David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

Recent Wines February 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 04/03/2024 by dccrossley

February seemed easier to get through this year, probably because our Lothian weather was strangely less wet and damp than that experienced in much of England, that following an unusually wet January. With no Dry January statement being made in our house, drinking (all of these wines accompanied meals) continued as usual, no binging and no famine. So, we have twelve wines, six of them here in Part 1.

We kick off with a wine from Japan, which I would like to be a less rare occurrence than it is in my drinking activities, few merchants going beyond an obvious Grace Koshu on their lists, even for the most adventurous…yet. Normal service is resumed with an Alsace Sylvaner before the usual eclectic mix of a Dão from Portugal, an unusual crossing from Czechia, a stunning wine from one of the smaller Canary Islands, La Palma, and a grand Australian Shiraz harking back to a former life.

Nagano Furusato Cabernet Sauvignon « Grande Polaire » 2017, Sapporo Breweries (Nagano, Japan)

There was a discussion on X/Twitter this week about wine scores, as crops up from time to time. I suggested that uninflated scores do have a place for many consumers, but some wines do defy scoring. This is surely one. I don’t need a score to validate my desire to try the first red wine I’ve drunk from Japan for several years. You just don’t see them.

Some readers will know I’ve visited Japan quite a few times. It’s a fascinating country, which I always enjoy very much, but I will say that I especially enjoyed a trip to the vineyards of Nagano (written about elsewhere on this site), which can very easily be combined with a trip to see the famous snow monkeys and to venture up into the Japan Alps, all of which we did (and more…add in a Hokusai museum, a couple of very special temples, among many, some cycling and some great food) from a ryokan base in Yudanaka Onsen. Whoever suggested on Google that apart from the hot springs (onsens) there isn’t a lot to do in and around Yudanaka obviously doesn’t use buses and trains in Japan. I digress…

This wine isn’t made by some artisan grower in the hills above Nagano, but by one of Japan’s best-known breweries, a large corporation to be sure. Don’t let that fool you, they are making a serious contribution to the Japanese wine revolution, which people like Jamie Goode and Anthony Rose are keeping an eye on. For readers who are interested, a lot is happening in Japan and at an artisan level it is far more dynamic (in my opinion) than the more often covered China.

I can thank Anthony Rose for some of the facts here, via his Sake and the Wines of Japan (Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library, 2018), a book which I recommend very highly. The Grande Polaire label was first established in 2003, and one of the vineyards the winery owns is Furusato in Nagano Prefecture. It lies in the Chikumagawa Valley, at around 340 masl, being the smallest they run at 3-ha. Grande Polaire’s winemaker, Masayoshi Kudo, trained at UC Davis in California.

The wine’s profile is pretty much classic Cabernet Sauvignon, with some dark, and some red, fruits. Vanilla suggests oak of some kind for ageing. The tannins are ripe but at this stage perhaps not completely integrated. It comes together nicely though. It’s not at all heavy (13% abv), tasting pretty lively, assisted no doubt by the refreshingly bright fruit acids. Apparently 2017 was a year with very low temperatures through much of the growing season, but the sun shone at the end of the season to ripen the grapes.

This wine, which I think won a Bronze Medal at the IWSC in 2018, would have retailed for only £17, although it appears sadly not to be available any longer. I mean, who wouldn’t want to try a decent red wine from Japan for under £20?

Sylvaner “Rutscherle” 2022, Vincent Stoeffler (Alsace, France)

This Sylvaner comes from old vines cultivated on a hillside facing the Grand Cru Kirchberg, between Mittelbergheim and Barr. The soil structure is mostly marls or chalk. The Stoeffler domaine consists 16-ha of vines, of which 13-ha are close to Barr, Mittelbergheim and Heiligenstein, from which in typical Alsace style they make around forty cuvées. The domaine is moving towards a zero additives approach with eleven bottlings currently seeing zero added sulphur, but others can be termed natural wines, with indigenous yeasts for fermentation, no syntheitic vineyard applications and low intervention in the winery. The domaine has been certified organic for 24 years.

“Rutscherle” is part of the zero-sulphur “Nature” range. Vinified and aged on lees (unfined and unfiltered), this is a very dry Sylvaner with a bouquet of white flowers and fresh citrus. The palate is more herbal, acidity being relatively high (although I see the domaine suggests ageing this for two-to-five years). That said, those acids are quite invigorating. I’d describe it as fresh and mineral right now without enormous complexity, but with the potential to develop in line with their web site’s recommendation. Or, for acid hounds, drink now.

I think this came from Spry Wines in Edinburgh, priced at around £18.

Dão 2018, Álvaro Castro (Dão, Portugal)

When I first got interested in wine, which was a very long time ago, Dão was perhaps one of the most commonly seen Portuguese wines in Britain. Often, we saw wines with quite a bit of bottle age, made by larger companies, but as seems to have always been the case with Portuguese wine, sold fairly cheaply. Those wines were rarely ready to challenge the modern winemaking emerging from the rest of Europe, and equally, more often than not, failed to express the potential of Dão’s old-vine autochthonous grape varieties. Dão lies inland from that other well known red wine region, Bairrada, between Porto and Lisbon.

Two people have changed our perceptions of the region. One is the supremely talented António Madeira and the other is his older mentor, Álvaro Castro. Castro’s mission has been to shout to the world about Dão’s old vine stock, made up of a number of indigenous varieties. Castro began winemaking in 1989. He has been ably assisted by his daughter, Maria, for the past twenty-or-so years and together they have taken their Quinta da Pellada, and Quinta de Saes towards non-intervention viticulture and winemaking. But if you think of Castro as some sort of peasant farmer, he isn’t. He’s a former civil engineer who has collaborated with, among others, Dirk Niepoort.

The wine we have here is one of the entry level wines, most of which come from Saes. There is a combination here of the traditional and the modern. The blend is Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roríz (Aragonês in Spain) and Jaen (more famous further north, in Spain, as Mencia), all off granite at around 500 masl. Fermented in stainless steel (the modern bit) with yeasts from a pied de cuve, it sees eighteen months ageing, which is nothing compared to the Dão wines of the past, in a mix of old and new French oak.

You get vibrant fruits of the forest, both as part of the bouquet and on the palate. In fact, the nose is very aromatic and the fruit on the palate is beautifully concentrated. Fully organic fruit is used. Imported by Indigo Wines, this was purchased from Cork & Cask in Edinburgh, but is widely available. At £17 it really was a bargain. As you see, I’m trying to be true to my word to drink more Portuguese wines.

Hibernal 2021, Petr Kočařík (Moravia, Czechia).

If you just read this blog, you’d be forgiven for thinking Moravia was only peopled by artisan natural winemakers. There is actually a big commercial wine industry in Moravia, and Čejkovice is one of Moravia’s largest wine villages. Thankfully this producer turns out very different fare to most of the commercial operations in and around the district.

Petr Kočařík started out with what he calls a “backyard vineyard”, which he got from his parents as a wedding gift in 1997 (nice if you can get it!). Today he still only farms two hectares but this allows him to apply a natural wine philosophy, avoiding herbicides etc. He also uses minimum intervention in the winery, but does allow some skin contact for most wines, before ageing his white wines on lees in old barrels. The regime continues with no fining/filtration and the addition of the minimum amount of sulphur felt necessary for each cuvée. In all, Petr makes between 7,000 and 10,000 bottles per year. He was one of the early signatories to the Moravian Authentist natural wine Charter.

Hibernal is a crossing of the hybrid variety, Seibel 7055 with Riesling, created in 1944 at Germany’s Giesenheim Institute. To me, the variety in this instance seems to combine qualities of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling. The bouquet wafts citrus pink grapefruit aromas, whilst the palate has a little of the steeliness of Riesling with a little honeyed weight, like Chardonnay. A touch of lychee also comes in from somewhere. Its body is fullish (alcohol is up at 14.5%), but it seems to combine freshness and some complexity.

This is very good indeed. It will surprise many who give it a go. I’d not drunk this since my Brighton days and I will certainly buy it again. £30 at Basket Press Wines.

Listán Negro “Las Rosas” 2018, Victoria Torres Pecis (La Palma, Canary Is, Spain)

For me, VTP is one of the best winemakers on any of the Canary Islands. She is one of the few winemakers on the small outlier of La Palma, a solitary volcanic cone which remains very much active, as we saw from the threatening lava flows during the eruption of Cumbre Vieja in December 2021. It was the first eruption here in fifty years and at 85 days, was the longest here on record. Destroying 3,000 buildings and cutting the coastal highway, it was estimated to have caused damage totalling 843 million Euros.

The volcano is, however, the reason for both the island’s fertility, and for the quality potential for its wines, classic volcanic wines from volcanic ash soils. Thankfully, Victoria makes wine out of her family’s old bodega at Fuencalliente (Bodega Matias I Torres) on the southern tip of La Palma, which was unaffected by the lava flows, but work on the vines here is always difficult due to the terrain.

Las Rosas comes from three plots of 80-year-old vines at between 550 to 650 masl. They are all “pie franco”, or ungrafted, on pre-phylloxera roots. They are also, as Victoria says, “rain fed”, but they are as much as possible protected from the buffeting westerly winds which cool the island at these altitudes.

This is a wine of great character, although those mere words underplay the originality (in several respects) of what we have in the glass before us. Fermented in concrete with just 2,346 bottles made in 2018, we have notes ranging from red cherry to coal, with plenty in between. Sometimes it’s pointless trying to describe such an enigmatic wine. On the one hand I suspect a collector of Château Lafite wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it, but it is subtle, translucent, shimmering, yet grounded with an earthiness tied to terroir. You can see I love these wines! Sadly, my last as well.

It is so often the case that a smaller importer gets to find stars overlooked by the bigger names. This is very much the case here, as Victoria’s wines are imported by Modal Wines, who have just hosted a dinner with Victoria at Kiln in London, to coincide with the Viñateros Spanish wine tasting, both of which I’d have sorely liked to go to. If you don’t explore these small importers, you really are missing out, but remember that such wines have a habit of appearing for only a short window. Equally, the word is finally spreading about Victoria Torres Pecis.

Warner Vineyard Shiraz 2006, Giaconda (Victoria, Australia)

This is approximately #105 in the series “drinking the family silver”. Currently paying rent and two lots of Council Tax, I’m buying wine at less than a quarter of what we are drinking, and I think I’ve drunk two-thirds of the wine we brought up to Scotland. Maybe it’s a good thing. I know I have too much of a tendency to stick wine away, to occasionally look longingly at the bottle, but to put off drinking it.

If I bought wine by the case, it would be less of a problem, but I crave variety and so I’d rather have 170 different bottles that fourteen cases which all contain the same thing. What on earth would I write about?

Giaconda is in Beechworth, a region in the hills of Northeastern Victoria. It is crammed with top winemakers who, says Max Allen (The Future Makers, Hardie Grant, 2010) “have made it known they’re out to make the best wine in Australia. Some already are”. Beechworth has several things going for it. It’s cool (the weather, but perhaps some of the people as well). It’s actually a cool region surrounded by hot regions too (Milawa, Rutherglen). The hills here provide multi-aspect planting opportunities, all on a complex blend of granite, clay, sandstone, and sandy loam. Above all, in an Aussie context these vineyards are marginal.

Of those clever winemakers, I would list Giaconda, Castagna and Sorrenberg among my favourites, top-ten for sure, in all Australia. Not bad for one small region with around 130-hectares of vines (not dissimilar to the Rhône’s Hermitage).

Rick Kinzbrunner established Giaconda in 1982, after studying at UC Davis, followed by stints which included working for various top Californian estates, Moueix in Bordeaux, and then Brown Brothers in nearby Milawa. He has around 4-ha of estate vineyards at Giaconda (for Chardonnay, Roussanne, Shiraz and Pinot Noir plus a little (but growing in coverage) Nebbiolo at Red Hill near the town). Rick’s son, Nathan, has been on board full-time since the 2007 vintage, working with Rick’s nephew, Peter Graham.

Warner Shiraz is an exceptional wine, but in my experience it needs ageing. With a bouquet mixing mulberries with good old Shiraz bacon and a palate of spiced plums, this is no longer tannic as such, yet it does retain structure. For a wine labelled with 14% alcohol, it is exceptionally balanced. When I say it needs ageing, well this was my last of three bottles, the previous bottle having been drunk quite a few years ago at a London lunch. It is by far the best of the three, and on the day this was exceptional. It certainly warranted the family silver epithet.

My bottles came from Berry Brothers, in fact from their factory outlet near Basingstoke, some time in the late 2000s, perhaps 2010 at a guess. I can’t recall what I paid? Although Giaconda appears more famous for its Warner Vineyard Chardonnay, I think you’ll have to pay upwards of £70 a bottle for a current release of this Shiraz (still with Berry Brothers). If you can find one of the varietal Roussannes grab it. Arguably they make the finest outside of the Rhône Valley. I haven’t seen their Nebbiolo, though I suspect it would be priced beyond me now. But Australian Nebbiolo can be a dark horse if one can overcome a prejudice for only Piemontese examples. The Chardonnay may be one of not only Australia’s best, on the right day, the World’s.

Rewilding Bordeaux – Feral Art & Vin Three Years On (Natural Wine in that Bastion of Conservative Taste)

Posted on 21/02/2024 by dccrossley

Back in March 2021 Russell Faulkner and his wife, Sema, opened Feral Art & Vin in the heart of the old city of Bordeaux. To open a shop selling natural wines, alongside art exhibitions, and indeed to stock around 50% of their wines from outside of France, was a very brave move back then. As lots of people have been talking about the state of the wine trade and the market for wine in the UK right now, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with Russell again to ask him how his venture has worked out.

I explained back in that 2021 article that I knew Russell back in the days when we both used to drink more, shall I say, classical wines. We were part of a privileged group of friends who were lucky enough to enjoy a very generous discount along with free BYO at the restaurants owned by Nigel Platts-Martin, including a monthly themed lunch at The Ledbury. Russell then went to work overseas but we kept vaguely in touch, but more so since he returned to Europe, choosing France rather than the UK for his and his wife’s business venture.

Russell and Sema

I began by asking Russell how a lover of the classic wines of France and Germany became an advocate for natural wines? Russell replied that he’d always liked wines with a more “natural set of clothes”. Many of the wines we drank back in the 2000s onwards, to be fair, came from smaller family producers who took care of their land, and didn’t mess around an awful lot in the winery.

It’s also true, because it is something we shared, that Russell and Sema got interested in Grower Champagnes early on. I think it was Russell who first got me interested in both Lilbert and Pierre Péters, producers whose bottles I remember buying from The Sampler when it first opened in Islington, before later visits to the region. Grower Champagne has been a way into natural wine for many people I know, such was the state of the Champagne “industry” as a whole twenty years ago.

Like me, Russell isn’t a fundamentalist so there are no rules about what can and what can’t be drunk. To do so is to miss out on a lot of great wine, as he rightly says. The big shift for Russell and Sema has been a greater focus on new producers, whether that be from Burgundy or Burgenland. Being open-minded is the key he says, with which I would obviously concur. He sees a lot of new wines which are not really exported (which is why a careful perusal of his shelves and web site are always worth your time).

Why a specialist natural wine shop, and in Bordeaux of all places? “Well, it was a bit of an accident. We arrived in France (nipped in pre-Brexit) with no plans. Originally, we wanted to operate a mixed space with a café…but a restaurant or bar wasn’t really compatible with our family life at the time (with young children), so a small shop with a single wall of around a hundred references allows the other walls to be used as gallery space, combining two of our passions”.

I suggested that Bordeaux appears pretty conservative when it comes to wine, even arrogant and parochial. Is this broadly true? Russell says it all depends on who you talk to and where you go. Bordeaux has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in France, so there are many boring wine lists containing average wines with questionable farming practices. He suggests the main change came with the arrival of the fast trains from Paris seven-to-eight years ago. With it simultaneously came a new breed of restaurateurs and bar owners, mostly outsiders, and more willing to experiment with new ideas. There were always a few experimenters but far more now.

The big question for many of us would be how natural wine goes down in the city? As Russell says, “well, it’s not Berlin, Paris or Copenhagen but I’d say there’s a growing interest, albeit largely focussed on France”. Linked to the influx from outside of Bordeaux there are plenty of chefs and sommeliers who like to experiment with foreign wines. Sales of German wines are way higher now than in the early days of Feral.

“When we applied for our Licence to import wines directly the Customs helpline seemed genuinely baffled why anyone would want to import non-French wines and our next-door neighbour, who worked for a big Bordeaux negociant, claimed he wasn’t aware that Germany made wine…I think he was only half joking”.

This does rather resonate with me. We have wine loving friends in Paris, who have a fine cellar in their old apartment building, well-stocked with Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne (almost exclusively loyal to just one marque because of a family connection). They used to be aware of only Vin Jaune as a wine made in The Jura, and may not have ever tried it. English Sparkling Wine was a bit of a joke to them until I took some over eight or nine years ago.

Of course, you can find foreign wine in Bordeaux, but Russell jokes that it has to be Italian and also (with the occasional standout exception, see restaurants below) start with a “B”.

Asking about the type of customers Feral gets, Russell thinks many regulars are linked to the wine or food trades. He says they have a few regulars who work at quite classical Bordeaux Châteaux, a couple right at the top of the 1855 Classification. But by far the single best way to get new customers, including those from abroad, has been the Raisin natural wine app. I assume most of my readers use it?

Initially Russell wasn’t keen to sell online, saying “It’s very impersonal” (though he does have a few overseas customers he talks with regularly), and there are some “Amazons of natural wine” out there with whom it’s impossible to compete both on range and price. But after feeling they had to go down the online route it now works out at perhaps 50:50 online and in-store. One thing they’ve found is that many natural wine producers value bricks and mortar and some give preferential allocations to real shops. A couple even request that they don’t sell their wines online, which Russell and Sema naturally respect. I’ve heard of this myself, it being far from uncommon.

It would be wholly wrong to forget the art, because that isn’t just a sideline. With a small but rotating selection of wines on one long wall this allows plenty of wall space to be used for exhibitions. Each can last between one month and three, with longer exhibitions in the holidays. Sometimes they will do a fundraiser event (eg Ukraine), and a student expo is coming up where young local talent will be able to sell their works with zero commission.

There is always a vernissage (opening evening) where some natural wine gets poured. It’s usually something not too “feral” with a funkier option under the bar for anyone keen to try it. It’s a good way to get crossover trade. Once a month the artists being shown do an “apero and paint” event, where people can come and paint/make something in that artist’s style and drink some wine at the same time. “We usually charge €35-40 so it’s pretty good value”.

With transport costs, Customs Duty and paperwork making wine all of a sudden so much more expensive in the UK, how do you find things work for Feral, I wondered? The advantage Feral has (aside from French wine duties being a very different ball game) is that “in having an import licence, most wines can, except in a small number of cases, be imported direct”. It cuts out the middle man completely. The downside is Spain, where an exclusive importer brings in a few wines Russell would love to stock but they charge almost the Spanish retail price for them, so he won’t list them.

As for Germany, Russell makes a trip to the Mosel (always a passion) two-to-three times a year, but sadly he says “Baden is that little bit too far”. With regions like Burgundy and Champagne (Feral is always hot on new Growers, from both) “we can also just drive and fill up the car”. But it takes time, so in person trips and visits are usually limited to Jura, Burgundy, Champagne and Mosel.

Interestingly, because it’s the same for us here in the UK, Russell says that the challenge is getting an allocation. “New producers often become cult before they bottle their first vintage in the Insta age and the big overseas importers all have someone working for them on the ground, but customer recommendations are great, and whilst cult is cult, there’s a lot of great wine to go around”.

As I know this man has his finger very much on the natural wine pulse (judging by the stock he puts up on Instagram), I naturally had to ask Russell which up-and-coming producers he’s particularly enjoying, and what outstanding bottles he’s had, more generally, over the past year?

“New finds include Domaine La Mutine in Vézélay, Jintaro Yura in Alsace, Si Tu Sais in Burgundy and Tailleurs Cueilleurs in Bugey…We had a few great bottles in Spain over New Year, with Overnoy Vieux Savagnin 1998 probably the most amazing”.

New Year stars at Russell’s secret location in Northern Spain

The next obvious question is about what is “happening” right now. I always highlight natural wine in Alsace, once-derided varieties made by young growers in Germany, Czech wine, Portugal and Deutschschweiz. Russell identifies “the New Germany”, especially Spätburgunder (Wasenhaus, Lassak, Makalie, Enderle & Moll, Jonas Dostert), along with “new wave” Burgundy (Les Horées, Dandelion, Wolber, Didon, Mutine, Noé). He calls some of those a little mainstream now, though at least half of them won’t be found in Britain.

Si Tu Sais, Domaine Didon, La Mutine

I’m always noticing Feral stocking Grower Champagne I’ve never come across (usually with bright, modern, labels). I got Petit Clergeot (north of Les Riceys), Tom Gauditiabois (at Chezy-sur-Marne), La Rogerie (Flavigny, east of Avize), and Salima & Alain Cordeuil (Côte des Bars, and available, at a price, from Newcomer Wines in the UK) as Feral recommendations.

Salima & Alain Cordeuil

I asked Russell what it’s like living in Bordeaux? “We like it a lot. It’s a good size, not too big nor too small, and a great place to bring up children, and very close to the beaches and mountains. We cycle a lot and there are long bike routes to the sea, and towards Saint-Emilion. There are enough restaurants to keep things varied. Apparently, there are some big châteaux you can go and visit too”.

For visitors, what are your favourite spots for dining?

“I think by far my favourite is Au Bistro near Capucins Market, an unpretentious classical bistro with a daily changing menu. Soif is a great spot with a wonderful wine list. Resources, and its new sibling, Vivant has a Michelin Star but they are very laid back, with good lists too. Tentatzione is a One-Star Italian with one of the greatest Italian lists in France. There are other hidden spots to get a cheap bottle of Rayas or DRC…come into the shop and I’ll tell you where to go.”

Feral Art & Vin is at

22 rue Buhan, 33000 Bordeaux

Opening hours are 2pm – 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30am – 1pm Sundays.

NB Closed 22 February to 3 March for anyone planning an imminent visit!

Web site – www.feralartetvin.com

Instagram – feralartetvin

Delivery throughout Europe. Not sure that includes the UK any more, sadly.

Feral is somewhere to find an eclectic and exciting range of natural wines, and if you do visit, I’d suggest Russell or Sema be allowed to point you towards wines you’ve not tried. They may well be the kind of wines which will cost a lot more in a year’s time. Especially if they appear some time here in the UK.

Posted in Artisan Wines, German Wine, Mosel, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Heroes, Wine Merchants, Wine Shops | Tagged Alain & Salima Cordeuil Champagne, Au Bistro Bordeaux, Bordeaux Hot Dining Options, Champagne Petit Clergeot, Domaine Dandelion, Enderle & Moll, Englishman Selling Natural Wine in Bordeaux, Feral Art & Vin Bordeaux, Jintaro Yura Alsace, Jonas Dostert, La Mutine Vézélay, La Rogerie Champagne, Les Horées, Natural Wine Shop Bordeaux, New Names in Grower Champagne, Overnoy Vieux Savagnin 1998, Russell Faulkner Wine Merchant Bordeaux, Selling German Wine in France, Si Tu Sais Burgundy, Tailleurs Cueilleurs Bugey, Tentatzione Italian Restaurant Bordeaux, Tom Gauditiabois Champagne, Value of Raisin App, Wasenhaus, Wine and Art in Bordeaux | 4 Comments

Recent Wines January 2024 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 12/02/2024 by dccrossley

My wet January continues here in Part 2 with another varied selection of wines, this time coming from Beaujolais, Slovenia’s Goriška Brda, Piemonte, South Africa’s Western Cape, Devon in England and last but not least, Champagne. None of these wines might seem like the peak of their country’s, or region’s, achievements to a more narrow-minded wine lover, but I am minded of a comment made by Robert Macfarlane in his foreword to Nan Shepherd’s “The Living Mountain”. He points out that “to aim for the highest point is not the only way to climb a mountain”. I think this is a good metaphor for learning deeply about wine.

Macfarlane also comments that “most works of mountaineering literature have been written by men”. I think that is interesting too because this was the same in wine for a very long time. Now, women are finding a voice, more and more. I wonder how many different views of wine we are getting now? Certainly, many of these writers are not obsessed only with striking out for the peaks. There’s so much more to discover in the valleys and up on the plateau. As I search for real value this year, these thoughts seem apt. But please excuse my digression. It’s time for some wines.

Fleurie 2018 Clos de la Roilette, Domaine Coudert (Beaujolais, France)

The Gamay grape has been, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood through most of my life in wine. There have been those who have loved it, and if you get the chance try to find an old copy of Arlott on Wine (Fontana Press, 1987, I see copies online for just £3.50). Arlott may be more famous as a cricket commentator but his passion for Gamay was famous.

However, I think Gamay was always seen as a fun grape making fruity wines to supp sooner rather than later. This was so even before industrial Beaujolais Nouveau did for the region’s reputation what 1970s Liebfraumilch did for German wine. Nowadays we know different, especially when it comes to the potential quality of the Crus, and Fleurie (along with Morgon) seems to have gained some sort of crown among them.

This particular Fleurie comes from grapes grown on the border with Moulin-à-Vent, which is where the Clos’s owners felt it should have been placed back in the mid-1920s when the boundaries were drawn. It’s the reason why “Fleurie” appears in pretty small letters on the label. The soils, manganese and clay, impart a greater structure to the wine than is common among Fleuries. We are also blessed with old vines, which with Gamay makes quite a difference.

In the glass we have something which is quite dark in colour for Gamay, something akin to the colour of blackcurrant juice. You would be forgiven (at least by me) for thinking this was Pinot Noir, although it is not nearly as similar to a mature Pinot as the 2011 Foillard Côte du Py I wrote about in my Wines of the Year 2023 Review. The fruit spectrum has the expected cherry, if perhaps darker cherry, plus some lovely plum notes.

To sum up simply, it’s a lovely wine. The retailer suggests (re the 2022 vintage) that the specific soils here help make a Fleurie that ages well, and to me the wine has retained some youthful vibrancy along with a little structure, even at approaching six years old. This cost me £14, a ridiculous bargain at the time. The 2022 can now be had for £25 from The Solent Cellar, which for good Fleurie is still almost a bargain.

Sivi 2022, Kmetija Štekar (Goriška Brda, Slovenia)

When I tasted some of the new vintages from Basket Press Wines in Edinburgh late last year, this was one of the wines which seemed to shout out, not only to me but to my wife, who accompanied me. The part of this producer’s range which I call the “monkey labels” have never quite stood out in previous tastings, perhaps because they have, like their packaging, a subtlety which can be drowned out by bigger wines. Not here.

Janko and Tamara Stekar have 5 hectares of vines in what is effectively a continuation over the border from Italy’s famous Collio. Winemaking here is often as obsessively quality-orientated as it is over in Italy. Sivi is 100% Pinot Grigio, made with the kind of light skin contact the Italians call ramato. Skin contact lasted 12 days during fermentation. Ageing was on the lees but it was bottled after just six months.

We have a natural wine made without any added sulphur. There are fresh acids backed up with really tasty fruit, a mix of pear and something more tropical (orange and mango, maybe). There’s a bit of spice, but blink and you might miss it. The 12% alcohol seems very well judged for balance. The texture from skins and lees ageing is present but not high in the mix, to use a music metaphor. Fun and delicious. We loved it at home in winter, but a summer picnic would be perfect. A reminder to buy more and broaden my knowledge of this producer.

Like Slovakia, Czechia, Croatia and Bulgaria, etc, Slovenia is claiming its place in our wine world. I find it fascinating how in so many countries formerly under collectivised farming there are now emerging artisan wine industries (industry being perhaps not quite the right word) which are giving us some of the most exciting bottles currently available to explore. It really is the time to get out there and try these wines before, like the French, Italian and German wines we love, the prices start to go up and, as is happening with many wines we used to import (Jura being a classic example), other markets become more attractive to the producers.

£27 from Basket Press Wines and in stock.

Roero DOCG 2020, Giovanni Almondo (Piemonte, Italy)

If Barolo and Barbaresco are running away from your budget, then Roero, in the hills north of Alba, is often the place to head. Of all the outlying sub-regions for Nebbiolo in Piemonte, it can so often throw out the best wines, both in terms of value and thrill factor. Those importers who truly know their Barolo have known this for a decade or more.

Roero, of course, can be as expensive as Barolo from some sources, but it is also a DOCG where there is so much value, usually found among small and medium-sized family estates, such as Giovanni Almondo at Montà d’Alba, towards Roero’s northern border.

We have 70-year-old vines here from three sites off soil described as 70% sand and 30% limestone and clay, all at around 320 masl with a southern exposure. The fermentation took place over eighteen days on skins and ageing followed in large Slavonian oak over a further year-and-a-half. The result is a pale-ish red wine with a lovely, gentle bouquet of red berries, violets and liquorice (is that my nasal take on tar and roses?). The palate has a softness too, with smooth cherries, vibrant red fruits and a little grip to finish.

This is perhaps a youngish wine, but you can’t always keep Nebbiolo for decades. It’s nice to have one to drink at just a few years old. I did let it breath well, and although the importer gives a drinking window of “2024 (young) to 2035” I don’t think many would be too disappointed opening it now, as I did. But do choose a decently large glass to get some air in.

This was a satisfying £17 from Smith & Gertrude in Portobello, but it is imported by Lay & Wheeler. Equally satisfying is that you get a pretty nice wine to accompany your roast dinner for less money than many a disappointing supermarket Barolo. Not complex, but it certainly passes the “would you buy it again?” test.

Rocking Horse Cape White Blend 2021, Thorne & Daughters (Western Cape, South Africa)

John and Tasha Seccombe founded their winery in 2012, after John had studied at England’s Plumpton College. This white is classic Cape, a blend (in 2021) of 32% Roussanne, 29% Semillon (a mix of Blanc and Gris), 19% Chardonnay, 16% Chenin Blanc and 4% Clairette Blanche. The grapes come from a number of sites including at Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, the Ceres Plateau, Paardeberg and Swartland, with a variety of soil types, but mostly alluvial gravels and decomposed granite.

This starts out with a whole bunch ferment in old 600-litre casks using indigenous yeasts. Pressing, in an old Vaslin horizontal press allows for just a touch of oxidation. It is described as a low-intervention wine (“no treatments or additions”) and also “vegan”, but some sulphur was apparently added. It was aged in a variety of old French oak, on lees, for ten months, where it underwent a natural malo.

The bouquet mixes apple freshness with more exotic fruits like kiwi, peach and melon, together with a richness and spice that works really well. Very attractive. The fruit-driven palate, with plum and herbs (rosemary, bay) added to the above, also has a touch of salinity to lift it.

I have drunk this wine several times before, but certainly not post-Covid. I’d forgotten how tasty it is. It’s the kind of blend where every grape variety seems to add something, so that you get complexity of sorts even in a young wine. It also tastes nicely different. It highlights the concept of the “Cape White Blend” extremely well. This bottle was purchased at Lockett Brothers, North Berwick’s wine and fine whisky shop (c £24), but down in England it can be found quite widely. Try branches of The Good Wine Shop. The importer is Liberty Wines. One to try if you haven’t already.

Artefact 2021, Castlewood Wines (Devon, UK)

I know I posted a note about this very wine in October last year, and I do try not to repeat myself. It’s just that my observant daughter, who was at the table when I drank it, tracked down what was just about the last bottle of 2021 as part of my Christmas present. As I had failed to find one, I was shocked and pretty damned pleased to be given it, and so I made sure to share it with the giver of the gift.

Castlewood is one of those English wineries which have seemed thus far to have escaped my cellar. I own five books on English (& Welsh) wine, and they don’t appear in any, not even Ed Dallimore’s Vineyards of Britain (which profiles by far the greatest number). Yet this vineyard, below Musbury Hill Fort in Devon, has a fascinating selection of wines in its repertoire, Artefact perhaps topping that particular list.

In 2016 they planted 2ha of Bacchus to supplement what was already a vineyard planted with typical sparkling wine varieties. Luke Harbor is Head Sommelier at the Pig Hotels chain, and as a local boy he had been helping in the vineyard for around five years before he asked to get involved on the winemaking side. Artefact is a collaboration with Luke.

The Bacchus for the 2021 vintage was harvested on 10 October, then crushed and destemmed into two 300-litre Tuscan amphorae. After 21 days on skins, fermenting via native yeasts, the wine was aged 11 months on lees before racking from amphorae into stainless steel, where it rested for three months before bottling (in perhaps English wine’s most distinctive bottle, with a really beautiful label designed by Tommy Gillard). No fining nor filtration was undertaken.

A lovely bouquet showcases grapefruit, mango and guava scents. The palate has zingy fruit acids with flavours of grapefruit, gooseberry and a whisp of leaf tea. The amphorae, and the lees ageing, gives the wine a little texture, of the kind that somehow (don’t ask) reminds me of iron filings, though faint. I really like this a lot, especially now I’ve drunk two bottles. What I don’t understand is why I haven’t come across this producer before. It’s true that only 1,000 bottles of Artefact were made. It was claimed, so my daughter said, that this was the last known bottle for sale (?). Retailed by IJ Mellis Cheesemongers in Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews, for just £22. The 2021 is also sold out at the vineyard. One hopes a 2022 will become available?

Champagne Palmer Brut Réserve NV (Champagne, France)

When I was a bit younger, I was always looking for Palmer Champagne, probably because I recalled reading positive things from Tom Stevenson about this producer. However, it was a marque more often encountered in restaurants than retail. Although I drank this at an hotel, I see now that it does appear in a few small retailers, though I don’t think any I have previously bought from.

One of them, Noble Green Wines, gets it spot on in suggesting that Palmer “produce one of those rare things, truly great value Champagne”. Brut Réserve blends 50% Chardonnay with circa 33% Pinot Noir and 17% Pinot Meunier, most sourced from Grand and Premier Cru sites on the Montagne de Rheims, but fruit is also included from the Côte de Sézanne, Côtes des Bar and the Marne Valley. The key to this cuvée is the use of an unusually high percentage of reserve wines from a perpetual reserve (like a solera).

There is definitely complexity. I’m not sure either how long it had on lees (though here it tastes like it had a decent spell), nor when this bottle was disgorged. It has a nice richness which comes through with hazelnut and brioche, but there’s also crisp red apple freshness with a peachy/apricot undertone. This also suggests it had been resting in the Marine Hotel’s cellars for a wee while, if not too long.

Now we come to price. This Brut Réserve seems to retail, if you can find it, for between £34 to £40 or just over. To be honest, at those prices I’d buy it without hesitation. You can get more for your money if you spend £50, but that’s quite a bit more spread over a case. I can vouch for the fact that you can do a whole lot worse at the lower end of that price spectrum. I paid £84/bottle. It was nice to treat the table to Champagne for our Burns Night Supper, but I do think they are pushing it a little. A bit gouging but what can you expect. The hotel does cater for a lot of American golfers, whose budget may surpass mine. Waitrose sometimes has the Blanc de Blancs for £54, which might well be worth a try too.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Beaujolais, Champagne, English Wine, Italian Wine, Natural Wine, Piemonte, Slovenian Wine, South African Wines, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Artefact Bacchus 2021, Cape White Blend, Castlewood Wines Artefact 2021, Champagne Palmer Brut Réserve NV, Devon Wine, English Wine, Fleurie Clos de la Roilette 2018 Coudert, Giovanni Almondo Roero, Good Value Champagne, Goriska Brda Slovenia, Kmetija Stekar Sivi 2022, Kmetija Stekar Slovenia, Recent Wines January 2024 (Pt 2), Roero 2020 Giovanni Almondo, Roero Nebbiolo, South African White Blend, Thorne & Daughters | Leave a comment

Recent Wines January 2024 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 06/02/2024 by dccrossley

We have a dozen wines from January, divided into two equal parts. Here in Part 1 there are wines from Austria’s Burgenland, NE Italy, Alsace, Eastern Switzerland, a new wine and a new producer to all of us from Czech Moravia, and a soulful, terroir-driven Mosel. So, you see, January doesn’t have to be dry! These wines would brighten anyone’s first month of the year.

Graue Freyheit 2020, Heinrich (Burgenland, Austria)

It seems almost odd that the first wine I drank this year, on New Year’s Day, could be a contender for Wine of the Year already. I suppose something about this wine pressed all the right buttons. Gernot and Heike Heinrich are a couple of experienced natural winemakers in Gols, on the northeastern side of the Neusiedlersee. It’s a village blessed with more stars than most. Off a mix of schist with quartz and chalk, this is a blend of 20% Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris), 50% Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), with 15% each of Chardonnay and Neuburger.

The grapes see two weeks on skins in amphora before a gentle basket press. Ageing is for 17 months in a mix of both amphora and large oak, on lees of course. This is a pure, natural wine, and sees no added sulphur. The nose really hits you, but like expensive perfume more than something hard-edged.

The wine is a lovely orange-pink, derived from the pink skins of the macerated Pinot Gris, but the bouquet is a mix of red fruits, a hint of exotic or tropical fruit, and a whisp of tea leaf. The palate has considerable depth at this stage, but there’s also plenty of freshness and a bit of mineral texture. A decent lick of acidity balances it all perfectly. With a very long finish, this wine is quite unique. Bottled with no fining/filtration, we are asked to shake the bottle to distribute the lees, though I like to sneak a taste clean before doing so.

When I say “bottled”, it comes in a flagon. Someone (hi Valerie!) pointed out that these containers are not very eco-friendly, and perhaps that can be argued on weight grounds. However, I’m a sucker for these flasks, and they are always recycled as candle sticks chez nous.

I think my bottle came from Cork & Cask in Edinburgh perhaps a year ago. Indigo Wine is the importer and The Sourcing Table is a good bet for London etc readers.

Refosco 2019 Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, Az Ag Specogna (Friuli, Italy)

Refosco is one of wider Friuli’s autochthonous grape varieties. It’s rare for it to travel to other countries, not just as a planted grape variety, but even as a wine, but it does deserve to be tried. It wasn’t that long ago that I posted about this producer’s Pinot Grigio Ramato, which I have known for many years. That’s what led me to try this red wine.

Specogna are based in the Rocca Bernarda Hills near Corno di Rosazzo in the province of Udinese. The winery was founded by Leonardo Specogna in 1963 on his return from working in Switzerland. His initial small vineyard has now grown to 25 hectares on gentle terraces of mostly marls and sandstone.

This cuvée is made from vines planted in 1998. The grapes are destemmed and undergo a gentle crush after a 15-day maceration. Ageing is in both 500-litre and 250-litre oak for 12 months. It’s a rich ruby red wine with blue-violet towards the rim. The bouquet is deep, dark, fruits with a tiny hint of liquorice. The palate adds in dark cherry fruit with supporting blueberry and a touch of blackcurrant. The finish is savoury, with some tannic grip, and it is very food-friendly. I can’t speak for its natural wine credentials but it is listed as “vegan” and “sustainable”, though I never really like that vague term. One thing I can vouch for (or perhaps two things?), its very good and very interesting.

£22 from Valvona & Crolla in Edinburgh.

“Zegwur” Cuvée Nature 2022, Anna, André and Yann Durrmann (Alsace, France)

It’s true that I do tend to buy a few of each vintage from Yann Durrmann, and have done since I first visited his father in Andlau back in 2017. I’m rather pleased that nowadays I don’t have to travel far to find these wines.

Zegwur is a rather distinctive Gewurztraminer, made, along with all the wines at the domaine now, by André’s son, Yann. This is a domaine which has had a long tradition of truly sustainable viticulture, of which I have seen a whole lot of evidence in the vineyard (among other things, this was the first estate where I saw sheep in the vines). Now, Yann is moving to totally natural wines, the “Cuvée Nature” range all having zero added sulphur.

This Gewurz is off granite and sandstone. 25% of the fruit undergoes a three-week maceration on skins. The result is cloudy, slightly funky, pretty high in acids (remember that this is the current vintage available) and yet it explodes with fruit and a bit of dry extract. Someone said it reminded them of the tropical fruit drink, Lilt, and what a perfect description that is, except this wine is dry. It also weighs in at just 11.6% alcohol. Despite its “natural wine” funk, my good Gewurztraminer-adoring friend loves it (this was the second time we’ve shared a bottle with her). So maybe it’s not as scary as all that. Obviously, I like it, but then I’d rarely drink one of those 15% abv Grand Cru versions of the variety that a wine magazine might recommend.

£28 from Cork & Cask in Edinburgh, but available through the UK importer, Wines Under the Bonnet.

Blauburgunder 2018, Bechtel Weine (Eglisau, Switzerland)

This is the third bottle from this vintage I’ve drunk, and sadly my last Bechtel Wine, for now. You may therefore already know, I’ve said it often enough, that Matthias Bechtel is considered one of the rising stars of Swiss Wine, and that Eglisau is a tiny sub-region of German-speaking Switzerland, on the banks of the Rhine not too far from Zürich. This part of the country is known as Deutschschweiz. Although we are beginning to see a desire among Swiss producers to export growing in proportion to the Swiss home market’s desire to drink less wine (fools), still much of the Swiss wine that comes to the UK is from the French-speaking part of the country (Suisse Romande).

There is undoubtedly a wine revolution taking part in the German-speaking Cantons and I’m always keen to try to find good examples. Bechtel is certainly one of the best and so it’s very pleasing that a range of his wines are in the UK. They doubtless don’t sell like the proverbial hot cakes do, but then as well as having a certain obscurity here with consumers and professionals alike, they are also not particularly cheap. That’s the down side of exploring Swiss wine.

The Blauburgunder is, as you might guess, Matthias’s entry-level Pinot Noir. I said these were expensive, but if this costs around £37, then the top Pinot Noir, named Bechtus, retails for a little short of double that (with a few cuvées in between).

I’m still not sure this 2018 is fully mature. It comes off sun-kissed sandstone terraces above the Rhine, with a micro-climate positively affected by the river’s reflective sunlight. This was equally a warmer vintage for the region. The bouquet is towards the darker fruits end of the spectrum for Pinot Noir, along with a savoury/smoky note. There is still structure to the palate, although almost all of the tannins found in previous bottles have been absorbed. The fruit is good, as is the length. I’d suggest that “entry-level” doesn’t do this cuvée justice at all. Well, I’m definitely a fan. Just as well because I’m not going to pretend I can afford Bechtus, nor the straight “Pinot Noir” at £52+.

Alpine Wines imports Bechtel Weine. They have both the 2019 and 2020 of the Blauburgunder, plus currently a good selection of his other wines. My last bottles of this Blauburgunder came through The Solent Cellar, though they don’t have any at present.

Cabernet Franc 2022, Mira Nestarecová (Moravia, Czechia)

I’m very excited to try the new wines of this producer, especially as it was her more famous husband who provided my first bottles of Czech wines. Of course, Mira is making wine in the same village, Velké Bilovice, in Southern Moravia. This Cabernet Franc comes from 17-year-old vines off sandy soils. This really is low intervention viticulture because these vines are not even pruned (frowned upon by many, yet so many estates are now following this path with great success, not least Meinklang in Austria and Domaine Lissner in Alsace, to name but two). The grapes underwent a short, whole-cluster, fermentation with stems and the wine was aged in old barriques for eight months.

The labels for Mira’s wines are all inspired by her former career, that of a dancer and teacher of ballet. This one depicts Mary Wigman (1886-1973), a German dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer of expressionist modern dance, as well as a cultural icon of the Weimar years.

The wine is deep purple with a magenta rim. The bouquet is dark-fruited with a little spice, the palate a nice mix of blackcurrant and dark cherry fruit. Plenty of freshness comes through zippy acids which seem packed with concentrated blackcurrant (like the blackcurrant pies my mother made), and alcohol is low at 10.5% abv. A very nice intro for me and I’m looking forward to trying more of Mira’s wines.

It’s a concentrated, low-intervention wine with bags of joie de vivre, £29 from Basket Press Wines. There are also cuvées from Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc (prices £29-£31).

Schieferstern Purus 2016, Rita & Rudolf Trossen (Mosel, Germany)

I think the Trossens have become a cult producer, but such a thought would horrify Rudolf. He’s been making natural wines around Kinheim-Kindel (spanning the Middle Mosel between Erden and Kröv) since the 1970s, and saw the export market for quality German wine almost collapse in the middle of that decade because of Germany’s plainly stupid Wine Law of 1971 (which promoted mass production of semi-industrial Müller-Thurgau over artisan-made Riesling).

It may have taken decades for German wine to recover its status, but the uneconomic prices obtained for great wines in the meantime caused many hard-to-work terraces to become abandoned, so that back in 2019 Rudolf told me that owners could hardly even give these sites away. Since then, the Trossens have inspired several young winemakers to take up the cause, though I know that times are very hard for these young pioneers of the slopes right now.

Back to Trossen. The “Purus” wines are not just natural wines, but also go the extra step with no added sulphur. Rudolf says that long lees ageing stabilises the wine just fine without it. Schieferstern sees whole bunches of Riesling fermented in 500-litre stainless steel tanks for a lengthy seven months before a further eleven months ageing on lees (as the photo shows, pre-settling). Bottling is without fining or filtration, of course, so expect some fine lees sediment.

The nose is stunning. Lime zest combines with a procession of very fresh apple, apricots and exotic fruits. By contrast the palate is very mineral and stony. Overall, this is pure and stripped back and definitely still very much on the young side. I should have kept it longer, but it’s still a great wine if you love fine German Riesling in its purest dry form. Glorious to drink now, in fact quite a thrill if I’m honest, but it will improve (in the traditional sense) for many years, by which I mean that a wine expert will tell you it will “improve”, but what a joy to drink now (as in who knows what tomorrow may bring?)

My bottle came from Newcomer Wines, the go-to for Trossen, and who have several bottlings in stock. However, The Good Wine Shop (various London locations) claims online to have this 2016 currently in stock for £43 (but don’t quote me).

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Czech Wine, German Wine, Italian Wine, Mosel, Natural Wine, Neusiedlersee, Swiss Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alsace Natural Wine, Alsace Wine, Austrian Wine, Bechtel Blauburgunder 2018, Bechtel Weine Blauburgunder 2018, Czech Natural Wine, Domaine Durrmann Andlau, Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, Gernot and Heike Heinrich Gols, Gols Burgenland Natural Wine, Heinrich Graue Freyheit 2020, Matthias Bechtel Eglisau Zürich, Mira Nestarecová Cabernet Franc 2022, Moravian Wine, Natural Wine, Natural Wine Dry Gewurztraminer, Neusiedlersee, Recent Wines January 2024 (Pt 1), Refosco, Rita and Rudolf Trossen Mosel, Schieferstern Purus 2016, Specogna Refosco 2019 Friuli, Swiss Wine, Trossen Schieferstern Purus 2016, Velké Bilovice Wine Village, Wine from NE Italy, Yann Durrmann Andlau, Zegwur Cuvée Nature 2022 Durrmann | Leave a comment

Bulgaria is Back – Edinburgh Masterclass with Jamie Goode

Posted on 31/01/2024 by dccrossley

There may be one or two readers who remember the glory days of Bulgarian wine in the early 1990s, but not many, so perhaps I should enlighten those who don’t. There was a time when Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon was possibly considered the best value red wine in the UK. During the early part of that decade Bulgaria was the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine to the UK, and at its peak exported well in excess of three million cases a year

Many wine drinkers back then would also have been almost equally familiar with Mavrud, Melnik and Gamza varieties for red wines, and the various types of Misket for whites, along with a very good Stambolovo Merlot, if I recall. What happened?

Bulgaria has extremely cold winters, yet its summers, especially in the southern half of the country, are very warm. This is especially true where bodies of water ameliorate the micro climate, in our case the River Danube and the Black Sea. Bulgaria’s state wineries under communism were quite experimental and had gathered perhaps more winemaking expertise that most other countries under the Russian sphere of influence.

On the fall of communism, it was the large, formerly collective, wineries which began the export drive. But in the period that followed this industry collapsed (for a host of reasons), to be replaced eventually by the private wine estates we have today, land having been restored where possible to its pre-communist owners. It has taken this long for the industry to recover.

In 2007 Bulgaria joined the EU, and this led to an all-round increase in investment in the wine industry. This has led to some very smart looking estates making wine with ambition. On the whole, prices are not as low as in some neighbouring countries, but they still represent very good value. More importantly, I think quality is quite high.

On Monday I was invited to Edinburgh’s Hotel du Vin for a Masterclass organised by wine PR company Westbury Communications, and entertainingly given by Jamie Goode. He presented ten wines, of different styles and prices (in a range of £8.50 to nearly £28 retail). The event was called “Wines from the Thracian Lowlands”, though I’m not sure every wine was from this large PGI.

The Thracian Lowlands is one of just two PGI designations in Bulgaria, the other being the Danube Plain to the north. Forming a line between the two, and running more or less west to east through the country, are the Stara Planina Mountains. Within those two PGIs are 52 designated PDOs (smaller regions/sub-regions), but it is significant that almost none of these (they’ve created as many as in countries like France and Italy) ever appear on a label. It is perhaps as important as anywhere that producer is key.

I suppose the one thing you will want to be aware of is that the above statement needs expanding. Producers exporting from Bulgaria today are mostly large and medium-sized wineries. The largest producer represented here, Vinex Slaviantsi, farms 2,800 hectares, although one or two farm between 25-50 hectares. Bulgaria doesn’t have the kind of developed artisan sector that you find in countries with developing wine industries like Czechia, Georgia, Slovenia or Croatia. Consequently, there is no established, exporting, natural wine scene.

Before tasting the wines, it is worth looking at the grape varieties planted in Bulgaria. Local varieties are outgunned by international ones, a hangover from forty or fifty years ago. Merlot (10,555-ha planted) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10,191-ha) dominate. Some of the best autochthonous grapes can be a mere few hundred hectares, yet some of them seem to provide the greatest interest, and the greatest potential to differentiate Bulgaria from other exporters, along with Gamza, a red variety which is a synonym for the Hungarian grape, Kadarka (once, but no longer, a mainstay of Hungary’s “Bull’s Blood”).

We began by tasting four white wines before moving on to five reds. We finished with an excellent dessert wine.

Sandstone 2022, Zlaten Rozhen Winery (Struma Valley)

We kick off with a blend of 60% Sauvignon Blanc plus 40% Sandanski Misket from a very modern winery in that part of Bulgaria next to North Macedonia, called the Struma Valley (Bulgaria borders Greece and Türkiye/Turkey to the south, Serbia and Macedonia to the west and Romania to the north, with the Black Sea to the east). The SB comes through first on the nose, quite grassy, then the bouquet becomes more floral. Clean and fruity, made in stainless steel, it’s simple but actually very tasty for a wine expected to retail around £10.50. This should definitely be in Waitrose (in the unlikely event their buyers are reading this). Seeking an importer.

Via Istrum Tamyanka 2022, Burgozone Winery (Danube Plain)

This is a 100-hectare estate established 2002 close to the Danube and the Romanian border. Promoting sustainable agriculture, they are much “awarded” within Bulgaria. Tamyanka is an old white variety in Bulgaria, early ripening, a local synonym possibly for Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains. This is a hand-picked selection harvested in mid-September. It’s a really interesting wine because this variety has great potential for dry wines of character (as well as its more usual sweet iterations). Floral but bone dry with a little texture and 12.5% abv. Imported by Delibo Wine Agencies. Retail circa £18.

Cuvée Blanc 2022, Chateau Copsa (Rose Valley)

This estate now boasts an attractive architect-designed converted castle hotel, but its 50-ha of vines were originally planted in 1998, since when it has been in the same family ownership. They grow a mix of international and local varieties and this blend mixes 50% Chardonnay, 40% Red Misket (pink-skinned but most often vinified white) and 10% Sauvignon Blanc, all grown in the Rose Valley, which is also a famous tourist destination known for its Damask Roses and the essential oils they create.

Mountains surround the vines, which counter-intuitively protect the valley from excessively low winter temperatures but also keep the grapes cooler in summer. This is a nice blend with a plumpness of fruit and a smoothness. There’s freshness too. Red Misket has traditionally made wines to drink early, but I think that fruit adds a freshness to the blend. Retail is around £16, imported by The Old Cellar.

Vrachanski Misket 2022, Bononia Estate (Danube Valley)

Established by the Yotov family in 2013, Bononia is in the very northeast of the country with the winery in a former brewery (est 1895) directly on the river bank. The vineyards are luckily 35-50 metres above the river but the climate is ameliorated by such a wide body of moving water. An attractive dry wine with a little florality, and one that is very attractively packaged too. Also look out for their Gamza (an exciting red variety) which has won international recognition (it says here) from Decanter and the IWSC. £15.50, available from The Wine Society and (allegedly, though I can’t currently find it listed) The Old Cellar (which claims the largest selection of Bulgarian wines in the UK).

My photo of this Misket didn’t come out, but I wanted to show what I think is quite good, modern packaging for this tasty wine.

LEVA Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot 2021, Vinex Slaviantsi (Rose Valley)

Another wine from this central valley on the southern edge of the Stara Planina Mountains, this from a massive operation (the one I mentioned with 2,800 ha of vines, being a merger between two large co-operatives via a worker buyout in 1995). Most of their vines are in the Sungurlar Valley, towards the Black Sea Coast, but this blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is harvested from the source mentioned above.

This reminds me so much of those 1990s reds, it really hit me on first sniff. It’s a simple wine smelling of dark fruits and cherry with crunchy tannins on a textured palate. It’s very commercial, yet the crunch makes it a bit more interesting, and it is quite drinkable. The winery currently has no UK representation, but this would allegedly retail around £8.50. I would be less likely to buy this than the cheaper white wine above (Zlaten Rozhen) but it should nevertheless have commercial appeal.

Platinum Merlot 2018, Domaine Boyar (Thracian Valley)

All of the next four reds are more serious wines and Domaine Boyar is perhaps the best-known Bulgarian winery in the UK. In 1991 it became the country’s first privately owned wine estate. In 2003 they founded a boutique winery named Korten, with “sustainably-farmed” grapes grown in the Thracian Lowlands being selected for small batch cuvées. This wine is a clear step up, much more interesting to the serious wine explorer. The wine’s bottle age gives it some complexity, and I would guess from the nose that this has seen some new oak (though it has integrated well on the palate if that is correct). It’s ripe, modern and very good. Imported by The Old Cellar it should retail around £15.50.

Gramatik Rubin 2020, Rupel Winey (Thracian Valley)

Rupel Winery was founded in 2015, and as well as being relatively new, it also only boasts 26 hectares of vines. Amongst these are planted some of the most interesting varieties in Bulgaria: Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Vermentino and Marselan alongside autochthonous varieties, of which Rubin is one. It’s a Bulgarian cross (1944 but not recognised until 1961) between Nebbiolo and Syrah, making rich, dark-coloured wines, often with good tannic structure and packed with anthocyanins. Some say Rubin could become Bulgaria’s flagship variety, yet so far there are only a little over 200 hectares planted, almost all in the Thracian Valley.

The bouquet is lovely, with a bit of spice, and on the palate some resin alongside the fruit. It reminds me a bit of some Greek reds grown in the north of that country (directly to the south). I think that’s because some of the local varieties there do have an affinity with Nebbiolo, and if push came to shove I’d suggest this variety is a little more “Nebbiolo” than Syrah. It boasts 14.5% alcohol, yet this doesn’t dominate too much. It’s a distinctive Bulgarian red, and I would definitely buy this. The winery is seeking a UK agent, but estimated retail price is around £20. If that is correct, this would be good enough value to tempt a good many people I know.

Mavrud 2021, Katarzyna Estate (Thracian Valley)

Mavrud is probably Bulgaria’s best known black grape variety. As you will deduce if you know the Greek word “Mavro”, Mavrud means black in Bulgarian. Usually very dry and often tannic, the variety has been the mainstay of old school big reds in the country’s past.

Katarzyna is another winery located in the Thracian Valley, and here they are a mere 2 kilometres from the Greek Border, in the eastern foothills of the Rhodopa Mountain. They were founded in 2012 with 750-ha of vines, 85 ha cultivated organically. 2021 was considered a very good vintage here. Dark in colour, the bouquet is of rich dark plum. The palate has ripe fruit and texture and like the Rubin above, it’s a wine with unique flavours. This makes it all the more attractive to my exploring palate. Not only is this good, it also developed in the glass over the short time I was tasting it. Estimated retail would be around £22, but the winery is currently seeking UK representation.

Oak Tree 2016, Minkov Brothers (Thracian Valley)

Oak Tree is a Bordeaux-style blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc made by a well-established specialist with international varieties based in the villages of Terziysko, Ognen and Devetak. This wine, with just short of eight years ageing, is impressive. The bottle itself is ambitiously heavy. The wine is bright with a purple hue, lightening at the rim. It smells of fancy oak, but on the palate that oak is nicely integrated.

Overall, this is a very well-balanced red weighing in at 14% abv. I’d go so far as calling it sophisticated, and objectively this is the finest wine of the tasting. What concerns me is that whilst the Rubin and Mavrud wines I tasted were distinctively Bulgarian, this wine was in its essence international in character. It will be up against similar wines from Argentina and Chile, North America, South Africa, Australia and, of course, wider Bordeaux. Such a market is a tough one, even for a wine of this undoubted quality. The winery is seeking UK representation and this will retail a little under £30/bottle.

Disegno Petit Manseng 2019 (Late Harvest), Aya Estate (Struma Valley)

Aya Estate is another fabulous modern winery with vineyards both at Kavarna, near the Black Sea coast, and Harsovo in the southwest, close to the Greek border. It is unusual in the context of this tasting that they are farming both locations biodynamically. Petit Manseng is, of course, considered the finest variety in Jurançon (in Southwest France) for unctuous dessert wines. Manually harvested at the end of October 2019, they have made a delicious wine with just 10.5% alcohol and almost 73 g/l of residual sugar. This isn’t exceptionally sweet, yet it is a lovely bottle.

The bouquet is very attractive, and I for one do think it shows varietal character (but I have been a fan of Jurançon stickies since my wine youth). There is some concentration, as expected from small berries with thick skins, but also a little structure and pleasing texture. Acidity balances sweetness, and as the sugar data shows, it isn’t super-sweet. Its grapiness and perfume enhance the palate. It’s also nicely packaged, as my photo almost shows. I’m afraid the room was dark and the photography was very rushed, so half my label pics were too blurred to publish. Another winery seeking an importer, estimated retail price circa £21.

To conclude, this was a very interesting tasting. We learnt a lot about the resurgent wine industry in Bulgaria, and tasted ten wines which, bearing in mind my level of geekiness, I would buy seven of them quite happily (assuming the pricing given is reasonably accurate). Of the three I wouldn’t buy, there is nothing wrong with them. Indeed, as I said, one was possibly the most sophisticated and well-made wine of the afternoon. It’s just that I’m only now edging back towards Bordeaux itself so international Bordeaux blends are maybe a way down the line for me.

You can clearly tell that Bulgaria has seen a lot of investment in viticulture and wineries, and these bring a modern approach to a country with a long and well adapted viticultural tradition. This is something which will certainly develop and over the next decade we may well see more artisans, and more experimentation with low-intervention methodologies.

Bulgaria’s home market supposedly has a taste for big red wines in heavy bottles. In this it is not alone, although early excesses with this type of wine have already been supplanted in much of Spain, if not in Napa and South America quite yet. But I think Bulgaria has some very distinctive grapes of its own which show great potential. Gamza, which we didn’t taste and which is strictly speaking Hungarian in origin, is especially becoming noticed for lighter style reds which are a move away from what the home market likes, but which more developed international markets might enjoy. The Rubin and Mavrud tasted here show potential for uniqueness, as also do the Misket and Muscat varieties for white wines, if sometimes blended with non-native varieties.

Although few smaller PDOs are found on labels, we have some nice wines here from the Thracian and the Rose Valleys, so perhaps these are regions to keep an eye on.

The key for Bulgaria will be to concentrate on the uniqueness they can bring to the international wine market, whilst keeping in mind that whilst the best wines made from international varieties may be able to sell locally for prices which will pay for their very heavy bottles, international importers will seek to bring distinctive wines to market at a price that will be attractive to consumers, by which I do not mean excessively cheap, just not prices which are way too ambitious. I’m sure the adventurous among us, which I’m sure counts as all my readers, will look forward to seeing some of these wines on UK shelves soon. Well done Jamie and Westbury Comms for highlighting what Bulgaria has to offer.

Posted in Bulgarian Wine, Eastern European Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Masterclass, Wine Tastings | Tagged Aya Estate Petit Manseng Struma Valley, Bononia Estate Danube Valley Bulgaria, Bulgarian Wine, Burgozone Winery, Chateau Copsa Winery, Danube Plain Wines, Domaine Boyar Bulgaria, Edinburgh Wine Tasting, Gamza Grape Variety, Jamie Goode Masterclass, Katarzyna Estate Winery Bulgaria, Mavrud Grape Variety, Minkov Brothers Oak Tree Red Blend, Misket Grape Variety, Rose Valley Wines, Rubin Grape Variety, Rupel Winery Bulgaria, Struma Valley Wine, Thracian Lowlands Tasting, Thracian Valley Wine, Vinex Slaviantsi Winery Rose Valley Cabernet Merlot, Westbury Communications, Zlaten Rozhen Winery | Leave a comment

Wine Prices – A Bit of a Moan

Posted on 15/01/2024 by dccrossley

Over the period since Brexit and the Covid pandemic the prices of individual bottles of wine I have bought for years have unquestionably gone up…and considerably. I can think of wines which perhaps cost in the low £30s back in 2020 or 2019 which cost more than £50 today. Many have increased in price by 40-50% in perhaps four years. I’m not the only person to notice. Almost everyone I know who is seriously into wine says the same and some commentators have said so in print.

January is a quiet time in the wine trade, not helped by the “Dry January” which some lobby groups promote, but I wonder how these price rises are affecting sales?

There are so many reasons for these price increases. I’m starting this article almost as a stream of consciousness exercise, both to look at the causes for this, whether there are any solutions for we beleaguered drinkers, and whether we are really going to have to suck it all up and, if we want to keep drinking good, interesting, wine, merely stop buying other things. I’m a lover of vinyl, drink good coffee and read a lot of books, and all of those have gone up in price too. Less appreciably for books, but have you seen the ridiculous prices HMV are charging for new vinyl?

Prices and price increases have always been an issue. Back in the 1980s I was a Bordeaux and Burgundy drinker, although my tastes in Champagne had not yet gone so far as to venture outside of the Grandes Marques. Many of you might be surprised that all of these were reasonably affordable before Robert Parker hyped the 1982 vintage in Bordeaux, and it was only by the last years of that decade that Bordeaux and Burgundy prices began to get truly frightening. Even then, this was mostly at the higher levels.

As the 1990s progressed it seemed that prices for these classic wines couldn’t stop rising. It was the time of Wine Indexes, en primeur and the birth of wine investment. No worries, there were plenty more fish in the sea. Tuscany and Piemonte were both turning out some stunning wines, and there was The New World (sic) to get to know better. Not only that, lesser-known European wine regions were also beginning to make very interesting wines at favourable prices. Those wines had the advantage of introducing us to very new flavours, in terms of both grape varieties and wine styles.

It was during the 1990s that my interest in Piemonte, Alsace and Jura solidified, and also when I discovered Savoie, Aosta, Jura and Switzerland. My desire to seek out the obscure began when I travelled extensively in Europe in 1989. At the time I had thought about writing a book, The Lost Vineyards of France. Today, wines from Aveyron, Bugey, Ardèche, Cahors, Irouléguy and Collioure (to name a few) are all known to most wine fanatics, if not a wider public. They are clearly no longer lost.

The one thing that brought them to wider attention, more than anything else, was Natural Wine. That in itself was a phenomenon born out of a reaction against the way classic wines were being made and marketed, but also a desire by some to return to a more paysan life, one in tune with the vineyard and nature. What we now call sustainable viticulture was very much a part of that early natural wine revolution.

When natural wine came along it was frankly a breath of fresh air. You certainly had to reevaluate what you were looking for in a wine. Early natural wines bought in Paris were very often faulty, but somehow Les Caves de Pyrene in England managed to seek out those that weren’t. Doug Wregg taught me the most important wine lesson of my life, if indirectly. That you don’t always need to look for the “best” wine. Better to enjoy diversity and look for the “most interesting”. In effect, get greater pleasure from discovering something new for less money…at least in the early days.

Of course, these new wines weren’t inexpensive compared to the beverage wines you could find in the supermarket and at certain well-known wine chains, but you could get a wine which was going to challenge and excite the tastebuds for £20, and even more for £30, when the classics had more or less left those price levels behind. This was certainly my experience up to the time of our exit from the European Union.

For a few years before Brexit hit the UK, I was happily paying out around £300 for a dozen bottles of wine, one where each bottle in a mixed case cost on average £25. These were often cutting-edge wines from artisans with a story to tell, and being brought into the UK by a new breed of small- and medium-sized independent importers and wine merchants who were getting out into the vineyards and seeking out new growers. When Brexit hit, the prices increased alongside the cost of paperwork and transport costs.

Post-Brexit we had a litany of pressures, not least inflation at record levels, but also increased taxation on wine. Although politicians have tried to tie the overall cost of living crisis to international events affecting other countries just like us, it isn’t difficult to see the lie in that.

As prices have risen, I have correspondingly had less money to spend on wine. It doesn’t help either that I also want to buy records and whisky. That’s not your problem, but my guess is I’m not alone, and I’m also well aware that I’m lucky to be able to afford to drink nice wine, especially right now.

Complaining won’t get us anywhere. I doubt any political party will reduce taxes on wine and the economic pressures on both winemakers and wine sellers (whether importers or retailers, the latter who are also being hit with astronomical rents and rocketing fuel costs) remain. I would also argue, as most of us recognise, that winemakers deserve to make a decent living from what is not only hard physical work, but work which also creates unique financial pressures with so much at the whim of the weather. Also worth remembering that artisans make less wine than industrial producers so their unit costs are so much greater.

If, like me, you can no longer afford wines which used to cost £30 and now cost £50, what can be done? Let’s face it, I’m not alone in having to ditch the Ganevat and Labet for cheaper labels. That was of course the first recourse. If we simply take the Jura region as one example, for every famous name, or highly expensive micro-producer, there were so many other thrilling wines to be had. There still are, but the Covid lull, importers and journalists travelling less, has meant that some have been slow to appear in British retailers and restaurants (but then who can afford to buy decent wine in restaurants anymore?).

As an aside, Champagne! I love Champagne. Once I discovered Grower Champagne, I became a real geek. You used to be able to find plenty from this genre for £30-£40, and a good many “special treats” for £50-£60. I can’t remember the last time I bought Champagne, other than a few bottles for a party which were certainly drinkable for £35, but nothing remotely special. Even English sparkling wine has rocketed up in price, with some favourites having seen a 20% (occasionally more) price rise in just three years. My favourite English producer’s current releases can still be had for under £40/bottle but not for long, I suspect. As for my great love, Bérêche, well I can see some wines having increased by 60%, taking them well out of my price range.

That’s the sad thing. If you love wine, you develop a strong bond and connection with certain producers and when you can no longer afford their wines it becomes more than a nuisance, but something genuinely saddening. This started to happen to me last year for quite a few producers, many listed in my Review of the Year 2023 as those who have both thrilled and educated me over the years.

What can we do? If we want to keep our purchases within a nominal £20-£30 budget there are thankfully several options.

First, join the wine trade. You won’t get a merchant banker’s salary, but then wine trade people tend to be nice to work with, and your employer will more than likely give you a decent discount. It’s why some wines rarely get out of the stock room, but we can’t be bitter about it. We’d do the same.

We could establish ourselves as famous wine writers. Some of the most famous have admitted they get far too much wine to “taste” themselves. One even admitted a few years ago that they often get home to find a case on the doorstep. I was joking with someone only last week that I seem to average one free bottle a year, though things would have to get even worse than they are now for me to wish to write about stuff that I didn’t like and be nice about it.

The first real option, especially if you are into natural wine, is to widen your net. There are countries whose wines just tend to be cheaper. Portugal must rank top of this list, and much of Spain outside the classic, or fashionable, regions. Equally, although many cuvées from Languedoc-Roussillon can be expensive, there are relative bargains to be found. This can be especially so in some of the smaller appellations where wines often have a specific regional character. This is also true of Southwest France, where some individual producers have been shining beacons for decades without their prices rising significantly.

Some countries’ wines are just not that well known and if producers wish to get a foothold in a large market, they are quite likely to go easy on their pricing. Czechia is a classic example, as are Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, some wines from Greece etc. As I keep saying, the best of the Czech artisans often provide a lot of interest and excitement for your money.

Australian wine once provided amazing value before it got very expensive, but today, although I see fewer Aussie natural wines in the UK, there are still plenty which hit a good price point. They are often well-made wines from once unfashionable regions, such as Riverland. Likewise check out South Africa, which still sends a tremendous number of excellent wines to the UK, most of which don’t break the budget.

Next option, look at good producers’ entry level wines. Back when we bought Burgundy the mantra was always producer over vineyard. A decade ago, some of the world’s wine bargains came from Burgundy, a good example being Jean-Marc Roulot’s Bourgogne Blanc. It really does taste several levels above its designation. The 2010 cost me £24/bottle, I think. Now prices are frightening. Le Grappin’s Beaune Boucherottes was another, a classic example of a brilliant wine made from a less fashionable Premier Cru. My first purchase was six bottles, now I can’t afford one.

However, I recently drank Hermit Ram’s Field Blend Red (from North Canterbury, NZ) and you can still buy it for under £22. Theo Coles’s Pinot Noir wines from single sites are double that. There are a few bargains like this which remain within reach. Kelley Fox makes a brilliant Pinot Blanc, as, come to think of it, does Philipp Wittman. In the same region as Wittman, Klaus Peter Keller makes a few entry level wines, none more remarkable value for money than his Von Der Fels Riesling. Alice Bouvot (L’Octavin) now prices her domaine wines out of my reach, but her negociant wines can be brilliant, and more affordable, just.

The next thing to do is look at wine regions which have gone slightly out of fashion. If you want thoughtfully made wine but are not hung up on it being fully “natural”, then French regions like Bordeaux are well worth a new look. Whilst the classified châteaux have become the domaine of collectors, oligarchs and PPE millionaires, down the pecking order producers have had problems shifting wine. Plenty of Petits Châteaux are making better wine than they have ever made but prices remain reasonable. Good estates, and some of the entry-level wines from very well-know estates can fall into my nominal £20-£30 price bracket. Sadly, this includes few if any of Bordeaux’s increasing number of low intervention wines.

Other places to look for affordable wine, places where the top wines command stupid prices, can be Piemonte outside of the two Bs, Roero and the other smaller DOCs being good places to look. Chianti Classico (especially at normale level) can also be priced reasonably, with some low intervention wines in this bracket.

Back in France, The Loire is also a good bet. Wines such as Guiberteau and Antoine Sanzay have seen prices for red wines rocket but their Chenin whites, perhaps less fashionable, are no less good. Just two examples. Likewise, The Loire has always been a good source of natural wines and some of the pioneers, whose wines I drank a decade or so ago and then sort of forgot about, have not always seen price rises as large as other regions.

For sparkling wines it’s tricky. There are individual sparkling wines which match good Grower Champagne for a fraction of the price but you do need to taste before you buy in quantity. Many such wines are French Crémants, of which Alsace and Jura seem to provide what I like, although many head to The Loire. Pétnats are also usually cheaper, and I tend to buy quite a few. Petr Koráb from Moravia seems to provide me with several different cuvées every year.

In Germany, prices here have increased more than at any time I can remember. Germany has finally become a little fashionable. That’s good for those German artisans making world class wines, but less easy for those who love those wines. The classic varieties of Riesling and the increasingly world class Pinot Noir/Spätburgunder being made there are running away from us, but there has been a rejuvenation of demand for, and interest in, grape varieties which were once looked down upon. These are often grapes which once made very basic wines (Müller-Thurgau and Dornfelder, for example, and whilst we are here, Zweigelt and Sankt Laurent in Austria).

Rudolf Trossen told me a few years ago that the abandoned, steeply terraced, vineyards of the Mosel outside of the famous villages were selling for so little money that owners couldn’t give them away. Now, such sites here, and in other less well-known regions, are being worked by young winzern with high standards and inventive minds. I often say that Alsace is now the most exciting place in Europe for natural wine but Germany seems to be able to do it cheaper.

As if to prove that wine can still be affordable, I have recently enjoyed a wine from Dorli Muhr in Austria’s Carnuntum that cost me £16. Okay, her basic regional wine is not in the same league as her single vineyard offerings. It’s a smooth and rich blend of Blaufränkisch and Syrah and it’s perfectly acceptable to my palate at any price. At this price it’s a real bargain, at least from my perspective, that of a wine obsessive. I’ve also realised that Beaujolais still gives us wines of genuine value. Perhaps despite its fashionability among wine obsessives it has never quite lived down the 1980s and industrial “Nouveau” among the general public (I think the “new nouveau” is just beginning to wrest back its reputation).

I’m not going to try to persuade you that Swiss wines are good value, but Switzerland makes an interesting case study. Right now, Swiss wines are probably cheaper in comparison to their competitors than they have ever been. This is because the demographic of a market which consumed the vast majority of wines produced has changed, and for the first time ever, Swiss producers are seeking export markets. There are consequently more Swiss wines available on our UK market and whilst some are just way too expensive for the quality, quite a few are not.

But I’m digressing. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that the wine trade should recognise the difficulties consumers face today in terms of the increased price of wine. It does sometimes feel as if I am being thought of as going downmarket when shopping, for the first time reminding me of the attitudes of certain posh merchants towards the Plebs in the early 1980s. But this applies more to retail. There are importers, and I would say that it is mostly the small, specialist, importers who are in the vanguard, who do seem to recognise the market for interesting artisan wines which are affordable to ordinary wine purchasers. Those of us whose disposable incomes have remained broadly the same when wine prices have sometimes doubled.

To consumers I would say ignore the hype. A certain Japanese winemaker working in Alsace comes to mind. First vintage 2022, tiny production, three wines advertised last week in the UK priced £45, £50 and £55 a bottle (same wines available at a Bordeaux retailer I know for 33-to-36€/bottle, but that reflects costs more than greed, I suspect). I’ve not tried the wines so can’t comment, but… There’s still a lot of very tasty and interesting wine out there. We just have to work harder to find it, just as we have to work harder to find those 70s records we need so badly.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Fine Wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Hobby, Wine Merchants, Wine Shops | Tagged Cost of Wine Rising, How to find Good Affordable Wine, Natural Wine Price Increases, Pressures on Wine Prices, Wine Prices | 5 Comments

Recent Wines December 2023 (Part 2) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 09/01/2024 by dccrossley

Before we get onto Part 2 of the wines I drank in December, a quick plug for a wine book project close to my heart. Some of you may have already seen that Wink Lorch has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a companion volume to her Jura Wine (2014). She plans to publish a “Jura ten years on” supplement this year. She’s doing pretty well. I think she raised half of her small target in 48 hours. However, a pledge now will not only ensure that the project goes ahead, it is also by far the easiest way to obtain a copy. If, like me, you have a passion for Jura Wines, I’m sure you will want to be onto this. The campaign has a very short run time, of less than a month, so don’t delay.

Right, December. In Part 1 we visited Hungary, Alsace, Hampshire, North Canterbury (NZ) and Slovakia. Here in Part 2, we have some delicious wines from Jura, Rheinhessen (two, but very different), Alsace and Carnuntum.

“Point Barre” 2020 Vin de France, Tony Bornard (Jura, France)

Tony’s father was one of the people who really built on Pierre Overnoy’s work to make Pupillin as famous as its “World Capital of Ploussard” signs would have it. Philippe founded his domaine in 2005, and is in fact a good friend of Overnoy. Recently, his son, Tony, has fully taken over winemaking. The estate remains a shining beacon of natural winemaking in the village. Tony took over in 2017, having started his own label a few years earlier in 2013. By merging both sets of vineyards, Tony can now farm just shy of 12 hectares. Everything is farmed biodynamically, and these remain benchmark Jura natural wines.

This cuvée is basically a fruit-forward, glouglou Ploussard (Poulsard). The terroir is based on a mix of marls and the grapes see a 21-day whole berry, carbonic, fermentation. The wine is aged in large old oak. What you notice first is that the colour is darker than many of Philippe’s later vintages. However, if it is slightly more grippy and even a little tighter that previously, it is still very much fruit-driven with cherry, blackberry and raspberry all on nose and palate. To this I would add a bit of Moroccan spice and a real vibrancy, which has always been this cuvée’s hallmark.

Very much a “drink or keep” wine, and very much like father, like son. The orange fox is in safe hands. My bottle came from The Solent Cellar, though wines like this disappear in days. Nowadays you will pay (after a little research) probably between £50 and £58 if you can find a bottle. That’s my only gripe, and I can feel and article about wine prices coming on. I think Les Caves de Pyrene is still the importer.

Rötlich 2021, Andi Mann (Rheinhessen, Germany)

This light, 10% abv, red wine comes from one of the newer (at least to me) names in Rheinhessen natural wine. Andi farms at Eckelsheim, where he grows vines with an average age of 30-y-o on limestone and porphyr at around 150 masl. This is an old family domaine, dating from the end of the 17^th century, but Andi has introduced a wildly experimental attitude, along with a strict natural wine philosophy. Intensity is perhaps his main objective.

I tasted Andi’s Müller-Thurgau back in November and really enjoyed it. I already had this red in the cellar, and light as it is (10% abv), I found a bright winter’s day to pop it open. The main variety is Blauer Portugieser (45%), with 30% Cabernet Dorsa (a Blaufränkisch x Dornfelder cross), with Dornfelder, Merlot and a little Bacchus making up the rest. Part of the blend was direct-pressed and part was fermented as whole bunches. Ageing was in 2,400-litre vats for 12 months, with no sulphur added at any stage.

We get a very lively strawberry bouquet, and a cherry crunch on the palate. A fresh wine, it has quite high acidity, but is light and refreshing, easy going and tasty. In view of how I concluded on the last wine, this is somewhat less expensive at £24.50 (from Cork & Cask via importer Roland Wines). I would describe it as an excellent summer glugger. Look out for Andi Mann as the days get longer.

Westhofener Steingrübe Chardonnay “R” 2021, Weingut Seehof (Rheinhessen, Germany)

I suppose I should admit that I do try to get a degree of variety into my wine drinking, and it’s fairly unusual for me to drink two wines from the same region in immediate succession at home. In my defence, these two wines could not be more different, at least in terms of style and flavour. This is a serious Chardonnay, and if you didn’t really expect to see one from Rheinhessen, perhaps neither did I.

Florian Fauth makes this wine from a fairly large vineyard which reaches up the slope from the houses of Westhofen, and which happens to lie right in between the somewhat more famous Westhofen crus of Morstein and Kirchspiel. It is, like its neighbours, an ancient vineyard on sandy loam, first mentioned in 1295.

I must say, this was impressive, and, with apologies to the Fauth family, a bit of a surprise (in terms of the variety/location). The bouquet had lots of toasted nuts, and was very Burgundian, but the fruit had a touch of the New World to it (albeit cool climate New World). It was a nose which suggested the wine might be a little young, but the palate showed that it was very enjoyable now, though will doubtless get even better.

It may gain in complexity, but I loved the rich Chardonnay fruit, which had a creamy sweetness to it, though the wine is dry, and saline at the finish. You get a full mouthfeel, but the alcohol (13%) has good balance with the fruit. The wine also has poise. Nothing spills over the edges so to speak.

My bottle came from The Solent Cellar (£25). Other options would include Butlers Wine Cellar (£25.50) and The Good Wine Shop (branches in London) (£28). I think Chardonnay is joining Pinot Noir amongst the grapes to seek out in Germany, almost certainly a sign of climate change, even if it will still very much play second fiddle to Riesling in Rheinhessen, one assumes.

Rouge de Pinot Noir Cuvée Nature 2022, Anna, André and Yann Durrmann (Alsace, France)

Yann Durrmann has taken over at this exciting Andlau domaine where his father, André, inherited the small vineyard started by his own father as part of a mixed farm. Yann has continued the work André began, creating natural wines with, more often now, zero added sulphur (the Cuvée Nature wines). The key to this family’s philosophy lies in the vineyard: ecology, sustainability and biodiversity, of which I’ve perhaps written too often to repeat here.

The Pinot Noir comes off schist and sandstone. It undergoes a four-week maceration before ageing in a mix of stainless steel and older oak. The result is a pale red wine smelling so clearly of our English summer pudding (which blends red and dark fruits encased in a red juice-stained bread case). Like many Durrmann wines, it has a slight funkiness to it, but most people will appreciate the fruit-forward nature and its concentration. There’s a good lick of acidity, of course, and a very nice length. A great picnic wine, or one for lunchtime (with only 11.7% alcohol on the label).

Another wine from Cork & Cask (Edinburgh), £28. Imported by Wines Under the Bonnet. Also potentially available from a good few independents like Gnarly Vines, Forest Wines and Natty Boy Wines.

Carnuntum 2019, Dorli Muhr (Carnuntum, Austria)

A decade ago, I’m not sure I’d drunk a Carnuntum (I think my first record of one was in 2015), but the first bottles I drank from this region of Lower Austria were some of Dorli Muhr’s impressive single vineyard wines, especially those off the Spitzerberg (from where Dorli now makes several cuvées) in the far east of the region, up towards the border with Slovakia.

Carnuntum, named after a Roman City in the region, boasts around 900 hectares of vines, east of Vienna, but south of the Danube. The revolution, if it can be called that here, began in the early 1990s, when red varieties started to take over from the old white field blends.

Dorli Muhr grew up in Carnuntum, before a well-documented international career in wine PR. She began making wine on a small scale in the early 2000s, but her success has led to a growth in production. I think it fair to say that she has the biggest international profile of those producers from the region, although you will likely find one or two other recognisable names here.

This wine is a blend of Blaufränkisch (65%) with Syrah, which come off lower-lying vineyards. The grapes are fermented in large wooden vats and the wine is matured for two years, with only one racking. Although I don’t come across a lot of blends containing these two varieties, they do go very well together. This combines red and darker fruits, a plumpness and smoothness which to a degree is simple but not dull. A nice peppery spice on the finish grounds the fruit.

Dorli converted her estate to organics some time ago, but as I saw her at Autentikfest in Moravia in 2022, the only Austrian producer I noticed at this natural wine fair, I am assuming that these are able to call themselves natural wines as well now. This Carnuntum is certainly an “everyday” kind of wine, but then look at the price: £16 from Smith & Gertrude in Edinburgh’s Portobello. That makes it easy to say you can’t go wrong.

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, German Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Alsace Natural Wine, Alsace Pinot Noir, Andi Mann Eckelsheim Rheinhessen, Andi Mann Rotlich 2021, Austrian Wine, Blaufrankisch-Syrah Blend, Carnuntum Wine, Domaine Durrmann Andlau, Dorli Muhr Carnuntum, Florian Fauth Weingut Seehof, Poulsard, Pupillin Ploussard, Recent Wines December 2023 (Pt2), Rheinhessen Chardonnay, Rheinhessen Natural Wine, Tony Bornard Point Barre 2020, Weingut Seehof Westhofen, Westhofener Steingrube Chardonnay R 2021, Yann Durrmann | Leave a comment

Recent Wines December 2023 (Part 1) #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 03/01/2024 by dccrossley

As I begin writing, I’m enjoying the extra Bank Holiday (January 2^nd) we have up here in Scotland. Hogmanay obviously requires more recovery time than New Year down in England. As I appeared to have a large glass of undiluted Aperol in my hand at midnight on 31 December, I can probably vouch for that. Perhaps it was just as well I didn’t spot any Bailey’s, though that very nice Whisky Cream Liqueur I tried back in November (from Arran Distillery at the Cork & Cask Winter Wine Fair) would have been nothing to feel embarrassed about.

It’s quite nice to be able to look forward to a new year whilst everyone is still in a relaxed and festive mood. Yet I still need to look back too, to the wines we drank in December…or at least those worth telling you about. December did see us consume more than our fair share of commercial party fare. Some total dross passed my lips (not to mention someone giving me a bottle of Barefoot Malbec as a Christmas present, a kind thought nevertheless). It does make me feel lucky to be able to drink decent wine, even if I’m more often looking for bargains these days.

The first part of the wines we drank at home last month has wines from Eastern Hungary, Alsace, Hampshire, North Canterbury in New Zealand and Slovakia.

A Change of Heart 2018, Annamária Réka-Koncz (Barabás, Eastern Hungary)

Some of you will know that this producer’s wines come into the UK in fairly limited quantities and they tend to sell out within a couple of weeks, at least via their importer which has an online shop (retailers do sometimes have bottles on the shelves for longer). At the same time, I’ve been known to get through my own purchases well before the next vintage arrives. What was great about this bottle was that I had a chance to try Annamária’s Kékfrankos cuvée with some decent bottle age. At five years of age, I think it must be the oldest bottle of hers that I’ve drunk.

It came from a 3-hectare vineyard but in 2018 Annamária only made 711 bottles of this “Blaufränkisch” (for which Kékfrankos is the Hungarian name). The vines are old, between 50 to 60 years of age. The grapes were 50% destemmed, with 50% whole bunches, going into stainless steel to ferment. It’s a natural wine with no additives etc (I’m not sure about whether it saw a little sulphur or not?).

It has concentrated cherry with darker fruits on the nose, the palate being very smooth now, with cherry fruit and peppery spice. It is still very much fruit-focussed, but it is quite rich and warming (only 12% abv though). Very nicely balanced. I do love the Réka-Koncz wines.

Imported into the UK by Basket Press Wines.

Riesling “À L’Horizon” 2019, Domaine Albert Hertz/Du Vin Aux Liens (Alsace, France)

Vanessa Letort works with several producers for her collaborative negoce label, making a number of cuvées with Frédéric Hertz (Albert’s son), who has been converting this now Demeter Certified Eguisheim domaine to biodynamics and natural wine production. This isn’t the first of those collaborations I’ve tried, and I’ve enjoyed them very much.

Frédéric farms 9.5 hectares with cellars in this attractive, once-fortified, village with two Grand Crus and overlooked by a couple of hilltop castle ruins up in the Vosges, above the vines. The vines used to make this wine are thirty years old, and are planted on a clay and limestone mix. Vinification is simple, with fruit directly pressed and, after fermentation, transferred into old oak to mature for twelve months. The only addition is a little sulphur.

We have a classic Riesling bouquet of prominent lime with floral notes. The palate balances mineral acidity with a richer peach and apricot plumpness in the mouth. Very nice, and also refreshing and vibrant. A few years maturing in bottle has done it no harm whatsoever.

£25 from Made From Grapes in Glasgow or (though sold out, I think) Winekraft in Edinburgh. The importer is Sevslo in Glasgow.

“A Fermament” Sauvignon Blanc 2018, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, UK)

English Sauvignon Blanc! You don’t hear those words spoken together very often, although the variety’s homeland, France’s Loire Valley, isn’t exactly the Mediterranean so the concept isn’t completely daft. What makes growing Sauvignon Blanc in Hampshire possible is the rather special microclimate Tim Phillips farms. It’s a mix of proximity to the sea, with the additional barrier of the Isle of Wight just offshore, and the tall brick walls around his vineyard, which retain and reflect heat. Think Victorian walled garden, which is exactly what we have here. After all, if Tim can ripen Riesling, then Sauvignon Blanc should be a doddle, right?

Well, it’s never quite that simple, yet Tim has become something of an expert with the variety. It’s not a copy-book Loire that he’s making, and certainly nothing at all like a New Zealand version, but instead something uniquely English. It has a colour which suggests a little skin contact, but the bouquet is pristine and clean, with nettles. It both smells and tastes a little richer than the last bottle I drank, a 2017 (back in July 2022). There is still that filigree backbone of brittle acidity, but there is flesh on the bone as well.

Tim is something of a perfectionist, as those who have tried any of his wines will know. I’d suggest, however, that he should not worry because he has got it spot on here. I shall leave what I think is my last bottle of 2018 a while.

Tim’s wines are notoriously hard to source. Aside from Tim’s open days, when what little he has available can be purchased, try Les Caves de Pyrene, and also Tim’s local wine retailer, The Solent Cellar in nearby Lymington. Prices between £30-£36.

Field Blend 2019 “Skin Fermented”, The Hermit Ram (North Canterbury, New Zealand)

Theo Coles makes the wine at Hermit Ram. He’s a great winemaker on two counts. First, he has mastered zero-sulphur natural winemaking in a country where natural wine is pretty rare, even today. Second, he’s a real innovator. I don’t know anyone who experiments more in NZ and in doing so he is consistently nudging the boundaries of winemaking in that country.

One thing Theo knows how to do well is skin contact. Although you might associate the style more with making white grapes into orange/amber wine, this field blend contains both red and white varieties. We have Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay. These are all grapes you’ll find at NZ’s corporate wineries, but I’m wondering if harvesting them all together from one site and co-fermenting them is unique in the country?

The fruit was all destemmed and fermented on skins for six weeks. Ageing was in used oak barrels, the wine naturally going through malolactic. Zero sulphur was added.

The wine has the feel of a Pinot Noir, especially with the lifted cherry fruit bouquet, yet on the palate all the varieties add something. I can pretend to pick out their characters, though I’d honestly never guess this cuvée’s composition in reality.

Very highly recommended, but do give it time to unfurl in the glass (we used the Zalto Universal which seems to work so well for zero sulphur natural wines, at least in our house). I’d say that this is a bargain, circa £21 for the 2021 vintage I saw recently on Uncharted Wines’s web site. Especially as the single vineyard Pinots from Hermit Ram are getting more expensive.

Oranžista 2020, Slobodne (Slovakia)

The producer calls this (P)artisan wine, and I think that actually describes this pretty well. Slobodne are one of Slovakia’s new star producers, working 17 hectares of vines on a much larger farm at Zemiansky Sady in the West of the country, northeast of Bratislava. This work, to rejuvenate the farm, has been a labour of love for the two sisters, along with their partners, who regained the land after it was lost to them during the Communist era. Everything they do follows organic and biodynamic principles.

Skin contact wines are something of a speciality here. Oranžista, which they began making in 2015, is a varietal Pinot Gris. Part of the crop is fermented on skins and the remainder as whole bunches. This gives us a wine that is very deep orange in colour, but which is both fruitier and livelier than the colour, and indeed its 13% alcohol, suggests. The bouquet is unquestionably dominated by orange scents, and the palate too, but with an almost negroni-like bitter twist.

But I’m over-simplifying things. It is zippy and fruity yet it has depth too. It tastes a little different, perhaps very much like a full-on orange wine might taste but with much more fruit and less (indeed little appreciable) tannin, at least after a few years in bottle. It’s a little different but a lot more than just a little good. Possibly not for everyone, but personally I always think this is a brilliant wine.

The 2022 vintage should be available from Modal Wines for £31.50. It remains one of the best value wines from the Slobodne range.

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, English Wine, Hungarian Wine, Natural Wine, New Zealand Wine, Slovakian Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Annamaria Reka-Koncz Barabas Hungary, Boutique Wine in Hampshire, Charlie Herring A Fermament 2018, English Sauvignon Blanc, English Wine, Frederic Hertz Winemaker Eguisheim, Hermit Ram Field Blend 2019, Hungarian Wine, Kékfrankos, Les Vins aux Liens, New Zealand Wine, Recent Wines December 2023 (Pt1), Reka-Koncz A Change of Heart 2018, Riesling A L'Horizon Dom Albert Hertz, Slobodne Oranzista 2020, Slobodne Zemiansky Sady, Slovakian Wine, The Hermit Ram North Canterbury, Theo Coles Winemaker, Tim Phillips winemaker, Vanessa Letort | Leave a comment

Review of the Year 2023

Posted on 22/12/2023 by dccrossley

My Review of the Year 2023 marks a new phase in my life. I can’t really say career, because as far as wine goes, it isn’t a conventional one (and I think, to many working in wine in my new country, they don’t recall me having one). Writing doesn’t sustain me financially, but I feel that the total independence I have does accrue the trust of my readers. When I say “new phase” I mean that having moved to Scotland in 2022, this marks my first full year here, as an immigrant if not quite an exile.

What has changed most is that whilst previously I would have attended several dozen trade tastings a year in London, and a similar number of lunches and dinners organised on specific wine themes, those are thin on the ground up here. Even when they take place, I’m pretty much an unknown to the locals so invitations don’t come freely, as they once did. At least when London comes to Edinburgh, I’m still getting a nice email and an invitation. The contrast is mildly annoying. I’m just a bit sad that Les Caves de Pyrene decided to venture up here when I was in Australia (very bad timing).

Australia (March-April) was most fruitful, not for the usual winery visits, but for discovering the wonderful P&V Wine Merchant in Sydney. I have Jamie at Cork & Cask in Edinburgh to thank for the recommendation. Not only did I discover a whole load of natural wines I’d never seen before, but on walking into their Newtown store (a fifteen-minute walk from where we were staying in Sydney at our son’s place) I saw that co-owner, the legendary Mike Bennie, was putting on a Jura Masterclass and they had one ticket left. See my articles of 29 May (Wines in Australia) and 7 June (Jura Masterclass).

Cork & Cask, which has a shop in Marchmont in the south of Edinburgh, holds a Winter Wine Fair every November. Although we’ve had some of the smaller London importers come up and give excellent tastings (Modal, Basket Press to name two), the Cork & Cask event brings a dozen or so of their suppliers to our capital, and it’s a good chance for me to touch base with people like Wines Under the Bonnet, Dynamic, Vine Trail, Roland, Indigo and more. It’s the second year I have been and even though they make me pay it has generated three articles worth of fabulous wines on both occasions.

Books and Articles from 2023

In 2023 I published 47 articles which by 31 December will have generated somewhere over 40,000 views. That’s a nice increase on last year, and on 2020. It doesn’t hit the high of 2021 (over 52,000 hits), but then I’m guessing people had more time during Covid. I always like to list the most popular articles read in the current year, and the dates of publication (apologies to American readers for confusing you with our quaint British system here) which give an idea of the enduring popularity of some articles.

That Jamie Goode’s latest book appears on this list despite only reviewing it in October shows how popular The New Viticulture has been for my readership (as one would expect). That this should be my Wine Book of the Year may therefore come as no surprise. Jamie’s previous book, Regenerative Viticulture, also featured in the top reader’s hits for ‘23. I hope the popularity of The New Viticulture here is reflected in sales, as it is pretty much essential reading for anyone deeply into wine, not just those who make it.

I would also like to highly commend New British Wine by Abbie Moulton and Vines in a Cold Climate by Henry Jeffreys. Both cover the wines and wine personalities of the UK. They are very different, both from each other and from Dr Goode’s book, which is certainly technical, yet is written in a way that makes the science relatively easy to understand for anyone wishing to significantly increase their knowledge. It’s like a text book that is a pleasure to read.

All three are very enjoyable and engrossing. That there is room for so much literature on the wines of Great Britain (remember Ed Dallimore’s book last year and hopefully one from Ruth Spivey in 2024) says a great deal about everything that’s happening here (or should I say down there). The most exciting developments are not always happening in the most obvious places too. My reviews of all three books are easy to search for on my site.

The list of fifteen articles below, those which had the most reads in 2023, includes some perennial favourites. The Jura article which heads the list is perhaps slightly dated, in that what was our favourite restaurant closed after Covid, but pretty much everything else still holds true. I only wonder whether all who read it actually visit the Jura region and shop the shops…and especially walk the walks? I’d love to know.

This, and the article on Nepal and Tibet’s strange alcoholic beverage, Tongba, seemed to get close to twice the number of hits as everything else. The Tongba article gets a lot of traffic from Nepalese and European travel sites. Finally, I shall mention Breaky Bottom. This English producer has been quiet on social media since Covid, but they recently perked up thanks to one of their younger workers (thank you, Louisa). A recent link to my article about this complete treasure of English wine, set in the most beautiful location I know for an English vineyard, which followed a visit in 2022, seems to have generated an incredible surge in end of year traffic.

The most popular articles on wideworldofwine.co in 2023 were (no long pause)

Tourist Jura – A Brief Guide to Arbois and Beyond (First Published 07/20)
Tongba – A Study in Emptiness (01/16)
Pergola Taught (on pergolas, of course) (02/21)
Extreme Viticulture in Nepal (about Pataleban Estate) (11/19)
Paradise Lost (a eulogy for the late Pascal Clairet and Dominique Belluard) (06/21)
Vin Jaune (06/23 – the top article of all those posted in 2023)
Regenerative Viticulture by Jamie Goode (Book Review) (06/22)
The New Viticulture by Jamie Goode (Book Review) (10/23)
New British Wine by Abbie Moulton (Book Review) (03/23)
Like a Child in a Sweet Shop (Visit to Made from Grapes in Glasgow) (03/23)
Gut Oggau Visit in August 2022 (09/22)
The Hearach (much awaited first whisky from Isle of Harris Distillery) (10/23)
Breaky Bottom (winery visit) (03/22)
One Wine Leads to Another (Alsace collaborative negoce Du Vin Aux Liens) (02/23)
Mike Bennie Jura Masterclass (at P+V in Sydney) (06/23)

Resolutions for 2024

I have never really been one for New Year’s Resolutions generally, which might be one reason my fitness levels slowly deteriorate, and why I don’t have to take the month of January off for lack of wines to write about. If January won’t be “dry”, nor will it be any more vegan(uary) than any other month. I live with a vegan so I am used to a mainly plant-based diet, whilst getting my cheese fix, and occasional other sins (especially my habit of not reading the ingredients on chocolate wrappers) in other ways.

But when it comes to wine, I have recently made a habit of setting out some things I hope to achieve in the following year. There are a few I’d like to share.

The first two relate to my drinking. Ever since I made Foot Trodden by Simon Woolf and Ryan Opaz my book of the year in 2021, I’ve been promising to drink more Portuguese wine. I have no idea why I have failed miserably. Butlers Wine Cellar in Brighton (who will deliver here), and Modal Wines (who even make the effort to come up here) both have some exceptional Portuguese wines. There’s no excuse, and I must try harder.

Equally, I am shocked at how Euro-centric my drinking seemed to become this year. That was placed into sharp contrast during the weeks I spent in Australia in spring ’23. There, I drank wines I have never come across here. I tend to think that good or affordable Aussie natural wines are not as easy to get hold of as they once were, although there are exceptions among importers (Les Caves do their level best). But when my drinking does hit Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and, of course, South Africa (where I should have few excuses), I am always made very much aware that I ought to be making more of an effort here.

My other promise to myself for 2024 is to try to support the growing natural wine scene in this part of Scotland. I can’t afford to buy wine as I once did, but I can write about the scene. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have their own small importers and they are doing a good job to find new talent out there. But I’d especially like to see both Newcomer and Tutto Wines have a presence in this market, and Swig too, come to think of it. It’s for purely selfish reasons. When it’s hard to get deliveries, I just want to see more of my favourite wines in my local (-ish) retailers. There’s a limit as to how many bottles I can lug up from London every two-to-three-months.

Whilst I’m here, not so much a resolution, but I also need to do more to enlighten some importer or other as to the fact that Michael Dhillon (Bindi, see below) makes wine at one of the very finest estates in the whole of Australia. Definitely top-5, at the very least! I saw a well-known London-based wine person extolling Bindi about a month ago, so I’m not alone.

Finally, a couple of odd lists. The first is a list of people who have been an inspiration to me through my “career” and have in many ways kept my writing going, often as a muse for an article, or for their knowledge (and ability to share it), and in some cases for sharing and validating my own enthusiasms. I wanted to write about all of these people but before I left England I only got around to an article about Christina Rasmussen. So here is a list instead.

Doug Wregg – Les Caves de Pyrene sold me my first natural wines bought in the UK and Doug has been the shining light, bar none, for teaching me to look at and love wine in a different way. He has no idea…
Jamie Goode – Dr Goode is probably the greatest wine communicator working today in terms of teaching an understanding of wine science as well as what matters in winemaking. wineanorak.com
Christina Rasmussen – Wine educator and impassioned advocate for (and practitioner of) sustainable viticulture. littlewine.io
Wink Lorch – Author. For years (from the 1980s) it was just myself and Wink in Arbois, you know. Now look at the place.
Ania Smelskaya – Sommelier, educator, photographer. I challenge you to find any more enthusiastic human being when it comes to natural wine. It rubs off.
Alan March – Alan and I have been on a parallel journey. Different places but same destination. I value his opinions more than most. Blogger: amarchinthevines.org , sometimes at Coutelou in the Languedoc.
Tim Phillips – England’s thinking winemaker. I marvel at his combination of intellect and its application to making astonishing wines where by rights it shouldn’t happen. Charlie Herring Wines.
Valerie Kathawala – I’ve never met Valerie in person, though we used to talk on Zoom a bit. She has planted the seed for quite a few of my articles both during and after Covid. She is co-founder of Trink Magazine, the most valuable resource on wines from German-speaking countries and regions, wines which I think you know I like a lot. I only regret that she once published one of the dullest articles I have written.
David Neilson – The man behind backinalsace.com . He’s to Alsace what Wink Lorch is to Jura and Savoie, and he truly knows Alsace natural wine inside-out. As Alsace is the happening place for natural wine right now, David is your man.
Jiří Majerik – Jiří, along with his wife, Zainab, runs Basket Press Wines. Jiří is Czech. He’s helped me to see how exciting the Czech natural wine scene is. If, one day, people remember I was perhaps the first to preach about these wines, I won’t become rich on it, but I may have cause to thank him even more. Surely, it’s time to discover the likes of Koráb, Osička, Dva Duby, Richard Stávek and others (along with producers in their portfolio such as Magula from Slovakia, Annamária Réka-Koncz from Hungary and “Max Sein Wein” from Germany).

The second list is a simple one. They are all winemakers. David Neilson (see above) is always telling me I shouldn’t have favourites. I’m sure he’s completely right in a professional context, but I’m not your average wine writer in that specific sense. It’s just something I want to do and now seems an appropriate time. They are in no particular order:

Domaine Rietsch (Jean-Pierre Rietsch), Mittelbergheim (Alsace)
Renner und Sistas (Stefanie, Susanne & Georg Renner), Gols (Burgenland)
Gut Oggau (Stephanie & Eduard Tscheppe-Eselböck), Oggau (Burgenland)
Julie Balagny RIP (Beaujolais)
Domaine L’Octavin (Alice Bouvot), Arbois (Jura)
Bindi (Michael Dhillon), Macedon Ranges (Victoria)
Breaky Bottom (Peter Hall), Rodmell (Sussex)
Domaine de la Tournelle (Evelyne and the late Pascal Clairet), Arbois (Jura)
Bérêche & Fils (Raphaël Bérêche), Craon de Ludes (Champagne)
Charlie Herring Wines (Tim Phillips), Lymington (Hampshire)

I have to leave it at ten. I could easily double the list with producers from Jura and Alsace, Champagne, Czechia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and more, producers whose wines I love and drink when I can. Yet this list is somehow more than one containing favourite producers. The wines made by these ladies and gentlemen have touched me profoundly. They have reached into my soul and pulled on something in there. Some of their wines have brought me close to tears. And the great thing is that they are all wonderful people (although, sadly, I never met Julie Balagny, the only one). I feel more than lucky to have lived at a time when these people are/were making wine.

I hope that 2024 brings you peace, happiness and prosperity, and that your drinking is enlightening and thrilling. Perhaps you may find a little inspiration here, and in my Wines of the Year (previous article). I hope we can continue to enjoy wine, tastings, meals, books and travel together throughout next year and beyond.

Posted in Artisan Wines, Natural Wine, Review of the Year, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Books, Wine Festivals, Wine Heroes, Wine Merchants, Wine Science, Wine Tastings, Wine Writing | Tagged Abbie Moulton New British Wine, Henry Jeffreys Vines in a Cold Climate, Jamie Goode The New Viticulture, Most Read Articles of 2023, Review of the Year 2023, Ten Winemakers who have Touched my Soul, Wide World of Wine Resolutions, wideworldofwine.co top articles 2023, Wine Books of the Year 2023, Wine Leaders - inspirational people | 1 Comment

Wines of the Year 2023 #theglouthatbindsus

Posted on 18/12/2023 by dccrossley

Wines of the Year! It could be so self-indulgent, could it not? A dozen posh bottles which no one can afford and will probably never drink. I do have some of that stuff left in my cellar, a kind of reminder of what I used to drink, occasionally, long ago. The reason I hope you will both read and enjoy my take on the WOTY thing is because my criteria is not price, fame, rarity (though because some of these are tiny production wines, they may be rare) but interest. As with my “Recent Wines” articles, from where these wines were taken, the real criteria is simply “what did I find most interesting”? If I found it interesting, stimulating, exciting etc, then perhaps you will. I’m sure you share my enthusiasms.

There are a dozen wines here, one from each month of 2023. As I begin this article, I don’t know what I shall choose from December. The last two wines I drank could both qualify, but embarrassment that all of the first eleven come from Europe may be one of the deciding factors. That there are three English wines among this dozen must say something (I kind of feel sorry for another English producer who was just edged out).

I don’t think the wines I have been drinking have changed that much over last year and I have an apology to make. I’m trying to be honest with this list, not contrived, but I’ve noticed that in 2022 I listed the previous vintage of two exact same wines I list here. I must like them a lot. There is also another, albeit different, Breaky Bottom cuvée here, again. That expresses a lot about how much I love this small English producer.

However, there are no Czech wines this year, and no Swiss wines either. Perhaps even more shocking, there are no wines from Champagne in my 2023 dozen. Don’t read anything into these omissions. I’ve drunk so many, especially the Czech wines, and enjoyed every one of them. Perhaps it has been a time for others to stand out. These selections always end up being pretty tight and hard to choose.

It is unlikely that many, if any, of these will still be available, but I have included the month where I wrote about them, in case you want to search and read a little more, and have listed the retailer and/or importer should you wish to pursue the current vintage.

At the end I indulge myself with a whisky or two. Not all of you will love whisky, but if you do I think these are beautiful drinks at the affordable end of the spectrum, if costing slightly more than your basic ten-year-old.

January: « B…j.l..s » 2021 Vin de France, Julie Balagny (Beaujolais, France)

Julie sadly passed away this year. Many of you will know that she had become my favourite producer in the region, supplanting long-time favourites such as Lapierre and Foillard. In truth, her Cru wines were getting beyond my budget, yet this fruity Gamay, from old vines on the Juliènas border, having undergone a carbonic maceration, is the epitome of what Beaujolais ought to be, and in many ways nicely sums up what was so new and exciting about Julie when she first came to my attention. I drank my last Balagny bottle, a Fleurie, this year as a toast to a great individual, so sadly no Balagny for me next January. Tutto Wines may have dwindling supplies of Julie’s wines.

February: “Table” Vin de France [2019], Caroline Ledédenté (Bugey, France)

Last year a Bugey made it into my dozen (actually I cheated, it was a baker’s dozen of thirteen) Wines of the Year. In 2023 I drank a few more from the region, but in February this bottle from a producer totally new to me grabbed the prize, in a tough battle I can tell you. Caroline trained with the highly respected Gregoire Perron and farms 2-ha (creating a wonderful biodiverse environment) in Bugey’s southern sector, closer to Savoie. The variety here is Molette and it’s a zippy, citrus-imbued natural wine with no added sulphur. 2019 is only her second vintage! This came from the now defunct Noble Fine Liquor in Hackney. If anyone knows Caroline’s UK importer, please let me know. In Australia you may find her at the wonderful P&V Merchants in Sydney. Someone (Mike Bennie, surely) knows their stuff.

March: Seyval Blanc 2018, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, England)

I’m always excited to taste something new from a producer whose wines I love. Tim Phillips had asked me to evaluate some as yet unreleased sparkling Seyval Blancs. I think it was because I know Peter Hall’s Breaky Bottom Sparkling Seyval pretty well, and Tim knows I hold that as the benchmark. This wine has since been released as The Bookkeeper Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature 2018, and one of those will certainly be opened next year. Disgorged 10/22 with 8g/l dosage, it tasted like fresh and crisp Bramley Apple but with more depth, which will develop further. It gets the March vote for the thrill of racy English Seyval which is well on the way to matching Peter’s versions. Rare, as are all Tim’s wines, but he is a rare talent. Contact Tim direct via Charlie Herring Wines. Alternatively, see whether Les Caves de Pyrene can source any.

April: Naturally Petulant Pink 2021, Westwell Wines (Kent, England)

This isn’t Westwell’s “finest” wine in an objective MW/WSET kind of way, but you know how a wine can really hit the spot. The grape varieties are the very three you might find in Champagne, but here Adrian Pike has created something different and new, not merely because it’s a petnat rather than “trad method”, hence its appearance here. Late October harvest, skin maceration (it’s a lovely quartz pink), bottled early (Nov ’21), roughly disgorged, zero added sulphur. Strawberry and lemon meringue with raspberry sorbet. Thrilling, and massively refreshing. Put me well in the mood for our trip to Australia later in the month. Uncharted Wines is the lucky agent for Westwell.

May: Morgon “Côte du Py” 2011, Jean Foillard (Beaujolais, France)

The second Bojo to make the list, but a very different one. Of course, this is a natural wine, one of the daddies of them all. But the naysayers say drink this young because they cannot contemplate a zero-sulphur wine lasting a dozen years. Well, I can tell you… This has “pinoté” (as they say). It tastes like very fine Burgundy, and yet the Gamay is still there when you seek it. As fine as any fine wine I have drunk in the past few years. So good it beat a bottle of Comtes ’06, a Cru Classé Sauternes of the same age, and a bottle from Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, to claim this slot. Probably purchased from The Solent Cellar (Simon and Heather are big fans, and once they had magnums), but long ago now.

June: Schilcher Frizzante Österreicher Perlwein, Franz & Christine Strohmeier (Styria/Steiermark, Austria)

It’s good to have your secret shame out in the open. I have had a bit of a thing for Schilcher Sekt for a lot longer than I have been into natural wine. Bracing acidity and blueberry/blackberry fruit make it the ultimate discovery for any acid hound. This version is only gently sparkling. That makes it less shocking, but in any case, we have one of Austria’s finest winemakers as its creator. Blauer Wildbacher is the rare autochthonous grape variety, first fermented in stainless steel with the second fermentation in bottle. There seem to be a million pin-prick bubbles caressing the palate. Another unique wine brilliantly constructed. Newcomer Wines imports Strohmeier for the UK market.

July: Disorder #4 2021, Annamária Réka-Koncz (Barabás, Eastern Hungary)

I was slightly surprised one of Annamária’s wines didn’t make the cut last year, I certainly drank enough of them. This one does, and this bottle was the first time that I have had UK access to this cuvée. It is 100% Furmint, a variety I only started to appreciate fully as on a par with the world’s finest varieties perhaps five or six years ago. What I love about Furmint is its intense minerality which, in the finest examples also shows depth and complexity. The best are not merely linear. The grapes come from a plot at Mád, and the wine is a collab with Annamária’s close friend, Stefan Jensen, owner of Terroiristen Vinbar in Copenhagen. Old vines, skin contact, volcanic soils, giving orchard fruits and bags of individuality. Basket Press Wines imports Réka-Koncz here but they often last about two weeks once they arrive.

August: Complètement Red Vin de France 2021, Lambert Spielmann (Alsace, France)

As I’ve already said, I compiled this list blind. I had no idea that Lambert’s 2020 made the cut last year. If you asked me which is my favourite of his wines it would probably be another, but this one is very seriously good. That said, serious isn’t really the right word. It’s the most fruit-packed red wine I tasted in 2023, and doubtless 2022 as well. Pale as a Poulsard but unmistakably Pinot, natural wine heaven. Lambert is one of Alsace’s rising stars, yet he hardly makes enough wine to satisfy the locals. Tutto Wines imports Spielmann. They can’t deliver to Scotland, so deep in the wilds of farest East Lothian do I live now (well, 30 mins by train or car from Edinburgh), and frankly guys, I don’t see enough effort being put into getting this producer into Scotland. I need more Spielmann.

September: Cuvée Sir Andrew Davis 2016, Breaky Bottom (Sussex, England)

It’s interesting that there has been a surge in people reading the article I wrote on Breaky Bottom (published 15/03/2022) since it got a mention and a link from Breaky Bottom themselves (who had been a little quiet, post-Covid, on social media but that has changed). My visit there, of which I was writing, ranks among my most memorable to any wine estate, and I already knew the wines made by Peter Hall in England’s most beautiful vineyard location extremely well before I went. To be frank, you could choose any (well-aged) BB cuvée as a Wine of the Year, depending on your budget. The wines are all exciting, and remarkable value. This one is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It has finesse and delicacy, but paired with the complexity these grape varieties give after long lees ageing. First port of call is always Butlers Wine Cellar. Also available from Corney & Barrow, and indeed by mail order from Breaky Bottom itself.

October: “Agostado” Cortado 2017, Bodegas Cota 45 (Jerez Region, Spain)

This is effectively an unfortified Palo Cortado (at 14% abv) from this small bodega near to Sanlúcar. This is Palomino Fino with the addition of a couple of very rare varieties, Perruno and Uva Rey. The fruit comes from a range of top sites but ageing is just for 26 months, under partial flor. Slightly nutty and oxidative, but viscerally mineral, there is apple fruit (slightly bruised) and vibrant lemon. A rich wine with real and magical presence, and certainly in my estimation, world class. It isn’t cheap, but like the wine that follows it, and indeed all fine wines out of Jerez, it is far cheaper than most wines in its class. The Sourcing Table may still have some of this. It may also be available from Les Caves de Pyrene.

November: La Bota de Palo Cortado 75, Equipo Navazos (Jerez Region, Spain)

As when I used to wait for the Number 73 bus from Stoke Newington to take me to work, you wait for ages and then two come at once. To be fair, this wine did come along more than forty days after the Cota 45, in late November as opposed to early October, but both are unquestionably wines of their respective months. Equipo Navazos is well enough established now that they don’t need my praise, but this Palo Cortado from Pago Miraflores La Baja (Sanlúcar) is a remarkable wine, even by their standards. You get toasted almond and hazelnut, essence of orange, a whiff of Earl Grey tea, a chalky edge, and a glass so scented that if not washed will still give pleasure next morning. What elevates it even further is the delicacy alongside the intensity. I also believe that bottle age (this is a saca of July 2017) has worked some magic too, even if experts doubt the ability of Sherry to age like Port and Madeira in bottle. Alliance Wine imports EN into the UK.

December: Field Blend 2019 “Skin Fermented”, The Hermit Ram (North Canterbury, New Zealand)

What is the point, some may ask, of including another wine I listed in my Wines of the Year 2022? Okay, it was the previous vintage once again, but even so! As I said before, this list was made without cheating and peeking, and the wines are here on their own merits. Even so, the Slovakian wine we drank last night did push Theo Coles’s Hermit Ram close. This wine was chosen because it is pretty unique in a New Zealand context, and even quite unique in a wider wine universe. This field blend comes from the Limestone Hills vineyard in North Canterbury and contains five international varieties: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay (six weeks on skins). Perhaps it tastes most like Pinot Noir, yet there’s a lot more to it. A fascinating wine as it unfurls (in our case, in Zalto Universals, which appeared to do it justice). It seems remarkable that whilst this producer puts out some expensive Pinots you can still grab this for £25 from (once again) Uncharted Wines. If anyone is making more thrilling wine in New Zealand I’d like to know.

I also wanted, now that I’m a “New Scot”, to throw in a Whisky of the Year. It proved to be too difficult to select just one, the following pair being too close to call it. I won’t provide notes. You can find them on this site (the second of these got an article all to itself back on 8 October) or elsewhere. They are Isle of Arran Distillery Sauternes Cask Finish and The Hearach, the first whisky release (their gin is already legendary) from the Isle of Harris Distillery. Both were purchased at Cork & Cask in Edinburgh.

Posted in Alsace, Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, Beaujolais, English Wine, Hungarian Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, New Zealand Wine, Sherry, Spanish Wine, Whisky, Wine | Tagged #theglouthatbindsus, Adrian Pike Westwell Wines, Agostado Cortado 2017 Cota 45, Alsace Natural Wine, Alsace Wine, Annamaria Reka-Koncz, Beaujolais, Bodegas Cota 45 Sanlucar Jerez, Breaky Bottom Cuvée Sir Andrew Davis 2016, Breaky Bottom Sussex, Bugey, Caroline Ledédenté Bugey, Charlie Herring Seyval Blanc Brut 2018, Equipo Navazos, Field Blend 2019 The Hermit Ram, Franz Strohmeier Styria, Furmint, Isle of Arran Sauternes Cask Finish, Jean Foillard Cote duu Py 2011, Julie Balagny Beaujolais, La Bota de Palo Cortado 75 Equipo Navazos, Lambert Spielmann, Lambert Spielmann Completement Red, Morgon Cote du Py, North Canterbury Wine, Palo Cortado, Peter Hall Winemaker, Reka Koncz Disorder #4 2021, Strohmeier Schilcher Frizzante, Sudsteiermark, The Hearach Isle of Harris, Theo Coles The Hermit Ram, Tim Phillips, Westwell Wines Petulant Pink 2021, Whiskies of the Year 2023, Wine of Eastern ~Hungary, Wines of the Year 2023 | Leave a comment

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