A journey through some (slightly) obscure grape types

So the summer has drawn to an end, with grey skies forming over London and the nights drawing in, and therefore action was needed to allay any potential depressive feelings (as well as any tiny tinges of jealousy that might possibly be affecting us at the news of Giles and Michael’s cavortings around South America),. Luckily it was just as well that Vicky (assisted by the marvellous Steve) stepped in and called a Wine on Wednesday meeting (and perhaps more importantly greeted us with Aperol Spritzes in a valiant attempt to keep the spirit of summer alive). 

The theme (as dedicated readers of this blog, as well as absent WoW’ers will know, we ALWAYS have a theme) was “Grape Varieties that Vicky hadn’t drunk”.  This noble concept slightly fell apart when the sparkling wine for the Aperol Spritz (what is the plural of Spritz?) was Vouvray and the first “proper” wine was a Sauvignon Blanc. However, it was still another “vintage” evening with wine, excellent food (with a cheeseboard that defeated even Michael) and excellent company (Vicky, Steve, Greg, Juliet, Nish, Cath, Michael and me).

I am going to ignore Michael’s descriptions of South America – the spitting iguanas of the Galapagos and the Pisco Sours of Machu Picchu (this is a wine blog not a travel programme) – and move rapidly onto the purpose of the evening.

We started, as mentioned above, with Aperol Spritzer’s (I am working my way through the possible plurals until I get it right), which were lovely if a bit of a waste of a perfectly good Vouvray – which was very dry and would give any decent Champagne a run for it’s money. 

After our aperitif we started the proper tasting – in another break with tradition Vicky had decided not to make the tasting blind – so Greg and I were forced to guess quickly before the label was revealed (although Vicky did come up with the interesting idea of “completely blind” tasting, where the wine itself was hidden to see if we could distinguish red and white by taste alone – an idea to be revisited).  The first wine was a 2012 Rod Easthope Sauvignon Blanc from Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand.  This was a very good example of a New Zealand Sauvignon – dry but quite fruity and with that typical “cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush” taste (thank you Jilly Goolden).  Of course, as regular readers will know, I’m not a fan of the Sauvignon Blanc grape, but the rest of the group seemed to enjoy this and thought it well worth the £11.99 price.

Moving rapidly on to a wine I enjoyed much more – a 2012 Montaria Alvarinho from the Lisbon region of Portugal (and again £11.99).  This was a delight – dry and fruity – and would be a great wine as either an aperitif or with light creamy pasta dishes (we are getting sophisticated matching food and wine – don’t worry it will stop soon).  I assume Alvarinho is the same grape as the Spanish Albarino – it certainly tasted similar, but I had always thought it was only a Galician grape.

We stayed in Portugal for the next wine, a 2012 Prova Regia Arinto, which Naked Wines describes as a "vibrant, scintillating white that's earned heaps of medals by being pure, clean and refreshing. The Arinto grape used to be world famous but big, industrial producers let its reputation slip."  This was again a very nice wine, in a lovely bottle that reminded us of those elegant Riesling bottles.

Moving on to the reds, the next wine was another delight, a 2010 Joly Lirac Cotes du Rhone Villages – Vicky chose this because she thought she had never tasted Mourvedre grapes before, but then once we pointed out they were a constant in Cotes du Rhone wine, she accepted that maybe she had simply forgotten.  Apparently, Mourvedre and Syrah must make up at least 15% of the grapes in a Cotes du Rhone wine, as long as Grenache Noir is more than 40%.  Anyway, this was a classic Cotes du Rhone wine – brambly and rich, but not overpowering.

The next wine was probably the only disappointment of the evening (other than Michael having met only one Jesus and no Angel’s in South America).  This was a Christian Patat Primitivo from Salento in the south of Italy (and on sale at £11.99).  Primitivo is generally reckoned to be very close to the Zinfandel grape, and nearly every Primitivo I have had has been a big brute of a wine – perhaps lacking in subtlety but with a real punch.  This wine lacked that – it was perfectly pleasant but just a bit bland and lacking in character – we discussed that it almost hinted at Pinot Noir type lightness, which was a bit odd.

The final wine was excellent though – with the full bodied taste that the Primitivo had lacked.  This was a Chilean Old Vine Carignan – the 2008 Gillmore Tontinaja Vigno Loncomilla Dry Farmed Maule Valley Old Vine Carignan to be precise (and with that many words in the description it better be precise!).  This wine brought blackberry brambles and tannins (in a very good way) and helped justified the £21.99 that Naked Wines charge if you are not a "wine angel".

Finally, I should point out (if you had not already guessed from the links) that the wines all came from Naked Wines – we discussed Naked Wines in one of our earlier posts.

CHEERS!

Wine on Wednesday - the missing months (or "Let's all go on a Wine Safari")

The more observant among you may have noticed a large gap between blog posts in the first half of the year - not because the Wine on Wednesday group was not meeting (although diaries did get a little bit complex) - but primarily because no-one took proper responsibility for writing up the evenings.  I would like to point out that this had absolutely nothing to do with the amount of wine drunk in any way at all - honest!

This entry therefore is a quick attempt at a catch up, covering both Dan and Sam's wine safari on 27th February as well as the evening hosted by Emma and Ben on 17th April that was dominated by South African wines.  Given the passage of time, my recollection may be a bit hazy, but I think that I've remembered most of the wine.

February - Zoo Safari

The theme for 27th February was a Wine Safari - every bottle had a picture of an animal on the label and so, alongside the usual blind tasting experience of trying to guess grape variety and perhaps country, we also had to guess the animal.  I think it is probably fair to say that the taste, aroma and indeed appearance of a wine are not much help in guessing what animal might appear on the label, although country of origin might provide a clue (there being slightly more chance of a platypus appearing on an Australian wine than a Spanish one, for example, though that does not explain why Platypus Wine Tours are in California!!!!)

Dan and Sam (helpfully?) tried to inspire us by providing animal masks to wear - luckily the pictures seem not to have survived, and it soon became clear that without straws drinking wine through a mask was a losing game.

I'm just going to quickly summarise the wines and my recollection (along with the animal on the label) - perhaps others will add further comments?

Yalumba Sauvignon Blanc 2011 - Fish

A quite typical Sauvignon Blanc - easily identifiable and with quite a lot of gooseberry fruit. Pleasant enough without being exceptional.

Southern Right Western Cape Sauvignon Blanc 2011 - Whale

Less obviously a Sauvignon Blanc than the Yalumba - and at one point we were discussing whether this was a Viognier - reading the winemaker's description they talk about leaning towards the Loire rather than New Zealand, which makes a lot of sense.

La Veille Ferme Blanc 2011 - Chicken

As I recall, we failed desperately to identify this wine. Given that it is a mix of Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc

Ugni Blanc and Vermentino I feel that this is perhaps understandable.  This was a very easy drinking wine and at £6.95 from the Wine Society feels like very good value.

Casal Branco Terra de Lobos 2011 - Wolf

A fruity Portuguese red - another wine which we struggled to identify although at least some of us guessed at Cabernet Sauvignon.  another good value wine given its £6.99 price point.

The Hedonist Mclaren Vale Shiraz 2011- Pig

If you like your red wines to be full on then this was a real winner (as well as being easily idenitifed as a Shiraz!) - big and bold and delicious - as the Waitrose wine site puts it "This is a delicious, silky and smooth wine with dark-fruit flavours and an intense palate that goes beautifully with red meats. Made by Walter Clappis, a renowned winemaker, The Hedonist is made from grapes grown biodynamically, without pesticides or herbicides".  The £12.99 price tag is a bargain for the quality.

Some Young Punks Lust Collides 2008 - Cow

The final wine of the evening turned out to be the most divisive - most of the group loved it, but I wasn't so sure - this could of course be a by-product of coming after a wine I had really liked.  It is Mataro (otherwise known as Mourvedre) and again boidynamic - my understanding of the philosophy of the makers is that they are trying to mix the best of the New and Old Worlds, so perhaps this wine was just a bit refined after the full on punch of The Hedonist.

April - South Africa

Moving rapidly to our April tasting, which was dominated by wines that Ben had tried in South Africa (and in some cases brought back from there).  I haven't captured every wine, but here are the ones I remember.

Bouvet Brut Saumur

As usual we started with a sparkling wine.  Now clearly Saumur is not in South Africa, but bear with me since the theme will emerge.  This is a good Loire sparkler - less dry than a Champagne and made from Chenin Blanc - a great aperitif and available at Majestic for about a tenner.  This wine actually had quite a fruit driven taste for a dry sparkling wine.  Bouvet is apparently owned by the Taittinger Champagne house.

Boekenhoutskloof Porcupine Ridge Viognier Grenache Blanc 2008

This was a great Viognier (and easily identifiable as such) - with all of the peachy fruitiness you expect but also quite dry.  It comes from Swartland, an up and coming region, north of the traditional Western Cape regions of Paarl and Stellenbosch that seems to get a bit more sun, giving the wines a bit more "oomph".

Badenhorst Duiker White 2012

This wine is a Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc and Chardonnay blend and so is slightly difficult to identify, although we did sort of guess the varieties eventually (perhaps more through luck than judgement!).  Again a tenner from Majestic, this was a very smooth and rounded wine - a real winner and again from Swartland.  

Rust en Vrede Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

This was a really nice Cabernet Suavignon and I recall getting the classic pencil shaving (wood and graphite) smell as we tasted it.  The winery is one of South Africa's oldest, having been around for over 300 years and since they know far more about this than I do, I'm just going to paste their tasting notes: "Rhubarb and aniseed aromas are backed by cedar and a hint of cocoa powder. Dark cherry aromas are also prevalent. A well structured Cabernet with beautiful grainy tannins. Full palate weight with notes of tobacco and liquorice on the finish."

The Goatfather 2006

The Goatfather was the stand out wine of the night for me.  Fairview Vineyards back onto the Paarl Rock and developed the Goats do Roam brand when they were not allowed to import Cote du Rhone style wine into the EU - they now have a goat tower as you enter the vineyard.  The Goatfather is an Italian inspired blend, led by Sangiovese and Barbera.  This wine has a real punch (would you expect anything less from this mob?) but also lots of complexity and layers of flavour.  I don't recall the "perfumed violets and hints of tomato" that the winemaker talks about, but I'm not arguing (you don't argue with the Goatfather, do you!)

The DNA of grape varieties

This week’s Wine on Wednesday was at Greg and Juliet’s house – despite the great weather we have been having we did not enjoy the luxury of their massive sliding roof (not because of inclement weather, but rather because of inclement squirrels, who had eaten the electrics).  Greg and Juliet had based this tasting on a DNA investigation of the different grape varieties – apparently clever boffins have been able to use this to trace a “family tree” of which grape varieties are descended from which (although there appear to be quite a few missing links in the tree that have not been properly identified).  The idea was to see if, with some clues as to the “parent” grape varieties, we could then identify the products of the “children” grapes.  The actual science behind this is set out in Jancis Robinson’s blog.  We were a slightly smaller group than normal, due to planned absences and someone’s forgetfulness – apparently moving south of the river affected Cath’s diary (Deptford clearly being in a different time zone!)

The grape variety “family tree” is shown below, with A-F being the grape varieties we were to try to identify and the “?”’s representing the as yet unidentified grape varieties.

As always, we started with a sparkling wine – this time an off dry, very pleasant wine that would be great for a sunny day on the beach (my mind at least was on the idea of beaches as I was heading straight down to Deal on the late train). We had a bit of discussion on where it might be form – starting with the idea of a German sparkler but rapidly moving to the Loire, where indeed the wine came from – it was a Cuvee de la Chevalerie Demi Sec from Saumur, which is primarily made from Chenin Blanc.  The great thing about Loire sparkling wines (we decided) is that they don’t pretend to be a Champagne, but forge their own (often delicious) path.

Moving on to the still wines, we moved to something that I immediately thought was a Sauvignon Blanc – something about the initial smell and taste seemed typical – but as it opened up it became less obvious – with an amazing sweet green apple aftertaste that lingered a very long time, while the acidity seemed to decrease.  This led to some confusion, but it turned out that my initial guess was right and that this was in fact Domaine D’en Segur 2011 Sauvignon Blanc.  I would class this as a Sauvignon Blanc for people (like me) who don’t actually like this grape – it did not have the sometimes unpleasant acidity but did have light fruits and dryness (though I'm not sure about the blackcurrant that the wine maker talks about in his description).

The next wine was a bit of a puzzler – none of us actively disliked it, but no one was hugely enthusiastic – there was a slightly odd aroma – heavy on honey (thank you Vicky) but also something else (Whelks??????? –again thank you Vicky – mind you I said Thai fish sauce!!!!!).  This wine turned out to be a Savignan from the Jura – a high altitude wine – the Domaine Badoz Cotes de Jura Cuvee de Victoria2008.  It has a lot of body (as the write up from The Sampler wine shop says, "and a little bit sherried")  but I fear more of a curiosity than a wine I would actively seek out.

The move to the reds meant we abandoned grape varieties anyone (other than Greg) had heard of.  The first red seemed very light – bright light red – a wine that initially made you think of a Pinot Noir (but even lighter).  This would be great summer red wine – with strawberry notes (none of the Pinot Noir cherry notes here).  Clearly we were all a bit stumped (I suggested a Canadian red wine – which was way off the mark).  It turned out to be another Jura wine from Domaine Badoz – this time a 2010 Trousseau (which led to a discussion about exactly what part of a ladies wardrobe a Trousseau normally was). This was a very nice wine and worth seeking out.

One sniff of the next wine immediately betrayed the grape variety was descended from Malbec, since it shared that brambly essence of the more well known grape variety.  The actual grape variety turned out to be a Jurancon Rouge, although it had been grown in the warmer South of France (Cahors to be precise).  The story behind the wine is interesting (and betrayed in the name – look at the picture below).  Apparently the grower was told by the local co-operative that he could not use this grape variety for wines from Cahors, especially not an AOC wine – he disagreed with this view and went ahead – producing a warm aromatic red that, because of the French labelling restrictions – can only be sold as a “Vin du Table”.  However Fabien Jouves has made his feelings clear in calling the wine a Jurancon “You F*** My Wine”!!!!!!

The final wine took us just across the border from France into Spain, with a Hondarrabi Beltza (at least we think that is the grape variety – it might be the wine maker!). The Gorrondona 2012 Bizkaiko Txakolina (and no, that is not a typo driven by excessive consumption) was a good rounded red wine that was slightly rustic and also, somewhere on the aftertaste, distinctively Spanish.  The wine itself, as any student of language would tell from the spellings, came from the Basque Country – and of course Rioja lies just to the south of this.

As for how each grape variety fits into the family tree above – well, I didn’t take notes so you will have to either guess or look here.  All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable and informative evening (and with a special mention to Juliet’s broad bean and ricotta lemon infused bruschetta – yum!).

All the wines (except for the first Saumur) can be found at The Sampler wine shop in Islington. 

Goodbye to Dalston Junction.....

The Wine on Wednesday’ers gathered on for a final time atop Dalston Junction on 12^th June – a final time there, at least, since Cath and Dan were moving into new accommodation, with Dan and Sam taking that “living together” step and Cath upgrading her view from the current panoramic view of Central London to one of the sweeping Thames (not that any of us are in any way jealous of these views).  So as the sun set behind the BT Tower, we journeyed once again into the world of viniculture.

Our host, Cath, told us early on that she was repeating a theme that had already been used – since the aperitif was a sparkling wine from Hungary, it was pretty clear that we hardy explorers were once more investigating the lesser known reaches of the wine world (although the wines were from fairly main stream stockists).

So starting with the sparkling wine – a Campanula Pinot Grigio from Hungary (available from Laithwaites at a bargain £8.99 a bottle).  This was a revelation.  Tokay is well known for its sweet wines, but this was a Prosecco like stunner.  It was dry, citrus-y and really very, very nice.  An excellent start to the evening.

We then moved on to the blind tasting – starting with a Romanian white wine: Fontana Vecchia 2010 from Dealu Mare (again from Laithwaites at £6.99).  We struggled a bit to place this, with suggestions of Viognier (which may be the new default for “I can’t identify this white wine so say Viognier – I may not be right but I will sound like I know something about wine”) and perhaps a not too acidic Sauvignon Blanc.  Actually the key grape varieties are Feteasca Alba and Feteasca Regala (Feteasca meaning 'young girl's grape' apparently!) so not surprising we didn’t get those.  The actual wine was quite light, with a bit of a fruity nose and quite pleasant without, in my opinion at least, having quite enough of anything distinctive.

The second white wine took us back to Hungary – a Royal Tokaji 2011 Furmint Dry wine.  This was a much more rounded wine, with hints of Chardonnay (and that is a good thing in my book, if not in many others!).  Majesticare selling this at £9.99 for a single bottle.  As they describe it “Well-defined aromatics comprising rich honey notes and stone fruits on the nose. Plenty of acidity gives the palate crispness and bite, with mineral tinges accenting the fruit-laden, exotic feel.”  A bit full on, but again good.

Moving on to the reds, we managed to quickly identify that the next wine was a Pinot Noir – it had all the characteristic qualities – that distinctive cherry flavour and nose and light body.  In fact it was a Paris Street Pinot Noir 2012 (£7.49 from Laithwaites) – so back across the border from Hungary into Romania again.  A good alternative to a traditional Burgundy Pinot Noir and at a reasonable price too.

We then moved on to an English wine – an Ickworth Bishop’s Reserve from Suffolk.  This was revelation – rich and full with well balanced tannins and a depth that, frankly, you don’t often get from English Red wines.  It certainly tasted like it had come from a much warmer climate.  This was probably the wine of the night (and not just for patriotic reasons).  The discussion of the wine, its origin and the ownership of Ickworth (historically the home of the Hervey family), led to the quote of the night (sparing some blushes), when Lady Victoria Hervey was described as “you must have hear of her – she was a famous I.T. girl” (presumably her server maintenance skills are legendary, along with her socialising, and I look forward to her guest appearance on this).

So congratulations to Cath for another wonderful evening and onwards to July at Greg and Juliet’s (assuming the squirrels don’t eat any more of the electrical cabling).