David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

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.

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

Recent Wines April 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 26/06/2024 by dccrossley

Part 2 for April is, somewhat similarly to Part 1, made up of a mix of the wines I usually drink and a bottle which doesn’t feature very often these days. We begin in Jerez, zip around Europe via Côte-Rôtie, Alto Douro and Hungary’s Great Plain, before a long-distance flight to Gippsland in Australia.

La Bota de Fino 68, Equipo Navazos (Jerez, Spain)

This is a bottling of June 2016 (6,500 bottles to be precise) from a solera at Valdespino. The grapes all came from the single site of Macharnudo Alto. The average age of the wines on release was between ten and eleven years old, the casks selected from criaderas 1-3. It was, of course, bottled unfiltered and without additives.

This is an old EN Fino, as those familiar with their Bota numbers will be aware, and it has had eight years in bottle resting in…I’d like to say my cellar but this was introduced into my Brighton cellar and it has now spent the past two years in three others, finally settling here in our new house. All I can say is that although I sadly don’t have any Vintage Port, nor very much Bordeaux these days, perhaps it’s for the best.

For all the old fuddy duddy folks who say the Fino is not for ageing, I say drink this. They are simply wrong! The yeast influence does feel strong here, making for a pungent, spicy, wine of enormous complexity and some considerable intensity, though it’s a very different intensity than that of its youth. “Muted” would definitely convey the wrong impression, although the restrained beauty of the sound made by a muted trumpet might be an apt analogy. In fact, I see that EN themselves suggest “connoisseurs may age [it] for many years”.

This sensational wine would be hard to track down now, I presume. This came directly from the producer on release, but Alliance Wine is the UK agent for Equipo Navazos. You could take any current release Fino and age it like this.

Côte-Rôtie 2005, Michel & Stéphane Ogier (Rhône, France)

I used to be a big drinker of the wines of the Northern Rhône. I remember my first visit to the vineyards of Hermitage, Condrieu, Château-Grillet, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie with great affection, as I remember those wonderful bottles of Georges Vernay, Auguste Clape, and especially Gérard (at that time) Chave. The wines of Michel Ogier sort of became a Chave substitute. I began buying them as I had to stop buying Chave. It helped that his wines used to be sold by Waitrose, at least at their key London locations. A fair few were purchased during their “25% off all wine” promos back in the day (along with the odd Prestige Cuvée Champagne).

This 2005 harks back to the days when Michel was still pretty much at the helm of the domaine, albeit with his son, Stéphane, effectively making the wine. The Syrah fruit is a blend from the two larger sites of Côtes Brune and Blonde. To this is added a splash of Viognier, and the Ogier Viognier has always been quite special in my view. Not one of the naysayers, I am convinced that the seasoning with this white variety does make a difference, whether here in the Northern Rhône or at one or two special producers in Australia.

At nineteen years old this is, I think, fully mature, but magnificently in its prime. The colour is purest translucent ruby, the fruit on bouquet and palate ranges from raspberry high notes to a plummy base. If there is any hint of bacon then the fruit smothers it, perhaps unexpectedly. It’s smooth and clean, the tannins having given way to a soft, velvet, texture. Splendid sounds a good word to describe it. It was my last of their 2005s, and despite some critics giving this a drinking window up to 2020, this is the best 2005 I’ve drunk from this father and son team. Indeed, I think it was my best Ogier wine so far.

My sources for Ogier were the Waitrose food hall in the basement of John Lewis on Oxford Street, but their web site no longer lists Ogier (the overall range has changed considerably from those halcyon days), but also Berry Brothers & Rudd. They continue to stock much of Stéphane’s now expanded range of cuvées.

Uivo Rabigato Branco 2022, Folias de Baco (Alto Douro, Portugal)

What a contrast to the previous wine, you might think. True, but make no mistake, this is a cracking wine and one that offers remarkable value. Despite the undoubted quality of the Côte-Rôtie above, you couldn’t really say that about it. Like the red version of this I drank back in March (Renegado), this hits well above its weight/price.

Tiagio Sampaio makes these wines in the Alto Douro’s Cima Corgo. It’s fascinating that even though the Douro is now much better known for unfortified wines (mostly red, it must be said) than it once was, the steep slopes of the Cima Corgo do grow some of the best fruit for Port, the region’s more famous wine.

This white wine is a field blend, but the dominant variety is the autochthonous Rabigato. The soils are schist-based. The wine was fermented in stainless steel and then aged four months on lees, then a further four months off the lees. It’s a natural wine and was bottled unfiltered.

Now, I can’t say I can pinpoint the exact location for these grapes, but I know Cima Corgo is pretty hot. This white, however, is super fresh, cleanly mineral, with citrus zip. The bouquet seems to blend an array of garrigue-type herbs with a wafting note of violet. Unusual but pleasant. Just a tiny addition of sulphur here.

Not only does Tiagio follow biodynamic practices, the vineyards of Folias de Baco are part of a wider project for biodiversity and wildlife restoration in the Upper Douro.

This was purchased from Cork & Cask, Edinburgh (£22). The importer is Modal Wines.

Kékfrankos Diófás 2019, Sziegl Pince (Hajós Baja, Hungary)

As Blaufränkisch, its name in Austria, this variety is just beginning to gain justified wider recognition as a producer of fine red wines. Kékfrankos, its name in Hungary, has always been a mainstay of that country’s red wine scene, arguably producing its finest red wines too.

This wine comes from Hungary’s Great Plain, a region with sandy soils, once best known for supplying the country’s urban workforce with high volume, cheap wine. Things are obviously changing. The couple synonymous with Sziegl Pince began grape farming when, as postgraduates in their very early twenties, they were given a parcel of old vines as a gift in 2012. They have since increased their holding to 8.5 hectares.

A profound love of their home and its nature means that no synthetic chemicals are used to make the wine, and the vines never saw the industrial farming of the Soviet era because the sandy soils weren’t suitable for mechanised farming. Diófás is a single site, one of the best plots they have. The fruit ripens without loss of acidity, which needs to be retained in the best wines made from this variety. Fermented via a mix of crushed fruit and whole clusters in open vats, ageing is 18 months in used oak. The wine then rests in bottle a further 18 months before release.

The bouquet is lovely, nice peppery, crushed cherry. The palate has good juicy fruit, but there’s also a bit of grippy tannin. It makes for a nice food wine, but equally it will age further. I think this is a very impressive wine, especially for the price. £25 from Basket Press Wines.

I tasted this late last year and it really impressed then, even more so as a whole bottle drunk at home in late April, after a little more time resting. I think it has now sold out, and I can’t find it at any of the retailers who stock the Sziegl Pince wines. However, more may arrive in the UK. This is very highly recommended, and would surely cost more if it was an Austrian Blaufränkisch with a louder label.

Tonimbuk Amphora Granite 2020, Nikau Farm (Victoria, Australia)

New Zealand native Dane Johns continues to plough his own very special Australian artisan furrow at his family’s farm, where he lives with wife Hannah, in Gippsland, SE Victoria. The farm totals 95 acres, but there are just two hectares of vines right now.

Dane started out in wine, after a decade working as a Melbourne barista, working with William Downie, and first became known individually for his Momento Mori label, mostly using Italian varieties. From the start Dane followed a zero-zero approach to additives, including a no-sulphur regime. It perfectly reflects Dane’s approach to his first career as a musician, making electronic music but using analog equipment.

Tonimbuk is the district, amphora is the vessel and granite is one of the soil types, among several, in the vineyards. The wine is a blend of Pinots Grigio and Gris (listed as separate varieties, I’m not sure why), Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The result is an amber wine of some complexity, a wine you’d probably guess spent time in amphora. That said, it isn’t too overtly textured. Adjectives which come to mind are alive, generous, vibrant, with hits of orange and ginger. Ironically, this is an easier drink than the 2019 “Tolone” Riesling, my last Nikau Farm wine. I loved that wine’s individuality, but with 10% abv it was quite lean and bony, probably not for the uninitiated.

However, all of Dane’s wines are thought-provoking, and perhaps deliberately challenging. This is almost certainly why I would place him in a clutch of Australia’s most exciting winemakers, pushing boundaries with wines of genuine personality. UK prices are somewhat steeper than back in Australia (I can tell you from having bought Dane’s wines there as well). I was lucky as The Solent Cellar had this discounted from £45 down to £35 (perhaps a tough sell), though I think I got the last bottle. I’ve seen Tonimbuk for £60 in other stores here.

The abovementioned Tolone Riesling is still available (the web site says two bottles) at The Solent Cellar. £48, but that is reduced from £65. If you want something really different…

All of Dane Johns’s wines, including Momento Mori as well as Nikau Farm, are imported by Les Caves de Pyrene.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Australian Wine, Hungarian Wine, Natural Wine, Portuguese wine, Rhone, Sherry, Wine | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alto Douro White Wine, Côte-Rôtie, Dane Johns Gippsland, Equipo Navazos, Gippsland Wine, Hajos Baja Hungary, Jerez, Kékfrankos, La Bota de Fino 68, Macharnudo Alto, Michel et Stéphane Ogier, Nikau Farm, Nikau Farm Amphora Granite 2020, Ogier Côte-Rôtie 2005, Portuguese wine, Recent Wines April 2024 (Pt 2), Sherry, Sziegl Pince Hajos-Baja Hungary, Sziegl Pince Kekfrankos Diofas 2019, Tonimbuk Amphora Granite 2020, Uivo Rabigato Folias de Baco, White Wine from Cima Corgo, Wine of Hungary's Great Plain | Leave a comment

Recent Wines April 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 25/06/2024 by dccrossley

The catchup continues. We are right back in April for my “Recent Wines”. Two parts, the first showing wines from Franken, Hampshire, Burgundy, Burgenland and Jura.

Silvaner Thüngersheim Rothlauf GG 2019, Weingut Rudolf May (Franken, Germany)

I seem to be unusual in that I do quite like Silvaner. Of course, it has changed rather a lot over the decades, from the afterthought of the 1980s and 90s, where under-ripe fruit so often gave us shrieking acidity. Now we have Silvaner with a Grosses Gewächs, or Grand Cru, designation if you like. How do such wines stack up against the similarly designated Rieslings?

Weingut Rudolf May is based at Retzstadt, about 20km north of Würzburg. The estate was originally founded on just 2-hectares in 1998, but it has grown to 17 ha. This expansion hasn’t been at the expense of quality, in fact just the oppostite. Most would recognise them as a top domaine. They make some of the very finest Silvaner in Germany (some argue the finest).

The key may well be the soils here. If Silvaner can’t match Riesling on a world stage, Franken’s fossil-rich soils reveal themselves in the wines through a deep minerality. The regime is organic with sulphur additions kept to a bare minimum, but otherwise the wine is simply made with low intervention.

The bouquet is pear and apple fruit, with a more floral note rising above, the palate has weight (and 13% abv) but is nicely poised and balanced. That mineral texture comes through as pebbly and chalky. The acidity is tempered. This is fine and majestic. It will age further but to me it has that tension right now that is thrilling. Surely a wine that should convert the unbelievers?

Imported by Howard Ripley, my bottle came from The Solent Cellar (£46).

Promised Land Riesling Brut Nature 2017, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, England)

Tim Phillips is (I think) unique as a pioneer of Riesling in the UK. The books will tell you it can’t be done, but Tim’s Clos du Paradis vineyard combines heat-retention and wind protection of the brick walls of a large Victorian kitchen garden with a unique location, just inland from The Solent with the protection of the Isle of Wight. The island itself is famous for its horticulture, and the stretch of coastline to its immediate north might be a “race” to make sailors careful, but it is protected from the wind, and indeed provides a notable bird sanctuary.

This is sparkling Riesling, bottle fermented by the traditional method. Farming is organic and “natural”, Tim being a long-time follower of Masonobu Fukuoka’s regenerative ideas. In fact, Tim is probably the most deeply thoughtful vine grower I know when it comes to how to farm grapes in such a sometimes trying climate.

The wine spent four years on lees and was bottled with minimal added sulphur. The first thing you might notice is rapier-like acidity. Yet this is a fine spine of acid, delicate, like frost. Add in white flowers, lemon citrus and a textured mineral base, and although you would still call this “young”, it is amazingly refreshing.

Yes, this will age, and I kind of wish I’d given it longer. Not that it wasn’t brilliant now, merely that there are never too many bottles of these to stock up on. It is undoubtedly a real achievement to have created this.

Although this bottle came from Tim direct, it will, when available, appear locally at The Solent Cellar, and also via Les Caves de Pyrene, who continue to support Tim’s work. Otherwise get in on Tim’s open days, although you will have just missed one.

Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes 2006, Domaine Bachelet (Burgundy, France)

I was an early purchaser of the wines of Domaine Bachelet. This was back in the days before natural wine, and when Burgundy was more or less affordable, at least for the best “village” wines. I’m pretty sure I picked up on this producer from a wine tv show Jancis Robinson had back then, which featured the famous American importer/agent Becky Wasserman, who worked with Denis Bachelet, in his twenties at that time and very much seen as a rising star.

The Vieilles Vignes was always seen as a special wine and also something of a bargain. Genuinely old vines made up for a lack of Premier Cru designation. It must be said that 2006 was not what one might describe as a top vintage, certainly lacking the caché of the preceding 2005, but a good number of very good wines came out of it, especially from top names. I bought a good spread of Fourrier 2006, and Lafon if I recall, which have thus far proved delicious.

I would say that this didn’t match the Fourriers, perhaps being slightly tired. But the cellar is cold and as it warmed the fruit that was there did assert itself. Yet it was still enjoyable. You learn so much from a wine like this, even though it may have already peaked. It’s still getting 90+ from the points merchants but it probably isn’t one to keep in the unlikely event you have some. The thrill of this comes from the fact that so few of us, assuming I know my readers, can afford wines like these too often now.

I’m not totally sure where this came from but I think Domaine Bachelet can be had from Berry Brothers.

Maskerade Rosé 2021, Gut Oggau (Burgenland, Austria)

Another rarely drunk domaine, rarely only because of increasing prices. Gut Oggau makes some of my favourite wines, definitely in my favourite half-dozen producers. Oggau is a small village just up the road from Rust, on the western shore of the Neusiedlersee. Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe-Eselböck run perhaps one of the most advanced estates in Europe when it comes to thinking about natural wine, regenerative farming and eco-system creation. Although they have not adopted every aspect of these methodologies, the biodiversity here is telling, as is the kindness to both humans and nature which oozes out of this wonderful couple.

What of this wine? The Maskerade cuvées are field blends, from sites which they had recently taken over at the time of this vintage. Although organic, the plots were undergoing conversion to the full Gut Oggau way of working. Stephanie and Eduard said that the vineyards were “holding a tiny bit of their beautiful personalities back”, hence the idea of the masks on the labels. Time will indeed reveal their true personalities and vineyards and wines.

This is a delicate, quite pale, Rosé. Both bouquet and palate reveal exquisite, gentle, raspberry fruit with strawberry following on the finish. You will certainly also identify a touch of cranberry which adds the smallest hint of bite to the finish. It’s a natural wine and there is the merest hint of funk, that adds personality. But this itself is enveloped in an elegant exterior. Refreshing yet also ephemeral.

Bottled in a useful litre size, this cost around £40 from Dynamic Vines in Bermondsey. Also try Antidote Wine Bar’s shop in Central London and Feral Art et Vin in Bordeaux.

Arbois Vin Jaune 2006, Domaine de la Pinte (Jura, France)

I’ve often said that Domaine de la Pinte is one of the unsung producers in the Jura Region. The estate was established in the early 1950s and became the first fully organic producer (other than the small farmers who couldn’t afford chemical inputs) in Arbois. Bruno Cofi took over (from the famous Philippe Chatillon) as estate manager/director in 2009 and began conversion to biodynamics. Bruno moved to Anjou in 2016, but he was in charge for the making of this wine.

La Pinte makes a range of mostly good value wines with some real stars. If I’m in Arbois I will never fail to get some of their Melon à Queue Rouge and the L’Ami Karl Poulsard. They also began some very interesting skin contact experiments in the later 2010s.

I’m also a fan of the Vin Jaune here. In fact, if you visit the domaine, or their shop in Arbois (just opposite Maison Jeunet), you can usually pick up some old bottles. I have some from the 1980s, and have even seen (but can’t afford) my birth year. But current releases are definitely worth grabbing and laying down, and I would suggest they age very well.

This has, with time, become an elegant Vin Jaune which I would suggest is drinking well right now. Off classic Marnes Bleues soils (Cretaceous blue marls), yielding a mere 20hl/h. Aged sous voile in a very special underground cellar (which you can visit), it is nutty and full of ginger and curry spice when young. Over time this 2006 has become very smooth, almost velvet-textured for a Vin Jaune. However, it has all that classic VJ intensity you’d wish for.

I’m always happy to point people towards Domaine de la Pinte for great quality-to-price value, although it’s fair to say that Vin Jaune prices have risen a lot, a mix of increased costs, frost and hail, plus of course the inexorable rise in the fashionability and cult status of all things Jura. That said, this bottle was purchased at the domaine and current vintages (for example, the 2016) there will cost around €60. You can do a lot worse.

Posted in Arbois, Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Burgundy, English Wine, German Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Arbois Vin Jaune 2006 Dom de la Pinte, Charlie Herring Wines Hampshire, Denis Bachelet, Domaine Bachelet Gevrey Chambertin VV 2006, Domaine de la Pinte Arbois, English Sparkling Riesling, Franken Silvaner, Gevrey VV Bachelet, Gut Oggau Burgenland, Gut Oggau Field Blend, Hampshire Sparkling Wine, Maskerade Cuvées Gut Oggau, Maskerade Rosé 2021, Recent Wines April 2024 (Pt 1), Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe-Eselbock, Thungersheim Rothlauf GG, Tim Phillips winemaker, Vin Jaune, Weingut Rudolf May Franken | Leave a comment

Noble Rot and the Poulet

Posted on 20/06/2024 by dccrossley

Four of us decamped to Noble Rot Soho for, if perhaps not a wild Real Wine after party, certainly a brilliant evening of food and wine. It was actually my first time at the Soho location, despite being almost a regular of sorts at Lambs Conduit Street when we lived in England. There they had, and still have, surely the best value lunch menu in London, and the same is available at Soho.

All four of us are avid Jura fans and I won’t lie, we were there for the Roast Chicken, Morels and Vin Jaune, the Noble Rot rendition of Poulet aux Morilles et Vin Jaune, that has to pass my lips at least twice on any visit to The Jura.

The Soho venue, at 2 Greek Street, occupying the former site of the famous Gay Hussar, is somewhat smaller than the original Noble Rot, and it is worth noting that the largest table seats only six (though the private dining room upstairs can accommodate ten), and booking is essential. However, the cooking here is of a very high order. Head Chef is Alex Jackson, though Stephen Harris’s executive eye ensures that the most fastidious critic is thrilled (as they have been).

We chose to select something “interesting” from the list as our aperitif, so we went for a Greek sparkling wine, Domaine Karanika Extra Cuvée de Réserve 2017. This is a bottle fermented Xinomavro sparkler (so a blanc de noirs) made by Laurens and Annette Hartman-Van Kampen. It was bottled in January 2018 and disgorged December 2022 with zero dosage. The estate is in Amyndeon in Macedonia, Northern Greece. It’s a small biodynamic domaine making boutique wines of high quality. This was zippy, with lovely red summer fruits, apple-fresh acids, crisp but easy to drink. No additives are used and sulphuring is very low. Not having had a lot of ageing post-disgorgement, it is very much in an aperitif style, but definitely delicious and certainly showing some developed complexity, and Xinomavro seems to work exceptionally well in a sparkling wine here.

De L’Avant, Maison Maenad, Côtes du Jura 2021 is something of a find on the list. I had managed to locate some in France, from my friend Russell at Feral Art & Vin in Bordeaux, but the chaps at Noble Rot have applied their fingers to the pulse once more. Irresistible, seeing it on the list here. Tutto Wines have begun to import it.

For this cuvée we have forty-year-old Chardonnay vines planted in “Les Varrons”, a site made famous by the Labet family, of course. The soils here are red clay. The lady behind this wine is Canadian native, Katie Worobeck, who had worked five years with the Ganevats previous to starting her own small label. I say small. There’s a plot of Chardonnay with a little Gamay in Les Varrons, plus now three more hectares in “Au Carre” in the forested hills above Grusse, both of course in the Jura’s Southern Revermont. Her winery is beneath her home in Orbagna.

I strongly advocate trying Katie’s wines. This is up there with the best Jura Chardonnays that money can buy (although there are a handful of better ones which on the whole you need more than just money to get hold of them). I’m increasingly frustrated by the unicorn nature of so many Jura wines now, but it’s possible that Tutto might have some of Katie’s wines left. Expect to pay 50€/bottle at Feral, who have several cuvées.

That said, I have to tell you, this restaurant has a truly exceptional dedicated Jura section on the wine list.

The food should not be forgotten here. We chose a number of small starter plates, but the Choux Bun, with chicken liver parfait, Tokaji jelly and walnut is definitely not to be missed. But what of the main event. I count myself a connoisseur of this dish, so many different versions have I partaken of over the decades. I’ve even made it myself, although I‘m always let down by the quality of the chicken in the UK. It should be noted that, like any chef in France, the chicken is cooked in a Savagnin table wine, Vin Jaune being way too expensive. However, finishing the dish with a decent glug of Vin Jaune is essential in my view. Maison Rolet in Arbois sells Vin Jaune in a half-Clavelin, which I always used to find an ideal size and quality for the purpose, enough for the dish and for a “cooks share” whilst it is in the oven.

This version is way above the quality of any attempt I’ve tried before in the UK, and certainly far better than anything I’ve made. In France, it isn’t always the Michelin-starred chefs who make the best versions. This is partly because the dish needs a hearty quality, and a generosity. I always remember the variation we used to eat at the now closed La Balance in Arbois, where a very generous quantity of rice helped soak up the rich sauce and alcohol, and where chunks of chicken came on the bone. There was a nod to that style here.

Time to confess that my favourite three foods, context being all, are Nepalese Momos, a plate-hanger of a schnitzel in Vienna or Burgenland, and Poulet aux Morilles et Vin Jaune in Arbois. So, I was a happy man and I can’t wait for another opportunity to eat this again. If I can make one comment of a less than glowing nature, it didn’t quite have the concentrated Savagnin essence as the best French versions, which could be to do with a decent glug of VJ to finish? But I am not complaining.

As for Vin Jaune, a friend had arranged a byob of something rather special. Marius Perron Château-Chalon 1983. It’s a small, 3-hectare, domaine which was taken over a little over a decade ago by Marius’s son-in-law, and the wines have become somewhat invisible. The only source for Marius’s now legendary wines is at occasional auction. So, this was a treat. It did not disappoint. Words are superfluous. If you like “Vin Jaune” this would thrill your tastebuds.

A good stroll back the Fleet Street was well in order after a very rich dinner (finished with cheese, of course), although it was more a stroll than the staggers home I may have managed from time to time in Arbois. I can’t recommend both Noble Rot Soho, and this particular main course highly enough, although many readers will be well ahead of my game on this. In many ways the ultimate wine geek’s restaurant.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Dining, Jura, Natural Wine, Restaurants, Wine, Wine and Food | Tagged Chateau-Chalon, Dining in London, Domaine Karanika Amyndeon Macedonia, Greek Sparkling Wine, Jura Wine, Jura Wines in London, Katie Worobeck Vigneronne, Laurens and Annette Hartman-Van Kampen, Maison Maenad De L'Avant 2021, Maison Maenad Orbagna, Marius Perron Chateau-Chalon 1983, Natural Wine, Noble Rot Soho, Poulet aux Morilles et Vin Jaune in London, Roast Chicken Morels and Vin Jaune, Vin Jaune, Wine of Jura's Revermont, Xinomavro Sparkling Wine | Leave a comment

Real Wine 2024 (Part 3)

Posted on 18/06/2024 by dccrossley

There are six producers here in Part 3 so I’ll have to be a little more general, especially as one or two twisted my arm to taste quite a few wines. We are also all over the place here, in Czechia, Georgia, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain, but there are some cracking wines with which to finish off my coverage of the wonderful Real Wine 2024.

PETR KORÁB (Moravia, Czechia)

It was nice to catch up with Petr again, my first time since visiting him in 2022. This guy is a force of nature. I’d challenge anyone to find more exciting wines in the hall, and he makes so many that there’s plenty to satisfy anyone’s eclectic tastes.

Petr with his Orange on Leaves

I want to focus on just three wines from the fair, although to be honest anything his importer, Basket Press Wines, has at any given time will be worth a shout. First, a wine I’ve never seen before, Mala Hora 2022. This is a single vineyard varietal Chardonnay. It’s pictured in the livery of Petr’s more “serious” wines, which are not as exciting labels as those reserved for his more experimental bottlings, but he tells me it will have a new and different label when released. With a small hint of French oak, this has great salinity and freshness. Very good indeed. I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Dark Horse is a red petnat, comprising Blaufränkisch and Orange Traminer on skins (and aged oxidatively), plus a little Hibernal (a local variety). It’s one of my current favourites from Petr. Dark fruit aromas and a little brambley bitterness, very clean, the bubbles are “gently crazy” (that was my note, whatever it means). It is brilliant, get some before it’s gone.

Orange on Leaves 2023 is a Koráb classic. It is a rare cuvée in that it is made regularly (some others are “here today, gone tomorrow, the next day…”. We have Gewurztraminer, Rhine Riesling, Welschriesling and Traminer which are macerated together on dry vine leaves, I think for around four months in acacia. Orange in colour, it really does smell and taste of oranges with a lemon acid spine. Very aromatic, very unusual, but in a good way.

These wines are among the finest natural wines of Central Europe and compare to any of the stars of European natural wine. I sometimes expect to find a quality dip due to the enormous number of wines Petr makes, but I haven’t yet. Basket Press Wines is the importer.

NIKA WINERY (Kakheti, Georgia)

This winery was founded by artist Nika Bakhia in 2006, in Kakheti, Eastern Georgia. This is both natural winemaking, and traditional, using Qvevri for fermentation and ageing. The winery is young, but the vines are old and Nika suggests they were never chemically treated because the smallholder farmers couldn’t afford to.

I tried wines I’d not tasted before, in this case wines which I’ve not (yet?) seen listed by importer Basket Press Wines. Piccollo & Niccollo is 100% Rkatsiteli from Kardenakhi, a small appellation in the far southeast of Kakheti. The colour is somewhere between orange and mahogany, and it is pungent, like a plum brandy. Both fruity and a little textured (less than I expected), it is surprisingly lovely. One year on skins.

Toco Poco 2020 is also made from Rkatsiteli. This is named after Nika’s daughter, Antonia Maria. More classic amber in colour, there is just eight months on skins. Silky smooth, quite elegant.

Ma Fille also contains Rkatsiteli, but is blended here with Mtsvane. The source is a very stony single vineyard called Tsagaphi. Nine months on skins in qvevri, it is amber-coloured and has definite tannic structure. I find it better not to really chill these wines if you have a cool cellar. The fridge just accentuates the tannins. I know this kind of wine isn’t for everyone, but it is a classic artisan Georgian orange wine.

If you found Nika quiet, Zainab (of Basket Press) told me he was feeling quite under the weather. He was certainly more restrained than what we have come to expect from the Georgian contingent. It was also rather a shame his carefully decanted red wine was corked, which he told me before I sniffed it (it sure was).

ANGIOLINO MAULE/LA BIANCARA (Gambellara Hills, Italy)

I have known Emma Bentley since well before she became a member of this family based in the Gembellara Hills, near Soave in The Veneto. Of course you could accuse me of bias therefore, but for the fact that this is a famous estate, and her father-in-law is one of the great names of Italian natural wine. Nevertheless, I do get on very well with Emma so it is always a genuine pleasure to taste these wonderful wines.

Garg “n” go 2022 is Garganega frizzante. This is a must for summer, an exciting interpretation of this variety which is the mainstay at La Biancara. Bottle-fermented, it is a pure-fruited fizz, but with an elegant smoothness.

Masieri 2022 is a fruit-forward, simple (in a good way) Garganega, but the wine is given considerable interest by the fruit’s rather savoury edge.

Sassaia 2022 is a selection from this single vineyard located around the family home, at around 150 masl. It has a gorgeous juicy plumpness, but nice refined acids to match. It’s probably capable of ageing, but hard to resist now.

Pico 2021 is a vineyard on top of the hill, at 300 masl. The vines here were harvested in late October. The result is quite different, savoury and herbal, yet also fruity. Ageing is in large oak (neutral) after a little skin contact. There are three different plots within the vineyard and these batches are made separately and blended to taste before bottling. No sulphur is added. You really get that classic Garganega peach and apricot fruit more commonly found in sweet Soave recioto wines. This is the richness of the late harvest fruit, but the wine is dry.

Monte Sorio 2017 is indeed a sweet wine. From volcanic soils, the grapes dry on vertical nets to produce a truly stunning dessert wine, like a Recioto di Soave (which can itself be brilliant), but a natural wine (no added sulphur). It is bottled with 86g/l of residual sugar, but the acidity doesn’t make it seem at all cloying.

Rosso Massieri 2022. Emma suggests that this wine is soon to be no more. A shame from my point of view, although yes, this is really a white wine estate. My reason for regret is that this is a Merlot, although it is blended with T’ai Rosso (the grape formerly known as Tocai Rosso, but which is actually Grenache, vines originally brought from France and planted about 24 years ago). It’s a simple red but all the better for it, and of course in a different league to the rather indifferent Merlot we are used to from the wider Veneto. That makes it something special. Silky, smooth fruit. I’m hoping Les Caves have some.

LA CUVERIE AURÉLIEN BEYEKLIAN (Bugey, France)

This is a new Bugey producer to me, but the wines were more than promising, indeed exciting (even given my tendency to get very excited about Bugey). Aurélien is located at Gravelles in The Revermont, the northern sector of Bugey where the wines nod more towards Jura than Savoie. Before starting his currently organic estate (in conversion to biodynamics), he apprenticed with Bret Brothers in Mâcon, Southern Burgundy. Before that he was globetrotting with the International Red Cross.

Three wines were shown. First, the one which sits in my cellar, Patchwork Chardonnay 2022. Fresh and light, don’t expect “Burgundy”, but do expect a degree of sophistication in an extremely appealing wine.

Gloussard Plouplou 2022 is Ploussard (aka Poulsard), all the better for being made from a variety which is almost disappearing from Bugey, something I lament. The fruit sees a two-week whole bunch maceration. A pale, luminous wine, fruity, really interesting personality.

Cerdon Rosé NV is a gently sparkling wine made from 80% Gamay and 20% Ploussard. Cerdon is an almost unique style of wine with low alcohol (9% abv for this one) and off-dry (although the balancing acidity gives it a freshness which take the edge off the sweetness of the residual sugar. It is really refreshing. For this reason, I think we should all be drinking crates (sic) of it through the summer. Especially now, in strawberry season, the wine tasting of strawberries more than anything else. Bugey on down, as they say.

UNCONDEMNED WINES, QUINTA DO MONTALTO (Lisboa, Portugal)

“Uncondemned Wines” is the project of Montalto winemaker Andre Pereira, and makes use of the profuse scattering of old and often abandoned “backyard” vineyards in the area mostly to the north of Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. Once, everyone had a small vineyard from which to make the family’s annual consumption, but Portuguese society is no different to any other in Europe, and times have changed. It’s not unusual for these vines to be between 100 and 150 years of age.

I’d planned to seek this producer out, but as one is walking around the Fair, there’s always a whisper. “Have you tasted…”. This was one of those, a few shouts from friends I bumped into. Portugal really is starting to get some proper recognition and a project like this is the reason why. Old, autochthonous, vines, traditional vinification, and amazing prices for the quality.

Uncondemned Ourem Branco is a yellow-gold Fernao Pires (90% with 5% Arinto and 5% other varieties) with texture, apricot fruit, hints of honey and ginger spice. Very long. Uncondemned Ourem Red is mostly Trincadeira, but contains a raft of grape varieties, both red and white. This is a traditional blend known in the past as “palhete”, effectively a field blend co-fermented to make a palish red. This style pretty much died out but has been reinvigorated, finding favour with younger natural wine drinkers.

These are minimal sulphur natural wines, imported into the UK by Portuguese Story.

BODEGAS COTA 45 (Jerez, Spain)

There was a time when Jerez was deeply unfashionable yet commercially successful. The profile Equipo Navazos generated changed that. Now it seems that Jerez wines are deeply fashionable yet commercially dying. It’s a shame because in the past decade or so many of the wines have become genuinely world class. Ramiro Ibáñez built his bodega, famously now, in an old boat repair shed on the Guadalquivir River in 2012. His palette is the white albariza soils, “45 metres above sea level”, which help create one of the world’s most distinctive terroirs. The desire is merely to create an expression of unfortified Palomino Fino which expresses the salty intensity of this terroir.

Any of these wines will provide an experience equal to any famous classic wine. It’s just a question of trusting your palate. Caserío de Miraflores Alta is lifted, dry, Palomino which just tastes like the soils under sunlight from which it comes. That dusty, chalky, texture, that lemon citrus acidity, that profound length. I’m pretty sure most readers will know what I mean, but if you don’t, then selecting one word I would choose intensity. But it’s intensity with restraint and elegance.

Pandorga 2021 is something of a departure. It’s made from Pedro Ximénez (PX), and was described to me as a new take on the variety. You are starting to see some unfortified PX now, though not nearly as much as Palomino. The natural sweetness is mirrored by a low, 11.5%, abv. The bouquet is full of apricot fruit more than the kind of raisined fruit you get from a more unctuous, fortified, PX. What you do get is hints that are balsamic, rich and savoury as a counterbalance.

That’s the end of my roundup from Real Wine 2024 (well, except for the after party, more of that, briefly, to come…we went to Noble Rot Soho for the P-aux-M&VJ). In three parts I hope I’ve covered some interesting producers. I can only scratch the surface, and I try to mix the known and the unknown. I wish I would bring you more producers, and I could if I completely ignored all the friends I saw there. I hope that what I’ve written has either brought back some happy memories from this wonderful event, or whetted your appetite to go next time around.

Real Wine always has an excellent food court, but even better is the on-site shop and I never leave Real Wine without a full rucksack. I know I can order, but there’s something about grabbing some of the best bottles you’ve tasted before someone else has snapped them up.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Czech Wine, Georgian Wine, Italian Wine, Natural Wine, Portuguese wine, Sherry, Spanish Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Tastings | Tagged Andre Pereira, Angiolino Maule, Aurélien Beyeklian, Bodegas Cota 45 Sanlucar Jerez, Bugey, Bugey Cerdon, Cota 45 Pandorga PX, Czech Wine, Emma Bentley Vinnatur, Gambellara, Georgian Wine, Italian Wine, Jerez Unfortified Wine, Jerez Wine, La Biancara Veneto Italy, La Cuverie Bugey France, London Wine Festival, Moravian Wine, Natural Wine Tasting, Nika Bakhia, Nika Winery Kakheti Georgia, Petr Koráb Boleradice Moravia, Portuguese wine, Quinta do Montalto, Ramiro Ibanez, Real Wine 2024 Pt3, Uncondemned Wines Lisboa Portugal | 4 Comments

Real Wine Fair 2024 (Part 2)

Posted on 13/06/2024 by dccrossley

Part 2 from Real Wine 2024, five more producers, and as I’m way late with this, let’s crack on…

NATALIA & PHIL HARRIS (Sussex, England)

Okay, so technically these wines are billed as “Natalia Harris” but I’m going to give Phil, Natalia’s husband, billing. This is partly because I know nothing about Natalia but I do know Phil graduated with an oenology degree from Plumpton, has worked for Olivier Humbrecht in Alsace and as a vineyard manager at Davenport, and is a three-time UK pruning champion.

This very nice couple have a vineyard on their farm at Westfield, near Hastings, where they also have sheep and rams. Two-hectares of Ortega, Chardonnay, Bacchus and Pinot Noir were planted in 2019. Certified organic, their philosophy goes much further, including a no-till regime, mowing and weeding being carried out by the sheep. Will Davenport helps supervise the winemaking.

The first vintage here made just 800 bottles of an Ortega/Bacchus blend, the other two varieties being destined at present for a traditional method sparkling wine. Bottled at Davenport’s winery in East Sussex (soon to move to Kent according to Henry Jeffreys), I tasted one of the few remaining bottles and it was exceptional. Aromatic, fresh and fruity. Hopefully the 2023 may yield double the number of bottles.

I noticed that even though this couple have not made the recent books on English Wine, there is a glowing quote from Jancis Robinson on their web site. JR doesn’t often come up when we talk about English still wine from a small artisan operation. Well, her palate is not wrong. This is also an example of something Les Caves de Pyrene seem to be doing more and more of (Doug Wregg’s influence, perhaps?). That is championing small, home-grown, artisan talent. They did it with Ben Walgate and Tim Phillips, and before that with Ancre Hill. It is much to be encouraged. I’m always saying that it’s the outliers who drive the change that will become the normal in a decade’s time.

Wonder how they got Quentin Blake to design the label? Nice.

BEN WALGATE (Sussex, England)

As for Ben, well he was here too (as was Tim, but at the time cleaned out of wine he wasn’t pouring). Since I last wrote about Ben he has parted ways with Tillingham and is making negoce wine (since April 2023) in premises in the middle of Rye, one of the South Coast’s most beautiful small towns (well worth a visit, I can assure you, if you want to go and seek out Mr Walgate).

Walgate & Co is now the name to look for. Ben brought his 2022 wines in bottle from Tillingham when he moved, and he made wine from 15 tons of grapes at the new winery from the ’23 vintage. He’s fermenting in fibreglass (same tank supplier as Daniel Ham), and I believe that vintage yielded 22,000 bottles spread over nine wines.

I tried five of them (and bought one to bring home…I love his Meunier). The sparkling Blanc de Noirs is a 50-50 blend of Pinots Noir and Meunier, I think from the 2019 vintage. It’s generous and vivacious. Dosed at 20g/l and bottled at a slightly lower “5-bar pressure”, its classical method combines with just a little bit of “difference” you will enjoy.

Cuvée M 2022 (M is for Maggie) is a blend of several varieties including Ortega and MT, very aromatic, a little skin contact, mineral (chalky), citrus, spice and a hint of bitter marmalade.

Rosé 2022 is Meunier matured in a German Füder. Big on cherry aromatics, a wine pressed after three weeks resulting in an elegant juice which has proved so amazingly popular. Very wide appeal for this.

Meunier 2022 (the one I grabbed from the shop) actually contains 20% Pinot Noir. Mostly fermented in concrete, it has that lovely dusty strawberry juice quality that singles out other good Meuniers (try Max Sein Wein from Germany via Basket Press Wines). There’s a mineral texture so you get a wine that has a lightness to it but also a serious element.

Last to taste, the Pinot Noir Reserve 2022. The Reserve came from a three-barrel selection of fruit sourced in Crouch Valley, Essex (best PN in the UK…probably) and Shotley (Sussex). In fact, it is all from German “Spätburgunder” clones, very possibly a better bet for a still wine in the UK. Pressed directly into barrel, it’s all spicy red cherry. Textured now, it needs keeping a while, I think. Only 1,000 bottles made, so if you do keep some, you’ll be one of the lucky ones.

I managed to catch Ben and Tim Phillips together. They always have lots to chat about.

CASTAGNA (Beechworth, Victoria, Australia)

If Beechworth makes several of the finest wines in the whole of Australia (trust me), then the Castagna family are one of those producers. I first met Julian Castagna many years ago through Tim Phillips, and then later his sons as they became regulars at Real Wine. Adam was looking after dad at RW24.

Although I may have consumed my last bottle of Castagna this year, I am pleased to keep on top of what they are doing, albeit more expensively, today. As I said, this outpost of viticulture on the edge of the Australian Alps in NE Victoria is truly up there with the very best.

Alex and dad…plus, in case you can’t place exactly where Beechworth is.

If Castagna is best known in the red department, do not, whatever you do, ignore the Chenin. There may no longer be a Castagna Savagnin (oh how we loved it), but grab this. It comes from their own Beechworth plots. It’s not a Loire lookalike, but nor is it a stereotypical Australian (or what you might imagine one to be).

The other white is Ingénue, a 2021 Viognier. It does rock out 14% abv, yet isn’t heavy, very unlike some of the Cali-monsters I recall from the 1990s at similar levels and above. Almonds and violets, so pretty classic.

The first red is Adam’s Rib. Although this is a blend (Nebbiolo and Syrah with a little Sangiovese in 2021), it’s a wine for those (like me) who really want to explore Victorian Nebbiolo. It’s not Piemonte but it is spicy with cloves, and it is one of the less expensive Castagna reds (the pure Nebbiolo is called Barbarossa).

Un Segreto 2018 is also a blend of Syrah (40%) with Sangiovese. It’s a mid-weight, mostly cherry-fruited, red with a dusty bite which is echoed in its slightly ferrous bouquet. If you want 100% Sangiovese, go for La Chiave 2018. This has the vibrancy of fruit grown in a cooler region than you might suppose Beechworth is, and whilst it is very much an original, it is also grounded in the essence of Toscana.

Genesis Syrah was the first Castagna wine I drank. Those who know me will know I have praised certain Aussie Shizzas to the heavens, but this is my favourite (and labelled very firmly Syrah, not Shiraz), albeit a subjective and personal statement to make. It is Deep and brooding, yet equally as fresh as you can imagine. It is seasoned with 2% Viognier (like the best). It may not seem much, but like a good chef, an alchemist winemaker knows its worth. If you don’t believe me, check out what the big-name Aussie writers have to say. You’ll find they agree. If there’s one wine from the fair you whack away for a decade-plus…

The mighty Genesis!

JAUMA WINES (South Australia)

James Erskine’s Jauma wines were in that first wave of Australian Natural wines to hit our shores all those years back. His wines have not gone away, and in fact they are better than ever. The label for these small batch wines was created in 2010 when Erskine ditched a career as one of Australia’s most lauded sommeliers to make wine in McLaren Vale, near Adelaide. We now have Jauma wines from the more recent hub of natural wine innovation, Adelaide Hills, as well. Cooler climate than The Vale, and perhaps more stylistically diverse.

We got to taste Chenin from the Blewitt Springs sub-appellation (“grown by Lulu”), Sauvignon Blanc “Somewhere on Another Hill” from McLaren Vale and Origins Arneis. All have their uniqueness. The SB is a maceration of destemmed fruit. The Arneis…well, proof that this variety has a bright future in Australia outside some bland Piemonte lookalikes, this being cloudy and ffffunky for you, with a so-juicy mouthfeel.

Audrey’s Fairygarten 2022 is carbonic Clarendon-sourced Shiraz. It’s bright and plump, and undoubtedly a little bit crazy. But Jauma wines are always edgy like this. They are what Jamie Goode would call “smashable”, and that is the essence of this kind of natural wine. Castagna’s Genesis Syrah is an icon, irrespective of it being a natural wine, one for the cellar. Jauma is wine to grab from the shop on the way to the beach, and no less good for that.

MAX SEIN WEIN (Baden, Germany)

I’ve long been a champion of Max Baumann’s wines so it was good to actually meet him…sort of. Real Wine is tiring for producers, especially first-timers, so I’ll forgive Max for not being as warm as most other producers, who mostly seem to remember me. Doubtless young Max thought WTH is this old guy I don’t know (don’t you agree, he does look very suspicious of me in the photo). Still, the wines I tasted were on great form, all wines I had never tried before.

First up, Hauswein. This is now the entry level wein here, a blend of MT and Sylvaner (if Max is still spelling it the French way). It sees mostly neutral oak and it’s a very appealing easy white with great acid freshness and a trademark zingy finish.

3 Taler is a different rendition of Sylvaner, more serious. The fruit here is big, not something you can always say about the variety, and the reason why it has such an awful reputation with people who have been put off by wines of a decade or so ago. This does have the producer stamp of vivacity too though.

NB is so enigmatically named because Max labels his wines as Landwein, so he’s not allowed to tell you that the fruit comes from the 45-year-old vines of the Neuenberg. I can. It’s a direct press bottling with a little skin contact, very elegant, substantial in a way but you wouldn’t call it “big”. Possibly the kind of restraint that shows ageability. Only 12.5% abv.

These are all excellent white wines at their different levels of seriousness, and all show how Max’s winemaking is coming on with experience and vine age. But let’s not forget, this man makes cracking red wines too, as my “Recent Wines” have revealed and will continue to do so.

Yeah, caved and got a tea towel…I know, but we did need some new ones…but I did suggest aprons next time around.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Australian Wine, English Wine, German Wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Tastings | Tagged Adam's Rib blend, Adelaide Hills Natural Wine, Alex Castagna, Beechworth Wine, Ben Walgate, Castagna Beechworth Victoria, Castagna Segreto and La Chiave, English Wine, Genesis Syrah, James Erskine Winemaker, Jauma Wines South Australia, Julian Castagna, Les Caves de Pyrene, Max Baumann Winemaker Dertingen, Max Sein Wein Baden, McLaren Vale Natural Wine, Natalia Harris Sussex, Natural Wine, Natural Wine Fairs, Natural Wine of South Australia, Phil Harris Sussex, Real Wine Fair 2024 (Pt 2), Walgate & Co Rye Sussex | 1 Comment

Real Wine Fair 2024 (Part 1)

Posted on 10/06/2024 by dccrossley

Some readers might have wondered why I’ve been silent since my last article on 24 April. After a decorating blitz on our new home we finally moved in (after exactly a year of building work). Then our son came to visit from a far away land, and we also went out west for a few days.

I plan to begin with the Real Wine Fair. Perhaps it has slipped from your memory after so long, but it was a fantastic event and arguably the most important in the calendar for lovers of natural wine. We are all very grateful to the team from Les Caves de Pyrene who pull this all together, and also for throwing it open to all the wonderful growers who work with other small importers as well. I think I shall split up the producers I found most interesting into three short parts so you can read them relatively quickly.

I have also been remiss in not reviewing Honey Spencer’s first book, Natural Wine No Drama. As I’m usually quick off the mark with book reviews it is especially frustrating that I haven’t managed to get this one online.

Then we still have my “Recent Wines” from both April and May, with plenty to look forward to there. Hopefully relative normality will return by the time I get to write about June’s wines. Let’s get going…

KELLEY FOX (Oregon, USA)

Kelley is a good person to begin tasting with. I see her only at Real Wine, but she’s easy going yet very much on top of her game, knowledgeable, astute, particular, yet very warm. She started her project in the Willamette Valley with her father in 2007, and this time she was in London with her daughter, Violet. Perhaps we shall look towards continuity, though Kelley has many more vintages before her.

Kelley with daughter, Violet, and Caleb (of La Garagista)

I began with the Mirabai Pinot Noir 2021 which is an elegant, lighter, rendition of the vintage. Kelley always works to express each individual year. From two sites, Weber plus 30% Maresh in the Dundee Hills, the scent is purest strawberry, the palate has a touch of mineral texture. Ageing is in used Burgundy barrels (228-litre).

The Carter Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 was, I think, newly bottled. Ken and Karen Wright (Wright Cellars) own this historic site in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. There is more strawberry fruit here and great restraint. A lightness pervades the wine, an almost ethereal quality, yet it is grounded too. With 30% whole clusters, it saw around ten months in tight grained used oak barrels from Burgundy.

Moving to white, the Durant Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 is exquisite. From a site in the Dundee Hills, the fruit was picked on October 13th. A bouquet of tropical fruit is underpinned by an attractive minerality on the tongue, and finishes with a long lemon line of perfect acidity. Kelley says it is less rich than the 2021. Just 225 cases were made, and I really wish I had some.

Nerthus 2021 is a mostly skin contact wine made from Pinot Gris (50%) and Muscat (30%) both fermented on skins, plus 20% old vine Riesling, all from the Willamette Valley. If you think Kelley is all about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, you must try this (I also bought, as I always do, a bottle of her lovely Pinot Blanc from the shop at the Fair). A transparent mid-pink colour, it has a floral bouquet with peach and apricot fruit on the palate. It’s super-fresh, disguising its 13% abv. Kelley says “I think if it were a rock it would be rose quartz or pink amethyst”. I think if it were a wine it would be amazing, which it is. For me, Kelley’s wines are very special.

LA GARAGISTA (Vermont, USA)

If Vermont is something of an outlier within the American wine scene, what Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber have created on Mount Hunger in the Chateaugay Forest, and at Lake Champlain, is very important. They began to show what can be achieved with non-Vinifera and hybrid varieties as soon as they began working here, coincidentally in 2007, same year as Kelley Fox started out on her own.

There is nothing this couple make which I wouldn’t buy, and indeed drink with pleasure and interest. Fleurine for example. Cider and wine blends are not new but this is a 50:50 blend of Frontenac Gris with 45 apple varieties. The new cider innoculates the fermentation and the result is not disgorged. Fabulous.

Ci Confonde is their petnat. Here, 100% Frontenac Gris (a pink-berried mutation of the hybrid Frontenac created in Minnesota’s horticultural research center, first propogated in 2003). Its good disease resistance means it does well in Vermont’s damper climate. Its peachy colour belies its appley fruit in a gently sparkling wine that is cloudy (unfiltered). A La Garagista classic.

Next, two wines I hadn’t tried before. Native Love is from the Home Vineyard, and blends six varieties all co-planted on the one site (Frontenac Noir, Gris and Blanc, Le Crescent, Marguette and St Croix). It’s a pale cherry red (nose and palate) field blend. Found Love is 100% Le Crescent (a white vinifera variety created to withstand very cold temperatures from parents St Pepin and Elmer Swenson). This wine spent seven years under flor in glass demijohns (bottled 2020). The influence of the biological ageing is deep, but depth does not mean heaviness in this case. Nutty and mineral, both thought-provoking and tasty at the same time.

KOPPITSCH (Burgenland, Austria)

The Koppitsch family are long-time favourites, and I profiled them in July last year, so I won’t take up time introducing this Neusiedl-am-See producer, except to note that they are now no longer adding any sulphites at all to any of their wines. I tried some of the newer cuvées at Real Wine.

Maria Koppitsch

Abendrot is a blend of seven red and white grapes, all off limestone. It fittingly shimmers like a summer sunset. Most of the grapes undergo a direct press, with some of the white varieties seeing a little skin contact. A pale and lovely wine which is softly fruity. I do like this a lot.

When Life Gives You Lemons comes in both white and red versions. The white is from Sauvignon Blanc which has seen 5/6 days carbonic maceration, then was foot-trodden and spent 4/5 days on skins. Ageing was in used barrique. It’s both savoury yet fresh and zippy Not your average savvy blanc! The red “Lemons” is made from carbonic Pinot Noir, and is fruity and very approachable.

Aeon Weiss 2022 was totally unknown to me. This is a blend of Grüner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc off sandy soils closer to the lake. The philosophy with this wine is to allow it to do whatever it wants. It is aged in barrique without any topping-up. Bottling was just before the full moon. It has a savoury sourness, but I mean that in a good way.

Happy Anniversary is the new version of their cuvée formerly known as Perspective Rot, made to celebrate their 10th anniversary. You could say this is a more serious bottling, with several years ageing potential. The blend is Blaufränkisch and St Laurent.

I had to taste the latest Petnat of course, just to cleanse the palate. Blaufränkisch is, this time, blended with Syrah, to make a wine I don’t like to miss out on purchasing. The two varieties are co-fermented so there is no blending required before bottling. It’s packed with strawberry fruit, yet it is youthful. It’s a petnat that will happily age a bit, whatever the generalisations usually made about this style.

LUKA ZEICHMANN (Burgenland, Austria)

We all probably know Luka (who I almost didn’t recognise from behind, not having seen him for a few years) from his Joiseph wines. He now has a project making wines from vines located around an hour further south of Jois, inherited from his grandparents (he also buys in some local organic fruit). These wines are all labelled in Croatian, a nod to the Croatian minority in Austria from whom Luka is descended. I tasted some of these wines at importer Modal Wines’ Edinburgh Tasting in November last year, and here I got to try three more.

Ujca Hendrik Vino Za Legend is made from bought-in grapes which were a field blend of Blauburger and Zweigelt, the latter undergoing a whole berry fermentation. It’s a light red, fruity and tasty. I like the packaging. Retails for around £28.

Gora Bijela 2018 is a big step up. From Luka’s own fruit, it’s made from Pinot Blanc with a little Traminer. It’s very complex, indeed possibly one of the most potentially complex Pinot Blancs you will have tried. The soils are iron with quartz, very hard to work. Only one 300-litre barrel was made of this concentrated and structured white wine. A great wine, though it does retail for £45.

Gora Plava 2018/19 is effectively the matching red (also £45). Blaufränkisch dominates with 5% made up of Blauer Portugieser, Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon, but all from a single site. The importer calls it “equally serious and fun”. In some ways this wine expresses the wilder side of Luka’s personality

It looks like Luka will be concentrating more and more on these wines of his own, hardly surprising given the stellar quality. But they are certainly more expensive than the Joiseph cuvées, which are still available.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Natural Wine, North American Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Tastings | Tagged Austrian Wine, Burgenland Wine, Carter Vineyard Pinot Noir, Ci Confonde Vermont Petnat, Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Fleurine Wine and Cider Blend, Found Love La Garagista, Gora Bijela 2018, Gora Plava 2018/19, Kelley Fox Oregon, Koppitsch Abendrot, Koppitsch Aeon Weiss, Koppitsch Happy Anniversary Red Wine, Koppitsch Petnat, La Garagista Vermont, Les Caves de Pyrene, Luka Zeichmann Burgenland, Mirabai Pinot Noir, Native Love La Garagista, Nerthus 2021, Oregon Wine, Real Wine Fair 2024, Ujca Hendrik Red Wine, Vermont Wine, Weingut Koppitsch Burgenland, Whe Life Gives You Lemons | 3 Comments

David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

Recent Wines May 2024 #theglouthatbindsus

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

Bergerac and Maison Wessman – Edinburgh Lunch at Tipo

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

Recent Wines April 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Recent Wines April 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Noble Rot and the Poulet

Real Wine 2024 (Part 3)

Real Wine Fair 2024 (Part 2)

Real Wine Fair 2024 (Part 1)

Previous Posts

Top Posts & Pages

Follow Blog via Email

Top Posts & Pages

Previous Posts

Top Posts & Pages

Categories