agent is Alliance Wine.

Champagne Gallimard Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Noirs NV (Champagne, France)

This was the main number for our anniversary party, poured from magnums, though I think the backup 75cl also got opened…of course. Gallimard is based in Les Riceys, a village (well, more an amalgamation of three Hamlets) in the Côte des Bar (formerly The Aube in Champagne parlance), which is very close to the northernmost border with Burgundy.

Although the closest significant wine region to the south (and it is pretty close) is Chablis, it is not Chardonnay for which Les Riceys has become famous, but Pinot Noir, grown on mostly kimmeridgian limestone terroir. Pinot Noir appears, of course, in that hidden secret, Rosé des Riceys, a hauntingly ethereal pink wine that ages remarkably well. However, Pinot Noir for Champagne has always been a feature here, and I remember at least a decade ago reading that Krug, among other houses, sought Pinot Noir here (in the days when I could afford to wonder what went into Krug Grande Cuvée).

Being a very rural location, there were very few “names” in the game, but in recent decades that has changed. Some of the most “cult” Growers are down here. The twin sub-regions of the Côte des Bar are now among the most dynamic vineyards in Champagne.

Didier and Arnaud Gallimard run this sixth-generation domaine. They have ten hectares, mostly Pinot Noir from mature vines, plus Chardonnay. This multi-vintage is 100% Pinot Noir and has 30% reserve wines, and 10% wines from a perpetual reserve (or a solera as some, like the Gallimards, call it).

The colour has a very faint pink tinge from the gentle pressing of that 100% Pinot Noir fruit. The bouquet is richly fruity, all red summer fruit pudding with some tropical notes. The palate, from magnum, shows some age, with elegance and poise (I don’t know when it was disgorged, I’m afraid).

This seems to have a common role as a House Champagne, both here and in the US. I can see why because it is remarkably good value. The price was £70/magnum and £32/bottle from The Solent Cellar (via mail order/online). In a world where a bottle of Champagne in the UK has to cost pretty much £50 to be worth buying, quality-wise, over other better value traditional method wines, this is a nice alternative if you want “Champagne” on the label. I would add that magnum is always the way to go, if you can. There is a difference. Well, I mean, it’s not Krug but I think it’s pretty good.

Langhe Nebbiolo 2021, Az Ag Schiavenza di Pira Luciano (Piemonte, Italy)

I do love Barolo, but the opportunity to drink a properly aged bottle, or of Barbaresco for that matter, gets more infrequent as the cellar depletes of them. Now, I know that Langhe Nebbiolo is nothing like those wines, but in the same way that we used to look for a tasty Bourgogne Rouge back in the days when finding a good one was rare, a well made Nebbiolo from Piemonte can be worth the search. Langhe Nebbiolo is not always as good a bet as Nebbiolo from Piemonte’s outer sub-zones, because it has the suspicion of young vines or of “Barolo reject”, but not always.

Operating from Serralunga d’Alba since 1956, this estate is now managed by Luciano Pira, the son-in-law of one of the two founding brothers of this ten-hectare property, Vittorio and Ugo Alessandria. Schiavenza, the estate name, refers to the sharecroppers who once worked it. I see that the estate also appears to have an agriturismo you can stay at, right in the heart of the Barolo vineyards.

For this wine, the grapes macerate in concrete tanks for twenty days, with a couple of pumpovers per day. The wine matures in Slavonian oak, then in bottle before release. So, all very traditional. The bouquet is floral, a scent of roses, with a lightness there, the wine not revealing the full force of its 14.5% alcohol on the nose. The palate mixes dark cherries with a balsamic richness, and I would say just a hint (a pleasing one) of rustic earthiness.

We are not talking fine wine here, although their Barolo itself is said to age very well and seems to have a following, but getting back to the so-called lesser appellation here, it is indeed tasty and satisfying. Pretty much what I was hoping for, and for just £15 from Smith & Gertrude’s Portobello (Edinburgh) wine bar/shop.

Gamaret-Garanoir “Expression” 2021, Cave de La Côte (Vaud, Switzerland)

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this wine before but I can’t find it in any of my Recent Wines articles. The Cave de la Côte harvests grapes from the largest appellation in the Vaud Canton in Western Switzerland, running from the eastern outskirts of Geneva to Lausanne, its gentle slope running down to the north shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). These are not dramatic, steep, terraced vineyards like those of Lavaux to Lausanne’s east, and in past decades the wines have been largely somewhat more prosaic than those of their more lauded neighbours.

This well known, large, co-operative has looked to improve both quality and interest here and has begun making some more experimental wines. To this end, we have a pair of interesting crossings in this blend. Gamaret is Gamay x Reichensteiner X (1970), and its sibling Garanoir comes from the same parents. Both were bred for their rot-resistance.

The profile of this wine is very much based around black fruits, mostly blueberry and blackcurrant coming through on both the nose and palate. With the bouquet we can add in some nutmeg tickling the back of the nasal passage. There is a hint, but only a hint, of tannin. It holds the wine together without creating real structure.

Definitely easy going, quite versatile. I’m mentioning this again because it is relatively easily available, and is a rare example of a wine that is inexpensive, at least from Switzerland: £26 from The Solent Cellar, £28 from importer Alpine Wines online. I’d probably not be quite so tempted at £30, if you know what I mean, but definitely worth the twenty-six quid I paid for it. If you want a decent red from Switzerland and don’t want to try one of the expensive cult offerings that periodically hit the shelves here, this could brighten up your Tuesday or Wednesday evening.

Catarratto 2021 Terre Siciliane IGP, Fabrizio Vella (Sicily, Italy)

Catarratto is said to be the most widely planted white variety in Sicily, but it can make interesting wines when treated with respect, as is almost always the case with so-called lesser grape varieties. Fabrizio Vella farms his fruit both organically and biodynamically up at an altitude between 350-450 masl near Marsala.

All hand-harvested, the fruit goes through a gentle press and into 50hl acacia casks for 24 hours on skins. It then sees stainless steel, where it continues to ferment for two weeks without the skins. The altitude of the vineyards helps the grapes retain their freshness through the colder nights. This is very much a natural wine, if you accept a tiny addition of sulphur. The result some might call an orange wine, though it’s not overtly so in flavour terms.

The bouquet is a rather attractive sweet apple. The palate is textured with apple, lemon and lime, along with some herbal notes. The importer says “lemon drizzle cake” if I’m remembering correctly. Anyway, if so, they are spot on. The darker colour and texture, and the fact that it is allowed to go through malo, make this in some ways a quite serious white, but one to enjoy rather than think too much about.

Especially as this isn’t very expensive, for a “natural wine”, only £17.50 from Cornelius Beer and Wine in Edinburgh, as part of a very well chosen present (especially as people never usually buy me wine). Alliance Wine is the UK importer. Cork & Cask lists a couple of Fabrizio’s other wines, less expensive still. A Catarratto without skin contact and a Nero d’Avola at around £11. Not tried those, but this blue-label is very tasty.

Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Kabinett 2022, Max Kilburg (Mosel, Germany)

Having brought you Jonas Dostert, with the added bonus that his wines are now partially available in the UK (Newcomer Wines), I now bring you another undoubted rising star of the Mosel Region, Max Kilburg. Max, who is good friends with Julian Haart from whom he has taken much inspiration, farms his family’s vines at Weingut Geierslay. The Kilburg family has been making wine on the slopes above Wintrich since 1465, and Max is, I think, the nineteenth generation to do so. The estate is unusual for the Mosel in that alongside Riesling, they have Pinots Noir, Blanc and Gris, and Merlot.

Despite the unusual varieties, this is a traditional estate. The Riesling vines for this Kabinett are on steep slopes, supported by a single pole. Where Max differs from the historical norm is in making low intervention, natural, wines. This Kabinett is light and fresh and in 2022 comes in at just 7.5% abv. It has a wonderful delicacy, but I understand 2022 here was a “more classical vintage after the racier 2021s” (Russell at Feral).

Alongside concentrated but generous grapefruit and lime, I got some yellow plum and apricot, all as pure as you could imagine. This ‘22 has lovely depth. There’s no hurry to drink this now, but I wish I had a half-case for drinking through the summer. It was yet another brilliant recommendation from the man I trust most on Mosel Kabinett (see source below).

It makes me cross that I have allowed myself to run down my bottles of this style in the cellar. In fact, I’m running short on flute bottles in general where once I had so many, but that does attest to how often I grab them to drink. Wines like this are harder to find because the style is unfashionable, yet are there any better summer wines? This cost 18€ at Feral Art et Vin (Bordeaux). I don’t see a UK importer. I hope that is “yet”!

Posted in Artisan Wines, German Wine, Mosel, Natural Wine, Piemonte, Sherry, Sicily, Swiss Wine, Wine | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Catarratto Fabrizio Vella Sicily, Champagne Gallimard Les Riceys, Equipo Navazos, Fabrizio Vella, Gallimard Reserve Blanc de Noirs, Gamaret-Garanoir Cave de la Côte, Langhe Nebbiolo Schiavenza, Manzanilla Florpower Bota 101, Max Kilburg Mosel, Max Kilburg Wintricher Ohligsberg Kabinett 2022, Mosel Wine, Recent Wines June 2024 (Pt2), Schiavenza di Pira Luciano Serralunga, Sicilian White Wine, Skin Contact Catarratto, Swiss experimental grapes, Swiss Red Wine, Vaud Wine, Vintage Manzanilla, Weingut Geierslay Mosel, Wines of Jerez and Sanlucar, Wintricher Ohligsberg | 2 Comments

Recent Wines June 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 15/07/2024 by dccrossley

In contrast to May, which if you have just read my “Recent Wines” for that month contained a mere six bottles, we drank quite a lot during June. It was a month of celebration, of moving into our new home and of a significant anniversary. I certainly won’t be giving notes on more than one or two of the seventeen bottles and magnums we drank at an anniversary party, but there are a few from the meals with friends and family that surrounded it. For the month of June as a whole there will be eighteen wines, so expect three parts, six wines in each.

The first part will showcase an old Champagne, an old Morgon, a Cornas, an Austrian Furmint, a South African red blend and a red petnat from Hungary.

Champagne Dom Pérignon 2004 (Champagne, France)

I had a few bottles of the 2004 DP, but this is my last. The vintage reflects the occasion of a previous significant year for us, and I had sort of kept this back for that reason. I do have one or two older Champagnes, and I’ve always had a taste for mature Champagne, but I don’t really see the need to hang onto many bottles for more than twenty years, save possibly the odd Clos des Goisses and Péters Chétillons.

I don’t need to tell you about this Moët-produced prestige cuvée. Although the myths about the Dom inventing Champagne are clearly just that, he was of course a significant individual, both in its journey to fame and in polishing the lustre of that fame in the modern age. Of course, there is a rather nice statue of him outside the Moët production facility at the town end of the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, and I would not be in the slightest bit critical of anyone moved to take a photograph of it.

The production numbers for Dom Pérignon are perhaps a poorly kept secret. I know well-regarded “growers” whose non-vintage cuvée is produced as a fraction of the number of bottles of Dom. But that patently isn’t the point. It is surely a great achievement by Moët & Chandon that they can make so many bottles of Dom Pérignon and retain exceptional quality. I will add that 2004 was a rather good vintage for the Dom, at least on the basis of the bottles I’ve consumed.

The bubbles now are very fine but gentler than in youth. They coat the palate with a soft minerality. I say soft, but that is the texture. It is still intense. There’s a gorgeous, rich, brioche note. It really is an expressive wine with a sublime bouquet. It is always hard to express one’s experience with prose when drinking a twenty-year-old Champagne is really more poetic. That said, it may well be around its peak. A quick dip into the market shows this could be had today for not significantly more than the £200 Waitrose supermarkets list the current vintage (remember Waitrose has regular “25% off Wine and Champagne” offers, which is what I used to wait for if I was after this particular Prestige Cuvée).

Morgon “Cuvée Corcelette” 2010, Jean Foillard (Beaujolais, France)

I have been a long-time fan of Foillard. I’m sure that many readers, like me, will have been convinced of the true potential of Beaujolais wine through his Côte du Py. If that cuvée is undoubtedly the best-known wine he created, there are others. I’ve always had a very soft spot for the Fleurie from this domaine. Then there is the Corcelette. For me, this is no less fine than the Py.

This is a single site growing, of course, very old vine Gamay on, unusually for the Beaujolais Crus, sandstone soils (at the time of this vintage the vines were over 65 years of age, today they claim 80+). The grapes are hand harvested and fermented as whole clusters. Ageing takes place in the mixed media of old oak barrels and one large foudre.

In youth Corcelette can be quite a structured wine, but always shows vibrant and pure Gamay cherry fruit. This 2010, from an exceptional year for the cuvée, is now mellow. Another wine at its peak, perhaps? The cherry core has overlying fresh raspberry with deeper notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. The overall impression is of a fine wine with a degree of seriousness, but it also has a kind of lifted lightness, and elegance and delicacy perhaps. This is what remains after the tannic structure of younger versions has disappeared.

One thing I noticed, having quite recently drunk a Côte du Py of a quite similar age, is that the Py tasted much more Pinot Noir-like. That can happen with Gamay as it ages. This Corcelette was definitely shouting Gamay through its sea of complexity.

This is not a wine I’d necessarily call “intense”, yet it is unquestionably profound, at least for myself, being open to its charm. Is it a fine wine? Yes, I’d say so. Certainly, a rewarding experience and a pleasure to drink. I’m not sure you’ll find a 2010 now. The current vintage hovers around £40 depending on where you source it. This one either came from The Sampler, or perhaps The Solent Cellar. I’ve bought it from both in the past.

Cornas “Les Combes” 2011, Mark Haisma (Northern Rhône, France)

Cornas always used to be the Northern Rhône appellation which everyone forgot about. With literally two or three magnificent exceptions, Cornas made hard-boned wines that took many decades to come around, so long perhaps that if they didn’t, then no one would be around to take the complaints. But as the other Northern Rhône appellations became both much improved and more expensive, so did Cornas. Mark Haisma was lucky enough to begin sourcing fruit in Cornas as this transformation of its fortunes was in mid-flow.

Mark’s credentials were impeccable. He was making wine in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, working for Dr Bailey Carrodus at Yarra Yerring. I think I have one of Mark’s YY wines left in my cellar. They were always special wines for those prepared to dive deep into the Yarra. I think it was around 2009 that Mark decided, like Andrew and Emma Nielsen of Le Grappin, to make wine in France. This 2011 must be from one of his earliest vintages. I certainly recall his Cornas was more easily affordable back then.

Whilst his Burgundy wines have proved to be very fine over the years, Mark’s Cornas was a new, even potentially risky, venture. Cornas just didn’t quite have the same recognition back in the day. However, working as a micro-negociant, he was able to source his Syrah from vines over 65 years old, from “Les Combes”, a parcel up at 1,100 masl, making for a good start, great grapes for a star winemaker to handle.

Mark made this wine in the cellars of Vincent Paris, one of the newer names, at the time, who brought Cornas to greater promise and fame, especially via his “Granit” cuvées. Today this wine still has some underlying structure, but there is that classic meaty note on the nose, suggesting a degree of maturity. The palate shows nice red fruits on a velvet-smooth palate, with just a little peppery spice to finish. It’s a very fine wine. It’s worth noting that this bottle had shed the relative austerity I noted when I last drank this, four or five years ago.

I don’t know where I bought this. Today expect to pay around £50 for a recent vintage. I’m guessing I paid no more than £30 for this, on release.

Furmint 2019, Heidi Schröck & Söhne (Burgenland, Austria)

Heidi is one of the very talented women winemakers who seem so plentiful around Austria’s Neusiedlersee. She is based in Rust, a town for which I have a very deep affection, and I might add that with her winery located off the town’s large main square, she makes for an easy visit among the many pleasures Rust offers.

Furmint may be a variety associated more with Hungary than Austria, but Rust was once part of Hungary in the days of the Empire, and Furmint has a strong tradition here. Also, as I have recently noted, Hungary is little more than a stone’s throw south of Rust, just beyond the next village down, Morbisch.

We have moved now, from three sublime older wines to more simple pleasures, although this bottle still has just under five years of age. It is, for sure, a beautifully mineral wine, but it is softened at the edges by a kind of peachy flavour. There’s a lot of interest and value here. The tasting note might be short but the price, £19 from Lockett Brothers (North Berwick) is very good. I wish it wasn’t the only one of Heidi’s wines they sold.

The importer of this cuvée is Liberty Wines, though Alpine Wines usually has some of Heidi’s other wines. She makes truly exceptional Ruster sweet wines. The label says “from Rust with love” and I can assure you that she means it.

“A Rare Moment” 2019, Blank Bottle Winery (Western Cape, South Africa)

This is one of the exclusive cuvées Pieter Walser made for his friends Henry and Cassie at Butlers Wine Cellar in Brighton, the label containing a cartoon depiction of Henry that my photo sadly does not feature. It’s a blend of Syrah and Pinotage from sites in the Western Cape.

This is a wine with a warm climate glow, and indeed a warm 14% abv, but it is remarkably balanced and leans towards elegance, rare in a wine of 14%. This is so like Pieter, wines which you can drink easily but getting up from the table, not as easily. He included stems and this gives the wine a little structure, but it majors on dark fruits, spice and black pepper. It would age further, even though this is already five years old. That said, it is drinking brilliantly now.

I think Butlers is getting through their stock but I’m pretty sure they do have some left. Pieter’s wines have always been a bargain, given their artisan nature, but prices have crept up thanks to forces we are all aware of operating UK-side. But this is only £22.50, which makes it especially worth trying. Blank Bottle’s importer is Swig.

Gothus is the partner to A Rare Moment, being the cuvée inspired by Henry’s partner and wife, Cassie. I think that has all gone. A shame as I have just started to read Season of the Witch, Cathi Unsworth’s Times Book of the Year on Goth. Shame. Would have made a good pairing in a “wines to read with” article that Hannah C might write.

Liner Notes 2022, Annamária Réka-Koncz (Barabás, Eastern Hungary)

This is a new, certainly to the UK, cuvée from Annamária. It’s a red petnat, a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Kékfrankos. The grapes come from a vineyard at Mátra in the Nagyréde district, a good two-and-a-half-hour drive west of her Barabás vines and winery.

It’s an unusual blend, although of course Kékfrankos is the Hungarian name for Blaufränkisch, which I’m sure you know by now. The vineyard is on volcanic soils which have an andesite base with clay topsoil. Andesite is a dark, fine-grained, soil which comes from the erosion of lava flows.

It’s worth describing how Annamária makes it. She does a gentle crush of whole bunches, followed by a five-day fermentation in closed tank. Then it is moved to fibreglass. Ageing is then in stainless steel. Bottled with only 1.5 bar of pressure. It undergoes no fining, nor filtration, and it is bottled with minimal addition of sulphur.

Like any petnet, it isn’t a complex wine. Its charm lies in its fruit and refreshing quality. It certainly is darkly fruity, and spicy too. More than anything, in a field of diverse petnats this is still distinctive. The blend helps, as does the lower pressure which produces gentle, tiny, bubbles. Only 1,000 bottles were made.

I can’t find this any more on the web site of UK importer, Basket Press Wines. It must be frustrating for them that by the time I get to write about pretty much most Réka Koncz wines, they have sold out, so sought after have they become. I can see that Prost Wine still has some for £32 though.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Beaujolais, Champagne, Fine Wine, Hungarian Wine, Natural Wine, Rhone, Rust, South African Wines, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Aged Beaujolais, Annamaria Reka-Koncz Barabas Hungary, Austrian Furmint, Blank Bottle for Butlers Brighton, Blank Bottle Winery A Rare Moment, Burgenland Furmint, Champagne Dom Pérignon 2004, Cornas Les Combes Mark Haisma 2011, Cru Beaujolais Morgon, Foillard Morgon Corcelette 2010, Heidi Schröck & Söhne, Heidi Schröck Furmint, Heidi Schröck Rust, Hungarian Petnat, Jean Foillard Morgon, Mark Haisma Winemaker, Northern Rhône Cornas, Pieter Walser Blank Bottle Winery, Réka Koncz Liner Notes, Recent Wines June 2024 Pt 1, Wine of Eastern Hungary | 2 Comments

Recent Wines May 2024 #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 10/07/2024 by dccrossley

After a couple of very recent tastings, I need to take you all the way back to May. We moved house in May and we were consumed by decorating, unpacking, and actually a week of enforced eating out because we were in for a week before the kitchen was up and running. It was that kind of move, but now, two months later, at least there is only one small job we have to persuade the builder to come back and do.

The result is that I have to short-change you (metaphorically speaking, of course), because you are just going to get one part containing five wines and a cider from May. To make it worth the wait, I have here a Swiss speciality, two English offerings (one cider and one still wine), a German Chardonnay from an exceptional new producer, a red blend from Piemonte and a lovely Portuguese white wine from Lisbon.

Oeil-de-Perdrix 2020, Domaine de Montmollin (Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

This is a very old (from the 17^th century) family domaine whose wines I try to buy regularly. They are based in the village of Auvernier which lies on the western side of the Lac de Neuchâtel. Despite the great antiquity of the domaine, they make modern wines with modern labels, and there are none I enjoy more at this time of year than the pale pink “partridge eye”, a designation that the region has taken as its own (to the disappointment of some Geneva producers I know, but that’s another story).

Oeil-de-Perdrix is similar to the “Ramato” style you see in Northeastern Italy, a pale pink with often a very slight coppery hue. Here they take Pinot Noir and create a wine in stainless steel which tastes clean, fresh and fruity, yet it boasts 13% abv, which makes it food-friendly and assists with its ageability.

The bouquet has haunting red fruit scents, but the palate is dry with a bit of texture. It’s a Rosé but with the citrus-led attributes of a white wine. It is also, though you’d not know from a distance because the label is quite modern yet conservative, a low intervention organic wine. It’s also described as “vegan”, not something you see a lot on Swiss wine labels.

Close to four years old might seem a bit ancient for a Rosé, especially such a pale one. The producers themselves recommend ageing for 2-3 years. This had a nice richness but I wouldn’t say it had lost its freshness. Importer Alpine Wines has the 2020 and 2022 for £33, along with a decent selection of other Montmollin cuvées. The Solent Cellar (where I sourced my bottle) has the 2022 Oeil de Perdrix for £32.

Perfect Strangers Artisan Cider 2021, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, England)

Tim Phillips has an orchard adjacent to his walled vineyard near Lymington. The sprawling old trees have a majestic beauty about them, but Tim has cleared most of the scrub that surrounded them (revealing the former estate’s old tennis court) and at the same time he has planted a few more apple trees.

Tim does make a fantastic cider from the apples, and as his wine production is so small, the odd bottle of cider is a welcome addition to the odd bottle of wine that may or may not be available to purchase on a visit.

Much of the cider Tim has made in the past has been sparkling, but this version of Perfect Strangers is still. Tim here has made something quite different, a cider that seems to have taken on a wine-like complexity in bottle. It’s interesting because I think Tim kept some older cider back and plans to release a 2018 vintage, unless I dreamt this. It’s cider with the kind of depth and complexity I’ve never had before, so even knowing Tim’s wines as I do, it still shocked me a little. Amazing!

This cider came as a direct purchase. Retail you may find some occasionally at The Solent Cellar (who only seem to have a couple of Tim’s wines at the moment, including his new multi-vintage Chardonnay called Legion), or equally rarely, at Les Caves de Pyrene, who have been great supporters of Tim’s talent.

Chardonnay 2021, Jonas Dostert (Mosel, Germany)

Many adventurous boundary-pushing talents are beginning to made very good Chardonnay in Germany, but the one I’d urge people to try is that made by this young man. He is without doubt one of a handful of the next wave of star winemakers in Germany. His first vintage was 2018.

Based at Nittel, he is right up on the Luxembourg border, which here is the Mosel, or Moselle as the Luxembourgeois call it. Instead of slate his vines are on limestone, which is potentially more suited to Chardonnay than the more usual slate through which most of the river flows. Jonas is farming old parcels which have been organic for more than a decade. However, Jonas is currently tasting these early wines and learning, because his longer-term aim is to make different cuvées from each parcel. Doubtless they will become more expensive, so get in quick.

You get almost zero intervention because Jonas says that the less you do in the cellar, the more you taste the vineyard, but he will add a tiny amount of sulphur if deemed essential. Aged in large wood, this really is delicious. Best of all perhaps is its poise and balance, just perfect amounts of freshness and fatness (by which I definitely don’t mean flab). The fruit and acids are very bright.

My bottle came from Feral Art et Vins in Bordeaux and cost 28€. Newcomer Wines has begun importing Jonas Dostert. They don’t have this gorgeous Chardonnay but they do have an Elbling (£29), and a blend of Elbling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made on skins, called Karambolage (£30). You may recall that I drank an Elbling made by Jonas’s friend on the opposite bank of the river, Kaja Kohv (Racines Rebelles), a few weeks ago. A good example of a derided variety which, in the right hands, is capable of ugly duckling to swan treatment.

Bacchus 2023, Lyme Bay Winery (Devon, England)

Lyme Bay Winery began producing grapes in 1993 in East Devon. Their current winemaker is the talented Sarah Massey (she’s in good company with Phillips and Dostert). In fact, Sarah makes some very fine Pinot Noir, although of course sourcing fruit in Essex, from the wonderful vineyards of the Crouch Valley. This Bacchus is a multi-regional blend, made from fruit sourced in Essex and Kent as well as Devon, and this particular cuvée is made exclusively for UK supermarket Marks & Spencer.

Bacchus is a crossing between Müller-Thurgau and an unknown Riesling x Silvaner cross, which somehow seems to produce wines which, so long as they are not over-done, taste quintessentially of English summer. Elderflower with hints of lime and grapefruit appear here. Unfortunately, after we chilled it down we had (I noted) the first rain in two weeks, but this will make a nice summer wine and grabbing a bottle or two (only £15 from Marks & Spencer) would be an act of optimism.

I had rather hoped that M&S might have doubled up and given us a Lyme Bay Winery Pinot Noir as well, but sadly not. Either they were not clever enough, or the winery had none to give them (most likely the latter). They do seem to have this Bacchus in all the branches I’ve been in though. A nice wine at a very nice price.

“Rosso Noah” 2022, Coste della Sesia Rosso DOC, Noah (Alto Piemonte, Italy)

This is a refreshing (in more than one way) blend from the Noah winery at Brusnengo in Alto Piemonte. This is east of the slightly better known Lessona. The grapes comprise 50% young vine Nebbiolo with older Croatina (40%) and Vespolina (the remaining 10%). The winery is run by a young couple who have taken on the task of reviving around four hectares of vines in the old Bramaterra sub-region.

As far as Piemonte goes I’d describe this young wine as an early drinker. It’s made in stainless steel, seeing no wood. You get very nice strawberry and cherry fruit with a lick of liquorice spice on the finish. There’s also some stony texture underneath the fruit. It kind of combines a bit of structure with overt drinkability, but I’d not call it tannic as such. It will probably develop in bottle for a couple of years but it’s basically good to go now with food.

Alto Piemonte is definitely “up and coming” as a place to find quite exciting wines, and there are wines there which are undoubtedly very fine. This comes more in the “enjoyable” category, but I’m not putting it down. This only cost £16.50 from Butlers Wine Cellar (Brighton), and as Astrum is the importer, I’m sure you will find it in a number of other indies. Very good value, nice packaging too.

“Falatório” Sercial Reserva 2020, Cas’ Amaro (Lisbon, Portugal)

Designated a Vinho Regional Lisboa, this lovely gem is made from a grape variety much better known on the island of Madeira. Hand harvested, this is another wine made in stainless steel, where it is aged six months, but it then goes into used French oak for a further six. Only 999 bottles were produced in 2020.

It’s a Reserva, and I’d not call it exactly fruity, more dry, with lemon rind and herbal notes, but also grapey too (for want of finding a better word). It also has a decent bit of texture, though it isn’t harsh.

The winemaker at this 4.5-hectare estate on the coast north of the capital is Jorge Páscoa. He makes a range of wines from autochthonous varieties but just one hectare is planted to Sercial. I would not be able to certify this is a “natural wine”, though it does state that it is made through “sustainable agricultural practices in harmony with the ecosystem” (whatever that means).

What I can certify is that this is a wine with character and personality and I enjoyed it very much. Certainly, enough to drink again, or to try Jorge’s other wines from the same vineyards. There’s a Bastardo, and a “Palhete” (a traditional blend of red and white grapes making a pale wine) that I know of. There’s also a Cas’ Amaro Madame Pió Reserva (their top white, Arinto with some Sercial).

The Sercial cost £21.50 from Butlers Wine Cellar (still available). The Pió is £24.50. As Butlers stocks Breaky Bottom, Sugrue and Westwell, not to mention Pieter Walser’s Blank Bottle (and the Noah featured above), you wouldn’t have any probs putting together a mixed selection.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Cider, English Cider, English Wine, German Wine, Italian Wine, Mosel, Natural Wine, Piemonte, Portuguese wine, Swiss Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alto Piemonte, Cas' Amaro Lisbon, Charlie Herring Cider, Domaine Montmollin Neuchâtel, English Bacchus, English Wine, Falatorio Sercial Reserva 2020, Good Value Piemontese Red Wine, Jonas Dostert Chardonnay 2021, Jonas Dostert Mosel, Jorge Pascoa Winemaker, Lisbon Wine, Lyme Bay Bacchus 2023, Lyme Bay Winery at Marks & Spencer, Lyme Bay Winery Devon, Montmollin Oeil de Perdrix, Mosel Chardonnay, Oeil de Perdrix Neuchâtel, Old Vines in Bramaterra, Perfect Strangers Artisan Cider, Perfect Strangers Still Cider, Portuguese wine, Recent Wines May 2024, Rosso Noah Coste della Sesia Rosso DOC, Swiss Wine, Tim Phillips, Vinho Regional Lisboa | 2 Comments

Newcomer Wines at Montrose, Edinburgh (3 July ’24)

Posted on 08/07/2024 by dccrossley

I have yet to dine at Timberyard’s new outpost in Edinburgh, Montrose, doubtless the cause being all our house moving escapades, but I did get to visit on Wednesday for a tasting with Peter Honegger from Newcomer Wines. I’ve known Peter for a long time, and in fact you might have seen me mention Newcomer’s early days in a recent article.

Back in the days when Newcomer’s shop was in a shipping container in Shoreditch Box Park, I was a monthly visitor. I initially wanted to try the wines of this new Austrian guy called Claus Preisinger. I never really stopped to think what a crazy idea opening a shop selling just Austrian Wines, even in East London, might be. I think half their customers in the early days misread the sign and thought they could buy Australian stuff (Peter’s joke, but probably true). For me, it served as an intro to Austrian Natural Wine, which had quite a profound effect, leading to many visits to the country and discovering a number of my all-time favourite producers. Thank you Newcomer.

Newcomer’s range has grown and widened since those days, as has their shop and bar, which is now at Dalston Junction, on Dalston Lane. This range is now not only confined to Austria, and that was mirrored in the wines Peter poured for the Montrose/Timberyard teams. I was a very lucky and happy interloper. The wines are still all effectively “natural wines”, but Peter isn’t really keen to use that term any more. He prefers to stick to “high quality wines”, arguing that this is what we should focus on. Fair point.

I should add, on this subject, that the people attending the tasting had some excellent insights on a wide range of hospitality-related subjects (Edinburgh is always a reality check for those of us used to seeing folks splash fifty quid on a bottle as a matter of course down in Metroland). One of those points was that people are still scared of the phrase “natural wine”. In fact, as inexplicable as it might sound, especially among the tourists, even “organic” can cause some worried looks.

I tasted nine wines from the Newcomer range, only one being made in Austria (though another was made just over the Hungarian border by an Austrian producer). I shall give you a note on each. Many more of Peter’s wines featured in a takeover in the evening, where one or two Austrians I love were going to be featured. But one can’t have everything.

Orthogneiss Muscadet, Domaine de L’Ecu (Loire, France)

Fred and Claire Niger are based in Le Landrau, in the Sèvre et Maine zone, and are considered now among the very top producers in Muscadet. They coax flavours almost unknown before from the Melon de Bourgogne variety, and they also grow Folle Blanche and Cabernet Franc on their own domaine. Biodynamic since the 1990s, the couple also follow a philosophy they call Cosmoculture (which they learnt from Philippe Viret).

Orthogneiss (one of the two major types of bedrock in the region, the other being granite) is very much a terroir wine and one not to serve over-chilled. The bouquet is expressively floral, citrus and spicy, especially ginger. The palate mixes lemon/lime citrus, salinity, a chalky texture and a very long finish. I didn’t get the vintage but this cuvée is an exceptional Muscadet which like the best from this region will be perfectly capable of long ageing.

Circa £30.

Manzoni Bianco “Fontanasanta” 2022, Foradori (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)

As the next generation have taken over at this wonderful estate in Northeastern Italy, it has undergone a transformation from standout natural wine producer to a wider farm based on permaculture, with cattle for their own cheese and market gardening getting equal emphasis with biodynamic viticulture.

Manzoni is a white Riesling/Pinot Blanc crossing from the early 1900s. It is grown closer to the city of Trento than the farm itself, on the same site as Foradori’s Nosiola. The soils here are limestone-based and the wine is floral, pure, clean tasting and vibrant, with nose and palate showing a wide range of experiences from floral to spice. I would say that it is very approachable and you will be hard pushed to hang onto any. The main reason, that purity. Thrilling. £34. That’s good value for the quality, for sure.

See blow for photo

Grüner Veltliner Federspiel 2022, Nikolaihof (Wachau, Austria)

It’s fascinating that Newcomer has finally ventured into Austria’s most traditional and conservative wine region, but obvious that when they eventually did it had to be for the wines of Nikolaihof. This ancient estate (the cellars could be Roman) sits at the eastern end of the Wachau Region, on the Danube, its vines around Mautern being just over the river from Krems.

Apparently, the refusal to use chemicals in the vineyard in the modern age came from a refusal to spend the money rather than principles, yet biodynamic conversion took place as long ago as 1971. For many years I was lucky enough to be able to source some very old wines from this estate, which were unadulterated gems of chemical-free winemaking.

This Grüner Veltliner is designated “Federspiel”. Traditionally in Wachau (the only Austrian Region to use the term) Federspiel wines are less rich and ripe than the “Smaragd” wines, and traditionalists have considered them inferior. However, with modern ripeness levels within this river valley reaching ridiculous levels for white wines, Federspiel is now the way to go for you and me. 11.5% abv here. This is achieved even at low yields.

Another wine of great purity, it has a crisp palate with a nice, direct, spine of acid freshness. A hint of spice enlivens the palate further. Physiological ripeness at low alcohol is still possible here with thoughtful viticulture.

As an aside, I know many readers wouldn’t necessarily consider visiting the Wachau, but the Danube Valley here, going west from Krems, is spectacularly beautiful. There’s a brilliant Wachau Cycle Trail, well-marked and pretty flat. You can hire bikes for the day in Krems, very close to the station, which is a relatively short train ride from Vienna. Maybe cycle to Spitz for lunch. It has a great wine shop by the ferry jetty, on the river, and one of Wachau’s great castle ruins, from where the views are worth the short hike uphill.

Cuvée Marguerite 2023, Matassa (Roussillon, France)

For wine administration purposes Roussillon is these days lumped in with Languedoc, which is a shame because this region, on the Spanish/Catalan border and in the foothills of the Pyrenees, has its own distinct personality and culture.

Matassa is run by Tom Lubbe, the South African winemaker for whom the Rennersistas were usually “waiting”. The vines are in the rough scrub of the Agly Valley, a unique terrain making some spectacular wines, and they are sandwiched more or less between the old vineyards of Domaine Gauby and Roc des Anges.

Of all the wines tasted on Wednesday, this is perhaps the one most easily identifiable as a “natural wine”, but only because it is so obviously a skin contact cuvée. The colour for starters is very much amber. The scents are predominantly stone fruits, but there’s a floral element, especially on the bouquet, because the skin-macerated variety here is Muscat.

The purity of the nose combined with the textured depth of the palate is what makes this wine so interesting. You begin to notice plums, apricots and a lot going on. The skin contact helps complete a clean fermentation when not using sulphur in a warm climate. This wine is undoubtedly stable, with no volatility. Impressive. £43.

Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2022, Le Grappin (Burgundy, France)

Andrew and Emma recently moved from the cellars they rented within the old walls of Beaune and took over an old building in Meloisey in the Hautes Côtes. As Andrew said, after moving up into the hills they thought they ought to make a wine from there.

The hills above the two Côtes in Burgundy are wooded in part and have always been very much on the fringes of viticulture at Burgundy’s heart. But even in the 1990s a few names cropped up as more than solid. As overall climate has got warmer (putting aside frost and hail), the vineyards here are more viable (ie ripening is more reliable), and the vine stock is often old too.

This Chardonnay, grown near Baubigny I think, is pristinely clean on both its bouquet and attack on the palate, but it finishes with roundness and weight. Its body grows in the glass. In parallel there’s a lovely minerality so often the trademark of Le Grappin. It sees twelve months in used oak.

For me, this is beautiful already. Balance is just perfect. The vines are over forty years old so you get complexity not usually associated with this appellation, but whether to keep it…it really is drinking so well now. Le Grappin, and the Nielsens’ Du Grappin label, are both new to Newcomer and I can’t find a price. I know this is available up here in Scotland for £47 at one retailer. That’s quite steep, more than I’d hoped, but it is rather good. I don’t see it listed on Le Grappin’s own online shop.

Du Grappin Côte de Brouilly 2022 (Beaujolais, France)

Emma and Andrew source this wine, for their Du Grappin label, which features wines from outside the Côte d’Or, from a farmer on the lower slopes of the hill at the southern end of the Beaujolais Crus known as Mont Brouilly. It’s a lovely garnet and cherry red, fruity yet with a stony texture like the best wines from this mini-appellation within the somewhat larger Brouilly. They make very high-quality wines from Beaujolais and this is no exception.

The parcel is small, and the Nielsens pay more for the grapes to be grown organically and with minimal intervention. I understand in this case that the grape grower has been so impressed with the results that he is converting all of his 16 hectares to organics. As Peter commented as we tasted, this is a real and genuine impact of what the Nielsens are doing, leading by example and results. A lovely approachable wine but far from a simple one. I can’t see a price but the similar Saint-Amour retails around £27.

Pinot Noir “Nature” 2020, Lucas Rieffel (Alsace, France)

Lucas is the third generation to run this key estate in Mittelbergheim, the village which has in many ways become natural wine central in the north of the Alsace region. Peter made much of Lucas’s time at Domaine Ostertag, but today Lucas is part of a group of winemakers in and around the village, including Jean-Pierre Rietsch and Cathérine Riss, who by tasting together regularly have helped each other make some of the best natural wines in France.

Lucas farms (he considers himself first a farmer and only second a winemaker) ten hectares, but this Pinot Noir comes of two individual parcels. Winemaking is very simple, including ageing in large oak and, in this “Nature” cuvée, zero added sulphur.

You get astonishingly balanced zippy fruit from the carbonic maceration, very pure without the cloud that sulphur can add to such bright sunshine in the glass. It is the wine here most deserving of the Jamie Goode patented term, “smashable”. Delicious. Although the price has crept up since Brexit/Liz Truss, it’s still good value at £31.

Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti 2021, Foradori (Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)

The second offering from Foradori is made from a grape worth getting to know. Teroldego is a relation of the French mountain variety, Mondeuse. Grown semi-industrially on the flat Campo Rotaliano it can produce nondescript wines, but treated properly, like any variety, it can shine.

Sustainable, biodynamic, farming creates healthy grapes. It has a deep darkness within it, but a vibrancy too, almost visible to the eye, and certainly perceptible on nose and palate. Red and dark grippy fruit (plenty of plum) combines with a little pencil lead texture and a savoury finish that makes this both easy to guzzle, but also a wine with an individual personality. £32.

Steiner 2017, Weninger (Sopron, Hungary)

Weninger is an Austrian producer, but Franz Weninger makes this wine from Kékfrankos fruit (aka Blaufränkisch) grown over the border from Burgenland in the Hungarian region of Sopron, close enough to reach quickly by bicycle from Burgenland’s southern village, Morbisch, just south of Rust. The Steiner vineyard lies at the very southern tip of the Neusiedlersee, rising to 185 masl on weathered gneiss and mica schist. The stony soils are good at absorbing heat during the day, and the vines here exceed 50 years old.

The bouquet of this dark-hued wine is classic “Blaufränkisch”, with dark fruits and a perceptible mineral note even on the nose. The palate is still tightly wound, but the tannins are supple and the palate overall has a velvet texture. Like all cracking Kékfrankos/Frankovka/Blaufränkisch, it has a freshness which elevates the fruit. That said, the savoury undertones which lie beneath make it a fabulous gastronomic wine, suitable for any fine dish deserving of a serious red.

Steiner used to be one of the most famous single sites in Hungary before the post-war border cut off Hungary’s western vineyards from those on the western side of the lake to the north (remember, Rust was once Hungarian in the days of Empire). Franz Weninger has been instrumental in helping to revive this and other Sopron sites, and this is, make no mistake, a fine wine which will age well for several years. It hasn’t peaked but it is ready to go today if paired with demanding dishes, perhaps with paprika or cayenne. £34-35.

Perhaps this last wine demonstrates best why Peter Honneger feels we should call these quality wines rather than natural wines. This is simply a well-priced, ageworthy, fine wine with no sense of volatility, no funky side, nothing to scare anyone. Indeed, it tastes like a classic Blaufränkisch, a variety I think is very much under-rated on several levels. It was nice to get back to the Newcomer heartland, so to speak, the wines which made their name. Yet it was equally good to see how far Newcomer Wines has come since those distant Box Park days. They have unquestionably evolved into one of a handful of London and the United Kingdom’s most innovative and important wine import businesses.

Below are a selection of wines that were available last Wednesday evening…

Montrose Restaurant is at 1 Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5DJ, around 20-25 minutes’ walk from Waverley Station.

Tel 0131 605 008; eat@montroserestaurant.co

See it perhaps as a less formal version of sister restaurant Timberyard.

Check web site opening hours, closed Monday & Tuesday.

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Austria, Austrian Wine, Beaujolais, biodynamic wine, Burgundy, Hungarian Wine, Languedoc-Roussillon, Loire, Natural Wine, Wachau, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged Agly Valley, Andrew and Emma Nielsen, Austrian Wine, Domaine Rieffel Pinot Noir Nature, Du Grappin Côte de Brouilly, Edinburgh Wine Tasting, Foradori, Franz Weninger Soprón, Hungarian Wine, Kékfrankos from Sopron Hungary, Le Grappin Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Loire Wine, Lucas Rieffel Mittelbergheim, Manzoni Grape Variety, Matassa Cuvée Marguerite, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine, Natural Wine, Newcomer Wines at Montrose, Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner, Nikolaihof Wachau, Northeast Italian Wine, Orthogneiss Domaine L'Ecu, Roussillon Wine, Trentino Alto-Adige Wine, Weninger Steiner 2017 | 2 Comments

Bergerac and Maison Wessman – Edinburgh Lunch at Tipo

Posted on 04/07/2024 by dccrossley

Let me tell you a little story. A long, long, time ago (“I can still remember how that music used to make me smile…” etc) I went on my first adult trip to the vineyards of France. And where did I go? Yes, Bergerac, or to be even more exact, I stayed not far the small town of Issigeac. Back then a lot of my fellow Brits knew vaguely of Bergerac.

For a decade from 1981 to 1991 a UK tv series (set on the island of Jersey) featured a detective of that name. Perhaps it was chosen by the series creator because at this time “The Dordogne”, the name most commonly used in the UK to describe the Périgord Region of France, was a phenomenally popular holiday destination, and was fast becoming the centre for British second home owners.

Bergerac lies about an hour and a half drive east of Bordeaux, along the River Dordogne. It has a strong tradition of viticulture to match the wider region’s gastronomy. Among the many specialities to be enjoyed in Périgord are ceps, truffles, ducks and walnuts, and it’s a region which once grew much of France’s tobacco. Like all of the wines of the interior of Southwest France, for centuries their only way to market was via Bordeaux, and we all know what happened to them. Either used to beef up the weedy wines of the Atlantic coast, or banned from entering the city until the Bordelais’s own wines were sold, they were at a big disadvantage. Yet they happily sit, even today, within their own gastronomic culture and tradition.

Very few Bergerac producers have gained any renown on export markets. Château Tiregand was always on the radar. In the district of Pécharment, with its own appellation, east of the town, it has been, since 1830, in the ownership of the famous St-Exupéry family. Today, keen explorers of the wines of Regional France may know Château Tirecul-la-Gravière, Château Tour des Gendres, Clos D’Yvigne, and perhaps Château des Eyssards.

Potentially, the finest wine of the region is (though perhaps rarely living up to that potential) Monbazillac. A sweet wine similar to Sauternes, but with several points of difference, it is vastly underrated, largely because producers have struggled to sell this wine for a price needed to focus solely on quality. One or two do succeed, but cheap Monbazillac is no better than cheap Sauternes. The co-operative, certainly an under-performer back when I visited, does curate a very fine fourteenth century château.

Undisputedly, the most famous producer in Bergerac for us in back in the 1990s would have been Château de la Jaubertie. Nick Ryman (of high street stationery fame) took over this estate in the 1970s. The wines took off when his son, Hugh, who had spent time working with Brian Croser at Petaluma in South Australia (and “flying winemaker” fame, anyone remember those?), came back to make the wine. Making what were effectively back then wines in a “New World” style (as they used to call it) in a French setting, and with a connection to the popular Majestic Wine Warehouse chain, they managed to become one of the most talked about French wine estates in Britain. Sadly, it didn’t really rub off on Bergerac as a whole.

So, what of Bergerac today? Well, Bordeaux no longer has a stranglehold on Bergerac’s wines, but there has been such a dearth of producers with a market presence that the wines haven’t really gained any reputation at all on our export market. However, with the nostalgia of that first visit on my mind I went to taste the wines of one of the larger family-run domaines, Maison Wessman.

Wessman is an interesting operation. Róbert Wessman purchased the twelfth-century Château de Saint-Cernin in 2016, along with its vineyard parcels near Issigeac. In 2021 he added the 58-hectare estate of Les Verdots at Conne-de-Labarde, and with more vineyards in Limoux, the family now farms 100 hectares. This may seem a lot, but the key of course is to examine the intentions and commitment of the team there, and to this end I was pleased to be seated at lunch next to Maison Wessman’s head winemaker, Lise Sadirac.

Lise is almost a Bergerac native, growing up just to the southwest, but she came to her current role after making organic wines in Corbières. One of her first decisions was to end herbicide use. The vine rows now have grass between them and it is rolled, not cut. The Wessman mission statement declares a commitment to “an innovative approach to eco-responsible and sustainable viticulture”. One aspect of this is what they describe as an ambitious viti-foresty project which goes hand-in-hand with increasing micro-biodiversity in the vineyards. In other words, we won’t pretend we are dealing with “natural wines” here, but we are at a large estate which is moving inexorably in the right direction ecologically.

The Wessman vignoble as a whole grows mostly the varieties traditional to their respective regions. That means Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec for red wines, with, in Bergerac Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle for white wines, plus, in Limoux, Chardonnay, Chenin, and Mauzac (plus Pinot Noir vinified en blanc in Limoux for the just released Petit Cernin Bubbles, a new Crémant de Limoux traditional method sparkling wine).

Overall, the greatest asset they have are their old vineyards. This allows them to make ageworthy wines of quality, but also to produce distinctive wines. There is a move to get Issigeac its own appellation, largely because of its distinctive limestone terroir.

It would take a long time to give a note on every single wine I tasted (both pre- and during lunch), so I shall describe the range and comment on one or two wines generally. The Vignoble des Verdots range produces a full selection of red, white and rosé wines from Bergerac terroirs, including white wines from the calcareous soils of Issigeac. The wines from Château Saint-Cernin are split: red wines from Issigeac and whites from Limoux, most notably in the Haute-Vallée sub-region where exceptional Chardonnay has been grown for a number of decades.

All of the wines tasted were very good, and depending on price ought to gain a following on the UK market (they are already making inroads in Scandinavia and Asia). Even the entry level “Odyssée” label wines are attractive.

The Château Les Tours des Verdots Blanc is a traditional rendition of white Bergerac. It blends Sauvignons Blanc and Gris for freshness, and Sémillon for roundness, with just under 10% Muscadelle. Out of favour in Bordeaux, where the damp Atlantic climate doesn’t really suit it, Muscadelle is a gem of a variety for seasoning purposes. It is harvested late and adds perfume to the finished wine.

One style which was once very common in Bergerac white wines, but fell out of favour, was “Moelleux”. The Verdots moelleux wine isn’t as sweet as the description suggests, but made from selected parcels of Sémillon and Muscadelle, it gives out gentle stewed yellow fruit compote and honey on a rounded palate. A yellow-gold colour makes it a lovely wine for a summer evening, though it does pack 13% abv, so it might be less suitable for lunch time. I know my tastes aren’t mainstream but I like this style and it has its place. Give it a try. It was once very much a part of the wider Aquitaine tradition. I guess we just stopped having cake at 4pm, more’s the pity.

One of the reds I liked most was called Imprévu (2023). I’d definitely buy multiple bottles. It’s a red for chilling (I mean in the fridge, but for relaxing too, of course). This is actually a wine with 14% abv, but the reason to try it is because you would never guess that, more like 12%. Very fruity and fun.

There are some impressive red wines from both ranges. Maybe they could stop putting the top wines in such heavy bottles? It would do wonders for their eco-credentials. A wine like the Grand Vin Les Verdots is an old vine selection which sees new oak, with around 3,000 bottles produced. This is impressive, even in a crowded field. I imagine it will provide good value on price too.

If you want something to drink now, the contrasting Petit Cernin Rouge 2019 seems fresh and fruity. It comes from younger vines at Issigeac and despite being assembled by Michel Rolland it is very “supple, tasty and focused on fruit” as the marketing says.

Lise told us she is hoping that in the future there will be a separate appellation for Issigeac, perhaps like Pécharment (to the east of Bergerac town and once seen as the source for the best Bergerac wines). The requirement is to show that the wines from this elevated terroir are demonstrably different to those from the rest of the region. That is something I could not answer, but Lise is convinced those differences are there. She is especially happy with the depth and balance the Issigeac fruit brings to the wines.

The red wines are very much excellent renditions of a blend which rather went out of fashion, largely due to perceptions about Red Bordeaux (elitist attitudes, trading for too long on a name alone, collector’s wines, Parkerisation and points) but I think the traditional “Bordeaux blend” is definitely coming back. What I’m talking about really is Cabernet/Merlot, or in this case Merlot/Cabernet because I’d say 60:40 is a typical blend here.

However, Cabernet Franc is perceived as very much a variety for the future because it is now achieving phenolic ripeness without difficulty, and perhaps one day Merlot will have problems with over-ripeness. Lise is very pleased with the performance of Cabernet Franc and sees a greater role for the variety here. She is also planting other varieties in experimental plots, trying to secure the future by finding grapes which will thrive as the region gets warmer.

It’s telling that at one time the Côtes de Bergerac AOC only asked for a minimum ripeness of 10% alcohol. Of course, this meant the wines were chaptalized, as indeed they were in most well-known French Appellations. Now, adding the sugar is no longer practised, at least at quality producers, as the grapes now ripen fully. This is a massive aid to quality in the resulting wines, and is one fewer expense, along with ditching the chemicals, for the producers and their bottom line.

When we talk about sugar that leads us on nicely to one of the gems of the wider region, Monbazillac. Whilst we shouldn’t totally ignore Saussignac, because there are one or two very good sweet wines made in that tiny AOP, Monbazillac has a “fame” stretching back to the Middle Ages. Apparently Monbazillac makes thirty times more wine than Saussignac (Source = The World Atlas of Wine, 8^th edn). It’s an appellation changed beyond recognition since the 1990s when machine harvesting was banned and sulphur additions, the bane of generic Sauternes it should be said, were dramatically lowered.

The Gardonette, a tributary of The Dordogne, is the source for the mists which allow for the creation of botrytis here, performing much the same role as The Ciron where it flows into the Garonne in Sauternes. But Monbazillac isn’t a copy of Sauternes. The terroir is hillier, but more importantly the Muscadelle grape plays a very significant role in Monbazillac (it’s a variety which has become very minor at most in Sauternes and Barsac).

The over-riding difference on the palate between the two wines is freshness. Monbazillac may lack the deep concentration of the finest Sauternes but, especially when young, it has a freshness that Sauternes normally lacks. I’m not saying that makes it qualitatively the better wine, but it is certainly an attractive quality for anyone considering drinking sweet wines today.

We finished our lunch with a delicious food pairing, Château Les Tours des Verdots Monbazillac 2020 SGN (Sélection de Grains Nobles), sipped with Muscovado tart with blood orange. From a half-hectare plot at Monbazillac, this is botrytis-affected wine, so it can’t be made every year. The grapes are harvested in a minimum of three tries through the vineyard for optimum noble rot. It spent two years in barrel and was bottled (1,000x50cl) with 150g/l residual sugar.

This particular cuvée is 100% Semillon. It is rich, but is balanced by fresh acids. There’s a hint of apricot and marmalade. It is frankly delicious. I drink so little dessert wine nowadays, but I’m a sucker for it when I do.

Lunch was at Tipo on Central Edinburgh’s Hannover Street. I’d not been before and the food, eaten over three hours, was excellent (see menu photo below). The veal chop was pretty special, and the tart mentioned above was pretty excellent too. But even the focaccia was spectacularly fresh and the plate of salumi was locally farm-sourced. I’ve included some photos below.

There is one “typo” on the menu…the Crémant didn’t arrive, hence no note on it. We were instead served a Maison Wessmann Champagne as out apéritif, but this blend of Pinot Noir from Ay and Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs is made for, not by, Maison Wessman.

Moving back to the wines, I imagine some readers who are used, like me, to drinking the wines of mostly small artisan producers might be slightly sceptical about trying the wines of a producer which farms 100 hectares. However, as the owner of a wine importing business who I was tasting with yesterday pointed out to those present, when things are done on a larger scale it can have a greater impact.

Maison Wessman, through Head Winemaker Lise Sadirac, is doing more and more on a large scale to eradicate the use of synthetic herbicides and pesticides, to regenerate the viticultural environment and to lessen the impact of their winemaking operations. But at the end of the day the wines have to speak for themselves and I found them to be quality wines, enjoyable at every level. I hope they manage to find a UK importer.

As for Bergerac, it was very interesting to see the vast amount of progress made in the region, at least by one producer. Call me nostalgic, but it did make me happy. What used to be called “French Country Wines” by the old-time wine writers have by-and-large all come of age now, but Bergerac certainly has plenty of potential, more perhaps than most, which owners like the Wessman family are beginning to tap.

The event was organised by Wine PR firm Westbury Communications, who I would like to thank for doing an excellent job here, once again.

Posted in Dining, Wine, Wine Tastings, Wines of Southwest France, | Tagged Bergerac Moelleux Styles, Bergerac Wine, Château de Saint-Cernin, Château Les Tours des Verdots Monbazillac SGN 2020, Domaine des Verdots Imprévu red wine, Grand Vin de Verdot, Issigeac Future AOC, Issigeac Wine, Lise Sadirac Winemaker, Maison Wessman, Monbazillac Wine, Petit Cernin Rouge 2019, Robert Wessmann, Tipo Restaurant Edinburgh, Vignoble des Verdots, Westbury Communications Wine PR, Wine Lunch at Tipo, Wine of Southwest France | 2 Comments

Natural Wine, No Drama by Honey Spencer (Book Review)

Posted on 28/06/2024 by dccrossley

I’m usually quite swift off the mark when it comes to reviewing new wine books relevant to my readership, but as you may know, with house moving etc I’ve slipped behind with the writing. It’s a shame in this case because I’ve been dying to tell you about this book since it arrived. By now, I’m guessing that a lot of you will have read it and enjoyed it just as much as I have, as much now, reminding myself of its contents as when I read it cover to cover many weeks ago.

I don’t know Honey personally, and in fact I only met her for the first time at the Real Wine Fair at the end of April, but we do have a number of acquaintances in common, all people I admire for their passion for natural wines, regenerative agriculture and vineyard biodiversity. Honey sits easily within that group.

Honey studied languages in London, with a stint at Paris Dauphine before starting a career as a sommelier. A year and a half working in marketing for Jamie Oliver’s company was a minor diversion before returning to wine service proper. She has worked at Den Vedrette (Copenhagen), 10 William Street (Sydney) and three months at Noma in Mexico, as well as General Manager at Sager + Wilde in London.

People often forget that Honey founded Bastarda in 2018, and she also works with another passionate wine consultant, Ania Smelskaya, via Spencer and Smelskaya Consulting. Always considering herself first and foremost a sommelier, Honey continues as Wine Director for the Palomar Group (Paskin & Associates), alongside perhaps her most adventurous project to date. Along with her husband and partner Charlie Sims, whose CV includes managing Noma in Copenhagen, she opened Restaurant Sune (pronounced “sooner”) in Hackney, close to Broadway Market, in autumn 2023.

It’s hard to think of a more highly praised restaurant in the whole of London right now. I could have filled this review with glowing praise for Sune, but this is about Honey’s book so I will simply quote James Manning in Time Out:

“The level of depth, detail, thought and skill in some of these dishes is honestly staggering, and they’re picture-pretty”.

I think a fair question must be to ask how on earth Honey manages to juggle all of these commitments, and a young family, with writing a book, but she has and we are grateful for her energy. The book is called Natural Wine No Drama, and is subtitled “an unpretentious guide”. Both statements are true. I imagine Honey manages to achieve so much because she doesn’t make a drama out of everything. Likewise, you could not read a more unpretentious guide to natural wine, and the key is that this book has no hint of “me, me, me” from its author. This is remarkable because Honey Spencer was there at the start, so to speak. I recognise her journey in my own in many respects, but she has been a sensationally successful advocate for natural wine over the past decade plus.

First, I should say that the book itself is very attractively, and sensitively, produced by her publisher, Pavilion (a Harper Collins imprint). Great work from Laura Russell, Alice Kennedy-Owen and their teams. A nice selection of photos is supplemented by illustrations created by Max Ososki. They help tell Honey’s story, which began much like mine when it comes to natural wine. As her opening words describe, “I can still remember the first time I tried a natural wine; I recall it with a shudder”.

Actually, my shudder was from an unsulphured red wine bought from one of Paris’ pioneering natural wine stores, but I had unknowingly drunk several natural wines previous to this 1990s experience. I just didn’t know it. Back then, natural wine could be unstable and volatile, and no-one was more volatile when it came to the sharp tongues of its sternest critics. Back then, if you appreciated natural wine and were prepared to say so, one did feel somewhat under attack from certain wine critics, and indeed the more conservative users of a popular wine forum I used to frequent.

But as tiny minorities usually find each other, so did I find likeminded individuals. Wines shared at lunches, especially those I organised with a friend at Rochelle Canteen, slowly saw more natural wines among them. Those lunches were usually preceded, in my case, by a visit to Austrian natural wine pioneers Newcomer Wines, then occupying a shipping container in Shoreditch Box Park, and increasingly ended with a visit to Sager + Wilde. Natural wine has so many outlets now, so it is hard to imagine how important S+W was back in its early days. I had previously worshipped at The Ledbury. S+W was fundamental in shaping my tastes and wine philosophy over the past twelve years.

Honey begins by relating, briefly, her own story, before a very plain-speaking introduction and explanation of different winemaking styles and methods, all leading to natural wine. It sets the scene for the first core part of the book, illustrating the natural wine philosophy through the people who have helped shape it.

We begin with natural wine’s supreme philosopher, Doug Wregg. As a director of UK natural wine pioneer Les Caves de Pyrene, Doug was selling these wines to UK restaurants and consumers (including myself) long before such wines had a hint of fashionabilty about them. They were a hard sell. If Jancis Robinson is sometimes known as “HRH”, “Sir Doug” as almost everyone calls him, could not be held in higher esteem, nor greater affection, among that part of the UK wine scene that appreciates wine’s boundary pushers and innovators.

Honey goes on to profile a rich array of other movers and shakers on the natural wine scene, most of whom I either know or have met a number of times. Meli Ligas is one face of Ktima Ligas, one of two fabulous Greek natural wine pioneers. Christina Rasmussen, I have already profiled on my site (3 August 2022). She is yet to be fully recognised for her contribution to natural wine. Monique Millton and Tim Webber (Manon Farm) are profiled, as are fellow winemakers Fleur Godart and Sophie Evans, along with several more.

They are all astute choices, chosen both for what they have achieved, and for the passion which they have brought to their own spheres. None more so, perhaps, than Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe of Gut Oggau, whose wines I now rate more highly than those which the critics would tell me are the world’s finest. This is because natural wine has redefined my view of what great wine is, and what it can be.

The key to these people portraits is that Honey allows their words to speak for natural wine, rather than pontificating herself. We have had rather too much pontification from those bearing an astonishing, at times, degree of antipathy towards natural wine. I used to think that wine people are nice people. Now I prefer to say that “natural wine” people are nice people, though although broadly true, sadly that would itself be a gross exaggeration. What you can be sure of is that the folks profiled by Honey here are certainly among the good guys.

The final chapters of the book include a section called “how to enjoy natural wine”. We have here, inter alia, a clutch of recipes and wine pairings. The author knows rather a lot about food, yet she gives over twenty of her pages to some very interesting chefs, who provide exciting recipes which are “natural wine-friendly”. Each recipe has wine to match it, wine that is on the whole accessible and affordable.

At the end of the book do not miss the small piece called “Convincing a Critic”. The critic in question is Jay Rayner. I’m quite a fan of Jay’s writing, but I must say that he has…well let me use Honey’s own thoughts as she saw him enter the restaurant:

”With this critic, there was another pretty gargantuan problem. Jay Rayner hated natural wine. In fact, his loathing of it was so deeply entrenched that should a restaurant he visited feature natural wine, the entire subsequent column would be dedicated to ensuring the poor sommelier in question would rue the day they ever so much as looked at a grape.”

Honey lived to pour again, but more importantly what Jay said in his review points very much to why Honey Spencer has been so successful as a sommelier, wine consultant, and now a restaurateur.

We finish, well almost, with “What Happens Now?”. It’s the question we, that is the natural wine community, all ask. Natural wine’s success has been based on many factors. Lighter, and perhaps purer, flavours, ethics etc, but undoubtedly because Doug Wregg, and those who followed his example, understood that people didn’t necessarily want a tasting note full of fruits and further pretentions. Natural wine always has a story to tell, and that story is first and foremost about a landscape, and the people and culture which inhabit that landscape. People are hungry for the story. They can almost live vicariously, until they are able to visit the vines themselves and walk in nature among the bucolic green of vine-clad hills. Wine is culture and culture runs deep, for all those who seek what is not superficial.

The book actually ends with a kind of directory, of natural wine fairs and events around the world, of online resources and courses, and of key books on the subject. All very useful, most being essential. I would just like to add to the events list “Autentikfest Moravia”, which takes place in August and showcases (though not exclusively) the wines of Europe’s most exciting but hardly known emerging natural wine culture.

Natural wine is, perhaps more than anything, about open minds and a willingness to experiment. This is something Honey talks about elsewhere in the book. The Covid pandemic ironically seemed to foster a sense of greater adventure among a population stuck in their houses and locales for months on end. Equally, as Honey says (in a paragraph I’d love to quote in full, but it is too long), “…there is something deeply romantic about natural wine. In a world of identikit international varieties, it is a revolt.” Natural wine has both these aspects.

Who exactly is it who is drawn to natural wine? Who will be drawn to this book? It is so often the passionate, deeply thoughtful, individuals who question the given, who rebel against the doctrine of the mass-market, who are drawn to the artisan, who believe humankind is crazy to destroy our planet. Honey Spencer, through her work in food and wine, and through this book, continues to be at the vanguard of those waking us up. Wine is, as Honey says, not the greatest of life’s priorities, compared to the big issues facing humanity. But that doesn’t make it irrelevant.

Well then, end of my sermon. It’s a fabulous book, not so much as a reference work of factual material, more as something which will make you feel warm inside when you’ve read it. What comes through above all is not just passion, but compassion. Honey is undoubtedly a compassionate individual, whose friends are compassionate individuals, and who has written here about compassion – compassionate individuals in wine, compassionate farming and a compassionate philosophy. If, like me, you are one of those romantics Honey Spencer mentions above, you will love this book.

Natural Wine, No Drama by Honey Spencer is published by Pavilion/Harper Collins (hard cover, 2024). The RRP is £25. Some sites sell it at a small discount, but as always beware those which do not properly remunerate the author.

Posted in Natural Wine, Wine, Wine and Food, Wine Books, Wine Writing, Women in Wine | Tagged Book on Natural Wine, Doug Wregg, Honey Spencer, Natural Wine No Drama book review, New Wine Books 2024, Sune Restaurant, Wine Books, Wine writing | 2 Comments

David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

Aeble Cider Bar and Shop – the Face of Cider in Scotland

Recent Wines July 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Recent Wines July 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

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