Out of the Box 2017 (Part 2)

Posted on 05/10/2017 by dccrossley

In this second part of my write-up of the Out the Box Tasting at The Crypt on the Green, Clerkenwell (Tuesday 3 October), I’m covering wines from Basket Press Wines, Nekter Wines and Swig. For a bit more of an introduction to the Tasting, and to read about the wines shown by The Knotted Vine, Modal Wines and Red Squirrel, follow the link to Part 1 here.

For anyone who didn’t read Part 1, the Tasting was characterised by a lot of new producer names, and this certainly carries through, perhaps even more so, to the wines shown by the three small importers featured here. As I said in Part 1, the room was not especially crowded, although such a large space can be misleading as to numbers. If you didn’t make it, or were waylaid at the higher profile events around town, do read on. These guys deserve a shout as well. Their wines should be better known.

Swig

BASKET PRESS WINES

Basket Press was set up by Jiri Majerik and Zainab Barrodawalla, Jiri being Czech. Both have extensive but very different wine trade experience, and they set out to introduce more Moravian wines to the UK. Moravia is a region in the south of the Czech Republic, close to the Austrian border and the Austrian Weinviertel Region (and also right up on the border with Slovakia). It’s where most Czech vineyards are situated, south of Brno, on mainly rolling limestone hills with a broadly benign climate.

Many readers of my blog will already know one Moravian producer, Milan Nestarec, whose wines are often available via Newcomer Wines in Dalston. Here I’m featuring five out of eight producers on show, only one of whose wines I’ve tried before. I think they give a good enough reason to explore Czech wines further.

Stapleton-Springer don’t sound Czech. Craig Stapleton is a former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, and Jaroslav Springer came on board as winemaker. The speciality here is Pinot Noir, which makes up 75% of their fairly extensive 22 hectare plantings. Three wines were on show, all worth trying, but the one I’ll mention is the most unusual. Orange de Pinot Noir 2016 is a wine I first tried at one of our Oddities lunches and was immediately taken with. This 2016 is a pinky orange colour, and a bit of a fruit bomb – you almost taste wine gum. But underneath that is skin contact texture. I’d say, of the three, it certainly has the least “varietal character”, but it does have plenty of character of its own. A very nice wine.

Ota Ševcík makes natural wine in Southern Moravia and was a founding member of the Autentisté wine growing association. He’s also a Pinot specialist (the Čtvrtě vineyard here is renowned as one of the best Pinot Noir vineyards in Moravia), but only one of the  wines tasted included Pinot Noir.

Pinoty 2015 blends Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris into a juicy white that has 24 hours skin contact. This contact is in barrique, after which the juice goes into larger oak for eleven months, before resting for a further six months. There’s a touch of almost “car sweet” pineapple fruit which makes it refreshing. Blanc de Noir 2015 blends Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris into a wine which has a smoky nose and a mouthtingling zip.

Richard Stávek runs a mixed agriculture farm in Southern Moravia, and alongside his biodynamic wines, his family breed goats, grow fruit and keep bees. On show were a white and a red, Spigle-Bocky (2015) is the white and Zwan (2015) is the red. Zwan blends Zweigelt and Andre (a local crossing of Blaufränkisch and St Laurent, which gives soft tannins and good acidity).

I also got to try a wine not on the list, Bakon 2015, a skin contact red from the rarely seen Baco Noir variety. I’ve come across this hybrid variety mentioned in France before, the brandy grape Folle Blanche being the vinifera parent: it’s a vinifera x rupestris (ie American vine) cross. Some of you may have come across Baco Noir in Canada, where it seems to crop up in most of that country’s wine regions. Here, in Bakon, it ages in a variety of sizes of old wood of different types. Darkish-hued and peppery/spicy, it was very attractive.

Tomáš Čačík  makes a varietal Frankovka (the Moravian name for Blaufränkisch) from a tiny estate of just a few hectares. He seems to be very focused on quality, but his wines don’t reflect this in the price. His Frankovka 2015 is quite a light and peppery version, very attractive. He was also represented by a Cabernet and a Pinot Blanc, a name to watch if prices remain reasonable.

Jaroslav Osička is another member of the Autentisté group of Czech natural winemakers. All the wines shown were white, a Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and a Chardonnay. The latter was my favourite. It comes out of a tiny plot of around three quarters of a hectare near the town of Velké Bílowice. The vines average over 20 years in age and the gentle slopes of the vineyard are at around 250 metres. It was described to me as “Jura-style”, and I suppose it did have a slightly nutty, and ever so slightly oxidative, note which we Jura lovers never really know whether it is the winemaking or the terroir (Chardonnay often tastes ever so slightly like Savagnin around Arbois if you go with the “terroir” theory).

It sees three days on skins in old oak, 10-15% whole clusters, then three months on gross lees, followed by two whole years on fine lees. This makes for a fairly complex wine of, I would say, real class. It had genuine presence. It was done the honour of being served from a decanter, which I’m sure would be sound advice for anyone lucky enough to grab a bottle or two. It was a very difficult choice as I was quite thrilled to discover these Moravian wines, but I think this Chardonnay was my wine of the table from Basket Press.

 

NEKTER

Nekter is very new, only being set up last year by former management consultant Jonothan Davey (sic), with the aim of bringing over new producers from California, a task so far pretty much left to Roberson for the UK market, along with South Africa and Australia. Nekter have fifteen producers on their books, all making minimal intervention wines, and I will concentrate on four of them, to give you a flavour of the Portfolio.

Keep Wines is an interesting producer. To whet your appetite, it is run by Jack Roberts (Assistant Winemaker at Matthiasson) and Johanna Jensen (formerly with Scholium Project and Broc Cellars). Pedigree established, let’s move on to the five wines tasted.

Blanc Blend 2016 comes out of Napa’s Yolo County and comprises 85% Picpoul which, being slightly less ripe (in brix) than hoped, had 15% late harvested Grenache Blanc added. There’s a touch of the orchard fruit about it, lively, appley, with crunch but without excessive acidity. Just 11% abv.

El Rino 2016 is a varietal Albarino from the Sacramento Delta. It was bottled when just 80% through malo, with the fermentation finished in bottle. So you get a touch of CO2 and a lot of freshness, with an ever so slightly sour note on the finish, which serves to add something interesting to what is a fresh, summery, wine.

Rose 2016 is a pale salmon blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Mourvèdre. The nose was very muted, yet in the mouth it was very refreshing indeed, all fruit and zip.

Two varietal reds rounded off their wines. Counoise 2016 is made by carbonic maceration in stainless steel, with just 12% alcohol to its name. It is light and refreshing with that “country wine” quality, approachable but still rather exciting. Carignane 2016 is fuller in body with a bit more grip and a touch of spice. Take your pick.

The labels, in case you are wondering (photos below) are of what remains of the Norman era Beverstone Castle in Gloucestershire, where Jack Roberts’ father grew up.

Benevolent Neglect is the label of a couple of East Coast emigres who began making wine in 2013, seeking fruit from old vineyards in Carneros/Sonoma and Mendocino. Eaglepoint Ranch is at 1,800 metres above the Ukiah Valley in Mendocino County, whilst Las Madres is one of the most highly regarded Syrah vineyards in Sonoma.

BN Syrah 2015 is elegant, with violets on the nose and classic blueberry fruit. Grenache 2015 comes from the aforementioned high altitude vineyard at Eaglepoint Ranch. It has elegance but a juiciness as well. This is also another source for a varietal  Counoise (2015). They describe it as a fun wine for everyday drinking, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. A year ago they were far from happy with how this was turning out, but took the decision to give it another twelve months. It worked. Very bright, the nose is high-toned and all cherries and berries. There is a little tannin there, but there’s enough fruit to balance it. Another country wine, one for really simple dishes, but that is in no way putting it down, rather the opposite.

Illimis is Latin for clarity. Lucinda Heyns has worked at Jordan and Mulderbosch, as well as in California, but has now established her own label in South Africa, making wine with fruit sourced from Elgin and Darling. Elgin Chenin Blanc 2015 gets eight months in old oak. You get peach, pear and apricot plus a touch of salinity and a real whip of zingy acidity, which makes this very attractive. Darling Cinsault 2015 is made from fairly old (40 years +) vines, but by carbonic maceration. This gives off a multitude of red berries, but with a nice savoury finish. Light and fun, and, like the Chenin, very refreshing.

Captains of Trade has proved the hardest to research of all the wines tasted at Out the Box this week. I couldn’t even find any background info on the Nekter Wines web site. I was told that the wines are made at Oak Vale, a well known winery on Broke Road, Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley, and that’s about as far as I got. But I found some lovely wines on taste from this Australian label.

There were three wines from Orange in New South Wales, all labelled From Sundays (2016). They are all suffixed with an explanation: “Juiced”, “Carbonic” and “Skins”, and it was the last of these which I liked the best. It’s made from 100% Pinot Gris (all three are), with a pinkish hue, more of a “ramato” style than an orange wine, exactly. There’s a little texture, but plenty of fruit too.

A red Pinot Noir, Milla 2016, comes from the Adelaide Hills. Then there were two more wines from NSW’s Hunter Valley. Lucky’s 2015 is 85% Syrah (it says, not “Shiraz”) with 15% Pinot Noir. It’s a blend which was quite popular in Australia in the 1980s, though not seen so much today (but I think it’s starting to make a comeback). Maurice O’Shea’s famous Hunter Valley Burgundy often blended the two together, and Pinot Noir does tend to take on a very different character in this warmer and more humid region. This version, from Captains of Trade, is relatively cheap and excellent value.

The Beast 2016 is an example of a variety, Verdelho, which also had a bit of a reputation at one time in these parts, in fact all over Australia’s wine regions. It fell out of favour, but this egg-fermented skin contact wine is exciting, and shows what could signal a comeback for the grape variety. It combines the tropical fruit of Aussie Verdelho with a touch of texture to provide a bit more interest. Lovely wine.

Finally, Paserine, who had three wines from South Africa on taste, two reds from Tulbagh (Union 2015, a blend of 50% Syrah with Carignane and a bit of Mourvèdre, and Marathon 2015, a Bordeaux blend of, unusually, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 51% Petit Verdot and a 7% dash of Carmenère), plus an Elgin Chardonnay 2015. 

My slight favourite was the white. The cool climate fruit is quite intense. It has various elements. Creaminess probably comes from the 16 months spent in barrel, with weekly lees stirring. Then you get purity of fruit, with even some ginger spice adding a savoury character. This probably comes from the cool climate, mediated by the sea breeze which rolls up the vineyard slopes. Elgin is a great terroir for cool climate Chardonnay and the minimal intervention the Paserene version sees makes this previously unknown to me producer well worth seeking out.

 

SWIG

I tasted a few wines from the Swig (or should it be SWIG, or even, as I’ve seen it spelt, SWiG?) stand at the Dirty Dozen Tasting at The Vinyl Factory in Soho a few weeks ago, but not many. As on that occasion, this was one of the busiest tables. I got to taste a few more wines but I had to give up on taking photos, and I didn’t manage as many as I’d have liked. I did manage to add seven more producers to those Swig wines I tasted at The Dirty Dozen (a mere three, but you can follow the link to that Tasting in Part 1). Swig do the rounds with some gusto – as they say in their introduction in the catalogue, they do indeed have “a few more trade shows under the belt than some of our fellows [sic] here”. As a result, they are one of the better known importers at this Tasting.

Swig were showing a really broad selection of producers from a wide spread of countries, and their portfolio shows the kind of wonderful mix put together by true enthusiasts, rather than people who just sit here in the UK waiting for the missing Saint-Joseph or Gavi to turn up as a sample. I don’t know the people involved, but you get the impression that they’ve all got dirt under their finger nails on occasion, and grape juice stains on their feet.

BK Wines are probably best known in the UK for the interestingly named One Ball Chardonnay, which I did taste at The Dirty Dozen. Three more BK offerings were poured on Tuesday: Skin n Bones Red 2016 (an Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir) and Waning Crescent 2016 (Syrah from the same source), plus my favourite, Skin n Bones White 2016. This is a varietal Savagnin out of Lenswood. It’s much lighter, and indeed fruitier, than many Jura examples, but it’s really tasty in that gluggable sense you always get with the BK label, and it comes in at just 11.8% abv too, as if to underline its purpose.

Domaine Gournier makes wines which, on this showing, are not going to set the senior critics on fire. Yet the rest of us are really going to get interested when we see a blend of Rolle (aka Vermentino), Riesling and Pinot Gris from the Cévennes. The Gournier estate is quite large, and its various wines are available from a number of different importers, but their Mas Bres Stella Blanc 2015, which is the name of the above blend, is fruity and fresh, and would make a good talking point over lunch. It has the advantage of costing a little over £8 to the trade, making it inexpensive for a wine which might prompt some discussion among wine lovers.

There has been quite a bit of a Sylvaner revival in Germany recently. Of course, there was always a focus on the grape in Franken, both dry and sweet, but Weingut Stefan Winter is based in Rheinhessen. Dettelsheim-Hessloch is not one of Germany’s best known wine villages, but Stefan Winter has been putting it on the map. His achievements are recognised through the estate’s membership of the prestigious VDP organisation. Sylvaner 2016 is herby more than fruity, and mouth cleansing without the overt acidity of some examples. Although at the lower end of the Winter portfolio, it’s a very good example of this (in my opinion, though I know I’m in a minority) under rated variety.

Fratelli Collavo is a Prosecco producer in the Valdobbiadene sub-region, producing biodynamic wines. Two wines were tasted. Prosecco Collfondo is bottled on the lees without disgorging. It means the sediment remains in bottle. The consumer has a choice, either to stand it up and pour carefully for a clear wine, or to be adventurous by just pouring it into a carafe and giving it a bit of a shake (or a rest) for oxygen to work its stuff. Sealed under crown cap (like a pét-nat), this blend of Glera, Bianchetta Treviso and Perera is fun. Just a very different kind of fun to a £5 supermarket Prosecco.

Prosecco Brut 6.0 “Rive di Refrontolo” is 100% Glera and bottled under cork, like Champagne. It’s perhaps a more serious wine, from one of the new single site DOCG designations. Apple and peach flavours and a nice, elegant, bead. Both wines are good, both very different. Again, take your pick.

Vinedos Ruiz Jimenez is a Rioja producer near Aldeanueva de Ebro, southeast of Calahorra. Swig had both a red and a white on their table. The red is pure Garnacha, but the white is, unusually, Tempranillo Blanco. It has rounded, plumpish, fruit and, oddly, given the unusual grape variety, tastes just like a really good white Rioja should. I know people who have fallen in love with its pretty label, and then with the wine in the bottle.

I finished Swig with two South African producers. AA Badenhorst Family Wines are clearly not one of the new unknowns to be discovered at this Tasting. Their wines are rightly renowned. Swig were showing the two Secateurs wines from Swartland (the white Chenin and the red blend, from the 2017 and 2015 vintages respectively), and the Papegaai 2016 red, which is a Cinsault. I have a particular soft spot for the final wine from Badenhorst, Brak-Kuil Barbarossa, which is another wine I discovered via our Oddities lunches.

Brak-Kuil Barbarossa 2015 is made from the Barbarossa grape variety. What, you ask? It’s a variety (or possibly “varieties”) once found in France and Italy, perhaps very old and some say named after the Holy Roman Emperor of the same name (or perhaps it just refers to its beard-staining possibilities if one tends to dribble?). How it turned up in South Africa, and how it became “legal”, I don’t know, but Adi Badenhorst has fashioned something quite unusual out of it.

It’s tannic and meaty at its core, so you think “country wine”. But it’s surprisingly pale considering the initial palate, and the fruit is more red than black. It suggests that something will emerge a few years down the line that is not yet present, only hinted at. I may be wrong – I think 2014 was the first vintage so we don’t know what it has to offer. But there’s a very strange vibrancy and “life” in this wine. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Pieter H Walser founded Blank Bottle Winery after (you probably know the story by now) a woman came to him asking for a red wine, “anything but Shiraz, I don’t drink Shiraz”. He poured her a glass, naturally she loved it and bought three cases. It was naturally a Shiraz he’d served her. The philosophy behind Blank Bottle (and the name) is take no notice of what’s on the label, only what’s in the bottle. Would that we all did that!

Orbitofrontal Cortex 2016 is a blend of around half-a-dozen white varieties from the Western Cape. It’s a famous wine now, at least in wine geek circles. For me, it’s one of those wines which illustrate the perfection of a blend where each part comes together perfectly, revealing different facets within a coherent whole.

Kortpad Kaaptoe 2016 is more linear, more savoury too. Maybe not quite as appealing to me as the previous wine, but then that would be a tough ask. It’s still very good, and made from 100% Fernao Pires (aka Maria Gomez in Bairrada, where it’s an important variety).

Both of the above whites are sourced from Swartland. The red comes from Breedekloof, in the Breede River Valley between Wellington and Worcester. My Koffer 2016 is Cinsault with smokey fruit, a pale colour and bags of juice in the mouth. These wines have a worldwide following now, and deserve much more recognition in the UK, where certain names tend to dominate from South Africa.

Savagnin
Stefan Winter Sylvaner
Cévennes Blend
Blank Bottle (OfC on right)
Ruiz Jimenez White Rioja
AA Badenhorst
Rive di Refrontolo Prosecco
Swig

 

 

 

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Out of the Box 2017 (Part 1)

Posted on 05/10/2017 by dccrossley

Out the Box groups together seven small, independent, wine importers to give them a group platform in the ever competitive and crowded British market. This market may be both of these things, but it has also grown enormously over the past decade. With the uncertainties over the future, especially with the massive devaluation of our currency over the past year, and rising inflation, small importers need a platform to promote their wares.

The 2017 Tasting took place in the spacious Crypt on the Green in Clerkenwell, one of London’s hidden “villages”, between Farringdon and Islington. During the three-and-a-half hours I was there I could not say that the room was crowded. It’s true that there was at least one very big Tasting across town which clashed – at this time of year there are so many Tastings, almost every day. Whereas in some previous cases you will have been able to read about a tasting like this one from numerous sources, I have a suspicion that write-ups of “Out of the Box” might be slightly more limited. I hope to give you a good flavour of the very exciting stuff on show.

If you persevere with my articles, you’ll find more than fifty wines selected for inclusion from those I tasted. And indeed, these form the majority of those I tasted. I may well have missed out some gems, but very few sips were unworthy of comment. As you read on, you’ll also notice that many of the names here may be unfamiliar, and some of the wines will seem downright unusual. Out the Box certainly pushed at a few boundaries.

In order to make this Tasting a little more digestible, I’ve split it into two parts. Part 1 (here) covers three importers: The Knotted Vine, Modal Wines, and Red Squirrel. Part 2 will follow with Basket Press Wines, Nekter and Swig. Maltby and Greek were also at the Tasting, but I did them justice at the recent “Dirty Dozen” tasting in Soho (see my article here), although I did spot that they had some of the elusive Sigalas oak aged Assyrtiko from Santorini, which was so annoyingly glugged dry at the Vinyl Factory event.

THE KNOTTED VINE

This is a new importer to me. It is based in London and is headed up by David Knott. His passion is for wines of purity, “clean wines that allow varietal grape characteristics to shine in the glass”. He appears to know what he’s doing.

Architects of Wine is the label of Dave Caporaletti. Knotted Vine import two wines, a Chardonnay (Adelaide Hills) and a Riesling (Clare Valley), both made with minimal intervention. Only 900 bottles were made of Skin Contact Riesling 2016. But this 12%er is so well defined, light on its feet yet concentrated too. Very “natural”.

Damon and Jonathan Koerner are a Clare Valley team, with most fruit coming from their own Gully View vineyard. The Clare Red 2016 is a nice blend, but I preferred La Corse Red 2016, Sangiovese, Malbec, Grenache and (hence the name) Sciaccarello. Very juicy, quite light and zippy for a red, not unlike some of the wines out of Corsica.

David Franz is actually the son of Peter Lehmann (not that his surname gives it away), and he tills the earth in that same Barossa Valley where his father made his name. These wines are quite exciting. They have great fruit without it being drowned in either alcohol or oak. Possibly my favourite of the four was Long Gully Semillon 2015. The vines are 130 years old, I’m told. Picked early for freshness (which shows in spades), the juice spends a year on lees for texture and complexity. But it’s so refreshing (all lime and greengage).

Plane Turning Right 2013 refers to Bordeaux’s Right Bank (Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot), is fruit packed, and not like any Saint-Emilion jam I know. Grenache 2015 comes from Adelaide Hills this time. Quite pale with reddish fruit, plus bitter cherries on the finish. Despite 14% abv, this is actually pretty elegant. You’d never guess it packs a punch. Back to wider Barossa, Georgie’s Walk 2012 is pure Cabernet Sauvignon with a deep, dark fruited, bouquet and nice concentrated fruit.

I drink a lot from Austria, as you know, but I’ve never come across Barbara Öhlzelt from Kamptal. Not surprising because although she’s been making wine since 2014, Knotted Vine is her first importer outside of the German speaking world. Try her Kellerweingarten Grüner Veltliner 2016 which is mineral, but quite fruity too for this variety. A nice softness as well.

Armas de Guerra (Weapons of War) refers to the tools used to maintain a healthy vineyard when not using synthetic chemical treatments. Based in Bierzo, in Northwestern Spain, I tasted a red and a white. Godello 2016 is quite exotic, from 45 to 55-year-old vines grown between 450 and 600 metres, delicious. Bierzo Tinto 2016 is pure Mencia, not as immediately appealing as the white in some ways, yet a nice savoury, chewy, and bright red.

El Mozo is a small family enterprise in Rioja Alavesa, nine hectares of old vines in 18 small plots at Lanciego. Rioja Alavesa “El Cosmonauta y el Viaje En El Tiempo” 2016 boasts a fetching red “cosmonaut” label. Pale, with some tannin, which hides (at this stage) a wine which I think has a lot of potential to age into something very elegant. The other reds I tasted from El Mozo were good, but this blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Viura, Malvasia and Torrontes had something extra.

Vinos Mar 7 is based in the centre of Sanlucar, but I’ve never heard of them. They don’t appear in Peter Liem and Jesús Barquin’s Sherry book. But the three wines on show were very nice. My favourite was the Manzanilla Pasada which was salty and savoury, with a bit of extra body.

Koerner
David Franz
David Franz
Architects of Wine
Weapons of War
El Mozo Cosmonauta
Mar 7

 

MODAL WINES

Modal Wines’ manifesto is to “source unique wines with the right mix of edge, character, balance and drinkability”. The Modal offering at this Tasting was smaller than most, but none of the wines I tasted here disappointed. The most interesting producer I found was Slobodne from Slovakia. I’d be doing a disservice not to mention all four of their wines on taste.

Oranžista 2015 is 100% Pinot Gris with 10% skin contact. Pale orange colour with a distinctive bitter orange flavour (a bit like dry Lucozade). Cutis Pinoter 2015 is also Pinot Gris, but with 100% skin contact. Broader on the nose, this is pinkish-orange. It really retains its freshness, there’s a little texture on the tongue, and it finished with the bite of marmalade peel. Deviner 2013 blends the local variety, Devin (a Gewurztraminer/Roter Veltliner cross), with Traminer and Grüner Veltliner. This has no skin contact, and is aromatic, clean and fresh. A lovely white. Cutis Deviner 2014 is the same blend, but far more extreme. One for orange wine aficionados – I loved it. All four wines come from Hlohovec, in the Trnava Region of Southwest Slovakia.

Modal also imports wines from Joiseph who are based at Jois at the northern end of the Neusiedlersee, not far from Neusiedl-am-See. The most interesting of their low intervention offerings was a wine often more associated in our minds with Vienna. Ruhe in Frieden 2015 is a Gemischter Satz. It comes from an old co-planted vineyard and had three weeks on skins, so there’s a bit of texture. Only 240 bottles were made, aged in four 50 litre demijohns. The name translates as “Rest in Peace”. The vineyard was in poor condition when the family took it over, and it is no longer in production. But the wine is extraordinary for its type if you ever get to taste a not inexpensive bottle.

Modal Logo
Slobodne
Slobodne Deviners
Joiseph Gemischter Satz

 

RED SQUIRREL

Red Squirrel is one of my favourite small importers, so I know their wines well. This is why I’m not going to write about wines I’ve covered before, but sticking to new producers was impossible when faced with new wines from old favourites. Still, my two stars here were both wines I’d never tasted, but had been aching to try.

I began with Vinterloper as I have to mention the Park Wine pair. These are bottled in 50cl beer bottles with a crown cap, and intended for picnics etc. A brilliant idea from David Bowley in the Adelaide Hills – top marks for really thinking “out(side) of the box”. The white is Gewurztraminer, but a version that is fresh and zingy with a touch of texture. The red is Dolcetto. Serve it chilled, and quaff it out of the bottle if you dare.

Bioweingut Diwald is well known in my house, especially for Martin’s Sekt this summer, and for all his Grüner that we saw in Japan in August. Maischegärung Zündstoff 2016 is an orange Riesling to rival his mate Arnold Holzer’s orange (Roter Veltliner) wine. Despite the skin contact, which some argue takes away varietal character, I’d argue that you know this is Riesling. Lots of minerality and character come through.

Okanagan Crush Pad seems to be appearing on my blog a fair bit at the moment (we had a Gamay and Pinot Noir a week ago, see my last post), so I will only mention one of their wines today. Haywire Free Form White 2015 is a slightly cloudy Sauvignon Blanc of genuine individuality, partly because it has all of nine months on skins (that’s up from five months for the 2014). It comes from the limestone and granite of the Waters & Banks Vineyard in Okanagan’s Trout Creek Canyon. Unique, I’d say, and delicious, so long as you like a lovely sour touch on the finish. For me, really exciting stuff. All of the Crush Pad’s wines are well worth buying.

If Château de Bel is unfamiliar, you don’t follow me on Instagram. I’ve drunk both of Olivier Cazenave’s entry red and white wines, Echappée Bel, recently, and for £15 they are excellent value. Here, we are leaping up in quality and perhaps doubling the price. But these are well worth it! Bel en Blanc is, like the red which follows, and like all Olivier’s wines, a “multi-vintage”. It’s 100% Muscadelle, gorgeously fresh with beeswax and melon among the many flavours coming through (a bottle would, I’m sure, yield a lot more). Franc de Bel is pure Cabernet Franc. Pure in both senses, smooth and rich, and mouthfillingly bright. Made in a solera, I believe. Can’t wait to buy some.

Château Combel-la-Serre is Julien Ilbert’s rapidly praise-garnering Cahors estate, with 26 hectares up on the causses at Saint-Vincent-Rive-D’Olt. The purest of 100% Malbec, no oak, Burgundy bottles, these all signal an attempt to make something different. Try, for example, La Vigne Juste Derrière Chez Carbo 2016, carbonic maceration Malbec with vibrant colour, smooth fruit and a lightness of touch which you only get in Argentina from the new wave, and almost never in Cahors. It doesn’t lack body, but the amazing fruit lifts it.

How many of you have been to Liguria? It really is a lovely region, not only the vineyards on the steep coastal fringe, but also the densely wooded mountains which act as a barrier with Southern Piemonte. When I tasted a Ligurian wine the other week at “The Dirty Dozen”, I wrote that Red Squirrel is my usual port of call for Ligurian wine. Just try these.

Bruna may just produce the best Pigato in the region. Red Squirrel import three Bruna Pigatos from single sites, plus a “Vermentino” just to prove that although they are genetically identical, so we are told, the two “varieties” act differently in the Arroscia Valley. Pigato “Le Russeghine” (2014) is said to be the most varietally expressive of the three. Compared to most Pigato you come across in the region, it’s in a different class. I really love this wine.

Altavia make wines in the area around Dolceacqua, which is located on the western edge of Liguria, near the French border, and have done so since the 1970s. This Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore Riserva 2012 is palish cherry-coloured, a medium to light wine with a rounded mouthfeel. It’s not complex as such, but quite unique. Altavia used to make a remarkable Touriga Nacional until the authorities cottoned on. Red Squirrel still have a little, I believe (2007 was the final vintage). One to stump the wine buffs, perhaps?

Ahrens Family are by now pretty well known. Albert Ahrens was winemaker at Lammershoek before helping to found Blank Bottle. He now makes wine at Wildepaardejacht beneath the De Toitskloof Mountains, near Paarl. Try the intense fruit of his Black 2015 for an insight into the Ahrens philosophy, which is one firmly rooted in place. This 2015 is 70% Syrah with Carignan, Grenache, and tiny additions of Marsanne and Roussanne. Okay, it’s 14% abv, but it just unfolds more and more different flavours from all the components. Some wines are spat out swiftly but I was forced to linger over this. Not one for the 100-wine tasting bench team to assess, though it certainly has that “sit up and take notice” presence.

So many great wines on show at this table, but I must end on the high of the Azores Wine Company. Some will have read the article in Decanter recently, or read the “Volcanic Wines” book by Canadian, John Szabo MS, and already know about the revival of winemaking on the Azores. On the island of Pico there are currently just 12 hectares, and they have been granted UNESCO World Heritage status for their unique low curved walls which protect the vines from searing Atlantic winds, and the equally uncommon way in which the vines are trained so that the grapes grow, protected, within a “basket” of wood and foliage (similar to training found on Santorini).

The white on show was Arinto 2016, a light wine with a mineral flavour, plus a herby citrus finish. The red Isabella a Proibida 2015 is so named because the Isabella grape variety (there are a few other co-planted varieties in this cuvée) is Vitis Labrusca, not Vinifera. These “American” varieties are technically banned for wine production within the EU, although I know of such vines in France, in old co-planted sites. Perhaps the UNESCO status, and the importance of Isabella to the history of wine in the Azores, has led to a certain acquiescence on the part of the authorities. I do hope so.

It’s a Marmite wine. I know one RS employee who doesn’t like it one bit. I do, not least for its historical importance. It’s basically fruity, juicy, a little acidic (but not sharp), and hardly complex. It’s also expensive. But what price cultural history. Bravo for importing half-a-dozen wines from this remote place. Do check out Red Squirrel’s Azores wines. They really deserve exploration if you are a serious wine lover.

Vinterloper “Park”
Diwald orange
Ch de Bel Cab Franc
Ch de Bel Muscadelle
Carbo Cahors
Liguria
Azores
Ahrens
Posted in Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

J’ai Soif et J’ai Faim

Posted on 27/09/2017 by dccrossley

Around ten minutes walk south of Clapham Junction runs Battersea Rise, a busy main road in what just about counts as Outer London down here. Much like hundreds of others of its kind it possesses a string of cafés and small restaurants along its length, but one of them is a real gem. There are, of course, increasing numbers of really exciting neighbourhood bars and restaurants popping up all over London, but what Soif has going for it from the off is being part of the same group of restaurants originally run by Oli Barker (who went on to found Six Portland Road) and Ed Wilson, and which also includes Terroirs, Toast and Brawn (and used to include The Green Man and French Horn on St Martin’s Lane before it sadly closed a couple of years ago).

I’m sure a lot of readers have visited Soif, probably many times, since it opened back in 2011 (hard to believe it was six years ago). But if you haven’t, you might guess from the Terroirs association that the emphasis here is on wine, small plates and a buzzing atmosphere. The wine comes, of course, from Les Caves de Pyrene, and is unashamedly natural. It’s just the thing for such a lively place, which was thankfully empty enough to take walk-ins at six o’clock on a Tuesday evening, but packed an hour or two later.

Soif, Like Terroirs, always offers a good selection of wine by the glass, and having endured a few transport issues in getting down there I really needed a cold glass of something fizzy. The Roc’ Ambule pét-nat pink from Domaine Le Roc in Fronton, Southwest France did the job. You don’t see a lot of pét-nats made from the Negrette grape, but this is simple, fruity and dryish, but most importantly, refreshing. It was also the only by-the-glass sparkler on the list which I had never tried, and going for something new is always a good move in somewhere like Soif.

Jean-Luc and Frédérik Ribes have been making wine in Fronton since 1988, and their wines have a surprisingly wide UK distribution for this relatively little known region close to Toulouse (Berry Bros, Lea & Sandeman and even Harvey Nichols usually have some, especially the red “classique”), but this pét-nat came from Les Caves, who also sell it in magnums. For such an established producer in a fairly conservative region it’s good to see them succeeding with the low intervention and no additives route.

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Roc’ Ambule rosé pét-nat from Domaine Le Roc, Fronton

We had a heated debate about which bottle to order, and I managed to persuade my very discerning friends to order something unusual (then, having done so, I worried they wouldn’t like it). Vini Estremi is a cuvée of Vin Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle from the Mont Blanc Co-operative.

Morgex is sited a little to the west of  the town of Aosta, in the valley of the same name (although the river which runs hrough the valley is the Dora Baltea). The vineyards are all on the slopes of the surrounding mountains, rising up to 1300 metres in places, in the direction of the ski resort of Cormayeur, and Mont Blanc. These are some of Europe’s highest vines. Even in Autumn these slopes can be snow covered, and the Blanc de Morgex variety (also known as Prié Blanc) is trained on pergolas, both for the regulation of sun exposure, and for frost protection.

The wine is quite unique. It’s simple, with mainly lemon citrus and grassy, herby, notes. There’s an uncanny similarity to mineral water, albeit alcoholic mineral water. There is the faintest hint of texture, which I once described as like licking a pebble from a mountain stream (trust me). But it’s both gentle and invigorating. Thankfully, it seemed to be appreciated.

Aosta’s wines were almost never seen in the UK at one time, but they have been starting to appear in the past few years. There is a bewildering array of varieties, both autochthonous and international, ranging from Switzerland’s Petite Arvine, late harvest Chardonnay, passito Muscat, lovely Fumin, Pinot Noir, and even surprisingly high quality Nebbiolo from the eastern end of the valley. The Aosta region is Italy’s tiniest, and what the locals don’t guzzle goes down well with the winter sports enthusiasts. But unlike in Savoie, where much wine was (and occasionally still is) produced with undiscerning tourists in mind, Aosta’s small production has long been, for the most part, well worth seeking out (preferably in situe if you like mountain scenery, marmots, and small artisan wine producers who still rarely see many foreign visitors).

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A side benefit of meeting up with friends at Soif on this occasion was that I could grab a copy of the new “Media Highlights” brochure from Okanagan Crush Pad, which, alongside other venerable publications, contains some of my observations on the wines produced by this exciting crush facility in Canada’s most versatile wine region.

This was because one of the people I was meeting works for Crush Pad’s UK importer, Red Squirrel, and he thoughtfully brought along a couple of bottles of OCP’s own Haywire wines. My favourite red on this label is the Okanagan Valley Gamay Noir (2016). I recently read a really interesting article by Jon Bonné on Gamay from outside of Beaujolais, which was the catalyst for some praise of Canadian Gamay on social media. There’s no doubt that Okanagan Crush Pad make a delicious version. To quote myself here, it doesn’t attempt complexity but wins hands down on purity of fruit.

I managed to snaffle an open bottle of Haywire Secrest Mountain Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015 as well, also from the Okanagan Valley AQA. This is quite big for Pinot Noir (13.5% abv), with dense, quite dark, fruit. Not the subtlest of Pinots, but really lively and good with the charcuterie we were eating by that stage of the evening. I often read reviews which seem to focus praise on the crush pad’s white wines, and indeed their fantastic fizz, but don’t neglect to try the reds.

We finished the evening with a Negroni for dessert. That may give a further clue to the happy couple I spent the evening with (many congratulations due). Soif is a great place to go for natural wine, a very wide selection of small (and some not so small) plates, and a surfeit of bonhomie when the place starts moving, although I would like to think a lot of that was generated by my fellow drinkers. Soif is, as they say, (well) worth a detour.

 

 

Posted in Dining, Natural Wine, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dirty Dozen at the Vinyl Factory

Posted on 26/09/2017 by dccrossley

There are a dozen wine merchants in this group, who were showing wines at The Vinyl Factory in Soho on Tuesday last week. How dirty they are, I’ll leave you to assess, but the dirt in question is terroir (presumably). Their manifesto claims:

  • We are committed to wines of integrity and authenticity
  • We believe in wines that speak of their terroir
  • We select winemakers that cherish their vineyards and the environment
  • We choose small over large and real before synthetic
  • We import wines for people that care, made by people that care

We can all agree with that, can we not? Within the framework of those commitments there was, to be fair, a very wide range of wines, from the cheap and fairly commercial, and the fairly smart and expensive, to the unusual and “out there”. But even in the cheaper range there were many wines of interest and with character, wines you wish would turn up on many a restaurant list when you are wading through the Cabernets and Malbecs (to be fair, there were one or two surprisingly tasty Malbecs on show).

The list of exhibitors was as follows: Roberson, Clark Foyster, Flint Wines, SWIG, Maltby & Greek, Raymond Reynolds, Indigo Wine, H2Vin, Astrum, Forty Five 10º, The Wine Treasury, and Top Selection. As is always the case with a big tasting like this, you have hundreds of wines on offer. I had around four hours to devote. I read on social media that one wine writer had just fifteen minutes! Still, it was nice to see a few fellow scribes, including some of the older generation, so you’ll probably get a few other takes on this event.

The wines I mention below, listed by importer, are those I really liked or found interesting. To those importers for whom I didn’t list many wines (or no wines in the case of two), I apologise. Such events are very hit and miss, and time flies, not to mention the fact that yet again the table hoggers were out in force. Plant yourself in the middle, knock back some bevvies and chat to your mate. Maybe there should be a gong? I probably spent more time at the Indigo table than any other, but then they were more attentive than most, and pushed so many wines of interest under my nose. And I did taste a lot of wines. I worked hard.

Hopefully the photos below give a flavour of the event.

Roberson

Roberson has a name for California, and justly so. Who has done more to reintroduce these wines into the UK, and to reinvigorate what is available! Matthiasson Linda Vista Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 is lighter and only 12.9% abv, delicious and good value.

They showed a couple of Beaujolais. I love 2014 in this region and Domaine Piron-Lameloise Chénas Quartz shows its elegance. Quite light, not as mineral as I recall the 2015 was at a tasting earlier this year (odd, vintagewise), but lovely fruit. Julien Sunier Morgon 2015 showed some of the characteristics of this riper vintage. I like it a lot. His 2015 Fleurie was one of my wines of the day at that big Bojo Tasting back in June. This felt restrained at 13%.

The first of many Austrians I tasted was Ebner-Ebenauer Zweigelt Alte Reben 2013 from Weinviertal. This old vine cuvée was luminous, high toned/perfumed and with sweet fruit, showing a slightly bitter finish.

Back to America to finish, Broc Cellars Happy Canyon “Coucou” Cabernet Franc 2016 is a light, pale, red with bags of fruit. Very simply labelled, a classic glugger in the natural wine vein. Tasty!

 

Clark Foyster

I have fond memories of drinking Jacques Picard Brut Réserve at 28-50 in Mayfair many times. This Jacques Picard Brut Nature is dry and steely, and pleasantly invigorating. Gusbourne Estate Sparkling Rosé 2013 from one of Kent’s best fizz makers, is a complete contrast, but no worse for that. Pale salmon-hued,  light summer fruits, fresh but with a bitter note on the finish. It’s made from 100% Pinot Noir, delicious, both fun but serious at the same time.

Heading down to Burgundy, you can find a nice Aligoté without the searing acidity once associated with this variety which is currently making a comeback – Charles Audoin Bourgogne Aligoté 2015 is possibly a product of the vintage, but it reveals another side of the variety here.

Clark Foyster imports a few well known Austrians (Moric, Pittnauer…) and Prieler Leithaberg Pinot Blanc 2015 from the slopes of Western Burgenland may be the least well known (although Prieler has been in Fortnum & Mason for years). This has nice round fruit and a waxy finish with perhaps a touch of quince. Argyros Estate Santorini Assyrtiko 2016 is fatter than some examples, but has great mineral/citrus fruit and freshness too.

A final white came from Kakheti in Georgia, Vita Vinea Kisi 2015. This blends more lemon citrus with a tropical note, a plumpish mouthfeel and a chalky dry finish.

Staying with Georgia, Orgo Saperavi 2015, also from the Kakheti region, is dark as hell (though darker still was to come at another table). Powerful, but with surprisingly smooth fruit, and a bit cheaper than the Kakheti white, above. And back to Greece, a very nice Xinomavro, dry and tannic but with quite a mature nose and a big personality, Diamantakos Estate Naoussa 2013.

To finish here, two very different wines. Helmut Lang Samling 88 Tba 2005 is smooth, sweet and concentrated and would have been a nice wine to end on, but we were all blown away by a Madeira, HM Borges Boal Colheita 1995. Coffee/toffee, caramel and everything else. Very reasonably priced and very moreish, you can’t go wrong buying this.

 

Flint Wines

Les Caves used to import Peter Pliger’s wines and I bought them quite regularly. Now Flint have him and I was really pleased to taste his classic Kuenhof Riesling Kaiton 2015 from Eisacktaler in Südtirol. Maybe a bit bigger fruited and thereby less mineral than some vintages but still vibrant. I remain a fan.

I’d really wanted to try the Martin’s Lane wines from Okanagan Valley in Canada. As annoyingly happens at events like this, some wines get snaffled, maybe by the same people who take up a spot centre table and don’t move for half an hour. So there was no Martin’s Lane Fritzi’s Vineyard Riesling 2014 to try. Thankfully there was some Martin’s Lane Naramata Ranch Pinot Noir 2014. This has real depth on the nose, smooth round fruit and elegance despite a certain plumpness. Very interesting, though fairly expensive. It’s the first vintage for this new estate, which is aiming high. For now, talk to Vagabond or Uncorked if you want to try them from a retailer.

There was also a little Domaine Arlaud Hautes Côtes de Nuits 2014. It’s a domaine whose wines I’ve liked for some years, and it surprises me that they are not a little better known among the many Burgundy obsessives I know. Okay, this is “Hautes Côtes”, but it’s nicely perfumed with more elegance than you might expect, as well as that certain restraint and a touch of earthiness.

 

SWIG

I wanted to mention Richard Böcking Riesling 2015 from Traben-Trarbach on the Mosel in part because it was possibly my “picture label of the day”. It has to be said that bright and shiny labels seem to be the thing these days, but this is more classical, or do I mean “romantic” (see photo below).

One wine with a very bright label will be well known to all of you who visit the wine fairs. BK Wines One Ball Chardonnay 2016 is the new vintage from this jovial Adelaide Hills label. At 12%, it is a typically light and refreshing natural wine, great fun. For drinking and not “analysis”, which seems refreshingly to be in vogue as well these days.

At the other end of the spectrum, if you want a world class version of a Burgundian grape variety from Australia, then the Mornington Peninsula is probably the place to go. I have to say that on my only visit there I completely fell in love with the place, and there are many worthy applicants for the title of best Pinot. Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 would be in with the mix. A fine dry year in Mornington. The wine is palish and very perfumed. There’s still a little tannin to give structure and it will certainly improve over, say, five years. But it’s good!

 

Indigo Wine

I did taste rather a lot at Indigo, but some merchants really make an effort to get their wines out there much more than others do. For what it’s worth, I appreciate being recognised and having some interesting stuff I’ve never tried pushed under my nose.

I tasted quite a few South Americans, many with some sort of Michelini Brothers connection. I admit I don’t drink a lot of South American wine, but I have featured the Michelini Brothers before and Dave Stenton contributed an article on this blog about a visit to see them a while ago (see here). If you also look at the recent Decanter Tasting of Argentinian Reds, these brothers seem to be at the heart of everything exciting in that country.

One of their winemakers produced Escala Humana Livvera Blanco “El Zampal”  2016 from Argentina’s Uco Valley. It’s 100% Malvasia with 25 days on skins in cement. You get all of this on the nose and in the mouth. Another Uco Valley wine is Triangle Wines Salvo Semillon 2017. Made from 120 year-old vines, 60% fermented in steel, 40% in egg on skins. Triangle Wines is a project between Gerardo Michelini and Indigo Wines. Both of these are well worth seeking out.

Antonio Madeira Dão Branco 2015 comes from high vineyards and a complanted field blend of around twenty varieties. Winemaking is minimal and it’s pale, fresh and dry. Indigo have plans to import a number of single vineyard wines from Clemens Busch, but in the meantime Clemens Busch Dry Mosel Riesling 2015 is a pretty good introduction, 11.5% and not much money for the quality.

Back to Argentina with another Triangle Wines – Salvo Malbec “El Peral” 2016 (Uco Valley again). 100% Malbec in concrete egg, dry but fruity, young and fun. Over the Andes to Chile, Rogue Vine Jamón Jamón Semillon Itata Valley 2016 has a touch of Muscat added, all old vines. Amazing nose, dry and lemony with a hint of Muscat florality. Altar Uco Blanco, Gualtallary 2015 is 90% Sauvignon Blanc/10% Chenin, oak aged with another beautiful bouquet, on the palate showing lemon citrus and a pleasing salinity.

Back to red, I’ve heard a bit of chatter about the next producer – Frederick Stevenson Dry Red, Barossa Valley 2016 is a blend of Carignan, Syrah and Grenache. Low intervention, smoky but with gentle fruit coming through. Refreshing red at just 12% abv, very un-Barossa in that respect.

Off list again for the Livverá Malbec 2015,  which may weigh in at 14% but has brilliant fruit. Tinta Tinto Syrah, Casablanca 2016 is a nice Chilean project by a husband and wife team who do everything, including making handmade, hand drawn labels. But what stands out with this wine is the bouquet – the purest Ribena you’ve ever smelt, and you’d be fooled into thinking it was non-alcoholic until you taste (13.7% abv).

I couldn’t walk away without a sip of Daniel Landi Uvas de la Ira Méntrida 2015. I love this wine, and what value as an intro to one of Spain’s great winemakers. The Garnacha is exquisitely perfumed, and there’s just a touch of tannin for structure. Indigo did show me some exciting wines, but maybe I’d go for this, still, as my wine of the day from their table.

 

Maltby & Greek

Maltby & Greek do what they say on the label, being specialists in Greek wines, mainly from indigenous varieties. I always regret the lack of wide distribution for wines from Greece, and I’d seriously commend these guys for wines at all prices.

I began by tasting two traditional method sparklers, Domaine Kariniki Brut Speciale 2015 and their Cuvee de Prestige Nature 2014. The wines come from Amyndeon in Greek Macedonia. The “Speciale” is 100% Xinomavro from vines grown at 650 metres altitude. It has a classic profile, rather like a good Crémant, and similarly priced. The “Nature” is a zero dosed Assyrtiko-Xinomavra blend. For an extra pound or so you get a bit more interest on nose and palate, rounder and a touch fatter too (and 13% as opposed to 11.5% abv).

From Agealea, in the Peloponnese (which I don’t know) comes Rouvalis Winery Asprolithi Roditis 2016. I generally like the Roditis grape variety. This is soft, simple and very cheap, probably sub-£10 retail. Also on the softer side is Robola Co-operative San Gerasimo Robola, Cephalonia 2016. One of the many island wines M&G sell which you rarely see in the UK.

One of the big names in Greek wine (for quality) is Alpha Estate. Alpha Estate “Axia” , Amyndeon, Macedonia 2015 blends Sauvignon Blanc with Assyrtiko. Do I prefer it to a good Assyrtiko tout-court? Maybe not, but I’d buy a bottle of this unusual blend to give it a go on the basis of this taste.

I wanted to end my white tasting with a pure Assyrtiko I know but see all too rarely – Domaine Sigalas Barrel Assyrtiko 2015. I know their Santorini “unoaked” version very well, but this version is a little different. It was all gone, sadly. But M&G stock several Sigalas wines, one of the top producers on Santorini.

Along with Assyrtiko, my other favourite Greek grape variety is Agiorgitiko. Ktima Kokotou “Three Hills” 2015 comes from Stamata (Attica), and blends that variety with Cabernet Sauvignon. This is cheap (again, guessing under a tenner retail), and has a nice bright red colour, a simple fruity palate, but with a touch of bitter cherry on the finish to add character. A bistro wine, and the kind of thing I’d relish finding in the type of local restaurant where the wine list is otherwise average.

There were some much more well known reds down the list (more Sigalas and a couple from Alpha Estate) but I ended with a couple of sweet wines. Nopera Winery Sweet Muscat, Samos 2013 is classic Samos Muscat – not complex but sweet and concentrated (and 13.5% abv), but with enough freshness to stop it being cloying. Domaine Sigalas Vinsanto 2006 is a Santorini blend of Assyrtiko and Aidani. This is a step up and classy. Darker than the Muscat, the nose has complexity. The sweetness is figgy with hints of dark brown sugar, slightly caramelised. The palate is balanced: both unctuous and yet not sickly. And it’s only 9% alcohol.

 

H2Vin

H2Vin showed some interesting wines, and I’ll readily admit I’d like to mention more. But some of them most of you will already know (Larmandier-Bernier, Alphonse Mellot, Jiménez-Landi, Clos du Caillou, La Vieille Julienne etc). You may know the following four as well, but if you don’t…

Xavier Frissant Fié Gris “Les Roses du Clos” 2016 is as tasty an example of this Sauvignon Blanc parent as you’ll find. The books will tell you it originates in Bordeaux, where it is sometimes just called Sauvignon Gris, but it is at home in the Loire (and in pockets around Saint-Bris in Burgundy). This seems like a souped up “SB”, with lots of intense gooseberry and a whiff of cat’s pee! Fresh and bracing, in some ways both “old school” and new.

Jurançon is under appreciated, but the dry version even more than the sweet. Camin Larredya Jurançon Sec “La Part Davant” 2016 blends two-thirds Gros Manseng with Petit Manseng and a touch of Petit Courbu. It undergoes a maceration pellicullaire before fermentation in a mix of stainless steel and foudre before resting on lees. This gives Jurançon Sec its texture and greater complexity. A textbook example of a wine we should all drink from time to time.

Domaine Bargylus Blanc 2010 is from the by now quite well known Syrian estate. It’s my first taste of the white. Note the vintage, this has bottle age. The vines are grown on the slopes of Syria’s coastal mountains and this blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc is quite mineral with lime citrus and a herby note in the background. Where we used to pray for those working at Chateau Musar in Lebanon, now we must send our thoughts out to those working here. Nice to see this on show (I didn’t spot the red?).

The last wine here is from an old favourite, who I first discovered on Adnams’ list in the 1990s, and have latterly mainly picked up in France. Elian da Ros Côtes du Marmandais “Vignoble d’Elian” 2014 has vibrant, dense, brambly fruit with a bitter twist. Some might say “rustic Bordeaux” but there’s more going on here and the winemaking is quality. More than your usual “country wine”, and a producer to follow if you don’t already know him.

 

Astrum Wine Cellars

Astrum has a good selection of Central European wines to pair with its well regarded Italian offering, and its newcomers from the New World. Huber Grüner Veltliner “Obere Steigen” 2016 comes from the old family producer now under the care of young Markus Huber (10th generation), in Reichersdorf (Traisental). He makes some nice wines, which crop up in unusual places (he makes Waitrose’s own label Grüner). This is more intense, a classic version, very fresh and mineral, with a hint of black pepper.

They also have a few wines from Johanneshof Reinisch in Thermenregion. I’ve had many of this producer’s wines and never a dud. But I would really recommend you try one of Austria’s more unusual, rare, grape varieties in this Johanneshof Reinisch Rotgipfler Satzing 2015. The grapes are from the famous Gumpoldskirchen vineyards, on limestone and clay/loam. It just explodes in the mouth with citrus and tropical fruit plus a more developed note of grapey richness.

Another side of this producer is in their non-autochthonous varietal, Johanneshof Reinisch Pinot Noir “Grillenhügel” 2010. Vines on this limestone (mainly) hillside site are around twenty years old. Fermentation is in large oak after relatively late harvesting, with around 16-18 months ageing in barrel. Lighter than the 13.5% alcohol might suggest, there’s good fruit and emerging complexity. Bring on the game, I could drink this now.

When I want Cique Terre I usually think of Red Squirrel, but the local co-operative is worth a look as well as the independent producers, though as it’s Cinque Terre don’t expect a bargain. I did really like Cantine Cinque Terre Cinque Terre “Costa da Posa” 2016. On these ridiculous slopes around 300 growers farm tiny plots adding up to about 60 hectares. 70% Bosco, 20% Albarola and 10% Vermentino go into this. It rests on the lees but is bottled early after five months or so, giving a bouquet of herbs, honey and wild flowers, with a palate which is brisk and zippy yet surprisingly full-bodied. A mineral finish rounds it out nicely. Looks nice too, yellow straw with bright glints.

 

Forty Five 10º

This is an Italian specialist. In Italy I’m continually flitting between Piemonte, Tuscany and Sicily, without managing to focus on more than one at a time, but if I were to choose a favourite Italian producer, then Castello di Ama would be in the running. Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Riserva 2008 is brick red with an amazing nose. This stuff ages really well, even the normale, and although many would love it now, it will mature further, though will peak fairly soon.

Dark cherry and tobacco notes from a blend of 80% Sangiovese with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malvasia off limestone and clay at between 400 to 530 metres altitude. Fruit is 100% destemmed, all varieties are fermented separately, after which it goes into barrel (20% new oak). Long on the finish, and for me, as classy as Classico Riserva gets. Now, of course, Ama do not produce a “Riserva” as such, so this is rare as well as very good.

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Top Selection

I’m off to Alsace soon, and I’ll be staying in Andlau, so I couldn’t neglect to try the wine of an Andlau producer. Andlau is in the Bas Rhin, further north than some of the most famous wine villages, though not less endowed with  fine terroir and producers in my humble opinion. The village is unusual because the geology of the surrounding vineyards, though complex, contains a lot of Silurian and Ordovician schist. The Vosges are mainly granite with gneiss and even sandstone in places.

Gressser’s Crémant cannot express the complex terroir like his Grand Cru still wines, but there is a brightness to this biodynamic sparkler, Remy Gresser Crémant d’Alsace NV. Quite appley on the nose, it’s a pretty wine, fresh and with a lightness of touch. I think this is made from Pinot Blanc, the standard for the region’s sparklers, although there’s quite a bit of Chardonnay planted (mainly) for Crémant these days.

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Gut Oggau Family Reunion

Posted on 20/09/2017 by dccrossley

Many family reunions are fraught with tension, petty jealousies and conflict under the surface. This particular family reunion was the happiest I have ever attended.

Gut Oggau is probably known to many who will read this article, but for those who do not yet know this Austrian producer, they deserve a very brief introduction. Based at Oggau, on the western shore of the Neusiedlersee in Burgenland, they use minimum intervention and biodynamic practices with the aim of expressing their different terroirs through all of their wines.

Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselböck have come up with a unique concept for expressing their different bottlings – a family. There are (usually) ten wines in the family, split into three generations (three children, five “parents” and two grandparents), each with a unique label depicting a head shot of the family member.

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The Tasting, on Monday this week, took place at the Bermondsey premises of Gut Oggau’s UK importer, Dynamic Vines. There was an opportunity to taste a previous vintage of almost every family member, after which Eduard and Stephanie gave a tutored tasting and talk on the unique 2016 vintage. Why family reunion? Because, as with so many Northern European wine regions in recent years, 2016 in Burgenland was dogged with frost and hail. Gut Oggau lost half of their crop. The result was that they decided to blend their family into just three wines: one red, one white and one rosé.

I’ll talk about the remarkable wines Gut Oggau made in 2016 in a moment, but first an introduction to the family, via those older vintages.

The entry level at Gut Oggau is, in my opinion, no less worthy of purchase than the more expensive wines. Take Theodora, for example. She’s a young white with a bit of attitude, no better expressed than in 2015. Eduard and Stephanie decided she was ready for bottling before all the sugar was fermented out, so they put the wine into a heavy bottle under crown cap. The 2015 Theodora isn’t fizzy, but it does have the prickle of dissolved CO2. A blend of Grüner Veltliner and Welschriesling, it retains the characteristic freshness this wine shows in all vintages. I can’t recommend it more highly.

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Atanasius (2015) is the red from the younger generation, and the 2015 is vibrant in colour and fruit. The fruit, Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt, is really good here. The wine demands glugging. Sadly, Winifred, the rosé, wasn’t present, although this is one of the most beguiling wines of the Gut Oggau stable.

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Four of the parents’ generation were present. The two whites are Emmeram (2015) and Timotheus (2015). Emmeram is a Gewurztraminer like no other. At 13.5% alcohol you might think “here we go”, but there’s acidity and that hallmark Gut Oggau freshness, a lemon note from the limestone terroir (who can recall that appropriately named Alsace lieu-dit which combines limestone and lemons?), and great length. It was actually my first time tasting Emmeram and I bought a bottle. I shall open it for friends who might not like Gewurztraminer. Timotheus has a bit more weight and complexity than Theodora, without the youthful zip. As his bio says, “refined but with substance”.

The two parental reds are Josephine (2013) and Joschuari (2014). Josephine is always one of my favourites. It comes from lower, south facing, slopes, which were some of the worst hit in 2016, although they are the sunniest vineyards Gut Oggau farms. Expect sweet fruit but a little bite and backbone, and a touch of tannin. Josh has a real luminescent quality with sweet cherry fruit. It is 100% Blaufränkisch from higher (c.300m) slopes on limestone, and also slate, which you can detect in the added mineral bite on the finish, I think.

The grandparents are Mechthild (white, 2015) and Bertholdi (red, 2015). These are the top of the range, and pretty expensive compared to the younger generation. Mechthild has some skin contact, and texture which adds complexity, but there’s still a nice round mouthfeel. There’s wax, honey, flowers and a citrus note in a complex wine, and you get a lovely slightly sour or bitter note on the finish which adds a savoury quality. Bertholdi is structured, with tannins, yet the fruit is so bright you would happily drink this now, especially at a restrained 12.5% abv. They are both made using a very old beam press, and to me they appear the most classical of the Gut Oggau family.

What of drinking dates for these wines? Both Eduard and Stephanie say they make the wines to be drunk on release, and the freshness and vibrancy they possess all through the range bears this out as sensible advice. But they will age. I have a couple from 2011 and 2012 which I must drink soon, but I have no worries. Like all your own family members you feel empathy towards, when they come to stay you do not always want them to leave.

Before moving to 2016 I’ll mention one other wine. Gut Oggau contributes a cuvée, made from just one barrel, to the Bar Brutal series (commissioned by Bar Brutal, Barcelona’s legendary natural wine bar and produced by a number of natural wine estates across Europe). Gut Oggau’s Brutal (I purchased the “just in stock” 2016) is made from an unusual variety called Rösler. It was created in 1970 by Dr Gertraud Meyer, and named after Leonard Rösler, head of Austria’s oldest viticultural college, by crossing Zweigelt, Seyve-Villard 18-402 and Blaufränkisch. It is unusual it that it has pink flesh (a teinturier variety). It has high extract, high resistance against fungal disease and is also frost resistant (said to be able to withstand temperatures down to -25 degrees celsius). When you open it, expect a brutal response to match the label.

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As I said earlier, 2016 posed very big problems in this part of Burgenland. An early vegetal cycle was struck by heavy frosts in spring, and summer hail. Thankfully, Eduard and Stephanie described autumn as “peaceful, forgiving and warm”. Nevertheless, 2016 delivered a much smaller quantity of fruit, down 50% on a normal harvest, yielding around 13,000 bottles in total.

So the decision was taken to blend, for the first time, just three wines, one of each colour. This was a decision particular to the vintage, and, as Eduard said, would not necessarily happen again in similar circumstances. I think the three wines are quite remarkable, and take Gut Oggau to a different place. It’s neither a better place, nor a worse one, but these wines do have a special quality about them.

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Family Reunion White 2016 had just a couple of hours on skins before direct pressing. There is a little structure, and for me a little note of skin contact on the nose, but not too much extraction. Mainly you are getting fruit freshness. There’s also a bit of minerality. Limestone soil predominates this cuvée as the gravel soils on the flatter land were more frost struck, so suffered greater losses. There’s that lemony note again to give the taster a clue. The composition is Theodora, Timotheus, Emmeram and Mechthild.

Family Reunion Rosé 2016 has a remarkable colour, and is probably more of a light red. It’s the Rösler grape which is responsible. Josephine‘s vineyard was the hardest hit by hail in 2016, hence the decision to blend her remaining fruit in with Winifred. Very strict selection, and direct pressed grapes have made a special wine. There’s a bit more structure, from the Josephine limestone, which I think adds to the real thirst quenching quality of this wine. It truly explodes in the mouth.

Family Reunion Red 2016 blends Atanasius, Joschuari and Bertholdi. This is made almost in the same way as the white (a technique they are generally moving towards anyway): a little skin contact but mostly direct pressing, of Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. There’s a smokiness on the nose, but no less fruitiness to match. Freshness shines through – imagine an English summer pudding with the fruit at its very best.

This is the bit where, to some, I shall go over to the dark side. What I find in these wines is an energy and vibrancy which, in my experience, is the hallmark of careful, studied, but also intuitive biodynamic application in the vineyards, matched beside virtually no intervention in the cellar. The wines make themselves, more or less, and that is the intention. The wines all share another quality – focus. You taste each family member and you recognise them in any vintage. This is the terroir speaking. But in these blends you also see their individual contributions. That’s what makes them so fascinating in 2016, and I found the wines quite inspirational. They confirm Eduard and Stephanie as two of my most revered winemakers.

For 2017, the wines will return to the usual family format.  It was a very early harvest, and indeed is already gathered in at Gut Oggau. I look forward to tasting those, and I very much hope to do so in Oggau. If you are interested in a holiday or wine trip around the Neusiedlersee, read my article here.

Eduard and Stephanie in full flow at Dynamic Vines, under the railway in Bermondsey 

Posted in Austria, Austrian Wine, biodynamic wine, Natural Wine, Neusiedlersee, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Secret Garden and The Pig

Posted on 17/09/2017 by dccrossley

Tim Phillips isn’t a name many of you will have come across. Tim has several winemaking strings to his bow, with projects in South Africa and in Italy, but Tim’s current focus is very different. Clos du Paradis is not in France, but on the South Coast of England. It’s a two-hundred year old walled garden in Hampshire, once belonging to a country house, but long neglected.

When Tim purchased the site (for around a tenth of the original asking price) in 2007 it took him two weeks of bramble clearing to get from front to back. In doing so, he uncovered a greenhouse (of which, more later) and a large well, and in the process restored a Victorian microclimate sheltered from the wind, well drained (on a bank of gravel 80cm below the topsoil, not the usual Southern Counties chalk), and warm enough, due to the heat retention of the red brick walls, to ripen Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. From these three varieties Tim began making very limited quantities of organic wines in 2008, using “natural wine” cellar processes.

Tim Phillips studied winemaking at Elsenburg, near Stellenbosch, between 2002 and 2004, and he’s been making wine in South Africa since 2006, currently in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde at Spookfontein. I first met Tim at a Castagna Tasting a few years ago – the Julian Castagna connection comes from him working a vintage there in 2005. The Italian connection comes through meeting Tom Shobbrook, via Julian Castagna, and visiting him in Tuscany, and thereby getting to know Sean O’Callaghan, then at Riecine. This has in turn led to Tim starting up his own Italian project. Everyone and everything seems interconnected these days. Riecine was such a hub of creative winemaking when Sean was there.

When I first met Tim at that Tasting with Julian Castagna he was offering his English wines through a leaseholder system, whereby members of the scheme paid money upfront for bottles. This got round excise issues, because with an initial production of just a few hundred bottles per vintage the costs associated with actually selling the wine were prohibitive.

My visit to “Clos du Paradis” this week coincides with Tim’s registration with the duty and excise authorities, and from October he should be in a position to market and sell the wine. Not that I expect him to have any problems selling it. He has at least one local wine shop clamouring for bottles, one natural wine bar in London which has put in a request, …and me! He’s also exhibited at RAW in London, the Natural Wine Fair Isabelle Legeron MW organises.

The vines in the “Clos” are generally trained with good ground clearance on a fairly high trellis, although later plantings have been lowered a little. The grapes look very healthy, with just a touch of downy mildew at the top of the canopy in one or two places (the result of spraying too low). The preps Tim uses are just sulphur (small quantities), equisetum (horsetail), nettles and willow bark. He also uses salicylic acid spray (a bio prep also, oddly, used in topical anti-acne medicines, but which Tim says is very good in treating mildew), and quartz silica, which aids stabilisation of plant metabolism. He eschews the use of copper.

Tim has also purchased an adjoining field, which is his next project. He has a very old apple tree in the vineyard and the field has unearthed several more. His latest venture is sparkling cider, which will add another much needed revenue stream, and he’s already putting tea plants by the wall in the vineyard, with more planned for the walled part of the field. That’s an interesting idea for diversification.

I mentioned the greenhouse. This long, sunken, building is, as Tim discovered, positioned perfectly so that even in mid winter it avoids the shadow of the nearby house by just a couple of centimetres. Its current use is twofold. First, it’s a perfect place in which to bring on new vines, all propagated from his own stock by way of massal selection. But it’s also a perfect place to fully ripen a large Chardonnay vine. This is the source of the liqueur for the second fermentation of his classic method Riesling.

Tim’s winery is a few minutes’ drive down the road. It’s pretty small, a converted shed with a new roof for making the wine in, and another outbuilding for storage and an office (the storage ranges from Tim’s red Ducati to a nice vertical of empty Chateau Latour). Next to the winery is an enormous pond, excavated by Tim, all surrounded by mature trees to create a nice secluded working environment. Everything is fairly small scale, to match the small production, although Tim recently splashed a few thousand Euros on a spanking new basket press to replace the much smaller, older, model.

The bonbons/demi-johns contain Chardonnay for the sparkling wine dosage.

We were able to try three wines. The first was a bottle of the sparkling Riesling, not yet dosed. There were four of us tasting, three being wine professionals, and we thought it was great. This bottle was one held back from a batch which is currently at Wiston Estate for disgorging and dosing. Dosage will be around 6g/l. I can see the logic, but without dosage this was fresh and a little floral, and with no more acidity than a wine connoisseur could cope with. Unanimously declared delicious. I really look forward to trying the finished product (I’ve put in my request), but current production amounts to 135 bottles per vintage. And with Tim being a big fan of magnums, that’s even fewer units.

Tim disgorging, pouring and tasting the sparkling Riesling

There was no Chardonnay to try, but we did get to taste a couple of vintages of the Sauvignon Blanc. These are bottled in 50cl format, which is a nice idea. The 2014 had a week on skins, was quite ripe and even a touch fat. A very interesting wine, much much riper than you would expect from English Sauvignon Blanc, not that I recall ever trying one before. The 2011 was quite developed. The fruit side blends flavours and aromas of greengage, apple and gooseberry with a touch of Sherry on the finish, this latter touch not in the least bit off-putting, although it is possibly past its prime.

The 2014 Sauvignon Blanc, and a couple of Tim’s South African wines with something I’m sure we all recognise from La Garagista in Vermont

With so little wine made you might be wondering why I’m writing about this “Clos du Paradis” venture? Well, aside from the fact that it is an interesting project and a beautiful vineyard, and you can’t deny that it does look rather attractive in the photos, I have a hunch that we might be hearing a lot more about Tim Phillips’ English venture some time soon. You might also see his wine in a natural wine bar in London before the year is out. What is this Blog for if not to make sure you hear about things before anyone else? The wines won’t stick around long.

The exquisite packaging design for the paper in which the wines come

And what of the Pig? Recently I’ve been writing about the New Forest as a culinary destination, with trips to half a dozen local restaurants. The place I’d not yet visited was The Pig, just outside Brockenhurst and not far, in fact, from Lime Wood, which we visited a month or so ago.

Set among beautiful grounds, The Pig is a small country house hotel, not as large (or smart) as Lime Wood, but hardly less attractive. One of five “pigs” in the group (two in Hampshire, one each in Dorset, Somerset and Devon), this one has thirty bedrooms and a very popular, packed on a Wednesday, restaurant. The food is pretty much all sourced locally and is highly recommended. We gathered in the very attractive bar for a bottle of Hambledon Première Cuvée and substantial and superior appetizers, moving into the restaurant for, in my case, cod cheeks and belly pork (although the pigeon two of the party ate looked really good).

We were treated to a bottle brought along by friends of Sadie Family “Skerpioen” 2015, a field blend of Palomino and Chenin Blanc from vines over 50 years old, fermented in concrete egg. Lovely floral nose with lots of salinity and very long, this is yet another classy Sadie wine which will go on for years. My first time drinking this. From the list I ordered Phillippe Farinelli’s Corsican red Corse Sartène 2015, Domaine Saparale, which showcases Corsica’s Sciacarello variety blended with Nielluccio, Corsica’s home grown variant on Sangiovese.

The wine is perfumed with smooth darkish fruit and medium weight. It’s a nice, characterful introduction to Corsican wine from one of the island’s best independent wine estates. It is in fact rather a bargain retail (Yapp Bros in Mere imports Domaine Saparale), at a little over £16. The only issue I have is that it appears on the wine list here at £47. In fact I was tempted to order a Jasper Hill Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz (retail £46.25 from Yapp) but at £104 on the list it seemed just a bit over priced. But to be fair the food, by way of contrast, is reasonably priced. It’s just a pity that real wine lovers have to subsidise those who will happily go for some of the cheaper wines on the list.

But that’s a minor, and ongoing, moan. The food was very good, as was the service (if a little inexperienced at times it was nevertheless always courteous and enthusiastic). We moved outdoors after dinner, to sit by a log fire, sipping a Sepp Moser Pinot Blanc tba 2015 from Burgenland, and a variety of digestifs. A perfect ending to a really relaxing evening. The Pig really is a wonderfully laid back place to dine, with a very nice vibe and welcoming staff. I’m really looking forward to going back. Soon, I hope!

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Japan Part 2 – Mountain Air and Vineyards

Posted on 11/09/2017 by dccrossley

It is likely to be a very small minority of my readership that is not now aware that Japan makes wine, and some of it pretty tasty too. Even customers of our upmarket UK supermarket, Marks & Spencer, have been able to buy a Grace Vineyards Koshu since 2014. So it will not really surprise many that on my recent trip to Japan I went to explore some of the vineyards, though naturally I had other reasons as well to head up into the mountains beyond Nagano – more of that later.

Koshu is, in the opinion of most who know the country, Japan’s best indigenous (white) grape variety. Until relatively recently, most of the grapes grown in Japan for wine production have been hybrids, able to withstand the hot and humid summers and prodigiously cold winters. Many wines used to be fairly sweet at one time and some still are, but Koshu, albeit a table grape, essentially makes subtle and perfumed dry wines which, once you get used to their unique flavour, can be very appealing. The scents and flavours which may be familiar are both floral and (gentle) citrus, making for a delicate dry wine with a rounded finish. But what seems unusual is an additional element which is slightly mushroomy or musky.

Koshu’s heartland is in a region called Yamanashi, southwest of Tokyo on Japan’s main island, Honshu. I travelled to a different region, northwest of Tokyo, to Nagano, and then up into the very similarly named Yamanouchi district. If Yamanashi is Japan’s oldest and best established wine region, the valleys around Nagano arguably come second. The Shinkansen, or bullet train, whisks you from Tokyo Cental Station to Nagano in not much over two hours. Catching a local train from Nagano up to Yudanaka you are in a different world to the urban conurbations of the lowlands, but an altogether familiar one. Surrounded by tree-covered mountains, the lower slopes are adorned with fruit, in particular crisp green apples, peaches the size of a small squash (crisper than we know, but so good), and grape vines.

The paper parcels are to protect the grapes from summer rain showers. The vines are trained high to allow air to circulate in the high humidity.

Some of the grapes you see are destined for the table. They boast large berries almost the size of greengages. But there are also vinifera varieties too, in surprising number.

Between Nagano and Yudanaka is the old market town of Obuse. Its fame lies partly as the place where Hokusai worked in his later years. It is also well known for sake, and for its two beautiful temples on the eastern edge of town: one, thatched, dates from the 1400s in its present form, the other boasts one of Hokusai’s finest works on its ceiling. The Hokusai Museum is unmissable, among several sites of interest in this attractive old town, and it is worth spending a whole day here.

On the northern edge of Obuse is Domaine Sogga (aka Obuse Winery). It’s open for visits, and for tasting (payment required, with different tasting packages). The Domaine is under new ownership, and whilst the new owner was happy to give me an extensive tasting, he was remarkably reticent that I didn’t write in detail about the project, nor that I publish any photos I had taken of the bottles in his tasting room. His explanation was that he didn’t think the wines currently very good, but whilst I make no claims they are wonderful, I think he’s mistaken.

I will merely list the vinifera varieties Domaine Sogga has planted: Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Albariño, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, Barbera, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. All wines produced are from estate grown fruit, many without any chemical treatments. I’d like to tell you what they all tasted like, but again, I feel under embargo, and as I was firmly told, “you can’t buy them in the UK anyway”. But if you go to Obuse (and I certainly recommend you do), you might find a visit here more than interesting. There are wines here which are no less good than many slightly commercial South American wines, for example, and others which are no worse than some perfectly drinkable English wines from our more northerly vineyards. There are some interesting sparklers as well.

Before I leave Obuse it is worth mentioning that if you want to get out to the winery and temples you may prefer some form of transport. Just over the road from the Tourist Information Centre is a bike shop, and you can hire bicycles there. The owner speaks no English, but the girl in the Centre came over and helped us rent them for a couple of hours.

There is another way to get to know the wider region’s wines, albeit a more expensive one, the North Shinano Wine Valley Train on the Nagano Dentetsu Railway. A one hour and twenty minute ride through the vineyards to the north of Nagano leaves the city at 11.01 every Saturday, arriving at Yudanaka just before 12.30. You get to taste the wines of four estates with commentary, at around £50pp (at current exchange rates).

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Yudanaka is the gateway to the massive Shiga Kogen ski area, which in summer provides popular hiking. I was staying in the small village of Shibu Onsen, just on the edge of Yudanaka, which boasts pretty shrines and temples, and a number of hot baths. The oldest and most beautiful bath house dates back more than two hundred years, to a time when Japan was yet to open its doors to The West. The bath house in Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away” is reputed to be modelled on it.

As well as the fine walking, much in ancient forest (but beware, there be bears), which can be accessed from here (the Shiga Highlands are a UNESCO Biosphere), Shibu Onsen is also one of the nearest villages to the Jigokudani Yaen-Koen, better known to us here as the Snow Monkey Park (you may well have seen them on television, probably with David Attenborough narrating). Here you can watch the wild Japanese Macaques bathe in the hot spring, and generally create a very appealing type of havoc around your feet.

This is no zoo. Although you pay a few pounds to enter the park, which itself entails a twenty minute walk through the forest to get to, this is just a river valley with an open air hot spring. The monkeys are lured by the hot water (temperatures descend to -10 degrees in winter and the water in the pool is 41 degrees centigrade, warmed by the volcanic activity of this still active mountain region), and by food put out for them, but they are completely wild, and their appearance cannot be guaranteed every day.

We turned up early one morning to the “no monkeys” sign, but after waiting for a little over an hour in the park Visitor Centre, sheltering from the rain, the skies cleared and down the valley came around one hundred monkeys, including many newborn babies clinging to their mothers. Eye contact is best avoided, especially with the males, but the monkeys generally ignore the dozen or more tourists, so you can get very close. It was one of life’s unforgettable experiences.

 

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Do be warned, there are bears around here in the mountains. Walkers in Japan often carry “bear spray” as a last resort, although the mere sound of humans approaching is usually enough to scare the animals away (you will find chimes to clash together along the marked trails). When there are other people around it’s never a problem, but on a wet day when the trails are deserted there is always an ear pricked for a heavy rustling in the undergrowth.

We stayed in Shibu Onsen, near Yudanaka, at the wonderfully friendly Koishiya Ryokan, in one of their traditional tatami rooms (with futons). They have a restaurant serving locally sourced food and western-style dishes, local wine, beer and sake, and some of the most decent coffee I’ve had in Japan (from a rare “Synesso Hydra 3” machine). The staff will shuttle you to the Monkey Park, to and from Yudanaka Station, to local Onsen (which you have to try), and in our case, even to the local laundrette, where they made sure we knew how to operate the machines. Check them out via expedia, tripadvisor, booking.com or Airbnb.

The Information Office at Yudanaka Station is another great source for maps and brochures, and the friendliest help imaginable.

Koishiya Ryokan, Shibu Onsen – local beverages and dishes, our traditional tatami room and local landmarks.

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Japan Part 1 – Tokyo, the Wedding and a ’88 d’Yquem

Posted on 09/09/2017 by dccrossley

Much as I love visiting any country where there are vineyards, two of my favourite places, Japan and Norway, are not well known for their wines. This is not strictly true, of course. Japan is slowly gaining at least a little recognition for home grown wine, and the wine scene there, especially in the big cities, is thriving no less than in any of the other major urban centres of the world. More so, perhaps, with so-called fine wine, and natural wine, popular in equal measure, especially in Tokyo.

I’ve visited Japan many times, but not for a few years, and not since I began writing this Blog. So I thought you might be interested in a couple of articles on my recent trip to Japan. I shall be writing about things viticultural in my next piece, after we travelled to Nagano and beyond, but here I thought I’d give a brief flavour of Tokyo, where we spent a few days to attend a wedding.

I had hoped to be writing about a visit to another new vineyard in Nepal after that. You might remember I visited Pataleban Vineyard and Winery not far from Kathmandu last year, which claims to be Nepal’s first wine estate. However, family circumstances meant we had to leave Nepal after just 48 hours, so that will have to wait for another time and visit.

I remember the first time I came to Tokyo, the sense of sheer wonder at both how familiar and how different it seemed. The juxtaposition of the ultra-modern with the ancient is what strikes one first. But the Japanese have a long tradition of the theatrical, and this is reflected in daily life. Life seems at times to be one big ritual in Japan, and nowhere is this more so than at a Japanese wedding. This was not a traditional Shinto ceremony in this case, but one which reflected a Western Christian ceremony, but with added theatre.

How can I explain an order of service which would be familiar to anyone from Britain, yet where the aisle of the chapel was a raised glass runway, and where at the end of the service each guest was provided with a balloon. The roof of the chapel opened completely to the sky, wholly unexpectedly, and we were all required to loose our balloons to wish luck to the bride and groom.

The festivities which followed, in the wedding venue’s large ballroom, involved speeches, music, videos and dancing. They also involved a very good multi-course dinner with prodigious quantities of alcohol – at one point I had Champagne, gin & tonic and red Bordeaux on the go at once!

The centrepiece of the meal, in vinous terms, was a 1988 Château d’Yquem (the bride’s birth year) served from a 5 litre format. Actually, it was decanted into silver teapots with a very narrow spout. It had to go around 80 guests, but the bride’s father had brought along a good quantity of the same vintage in bottle, so there was more than enough to go round. In total I managed five modest glasses, which is by a long way the most d’Yquem I’ve drunk in one sitting.

What was the wine like? Well, from a format this large it still tasted remarkably young, and I’d say it has a minimum of twenty years in it, but quite possibly twice that. It wasn’t especially sweet, and it wasn’t the most botritised Sauternes I’ve drunk recently, by a long way. But it was very classy. Mango and apricot were the main fruit flavours, slightly honeyed, which blended with a caramel/toffee note, very smooth. Concentrated and complex, but not what I’d call unctuous. Utterly magnificent. It’s easy to grovel in awe when you taste the giants of wine, Krug Mesnil, Latour or Leroy and Leflaive etc. But superlatives here are genuine. After all, who doesn’t secretly love a really good stickie?

Here are some photos I thought might be interesting to share.

 

We had a few days in Tokyo around the wedding, and used them to eat and drink, as you do. I won’t drone on, but here are a few more photos giving a flavour of just a few of the things we did. The outdoor “food court” venue, Commune 2nd, between Omotesando and Gaienmae Metro stations (off Aoyama-Dori) has a lively atmosphere with different food shacks, interesting wine and craft beer. 8ablish is an excellent vegan restaurant, but very good on its own merits too, off the same road, but in the direction of Shibuya. The wine list here errs towards the natural, and although we went local, I was tempted by some Martin Diwald Grüner. This Grossriedenthal producer appeared on another list where we dined too, so he must have a good Japanese importer.

Left to right, row by row: Donated wine at Meiji-jingu shrine; 8ablish, including Grace Koshu, invariably the first wine we end up drinking in Japan; typical natural wine bar (a close look and you may spot some wines you know); example of the posher side of wine; some pics of the outdoor food and drink venue, Commune 2nd. Click to enlarge.

8ablish – www.eightablish.com at 5-10-17 (second floor, up the steps) Minami-aoyama, Minato, Tokyo 107-0062.

Commune 2nd – Check out the Time Out Tokyo review here.

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Recent Wines, Summer ’17, Pt 2

Posted on 15/08/2017 by dccrossley

A forlorn attempt to catch up with recent wines before I take a summer break. What to leave out is so difficult, but after a bit of reluctant pruning, here are the most exciting and interesting wines I’ve drunk at home over the last six or seven weeks. It’s a mixed summer case I’d love to repeat all over again, were it not for all the new and different wines I’ve got lined up for when I return to the keyboard, hopefully before summer finally disappears.

Grüner Veltliner Brut NV Austrian Sekt, Martin Diwald – Martin makes a range of exciting wines at Großriedenthal, in Wagram. This is one of the fizzes I’ve been drinking this summer and every bottle has been pale and frothy, with a gentle mousse and bead. Quite floral, not complicated, just deliciously refreshing. Neither is it expensive. Solent Cellar had this, via Red Squirrel.

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Morillon “Vom Opok” 2013, Werlitsch, Steiermark – Staying in Austria, we are in South Styria, a land of rolling countryside and Ewald and Brigitte Tscheppe, working in harmony with that beautiful land. Ewald makes mainly Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, Morillon being the old Austrian name for the latter. This pale wine is not for oak lovers, but although only 12.5% there is a touch of richness too. Delicious. You will usually find some Werlitsch wines at Newcomer in Dalston.

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Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine “Terre de Gneiss”, Guibert/Caille – One of the best Muscadets I’ve had for a while, and I’ve had some good Muscadets. Christelle Guibert, Decanter’s Tasting Director, has got together with Vincent Caille, and made this wine in a concrete egg. What makes it stand out? The lees give texture, there is more fruit than many Muscadets, and there’s a mineral intensity, as you’d expect from the name. Less than 2,000 bottles were made, although this has been available in quite a few UK retailers this summer.

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A Demûa 2014, Stefano Bellotti/Cascina degli Ulivi – Stefano will hate me calling him a Piemontese viticultural aristocrat, but he makes some of the finest artisanal bottles in the east of the region. The Filagnotti vineyard near Gavi is planted with 100-year old vines, a blend here of Riesling, Timorassa, Verdea and Moscatella (the latter is not a Muscat variant, but an old variety of Chasselas). Pale orange, soft, and gently thought provoking. Pure biodynamic loveliness. Les Caves de Pyrène sold me this.

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Morgon Côte du Py Réserve 2010, Jean-Marc Burgaud – Quite dark and mellow now, with intense cherry fruit but without losing that Morgon “Py” structure. Majestic and impressive. Perhaps this producer should be given a bit more attention. On the few bottles I’ve had, I’d say these wines are at the more concentrated end of the Beaujolais Cru spectrum, but without losing a really nice freshness. I bought this bottle in Paris, but I think Berry Bros import Jean-Marc into the UK.

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Weissburgunder 2015, Rennersistas, Burgenland – These two sisters, Susanne and Stefanie, have only been making wine (in Göls, on the northeastern side of the Neusiedlersee) since the 2015 vintage. Their wines are a work in progress, but their infectious enthusiasm, and those we all tasted at Raw this year, make me certain they are a name to follow. Most impressive, for me, are their wines made from Pinot Noir, yet this Pinot Blanc breaks the mould of this grape variety. For starters, it’s cloudy. The colour is a greeny yellow. But when you taste it, the lively fruit (apples) is really alive. Definitely a natural wine, not at all conventional, but exhilerating, absolutely. Newcomer wines get small stocks of these wines from time to time.

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Himmel auf Erden 2014, Christian Tschida, Illmitz – I’m sorry, more Austrian wine, more Neusiedlersee wine. I didn’t realise when I began writing this! Christian Tschida’s “Himmel auf Erden” (Heaven on Earth) wines sit at the lower end of his range, in terms of price, but the quality is very high. The white blends Scheurebe and Pinot Blanc and has a straw colour. There are solids in this unfiltered bottling. The fruit is peachy on the nose and a little nutty on the palate. It’s a fresh summer wine, but it develops a lot as it warms in the glass. Very long. Newcomer Wines are again your best bet.

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Bourgogne Aligoté 2014, Goisot, Saint-Bris – The Goisots in Saint-Bris are long time champions of the Auxerrois, in northern Burgundy. They are perhaps better known for their Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from white grapes, but their Aligoté always ranks in my favourite half dozen in Burgundy (without paying silly money). This 2014 proves the grape benefits from a bit of age. The grape variety’s natural acidity has toned down, and you might be surprised at the little bit of richness which has replaced it. Jean-Hughes and Guilhem have, like most vignerons in the wider region, been devastated by hail and frost in recent vintages. A friend phoned them and was told they have nothing to sell at present. Please support them. Butler’s Wine Cellar in Brighton had just a few bottles left.

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“Les Dix Bulles” Pétillant Naturel, Domaine de la Touraize/A-J Morin, Arbois – André-Jean Morin started out in 2010 after leaving the Arbois co-operative. This remarkably fresh pink pét-nat is quite light, frivolous even. Redcurrant Ploussard fruit has a hint of raspberry too. The mousse is frothy and it has lots of CO2 to keep it fizzing away. I drank this in the garden the day after a plethora of smart Champagnes, and in those circumstances it was no less enjoying in its simplicity. From the domaine, brought back by friends.

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Melting Potes 2016, Le Vendangeur Masque – A bit of an enigma, this, so let me explain. Back to Northern Burgundy, this time the village of Courgis (Chablis) and Alice and Olivier De Moor. Like the Goisots, they were wiped out in 2016. Friends in Southern France gave them some grapes so they could make some wine, and three cuvées were produced. This one blends Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Viognier. It’s a lightish, fresh, Vin de France, made with the same care they use to make their domaine wines. A delicious tribute to the generosity of their potes. Another domaine to support in hard times, when the nature they nourish has bitten them badly. Solent Cellar got just one case. Enquiries also to Les Caves. I get by with a little help from my friends!

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La Bota de Florpower “Más allá” 53, Equipo Navazos – This is a 2010 bottling which had an extra ten months in barrel. I like to keep the odd bottle of these back to see how they age (I still have one bottle of 44, believe it or not). You’d expect this “unfortified fino” of a table wine to be past it. Wrong! In the words of The Stranglers, “golden brown, texture like sun”. The nose is still chalky, and there’s a flor-like freshness…still. What it has gained is an unexpected richness and complexity. Did I read Julian Jeffs recently stating that Jerez etc table wines will never be great? If my memory serves me correctly there, I suspect he’s never tried an older Florpower. Unique. Alliance Wine is the importer of Equipo Navazos in the UK.

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“ULM” Vin de France, Domaine de L’Octavin – Alice Bouvot makes some of the most exquisite wines in Arbois in a plain garage on the edge of town, not far from the natural wine hangout, Bistro des Claquets. “ULM” is an acronym for ultra long maceration, and is a co-vatted blend of red and white (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) grapes. The result is a palish red which has a strong bouquet of strawberry and raspberry, mirrored very gently on the palate. Acidity is quite fresh, and the long finish lingers, even when the bottle is empty. Contemplative. This bottle came from the domaine, but Tutto wines is the UK importer. I think this is pretty sensational, but I’m guessing that the many who think I’ve really gone over to the dark side will now have their fears confirmed.

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I’m not quite sure what I shall be drinking over the next month! But cheers to whatever you are doing. I shall hopefully manage to post a few pics from my adventures to Instagram, with luck, and hope to be posting more articles here by the second half of September.

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One More Cup of Coffee (‘fore I go)

Posted on 08/08/2017 by dccrossley

Well, not quite, but in about a week’s time I will be on a break for a month. Fingers crossed I might be able to catch up on recent wines before then, but meanwhile, in today’s article, there’s a bit of a wine fix (a pretty good one) at the end, but before that I’m going to stray off subject and talk about…coffee.

I find a strong appreciation of coffee among wine lovers. Some prefer tea, although in such cases it is usually fine teas. I don’t find too many impassioned wine lovers who are totally undiscerning when it comes to other beverages. I’m not really a tea person, except when it comes to Japanese green teas, and my occasional cup of Himalayan Blue from Marriage Frères. But I do find myself getting more and more interested in coffee, which is why I grabbed the chance to visit one of the new breed of small batch coffee roasters last week.

Coffee Mongers is based at Lymington Enterprise Centre. The man behind the operation, Tarek El-Khazindar, has more than a couple of decades’ experience. He began as a coffee trader in Paris in 1984, and managed a green coffee trading operation in London from 1996. Now he buys high quality beans in relatively small quantities for his own business.

We had a good look around – a guided tour isn’t officially part of a trip to buy coffee here, but a tour and a tasting before buying felt somewhat familiar, a great idea. In the small trading unit the beans are kept up on the mezzanine. We compared the different origin beans, all different in colour, look, and especially smell. As with wine, each cup of coffee has its own aroma, but whereas grapes are more neutral when picked, green coffee beans really show their quality, and qualities, even before roasting.

Down below is the gleaming Bühler roaster (having a day off when we visited, ouch!). It’s a Swiss model which is so heavy the forklift was almost out of its depth when it was manoeuvred in. If, like me, you get just a little bit excited by the gleaming stainless steel of a new Champagne Press, you’ll find this quite thrilling too. A very expensive piece of kit, of course. Much of the roasting process is computer controlled, but the end of any roast is always judged by the roaster (as Gareth, our guide, pointed out, thirty seconds too long can ruin a whole batch). The black handle at nine o’clock on the roasting drum allows access to a sample of the beans.

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Bühler Roaster – they have refrained from calling him Ferris

The photograph below shows the contrast between the unroasted green beans and the finished product. Each origin of coffee gets a different approach, and they have a very nifty small roaster in which they can experiment, partially with the length/intensity of roast, but also with different blends.

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Coffee Mongers concentrate primarily on four blends – Brazilian (mainly Santos), Colombian, Javan and Mocha. Each of these costs £5 for 250g at the unit (£6.50 online), a step up from supermarket coffee, but still good value for the quality. You can take these as beans, or have them precision ground for your brewer of choice in their rather flashy £3,000 grinder (on the right).

They are also introducing single estate coffees, and when we visited they had a Rwandan estate on sale. This was somewhat more expensive, at £7.50 per 250g, but it’s a lovely coffee, really complex and fruity. I am already well aware of where the coffee bug can lead, as a customer of Algerian Coffee Stores in Soho’s Old Compton Street, and I’m not planning to begin blowing the wine budget on coffee any time soon. That said, you really do move a step up with the single estate coffees, but then the proprietorial blends they do are really good as well. We came away with a selection, including the Rwandan.

A visit to Coffee Mongers is not too dissimilar to a winery visit. We only really went to buy some coffee, having been made a cup of the Brazilian by a friend a couple of weeks ago. But Gareth, who was on duty last Friday, spent time showing us around, and more importantly, gave us a tasting (which is how we came to buy some of the brilliant Rwandan). We learnt many new things about different origin coffee styles, not least that smoother blends (like their Javan) are the ones to choose if using a non-dairy milk substitute (like soya or almond). A higher acid coffee, like the Colombian , works far less well. If you really have to put anything in your coffee, of course.

Coffee Mongers also sell a number of coffee peripherals, including the kind of ceramic filter cones you can buy for a whole lot more up in London. A visit to one of these places would really interest any coffee loving wine aficionado.

Coffee Mongers are at Unit 13, Ampress Lane, Lymington Enterprise Centre, Lymington. Another place to add to your New Forest trip. Monday to Friday only (closed weekends).

We drank some extremely good wines at the weekend, one as an aperitif, and the other three at The Shipyard, a Lymington Restaurant I’ve written about several times before, where the fish and seafood comes right off the dayboats.

The aperitif was Larmandier-Bernier “Latitude” Extra Brut 1er Cru NV. This is a pretty dry Champagne (just 4g/l dosage), made from 100% Chardonnay. The dominant flavour is a kind of orange citrus with summer flowers, fresh with a very fine line enhanced by the lovely bead. You’ll probably find it a little lighter than their “Longitude” cuvée. Expect to pay between £35 and £40 retail.

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We opened up at The Shipyard with a really fine old Jeffrey Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2004 from Clare Valley in South Australia (under screwcap). Arguably Australia’s most consistently fine Riesling, the Polish Hill bottling is notoriously tight when young. At thirteen years we are beginning to see how it ages, but it is still very fresh. Anyone who has ever tasted Rose’s Lime Cordial will recognise it in this wine. Delicate and dry, but with a steeliness characteristic of the grape variety, this is fantastic, with complexity growing in the glass as it warmed. And what a colour, vibrant lemon-lime being the only words to describe it.

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These mussels were cooked with harissa, fennel and chorizo in a tomato sauce, delicious. The wine was not a perfect match for the food, but both were so good that, frankly, no one cared.

Miani Chardonnay 2013, Friuli Colli Orientali is one of those wines which clearly demonstrates that we should not forget Northeastern Italy when looking for world class Chardonnay. From Buttrio, where Enzo Pontoni has been working since the mid-1980s, this wine is a beautiful green gold, very fine with a mineral core and velvet fruit. Indeed, some have argued that Pontoni is Italy’s finest white winemaker, yet how many fashionable names supplant him when commentators are talking about Italian whites? A bottle of this beauty will probably set you back over £50, but it really is that good.

                                     The fish is a whole sole, so beautifully fresh.

The final wine on Saturday night was from one of my favourite producers anywhere. L’Uva Arbosiana 2015, Domaine de La Tournelle (Arbois) is 100% Poulsard. It gets one month of carbonic maceration in open cylindrical vats, before ageing for between three and four months in foudres and old barrels. Bottled in spring with 900 to 1,200 mg/litre of natural carbon dioxide, the wine is unfiltered and no sulphur is added. Evelyne (Clairet) recommends transporting at 14 degrees or below, although I’ve latterly found that’s a cautious recommendation.

L’Uva can be a bit reductive. I once saw Wink Lorch sort it out by vigorous shaking in a decanter, and that certainly worked. Decant it if you can. There will otherwise be a good bit of CO2 dissolved in the glass, but a good swirl and allowing the wine to open out enables it to give its best…a very fruity wine which is deceptively simple. Ploussard/Poulsard has a haunting quality, whereby the smooth fruit develops an extra dimension with age and air (at least when made well), which I’ve described on many occasions as ethereal. The scent of fine tea and cranberries/redcurrants sometimes gets in there.

Don’t think such an apparently simple wine can’t age. The previous night, by coincidence, an online acquaintance in Sydney had opened the 2014, and had said it was singing. I will always adore this cuvée. Quirky, sometimes a little difficult to begin with, for me it epitomises the creativity of its producer, and how natural wine can not only beguile the senses, but also challenge the intellect.

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