June 2009 Entries
Unbelievably we have just been to a second wedding in two weeks, having not been to one for about four years!
This week we did not need to travel, well we did need to get the bus into Central Leicester to get to the Guild Hall where the ceremony was held. It is a 14th Century building, and a lovely historic place. All beams and painted walls, with old bits of stained glass and a lovely courtyard.
After the happy couple had legally tied the knot the whole party crossed the yard into a side room (the Mayor's Pantry) for a glass of something fizzy. We had Ruggeri Quartese Prosseco. A lovely Prosseco from Valdobbiadene DOC, made I would guess in the traditional method (like Champagne) it was quite full flavoured, with much pear, green apple and pineapple flavours, with a nice undercurrent of minerality on the good length.
When a few photos had been taken, the whole party trundled a mile up the New Walk (a Georgian pedestrian way) to the Belmont, a good hotel, where the reception was to be held.
The food at the reception was good, stuffed peppers followed by roast breast of duck with an oriental sauce - think more Thai/Chinese than Indian, but not hot - and a melange of sorbets to finish. These were accompanied by a Rosé wine (Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup Rosé 2008) and a Syrah/Grenache based red (Mas d'Agalis, "Yo no puedo mas ... d'Agalis VI") which the happy couple had kindly asked me to provide. The toasts were accompanied again by the Ruggeri Prosseco.
It hadn't been difficult to choose the two wines, merely a matter of me thinking about the food and what would match it, followed by the Bride and I tasting three rosés and two reds. It is worth noting for any people planning a large event in a hotel or restaurant that often the corkage charged plus the cost of a better wine from Languedoc will easily be cheaper than the house wine. In these Credit Crunch days it is a way we can all drink better for less and still support the restaurants in our area.
The rest of my wine week has been pretty routine; I have been working my way through the last few bottles on my list that needed a revised tasting note. The highlight was probably the white Mas de Valbrune Cuvée Prælude 2007, a 100% Clairette that is dry, rich and complex with lovely floral and white stone fruit flavours, with a lovely touch of spice and good length. When I visited the domain in October I was impressed by the care they were taking to make the wine, which is clearly reflected in the glass. For all their wines, the yields are small, selection strict, and vinification carefully controlled. I suspect I have uncovered a real gem, and I now really rate it.
The other domain that surprised me a bit was Domaine de Rieussec whose wines are made from grapes grown next door to and on the same soils as Daumas Gassac. The entry level red, "Jardin Anglais" is a Syrah Cabernet blend (80/20) that is full of bright fruit and some nice spice. It is one of those wines where the New World meets the Old World, it would be easy in a blind tasting to think it was from South Australia, but then the nuance and complexity isn’t quite right. They have only been making wine at Rieussec since 2005, definitely a domain to keep an eye on!
Finally a rant. I read old copies of the Saturday Daily Telegraph, saved for me by my parents, and in a mid-May issue Jonathon Ray wrote his usual wine article. It was about rosé wines, and part of it talked about the consultation by the EU on proposals to allow winemakers to make a rosé by mixing red and white wines. This is currently against the rules as rosé must be made from red (black) grapes pressed on arrival (pressurage direct) or by bleeding partly fermented must from a red wine tank (sangiée). I personnaly have no objection in principal to the proposed changes, as long as it is explicitly stated on the label, and as long as it is only allowed to be a vin de table.
What does really wind me up is Jonathon Ray talking about the blending of red and white grapes that already goes on. He talked about pink Champagne, which he rightly said was a blend of red and white wine. He then talked about Hermitage, the great wine of the Rhone and said it was a blend of Syrah and Viognier – no it is not! It is a wine made from Syrah that may contain a small proportion of white Marsanne or Roussanne grapes, as long as all the grapes are fermented together. The situation is similar in one or two other AOC areas in the Northern Rhone, the reason they are allowed is historic, as in olden days (the 19th Century and before) peasants would plant their vineyard with a mix of grape varieties all mixed up together, and then make their wine rom any grapes that they could get their hands on!
He also talked about Chianti being a blend of white and red grapes, No, the law changed a while ago and for the vast majority of Chianti you can buy in the shops it legally must be made from a specific range of black grapes with Sangiovese dominating the blend. I can put up with Jonathon Ray’s opinions, even if I don’t agree, but it is appalling that he is so factually incorrect.
Anyway, Happy Drinking – remember moderation and quality! More soon.
I said that I would tell you a bit more about the wine when I was in Norfolk for a Wedding.
Well on the Sunday there was a barbeque for friends and familly of the happy couple - who were also there - so I took the chance to test out some of the wines on my list in a real situation.
The white was the Abracadabra Blanc from Chemin des Reves. The texture is quite oily, which surprised a few people, but they were soon won over by the rich aromas and palate. The floral components were very much to the fore when the bottle had just been opened with accacia and honeysuckle most noticable. Quite soon the fruit flavours started to emerge, with white peach and yellow plum easy to spot. The unifying factor is a wonderful minerality that underpins the floral and fruit components. The wine was lovely as an aperitif with plenty of nibbles. Lovely now, I suspect that this will get even better ove the next 12 - 18 months. On the whole it was a hit with the more serious drinkers.
The Rose d'Exindre was next. Full of summer fruit it was perfect for a sunny early summer afternoon. It was also well received, with one seasoned rinker telling me that he never drinks rose, but that he would drink this one. It was a particular hit with some of the younger women, who told me they often drink rose, and that this one was really good.
The Chemin des Reves Bois Moi was not so well received. It is a typical Languedoc wine with the usual grape varieties, but made in a way to be low on tannins. It works from that aspect, but it also has slightly less extract than many wines of the region. We were drinking it with food, and I suspect that didn't help. It has a lowish intensity palate, but with some really interesting and complex fruit flavours. I really need to try it again as an aperitif with a few breadsticks!
Finally we drank the Grangeon Syrah. This is a wine with plenty of everything! Great depth of dark fruit aromas and flavours, with a lovely touch of violet and black olive. Good balance and nice ripe tannins. Yummy. This wine generally pleased the assembled drinkers, particularly those of us who were getting stuck into the very tasty barbeque spare ribs. I did decide that this is not a wine for the faint hearted. However, it is really well made and will be lovely over a number of years!
I must end with thanks to Ruth and Bob who invited us to the festivities, and to their neighbours who gave us a very hospitable place to stay for two nights.
This weekend I have been to a Wedding, and what a good one it was! I haven't njoyed a wedding so much in years.
From a wine perspective it was interesting. The meal at the reception was either prawn cocktail or melon, followed by beef, turkey or a vegetarian option. The choice of wine was a Semillion Sauvignon blend or a Shiraz Grenache blend, both form a very large Australian producer.
The white was clean and fresh with some good grassy and white fruit flavours, the red was fruit driven, with a loads of berries and plums, with a fairly hefty dash of vanilla and rather obvious acidity. The wines were OK, but they demonstrate why I want to work with small domains. While the white was drinkable, it just lacked a bit of character, it was a bit one dimensional, but difficult to criticise in any other way. The red really showed the "tool kit" that the winemaker used to make the wine. There was some obvious added acid to give the wine a bit of balance, the tannins and the vanilla were obviously from oak, which I am fairly sure was added to the wine in the form of chips, rather than the wine being aged in oak barrels. Both wines also had a really good mouthfeel, which came from a certain amount of sugar left when the fermentation was stopped by the winemaker, either by filtration or more likely by the addition of sulphur dioxide.
I don't mind people using these techniques, I suppose they justify it by needing to have consistencey across the million or three bottles they make of each wine, but they do tend to make wines that are a bit simple, and a bit unbalanced, and in the case of the red lacking integration.
At a retail list price of about £7.00 I don't think they offer good value. They don't make me want to drink more than a glass or buy some more for future drinking.
I suppose that it does reassure me that working with small producers who want to produce wines that reflect their terroir. I also know that all of my wines are balanced and made with only the minimum amount of intervention necessary. None of my producers would even think about adding acidity, or using oak chips instead of barrels to give oaky characteristics to the wine.
All I need to do is to convince enough people that my wines are worth trying, I am convinced that if anyone drinks my wines they will easily spot the diference! So please spread the word, let's try to get people to try wines made by people whose priorities are more about the quality of their wine as a natural product, and are passionate about wine and the place they live first, with profit a necessary evil that must eventually be thought of - let's face it even vignerons need to eat!
More on the weekend later ...
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