David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

American Oddities (June 2016)

Posted on 12/06/2016 by dccrossley

Every so often we go for a themed version of Oddities. It keeps everyone on their toes. Although more and more of us are buying American wines, which are much better represented in the UK than they were even five years ago, many said they had found it quite difficult to find much that was very odd. But they made a great effort. Surprisingly we only saw three South Americans, one example being badly corked, and all were from Chile (no Argentina!). But the north yielded some diversity with Canadian wines from two Niagara micro climates, Willamette, Yakima and Columbia Valleys in Oregon and Washington States, and of course California. It was the latter which stole the show overall with, I think, most people’s top three or four wines on the day.

Mariposa Vineyard Arvine 2014, White Heron Cellars, Columbia Valley, Washington State – A very rare sighting of this Swiss/Aostan native (though not of the Petite variety in this case). Lemon sherbet to the fore, a nice racy white with a little less breadth than you might find in the Valais. I thought this was quite delicious, though not a complex wine. I think I heard $12 mentioned and if that’s right, it would be a remarkable bargain (a few wines came back across the Atlantic in a suitcase).

Trousseau Gris 2014, Wind Gap, Russian River CA – Slightly broader with a waxy texture, possibly a little skin contact, but something a little steely about it, almost Riesling but not on the aromatic side. What could this be? Well, having drunk it and written about it a week ago, I felt a little silly not to spot this. As I said in that roundup of recent wines, this is no relation to Trousseau Noir, Jura’s darkest hued native variety. It used to go by the synonym Gray (sic) Riesling in California, and was widely planted before being grubbed up in all but a few old vine locations. But a surprisingly decent number of producers are making one now, probably due to Jura’s fashionability (though I’ve not seen Trousseau Gris even in the vine repositories I’ve visited there). Still, for all that, this is enjoyable if not profound. I think I like this wine more than many.

Johan Vineyards Grüner Veltliner 2013, Willamette Valley – Another major fail in identifying this wine on a table with several WSET Diploma holders and a MW candidate. I jest, yet when this was revealed it was so obviously full of white pepper. We just weren’t expecting GV from the Americas. A clean, fresh, and perhaps over-typical example, pretty decent though.

Boushey Vineyard Grenache Blanc 2014, Two Vintners, Yakima Valley, WA – If Willamette Valley is a drive south of Portland, Oregon, Yakima Valley is to that city’s northeast, in the State of Washington. This Grenache, which actually has 7% Roussanne blended in, is another unusual variety for this far north in the US, a variety we are more likely to know from the South of France. Its production is tiny, a mere 310 cases. It manages to keep a little of its typicity up here. It’s not as cool as one might think, being between Bordeaux and Burgundy in latitude with a continental climate. Syrah is becoming a favoured red variety. So you can imagine that although this was a decent effort, it was a little on the lean side despite over 13% alcohol. But Grenache Blanc is capable of producing better wines than we occasionally give credit for and I’d happily drink a bottle of this, if not buy a case.

Chardonnay Musqué 2013, Cave Spring Vineyards, Beamsville Bench, Niagara – Canada gets a first look-in with a wine from the increasingly high profile Niagara Escarpment’s Beamsville Bench. Most of the Niagara terrain is glacial deposits but there’s a fair amount of chalky soils on the benches too. Ice Wine used to rule. Now, Pinot Noir and Riesling are gaining a following for dry wines, but this Chardonnay variant is a rarity. Summers are warm here, largely due to Lake Ontario’s influence, and the movement of the airstream around the falls. So ripeness is rarely a problem. That said, Chardonnay Musqué does make for an unusual wine. I guessed some kind of Muscat, and there was a hint of it, but on reveal, this did have some cool climate Chardonnay characteristics too. Perhaps an oddity in several senses, but I enjoyed trying it. One or two didn’t like it but, as is often my take, I’d quite like to try a whole bottle, giving it a little more focus.

Steverjan 2014, Scholium Project, Rocky Hill Vineyard, Sonoma Mountain – This was my offering, and was (as I suspected) nailed on mere sight by Mr Rogers opposite me. This is Abe Schoener’s skin contact Pinot Grigio, a sort of mix on the palate between a pink, an orange wine and a white (in that order). It combines an almost fruit juice like texture with a subtle complexity. It’s one of Schoner’s least expensive wines (around £28 retail, I think), but one you can drink all day. Most found it delicious, certainly a top three placing. The name – the town where Gravner and Radikon make wine, what else!

Vineland Pinot Meunier 2011, Niagara Escarpment – Another Niagara wine, this fooled everyone, largely because it appeared older than it was, and because it was so “obviously”, to a few of us, a well aged Pinot Noir, although there might have been the odd shout for Virginia. Again, an unusual grape in an unusual location fooled us all, but on being told it was PM it seemed to make sense. I’m guessing it was planted on the Escarpment for its famous frost resistance, although frosts don’t appear to be as bad as one might think up there, with all that moving water and offshore breeze. Fascinating stuff, and it’s impossible to thank people enough for trawling New York wine stores just to bring things like this back for us to try.

Pleiades XXI, Sean Thackrey, California – No more specific designation, Thackrey has crafted wonder blends from old vines in his Bolinas base for a few decades with just a cult following. My first ever Pleiades preceded the numbering system, bottled in 1995. XXI was bottled in 2011, and consists of Sangiovese, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Marsanne, to name just some varieties. I thought I spotted Sangiovese (tick) and Nebbiolo (big cross). A wonderful wine, which hid the labelled 14.9% alcohol very well indeed. Complex, savoury and majestic, this was almost unanimously wine of the day.

Pistolero 2011, Viña Raab, Quilpué, Chile – Quilpué is a town about 10km inland from Valparaiso, on the cost just north of Santiago. It sits just south of the warm Aconcagua Valley, and Christophe Beau probably has no difficulty achieving the 14% alcohol on this unusual blend of Merlot and Pinot Noir. This is a well made, tasty wine from organic fruit and quite an interesting blend (I’ve had Pinot blended with Shiraz from Victoria and The Hunter Valley, but not with Merlot). But as Joel said, how was it going to follow the Thackrey? It did suffer a little in the attention it got as a result of that.

Unofuera 1994, Maipo, Chile – This old gem was the product of a collaboration between the late Paul Pontallier (Ch Margaux) and Bruno Prats (Cos d’Estournel) back in the days when Chile was wine’s wild frontier. Hard to think that this cost £4.99 at Oddbins back in the day. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a large (25ha) vineyard in the region, close to Santiago, where the Chilean wine story began. If only it were possible to buy a wine like this for £4.99 today (well, an Argentine Malbec costing under £5 at Asda has reputedly just won a Decanter Trophy in the 2016 DWWA, so we shall see). Needless to say, the Bordeaux pair didn’t mean to craft a £5 wine, and its subsequent incarnation went on to claim a better price. A momentary bargain which we were privileged to drink on Friday. If a 1980s minor Cru-Classé from Bordeaux were still holding up well, it might taste similar to this.

Viejas Tinajas Cinsault 2014, Secano DO, De Martino, Chile – Sadly, this was horribly corked. A great shame as there’s no reason why this relatively inexpensive wine, which I have enjoyed a couple of times over the past twelve months, couldn’t have been sealed under stelvin/screw cap.

Johannisberg Late Harvest Riesling 1978, Belle Terre Vineyard, Chateau St-Jean, Alexander Valley, Sonoma CA – Once a speciality of once famous Chateau St-Jean, this wonderful old brown wine showed lovely complexity, a rum-like smoothness, and a scent worthy of any old Mosel, except that this is an almost unique style. It has more in common with Rutherglen stickies in some ways, but with a mere 10.3% alcohol on the label. Words fail really, you just wish you had a case (the man who brought it did, once). Another close WOTD contender.

Zinfandel Port 1988, Christian Brothers, Napa Valley – The Christian Brothers winery is famous in the annals of Napa. Founded in 1882, there’s a tiny connection between this winery and Chateau St-Jean. When Japanese drinks giant, Suntory, bought St-Jean in around 1984, it was, at $40 million, the most paid for a Californian winery at the time. Christian Brothers was bought by then UK drinks giant, Grand Metropolitan in 1989 for a seemingly remarkable $150 million (estimated). Where are they now? This 1988 “Cali-Port” was the last vintage made by the famous winemaking monk, Brother Timothy. But aside from its historical significance, it’s a smooth and alcoholic example of a disappearing genre. In the rush to escape Napa’s high alcohol reputation, it would be a shame to see little (well, maybe little is a poor choice of word) gems like this disappear, a wine of another time and place.

Rochelle’s generosity extended beyond the most amazing chicken (I completely forgot to ask where they sourced it from) to the most enormous hunks of three English cheeses (it broke more than one heart that we couldn’t finish them, and there were ten of us), and an Eton Mess variant dessert. It gave a couple of generous attendees a chance to open these two beauties, off theme but so enjoyable…

Here are a few pics from the Canteen…

…and what we drank for afters at Winemakers Club…

Oddities lunches take place approximately every two months at Rochelle Canteen in Shoreditch. They are open to all, but they are first announced on Tom Cannavan’s Winepages site, on the wine forum. If you would like to come to a future event (there is no charge other than for food, usually up to £60 with a tip, and the bottle you bring), sign up there and keep your eyes open.

Posted in Oddities lunches, Wine Tastings | Tagged AA Badenhorst, Arvine, Brak-Kuil Barbarossa, Cave Spring Chardonnay Musqué, Ch St-Jean Johannisberg Riesling, Christian Brothers Zinfandel Port, De Martino, Johan Vineyards, Labet Chardonnay, Oddities, Pietradolce Barbagalli, Pleiades XXI, Rochelle Canteen, Scholium Project Steverjan, Sean Thackrey, Trousseau Gris, Two Vintners Grenache Blanc, Unofuera Cabernet 1994, Viña Raab Pistolero, Viejas Tinajas Cinsault, Vineland Pinot Meunier, White Heron Cellars, Wind Gap | 1 Comment

Now We Have Sunshine (Recent Wines)

Posted on 08/06/2016 by dccrossley

There’s something about a spell of sunny weather that makes me want to drink more wine. Something to do with long evenings and tables out in the garden. I thought I’d share a few recent bottles that seemed to fit the bill really well.

We have an Oddities Lunch again this Friday, and it’s devoted to The Americas this time. I could quite easily have taken the first wine here, Wind Gap Trousseau Gris 2013, Russian River Valley. This is a white with a tiny touch of skin colour. I’d been warned this needed drinking up, but it was a good bottle, fresh on the nose, with a waxy lemon palate, with fresh but not sharp acidity. This unusual variety is almost unknown in Jura, where it is not related to the region’s Trousseau Noir. In California it was known as Gray (sic) Riesling before Jura became fashionable, and most was pulled up. This wine is quite neutral, like some Southern French whites, but it does have some character, and a good reputation. And it does work in the garden.

Stockists: Try Roberson

Du Grappin Beaujolais-Villages 1.5 litre #bagnum. This is Andrew and Emma Nielsen’s version of their Beaujolais-Villages in a bag. There’s no vintage on it, so not sure how that works, but as I bought it very recently it may be the 2015 I tasted at Raw Wine? Anyway, it’s a cracking bag of wine, not just a carbon footprint-reducing packaging format. Perfect for picnics and festivals, but this cherry cola was glugged in our back garden on the warmest evening of the year so far. These bagnums are highly recommended – there’s a Macon-Villages white, and a pink as well. The best thing is that they can be combined with other wines over several days (they are supposed to keep fresh for a couple of weeks, but surely no one will keep away from them for that long?).

Widely available at independents or direct from Le Grappin at their London market locations, or via mail order. Mine came from Solent Cellar

Champagne Ulysse Collin Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut “Les Perrières”. NV, but based on 2009 fruit, disgorged 07-03-2013, therefore with three years’ pda. It’s all Chardonnay, from Olivier Collin’s holdings around Congy. It’s not the most famous terroir in Champagne, but Collin is gearing up towards stardom and makes a very fine bottle, albeit already pushing beyond the prices charged by some quite good growers. Some say Extra Brut doesn’t age well. This has some maturity, but underneath a mineral, almost steely, structure. If you don’t like your Champagne to be at all bracing, this may not be for you. If you want to slake a thirst in the heat, with something which will then accompany food, then give it a go…if the price isn’t too shocking.

This bottle was purchased in Epernay at a good £10 cheaper than UK prices, but I have previously purchased Olivier Collin’s wines from Selfridges. The link is to a slightly different BdeB cuvée. North American readers may have a wider choice.

Almost the antithesis of Champagne is the fun concept of the pét-nat. It’s a style I love for its lively simplicity. The Loire, Jura and Austria are increasingly good sources of these wines, along with Southern France. This bottle, Domaine des Bodines Red Bulles, is made by a young couple, Alexis and Emilie Porteret, at their tiny domaine on the edge of Arbois. I love all the Bodines wines I’ve tried. Alexis did a stint at Domaine de la Tournelle, so he’s been well taught, and shares the philosophy of the Clairets – one I would describe as kindness to everything. Red Bulles is a sparkling Poulsard of unusual fruitiness and a wonderful vibrant pink colour. Bulles translates as bubbles (but, you knew that), so the pun is humorous, but I feel more invigorated by this than by any energy drink.

Purchased in situ, I’m afraid. You might have to go to Arbois for these wines, though I’m sure someone will let me know if I’m wrong. Certainly Californian readers will be able to call the excellent Selection Massale in San Leandro (or via their NYC and Chicago sales people).

Fabien Jouves “You Fuck My Wine” is a result of that old chestnut, the appellation regulations blocking certain grape varieties, in this case, Jurançon Noir. Fabien makes very terroir specific Cahors, but this wine is released as a Vin de France. It’s sappy, brambly, with crunchy fruit. Someone told me they thought this tasted like Malbec anyway, but not the sort of South American Malbec we have come to know. This has just 10.5% alcohol. I love it, and like the label, it’s a fun wine. But not as rebellious (in a good way) as the name might suggest, so it won’t frighten those unsure about natural wines. Jouves was all set to become a doctor before he turned to winemaking as a career. His 20+ hectares are biodynamic, and he seems to apply the sensibilities of a caring physician to his chosen path.

This one’s easier to find in the UK. The Sampler often stock a good range of Fabien’s wines and got a new delivery not all that long ago.

I visited Heidi Schröck at her winery in Rust last May, but I’ve enjoyed her wines for several years, currently via her importer, Alpine Wines. For some reason I’ve had a bit of a Heidi blitz in the past couple of weeks. I drank the very refreshing Blaufränkisch Kulm 2012, her fruity, dry, Gelber Muskateller 2013, and the concentrated yellow-gold Pinot Blanc Beerenauslese 2008. Heidi makes a variety of wines from her ten-or-so hectares, and she’s probably best known for her sweet wines. But I love the reds too. This Blaufränkisch is made from vines planted in the 1950s and it combines depth with really lively dark cherry fruit. She’s another winemaker who oozes warmth, both for visitors and for her wines.

As I said above, Alpine Wines bring in Heidi’s wines, for which I am very grateful. Rust is a long drive!

Argile Rouge 2011, Domaine des Ardoisières is a Vin des Allobroges St-Pierre de Soucy, made by Brice Omont near Freterive, on the Combe between Chambéry and Albertville. This IGT designation used to be called Vin de Pays des Allobroges and I first came across its wines in the very early 2000s. I think it was a co-operative wine, which I bought near Evian. Anyway, it was tart and acidic enough to remember it well. But Brice Omont unquestionably makes some of the best wines in Savoie today. This red is made from 80% Gamay (de Chautagne) and 20% Persan. Gamay with bite is how I’d describe it, or just a damned good wine.

Vine Trail in Bristol bring in Brice Omont’s white and red Argile, along with his top white, “Schiste”. This bottle came from Solent Cellar, but I’m not sure they have any left?

It may be a little bit past spring, but I’m throwing this wine in at the end as we drank it at the end of May, when “Beaujolais Season” in our house usually hits full stride. Yvon Métras Fleurie “Le Printemps” 2013 is cherry red in colour, cherry scented and it tastes of cherries too, simple as that. Though it’s not simple to craft such a delicious wine, where the fruit bursts on the tip of the tongue and again on the back of the palate. Essence of Beaujolais, and delicious.

This Métras Fleurie was procured in one of Paris’s natural wine shops, though I can’t rightly say which one because on my trip there last summer I did buy rather a lot of Beaujolais.

Posted in Austrian Wine, Beaujolais, Champagne, Jura, Natural Wine, Rust, Wine Agencies | Tagged #Bagnums, Alexis Porteret, Brice Omont, Domaine des Ardoisières, Domaine des Bodines, Du Grappin, Emilie Porteret, Fabien Jouves, Heidi Schrock, Jurançon Noir, Olivier Collin, pét-nat, Red Bulles, Rust, St-Pierre-de-Soucy, Summer Wines, Trousseau Gris, Ulysse Collin, Vin des Allobroges, Wind Gap, You Fuck My Wine | 6 Comments

Of Austria and Ostriches

Posted on 03/06/2016 by dccrossley

If you read this Blog regularly you’ll know what I think of Austria – it’s the most exciting wine country in Europe right now. Let’s face it, I’ve probably written that phrase enough times this year for it to have become boring. But I exist in a little cosmopolitan bubble. In the wider world, Austria still figures only a little on wine shop shelves, it’s hardly mainstream. It’s almost as if much of our wine trade are ostriches when it comes to the wines of Austria, failing to realise just how good they are. There are a few older books on the country, but if you wanted to keep on top of what’s happening in Austria via the written word in the past few years, you’d have had to find something like the Vinaria annual Weinguide, in German. But like parts of that country, the Vinaria Guide is pretty conservative in its tastes. The great estates are lauded, but you don’t get to see the work being done by the younger generation.

Now there is, finally, a good, up-to-date book on the country, The Wines of Austria by Stephen Brook (Infinite Ideas, 2016). Many will know Stephen Brook as a writer and contributing editor for Decanter Magazine. He’s also perhaps better known for his works on Bordeaux and California, but he’s actually spent a lot of time in Austria over the years, ever since his post-student days in the 1970s, and there’s no doubt that he truly appreciates her wines.

You might have heard the term “Austrian Wine Revolution”. Austria is unusual, in that it might be said that it has undergone two wine revolutions. The first involved rebuilding confidence after 1985 diethylene glycol scandal (the antifreeze scandal to the tabloid press). The adulteration of wines, intended to be sweet, with this agent which gave the appearance of sweetness, took Austria out of UK and US wine shops for years when I was young. The result, the DAC system of wine appellations, is now one of the strictest in Europe, and the country’s important wine families fought back strongly with quality, to re-establish Austrian wines on the international market within little more than a decade.

The next revolution is the one which is happening now. It involves a strange coincidence – that so many of Austria’s wine estates are being turned over to a younger generation. This generation has traveled and worked internationally, and they also seem to be far more environmentally and ecologically conscious than their parents’ generation. Biodynamics is certainly not new in Austria (Brook points to the famous Wachau estate, Nikolaihof, converting in 1971), but today it seems almost as if most of the top estates follow this path. And natural wine is a major movement too, in a country which still has fewer than 50,000 hectares of planted vineyard.

That first wine revolution was led by a two-pronged attack: Kracher and Opitz leading the charge to establish Austria’s sweet wines from around the Neusiedler See on a level with the great dessert wines of the world, and the Wachau region’s top producers putting their greatest white wines, from Riesling and Grüner Veltliner grown on the steep slopes flanking the Danube’s northern bank, on a par with top White Burgundy.

The second revolution is being fought elsewhere, in regions such as Wagram, Burgenland, and even Vienna. Austria’s palate is being excited by a palette of exciting grapes extending beyond Grüner to Roter Veltliner, Rotgipfler and other autochthonous varieties, perhaps achieving their apotheosis in the Wiener Gemischter Satz field blends of the capital’s hills (I’m so pleased Brook acknowledges that “Vienna is capable of producing truly excellent wines that bear comparison with those from more prestigious regions of Austria”). But it’s really the Austrian red varieties which are now beginning to grab attention: Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt and Saint-Laurent, and often, these wines are made with minimal intervention, the whites frequently in amphora or concrete egg.

This is perhaps where I differ from Brook in my appreciation of Austrian wine. As you probably know, I adore the classics. It was the likes of Kracher, Prager, Knoll and Hirtzberger on whom I cut my Austrian teeth. But I can’t agree that cloudiness in one of Claus Preisinger’s Grüners is “alarming” (has he not seen Christoph Hoch’s Kalkspitz?). I find it boundary-pushing myself. I don’t find some of the natural wines he has tried “hit and miss”, and I would not concur that biodynamic, orange and natural wines are a “fad”. Indeed, Brook states that he is “no fan” of natural wines. That’s fair enough, and despite expressing such sentiments, he is generally fair, often balancing such comments, and there’s no denying that such wines are indeed “Controversial”. But when he states that, in relation to orange (skin contact) wines, “the good wines tend to be outnumbered by the flawed wines”, I think that is a situation which pertained a few years ago, but that this has largely been reversed by improved winemaking decisions – often merely scaling back the time juice is left on its skins.

The reason we would beg to differ is quite simply explained, but it does go to the heart of “what is wine?”. Brook’s assessments are based on a fault criteria which has guided wine professionals in the UK since we began to appreciate wine centuries ago. His conception of what makes a good wine is followed by the established trade, and by established wine writers. I would claim, as someone who has grown up with French classics I can often no longer afford, that I know a faulty wine when I see one. But some wines straddle the edge of what is faulty and what is not.

Sometimes it is these boundary pushing wines which show real excitement, something new…when they get it right. Like Punk in the 1970s, New Austria has its rough edges, but it is through innovation and experimentation that adventurous producers reach for something new and sublime. I guess I just want to experience that experimentation, because wine appreciation ought to be a continuing journey, not one where we arrive at Pauillac or Vosne, or in this case, Oberloiben and Illmitz, and park the Jaguar. The bars and wine shops of places like the East End of London, and New York’s Lower East Side might not yet have credibility with the wine establishment, but like CBGB’s and The Marquee Club, their influence will be felt.

The Wines of Austria follows a fairly standard format for a wine book. A very good introduction sets the historical scene, then a chapter on grape varieties follows, before the meat of the book – the individual wine regions. In these Chapters each region is introduced before we get producer profiles of the region’s best domaines (for Brook, one or two of mine are missing, but not many). The book rounds off with a chapter on vintages, before a good Glossary and an index of wineries (which confused me at first, until I found Gut Oggau under “O”, Oggau being merely the next village to Rust, not a producer’s surname). There are four pages of atmospheric colour photos in the middle of the book. I’d have liked to see more from this exceptionally photogenic wine country, and perhaps some producer portraits. I accept that this would have cost money, but I can’t help recalling how Mick Rock’s brilliant photography enhanced Wink Lorch’s book on Jura Wine.

In the acknowledgements to The Wines of Austria, Brook alludes to the fact that it was not a book on Austria that he was originally asked to write for Infinite Ideas. I don’t agree with all of his assessments, nor do I share, quite obviously, all of his tastes. Yet I still have no hesitation in recommending the book to anyone interested in this most exciting wine country. Well written, thorough, professional and erudite, if a tiny touch conservative in the way of most older wine writers, but I have no criticism to make of genuinely held beliefs, and I am sure he’s a more experienced taster than I am. It is actually refreshing to see someone express an opinion in a wine book, especially as Brook acknowledges a great deal of assistance from the various Austrian wine bodies, a tiny fraction of which a poor wine blogger would envy, and which, so obviously, has had no direct influence on what he has written. Thank you Stephen Brook for taking the trouble to write it. If you want to learn about Austrian wine, do buy it.

The Wines of Austria by Stephen Brook costs £35 (h/b), although a p/b version is due to be released on 30 June (£30, Infinite Ideas)

Posted in Austria, Austrian Wine, Wine, Wine Books, Wine Writing | Tagged Austria, Austrian Natural Wines, Austrian Wine, Austrian Wine Revolution, Stephen Brook, The Wines of Austria | 2 Comments

Solent

Posted on 24/05/2016 by dccrossley

Elderflower Restaurant, on the cobbled street leading to Lymington Quay, is gaining a very good reputation under chef Andrew Du Bourg (previously Head Chef at Chewton Glen and Club Gascon) and wife Marjolaine. They provided the canapés and crudités for the Fifth Anniversary Tasting of Lymington’s gem of a wine shop, Solent Cellar. Elderflower has been open just over two years. Like that other Hampshire hidden gem restaurant, Verveine in Milford-on-Sea, the decor at Elderflower gives little away about the standard of cooking. Before I talk about the wines Solent presented on Sunday, I have to say that the French Black Pudding canapé, one of several stunning mouthfuls, was as good as anything I’ve put in my mouth at any London two-Michelin-starred restaurant.

It’s fitting, as one happy customer said, that Elderflower and Solent Cellar should team up for this Anniversary tasting. I’ve said it before, but sleepy Lymington, on the edge of the New Forest, comfortable in its Georgian past and smart yachting present, really does not know how lucky it is to have a wine shop that would thrive in the competitive environment of London. It’s a store which, of course, caters for a Champagne day out on the Solent or a week of sipping rosé for Cowes (or should that be the other way round, perhaps?). But they have a passionate team who adore wine – Simon and Heather having been lately joined by Rob Caswell, whilst former helper, Julien Bailly, has serendipitously moved over to Elderflower as front of house.

So what Simon and Heather have done is create a list which includes serious fine wines and Champagnes (not forgetting local beers and a growing local gin selection), along with rather a lot of wines which reflect their own fascinations – hence a good Jura offering and not a few natural wines as well, the sort of stuff they feel is maybe “too weird for Lymo”, but they sell anyway because a large enough number of people like me make the trip down, just to see what’s new. The wines I’ve picked out from the tasting below cover all those bases, from well chosen wines at around £10/bottle up to the top. And the wine I enjoyed with dinner that evening was one of the cheapest wines on show!

The Fizz – Villa Marcello Prosecco is a clean and fruity version of this much maligned wine, and I include it here because it’s one of the nicest “normal” Proseccos I’ve had in a while. At £13.49/bottle that’s not surprising, but if you are after a good party fizz this one works. I did pick up a Prosecco a little more to my taste for home consumption, Casa Belfi Prosecco Colfondo. Colfondo Proseccos are cloudy, left on the yeast lees in the bottle. At just 10.5% alcohol, the Belfi will be gracing lunch in the garden fairly soon, weather permitting. But Simon did say that one splits opinion right down the centre when they have it on taste.

At the other end of the scale, and this is typical of Solent Cellar, they had some Roederer Cristal 2007 open. I’m not one to turn that down. I do drink a bit of prestige Champagne on my travels, but Cristal, very rarely. This was obviously so young, and to be honest if you popped a 2007 now you might be wasting £135. But still…not going to turn down a sip. My tip from Solent’s Champagne portfolio, André Clouet Cuvée 1911. Says a lot about this shop that they truly understand Champagne.

The Whites – A couple of less expensive wines impressed. The first is no secret, it’s fairly easily available, Saladini Pilastri Falerio. The 2015 has a base of Trebbiano with Pecorino and a splash of Chardonnay and Passerina. It’s quite delicious, but not run-of-the-mill (£8.99).

Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto 2015 is, as you’d expect, like a skin contact Vinho Verde. Just six weeks on skins then four months on lees, a grassy nose and a nice, freshly textured palate (£15.99).

Laissez-faire Fiano, Larry Cherubino 2015 was my pick of the whites. Mineral citrus, and a hint of nuts, a fresh “natural” wine, the grapes for this wine from the Laissez-faire range coming from Frankland River (WA), Delicious, with the prospect of improvement in bottle. This was a sample, but Solent plan to list it at £20.50, which is cheaper than I’ve seen it elsewhere.

The Pink – A lot of people seemed to be going for the Ott pink, yet at least two people described Chateau Cibonne’s Clos Cibonne Tibouren as the wine of the London Wine Fair. I’d be inclined to agree, having had the same wine at Red Squirrel’s trade tasting last year. Whilst Solent have the big brother Tibouren (I think at around £18, or £42 for a magnificent magnum), the wine on taste here was the entry level “Tentations” cuvée. It’s a negoce wine, and it only contains a little (15%) of the rare Tibouren grape in the blend, along with Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, but it’s just a lovely Provençal pink. Apricot/peach nose and peach stone or minerals on a dry palate (£13.99).

Domaine Treloar – Many readers will know the wines of Roussillon’s Domaine Treloar really well. For those who don’t, English winemaker Jonathan Hesford and New Zealander Rachel Treloar were both working close to the Twin Towers on the day they were destroyed. It made them rethink a few things, and via New Zealand’s Lincoln University Department of Oenology, and Neudorf Estate, he and Rachel ended up near Perpignan with around ten hectares. Rachel was over in the UK to show her wines personally.

Sorry this is a touch dark, Rachel

All of these wines are both very good, and more importantly, stunning value, as exemplified by the bone dry One Block Muscat 2012 (£9.99). If you find Muscat too flowery, this might change your mind.

Terre Promise is a low intervention white blend of Macabeu, Grenache Gris and Carignan Blanc. Fresh, dry, quince. Apparently named after Springsteen’s “Promised Land”. Jon is a big music fan.

Of the three reds on show, the One Block Grenache 2014 is new to me. It has bite and crisp fruit, tannin and good length. None of the flabby, jammy, flavours which can spoil some inexpensive examples (£10.99).

Three Peaks is possibly the best value wine Treloar produces. This 2012 is a nicely aged (it sees a bit of oak) blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre (£11.99).

Their top cuvée is called Tahi, which apparently means “1” in Maori. It’s made from individual parcels of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre on limestone (unusual for Roussillon), aged 12 months in small, new, French oak, and then a barrel selection determines what the production level will be. The 2010 still has some toasty oak, with a touch of almond stone. Amazing length, this is a very impressive wine at six years of age. It will go another six years too, if you let it (£20).

The Reds –

Eschenhof Holzer Blauer Zweigelt 2013 – A wonderful quaffing red with crunchy purple fruit and light body. From Arnold Holzer in Wagram (Austria). This was the wine I had for dinner after the tasting. Delicious, coming back for more, Simon. (£10.99)

Weingut Thörle Spätburgunder 2014 – This Rheinhessen Pinot (from Saulheim) is a wine I’ve had several times. Good colour and one of the best inexpensive German reds out there (£14.99).

Sancerre Rouge “Sauvage” 2011, Pascal Jolivet – Another attractive Pinot Noir, but this one is a bit more serious, to say the least. You are paying Burgundy money here, but you get Burgundy quality, from one of the best red winemakers in the village. (£38)

Morgon “Cote du Py” 2014, Foillard – The 2014 is a structured wine which needs time to age, but I didn’t find any of the brett some tasting notes have mentioned. For me this is exemplary (though see the magnums selection, below). (£22)

Vasco and the Explorers Touriga Nacional 2015, Stellenbosch – Rob, minding the reds, thought I might not go for this. Perhaps he thought the relatively high alcohol could put me off, I’m not sure, but this is a very inexpensive (£9.99) rendition of the Douro’s signature grape, grown down in South Africa. Not complex, yet vibrant. Pretty good for a tenner.

“Alion” 2011, Ribera del Duero – A very fine wine, all vanilla oak and elegant, sweet and juicy fruit. A baby, from the Vega Sicilia stable. £55, but delicious, and eminently cellarable.

The Stickies – I just tasted the two Coume del Mas Banyuls wines, white (2012, £17.99) and red “Galateo” (2011, £21). I have a soft spot for Banyuls and Collioure, the region and the wines. I’ve not been there for a very long time and I’d love to go back. The white here is a clean wine, made from Grenaches Gris and Blanc, not made in an oxidative style and, presumably, not of the type stuck outside in demijohns to age in the sun. The Galateo red is also clean. It’s fortified on its skins to reduce oxidation. Both wines are aged for around six months, the white in barrique and the red in larger casks.

Celebratory Magnums – Solent Cellar stock an increasingly decent number of magnums and to finish off, we were all treated to three gems: Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru, Montée de Tonnerre 2004, Fritz Haag Brauneburger-Juffer Sonnenuhr Spätlese, Mosel 2002 (Grosser Ring Auction bottling), and Foillard Morgon “Cote du Py” 2011. All of them were stunning. The Chablis and the Morgon clearly prove how superior the magnum format is (or, as a friend said in another place, “how effortlessly superior”. The Haag perhaps shaved it for wine of the day, it being no ordinary bottling, but one of the Auction versions so prized by German Wine aficionados. It was also the one wine of the three I had not previously tried in mere mortal bottle format.

A fabulous end to what was more than a mere merchant tasting. The food, and the wines on offer, made it a pretty special Sunday afternoon, in a very pretty town. Elderflower (4A Quay Street) and Solent Cellar (40 St Thomas’ Street) are two reasons to visit Lymington. The Saturday Market and the yachts are another. Make a weekend of it, visit Keyhaven and take a boat to Hurst Castle, then eat turbot at Verveine in Milford as well. But don’t forget a walk in the New Forest. All highly recommended.

Posted in Dining, Wine, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged Alion 2011, Andrew Du Bourg, Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto, Casa Belfi Prosecco Colfondo, Chateau Cibonne Tentations, Cherubino Fiano, Clos Cibonne, Coume del Mas Banyuls, Domaine Treloar, Elderflower Lymington, Eschenhof Holzer Blauer Zweigelt, Foillard Cote du Py, Foillard Morgon, Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese Auction 2002, Jon Hesford, Lymington, One Block Grenache, One Block Muscat, Pascal Jolivet Sancerre Rouge Sauvage, Rachel Treloar, Raveneau Montée de Tonnerre 2004, Roederer Cristal 2007, Saladini Pilastri Falerio, Solent Cellar, South African Touriga Nacional, Tahi, Terre Promise, Thorle Spatburgunder, Treloar Three Peaks, Vasco and the Explorers, Verveine Fish Restaurant, Villa Marcello Prosecco | 2 Comments

The Funk, The Whole Funk, and Nothing But The Funk…Raw, Part 2

Posted on 18/05/2016 by dccrossley

One nation under a groove, that’s what Brick Lane in London feels like on a sunny Sunday in early summer. You wander along, bumping into what seems like every race on earth, most of whom are sampling the cuisine of every nation on earth. It’s the kind of place which can restore your faith in humanity. It was pretty much the same in the Old Truman Brewery where the Raw Wine Fair was in full swing on Sunday, exhibitors and visitors alike. The air was saturated as much with a beautiful vibe as with the perfume of spilt and spat vinous delights.

You can read Part 1 of my Raw Report here, covering four Austrian producers. In Part 2 I’m profiling just seven more wine estates (out of the 217 present). Only a snapshot, I’m afraid, but I hope it adds to the coverage of the Fair by others. They include three French producers, two Spanish, a Czech and a Greek. No Italians, although they were the biggest exhibitors, closely followed by France. Italy is ripe for natural wine exploration, but I know many of the producers quite well, and with the exception of Le Grappin, whose wines I know very well indeed, all the producers profiled below were either new to me, or people I’d discovered only a week before.

Domaine de Kalathas, Tinos, Greece (Cyclades)

I’m not going to pretend I knew where the Greek island of Tinos is, although I can locate the Cyclades on a map. This is where the Binda family have established their vineyard, old vines left uncultivated for fifty years until they came along, centenarian vines among the lavender, on the island’s sandy granite.

Jérôme Binda is the winemaker, aided by mentors Jason and Thomas Ligas (of Domaine de Ligas in Northern Greece, another domaine to seek out if you don’t know them), but it was his son, Gabriel, who took me through the whole range. Most are made with local varieties, although there’s an Asyrtiko (sic), which is pretty well known now, and they have a Syrah called (appropriately) “Le Français”, from vines on pink granite and clay. The reds are pretty tannic at the moment, having just been put in bottle for the Fair. For me, the red “A Quatre Sur L’Echelle”, blending Mavro Potamisi, Mavro Tragano and Koumari showed the most exciting flavours. But perhaps the whites are the most interesting wines anyway?

A Rozaki, “Très Vielles Vignes de Vangelis” 2015 was fresh and herby. A sur lies bottling of this grape, “Vorias”, was fresh with more complex flavours. A blend of 20% Rozaki with 80% Aspro Potamisi, from 100 year old vines, called “Sainte-Obéissance”, smelt of pure lavender and violets, whilst “10+12”, coming 100% from Aspro Potamisi de Livaderi, was the most complex of these whites.

Gabriel Binda with the Asyrtiko (sic)

The Asyrtiko was perhaps the most fascinating bottling. The estate’s Asyrtiko vines are still young, and the juice was macerated for three weeks on the skins in 2015. At the weekend this tasted quite tannic, too tannic really. Gabriel said that for 2016 they will shorten the maceration period by at least half. But with vine age and this adjustment I think this wine will be superb. Even in this sample, of which only forty bottles were produced, there was a lovely peach and apricot fruit, melding with an orange peel bite. Enormous potential, whether it softens through age, or whether it is tweaked in future vintages.

The Kalathas range. The Asyrtiko is the bronze one.

Domaine de Kalathas is a brand new domaine introducing their first wines to the British public. They don’t, as yet, have a UK importer. Perhaps they are a work in progress, but there’s great promise here. Along with a firm commitment to biodiversity, the estate works off-grid, relying on solar power for energy, and local wells for water. One to watch.

Milan Nestarec, Moravia, Czech Rep.

Moravsky Zizkov? Me neither. This is where Milan Nestarec has his 8 hectares of vineyards. I have drunk Czech wine before, even Moravian wine – some of you may remember the lovely wines from Stapleton & Springer, including an orange Pinot Noir we were quite taken with, at the April Oddities Lunch. There’s certainly something going on in this patch of Central Europe. I tried three wines from this table, but the winemaker wasn’t present so I didn’t get much back story. It was all left to the palate.

The first wine, a Sauvignon Blanc 2014, was a shock. Quite dark in colour, almost brown, it kind of smelt like Sauvignon Blanc, yet it tasted like none I’d ever tried…in a good way. Concentrated, and almost sweet, so pronounced was the fruit, it’s a wine you want to drink a whole bottle of rather than rely on just a tiny sample. But a promising start, to say the least.

Next up, a Gewurztraminer, labelled Tramin, from 2013. I’m going to be hypocritical here – I so often shudder at wild descriptors, but “crème brûlée, whisky and woodsmoke” was my immediate reaction and I’m going to stick with it.

The final wine I tried looked like it was going to be a pét-nat, presented in a thick, clear glass, bottle sealed with a crown cap. But it was a still, palish Pinot Noir called Forks and Knives (2014). Just deliciously fruity and quaffable, as they say.

Milan has no UK importer, and I think at least one, perhaps two, agents have shown an interest. Whilst these wines are on the unusual spectrum, they are very good and genuinely exciting. I hope they work something out.

Domaine Yves Duport

I wrote a short piece on Bugey back in January (here). In that blog post I said that we are seeing more and more Bugey producers in the UK, and it might be the case that I’ll need to revise my prediction that Savoie is the next up-and-coming French wine region. Bugey sits not so neatly between Jura and Savoie, and to an extent takes its grapes from both sources, whilst stealing a few classics, like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, from not so distant Burgundy.

Yves Duport’s wines only got a minor mention in that article, so it was nice to taste a small selection at Raw. I began with his Altesse de Montagnieu “En Chinvre” 2015 (bottled in February). It’s one of those fresh and mineral grape varieties (Altesse is actually a synonym for Roussette, a grape seen far less in Bugey than it once was) which can’t help remind you of a fresh-flowing mountain stream. The beauty of this version is that the acidity isn’t too prominent. The terroir of the En Chinvre parcel is full of amonites, and you can’t help but find an echo of them in the wine, just as in Chablis. I already had a bottle of the 2014, which I plan to open tonight.

I’ve talked before about the traditional méthode ancestrale wines of Bugey. The Duports make a méthode traditionelle sparkler, fermented in bottle before undergoing disgorgement. It’s a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Aligoté, fermented with indigenous yeasts, with 12 months on the lees. It is therefore a clean wine, crisp with precise fruit, rather than a wine of great complexity – though that might come with bottle age.

Yves makes several Mondeuse, the signature red grape of the French alpine regions. The top of the range, single parcel, cuvée is called “Sous le Château – Terre Brun”. The 2014 was vinified in three-year-old Burgundian oak, perhaps not wholly inert. Although I often enjoy the sappy fruit of this grape unattenuated by wood flavours and effects, the fruit of this parcel is such that I think this quite impressive wine has real potential, and will certainly get even better in a year or so as the tannins soften. Right now it does need some mountain ham and cheese, or something finer.

This is a very good range, which also includes a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Yves’ wife showed me a nice 3-dimensional topographical map of the region. It shows the curve of the pre-Alps around the right bank of the Rhone, with the Duport family’s vineyards around the village of Groslée nestling, protected, in the lee of the mountains with the Bresse plain to the west, and the large mass of the Lac du Bourget to the east. The wines are imported by Totem in the UK, and, as with the bottle of Altesse I found, are often available in small independents like Winemakers Club.

Didier Grappe

Didier Grappe is a producer I’d heard of but never tasted. There are probably two reasons for this. First, he is located at St-Lothain, a no-man’s land in some ways between Poligny and Lons-le-Saunier. There is viticulture around here but it tends to be small scale, and Didier has only around 4 ha of vines, slightly more than the only other producer I’m aware of in the village. That’s the second reason – not much to sell. Arbois, further north, seems to have dozens and dozens of small producers, but down here you are on your own.

Didier doesn’t even have enough wine for the Poligny wine shops, like L’Epicurea. He is, like Yves Duport (above), imported into the UK by Totem wines, but I think much of his production goes to the USA, that great devourer of Jura’s small labels. Wink Lorch, in her profile of Grappe (Jura Wine, Wine Travel Media, 2014) points to the organic/biodynamic local wine fair, Le Nez dans le Vert, as the great shop window for these small producers, and Didier has certainly been showing his wines there for some time. He warned me to telephone before I visit in case he has no wine left to taste.

I tried five of Didier’s wines. The Chardonnay 2015 sample was fresh and gluggable, and the 2015 Savagnin Ouillé was zingy, in a fruity “Tramin” style, yet had real presence. Insouciantes 2015 is a blend of Pinot Noir, Trousseau and Poulsard, sealed now under screwcap to conserve the evident freshness. There’s a Vin Mousseux de Qualité NV called Clash, the label bearing a drawing of the iconic image from the cover of London Calling. Didier is a massive Joe Strummer fan. It’s a 50:50 blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin, bursting with freshness, simple but in the best way. I finished with a very intense, sweet but not cloyingly so, Vin de Paille 2011, which hits the 14% alcohol required for this AOC exactly. Savagnin is the grape, four years in oak the regime. There was a Vin Jaune 2005 listed in the guide, Didier’s first, but it was not available when I visited his stand.

Bodega Cauzón

This is one of the domaines I tasted at the Raw Wine pop-up at the London Edition Hotel last week, but it was good to catch up with Ramon Saavedra again, albeit in broken Spanish and French. The domaine sits high in Andalucia’s Sierra Nevada, with vines between 1,080-1,200 metres. There’s just 2.5 ha of red vines on red soils, but the grape mix includes international varieties like Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, Spanish classics like Tempranillo (aka Tinta Fina here), and local rarities. The range is mainly red, but there’s a lovely fresh Cauzón Blanco blending Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Torrontés, which I especially liked. Imported by Otros Vinos.

Cauzón Blanco and Ramon Saavedra

Vinos Ambiz

Another domaine I tried at the Raw Wine pop-up last week. Their orange Albillo was the wine of the night and I was able (eventually) to grab a bottle of it at the on-site shop on Sunday. I was able to fit in three more Ambiz wines before lunch.

A Sauvignon Blanc underwent two weeks maceration on its skins, then between two and three months in an amphora. It vied with the Nestarec Sauvignon Blanc for SB of the year so far, although my friends in New Zealand might disown me for saying that once they saw the wines in glass! Another whitish-orange wine is called Malvar, after a grape variety more commonly used for brandy. This was a 2015 bottling, really fresh but with texture. Then I tried my first Ambiz red, a lovely juicy Garnacha 2014, which disguised its 14.5% alcohol really well (as did the Albillo last week).

Fabio Bartolomei is the winemaker/owner. He’s of mixed Italian and Scottish parentage and has a great sense of humour (and has retained a Scottish accent too, a bit of a shock at first when you know his name but have never met). His is the back label in the photo near the beginning of Part 1 to my Raw Wine round-up. He makes his wine in the Sierra de Gredos, at El Tiemblo. He’s taken over the old co-operative building there, and makes about 8,000 litres of wine in a building capable of producing 1.5 million litres, according to the biographical details on the Raw Wine web site. That’s about nine or ten wines each year from 3 ha plus some bought in grapes. In the vineyard he uses no chemicals, apart from the manure from a herd of sheep which he allows to graze between the rows at certain times of year. He adds nothing in the winery, and uses recycled bottles too. Very green.

Fabio

Le Grappin

Last but not least, Andrew and Emma Nielsen’s Burgundy micro-negociant. Of course I know these wines well, and so do many of you. They range from the great value and innovative “bagnums” (I bought one only the day before the Raw Fair), through Beaujolais and Macon, to the exquisitely crafted wines from the Côte d’Or.

On taste at Raw were seven wines:- Savigny Rouge ’14; Savigny Blanc ’14; Beaujolais-Villages (red) ’15; St-Aubin “En L’Ebaupin” Blanc ’14; Beaune Grèves ’14; Fleurie ’14 and Beaune Boucherottes ’14.

All of these would be good bankers in your cellar and, let’s face it, if you are reading this in the UK they probably are in your cellar. I will say that the Fleurie 2014 just gets better and better. Andrew reckons it is drinking brilliantly now. He’s right, but I can’t bring myself to finish the few bottles I have. The Boucherottes, which comes from a plot next to Pommard and just below the Clos des Mouches, is silky and lovely. It is usually my personal favourite of Andrew’s reds. I liked it when I first tasted it from cask in a previous vintage. The Saint-Aubin comes from a plot I know from the days when I used to stay in La Rochepot and used to slink round the back of the hill, a lovely quiet place. But as the Côte d’Or wines become necessarily more expensive (hail has not been kind to Le Grappin), it is good to know that the 2015 Beaujolais-Villages is mighty tasty as well.

Andrew on usual good form

That’s just another seven producers for Part 2. You can read about four Austrians in Part 1 by following the link near the beginning of this post. There are, of course, other producers I would like to have mentioned, but aside from stamina to keep typing, I lacked the tasting stamina to visit all of the producers I wanted to. That goes for the Real Wine Fair as well.

It can be frustrating to miss an opportunity to taste, and to chat with, favourite winemakers, although it has been nice (at both fairs) to discover new producers as well. Elisabetta Foradori, Anton Van Klopper, Tom Shobbrook and Michael Seresin are all people I’d have liked to meet, but at least in three of those cases I have a good selection of their wines at home.

Like a good art exhibition, the balance between the organisers (getting revenue from attendees and satisfying the exhibitors) and the visitors (actually getting to a crowded table, and then avoiding spitting your wine over someone at the spittoon) can be difficult to achieve, and this is what stops some of us persevering until the bitter end when the hall is indistinguishable from the concourse at Victoria when waiting for the 18.06. But it is worth the effort of attending just to taste an unparalleled selection of some of the most exciting winemakers around, and these events are always relatively empty if you arrive when the doors open (which to be fair, the organisers recommend, it’s just that they go unheeded by most). Certainly, over the two fairs (Raw and Real) I have discovered some marvellous wines and some interesting people. I hope you’ve got some idea of the fun from my blogs on them over the past month.

Needless to say, this was around 10.15

Posted in biodynamic wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged Andrew Nielsen, Bodegas Cauzon, Bugey, Didier Grappe, Domaine de Kalathas, Fabio Bartolomei, Le Grappin, Milan Nestarec, Ramon Saavedra, RAW Wine Fair, Vinos Ambiz, Yves Duport | 1 Comment

Raw Part 1 – The Austrians

Posted on 17/05/2016 by dccrossley

There were nearly 220 wine producers exhibiting at the Raw Wine Fair this past Sunday/Monday. The Old Truman Brewery, off London’s Brick Lane, is an excellent venue for an event like this, but even so it was necessary to get there as it opened to have time to get around a few dozen tables before the crowds made it hard to taste, and even harder to spit. I managed only a little over three hours of concentrated sampling before I felt the need to adjourn to the Unfiltered pop-up at Super Brick (see previous post), and on returning a little after 2pm, the Old Brewery was heaving.

A small word about “Raw”. The Fair was created by Isabelle Legeron MW, author of Natural Wine (CICO Books, 2014), and long time champion of natural wines. Raw, as explained on the cover of the Fair’s guide/catalogue, is an adjective meaning “in a natural state; not treated by manufacturing or other processes”. The wines at Raw Wine Fair are low, or no, intervention wines. They are also, it follows, very low in sulphur, or in many cases, have no added SO2. They cause some wine classicists to mock, or to go into fits of apoplexy, and it is true that some natural wines are highly volatile, some even verging on vinegar. Yet the best producers create a product which often transcends prosaic description, forging wines of true beauty, the like of which one rarely finds in more interventionist winemaking, except in the very best wines, which cost the earth.

This back label (below), from the Spanish producer Vinos Ambiz, seems to encapsulate the Raw philosophy very well. Click on the photo to enlarge it if you can’t read the type. I particularly like the section called “This wine underwent the following processing”. I think putting “processing” in capitals is a lovely touch of irony.

As for “the Earth”, and earth, the winemakers at Raw have a deeply symbiotic relationship with their land, and believe in retaining a balance in nature, and in their working environment. Some, like Stefano Belloti (who I wrote about in my pieces on the Real Wine Fair and the film Natural Resistance), and the Austrian producer Meinklang (see below), even practice mixed agriculture, farming cereal crops, fruit and livestock (Meinklang are perhaps at least as famous for their beef in Austria as for their wine). Others plant trees in the vineyard, or cover crops between the vines, in order to encourage a diverse ecosystem, something which is not always popular with the neighbours (look at recent incidents in Languedoc-Roussillon, specifically the vandalizing of plantings at Mas Coutelou – see fellow blogger and Coutelou helper Alan March’s piece here).

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On arrival I headed straight for Austria, tasting my way around these tables before spreading my wings elsewhere, so in Part 1 of my Raw round-up I’m going to talk about four of my current favourites from here. I’ve said it before, but whilst Austria doesn’t lack for established stars, there is also a genuine groundswell of exciting producers, many of whom follow the philosophy behind the Raw Wine Fair. Ten were showing on Sunday, and four of them rank among my current favourite Austrians. I’ve written about them before and make no apology for introducing you to their new releases. Rest assured that the second part of my Raw round-up will feature a good few winemakers I haven’t written about, including one or two new discoveries.

Weingut Claus Preisinger

I’ve been buying Claus’ wines from Newcomer Wines for some time, but this was the first time I’d met him. He’s quite confident, yet in a quiet way, just like his wines. Winemaking here is low intervention and biodynamic, although if you look at pictures of his modern winery in Göls (Burgenland), you might be forgiven for thinking the opposite.

Claus was showing his Erdeluftgrasundreben Grüner Veltliner 2015, and the 2015 Pinot Blanc of the same name. Both were delicious, and, when tasted with the 2015 Blaufränkisch Kalkstein, showed the real freshness and fruit of the vintage – though remember that many of the 2015s on show at the Fair were either very recent bottlings, or, as in many cases, samples. Going on the taste Preisinger’s Blaufränkisch Erdeluftgrasundreben 2014, for example, there’s more on the nose, the product of having settled down a bit. This is a lovely wine, even just to look at. None of Claus’ lovely Zweigelt, nor his formidable Saint-Laurent, were available to try, but he is very pleased with his 2014 Pinot Noir, a variety increasingly favoured by some of the younger Austrian producers.

Gut Oggau

I should probably keep this short. Gut Oggau would be hard to challenge for the top spot as my favourite Austrian producer. This time last year I was basking in similar sunshine to today, down in Rust, just a few kilometres away from Oggau on the western shore of the Neusiedler See. Do I wish I was back there now? Yes!

Again, the 2015 vintage here looks very good indeed. Throughout most of Austria 2014 brought some challenging conditions. 2015 began with a lovely Spring and early summer, as we saw ourselves. The rains which came in mid-August were welcome, and were followed by more warm weather. Many producers described the 2015 harvest as “fairly relaxed”, which we all know, coming from wine makers the world over, means they are happy.

Eduard was there to take me through the new wines, and I won’t deny my bias, making objectivity quite difficult. But Winifred (rosé), bottled only last Wednesday, was the height of seductive freshness, which again one could see throughout the range on taste.

The wine I had never tasted before was “Brutal”. Brutal is a project spanning several countries, where nine winemakers have banded together to make a natural wine under one label. Domaine L’Octavin, the Arbois producer I have written about a few times, is also involved. Gut Oggau’s “Brutal” bottling is made from Roesler, a grape which is obscure even by Austrian standards. It’s a red cross between Zweigelt x (Seyve Villard x Blaufränkisch), named after Leonard Roesler, a former director of Austria’s oldest viticultural college. This bottling is pinkish-hued, darker than Winifred, and lives up to its name, yet it is refreshing and vivant, which I guess the the intention. The label, distorting one of the traditional Gut Oggau family images, bears the imprint of this iconoclastic project. This is another biodynamic domaine farmed by genuine thinkers with a passion for their 14 hectares of vines.

Gut Oggau is imported by Dynamic Vines in the UK.

Christian Tschida

Tschida is based in Illmitz, on the opposite, eastern, side of the Neusiedler See to Gut Oggau. Christian is a big personality, and when he’s wearing his leather jacket, perhaps a little daunting too. His philosophy is “let it run”, which, for his wines, means he won’t bottle them until he deems them ready. This can be up to five years after the harvest, so it is wise not to take his little joke seriously when he gives you a sample and says he will be bottling next week!

I only tasted the 2015 Himmel Auf Erden (Heaven on Earth) wines (white, pink and red). The white blends Scheurebe with Pinot Blanc (mineral peach stone); the pink, Cabernet Franc with some skin maceration giving more texture than most rosé; and the red, blending Cabernet Sauvignon and Zweigelt. These are supposedly Christian’s “every day” range. At over £30/bottle they are expensive in that context, but they are lovely wines and are more affordable than the wines in the upper part of the range. Christian does like to crack a joke and pull your leg, but make no mistake, the wines are serious.

Christian Tschida’s wines are available at Newcomer Wines. Note that Newcomer are in the process of moving from the Shoreditch Box Park pop-up retail units to a permanent store opposite Dalston Junction Overground Station. Thanks folks, a pain for me to get to, but I hope you thrive there.

Meinklang

Regular readers will know that this is my producer of the moment. You can read a little about the background to this Pamhagen estate, right by the Hungarian border, here, where I also taste some of the wines they make over in Hungary, on the vineyard slopes of the extinct volcano of Somló.

At Raw, Niklas Peltzer was showing the delicious Foam sparkler (a bottle-fermented pét-nat), two of the Graupert wines (Pinot Gris and Zweigelt), and their Burgenland Blaufränkisch, to begin with. The Blaufränkisch is the same wine I drank at Brighton’s Terre-a-Terre restaurant last month, simple but fruity and good value. The Graupert wines are made from relatively unkempt vines, left semi-wild, deliberately so. These vines produce small, thick skinned grapes. Already darker in colour when pressed, the juice is further macerated on the skins giving greater texture in both red and white. The aim, with a little bottle age, is greater complexity too.

Niklas

Meinklang make a very good still Pinot Noir (and also a Pinot Noir frizzante called Prosa, which I just have to find), but the wine I’d been aching to try was the Konkret Red. It’s the brother of the white “Konkret”, the first Meinklang wine I tried. The grape variety is Sankt Laurent, vinified in a 900 litre concrete egg. The concrete’s porosity is meant to allow micro-oxygenation of the wine. It adds a silky texture, which is certainly evident on the palate. But there’s a kind of ferrous, mineral, sandy texture as well, and it doesn’t lack bite. Quite a “wow!” wine, and worth the wait.

Last but not least, a special edition wine with no name, as yet, and I was told I was one of the first to taste it. Concrete egg, three months skin contact, hand bottled, pale orange, fabulous. I’ve no idea what they will call this but I’ll look out for something new…although Meinklang’s range is large enough already. What I didn’t taste, I thought it might wreck my palate, was their beer. It’s made from spelt. I’m guessing that mentioning it will mean it’s all gone before I get back up to London to claim some. Such is life.

No name, just like Arya Stark!

Meinklang wines are imported by both Winemakers Club and Vintage Roots, both importers stocking different wines in the range.

Part 2 of my report on Raw will follow soon.

Posted in Austria, Austrian Wine, biodynamic wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged Austrian Wine, Brutal Project, Burgenland Wine, Christian Tschida, Claus Preisinger, Gut Oggau, Konkret, Meinklang, Natural Wine, RAW Wine Fair | 2 Comments

See Emily Play

Posted on 16/05/2016 by dccrossley

Emily Harman will be too young to recall the Pink Floyd single of the title, but although her Unfiltered pop-up at Super Brick, off London’s Brick Lane, is probably the most fun idea I’ve seen all year in the world of wine, the wines themselves, all served out of magnum or larger, are entirely serious.

The pop-up was set up to coincide with the Raw Wine Fair, and has been acting as the perfect post-tasting venue. It’s in a motorbike repair garage come studio on the edge of Cooperage Yard, the car park opposite the Old Truman Brewery, now the venue for Raw. The wines come by the glass, you can buy the whole magnum, or just a beer, accompanied by some cold cuts (I went for a tasty cheese platter).

born to be wild…and Tony Rogers rummaging, under Emily’s watchful gaze, for a magnum

The main event is the magnum selection. We were tempted by a few, including some serious Keller GG, and Ganevat (There was also some Le Soula, Zidarich and Billecart-Salmon Champagne spotted), but sitting outside in the glorious May sunshine we made exactly the right choice in Suertes del Marqués‘ Vidonia Blanco 2014. The grape variety is 100% Listan Blanco from three individual plots at between 350-500 metres above sea level in Tenerife’s Orotava Valley. It’s a wine I know really well in bottle, but it’s amazing how a magnum opens a much bigger window on the wine. You see it develop in a completely different way to a bottle, over an hour or more, as it warms and breathes.

Tom Cannavan (on Winepages) wrote an excellent profile of this increasingly famous Tenerife producer back in April, and he described the Vidonia (2013 in his case) as “like a fine Meursault”. I know exactly what he means. There’s very fresh, but balanced, acidity backed by genuine depth. Its body is wrapped in nuttiness but the texture is fresh and lively on the tongue. Overall, the most apt of adjectives is elegant. I am not sure I could have chosen a better bottle (er, magnum) if I’d selected it myself.

The markups are very reasonable. Vidonia retails for between £21 to £25+ by the bottle, so with the magnum premium you are probably looking at up to £60 retail. I think we paid £77 between us, so a bargain.

I’m afraid the pop-up ends tonight, with the Raw Fair itself, but if you do read this and have a quiet Monday evening planned, just head down to Brick Lane instead (open 5pm until “late”). I don’t think you’ll regret it, and I’m guessing a bit of a party will be going down on the last night. It will be interesting to see whether Emily’s Vinalupa has any similar exciting ventures like this planned. I hope so.

Posted in Natural Wine, Wine | Tagged Emily Harman, RAW Wine Fair, Suertes del Marqués, Super Brick, Tenerife Wine, Tom Cannavan, Unfiltered, Vidonia Blanco, Vinalupa | Leave a comment

Raw (and Wriggling)

Posted on 12/05/2016 by dccrossley

Okay, another corny quote, from a film this time (guess?), but seriously, I’m wriggling with anticipation for the Raw Wine Fair this weekend at Brick Lane’s Old Truman Brewery (public day, Sunday 15 May), especially after the success that was the Real Wine Fair a month ago. There are all sorts of events going off around this second fiesta of natural wines in London, and last night I visited the official Raw Wine pop-up in the basement of the London Edition Hotel (in Berners St, off Oxford St).

London Edition

The pop-up is open until the end of the week. There’s a good selection of wines by the glass, including “skin contact”/orange sections, plus perhaps the largest selection of natural wines by the bottle that I’ve ever seen, including a fair number of older or mature vintages. This is all under the watchful, enthusiastic and hospitable eye of Severine Perru, Jura native and Wine Director at New York’s well known Lower East Side wine and tapas bar, The Ten Bells. The food at the pop-up has a lot in common with a typical French bar à vins, offering cold meats, cheeses, pork pie and Scotch Egg, and also good bread.

cold platter

On arrival one descends from the tall-ceilinged grandeur of the hotel lobby into a basement, which at first seems very dark, lit mainly by soft up-lighters and small table top candles. A selection of low tables with leather sofas are the seats to head for. Without a reservation they found us a space at 6pm, but by 8pm it was very full so a reservation might be in order. There are winemakers on hand every night this week, and their wines are added to the by-the-glass list if they are not there already.

by the glass or bottle, the winemakers’ wines, changing every night

Accompanied by Dave Stenton, who wrote the Argentinian article published here recently, we managed to get a taste of each other’s selections. We began with two sparklers to quench the thirst of a muggy London day. The “Saperlipopet” from Damien Bureau (Anjou, Champ-Sur-Layon) is a very clean Chenin sparkler, refined and elegant with good acidity, yet a softness as well. The second sparkler was the very different Lambrusco dell’Emilia of Denny Bini. Denny has a tiny vineyard, a couple of hectares if that, which form Podere Cipolla. This really is good stuff, frothy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit with a rather special intensity.

Denny Bini’s super refreshing Lambrusco

Next, a real treat, Vinos Ambiz Albillo 2014. This is an orange wine from Spain’s Sierra de Gredos. To get an idea what it might be like, have a read of the blog post by Fabio from Vinos Ambiz (28 April this year). He sent one bottle of Garnacha for the Wine Advocate tasting of Gredos wines. He says “I was satisfied that my quality is remaining constant. My Garnacha 2014 was ranked 118 out of 118 [wines submitted], with 80 points. Well, I don’t expect them to understand wines like these. The orange Albillo has more in common with apricot beer than the kind of wine they appreciate. Suffice to say, it’s bl**dy wonderful stuff. Amazing, in fact. Only 279 bottles were made in 2014, but the 2015 gave a more promising 1,500. If it’s on taste at Raw, see whether you agree with me.

not so orange with the flash in the darkness – Vinos Ambiz Albillo

A couple of reds followed. Damien Bureau’s Chenin sparkler impressed enough to tempt us to try his Pinot d’Aunis “La Poivrotte” 2014. A lover of hyper-clean wines might flinch as there’s certainly some volatility, but as with all natural wines, fresh acidity and outright fruitiness combine into a wine of supreme glugability. It’s the sort of wine which you can treat like a fruit juice, making it both a wonderful picnic beverage, and great for the kind of charcuterie and cheese platter you can see I devoured with relish.

Bureau Pinot d’Aunis and Cauzón Carbonicus Tempranillo (again, bad flash)

By way of contrast, Bodegas Cauzón‘s “Carbonicus” 2015 is Tempranillo, but hardly like any Tempranillo I’ve had before. Cauzón is based at Cortes y Graena, in Granada Province, high in the hills. The vines, a mere 2.5 hectares, are around 1,200m above sea level, and the mountain freshness is apparent. This particular wine is fermented by carbonic maceration for 18 days and at around six months of age is quite dark in colour, yet fresh and light, though rich at the same time. Another really impressive wine. There’s a cuvée made from older vines by a more traditional fermentation, which I hope to be able to try at Raw itself.

Ramon Saavedra of Cauzón, with Severine Perru

This is just a tiny selection from a truly enormous list of wines to try, and to be honest I could easily go back several times, if I had the time. The wines by the glass are around the £7-£9 mark, with a few exceptions. The bottles may not look cheap at the top end, but if you don’t have mature versions at home it’s a great opportunity to try some of the masterpieces of the natural wine world. The food is perhaps a little more expensive – you can get cheese for around a fiver but it’s a small piece. The meats are a little more generous, for less than £10, and the duck which I ordered was very good. That tranche of pork pie was £10, and the whole platter came with bread, olives, dried apricots and a few walnuts. The best thing about the pop-up is the atmosphere once it starts to fill up. Lots of enthusiastic fellow lovers of non-intervention wines, a gaggle of winemakers to answer questions, and Severine and her staff to offer a genuine welcome. And you get used to the darkness.

Posted in biodynamic wine, Natural Wine, Wine | Tagged biodynamic wine, Bodega Cauzon, Damien Bureau, Denny Bini, London Edition Hotel, Natural Wine, non-intervention wine, Ramon Saavedra, RAW Wine Fair, Rawwine, Rawwinepopup, Severine Perru, Vinos Ambiz | 1 Comment

Is It All Tosh? (more on subjectivity)

Posted on 10/05/2016 by dccrossley

There is a thought provoking article in World of Fine Wine 51 (2016 Q1) on subjectivity in wine appreciation. It was written by Steve Slatcher, who I’ve never met, but know quite well through the wine discussion forum on wine-pages.com. Steve’s background is in physical sciences with experimental psychology (PhD, fracture mechanics, Cambs), and then software engineering, but as a wine writer he also runs the website/blog, winenous.co.uk.

The article in World of Fine Wine is on a subject close to my heart. We are taught, via the WSET courses, that wine tasting, and thereby wine appreciation, is something of a science. We taste as wine professionals, or as committed amateurs, to a clearly defined set of rules, approaching how the wine looks, smells and tastes following principles developed to make the task as objective as possible. To that extent, perhaps, some people come to think of wine tasting as a wholly objective task for the trained professional, whether with his WSET Diploma, or her MW or MS qualification. I should probably admit to having gained my WSET Diploma, and so I know the rules I’m supposed to apply.

Of course, the unqualified, wine obsessive, amateur knows a few things about wine as well. She knows that scores can’t be wholly objective because our palates differ from other palates. They also differ physiologically from day to day (whether we are tasting on a root day, or whether we have a minor cold or a touch of hayfever). We also know about grade inflation, the temptation to mark a wine higher because it will get your tasting note onto a neck tag, or, through unconscious bias, because after a lovely winery tour the producer took you for a delicious meal. I’m sure that such hospitality doesn’t work on any blatant level, but the unconscious bias created by being treated nicely is no different to any other unconscious bias – I’ll tell you, it is really hard to be even non-committal about dull wines when you’ve been treated well, and every wine writer has to focus on the fact that this is exactly the reason why you got that slap-up meal and a case of samples to follow.

I won’t go into the larger universe of subjectivity in wine tasting – one man’s raspberry is another’s cranberry, and one woman’s vibrant, life-filled natural wine is another’s dodgy cider (more of this type of discrepancy later). In a way, I’m less sure that subjectivity in what a wine smells or tastes of is particularly important. Tasting notes filled with fruits, or the use of ubiquitous words like mineral, are pretty boring – take out every mention of cherries in a Beaujolais tasting and you’ve probably cut the word count pretty significantly, although I will accept that a Burgundy lover may be interested whether his Beaune 1er Cru smells of strawberries or raspberries. As with the interpretation of art, music or poetry, a bit of subjectivity never hurts. It’s in the assessment of quality where subjectivity is our enemy, especially, when it asserts itself as objectivity.

Steve Slatcher looks at the science of perception, and at the aesthetic concepts on which wine quality, and its appreciation, are based. He also goes into bias and prejudice in far greater detail, and covers a far wider set of prejudices, than my sketch above attempts. The article itself is well worth reading if you can access a copy. It’s the kind of article that WFW does so incomparably well. His conclusions, balanced as they are, nevertheless come down on the side of subjectivity. He argues that “any attempt to make objective statements about the quality of wine is fraught with problems”. But he goes on to propose that the consequence is that we should “equally respect everyone’s opinion on how a wine tastes”. Quite rightly, he exhorts consumers to “[t]rust your own palate”. Understand what you like and don’t defer to a higher authority is also very much my own philosophy…and that in no way negates the value of wine writing. It is from knowledgeable wine writers that we take our own knowledge, and that we hear about exciting new discoveries, or changes, for better or ill, at producers we thought we once knew well.

There is a sentence tucked away in Steve Slatcher’s article which gets to the core of my own concerns about subjectivity in wine appreciation. He points out that when a group of wine professionals assess wines together, they don’t always agree. Indeed, he directly alludes to the divergences not uncommon in World of Fine Wine itself which have often been the subject of discussions on wine forums. In some cases, that disagreement is fundamental. In the same edition of World of Fine Wine, there are tastings, inter alia, of the wines of Roussillon/Collioure, and South African white blends. And in these tastings there are a couple of wines which I know well, and indeed have a fondness for. Their assessments make interesting reading.

The Roussillon tasting didn’t go especially well for the producers. The wines were generally marked positively by Andrew Jefford who, living in the region, presumably has quite a bit of experience of these wines. The other two participants appeared to mark the wines with less generosity. The specific wine I know and like from this tasting is Segna de Cor, an entry level type of red made by the talented Marjorie Gallet at her Roc des Anges estate, based at Latour de France in the Agly Valley.

Andrew Jefford liked the 2012: “…great fun…big, exuberant, fleshy”, giving it 88 points (equivalent, in the WFW scoring system, to a very good wine with some outstanding features). For another taster, it was ” [d]rying and angular…[j]ust dried out and overmanipulated in style”, and worth a miserable 76 points (a sound but dull or boring wine of little or no appeal). The assessment by Jefford puts this wine three scoring brackets higher than the second taster .

In the second, South African, example, it was Andrew Jefford’s turn to be turned off by a wine I know and, on all occasions I’ve tried it, had enjoyed – Mullineux Family’s Swartland White, 2011 (a blend of Chenin, Clairette and Viognier). Two tasters gave it 90 and 88 points respectively (90 points being “outstanding wine”). Jefford found a “heavy, dank nose” instead of “wild and funky”. He found “some sort of fermentation issue”, with an overall assessment of “not a success…though drinkable in certain contexts”. For Andrew, it was worthy of just 79 points. That’s hardly the same wine as that tasted by Andreas Larsson and Jancis Robinson.

Now, I’m not criticising any of the tasters here. I taste a lot. Sometimes my conclusions coincide with those of other tasters, and sometimes they don’t. My peers respect my opinion, and I respect those of the whole WFW panel (although some tasters have greater experience in certain areas than others, and much as I really admire Andrew Jefford, his assessments of Champagnes almost never seem to coincide with mine). Indeed, for the kind of wine lover happy to pay for an expensive subscription to World of Fine Wine, such differences can be fascinating. For the wine novice looking for greater certainty, however, they would find it better expressed elsewhere – the lone-tasting wine guru.

I’m being unfair to single out the examples I have, but one can’t hide them away. When it comes to assessing a wine’s quality, there is often such a spread of opinion that the objectivity of the process itself is called into question. You have to give credit to these writers, who have been prepared to allow such divergences to appear in print, stating clearly that one man’s faulty or dull wine is another’s joyous expression of fruit and terroir…well, almost. But if we can see the subjectivity at work here, why did we ever allow ourselves to place trust in any single wine guru (or god)? Now, as the pendulum swings in so many areas of wine, generally back towards restraint over bombast, from near-mono-culture to greater diversity, from new oak to cement, and from indiscriminate use of chemicals to lutte raisonnée and way beyond, could it not swing back in terms of our (over)reliance on points? Please!

Posted in Subjectivity in Wine Tasting, Wine, Wine Science, Wine Writing | Tagged Steve Slatcher, Subjectivity in Wine Assessment, Tasting Wine | 2 Comments

Spring Treats – Four Recent Wines

Posted on 03/05/2016 by dccrossley

Another rare foray into what I’ve been drinking at home amid the dust of a seven week building programme. It’s partly an excuse to tell you about the wine we drank on Sunday, but as is often the case, a flick through the cellar book shows a few nice, yet unusual, wines to go with it.

Arbois Savagnin 2009, Domaine A&M Tissot shows just how on form Stéphane has been this past decade. This is made from prime Savagnin which undergoes 30 months ageing under a veil of flor without topping up. It was bottled in 2012. The current vintage on sale is, I think, 2011. Although we walked out to Montigny-les-Arsures during last year’s harvest to look at the amphorae in action, this bottle came from the domaine’s Arbois shop, on the central Place de la Liberté. To describe it, you’d think I was talking about a Vin Jaune – nuts, citrus acidity, a fino-like quality, a certain restrained plumpness (perhaps the 14% alcohol). Yet they sell it for around €21 at the shop, far from one of their more expensive wines, and a bargain. With their cheapest Vin Jaune retailing for around €45 in France, and much more in the UK, this is one to seek out, and to lay down for a little while, if you want to try the “VJ” style without the investment. It’s just a glimpse of what that longer-aged wine becomes, but it’s also a lovely wine in its own right.

There is little doubt, even among established wine writers now, that the Tissots have made this into a world class wine domaine, and a large one for a family to run, having recently topped 50 hectares. At my last count they were producing just shy of thirty different wines, without adding the various alcools. But even as they grow, they seem not only to retain quality, but the wines get better and better. For what it’s worth, my favourites are probably the immaculate range of single vineyard Chardonnays, including the special Clos de la Tour de Curon, and the Savagnin En Amphore, of which I’ve written about a couple of times in the past twelve months. Oh, and those mind blowing sweet wines…and the Crémants, oh the “BBF” and “Indigène” Crémants…

A white wine which could almost not be more different is the Sieveringer Ringelspiel Wiener Gemischter Satz 2014 from Jutta Ambrositsch. I think regular readers know I’m partial to Vienna’s field blend. I don’t deny that the location of the vineyards attracts me, and the heurigen taverns which sell the local wines along with often hearty food on the green edge of the city’s suburbs. But the Gemischter Satz wines are refreshing, light, fruity, often with a slight spritz or prickle to them. There’s a sharp acidity, which might not please everyone, but if Vinho Verde’s or Txacoli’s lightness and zing is your thing, then you’ll enjoy this as well. Jutta’s Ringelspiel (one of three single vineyard versions but, as far as I’m aware, the only one imported into the UK) explodes with flavour, has a touch of Riesling about the nose, and a palate which is slightly reminiscent of sparkling wine when it has gone a little flat (perhaps a faint chalkiness), yet very much without the dullness. I believe there are at least twenty grape varieties in here, all co-planted on this site.

Jutta favours the principles of biodynamic farming and natural winemaking, and this wine proudly proclaims its vegan credentials too (its winemaker is vegan). It tastes (as a consequence?) clean, bright and alive. She may be young, but Ambrositsch has been mentored by Fritz Wieninger (of Bissamberg), who, along with Franz Mayer (Mayer-am-Pfarrplatz and Rotes-Haus, Nussberg), were between them largely responsible for the commercial and critical revival of the Wiener Gemischter Satz field blend wines in the past twenty years, both being devoted to this unique viticultural patrimony and its traditional expression. Jutta Ambrositsch represents the next generation, along with winemakers like Stefan Hajszan (Hajszan Neumann) and Rainer Christ. Her production is tiny but her wines are worth seeking out.

“Tschuppen” 2011, Ziereisen is Blauer Spätburgunder (aka Pinot Noir) from the most southerly vineyards of Baden. So southerly, in fact, that you could walk the nine or ten kilometres to Basel from Efringen-Kirchen, and the Ölberg, where Ziereisen’s vineyards are situated. Ziereisen has a very good reputation for Pinot Noir, but this is mainly based on the selection wines from their Jaspis range, such as their Jaspis Pinot Noir Alte Reben (they also make one of Germany’s best Syrahs in this range). Tschuppen is more modest, in both intent and price, but it’s a lovely wine, good value, and a repost to those who joke about German Spätburgunder, in terms of both price and quality. Sheltered by the Black Forest, red grapes ripen well here, hence the Syrah, but the Pinot clones Hanspeter Ziereisen insists on now are resolutely German and Swiss, unlike those who have followed the fashion for the Dijon clones. Another peculiarity of this estate, rarely seen among Germany’s top producers, is the rejection of the Qualitätswein designation in favour of the basic Landwein. This allows them to focus on what makes great German red wine without too much regulatory restriction.

The Tschuppen is above all fruity, with both cherry and strawberry in evidence. Think a Burgundy village wine, perhaps from the Côte de Beaune. It’s only 12% alcohol, but the fruit gives it a roundness, and there’s a savoury quality too, perhaps coming from the bottle age. With more than five years in bottle this was on song and showing no tiredness. Remember, elsewhere in this part of Europe this was not considered the finest of vintages. Along with the sheltered vineyards of the Markgräferland, it’s testimony to the attention to detail of this estate in all aspects of viticulture and winemaking. I get the feeling that Ziereisen are sometimes forgotten on lists of the finest producers in Germany, but that may simply be because they have a focus on red wine (half of their vines are Pinot Noir). If the quality, and value for money, of an estate’s entry level wines define its overall quality, then Ziereisen is right up there.

Arbois “Très-orDinaire” 2012, Hughes-Béguet is a wine which I keep thinking will tire. A relatively cheapish Arbois Savagnin made in the ouillé style, it falls perhaps into the camp of Patrice Béguet’s fun wines (like the barrel-fermented pink, Pulp Fraction and the pét-nat Ploussard, Plouss Mousse, both of which I love), rather than showing his more serious side (the single vineyard Ploussards from vines in Pupillin (the Côte de Feule), and at Mesnay (Champ Fort) where Patrice, his wife Caroline Hughes and the family live). And a lovely young family they are. There is still the air of a family starting out as vignerons here (they began in 2009). The wines are all well priced compared to some of the older stars of the region, and a visit to their cellars beneath the family home by Mesnay’s church is likely to result in an enthusiastic hour spent talking and tasting, which many winemakers with a greater reputation find hard to spare. Patrice in fact makes so many different cuvées, it’s a miracle all the wines seem to retain such a focus. All of them are worthy of purchase, and he even makes a lovely Macvin (I’m not usually a big fan), and has some distillates of pressed grapes ready for an eau-de-vie at some point (really promising stuff).

The Très-orDinaire 2012 is certainly darker, of a more golden hue, than it was when I first tasted it, back in 2014. But it was so good then that I’m glad I bought just enough that I still had one final bottle to drink a few weeks ago. A scent of fresh lemon blends with hazelnut in a modern twist on Savagnin. The initial impression is uncannily like Alsace Riesling, with a steeliness, before the nutty element kicks in. It has retained most of the freshness of its youth, but now shows an unexpected depth. Lovely. I didn’t visit Patrice last year, but I certainly hope to go back later this year.

Other wines which gave great pleasure last month included Henri Gouge’s Bourgogne Pinot Blanc, Ch Caronne-Ste-Gemme 2005, a Markus Molitor Kabinett and Colet-Navazos’ delicious Xarel-lo Extra Brut 2011 sparkler, all worthy of attention. But the four wines above provide exceptional value and great flavour, as well as something a little different. If you can find them, enjoy.

The wines of Stéphane and Bénédicte Tissot (Domaine A&M Tissot) are often found at Berry Bros & Rudd and at the two branches of The Sampler in London (South Kensington and Islington).

Jutta Ambrositsch is imported by the Austrian specialists, Newcomer Wines, currently in the Shoreditch Boxpark). Although this is the only one of her Gemischter Satz they bring in, they do also stock several other wines from her small Viennese holding.

The wines of Ziereisen can be found at one or two small merchants. This one came from Winemakers Club, but I think Vinovero in Leigh-on-Sea (Essex) may have some. Hedonism (Mayfair) often have some of the pricing Jaspis bottlings.

I’m not currently aware of anyone importing Hughes-Béguet into the UK, but I’m sure someone will correct me if this is not true. Some of them were imported by The Wine Society, and I did come across one at a tasting at Planet of the Grapes last year as well.

Posted in Austrian Wine, German Wine, Jura, Natural Wine, Vienna, Wiener Gemischter Satz, Wine | Tagged Arbois Savagnin, Baden Wine, Hughes-Beguet, Jutta Ambrositsch, Mesnay, Patrice Béguet, Savagnin non-ouillé, Savagnin Ouillé, Savagnin Très-orDinaire, Sieveringer Ringelspiel, Spätburgunder, Stephane Tissot, Tschuppen, Wiener Gemischter Satz, Ziereisen | 1 Comment

David Crossley's Wide World of Wine

American Oddities (June 2016)

Now We Have Sunshine (Recent Wines)

Of Austria and Ostriches

Solent

The Funk, The Whole Funk, and Nothing But The Funk…Raw, Part 2

Raw Part 1 – The Austrians

See Emily Play

Raw (and Wriggling)

Is It All Tosh? (more on subjectivity)

Spring Treats – Four Recent Wines

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