Dermot's wine blog

Could you spot a fake pinot?

2012-01-20T13:55:00.000Z

There is news today that Gallo and Constellation (now Accolade) have agreed to pay out a lrge sum of money over the fake pinot noir scandal. I am sure many people will say how great this is, that these big companies have been made to eat humble pie but I'm not so sure. I happen to like Gallo, even if some of their actions seem clumsy (see items in relation to the Russian River AVA) and while Constellation seems to have imploded as a result of over-expansion in the boom years these are both companies which have done a lot to further wine internationally.

Indeed, when the news of the fake pinot broke I wondered how many of us could assert that a bulk wine from the Pays d'Oc was not a pinot but, instead, a syrah merlot blend! I'm not sure I would have as wines from this part of the world can, at times, have a degree of homogeneity about them.
Another aspect of the dual payout is that both companies claim, with some degree of justification, that they were themselves duped. I do not know if there is any such thing as a lab test for pinot noir, but I doubt it. assuming the wine shipped had similar specifications to a pinot noir already purchased (e.g. colour, aromatics, sugar, ABV, pH, TA etc.) then how would you spot it? It's reasonable to assume that the French companies involved went to some lengths to get a blend that matched previous supplies, so it's hard to see how Gallo and Constellation could have done any more.
I note that the 3 plaintiffs in a class action can get as much as $58,000 (€45,000) - that's some change for a dodgy bottle of wine which probably retailed for less than $15 (€12)! I accept that there has to be some degree of punitive fine involved. to deter companies from engaging in such activity (even though I am not at all convinced that either Gallo or Constellation were) but wouldn't it be better if these sums of money went to charity rather than 3 disgruntled consumers? I note that others can get their purchase price back, or else only $3.50 (€2.71) if they cannot prove a purchase - in other words, any fool who claims to have drunk this wine has to be given $3.50 regardless! That's just a waste of money. Surely, there has to be some better way to compensate the wine world?

Yeast and terroir

2012-01-19T20:04:00.000Z

An article in Decanter informs us that scientists in New Zealand "have proved for the first time that wine yeasts vary from region to region." This is a idea I have had since I was an MW student - if you check the people who have commented, one is Peter Vinding-Diers and he put on a tasting, in 1994, for a very small group of 2nd year MW students in Sete to highlight the importance of yeast in winemaking. This tasting is mentioned in Patrick Matthews' book, "The Wild Bunch".

Peter's tasting was simple. First, we tasted a wine made at his property in Bordeaux, Chateau Landiras, a decent white Graves. It was fresh, with soft fruit notes (primarily the green flavours of sauvignon blanc) and not overly strong aromatically. He then gave us four glasses, each made from the four separate strains of yeast he had identified as living in the winery. These were very different - two were fairly bland in style, being quite similar to the wine we had just tasted. Two were much fruitier, with one having a strong character of mango and tropical fruits. Peter explained that these latter wines were made from yeasts which made up less than 10% or so of the total yeast population.
After this, we then were given two glasses of wine which tasted very different to each other. These, fascinatingly, were made from grapes picked in one of his vineyards but vinified in two batches. The first batch was vinified at Landiras but, crucially, the second was vinified at Lynch-Bages in the Haut-Medoc! Although the absolute origin of the fruit was identical the flavours were vastly different.
The conclusion which I drew from this was that the so-called flavour of terroir was more likely down to differences in the local yeasts - remember that, in Europe, spontaneous fermentations are caused by yeasts which live in the winery (Ribereau-Gayon & Peynaud); this is different in the new world where most winemakers use cultured yeasts. This all suggests that the difference between wines from different sites is more likely due to the differences in yeast strains to be found in the relevant wineries - something borne out at a tasting in Oregon in 1999 where 3 producers showed 3 wines: each made 1 wine from their own fruit as well as 1 wine each from fruit from their neighbours, but with all the wines made at their own winery. When asked to find patterns in the 9 wines tasted I found it easier to identify who had made the wines, rather than where the wines originated - I assume because each winemaker had used a yeast of their own.
There are, undoubtedly, site-specific issues in relation to flavour pre-cursors (Nerida Abbott did her PhD on this very topic) but I firmly believe that yeast is an important contributor to regional identifiers in a wine.

Minimum pricing revisited

2012-01-08T18:21:00.000Z

The Irish Sunday Tines carried a story today claiming that the government is considering introducing a minimum price for alcohol of €0.55 per unit. I don't buy the paper and don't subscribe to the online edition but it was reported on Today FM news today. Consequently I'm not sure if this measure relates only to beers and own-label vodkas, as reported in the news bulletins, or across the board.

The unit price stated, €0.55, suggests that a can of beer could be sold for no less than €1.10 as the average can of 4% abv beer has 2 units. I assume that for wine, the minimum RRP would be determined in the same way. So, for a 7.5% riesling from the Mosel, the lowest price at which this wine could be sold is €3.09. Since that equates to an FOB price of €0.18 per bottle, I think that's an impossibly low price to begin with.
For the very popular 15% Amarones or Australian shirazes the minimum would be €6.19 - again, the vast majority of these wines are already well above this price.
If my assumption about how this scheme would work is correct then the vast majority of wines drinkers will be unaffected by minimum pricing, which is interesting.
Of course, the whole notion of minimum pricing causes quite extreme reactions among the trade but, as I have stated before, I believe it will arrive and that the industry would be better off preparing for it rather than throwing its collective toys out of the pram.
As I mentioned before it has been Irish government policy for over 20 years to introduce measures such as these; if you care to read the background material cited in the Alcohol Action Ireland website (actually read the documents - WHO, RAND, SLAN etc) then you should find it difficult to actually argue against some form of price control.
Anyway, I'll prepare for the onslaught of poorly expressed and thought-out counter arguments but, if my assessment of the government's plan is correct, than actually it's not too bad. I wonder how many will respond by stating that the unit price isn't high enough?

Eat, drink and be merry...

2011-12-22T12:17:00.001Z

Odd post this because it is prompted by the death on Monday of my cousin Donal Broughan, who was only 55. It was a sudden death, utterly unexpected and leaves his wife, Karina, and sons Ruaidhri and Conall totally devastated at the worst time of year.

So, this is a short post with no real wine content other than this - with Christmas coming up, if you have any decent wine that you've been saving for an occasion then why not take this opportunity to drink them? After all, among the worst things that happens when you open an aged wine is that it is too old or faulty; in the latter case there was never a good tie to drink it but if the wine is too old then there was, at some point, a time to have consumed it!

My cousin's death was a shock, especially when it makes you realise that we will never know the day or the hour, so try to enjoy your life as best you can. If that means drinking a good or great wine a little too young, or with people who don't get it then so what? You will have tried a wine which you will enjoy and will have shared your joy with others. Santayana said "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval" so off you go and crack open some real goodies this year and spread the joy!

Who pays?

2011-12-14T19:02:00.000Z

For a variety of reasons I think it might be worthwhile to set out all the wine trips I've ever done in my life and to clearly indicate who paid for these trips. This is prompted by some recent articles on other blogs (Jancis Robinson MW recently posted an article about this, as did Tim Atkin MW, Jancis's post was triggered in part by Tyler Coleman's post in relation to the ethical policy of The Wine Advocate); it's worth pointing out that I rarely publish any wine reviews so I trust that my independence in that regard can be taken for granted.
In July 1992 I first visited a wine region (bizarre when you consider I had just finished WSET Diploma that June!) when I went to Rioja with some friends. We visited La Rioja Alta, Marques de Riscal (back in the days before fabulous new buildings went up) and CVNE. All paid for by myself.
In October 1992 I visited Jerez, having won the Sherry Scholarship in my Diploma examination of 1991; paid for by Wines of Spain and the Sherry producers, although earned by hard work!

In February 1993, as an MW student, I visited Chablis and Champagne on a great 2 day trip, again self-funded. In June 1993, as part of my researches in relation to my MW Dissertation I visited the Mosel and Burgundy; I revisited the Mosel in September that year and again in December that year - all self-funded.

In November 1994 I had to submit a new Dissertation and so visited Champagne, Burgundy and the Rhone, all self-funded.

In April 1996 I visited Lebanon, with the scale of visits heavily curtailed by the activities of the Israeli Airforce, self-funded. Later that year, in June, I visited the Loire and Bordeaux with two friends from a wine club who wanted a good wine-related holiday. They paid travel and accommodation and we shared costs while there. This was an excellent trip - dinner with the Cointreau family of Cognac Frapin and Champagne Gosset, visits to Florent Baumard, Huet and Pascal Jolivet in the Loire, visits to Latour (hosted by Frederic Engerer), Lafite, Margaux (hosted and shown around by Paul Pontaillier), Mouton, Lynch-Bages, Pichon-Comtesse, Langoa Barton (where Anthony Barton was a very charming host), Yqeum and Climens, Cheval Blanc and Vieux Chateau-Certan, where Alexandre Thienpont was very welcoming.

In September 1998 I was inaugurated into the Istitut del Vins de Cava y Penedes (officially I am a Cavallero!) - funded by the Istitut. In October 1998 I visited South Africa for the first time for Richard Kelley MW's wedding to the gorgeous Rebekah Knight; self-funded.

In April 1999 I took part in my first MW trip - the West Coast of the USA. Although all such trips are part-funded by various local bodies, MWs still pick up a substantial tab - this one cost me IEP2,000 at the time! Later that year I visited Burgundy with my good South African friend, Fran Botha, which included the opportunity to visit and taste at La Domaine de la Romanee Conti - self-funded.

In March 2000, I visited South Africa again to help Richard Kelley MW with an MW student seminar - self-funded. That July, Wines of Spain sent a number of highly influential Irish journalists on a trip to Spain and somehow I sneaked in! Funded by Wines of Spain. In October 2000 we had an MW trip to Portugal - as always I had to partially pay my way.

March 2001 I visited the Rhone for the Decouvertes, self-funded, followed by a visit to Bordeaux for the IMW Student Seminar, self-funded. April 2001 was the MW trip to Australia, a fantastic visit, again partially self-funded, about IEP1,900 as I recall. November 2001 was an MW mini-trip to the Languedoc, partially self-funded.

March 2002 another IMW Student Seminar in Bordeaux, again self-funded. Two trips to Germany followed, one at the expense of Meininger Verlag as I was judging at Mundus Vini, the second an MW trip, again partially self-funded.

March 2003 was a self-funded trip to the Rhone, for the Decouvertes, followed in August by a visit to South Africa to judge at Michelangelo - paid for by Michelangelo. This was followed by another trip for Mundus Vini, paid for by Meininger.

2004 saw another visit to Mundus Vini expenses paid, followed by an MW trip to South Africa, partially self-funded.

One trip in 2005, a self-funded visit to the Rhone for the Decouvertes.

2006 saw a self-funded visit to CAlifornia for the IMW Lateral Vision Symposium.

2007 saw expenses paid trips to Bordeaux (judging at Les Citadelles du Vin), and South Africa (judging at Michelangelo) with an MW trip to Geisenheim, partially self-funded.

2008 was a busy year; in April an expenses paid trip to Singapore (judging at Food Hotel Asia), June had a self-funded trip to Rust, in Austria, for the inaugural European Association of Wine Educators conference, August an expenses paid trip to Mundus Vini and November an expenses paid trip to Chile, courtesy of Wines of Chile.

2009 had only one trip - but what a trip! - the expenses paid trip to Australia for Landmark, paid for by Wine Australia.

2010 saw a return to Bordeaux for the IMW Student Seminar, nowadays funded by IMW! In May a visit to Vienna for Vie Vinum, flights paid for by myself, accommodation by the Austrian Wine Marketing Bureau. June saw an expenses paid trip to Chile, courtesy of Brandabout followed by a self-funded visit to Bordeaux for the IMW Forging Links symposium. In August an expenses paid visit to Mundus Vini while in October a self-funded visit to California.

In 2011 just the one visit, to South Africa as a judge at Michelangelo, expenses paid.

I have only ever received samples of wine to taste once, quite recently from a Spanish producer, and don't usually make any pronouncements about such wines as I do taste without ever disclosing any potential conflict of interest. Many of my students will, I hope, recall my informing them when I am recommending any producer which is also a sponsor of IMW; it is worth noting that in at least one of my posts I have pointed out that I do not believe the marketing spiel of at least one IMW sponsor!

This may well be an unnecessary post, but it's something I felt I should do. I hope it's fairly clear that my wine education has, by and large, been self-funded and that the opinions I express are based on independent experience, that I do not feel I have to support any country, company or person simply because they have paid for a trip for me - if so, then I'm happy. If anyone feels otherwise, I'd be interested to hear from you.

New Diploma Graduates

2011-11-07T18:15:00.000Z

Dermot Nolan Wine Services is pleased to announce that there are eight graduates this year from the WSET Level 4 Diploma Course. These are:

Dorothy Dillon, Paul Kiernan, Noel MacMahon (Febvre & Co.), Stephen McFarland, Beverley Mathews (Wine UnCorked), Paul O'Flynn (Treasury Wine Estates), William Tindal (Tindal Wines) and James Tobin (O'Brien's Wines).

There are two prizes awarded – the Wine Australia Scholarship which is awarded to the graduate with the best overall performance in the Diploma, and the George O’Malley Tasting Cup, gifted by Maggie McNie MW, awarded to the student who gets the highest marks in the Tasting Examination.

This year, the winners are:

Wine Australia Scholarship - Paul Kiernan;

George O'Malley Cup - Michael Sweeney (Inis Wines).

Well done all!

Eighth Irish Master of Wine

2011-09-09T15:05:00.000+01:00

With this week's MW exam results the Institute now has 300 members, 8 of whom can claim Irish nationality. The eighth is Mary Gorman-McAdams; Mary is a wine educator with the International Wine Center in New York, a wine columnist for www.thekitchn.com, a freelance wine writer and a wine judge. She has a BA (Hons) in Languages and International Marketing from Dublin City University and an MBS from University College Dublin. She passed her WSET Diploma in Ireland in 2003.

For those of you who can't count, the eight are, in order of passing:

Robin Kinahan (Northern Ireland), Alan Crowley (Republic of Ireland), Martin Moran (England, of Irish nationality), Dermot Nolan (Republic of Ireland), Jane Boyce (Northern Ireland), Fergal Tynan (Republic of Ireland) and Carmel Kilcline (Republic of Ireland).

Brilliant visual aid...

2011-08-31T10:22:00.002+01:00

I just saw this on Tyler Coleman's blog (Dr Vino) - a great map of the French wine regions styled like a metro map! It looks good and is fairly inexpensive! Check it out.

Some interesting scientific news

2011-08-31T10:20:00.000+01:00

A new report from the Federal Center for Disease Control in the US is worth reading - it identifies moderate alcohol consumption as one of four pillars towards a healthier lifestyle and reduced mortality. Specifically, when combined with healthy eating, regular exercise and never having smoked, moderate alcohol consumption offered the greatest benefit!
Also of interest is research in Australia suggesting that the use of sulphur actually helps grape berries improve their own defence system. Potentially, this could mean that less sulphur could be used but that great benefits will accrue. There is still a lot of work to be done, however.

A good response

2011-08-25T17:09:00.000+01:00

Today VinPro, the South African grapegrower association, released a response to the recent Human Rights Watch report on condition on South African fruit farms. I think it's a pretty good response, pointing out some anomalies in the HRW report but also promising to come down heavily on any farm which is identified as behaving improperly.

The other side of the coin?

2011-08-23T11:36:00.000+01:00

Human Rights Watch has just published a report, Ripe with Abuse, on conditions pertaining on South African fruit farms. It's well worth reading as it outlines many of the serious issues affecting workers' conditions in South Africa. There are some aspects I would quibble with (I've never seen toilets or hand washing facilities in any vineyard, European or otherwise; South African wine farmers use very few pesticides although I don't know about the table fruit industry) but it is a pretty unsettling document.

A few very interesting things come out, not least the utter failure of the ANC government to properly protect the workers. In an interesting book on the problems of life in South Africa, Advocates for change, edited by Moeletsi Mbeki, published by Picador, it is noted that the ANC government is very good on issuing policies but not so good on planning or implementation. Further, even 17 years after democracy some 67% of ANC voters have no jobs and 69% have little or only rudimentary education. Nelson Mandela famously invited all Africans to enjoy the new South Africa and millions have taken him at his word with the resultant increase in shanty towns outside the long-established townships, increased economic violence within those shanty towns all made worse by the single fact that there aren't enough jobs for native South Africans in the first place.
Undoubtedly farmers must carry a large degree of responsibility - I can recall seeing farm workers spraying tanks with SO2 without any protective clothing and seeing workers in a sparkling wine facility working without hard hats or eye goggles, for example. There is an underlying fear on both sides which exacerbates old racial tensions and leads to abuse of farm workers by the farmers and violence against farm owners by the workers.
Having said that I have also seen many estates which treat their workers very well - often paying well over the minimum wage (set by government at ZAR1,375.94 per month - approximately €137.60), giving workers extremely good housing, education and medical benefits and so on. The requirements of the Black Economic Empowerment initiative (BEE) has meant that all businesses have to have some form of black ownership or equity scheme in place. Some, such as Paul Cluver, have donated land and expertise to the local community enabling them to start sucessful wine and wine-related businesses - Thandi in this case. Others, such as Meerlust, have set up a joint Meerlust/community owned packaging, shipping and distribution company, Kompaniedrift, which gives the farm workers and local community a sustainable and scaleable business.
There is an ethical dimension to all wine production and it is important not to lose sight of that, especially in recessionary times when the first instinct is to buy the cheapest wine available. Lower retail price means much less money being distributed down the supply chain and in some countries, Chile is another which springs to mind, this can have dire economic consequences for the local workers. Having said that there is still no excuse for the violence which occurs in the Cape, either against farm workers or owners, as this solves nothing and only entrenches old hostilities. Somehow or another, the government has to sort out the social problems which exists in South Africa but, I'm sorry to say, I have little confidence that this will be achieved.

Love of the sea

2011-08-18T17:47:00.000+01:00

I am currently in South africa judging at the Michelangelo CCL international Wine Awards and decided to take the chance to visit Chris Williams, the current head wine maker at Meerlust. With me was one of my fellow judges, Guiseppe Rizzardi of the Guerrieri Rizzardi Estate in Verona. Meerlust means love of the sea, hence the title!I have always enjoyed Meerlust wines and we were treated extremely well by Chris. After a brief history of the estate and a short tour of the facilities we settled down for a great tasting. The estate has been there since the 17th century and has a long history of fruit and crop production. Wine became important with time and for many years now Meerlust has been one of the flagship properties in Stellenbosch.

When I first met Chris he was the assistant winemaker and he left briefly in the late 1990s to set up his own wine venture but returned in 2004 to take over his current position.

Meerlust is renowned for its red wines and currently has only one white wine, a chardonnay. And a very good one too - the 2009 we tasted from sites close to the river had a lovely rich but elegant fruit style, clean with very good use of oak and a long finish. Almost Burgundian in style it is one of the best chardonnays I've tasted from South Africa.

Two pinots noirs were among the reasons I wanted to visit, as I've known for some time that pinot has great potential on tis estate but often failed to live up to its promise. The 2010 was elegant, with cherry fruits and quite supple, the 2009 had richer texture and a sweet finish. Both are fairly savoury - Burgundian again! - but are very nice wines. Soon, some new clones and plots will come into play and it is lokely that the wine will get a bit more flesh, though without losing elegance.

The 2007 merlot (with 10% cabernet franc) was plummy, rich and round, with a slightly firm edge to the tannins. Chris noted that from the 2008 on, a recently purchased block of old vine merlot will add more opulence and roundness to the blend. A good merlot with nice structure.

The 2007 Rubicon is, of course, the estate's flagship wine and showed lovely depth and elegance. A blend of 74% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot and 11% cabernet franc it was a rich, round wine with plenty of time ahead of it. As an aside, on the 1977 MW tour of South Africa, the estate asked the visiting MWs to develop a blend on the spot and that blend became Rubicon!

Chris will soon have some petit verdot to use in the blend which he feels will enable him to adjust acid, tannin and fruit components more effectively. We talked about Bordeaux blends which were once the classic Cape style but are now out of fashion (those tasted at the judging performed less well than hoped for). There has been a big move towards Rhone-style wines and while some are very sucessful, it would be a shame if the Bordeaux blend went out of focus.

The last Meerlust wine was the 2009 cabernet sauvignon which had an amazing balance between powerful ripe black fruit and real elegance and grace. A more accessible wine than the Rubicon, which really needs ageing, it is a really good wine, well made.

Then two whites blind - the first had really appley fruit, slight honey, quite fresh acidity, a round and full palate, and a long, clean finish. I thought it might be a chenin due to the fruit and acid balance but it turned out to be The Foundry Roussanne 2010 from Chris's own winery. Lovely stuff. The second was definitely a chardonnay - apple flavours throughout, with a big but elegant style, obviously from a cool zone in a warm region. I guessed Malmesbury and Chris complimented me on being right about one aspect. It was from the Paardeberg, a warm mountain heading towards Malmesbury but it wasn't chardonnay - it was grenache blanc! Gorgeous and well worth seeking out.

All in all, a great afternoon and thanks Chris!

Black and white views

2011-08-18T17:22:00.002+01:00

I am frequently told that I can be too dogmatic about things, that I see things in “black and white”. Well, here’s a tale that is black and white. On a recent visit to a wine farm near Stellenbosch we were told by the owner that his parents had been attacked on the farm. His father was in bed, his mother sleeping in front of the television when she was woken by the dogs barking. She opened the door to see what was the matter, and a number of men rushed in. They demanded to know where her husband was and, on being told, dragged him downstairs and then told him that if he did not co-operate they would kill his wife. They made off with some money and jewellery but not much more as an alarm had been triggered.

Naturally, the thieves were all black, the victims white and this sort of incident is very common. Every time I go to South Africa I hear these stories and I am sure that most of those who live in isolated wine farms are ticking off the map to see how much longer before they are attacked. In this particular case the owner has decided to up sticks and go, pretty much. He no longer replants when vines are grubbed up and the farm is decreasing in size every year. His family has been on the farm since it was granted to an ancestor by Simon van der Stel but the current occupant has decided that, if necessary, he will bulldoze the farm before he goes. He has even trademarked the farm’s name worldwide so that the brand can only be used by him and not any later owner of the farm – he assumes it will be taken from him by the government or that his family will be forced out by intimidation.

So, how do you feel about this? Are you someone who has always believed that having the ANC come to power all those years ago was a good thing, who saw hope in the rainbow nation? If you’ve visited the Cape a lot you’ll have seen amazing changes in the past 20 years and you’ll think that the blacks and whites are getting on well. But the question is, is this the reality? When I was at this farm, all the farm workers were heading off for the night, with their bags of rice or meal, having done their days work. Where do they stand on the issue of these attacks? Do they not care that their livelihood depends on the success of the farm? Don’t they care about the people they’ve worked with for many years? Where is the black voice complaining about the stupidity of these often violent attacks?

When you tell this story to an Afrikaans you can get some brutal replies about the capacity of the black man and you are quite shocked by these views. But the underlying anger is real and so is the fear. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the past history of South Africa (or even Africa itself) at some point the black community has to rise above this type of behaviour and make a moral stand. If not, then South Africa could easily go the way of Zimbabwe. It really is that black and white.

Departure?

2011-08-11T15:24:00.000+01:00

Small world, this wine world. Just on the phone to IMW executive office today in re AGM in September and was casually told that Richard Kelley MW, one of my mates from the great class of 1993, has apparently left Richards Walford, a company for whom he has worked for a great many years. It's a real shame - even though he's only been there since the mid-2000s you'd think he was a permanent fixture.

Biting off more than you can chew?

2011-06-28T18:26:00.000+01:00

My Landmark colleague, Jamie Goode, posted a piece on his blog recently about natural wines and their role within the wine world. Personally, I have yet to be convinced by so-called natural wines - I've had some nice ones but also a few I wouldn't want to touch again. What is interesting is that Jamie's piece has no real basis and a number of disturbing statements are made within the article. Leaving out my own comments there are some very good responses to the piece. Enjoy!

I sense a trend here...

2011-06-15T15:59:00.003+01:00

Following on from the last post here's Huon Hooke's take on restaurant service!

Sour gripes?

2011-06-14T13:28:00.000+01:00

Max Allen, one of Australia's top wine journalists, has an interesting pice about wine in restaurants. Could we say the same here?

Man of La Mancha

2011-05-23T16:45:00.000+01:00

The second tasting of the day was a portfolio tasting of Vinos Tito's wines. This excellent importer of Spanish wines is run by Rafael Salazar and Antonio Lorente and they have done a magnificent job over the last number of years in bringing some excellent new wines into ireland. Their job today was not made any easier by the conflict with the Australian tasting or Mr Obama's visit but I'm glad I made it there.
Highlights included the Portal del Monsant Santbru Blanc 2009, DO Montsant made exclusively from white garnacha and really seriously good! Who'd ever expect to hear that of garnacha blanca? Other whites that impressed were the Bodegas Ponce Reto Albilla 2010, DO Machuela from an unheard of variety albilla, not to be confused with the better known (??) albillo!! This reminded me of a Vin Jaune from the Jura, being soft, creamy and spicy and one of the most interesting wines I've tasted for quite some time. The Rafael Palacios As Sortes Godello 2009, DO Valdeorras was also very good, with an amazing blend of rich creaminess on the mid-palate and a lovely fresh zingy finish. Finally the Alonso del Yerro Ossian Verdejo 2008, DO Rueda got a one word tasting note: yummy!
Among the reds, I really enjoyed the Portal del Priorat Somni 2007, DO Priorat which had power and elegance, the Bodega Maranones Treinta Mil Maravadies 2009 which is really tasty but needs a little time, the fabulous Artuke K4, DOCa Rioja which was a stunning blend of tempranillo and graciano and seriously good and the surprisingly soft Rafael Cambra Dos 2008, DO Valencia which, though a blend of the two cabernets, was extremely supple and drinkable.
There were many other good to very good wines but these are the ones which stood out for me, today.

Barossa beauties

2011-05-23T16:28:00.000+01:00

On a day of high winds, US presidential visits there were two excellent tastings in Dublin. The first was the Wine Australia A+ tasting, held at Croke Park. The quiet hour was good and I tasted some nice wines but then the Nowhere Man arrived and, as I cannot stand him and wish never to meet him again I decided to skip off early. However, help arrived from an unexpected corner: Mr James Marsh, formerly Landmark wine-elf (along with P J Charteris) and he allowed me to sneak into the tutorial room where a venerable range of Barossa beauties was lined up for a later tasting.
If you are one of those who think Australia only produces big, jammy, drink now wines then this was a tasting to really get into. Starting with an Orlando Eden Valley Cabernet Shiraz 1980 the 10 wines finished with a First Drop Fat of the Land Greenock Shiraz 2008 - so 18 years of shiraz!
The Orlando Eden Valley Cabernet Shiraz 1980 was fading somewhat - very brown in appearance but with some nice fruit to it; drink up soon, but enjoy the fact that at 31 years old it's still decent! The Peter Lehmann Dry Red Shiraz 1981 had more depth to it, garnet colour but with a lovely mature fruit nose and some sweet fruit on the palate.
We then jumped 10 years to a beautiful Henschke Mount Edelstone 1991: fading beautifully it was a bit herbaceous on the nose but had lovely plum and chocolate notes on the palate and is still gorgeous. The St Hallett Old Block 1992 was typical of the estate - big, rich, jammy prune fruits, still a bruiser!
Another Orlando, the Centenary Hill Shiraz 1995 was very youthful, being peppery, powerful but with juicy plum fruits and very long. Lovely wine with a very modern label - I loved the old label on the 1980 and would love to see more like that!
Then an unfortunately iffy Rockford Basket Press 1996: the first bottle was noticeably volatile being all floral, the second was better with more plums, prunes and spice. Classically rich and uncompromising and still going well (allowing for an odd bottle LOL!).
Then into the noughties with a Langmeil The 1843 Freedom 2004 - juicy, luscious, plums, sweet prunes, dates and spice, a really gorgeous wine. An Amon-Ra 2005 was very young, big and rich; the Barossa Valley Estates E & E Black Pepper 2006 was really good (formerly Hardy's for those of you who remember the wine); finally the youngest wine First Drop Fat of the Land Greenock Shiraz 2008 which was good but overshadowed by its illustrious predecessors!
Go to the Barossa Vintage website for some excellent information; the book given out at the tasting is an excellent source of historical information about the Barossa and our own Redmond Gavin and Jacinta Delahaye are even pictured therein!

Wine tax follow up

2011-04-12T14:05:00.000+01:00

As a quick follow up to pieces relating to wine prices and taxation here's an interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald which notes a recommendation to increase taxes on cheaper wines but reduce them on high price wines. Note also the recommendations made in New Zealand! I still reckon this day will come so start planning!

We oldies could learn a thing or two...

2011-04-11T22:38:00.000+01:00

A very short post - read this article from Tyler Coleman's blog and this article, spotted on Konstantinos Lazarakis MW's facebook page. Those of us who don't get social media should look, listen and learn!

Oddbins RIP?

2011-03-31T16:54:00.000+01:00

Well, the recession hits again - although, in the case of Oddbins, this is more a long-term illness drawing to a much desired, though fatal, end. The original Oddbins, set up by Nick Baile MW, was a real odd bins shop - they purchased odd lots of distressed stock and then retailed these to really wine literate customers.
After Oddbins was taken over by Seagram things changed however. While the friendly and knowledgeable staff remained, Seagram tried to use Oddbins as a vehicle for some of their brands. But it was the rapid expansion of the number of outlets which really did for Oddbins in the end. Like the South Sea bubble it seemed as though Oddbins were opening up shops just to generate enough revenue to keep existing shops open. When sold off to Castel in the early 2000s (Seagram had been trying to sell up for about 7 years) the range changed and the original ethos was lost.
Eventually, Simon Baile bought the business back from Castel but it appears that he and his partner paid more than they could afford and now, thanks to a debt to British Gas of £58 (!), the whole house of cards has come tumbling down.
Some of the shops may yet survive but there will be repercussions for many in the UK's wholesale trade as there are far larger debts out there. It is not clear as to what will happen to the Oddbins shops in Ireland (did you know that the Blanchardstown shop was the biggest Oddbins of them all, in terms of floor area?) nor whether Oddbins as a business will survive.

A nice Easter present...

2011-03-31T12:36:00.000+01:00

Absolute shameless self-promotion: if you're looking for a nice Easter present for some one why not give them my Introduction to wine tasting class! It's a fun day - you get to taste 12 really good wines, learn about tasting in a fun and simple way and you get 6 ISO tasting glasses and lunch as well, all for the great price of €125! To book, go to the Introduction to wine tasting page on my website or email me at learn@dermotnolan.ie.

Do you like aged wines? Chianti, perhaps?

2011-03-22T09:59:00.001Z

On Monday 4th April, on behalf of the the Institute of Masters of Wine, I am running a tasting of Chianti and Super Tuscan IGTs from the highly renowned 2001 vintage. This is a reprise of a tasting held in London in 2005 and in Dublin in 2006. There are 39 wines to be tasted in a standard producer-free walk around tasting. Tickets are €30 and should be booked in advance from Helen Williams in the IMW office or directly from the events pages of the IMW website, where the tasting sheets can also be downloaded.

A hint of mystery...

2011-03-16T09:52:00.000Z

Those enterprising people at the Corkscrew wine shop have arranged a twitter tasting of a mystery wine for Sunday 27th March. Full details of how to buy and what to do can be found on their website. Go ahead and have some mysterious fun!

Minimum pricing - saviour of the small off-licence?

2011-03-14T09:52:00.000Z

On Friday last I was in London for an MW course day, in our lovely new offices on Fitzroy Square. One of the questions we discussed was from Paper 4 last year - Is wine a social evil? In the discussion I mentioned that, in my opinion, we are not far from a situation where a Loi Evin style ban on alcohol advertising is likely to be enacted in the UK and Ireland, and where minimum pricing of alcohol is also likely. These ideas usually bring about a fierce response from the drinks industry but it's worth considering whether there are more than just health benefits to these ideas.
First off you should read any of these BBC articles on falling consumption in the UK, on alcohol pricing, on the health benefits of minimum pricing and this article in The Lancet also on alcohol pricing. It is also worth noting that Irish health policy for the last 20 years has been to follow the World Health Organisation's view that pricing is the most effective way to combat alcohol-related health issues. If, by any chance, you haven't read anything on this to date then, forgive my French, but you're an idiot - these are serious issues and being ignorant is of no benefit to anyone!
OK, the basic idea is that alcohol causes a huge degree of health issues in society - this we have to accept as true, otherwise we are really just burying our heads in the sand. If you believe that wine is not one of the social evils then you're also an idiot - there are plenty of wine drinking alcoholics out there, many of whom engage in some form of abusive behaviour as a result: for every lager lout there's also a pinot grigio prat!
If alcohol prices are raised, it appears, then consumption reduces, especially in the particularly vulnerable 18 - 25 age group. The cost to society in terms of funding health services reduces, lifestyle illnesses reduce and, all in all, we are healthier and happier. The industry usually responds with cries that alcohol is already a high cost item due to government taxes and that raising prices simply means that the alcoholic wastes more money rather than less. I've thought about this and while this would have been a position I held some time ago I no longer agree with this.
Among problem drinkers there is a hard core of serious alcoholics who will drink themselves to death no matter what the cost - social, personal or economic. However, they probably do not represent the majority of problem drinkers - the people who clog up A & E departments every weekend with a wide range of avoidable injuries, the people who engage in violent behaviour, who abuse their families, who cause countless road accidents and so on. We have to ask where does our social responsibility lie? Is it to look at the bigger picture and try to improve society or is it to simply take a self-interested short-term view? If the latter, then head off to the bankers and developers whose similar attitude bankrupted our country!
But, the question I raised at the start is whether or not there is a benefit to the industry? Well, for the small scale industry I think there is. Minimum pricing would prevent large scale discounting of product, below-cost selling and a range of other "promotional" activities which are, to some extent, putting a lot of small off-licences out of business. I put promotional in quotation marks because these activities do not promote the benefits of wine, for example, but only the profits of large wholesalers and supermarkets.
One of the current economic issues facing Ireland is that if small local businesses go under then the economy will take longer to recover. Yes, big corporations employ large numbers and pay substantial taxes but local economic success is vital if the whole country is to recover. If the big players are prevented from selling below cost that won't cost jobs - no profit being made now and jobs held suggests that when profits are made jobs can stay. They'll argue that turnover will reduce due to higher wine costs but I don't believe that. Instead, I think we should look for minimum pricing as a means of ensuring that small businesses stay up - that doesn't mean, by the way, that those which are inefficient or which offer no service should survive but that those who are under pressure due to activities in which they cannot engage should be given a level playing field.
Further, we have a problem with alcohol consumption in this country and it's time we faced up to it. It's like the smoking ban or the drink driving legislation - it's coming in and the best way to respond is to start figuring out now how you will respond when it actually happens. Some things are inevitable - death, taxes (and, if you're a poker player, the river!) - so start planning now and you'll be fine. One way or another, I think minimum pricing will occur and I'm not sure it won't be a good thing in the long run.

South African semillon

2011-02-17T12:22:00.000Z

A while back, the very good people at Wines of South Africa (and they are good, fwiw) tweeted "Finally opinions about Pinotage are changing in a right direction" to which I replied "Ahhh, so SA winemakers finally agree it's not very good? LOL" - this is the problem with Twitter, with 140 characters a short snip can be read both ways. Having said that, while my tweet was somewhat tongue in cheek, there's no doubt that pinotage ain't all it's cracked up to be which is why I'm going to write about semillon instead! South African semillon, that is.

200 years ago 90% of the vines planted in South Africa were semillon - today it's probably less than 1%. Of course, we cannot be sure that it really was semillon (remember that until the mid 1990s we all thought there was a lot of merlot in Chile!) and it was probably meant for distillation or making fortified wines but we know that semillon makes fantastic wines so why has it disappeared? And should it make a comeback?
Honestly, I've no idea why it disappeared but the answer to the second question is YES! And, if necessary, at the expense of pinotage - although as sites for pinotage would not suit semillon why not try grenache, or mourvedre, or carignan, even.
On Tuesday we had the WSET Diploma class on South Africa and one of the wines was a bottle of 2000 Boekenhoutskloof Semillon from my own cellar. Eleven years old and gorgeous - mid yellow-gold, ripe nutty notes on the nose with hints of beeswax, ripe, sound, round and elegant on the palate with a sweet honeyed note. Long, creamy and elegant. Gorgeous, yummy, certainly one of the best wines I've tasted this year.
Marc Kent still has semillon on the farm at Boekenhoutskloof, as far as I know, and still produces the wine at a very fair price. La Bri and Landau du Val, two other Franschhoek wineries also have some, I believe, as does Andre Van Rensberg at Vergelegen. Indeed, during the 2004 MW trip Andre reckoned his semillon would easily age for 10 years or more - and the evidence of Marc's wine would suggest that he's right. BTW, Andre (the greatest winemaker in the world, no less!) also said that he "doesn't rape, pillage, murder or steal - nor make pinotage!" so at least one opinionated person agrees with me!
Why bring back semillon when chardonnay is getting better (it is - there are some pretty good chardonnays finally coming out of the Cape), when chenin is being made into really good wines, when even the Hunter Valley winemakers can't sell their semillons in Australia? Well, because the right winemaker can make some pretty damn fine wine from it - that's why. In a recessionary world we see range shrinkage to a terrible extent - this is a time when accountants start to run wineries to the detriment of the wide and exciting range of wines that could be produced. So, strike a blow for a happier future and start planting more semillon in South Africa and, until such time as the quality wines come on stream, support the Australians a swell.

Comments to blogs

2011-01-05T12:04:00.001Z

I have an issue with people commenting on blogs. Mainly it's about the whole anonymity of it all - my Google ID is DermotMW so it's fairly clear who I am and my profile is open to all to view. If I leave a comment then you can check who I am. However a lot of people leave comments without any way of checking who they are; further, the quality of many comments is poor. Let's look at one I've just deleted from my blog, made in response to an article about the cost of wine in Irish supermarkets.
The comment was from the completely anonymous CJ and PK (by the way, that link is to their "complete profile" and tells us nothing about who or what they are) and read as follows: "How much wine do those supermarket loss-leader offers actually shift? Strikes me that they are largely bought along with a weekly shop when they catch the eye of a casual customer - NOT the person who would go to a wine merchant and buy something decent. So in fact, they do not hugely harm the retail industry.
How low can we go? As our redoubtable CJ once pointed out, "One of the greatest of all book titles is Reach For The Ground, by the late Jeffrey Bernard. Says it all.""

So, in response to an article exploring the very real problem of below-cost (or heavy discounting) selling causing real loss of jobs, their response is to assume that people who shop in supermarkets know little or nothing about good wine (hmm, since I have to admit buying plenty of the quoted wines, what does that say about me?) and that decent wine is only available in wine shops. Pretty insulting all round.

Then, it's topped off with a quote from a "redoubtable" anonymous person about a book where the relevance is hardly explained at all.

Do me a favour, if you're going to comment please make it worthwhile and at least have the courtesy to identify yourself - my name is on my blog so you all know where I'm coming from - why should it be different for you?

The bigger they are...

2011-01-05T11:54:00.000Z

News today that Constellation has finally managed to sell off some of its Australian assets, including the historic Leasingham winery in Clare Valley. For those of you who don't follow the business of wine, Constellation was, not so long ago, the biggest wine company in the world. Formed by a series of mergers (Canandaigua and Beringer, I think) it bought up BRL Hardy in Australia (itself a merger between Berri Renmano Ltd and Hardy's) and acquired gigantic status. However, its fervent acquisition of both production and distribution channels in the period leading up to a major recession left it in a fragile position.
I guess big isn't always better!
PS there's a very interesting contrast with Gallo (see my post from 9th October) who are now back in the position of being the biggest winery and, possibly the biggest wine company in the world. They just kept on doing what they always did!
PPS It's seriously good to see that Tim Adams has acquired Leasingham as he was really exercised about it when I visited in June 2009.

How low can you go?

2011-01-03T13:27:00.000Z

One of the best wine bargains I've seen this year is in Tesco, where Mount Pleasant's two excellent Hunter Valley wines, Elizabeth and Philip, are currently available at €10 per bottle, down from €19.99. These are, respectively, a classic semillon and shiraz and are wines of great quality, with Elizabeth certainly capable of aging for 20 years or more (good job there's no wine called Charles, then!). However, it's worth wondering how a wine can be sold at half-price and still be profitable.
Well, a report today on RTE suggests what is happening. I am certain, from what I have heard from small-scale retailers, that many recent closures are due to the fact that off-licences cannot compete with below-cost selling. Now I can't prove that the two wines in question are being sold below cost but let's look at some numbers.
If we assume a standard margin of 25% on return then a wine selling at €19.99 would cost the retailer about €149.18 per case and the profit per bottle is about €4.09. We'll forget for the time being what happens when the retailer is also the importer. Now, let's look at a wine retailing at €10.00 and assume a simple 1 cent profit per bottle; then, the cost of that wine to the retailer drops to €99.05 per case. To then sell that wine at €19.99 would generate a profit of €8.27 (!) at a margin on return of 50%! So, either the wine's stated RRP of €19.99 is way too high or the current sale price of €10.00 is below cost. For what it's worth, according to wine searcher these wines retail in the UK for about £8.13 and about AUD 15.50 in Australia - equivalent to €9.45 and €11.80 respectively.
Now, this muddies the waters somewhat as it would appear that the €10.00 price is reasonable but makes us wonder about the stated €19.99 price - has anyone ever seen it on sale for the mandatory three months at this price?
So, suppose these wines are not being sold below cost is there then a problem? Well, there is if the effect of the €19.99 marked down to €10.00 tag is such as to cause consumers to try to get their local small retailer to knock similar amounts off their prices. And what of the deals on spirits in many of the supermarkets including local brands such as Super Valu? When I was a small retailer in the early 1990s a bottle of Irish whiskey cost us £11.98 to buy from Irish Distillers and some supermarkets sold these at £11.99 at Christmas - technically legal as it was above cost (never mind losses due to VAT etc). Now, I have seen offers similar to this in Euro prices and I cannot believe that these are being sold at anything close to a profit, even allowing for any bulk purchase arrangements.
Somewhere along the way we all have to realise that many bargains come at a price that should not be paid - the price of people losing their livelihood and not being able to put food on the table or pay for their children's education. If a retailer is inefficient or doesn't offer a decent service then, fine, let the market force them out of business but why should we expect our local small shops who often offer more than the products they sell to try to match the bullying (that is what it is) of the large volume retailers?
If you want wine at €5 per bottle are you prepared to face the fact that many of the workers who helped make that wine are getting a pittance for their labour, especially at a time when we are complaining of cuts to the minimum wage here? If you want cheap booze, are you prepared to have many good people lose their jobs for your high? How low are you prepared to go?

Let's do lunch

2010-11-30T13:32:00.000Z

In the dim and distant past the now defunct Wine Board of Ireland had enough class to throw a decent graduation party for those who completed their WSET Diploma. Now, in these straitened times all I can afford is a good lunch so, starting last year and in conjunction with John McDonnell of Wine Australia, I host a lunch at L'Ecrivain. John is involved as Wine Australia sponsor the prize for the best overall Diploma mark and he sponsors the wine for lunch while I pay for the food.
Lunch this year was a lovely meal, with a simple but delightful menu: starters were either a chicken parfait with spiced bread or a soup with asparagus foam (I can't remember what the soup was as I had the chicken!), followed by either cod or porkbelly and pork cheek (yummy) and fished off with a lovely cheeseboard.
John supplied a really good range of wines; we started with three rieslings - West Cape Howe Riesling 2008, Great Southern, O'Leary Walker Riesling 2008, Watervale and 2008 Jacobs Creek Reserve Riesling 2008, South Australia. These were appetizers for what was to follow. We moved onto three excellent chardonnays with the starters - Yalumba Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2008, Eden Valley, Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2007, Margaret River and Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay 2008, Adelaide Hills.
Then three cabernet blends with the main course - Hardys Thomas Hardy Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Coonawarra/Mc Laren Vale, Petaluma Coonawarra 2004, Coonawarra and Cullen Diane Madeline Cabernet 2004, Margaret River.
Finally, with the cheeses the superb Seppeltsfield DP 90 Rare Tawney - a real treat.
So, there you go - study the WSET Diploma and you could win a trip to Australia and you too could share a lovely lunch like this!

Sweetness and light

2010-11-26T11:32:00.000Z

Here's the thing - apparently a lot of people think sweetness in wine is not good, so they look down on consumers who drink sweet wines. These sweet critics are partially responsible for the poor commercial state of classic German wines (based, as they are, on a balanced palate of sweetness and acidity) but they also make ordinary folk feel bad about their choice. Indeed, some years ago I was gently slagged in a well-known NOffLA off-licence for buying Blue Nun - "There's a Master of Wine and he drinks Blue Nun!" - but imagine if the punter in the queue behind me had just picked up a bottle of BN as well? They'd think to themselves, why spend my money here?
This is interesting for two little reasons - one is that most people have no idea how sweet most wines are: [yellow tail] shiraz has about 12 g/L residual sugar! This is as sweet as most Champagnes and close to a lot of usually slagged off German wines.
The second reason is that my MW mate Tim Hanni has just been involved in a study which shows that people who like sweetness are often extremely sensitive tasters. Tim is, to put it politely, mad but in a very good way and he is a real champion of trying to bring ordinary people along on the great wine journey - he never looks down at people for their choices and he spends a lot of time trying to understand why these choices are made.
There are people who are so-called super-tasters - they experience bitter tastes very strongly and often need to ameliorate the bitterness with salt or sugar. So, many of the people who find it easier to drink a blush Zinfandel amy well be more sensitive tasters than those of us who look down on them for not buying classed growth claret - that bitter, astringent experience.
So, lessons learned today - every one is entitled to their choice but don't tell me you don't like sweet wine when you drink [yellow tail] or Hardy's Stamp (8.1 g/L) or Wolf Blass Eaglehawk (10.6 g/L) or any of many other similar wines.

Get a life - take a wine course!

2010-11-26T11:17:00.000Z

There was an interesting article in the Scotsman recently about a survey which showed that consumers are bamboozled by wine. In it, we are told that consumers are confused by the wines on offer and are confused by the specialist staff - this is in supermarkets, now. There are a few things about this survey which one might argue with but the really interesting thing is this simple question: why do consumers think they ought to know about wine?
Think about it - you walk into a store selling hi-fi (this is the good old days, now) and some beardy spotty teenager starts waffling about woofers and tweeters and gain and all sorts of things and you say to yourself "why can't this be easier?" - that was the stock example of the poor consumer retail experience 25 years ago.
But it does make you wonder why we believe that we should know everything about everything from birth - everyone starts out being ignorant about wine but, it seems, only a few actually do anything about it and take a class or a course. That's what I did.
Now, apparently "the average shopper wants information about the strength of the wine, calories and the type of taste - without jargon and with clear labelling." - that seems straightforward enough. Well, the strength is already on the label - it's the bit that reads 13.5% abv. Hmmm, calories - well that could be beneficial so maybe there ought to be calorific labelling. Taste - aha, here's one of the difficulties. Most people don't even know what a blackcurrant tastes or even looks like, as far as I can tell, so just writing something like that down is not helpful. On the other hand, do a wine class and learn to find out for yourself might be good advice.
We are also told there should be "clearer labelling for those who want to buy lighter or healthier wines in particular" - lighter? healthier? If by lightness they mean alcoholic strength then IT'S ALREADY ON THE LABEL! If by healthier they mean a drink in which no pathogen can survive, which contains many vitamins and nutrients which are beneficial to humans, which can help reduce cholesterol etc etc then it exists already - it's called wine.
So, there are two issues here - if you're confused do a course; if you're conducting a survey, make sure you know what you're talking about in advance - this could be achieved, ahem, by taking a class!
Last message - take a wine class - it's fun and you learn something useful. TAKE A CLASS!

See what happens when you try to regulate quality?

2010-11-25T18:42:00.000Z

The admirable Jane Anson has an article in Decanter in relation to a new "classification" system to be introduced in St Emilion for the 2012 vintage. Apparently, a number of producers got a bit annoyed the last time the rankings were evaluated and now, a whole new system has had to be put in place.
You see, St Emilion prided itself on its 1955 classification as properties could be promoted or demoted according to how their wines performed over a ten year period. Much more democratic than the 1855 classification of the Medoc which has only one change, and that by presidential decree no less! Never mind, by the way, that two St Emilion properties - Cheval Blanc and Ausone - cannot be demoted, it's as democratic as French wine law gets.
But now, alas, some people don't agree with the various promotions and demotions and so a new system has been put in place, involving no judges from the Bordeaux region. The idea is that the new system, an exam rather than a competition apparently, will be more transparent and less vulnerable to legal challenge.
However, this raises a simple enough question: can one legislate for quality? The key idea of the original classification was that by having promotions and demotions then quality was guaranteed. But, since human beings will always claim their wine is better than someone else's then no system can truly guarantee quality. I can well appreciate why the French have such a bewilderingly large number of AOCs (I don't agree with it, necessarily, but I can understand it) but why then try to legally guarantee quality? I can think of many so-called Grand Cru Burgundies that, to my mind, were worthless rubbish (on one occasion I walked out of a dinner hosted by the Syndicat des Grands Crus as I believed most of the wines presented for tasting were appalling) and there are a number of similar examples in Bordeaux, the Rhone - indeed, anywhere there is a quality system in place.
In Pomerol they have no classification and no hierarchy - yet everyone knows who's good, who's over-performing and who is no longer fetching a good price. It may seem like socialism (in contrast to St Emilion's meritocracy and the Medoc's aristocracy) but it works - well and simply!

Where does a decade go?

2010-11-15T19:03:00.000Z

And I'm not talking about rosaries LOL! It seems hard to believe but it is ten years since the winemakers of the Clare Valley, in South Australia, decided to switch more or less en masse to using Stelvin closures rather than cork. Since then, a lot has changed in the world of wine for the better and we really should appluad their foresight and bravery.
Let us be in no doubt - regardless of natural cork's excellent qualities, screwcaps are simply better. Cork does have very real advantages as a closure, certainly over anything that preceded it - it offered an airtight seal and enabled us to have wines which developed with age.
That said, a number of problems arose over the last 25 years relating specifically to a compound known as trichloranisole (TCA) which imparted a musty odour to wine and which was one of the biggest faults of the modern wine era. While there can be a number of origins of TCA in wine there is little doubt that poor quality cork processing was the major culprit. The problem seemed to worse in Australia where a cork supply monopoly meant that Australian winemakers were getting noticeably higher rates of taint in their wines than the norm elsewhere.
As a result, the winemakers in Clare decided in 2000 to bottle their wines under screwcap and the revolution was started. They are a clever lot and embarked on a major public relations exercise beforehand. Wine journalists were invited to come and visit and were informed that this was all about improving or guaranteeing quality for the consumer. By the time the wines were released the local consumers had understood so well that when wineries which had part-bottled under cork had sold out their screwcap wines they found customers just left and went to the next winery in the valley!
In 2001, a substantial portion of the New Zealand wine industry followed suit and we are now in the happy position that even top French producers are putting wines into screwcap. There have been various trials testing the efficiency of screwcap over cork and, while there are some vaiable alternatives e.g. vinolok, screwcaps win out on all aspects - better ageing potential, ease of use, lack of taint etc.
On a Master of Wine trip to Clare in 2001 my mate Martin Moran coined the phrase "Clare screws cork!" and there is no doubt that they are still doing it. Bless 'em.

It's in a good cause...

2010-11-11T20:16:00.000Z

What is? Why, the Corkscrew wine fair this Sunday - tickets from the Corkscrew so why not enjoy some fine wine tasting and help others at the same time?

Never strikes twice...

2010-10-29T11:17:00.000+01:00

They say lightening never strikes twice but what about bad spring frosts? Well, in 1991 the whole west coast of France was hit by a devastating frost which caused a loss of about 90% of crop in Muscadet. This coincided, at least in the UK and Ireland, with the arrival of Jacob's Creek which meant that shelf space lost was never regained. As a consequence, Muscadet growers struggled to make a living and quite a few went out of business. So, what have they all done to deserve a second hit?
In 2008 a big frost wiped out about 50% of the potential crop and, even though 2009 was a good vintage in Muscadet it was recently reported by Decanter that 60 growers have filed for bankruptcy and it appears that 150 - 200 could be out of business within the next year.
It is one of those things that make you realise how difficult it is to make a living from growing grapes and making wine. When you consider how much of the money you spend on a bottle of wine actually gets into the hands of the people who made it you should, at the very least, experience a deep moral shudder. On a €5.99 bottle of wine, you pay about €0.33 for the wine whereas our government (those paragons of fiscal rectitude) get €2.97 - that's 9 times more for doing nothing!
At €11.99 the grower gets €2.81 while the government gets only €7.93 but that's not a lot of money. How much do you think someone needs to earn to have a decent standard of living - €35,000 per annum? €50,000? At €3 per bottle that grower needs to sell 12,000 bottles or 1,000 cases. That might not seem like a lot but if your annual production is 4 - 5,000 cases and you lose half of that overnight life starts getting tough, particularly given that, in your best export market the UK, the supermarkets are driving prices down aggressively.
I suppose the average punter is not expected to understand things like pricing but it frightens me, sometimes, when I see how people quibble over spending €15, say, on a bottle when the person who produced that wine might be getting only €4.00 for their efforts. It gets worse if you think too strongly about wines produced in South Africa or South America where the average vineyard worker is likely to be paid less than €1.00 per bottle while the estate owner gets the majority of whatever margin there is. Still, at least they have a job...
I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here or whether I just would like people to think a bit more about the consequences of their actions - we did in relation to apartheid, for example. Also, I think we should have some sympathy for people whose livelihood can be wiped out by one night of frost - especially twice in 19 years.

What makes a good pinot noir?

2010-10-19T14:48:00.000+01:00

My MW colleague, Gerard Basset, recently said that he is reluctant to recommend pinot noir as he finds it has become a safe drink - easy, not demanding. Following on from yesterday's Central Otago tasting I wonder about the role of pinot noir and how we view it and the wines made from it around the world. We know there are great wines from pinot in Burgundy, and we know (I hope) that there is very good pinot made around the world, but is Burgundy the only place where great pinot is made?
Let's do a quick run around the world of pinot. In Europe, we can consider Burgundy, Germany and Austria (please don't mention Alsace or the Loire in relation to great pinot) and nowhere else. In the New World we have the USA, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. (Ooops, did I hear somebody ask about South Africa? Great pinot?).
Burgundy stands out for a number of reasons - tradition is one but also the very identifiable differences between villages and vineyards. Due to the long history of making wine from pinot noir here it is the benchmark for all pinot wines. It's range of styles depending on origin make for a fascinating patchwork which variety adds spice to our tastings.
Germany and Austria can make some very good pinot but suffer from certain difficulties. In both countries scale of production is low so costs are high, and strong local demand raises these prices higher. German tastes are different with green flavours being quite common and acceptable in local wines.
In the USA there are very good wines produced in Oregon and California, with the latter being more consistent and approachable in price terms. However, leaving out a few producers (Saintsbury, Au Bon Climat, Acacia, La Crema to mention some) whose wines are widely available many US pinots suffer from the same low-scale, high cost problems as those of Germany and Austria.
Chilean pinots have improved no end over the last 7 years or so and the emergence of cool regions such as Leyda and Limari in the north and Bio-Bio in the south has brought about a really interesting range of wines.
Australia can certainly compare with California in terms of range and vintage depth - last year at Landmark I tasted a 1992 Coldstream Hills pinot which was lovely. New Zealand is the new kid on the block (excepting Chile) with Martinborough being the pioneer (at least from our point of view) and Otago now making great waves internationally.
But here's the question - how easy are these wines to identify? If you got a flight of new world pinot noir do you reckon you could spot a Yarra from an Otago? A Santa Ynez from a Willamette? Maybe you can but I know I can't, yet I'd make a pretty good stab if it were a flight of Burgundies, even though I'm well out of blind tasting practice.
Almost all of the countries and regions mentioned produce good to very good wines, but all tend to a soft, red berry style, with easy tannins and moderate acidity, and generally very approachable and drinkable. And there's nothing wrong with that - better than many of the bad Burgundies I've tasted over the years - yet they still (to me at least) lack an identifiable style. Now, some will argue that identifiable style is not important, or not as important as quality, and it's hard to argue with that but when you hear winemakers from these regions talking about their wines, regional character is always mentioned. So, if the wine maker wants to push an identifiable style as a selling point then it ought to be there, no?
I don't think it is there and there's a few reasons for this. First, while both California and Australia have some heritage of making top pinot, almost all of these regions are fairly new. In my day (I'm very old, you see - which also means I'm venerable before you rudely reply!!) you didn't have to worry about new regions for pinot - it was the holy grail: always sought, never attained. Recent advances in clonal selection, viticultural techniques and winemaking attitudes have changed all that but 10 to 15 years is not tradition. Next is that in any new region winemakers are still looking for the style - in Burgundy it's more or less forced on you by some 200 plus years of tasteable tradition. Consequently, you're as likely to find that a wine from Limari resembles more a wine from Otago than it does one from Rapel because the winemaker is very, very important in terms of determining style.
As a quick aside, on the 1999 US West Coast MW trip we tasted 9 Oregon pinots - 3 producers, each of whom made wine from their 2 colleagues as well as their own. I found it very easy to identify who had made which wine but no so easy to identify which vineyard each wine came from!
And this aside leads into the final aspect - yeast. It is a fact that the only yeast which ferment a wine are those which live in the winery (not the vineyard) or in the winemaker's fridge. This was highlighted very clearly for me when, as an MW student, the late Peter Vinding-Diers showed two wines produced from the same vineyard but vinified in two different wineries - the two glasses were as different as chalk and cheese. In Burgundy, hundred's of years of winemaking has led to a natural selection of different yeast strains in each winery but this yeast diversity is lacking in new world regions. The spontaneous ferments that you see more and more often in the new world are likely to be very close to inoculate styles as the local yeasts can only be minor variations on the cultivated yeast which were once used.
I reckon that in some 20 years or so, we might be better able to differentiate pinots from New World countries once their ambient yeasts have had time to diversify but, until then, we're stuck with lots of yummy, fruity pinot. Hmmm - win win then!

Simple complexity?

2010-10-18T19:43:00.000+01:00

At a tasting of Central Otago wines today, the excellent winemaker/presenter Jenn Parr responded to a comment about brett in one of the wines (I didn't note any fwiw) that sometimes this can add complexity. I've heard this comment a lot and I don't agree - to me, what makes a wine complex is not just one more flavour.
Imagine you've never tasted any fruits, so when you're tasting a wine and someone says the wine shows notes of ripe apples, pears, a hint of apricot with an undertone of lychee and kiwi fruit then all you hear is "blah blah blah blah"! You're impressed by the taster's ability to recognise all these flavours but they are meaningless to you. You then ask where these flavours come from and you're told the grape. Hmmm, pretty simple origin yet, for many, a long list of flavours adds complexity.
No it doesn't - what makes a wine complex is a lovely mix between (and you'll see from the next bit how old-fashioned I am!) between primary fruit flavours, secondary fermentation flavours and tertiary maturation flavours. It's not what you smell but what it means that adds complexity. Even the greatest wines, in youth, are fairly simple c.f. Harry Waugh on Latour '61 from cask: deep colour, bags of fruit. Wines can only truly show complexity as they age and develop - is a classic Clare Riesling really all that complex at only 2 - 4 years of age? No, not really - lots of lovely depth and minerality on top of the citrus notes of young riesling but it's only as the wines reach 10 to 15 years that they become complex and truly world class, when the wines starts to show the classic lime marmalade on toast notes of age.
It seems to me that complexity is like genius - we constantly hear about how so many very ordinary sportsmen and women are geniuses, but they're not. Many wines have a lovely range of primary flavours, but that don't make 'em complex!

Gulliver in the land of Lilliput

2010-10-10T00:01:00.000+01:00

Well, having spent one day at Livingston getting a good overview of Gallo's operation, I spent the next day with Professor Hildegarde Heymann at U C Davis. Hildegarde works in the Robert Mondavi Sensory department and gets to do some really fun things. In terms of scale, however, going from the world's biggest winery to one of the smallest (I think Drew Noon MW actually has the smallest winery in the world) was interesting in its own right.
On arrival, Hildegarde showed me around the various labs, including one of the tasting labs where I got to try a couple of the exercises the students do. You sit in a little booth with a series of black glasses and a computer screen. Each glass contains one reference sample and you smell it and then select which flavour you think it is on your computer screen. I got about 50% right, which isn't bad after a 75 odd mile drive. Then, you get a series of samples and you have to indicate how much of each reference sample is in the glass. You might not think this is fun but it's the kind of stuff I love.
This year, UCD got its new winery up and running with about 18 small fermentation tanks, each of which holds just about one barrel of wine. These have super-duper state of the art electronic gadgets that allow the students to monitor, in real time, things like alcohol production, temperature etc. These were designed by T J Rogers (I hope I have the name right) who is a silicon valley millionaire but who has donated a huge amount in terms of technology and money into the UCD wine programme.
Overall, a fun visit (BTW, those of you who feel I'm wrong n relation to the Riedel glasses might want to go to somewhere like Davis, or Geisenheim or Adelaide and ask the techies there what they think) with a lot of interesting stuff. Sad, aren't I LOL?

Livingston, I presume?

2010-10-09T23:52:00.000+01:00

Ask anybody in the trade have they ever visited Gallo and the most likely answer is "no" (which often doesn't stop them from bad-mouthing the wines, by the way). If they say "yes" then most likely they visited the Frei Ranch facility in Sonoma, which I visited on my first ever MW trip in 1999. But today, I achieved a minor landmark in my time in the wine trade: I got to visit the biggest winery in the world - Gallo's crush facility in Livingston, California.
Back when I was an MW student, we were given a tasting question which involved tasting two inexpensive wines and, as part of the question, we had to choose one for a bistro. The wine I chose (blind, remember) was the preferred choice of almost all present and turned out to be Gallo Dry Red - a £2.99 bottle of juicy, yummy wine. I learned a lesson that day - just because a wine is made by a big company that doesn't mean it can't be good or enjoyable.
And Gallo is big - last year, they were the biggest wine company in the world, an accolade they lost some years ago to the now imploding Constellation group. At Livingston, the smallest tank hold 50,000 gallons - that's 189,250 litres of juice. Their biggest tank can hold 700 tons of fruit! Their bottling facility in Modesto has 18 bottling lines, their Barefoot Pinot Grigio alone is a 1,000,000 case wine! Not brand, but one wine within the brand - that probably makes them the biggest producer of pinot grigio in the world.
The visit was fascinating, fun and informative, although much of what I learned was just techie stuff but we tried some interesting tank samples. I was shown around by Jamie Arevalo, part of the international winemaking team, Debbie Jurgenson (DJAY) who is one of the wine makers at Livingston and Ally, one of the assistant winemakers there as well. From tank, we tasted a range of this year's Fighting Varietal merlot, all from the same grower but treated differently. The basic, standard wine was a nice red fruit and plummy merlot, slightly firm tannins, good weight and a good wine for its $7 price. One tank had been fermented at much higher than normal temperatures, getting up to 32 Celsius and was really round, yummy and soft. Another had had a double rack and return, with seed removal, and was firmer then the second but also somewhat more "serious" - same basic fruit but a very different style. Another had had a more aggressive than normal pump-over regime and, although good, was not quite as enjoyable as either the rack and return wine or the high temperature wine. There was one which had been cold-soaked which, though good, wasn't quite as good as the high temperature wine. The final merlot was from the "west side" - of the winery, that is, where the presses are old-fashioned screw presses. These tend to make the wine slightly harsher in tannin terms as they are not that gentle with skins and pips, and it showed in the wine. We also tried a superb zinfandel (which could sell at the same $7 price) and an absolutely stunning Lodi cabernet sauvignon which had only just started fermenting.
DJ reckoned that better presses (pneumatic) would make a big difference to quality, even though the basic quality is pretty good. Indeed, world wide fruit quality is pretty good nowadays but wines are often ruined by poor tannin balance so I understand her point and find it really interesting. She mentioned that each year Gallo invests in various improvements and that the presses will be sorted out soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed the visit and it was really interesting to see the old winery in Modesto (a small ivy-covered cube (on D street and 6th, I think) in contrast to Livingston. I have a lot of time for Gallo and I think they make some pretty good wines, at a good range of quality levels. So, why not give them a try?

Monopolies are bad for you, aren't they?

2010-09-30T15:35:00.000+01:00

Hmmm, all of us who are lucky enough to survive in a so-called free-market economy are well aware that one of the worst things that can exist is the monopoly. It's anti-capitalist, anti-consumer and probably the most evil thing that keeps economists sweating in their sleep at night. Read on, faithful reader...

Decanter News has a story today that will make you ALL want a monopoly. In Sweden, the state run wine monopoly, Sytembolaget, is selling Domaine de la Romanee Conti wines at incredibly low prices (low for wines of the Domaine, I hasten to add ;)). Romanee Conti 2006 will sell for the equivalent of £2,300, as opposed to £4,000 - £5,000 for the same wine in the UK. The monopoly adds a margin of£0.33 (yes - 33 pence) to the wine, plus 19% of the cost. So, off to Sweden we go...

One to buy and one to try

2010-09-29T20:54:00.001+01:00

Buy Canepa Classico Pinot Grigio, available in most small off-licences and independent wine merchants. Try Chatus, from Les Vigneron Ardechois, available in the Wicklow Wine Company.

Pinot grigio is, of course, pinot gris with an Italian accent. By and large this is not the best combination. While there are some very good pinot grigio wines in Alto Adige (Sud-Tirol) many of those from outside this region are bland, crisp and lacking in fruit. Around the world, pinot grigio is being adopted as a style (although not consistent) of easy-drinking, usually crisp wine. The Canepa Pinot Grigio is Chilean and has a lovely fruity character on both nose and palate, something lacking in many pinot grigios. At €7.95 RRP this is an absolute steal - so go out and buy some!
Chatus is a little-known French grape which has been disappearing from the vinescape since phylloxera. This wine is deeply coloured and fairly firm in style; it tastes softer after decanting. Rich, black fruit make it a good match for steak. Not one to rush out and buy but well worth trying if you're into unusual grapes. Sells at €13.25.

Serving suggestions

2010-09-21T19:06:00.000+01:00

Isn't life grand? Last week I was invited to attend a tasting of Riedel glasses, organised by Mitchell's with the able assistance of Jean Smullen. The tasting was held at the newly opened Convention Centre (aka the tube in the cube) and was carried out by Maximillian Riedel, the third generation involved in the design and sale of hand-blown glassware. As you no doubt know (given that being a reader of my blog means, by extension, that you are wine-worldly aware!) Riedel claim that their glasses improve not just the aromatic qualities of wine but also the actual taste. Is this true?
Well now, all of my MW students will no doubt be smirking at this point! Why? Because I always tell them to put your answer right up front so the examiner knows where you're trying to go and can more easily mark your exam. But this ain't no exam... so read on!
The tasting involved the following items - a plastic cup, an ISO/INAO tasting glass, a Riedel Sauvignon Blanc glass, a Riedel Chardonnay glass, a Riedel Pinot Noir glass and a Riedel Cabernet Sauvignon glass. There was white wine in the Chardonnay glass and red wine in both of the red wine glasses.
Maximillian put on an excellent demonstration - without a doubt he's a good mix of showman and salesman. He explained the basic ideas behind the Riedel range - the bigger bowls to help improve aromatic experience but also the glass shape to direct the wine towards the right part of the palate to maximise taste. He also pointed out that the glasses are not interchangeable - for example putting chardonnay into the Sauvignon Blanc glass would do the wine no favours.
In order to make his point we did the following - tasted a wine from the "correct" glass, then from each of the other glasses in turn, thereby highlighting the problems that using the wrong glass causes.
So - a lovely New Zealand oaked chardonnay tasted from the Chardonnay glass, very well-balanced, ripe and round, a mix of apple, some tropical fruits and oak spice. Then, poured into the Sauvignon Blanc glass the aromatics changed noticeably; then to the ISO glass, then back to the Chardonnay glass.
Then an Oregon pinot noir from the Pinot glass, then into the Chardonnay, the ISO, the plastic beaker and back. Similarly with a firm, youthful Bordeaux blend from Pessac - starting in the Cabernet glass, onto the Pinot, then the ISO, the plastic and back to the original. The question is - did the glasses make a difference and, if so, was it to both smell and taste?
Yes and No - they make a big difference in terms of aromatics but not at all in terms of taste. Now, I can guarantee you that anyone else there (and many will have blogged this already) will disagree strongly with me, but I kept tasting notes on each wine from each glass and I can assure you that I noticed no substantial difference between tastings in terms of mouthfeel and taste. Let's look at a few of the things that "changed" - tannins, for example. Well, taste any wine three or four times in succession and I know (from many years judging experience) that the last tastes are always less fruity, more tannic (in the case of a red wine) due to simple palate fatigue. You dehydrate and the tannic effect is felt all the more. Add to this a constant stream of vocal prompting and it's very easy to go along with the game - he says it's changed so YES!, BY GOLLY, IT HAS! Eh... no, it hasn't. In fact, when pouring into the ISO glasses (derided as useless by Maximillian) it seems that no-one even noticed that they were then filled about two-thirds full so, of course, aromatics weren't as good as they could be as you couldn't swirl the glass properly. If anyone else did what I did, which was pour the Bordeaux into a clean ISO to the correct fill level then tasted it BEFORE tasting it from the "correct" Cabernet glass they would have noticed what I did, that both tastes were almost identical.
Hmmm... but then, this was a show and, to be fair, the Eve decanter (possibly well worth the €195 price tag) would be a great addition to anyone's wine experience. But do you really need 30 plus glasses for all the wines you drink? No. Do Riedel glasses actually change the way you taste? Not in my opinion. Can you afford them? If not, then who cares -if you can, they buy for the aesthetic fun of the glasses and, if you want to believe, feel free - but don't expect me to agree.
Serving suggestions? Suggestive serving, more like - but very enjoyable all the same.

Good news

2010-08-03T21:06:00.000+01:00

For those in need of some good news I can tell you that one of the current crop of Irish MW students, Barbara Boyle, has been awarded the AXA Millésimes Scholarship. This is awarded annually to up to three MW students at any stage of their studies (including Dissertation). It includes two to three days at AXA Millésimes’ Bordeaux properties with tours of the Chateaux estates, work in the vineyards and cellars, tastings and blending with the individual winemakers; two days at either Mas Belles Eaux in Languedoc or Domaine de l’Arlot in Burgundy; a visit to either Quinta do Noval in the Douro or Disznóko in Tokaj. Selection is by essay, written in or translated into English, to a maximum of 1000 words. So well done Barbara!

Wine education - why bother?

2010-07-11T18:10:00.001+01:00

As someone who makes a living from wine education I am naturally biased, so I'm likely to answer this question with something such as "It's fun", "It's social", "It's a useful skill". However, some years ago, the Wine and Spirit Education Trust of Great Britain (WSET) did some research in partnership with the now defunct Unwins to see whether wine education had any real value.

The research was carried out by taking triplets of Unwins stores which had similar demographics. Within each triplet, staff in one store got no training, staff in another got a basic course from WSET and staff in the third store got the wine training plus sales training. The results were quite impressive - in the stores where training of staff had taken place there was a noticeable increase in sales and profits: 11% sales increase in stores where staff had both wine and sales training, 6% sales increase in stores where staff received wine training and a 1% sales increase in the stores where no training took place at all.
The gist of this is that the outlook that training is a cost to a company rather than an investment is completely wrong. Companies which invest in training achieve better results: for example, after the September 11th attacks in the US airlines were under severe financial pressure and released staff to bring costs down; but Southwest Airlines increased its training budget - and its market share!
So, in these difficult economic circumstances the right thing to do is to train your staff. Think about it - it's unlikely that new staff will be hired in great numbers over the next four years so any increase in sales is only likely to come about by staff who are better able to sell your wines. Sales training is very important but so also is product knowledge - retailers and consumers know a fair bit about wine and won't simply accept product offers based on price alone. That WSET study found that £3,000 spent on staff training could deliver £42,000 in additional sales in 3 months. That's easily an investment as it has paid for itself many times over.
In the same study Wine Intelligence surveyed consumers who had taken a WSET course and found that they traded up in their wine purchases quite readily - not only had they more knowledge about wine they were also far more confident. So, the trade benefits twice from wine education: sales staff achieve better sales figures AND consumers trade up more readily.
This then leads to some simple questions in relation to the Irish wine industry - why is it that so few (i.e. none) of the wine importers require new staff to have a WSET qualification? Why did so few of these companies send existing staff onto WSET courses, especially since they were all subsidising the Wine Board of Ireland for 30 years? Why aren't they all queuing up to the new Approved Programme Providers in Ireland in order to train their staff?
Perhaps these are too difficult to answer - certainly, I never heard anyone ever address these issues over the last 10 years (or more!) but it's never too late to get in on the act - there are a substantial number of well-qualified APPs in Ireland so let's get going!

More Chilean topography

2010-06-21T21:16:00.000+01:00

I recently posted a short item about the importance of the east-west axis in Chile. here are a few more thoughts, to hopefully help you to understand the wine regions of Chile better. If you visit the excellent Wines of Chile website you can look at the maps to see the way the country looks from a topographical point of view.

Basically, the main mountain range is the Andes - duh! In almost every part of the country you can see the snow-topped peaks in the far distance to the east. From these mountains both cold air and water flow down into the vineyards helping to moderate the warm t hot climate in the main regions. Along the coast, there is another smaller range of mountains, known (duh!) as the Coastal Range. For the first-time visitor these can be confusing as they seem to be all around and it's hard to spot north, south, east and west. Between these two ranges, there is a series of large bowl-shaped valleys which more or less interconnect. Together, these form the Central Valley.
The most important valley is probably the Maipo Valley, based around Santiago. While a wide range of grapes is planted here, the valley is renowned for its cabernet sauvignon wines, particularly from the Alto Maipo or Puente Alto DO. Here, close to the Andes, with exceptional soils for cabernet sauvignon some of Chile's finest icon wines are produced.
To the north is the Aconcagua Valley, formed by the Aconcagua river as it meanders from the Andes to the coast. This valley is nor directly linked to the Central Valley and has a cool sea-breeze affecting the western end and an Andean breeze affecting the eastern end. Between Aconcagua and Maipo are the three specifically coastal valleys of Casablanca, San Antonio and Leyda. All are renowned for cool-climate white wines (in particular sauvignon blanc which I intend to cover in another post) as well as some seriously interesting and good pinot noirs and syrah! Strange to see both of those mentioned in that sentence but that's one of the beauties of Chile.
To the north of the Aconcagua are the three newbies - Choapa, Limari and Elqui. Paradoxically while going further north might be expected to result in warmer zones these are all known as cool-climate areas. This is entirely due to the strong maritime effect of the cold Pacific.
South of Maipo is Rapel, with its two sub-valleys of Colchagua and Cachapoal. The former is well known for carmenere but also makes some superb wines from cabernet sauvignon as well as syrah. One of Chile's finest vineyard sites, Apalta, is here. Colchagua has a number of zones with cool coastal areas, south-facing cool areas and warmer interior areas. Fun, huh? Cachapoal is similar in style to Maipo, with the upper zones certainly giving Puente Alto a run for its money in terms of high quality wines.
The central zone then becomes the Curico Valley and then Maule which is the widest and biggest of the valleys. Here there are definite differences between the coastal, central and upper zones but there are still good wines from here, including not only carmenere but also some excellent old-vine carignan.
Finally, the cooler zones of Itata and Bio Bio, which wines I haven't yet tasted but are renowned as cool-climate zones with pinot noir apparently doing well in the deep south.
Any bowl-shaped valley has three basic zones from west to east - cool, warmer, hot, warm and cool being the basic rule. For this reason, the Chilean industry is lobbying for a change to origin legislation to include Costa, Media and Alto DOs to reflect the climatic changes. I hope this is clear enogh - if not, you'll just have to visit for yourself!!

Karma carmenere

2010-06-21T18:17:00.001+01:00

One of the great things about wine trips is the chance to learn more. Having been to Chile in December 2008 courtesy of Wines of Chile, this current trip has given me the chance to confirm some of the things I learned about then and also to help me deepen my knowledge. One of the outcomes of this past week's trip is a better understanding of carmenere, the almost uniquely Chilean red grape.
Carmenere is a gape that has been grown in Bordeaux for centuries. In the early 1990s it was discovered that much of the "merlot" grown in Chile was, in fact, carmenere. This gave the Chilean wine industry a few things to think about - how do you make good carmenere and, more importantly, should you?
Well, the guys at Carmen decided "Yes" to the latter question and put the varietal name on a label around 1998 or so and ever since then the Chileans have been working hard on getting carmenere right. This is tricky as carmenere had a tendency, at the time, to end up being green and chunky - not undrinkable, indeed often quite good, but also not really in line with consumer tastes worldwide.
Part of the problem is that carmenere is quite vigorous - that is, it produces a lot of leaves. This results in shaded bunches of grapes. As a consequence, a group of flavour compounds known as methoxypyrazines (which give the green flavour to wines, especially sauvignon blanc) fail to disappear fully from the fruit and so the final wine ends up green and unripe tasting.
The way around this has been quite interesting as normally a grapegrower would look to plant the vines in less fertile soils. However, carmenere doesn't react particularly well to poor soils so, paradoxically, it tends to be planted in clay soils which retain quite a bit of water. The reason this works is that carmenere requires a long growing season (often being picked in May rather than March/April) and it needs this extra water. The obvious problem of potential vigour in a damp soil is overcome by using different training systems - I saw both Geneva Double Curtain and Scott Henry last week. Finally, carmenere reacts well to big day/night variations in temperature (diurnal variation to be technical) developing lovely flavours as a result and losing those pyrazine characters. This is in strong contrast to merlot, which in situations with big diurnal variation stays quite green as there is no major degradation of malic acid once the fruit cools down overnight.
So, what does carmenere taste like? Well, given the light levels in Chile it should always be deeply coloured. The nose should have characters of dark berry fruits, usually black fruits, with a hint of spice such as cinnamon or even star anise and a slight note of chocolate. On the palate it should be remarkably soft and round, with supple acidity and rich, well-integrated tannins. Fruit should be a mix of dark fruits, chocolate and spice and some juicy plum fruits on the finish, typically quite long.
For me, carmenere wines are quite typically Chilean - friendly and gentle but with great depth. While they are unlikely to be the finest that Chile has to offer - cabernet sauvignon-based wines currently hold that title and both syrah and pinot noir could yet get there - it does offer very good value wines at a wide range of prices. The wines are very consumer-friendly due to the soft tannin and acid structure and the ripe, rounded fruits. Good karma? No, good carmenere!

Aconcagua

2010-06-13T16:11:00.000+01:00

The Chile trip started the minute we hit the ground at Santiago Airport where we were met by Susana Gonzalez of Brandabout. We drove immediately into the Aconcagua Valley to visit Errazuriz, a winery which is 140 years old this year.
Errazuriz has a long history but, as for almost all wineries in Chile, they really date their wine history to the arrival of Miguel Torres in the 1970s and the decision in 1985 of 5 wineries, including Errazuriz, to exhibit at Vinexpo. In 1983 te estate started to buy up vineyards and to expand and it now has holdings in the Upper Aconcagua, all around the estate and winery, in the Coastal Aconcagua (the manzanar vineyard), in Casablanca (the Escaltura vineyard) and in Alto Maipo with Vinedo Chadwick.
We were met by Soledad Meneses, one of the winemakers, and had an excellent tasting through the range. I have unfortunately mislaid (i.e. lost) my tasting notes so I regret that the next few lines will be from memory. We started with sauvignon blancs, not my favourite grape variety by any means but one wich performs very well in Chile. The wines were from the coastal vineyards and had a combination of lemon citrus notes with some mineral tones. Wines from Casablanca followed which showed slightly more minerality and a hint of green fruits. For me, sauvignon blanc from Chile has a better balance between crisp notes and body than is the case in New Zealand or, for the most part, South Africa. We then moved on to chardonnay, showing lovely breadth on the palate and the Don Max Reserva was very good. Then a pinot noir which had gorgeous bright cherry and raspberry fruits.
The reds were extremely good, with the Don Maximiano being a wonderful wine which needs time to open up and develop fully. In fact, one of the notable points from this tasting was the extent to which the wines over-delivered: at prices around €11.95 for the Estate wines the flavours and structures were of wines which could be aged for a good few years, certainly the reds.
We then had a quick tour around the vineyards and the new winery and barrel hall, which is most impressive, before settling down to a very good lunch. This was my second visit to Errazuriz and I came away asimpressed this time as I had been the first time. I think this is an estate which makes excellent wines of great quality and value, is dynamic and progressive and well worth seeking out.

North, south , east and west

2010-06-12T21:48:00.000+01:00

Hi all - currently I'm in Chile as a guest of a wine marketing company Brandabout, with journalist Paul O'Doherty. We arrived here last Thursday 10th June and are in Valparaiso at present. I will have a few posts shortly about the various tastings we've had so far but I thought a brief post about Chile might be useful.
If you've ever taken a WSET course you'll have been told that Chile has a near-perfect climate for grapegrowing and that there is no phylloxera due the fact that the country is bounded to the north by the Atacama desert, to the south by Antarctic tundra, to the east by the Nades and to the west by the Pacific. Most people then assume that as Chile is a long country then the further north you go the warmer it is and the further south you go the colder it is.
While this is essentially true it turns out that the main climate determinant is not the north-south axis but the east-west one. Why? Well, the Pacific is a very cold body of water and the Andes are snow-capped all year round. As a consequence, vineyards close to either are cooler than those halfway between them. So, in a valey such as Maipo, vines grown in the Alto Maipo, under the Andean foothills have a cooler mesoclimate than those in the middle Maipo, near Isla de Maipo for example.
One of the trendy new valleys is Limari which produces some lovely cool-climate fruit yet it's quite far to the north of Santiago i.e. closer to the warmer, northern desert! Further south is Maule, where Chile is at its widest. Vines grown in the central Maule have a warm to hot mesoclimate due to the continental effect of their location.
So, just when you thought you understood that latitude made all the difference in terms of climates it turns out, that in Chileat least, it's longitude that matters.
Bye for now.

More from Vienna

2010-05-30T11:53:00.001+01:00

Now that we're on the second day of VieVinum it's time to briefly reflect on the events so far. Yesterday was a very busy day - perhaps too busy. Huge numbers of people all crowded into the Hofburg resulted in a difficult tasting atmosphere. Also, for me, the wines were generally too cold - young wines (2009 mainly) served so cold the glasses frost are really difficult to taste. Having said that, there were some very good wines to taste.
I started with Martin Nigl, who had two styles on offer: wines from the Senftenberg Pirl vineyard, both gruner veltliner and riesling, and the Privat wines made from older vines, again both gruner veltliner and riesling. All were good but I found the intensity of varietal character on the privat wines to be superb. Then, following a tip from an Austrian friend i tried the wines of Martin Arndorfer. He had an interesting range of wines, starting with a blend of gruner and riesling, the Vorgeschmack. initially fruity and round, it finishes with a firm mineral note. Then two wines from vineyard selections, the Strasser Weinberge reserves. I though both of these were excellent, showing intense varietal character in each case. Then a few unusual wines - the leidenschaft range are barrel fermented, though only in old French oak. Both the riesling and gruner wines were good, but with a rounder style than the more normal steel-tank wines. He also let me taste two older vintages of the GV leidenschaft, the 2006 (spicy pepper style, still needs some time) and 2007 (really peppery). Finally, the Anna range, made only in even-numbered years (although he's now producing Anna sparkling in odd-numbered years). A blend of one-third each gruner, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc it's interesting. Lastly, i tried the wines of Paul Achs - his wines impressed me last year at a blaufrankisch tasting at Esterhazy. His Edelgrund Blaufrankisch had lovely, ripe fruits, quite intense with well-balanced rich tannins. The Spiegel BF is much firmer, with dark cherry and raspberry fruit, while the Ungerberg BF is ripe, round, full-bodied but almost sweet. very elegant. Pannobile is a blend of blaufrankisch, zweigelt and st laurent - very supple and round. Finally, his pinot noir has lovely pinot character, a little firm on mid-palate and finish but very good and long. All in all a good morning's tasting.

Back in Vienna

2010-05-29T11:03:00.002+01:00

Well here I am in Vienna at VieVinum as a guest of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and struggling to figure out how to get a comma on the german keyboard. Since I always instruct my students not to use commas perhaps I should try to practise what I preach! VieVinum is a big tasting of Austrian wines and it's an opportunity to get to know the country and its wines better.

I have just finished tasting Nikki Moser's excellent wines; some of these are available in Ireland through the wholesaler Febvre & Co. I first tasted Nikki's wines when in Vienna in June 2009 with the Institute of Masters of Wine (see my post Analysis in Vienna from 16 June last year) and really enjoyed them then so the chance to tase again was most welcome.

The Gebling 2009 Gruner Veltliner is fresh and crisp with pepper and apples on the palate. Good weight, still young and long. See, I found the elusive comma!! The Breiter Rain GV 2008 is amazingly creamy on the mid-palate with a mix of pepper spice and lovely savoury notes. Then, the Minimal GV 2008. The 2007 tasted last year was most unusual but this example is nuch better, to my way of thinking at least. It spent one year on lees and was bottled with 10 mg of sulphur only. It is round, ripe, creamy and nuch different to the 2007 vintage. This is a lovely wine and it would be interesting to taste it in a few year's time.

The Gebling Riesling 2008 is a round wine, fresh apples but broader mid-palate then the gruner from the same vineyard. The TBA Chardonnay 2008 from Apetlon is a rich elegant sweet wine, and very well-balanced. Also from Apetlon (which is in Neusiedlersee) is the Zweigelt Grosse Reserve 2007. This has fabulous ripe fruit, dark cherries, with rich, integrated tannins and a lovely long finish. Gorgeous stuff. However, this was topped by the Minimal Zweigelt 2008 - 2 years ageing and no sulphur at any stage. Ripe, round chocolate and berry fruit nose, with a beautifully balanced palate of juicy dark fruits, supple acidity and chocolate notes. Nikki reckoned that, having been bottled only a few weeks ago that it is still suffering a little from bottle shock; if so, it should be stunning in a month or two as it is very good now.

Well, that's all for now, see you all soon.

Back to the land of Oz

2010-04-01T18:57:00.003+01:00

Well, well - Diploma hits Oz, home of Landmark, Skippy and lots of realy great wines - even if the DipStuds did seem underwhelmed by them at times! My colleague and fellow Spurs fan, Martin Moran MW, led the way and gave the students a good review of what is too big a subject for the paltry one day it gets. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.
The idea behind the wines chosen for this lecture was to show the range of styles, quality levels available in Australia along with showing the real regional variations that arise. We started with two lovely rieslings, Pewsey Vale Riesling, Eden Valley, 2008, (CA) €15.75 - classic Eden with a floral and citrus note, more lime than lemon, then Jim Barry Lodge Hill Riesling, Clare Valley, 2006, (CA) €17.50 - more lemon than lime and some minerality. I firmly believe that top-end Australian riesling is among the world's finest white wines and these wines were really good examples.
Then two semillons, Peter Lehmann Reserve Semillon, Barossa, 2001, (CO) €20 or so, a lovely, slightly toasty white, with real class and elegance, and then the classic Tyrell’s Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter, 2000, (BF) €33.80 - lighter in alcohol but showing really well and only just beginning to develop.
Next, two Rhone varieties - Tahbilk Marsanne, Nagambie Lakes, 2006, (CO) €12.40, quite peachy and floral, with a hint of apples, round yet elegant, and the lovely Yalumba Y Series Viognier, South Australia, 2007, (CA) €12.80, a real bargain at the price with lovely peaches and apricot character, good depth and length.
Then Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay, South Eastern Australia, 2008, (OB) €9.15, a wine I think is really nice and probably underestimated by many. Snobs always forget that if wines like this didn't exist, none of us would have a job - nor would there be much fine wine to buy either! This was followed by the superb Penfold’s Yattarna Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, 2005, (DL) €60.00 - I love this wine because, although made by Penfold's (big, big wines) it is quite a classy chardonnay - new French oak and all the trimmings yet subtle and well-balanced.

The afternoon tasting started with Stonier Reserve Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, 2005, (GL) €31.20 - a little on the full-on side for me, but quite good. I don't think its representative of what i saw at Landmark last year but it's good for all that. Then the super Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, 2004, (DL) €37.95 - really classy cabernet - clean, fruity, elegant, long. This was followed by one of my favourite Australian wines Wynn’s John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, 2003, (GL) €75.00 - this one split the room! Martin and I loved it, the students didn't, and didn't see why you'd pay so much for it. For me, it was still young and needs more time in bottle, but I reckon it would do well as a ringer in a tasting of Medoc Crus Classes. Maybe I'm lucky to taste enough wines to see this but I had hoped the students could spot quality. Hmmmmmmm.
Finally, a flight of shiraz starting with the world's favourite, Casella [yellow tail] Shiraz, South Eastern Australia, 2008, (GL) €10.35 (although available at anything from about €8 if you look around). Sweet, jammy but not bad. Then a slightly bretty Tyrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz, Hunter, 2001, (BF) €27.85 - classy red Hunter fruit style but just a bit dull and drying on the palate. Shame. Then a seriously dysfunctional, if not oxidised Rosemount Balmoral Syrah, McLaren Vale, 2000, (DL) €49.25 - a real disappointment, but then Riosemount has been for a good few years now. Brow colour, smelled like Bovril and tasted awful.
Anyway, on to better things - the classy and ancient Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz, Nagambie Lakes, 1999, (CO) €64.80 - really good Victoria shiraz - not red like Hunter, not big like Barossa, but deep, peppery and ripe elegant fruit. Love the stuff! Look out for Best's Great Western and Mt Langhi Ghiran as well - all good, as well as Bailey's of Glenrowan.
Then two beasts - Penfold’s RWT Shiraz, Barossa, 2004, (DL) €82.00 - wow! Big, yet elegant, very young and with loads of time left. Finally, partly because it's one of my all-time favourites but also because Hill of Grace would have blown the entire class budget on one bottle, the superbly elegant
Henschke Mt Edelstone Shiraz, Eden Valley, 2004, (CA) €74.50 - this is one f those wines which just takes you by surprise. It's no shrinking violet yet with all its power, its the elegance and finesse that really get to you - long, clean, superb. Can't wait for next year's lecture LOL!

The stockists are BF = Barry & Fitzwilliam, (CA) = Cassidy's, CO = Coman's, DL = Dillon's, GL = Gilbey's all wholesalers who can only sell to retailers, OB = O'Brien's.

Bubbly fun...

2010-03-31T11:54:00.000+01:00

Having slipped and fallen badly on black ice in January, Maggie McNie MW was unable to come over to give the sparkling wine lecture. However, she has recovered and was able to get here for the 15th March and we had a very good lecture. Stockists in parentheses with details below.

We started with a Kriter Blanc de Blancs Brut Vin Mousseux, (AU) €4.99, which is a straightforward tank-fermented white. Then a very nice Schäfer Classic Burg-Layer Schlosskapelle Riesling Sekt, (WSET), which had a very good riesling character. One of the better Sekts I've tried. Interestingly, Maggie explained that although the technical German word for sparkling wine is schaumwein the word sekt is used as an actor who was famous for playing Falstaff loved sparkling German wines; his entourage would rush to the restaurant he was eating in before him and demand, in jest, his "sack" - this being the Elizabethan term for wines from Sherry - and this became Germanized to sekt! There you are now, you learn something new every day.
After that we had Domaine Rosier Blanquette de Limoux Cuvée Reservée, (AU), €3.75, which was decent. It had good mauzac style but I find Limoux wines less than exciting. This was followed by a decent Pierre Chanau Clairette de Die Brut, (AU) €4.99, again OK without being exciting.
Then a Jeio Prosecco di Valdobbiane Brut, (WSET), which is very good - I thin k it's one of the beter Proseccos and is about €18.00 in Ireland. This was followed by Freixenet 2004 Brut, (WSET) which was not as good as I would have liked, but the Marcel Cabelier Crémant de Jura 2007 Brut, (AU) €5.99, was very good - really rich with lovely fruit.
Next, one of my favourite styles but I appear to be in a minority here. Banrock Station Good Earth Sparkling Shiraz, (BF) €19.80, really yumy dark shiraz fruit with lovely refreshing bubbles - have it at a barbeque in the summer and you'll see just how good it is. This was followed by a good Gangloff Crémant d’Alsace Brut, (AU) €5.98, again a really nice wine with good depth and a rich mousse. Then a standard from Australia, Yalumba Angas Brut Premium Cuvée, (CA) €16.50, a really lovely ripe fruit sparkler - yummy and fun. This was followed by the really good classic Jansz NV Premium Cuvée, (CA), a seriously good wine from Tasmania. There are some great sparklers in Australia and this one of the classics.
Next, a very, very good Vouvray Brut, (AU) €4.99 - much better than expected. But then, onto the greats - four wines from my favourite Champagne house: Pol Roger. We started with the classy Réserve Brut NV, (BF) €47.00 - superbly clean and elegant, with a hint of autolysis and crisp, fresh apple fruits. Then the Rosé 2000 Brut, (BF) €58.00 - soft berry fruits, crisp and fresh, the classy, classy Vintage 2000 Brut, (BF) €58.00 - lovely toasty autolytic characters, ripe apple fruits and very long. Finally, the outstanding and very weighty Sir Winston Churchill 1998, (BF) €100 - really rich but with lovely elegant mid-palate fruits.
In re the stockists, I happened to be in France at Christmas so I took the opportunity to try some of the wines which can easily be bought there but not here. To be fair, they're not all brilliant but some are very good and I can happily recommend a few of the ones we tried. Please be aware, though, that French supermarkets can sell wines at below-cost and that there is no duty one these wines; in Ireland duty is roughly €4.00 per bottle before VAT at 21%.

The stockists are AU = Auchan, BF = Barry & Fitzwilliam, CA = Cassidy's, both wholesalers who can only sell to retailers.

Yet more on IWI

2010-03-12T11:48:00.001Z

Well, it appears that JS has a brass neck - having caused no end of problems around the Irish wine education world she is now trying to sell off WSET bookpacks to other APPs as she no longer needs them! I'm sure her creditors would be interested in this news.

If you like Ridge...

2010-03-09T23:30:00.002Z

...then check out Tyler Coleman's blog where he has an article all about Paul Draper and Montebello.

Germany and Austria

2010-03-04T22:25:00.003Z

As a long-standing fan of German riesling, I love the Germany lecture, as it gives me a chance to taste some pretty good German wines, even if it isn't all that easy to get these in Ireland. By combining this lecture with Austria, I also have to chance to taste some pretty good Austrian wines, the range of which is improving. So, Monday 1st March was a "mittel-Europa" day; stockists in parentheses with details below.
We started with three wines to show a rough idea of what Germany offers (all the German wines are WWC). First, Wagner Stempel Sylvaner Trocken Rheinhessen 2006, €18.15, a lovely ripe but earthy wine, from one of the great misunderstood grapes in Europe. Then the Max Ferd. Richter Mülheimer Sonnenlay (Zeppelin) Riesling QbA Mosel 2008, €14.75, fresh and zingy, with a lovely intensity - really good. Then a more serious wine, Von Bassermann-Jordan Deidesheimer Leinhöhle Riesling Kabinett Pfalz 2006, €21.65, classic ripe Pfalz fruit, with a medium body and lovely fresh acidity on the finish.
The next three were served blind in order to give the students a chance to see the styke variations between kabinett, spatlese and auslese. They were Max Ferd. Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Kabinett Mosel 2006, €18.95, Max Ferd. Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Spätlese Mosel 2006, €21.15, and Max Ferd. Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Auslese Mosel 2005, €37.45. When I was an MW student, Monika Christmann of FAG showed us two wines from the same vineyard picked about 4 weeks apart. Analytically the wines were identical but the extra time in the sun gave the late picked wine a beter flavour depth. This is, essentially, the difference between kabinett and spatlese. Of course, auslese is made with riper bunches again and is sweeter in style. These three wines showed these variations very well with the kabinett having classic green apple flavours, the spatlese riper, cooked aple and the auslese honeyed apple.
Then two red wines, both from pinot noir. First, the light and fruity Geil Pinot Noir Rheinhessen 2007, €15.45, nice but unremarkable, followed by the excellent Meyer-Näkel Spätburgunder Ahr 2006, €23.50 which is a much better wine with excellent fruit character.
Overall, a lovely set of wines to start the day - finesse and quality with elegance.

In the afternoon we covered Austria - a country many assume is similar to Germany but which, in real terms, is very different. The climate is warmer and drier, riesling is not that important, and the general style of wine is very different, even if they apparently share the same labelling terms for wines. However, it's fairly rare to see kabinett, spatlese etc. on an Austrian label, although there are some terms which you will see that the Germans don't have e.g. Strohwein, Schilcher and the much sought-after Ausbruch.
First up, the Fritsch Riesling Reserve Wagram 2006, (OB) €18.45, classy Austrian riesling - dry and mineral but with warm, ripe fruit. Then a pair of gruner veltliner - Austria's really classic grape. We started with the Fritsch Grüner Veltliner Steingberg Wagram 2007, (OB) €15.95 - light peppery notes and warm apple fruits - then the Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Lamm Kamptal 2007, (WWC) €33.95, a much firmer style, with a greater level of depth on the mid-palate. Really good!
Two reds to showcase Austrian reds - a fruity Glatzer Zweigelt Riedencuvée Carnuntum 2006, (OB) €13.45, nice dark fruits, with a fresh acid structure, then a classy, if slighlt over-oaky Glatzer St Laurent Altenberg Carnuntum 2006, (OB) €21.45 - very ripe, firm fruits, rich mid-palate and a lovely finish.
The Austrian flight was a little shy, in some was, but I hope to have more Austrian wines next time around. I think they're among the best in the world and well worth seeking out.
The stockists are WWC = Wicklow Wine Company, OB = O'Brien's.

Are you a Diposomaniac?

2010-02-23T23:42:00.000Z

Or, I should ask, are you a Certified Dipso? The Certified Dipsos are a group of WSET Diploma graduates in Ireland who meet regularly meet for tastings and also organise wine trips. Tonight I attended an excellent tasting of Loire reds hosted by David Rorke and efficiently helped out, as always, by David's wife Joyce.
We started with a "red" made from 100% cabernet franc. This was the Couly-Dutheil Blanc de Franc Vin de Table 2008 - quite nice without being interesting. Then on to the real reds. An Alphonse Mellot Generation XIX Sancerre Rouge 2004 was really good, even if an expensive wine. Made from 100% pinot noir it had a good colour and pinot character on nose and palate. Next up was one of my favourite Loire reds, Eric Nicolas' Domaine de Belliviere Hommage a Louis Derre Coteaux du Loir 2002, 100% pineau d'Aunis. This is an odd wine but has great character and this sample was as good as any I've tasted before. Classic pepper and strawberry aromatics, somewhat firm on the palate but really delicious. I think I was the only one who really liked this one! Over the course of the tasting it really opened up and became the peppery red wine equivalent to a classic gruner veltliner! Then the very good Domaine de la Butte Mi-Pente Bourgueil 2004. Wonderfully ripe fruit notes, very rich and supple on the palate with some leaf characters, so typical of cabernet franc. Very well-balanced and long.
Then two together. First the Charles Joguet Les Varennes du Grand Clos Cabernet Franc de Pied Chinon 2002 (long name, what?). This was made from vines which had been planted on own-roots, but which were dug up some years ago due to phylloxera. It was good but not as good as one would have expected - savoury and slightly dry tannins. The Couly-Dutheil Clos de l'Echo Chinon 2002 was better with riper fruit and tannin balance. Then one on its own, the Chateau Pierre-Bise Sur Schistes Anjou Villages 2001 which had an excellent depth of fruit with some tannins suggesting it needed time. Very good indeed.
The next two constituted one of the best tastings I've ever had - the Couly-Dutheil Clos de l'Echo Chinon 1997 and Couly-Dutheil Clos de l'Echo Cuvee Cresendo Chinon 1997. The same vineyard but the latter getting 100% new oak maturation. I found the former to be good but with a firmness of tannin and fruit which gave the wine a lean edge. The latter had a better colour, with rounder fruit ad better balance of rounded tannin structure. These reminded me of wines tasted in Burgundy in 1994 from tank and various oaks - tank wines come out very firm and lacking a richness that oak ageing imparts. If you want to know why you use oak these two wines really show why. To be fair, the Cresendo had too much oak but was still a very good wine.
Next up was a triplet of 1996 wines: the Chateau de Villeneuve Vieilles Vignes Saumur-Champigny 1996 - pale garnet colour and savoury with oxtail soup notes - was fully mature; the Chateau de Villeneuve Le Grand Clos Saumur-Champigny 1996 was very good - deeper colour, evolving berry fruits, clean, ripe and with a long finish - a wine with time still to go; then the Domaine des Roches Neuves Cuvee Marginale Saumur-Champigny 1996 which was very good also but just hadn't quite got the same depth of fruit as the Le Grand Clos - ready now and will keep a bit.
Then the star of the show - the really excellent Pierre-Jacques Druet Cuvee Vaumoreau Bourgueil 1990. Garnet in appearance with a complex nose of black fruits and savoury maturing notes underneath. The palate was sweet on entry,with very rich black and red fruits, supple acisity, very good weight on the middle palate, deep and round yet elegant, soft tannins on a long, clean finish. Superb balance with lots of time left to go.
Finally two vintages of the Couly-Dutheil Clos de l'Echo Chinon - the 1990 was tired: pale garnet, spicy lean red fruits on the nose, drying tannins over light red fruits on the palate; the 1989, on the other hand, was super - deeper colour, ripe black fruits still evident on the nose, a supple, rich palate with lovely long finish. Very good indeed.
All in all, an excellent tasting as it was a chance to see some very good wines, wines which would not often be seen here. Many thanks to David for organising a really super tasting.

Alsatian gems

2010-02-23T14:10:00.001Z

In the afternoon, it was off to Alsace and we had quite an interesting range of wines to taste. Again, Linda Jotham MW led the class on a very good tour through the regin and its various varietals and soil types. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

We started with Trimbach Pinot Blanc 2006, (GL) €14.75, a fresh fruity style which I like although the class found it a little bitter! I'm a fan of pinot blanc as it makes a lovely food wine which is also pleasant on its own. This was followed by the biodynamically grown Bott-Geyl Muscat “Les Elements” 2004, (CK) €19.95, a really good muscat - understated on the nose but very round and rich on the mid-palate and not realy showing its age.
Then the Léon Beyer Riesling 2007, (OB) €19.89, a classic lean riesling yet with quite a rounded fruit structure on the mid-palate. This had quite a warm feel to it and would be excellent with food. This was followed by Hugel Gewürztraminer 2007, (OB) €15.89, perhaps not as aromatic as might be expected (similar to the previous I wonder is this a vintage character?) but round and balanced on the palate.
Then into the biggies. First the absolutely fabulous Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Grand Cru “Clos St Urbain” 2002, (CO) €89.65, a massive wine from one of Alsace's finest vignerons, also a biodynamist. Classic peach and aprcot nose and palate, some botrytis showing, about 35 g/L residual sugar and 15% alcohol by volume this is not a wine for the faint hearted. I had the 2001 last week in Bordeaux with the 2nd Year MW students - very similar in style. Following was the Trimbach Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives 2000, (GL) €49.50 which was very good but seemed to pale after the monster which had preceded it. This is a shame as I like Trimbach (their Reserve Gewürztraminer tasted at the Gilbey's Portfolio tasting earlier this month was gorgeous!) but that's life, I guess. Finally the quite amazing Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles “Clos Jebsal” 1999, 37.5 cL (CO) €101.25! While the class felt that this lacked the power or punch that a wine of this price should command I thought it had lovely balance between elegance and botrytis character. I don't think Olivier makes wines for simple consumption - these are wines that should make you think and this one did.
All in all, some real gems showing why Alsace is one of the great wine regions of the world and deserves mor attention, especially on restaurant wine lists (speaking of which, I feel a rant coming on about restaurant wine pricing!!).
The stockists are GL = Gilbey's, CO = Coman's, both wholesalers who can only sell to retailers, OB = O'Brien's, CK = The Corkscrew.

Burgundy - the lovliest wine region in the world

2010-02-22T13:17:00.002Z

Yes, there might be places with more extreme scenery (the Western Cape, for example) but nowhere can really produce wines like you get in Burgundy. They aren't all good but the best are fantastic and really can change the way you think about wine. Linda Jotham MW came over to give this lecture and presented a very good class with a great tasting. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

We started with Cave de Lugny Mâcon-Lugny “Eugène Blanc” 2008, (OD), €10.99 a very tasty white with the fresh acidity one associates with this vintage. Ripe and round in a tighter style than is normal for Macon, this is a very good wine at a very good price. This was followed by Dauvissat Chablis “Saint-Pierre” 2007, (BD) €20.00, a very elegant and mineral style. As is usual, tasting blind, many confused these two - even the MW students did this in Bordeaux last week. Then, a real classy wine, Olivier Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 2006, (OB) €39.85, really classic with lovely depth and complexity.
Then on to the reds, a task made slightly difficult by having a good few 2006s. First off, the lovely fruity Domaine de la Chapelle des Bois Fleurie 2007, (BD) €17.50, which I find to be a really good Fleurie - fruity but with some depth. Then a firmer than usual Jean-Marc Joblot Givry 1er Cru “Clos de la Servoisine” 2006, (BD) €30.60, showing Jean-Marc's classic cherry fruity style but with more tannic grip than normal. Very good from a poor year. Next a sadly poor Joseph Drouhin Volnay 2006, (GL) €41.00 - I say poor because the wine tasted almost as though corked. This is a shame as I rate Drouhin wines highly and I can only put this down to the poor vintage. Then the Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Vaucrains” 2006, (BD) €70.00 - expensive but Chevillon makes great wines which show the NSG style in almost textbook style. This was pretty good, given the year, having a good depth of fruit balancing the firm tannins. age for a few years but not as much as a 2005, say. Lastly, the Joseph Drouhin Grands-Echezeaux 2004, from my own cellar, showing some evolution on both eye and nose, with some bettroot and cabbage notes showing, and perhaps a hint of green notes. The palate is classic ageing Burgundy, a lovely mix of red pinot fruits, some vegetal notes as well as well-integrated oak flavours. Elegant, quite long and perhaps beginning to show it's age a bit.
The stockists are GL = Gilbey's, a wholesaler who can only sell to retailers, BD = Burgundy Direct, OB = O'Brien's, OD = Oddbins.

The spirit world

2010-02-22T12:46:00.000Z

No - Diploma hasn't gone all seances and stuff but rather moved to the Spirits lectures, given by the very friendly and knowledgeable Peter Morris-Wilson. Unfortunately I couldn't attend these lectures in full so I can't really comment. However, I always get good feedback from the students about Peter's lectures so he's always worth listening to. There is a huge range of spirits to taste on this course and Peter certainly provided an excellent range.

Fortify yourself and be of good spirit

2010-02-22T12:39:00.000Z

Poncey title, huh? Well, Diploma started back in January with the Fortified wines lecture. Again, I think the range was good, although it's getting harder to get some styles of fortified wine so a few came out of the old Wine Development Board stock. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

We started with Tio Pepe Fino from Gonzalez Byass (B & F), probably the best fino to buy in Ireland, at about €15.40. Classic flor character on the nose, with a lovely dry palate structure. Fino is tricky as it has the lowest acidity of almost any wine, no sugar and only 15% alcohol by volume (abv) and so is quite susceptible to the effects of oxygen. In very real terms, a fino should be drunk within 6 months of bottling, within 6 days of opening and should always be drunk quite well chilled. Next up was Williams & Humbert's "A Winter's Tale" Amontillado (OB) selling at €11.38 which is a real bargain price. A sweetened amontillado, the wine shows some fino notes on the nose, with a well-balanced sweet palate. I think this wine has improved over the last few years. This was followed by another classic Harvey's Bristol Cream (B & F) at €14.25. One of my favourites as it's an extremely good example of a cream oloroso. We then had two more serious wines, both from Gonzalez Byass. We first had the Del Duque Amontillado VORS (B & F) at €16.25 - given that this is a wine with an average age of 30 years this is a real bargain price Classic nutty notes on the nose with some fino undertones, it is dry, elegant and very long on the palate. The Matusalem Oloroso VORS (B & F), also €16.25, is an excellent oloroso - firm, elegant, powerful and long.
We then moved onto Port, starting with Niepoort Colheita 1995 (WWC), €49.85. This is a very different style of Port to what most people see - a single year Port aged extensively in wood. As a consequence, it has lost some of the primary fruit character associated with bottle aged Ports and has a nutty, ripe fruit nose with an elegant, though still powerful, palate. Then Niepoort 20 Year Old Tawny (WWC), €62.00, my favourite category in the wood-aged Ports. Nutty fruits on the nose, with a complex and almost dry style on the palate this is a lovely wine. The next three were all from old Wine Board stock so no prices are available. We started with Warre’s Late Bottled Vintage 1995, a classic traditional LBV. Deep, powerful and still showing plenty of youthful power with some signs of development on nose and palate. Then, Dow’s “Quinta do Bomfim” 1996, a very rich and deep wine showing hardly any age at all - very deep colour and lovely intense young fruits, very well-balanced. Finally, Dow’s 1991 - a very good vintage wine from one of the best "traditional" houses - big, rich, powerful: everything that Irish property developers aspire to but with one crucial difference - this wine still has a long future!
Then to Madeira, with Cossart Gordon 10 Year Old Bual, (OB) €39.12 - a good wine showing the classic high acidity with baked fruit that marks out the Madeira style generally. Next was Cossart Gordon 5 Year Old Malmsey (OB) €25.12 which, while it had the classic Malmsey character had less depth or finesse than the Bual.
Then a quick tour around the world, starting with France and the Cave de Rasteau “Signature” Rasteau 2004, (OB), €17.39, a very good sweet, red fortified from the Rhone. Deep colour and bright primary fruit but with the lower alcohol typical of French Vins Doux Naturels. This was followed by the Gérard Bertrand Banyuls “Grand Cru” 2002, (OB), a real bargain at €22.40 as this is a very rich, deep and well-made wine not yet showing the chocolatey character tha these wines develop with age. Finally, a good example of one of the finest wine styles in the world, the Rutherglen Estates “Re” Rutherglen Muscat also from old stock. This shows the classic tangerine and raisin character of fortified muscats from this part of Australia, with a very sweet palate from really high sugar. Bad for me (unfortunately) but great for anyone who loves fine wines.
The stockists are B & F = Barry & Fitzwilliam, a wholesaler who can only sell to retailers, WWC = Wicklow Wine Company, OB = O'Brien's.

Chianti Classico

2010-02-09T18:45:00.001Z

A quickie - some longer posts in re Diploma will follow shortly - but Decanter has news about Chianti Classico finally separating itself completely from Chianti.

More on IWI

2010-01-28T22:21:00.001Z

A large number of people are owed money by the Irish Wine Institute - two lecturers are owed somewhere in the region of €5,000 - 6,000, a web design company somewhere from €5,000 - 10,000, as well as students who booked on courses which were cancelled. In the meantime, I have been told that JS was spending big money in various wine bars and restaurants in Dublin. On top of that, she is pestering at least one student for an "unpaid course fee"! Given that she never registered any students and was not, therefore, selling the service students expected to get, she has some nerve trying to get money off innocent students when she owes a fortune.
I understand she is still in Dublin - if anyone spots her, let WSET know - or me.
I should point out that the other schools and lecturers listed on the WSET website are honourable and honest people and that anyone thinking of doing a wine course should not be put off by the antics of the IWI.

Irish Wine Institute

2010-01-20T13:28:00.001Z

If any one who reads my blog has taken a course with IWI, or knows someone who has, please contact WSET - you should email John Townley directly.
I understand that IWI did not register any students with WSET and that those students who attended courses and are expecting to sit examinations will find that those exams will not take place.
WSET has no record of anyone who took courses with IWI and the only way they can sort this out is if people get in touch with them.

Irish company in lightweight bottle development

2010-01-17T23:45:00.000Z

If you go to Jamie Goode's blog you'll find an article about Tesco's new, light weight bottle, the lighest in the world. One of the companies involved is Quinn Glass, owned by Irishman Sean Quinn and based in Fermanagh.

Paul Bocuse

2009-12-29T17:12:00.000Z

I'm currently in Lyon so last night my partner Liz and I ate out at Paul Bocuse. For those of you who don't know, he is one of the finest chefs ever and has been a top chef for over half a century.

The restaurant is in Collonges, just to the north of Lyon and is beautifully appointed. From the moment we arrived we were treated very well and the atmosphere is lovely. It's an old-fashioned restaurant, lots of paintings and mirrors on the walls, with lovely tables and chairs as well as personalised delph. At different stages in the evening both Mr Bocuse and Mme Bocuse greeted every table.
We both chose from the same menu classique - Liz started with a superb lobster soup while I had a delicious gratin of shrimp. Mains were hare for Liz and filet Rossini for me, accompanied by a 2006 Nuits-St-Georges Clos des Porets Henri Gouges. All were gorgeous and the wine was remarkably open for such a young wine.
Cheeses were fabulous - a huge tray, laden with local and national cheeses was brought to us, all in perfect condition.
Desserts were even more amazing - three trays of fabulous delights were brought including fresh fruits, ice creams, cakes and more.
The staff were friendly and attentive without ever being suffocating, very professional. An expensive treat to see out the year but you only get these chances once in a while!

The wines of Valencia

2009-12-01T17:17:00.001Z

Recently there was a tasting of the wines of Valencia in Dublin. It turned out to be a really good tasting with some very tasty wines to try, from good Cavas, to fresh whites, some interesting reds and a few nice sweeties, including, paradoxicaly, a French Vin Doux Naturel (VDN)! Indeed, the range of varieties for tasting vould easily make you think you were in France - cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot, pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah.

Bodegas Les Useres had a nice white, L'Alcalaten Macabeo Chardonnay, and the really nice L'Alcalaten Macabeo, which had a better overall structure, the L'Alcalaten Rose from monastell and bonicaire, the lovely easy-drinking L'Alcalaten Tempranillo and a good L'Alcalaten Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon blend.
Bodegas Bocopa had a very lemony sparkling wine, Marina Espumante, made using the Charmat process, from 100% muscat of alexandria! Also, a straight white from the same variety, Gran Seleccion Marina Alta, a very good cabernet sauvignon called Laudum Nature, organic, and the youthful Laudum Reserva from monastrell, cabernet sauvignon & merlot. The Laudum Crianza, same varieties, was a nice, easy-drinking red and the Terreta Rose, 100% monastrell, had lovely berry fruits.
Bodegas Francisco Gomez had a nicely green (but not too much) sauvignon blanc wine, Fruto Noble, as well as the interesting and very good Fruto Noble Crianza with 40% cabernet franc! The Moratillas Crianza, monastrell, merlot & syrah, was nice, the Serrata Crianza, merlot, petit verdot, cabernet sauvignon & monastrell was good but the Boca Negra Crianza was very good - 100% Monastrell.
Bodegas Vicente Gandia had a nice white, El Miracle from chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and muscat, the good Hoya de Cadenas Reserva, 100% tempranillo, the very good El Miracle Planet, 100% monastrell, and then three single varietals, all Hoya de Cadenas - a good merlot, a lovely cabernet sauvignon and a good syrah.
Bodegas de Utiel had a big range listed but only a few to taste. The Nodus Chardonnay was nice, the Nodus Tinto Autor, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah & bobal, was good - dark firm fruits but quite supple, and the Nodus Delirium, merlot & bobal, was good to very good, very round but still quite big in style.
I have to apologise to Castell dels Sorells, who had a range of Cavas to try but I missed their stand altogether! I gather they are well worth trying.
Bodegas Covinas had a good Cava, from the standard macabeo, xarel.lo and parellada, was floral on the nose but quite tasty on the palate, the Macabeo was nioce - just bottled in September it still had strong ferment character, the Aulah Syrah Crianza was very good, being almost Cornas-like in its earthy, chocolate fruit style, the Enterizo Rosado, 100% bobal, was nice, as were the Enterizo Tempranillo and the Enterizo Crianza.
Dominia de la Vega also had a big range, of which I tried only a few. Their Cava Arte Mayor, macabeo & chardonnay was very good, plenty of lees character, the Cava Dominio de la Vega Pinot Noir had lovely berry fruits on the nose, very juicy on the palate, some richness from 20 months on lees and, overall, was good. Their Crianza, bobal, cabernet sauvignon & syrah was really good, firm but rich and a very good wine.
Chozas Carrascal had a "numerically" named range. The Las Quatro Rosado was a bit odd for me - aged in oak it had a flavour that I felt was very like TCA but wasn't; the Las DosCes, tempranillo & syrah, was good, supple and smooth, the Las Ocho, bobal, monastrell, granacha, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, syrah & merlot (8 - which tells you how the wines are named!) was really good, but the best was the Muscat from Domaine Perna Batut in St-Jean Minervois! it was an absolute stunner - intense, rich, beautifully balanced Vin Doux Naturel - I loved it!
La Casa de las Vides had the lovely Rosa Rosae Rosado, garnacha & cabernet sauvignon, the very good Aculius, tempranillo, syrah & merlot, and the also very good CUP, tempranillo, syrah & monastrell, really yummy.
La Baronia de Turis had a good range but at this stage I was running out of time so I only tasted the nice Luna de Mar, tempranillo, merlot, syrah & cabernet sauvignon, and a very tasty mistela which was a nice way to finish.
Overall, I was impressed. A very interesting range of grapes had been used to make a very wide range of wines. Altitude is used to get fresh, fruity whites with fresh acidity, also allowing Cavas to be made in the same region as 14% abv syrahs! The quality was pretty good throughout and the wines were well packaged. I didn't get prices so I don't know whether the wines are good value for money but, on the basis of the quality tasted, they ought to be.

Go west, Diploma!

2009-11-04T15:04:00.008Z

And south, as well! On Tuesday 27th, Barry Geoghegan MBA was back in the saddle as the Diploma circus headed west and south to learn all about the Americas in one day! He started in North America (he even included Canada - probably only because there is a Canuck in the class LOL), headed into the USA then, after lunch, covered Chile, Argentina and other south American countries. The wines were, if I do say so myself, pretty darn good.

We started with the nice and fruity, but ultimately not exciting Cline Viognier 2006 California, Nicholson €18.20; followed by the very good and classic style of Clos du Val Napa Valley Chardonnay 2006 California, O’Brien’s €23.50. We then skipped a few (see below) and went straight to the Fetzer Mendocino County “Bonterra” Merlot 2004 Calfornia, E Dillon €19.45, which was actually a pretty good merlot - nice fruit definition, round and supple with good weight. This was followed by two very serious wines - first the Ridge Sonoma County “Lytton Springs” 2006 California, Nicholson €43.20, a classic zinfandel wine, big and powerful and second, the always superb Ridge Santa Cruz “Montebello” 2000 California, Nicholson €152.55, a wine which has never disappointed me. For a nine year old wine, it had amazing depth of colour, lots of strong primary fruit character, great power while remaining elegant, and enough depth to suggest ageing well for at least another 10 to 15 years.
After lunch we gave the students a four wine blind tasting, with a theme. The wines were Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir 2006 California , Nicholson €39.82, Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2005 Oregon, Gilbey’s, €55.20, Marimar Torres Russian River “Don Miguel” PinotNoir 1999 California , O’Brien’s €44.50 and Matetic San Antonio “EQ” Pinot Noir 2006 Chile, Coman’s €25.90. It was interesting to see how well they did. All identified pinot noir - very good, because if they hadn't yours truly would have been very disappointed! However, as is often the case, the sublime elegance of the Saintsbury led many to underestimate the wine - some two years ago Dick Ward sent me a magnum of the 1989 Pinot Noir for a tasting of new world pinots noirs I organised in Dublin on behalf of the Institute of Masters of Wine and it showed superbly, even though he personally rated this as an average year. The Matetic EQ was probably the biggest surprise for most as we haven't seen much serious pinot from Chile here in Ireland - I rate it very highly. The Drouhin was classic - slightly more vegetal than most new world pinot noir wines are - and the Torres was a lovely mature wine but still with some time to go.
After that, we went into the South American stage, starting with the oddly-named Carmen Casablanca “Gran Reserva” Chardonnay 2008 Chile, E Dillon €16.35, - I don't get how the term Gran Reserva can be applied to wine just bottled! Still, it's a nice wine but nowhere near the quality level suggested by that tag. This labelling is, as far as I know, unique to Ireland - one way or another, it should be re-thought.
This was followed by the very good and tasty Norton Mendoza Reserva Malbec 2006 Argentina, O’Brien’s €13.99, quite a ripe wine and very tasty; then the really yummy Emiliana Central Valley “Y Caro” Reserva 2007 Chile, O’Brien’s €9.99 (I believe this is a promo price so get it while you can!). Then the Odfjell Central Valley “Armador” Carmenère 2007 Chile, Tindal €14.30, which is a good, rich wine, drinking now but which will keep a while. The superb Loma Larga Casablanca “BK-BL” Syrah 2006 Chile, Gleeson’s €23.60 followed, a deep, black syrah with loads of structure - one to age for at least 5 to 10 more years. Finally, we had my favourite wine of 2008, the Altaïr Alto Cachapoal Valley 2003 Chile,Tindal €51.30, one of the finest cabernet-based wines I tasted last year. Not as dense as the Montebello but a very elegant yet powerful wine and one to keep.
Well, that's it until the new year so see you then.

Diploma in Italy

2009-11-04T13:02:00.005Z

Oh begob, back when I was a nipper, studying Diploma we had David Gleave MW for the Italian lecture. A hunky, smooth-talking Canadian he was always popular with the women in the class. Nowadays, we have Michael Palij MW, a hunky, smooth-talking Canadian...is there a pattern emerging here?

Anyway, Michael came over on 20th October to do a whole day on Italy and we had some very good wines to taste. Almost all came from Michael (Winetraders UK) or one of his Irish stockists; as long as I've known Michael he's always been mad about Italian wines and his range is superb.
First up was a flight of Northern Italian wines, starting with the mineral but fruity La di Motte Piave DOC Pinot Grigio 2008, 64 Wine, €12.95. Then, one of my all-time favourites, the firm, deep and minerally Inama Soave Classico DOC “Vigneti di Foscarino” 2007, 64 Wine, €22.95 - really one of the best in Soave.
The reds started with the Marco Porello Barbera d’Alba DOC “Momiano” 2007, 64 Wine, €12.95, juicy and round and really yummy, especially with food, followed by the very deep and almost brooding Corte Sant’ Alda Valpolicella Superiore DOC “Campi Magri” 2005, 64 Wine, €25.95. Then, the Bovio Barolo DOCG “Rocchettevino” 2004, 64 Wine, €36.00, a very good Barolo with a lovely depth of ripe fruit underneath all the typical Barolo firmness.
Then we had a light of Central Italian wines, starting with La Monacesca Verdicchio di Matelica DOC “Mirum” 2006, 64 Wine, €22.50. I love the wines of La Monacesca - they have a fine balance of dept, minerality and fruitiness that makes them great with and without food - this single vineyard wine really needs some age, however. Then the Antinori Umbria IGT “Cervaro della Sala” 2007, O’Brien’s, €36.49, a top-end chardonnay from Umbria. Almost new world in style, it is rich, oaky and actually very good.
The reds kicked off with the very juicy and lovely to drink now La Pieve Chianti DOCG 2007, 64 Wine, €11.95, followed by the quite firm Castello Vicchomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG “La Prima” 2003, from my own cellar. A good wine but perhaps not shwoing as well as I would like. However, the Isole e Elena Toscana IGT “Cepparello” 2001, also from my cellar was seriously good, with soft ripe maturing fruits in a very elegant wine.
The last flight of southern Italian wines started with the fresh and easy-drinking Fontana Candida Frascati Superiore DOC 2008, O’Brien’s, €9.49, then the juicy, ripe Terra Firma IGT Sicilia Inzolia 2008, Winetraders, and the excellent Terre Dora Fiano d’Avellino DOCG 2008, 64 Wine, €19.50. We had two reds, the very ripe, warm and full-bodied Gulfi IGT Sicilia Nero d’Avola “Rossjbleo” 2007, 64 Wine, €14.95 and the superbly rich and ageworthy Terredora Taurasi DOCG 2003,Winetraders.
All in all, Italy in 15 wines is not easy, but I think we did well.

Landmark Masterclass

2009-11-04T11:16:00.006Z

Yesterday, Tuesday 3rd November, Wine Australia hosted a Landmark Masterclass at which I was asked to present a range of wines which represented Landmark for me. In all, we had 18 - so it was a pretty severe selection from the 578 tasted in Australia!
The Masterclass was held in the Constitution room of the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin - a lovely setting for the event. The selected guests included those who had applied last year as well a handful of journalists.

I have to say a great big "thank you" to John McDonnell, of Wine Australia Ireland, as he put in a huge amount of work getting the wines I requested, organising the hotel, the guests and, let's face it, everything - all I did was turn up and talk! As you can see in this video:

We started with Brown Brothers Patricia 2004, a lovely zingy sparkling wine from King Valley in Victoria; though zingy, it had real depth of fruit and autolysis on both nose and palate and was as good here as I thought it had been there.
This was followed by three rieslings (two in the end as one is still on the high seas!) - anyone who knows me knows that riesling is my favourite white grape. We started with the Mount HorrocksWatervale Riesling 2005 , from Clare. A yummy, crisp citrus-flavoured riesling. Then the 2002 Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling from Eden. More floral in style but with great depth and elegance. The no-show, unfortunately, was the 1980 Pewsey Vale Rhine Riesling, chosen beacuse it had real wow-factor when tasted in Australia and also because of the whole stelvin history of the brand. Louisa Rose mentioned last week that the decision to use screwcap for this wine back in the 1970s nearly killed the brand!
Then one semillon and, apologies to Iain Riggs, from the Barossa! The Peter Lehmann Margaret 2003 which was lovely - 11.5% abv but still rich and round and with some toasty characters.
Next, two big chardonnays - the Leeuwin Estate Art Series 2003 from Margaret River and the Penfold's Yattarna 2006. I love these oaky styles but it's worth noting that both of these wines have tremendous depth and elegance on the palate as well.
The reds (Hmmm, note that we had no sauvignon blancs - I wonder why? LOL) started with three pinots noirs. For me, one of the big lesson of Landmark was how much improved Australian pinot noir was, and quite a few of those present were equally pleased by these wines. The first was the juicy, fruity yummy Yabby Lake 2007 from Mornington, then the firmer, deeper Tarra Warra MDB 2006 from Yarra followed by the stunning Bannockburn Serre 1997 from Geelong. For me, this bottle was even better than the one tasted in Australia and was simply gorgeous.
Three cabernet sauvignon wines followed - surprisingly for me as it's not my favourite grape - each showing particular styles. The first was Cape Mentelle 2004 from Margaret River - classy, leafy cabernet, very elegant; then the Henschke Cyril 2002 from Eden - a rich, luscious and wonderfully smooth wine, almost sweet!; then a real treat, Wynn's John Riddoch 1990 - classic minty black fruit on the nose (even at 19 years of age), with a rich, ripe cassis fruit palate, some toasty oak notes, very elegant mid-palate with a juicy, clean fruit finish.
Two shiraz then, a surprisingly low number given my prediliction for the grape. First, the Mount Langhi Ghiran Langhi 2006 from Grampians. I love this wine as it is really elegant - quite ripe fruit but with a restraint from its cooler climate origin, still primary even after three years, firm-ish tannins, and a long life ahead. Then, one of my favourite wines of landmark, the Brokenwood Graveyard 1998 - just gorgeous: ripe red fruit style on nose and palate, still youthful, but with lovely evolving fruits, smooth supple tannins and a lovely elegant middle palate. Long, clean and yummy - one taster compared it very favourably to Rhone syrah in style.
After lunch we had two fortified wines and one last glass of fizz. A Morris Show Amontillado to start which went very well with the blue cheese and was a real star for most of those present. This was followed by the Grant Burge 20 Year Old Tawny, rich and luscious, very elegant. Finally, the only wine that divided the room - I loved the Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz 1994 in Australia and loved it here but, I think, I was in a minority of one! Then again, I usually am in that position!!
A very good day and, I hope, one that inspires others to apply NOW for Landmark 2010.

More Aussie oddballs

2009-11-04T10:50:00.004Z

Further to my post about the alternative varieties tasting last week, here are the wines tasted:

Oxford Landing Pinot Grigio 2008, €10.99 - good, nice weight of fruit with crisp acidity;
Lindeman's Pinot Grigio 2008, €10.99 - nice, lighter in style than the Oxford;
Guerrieri Rizzardi Pinot Grigio IGT 2008, €12.95 - good, quite mineral on the mid-palate, but also with good fruit depth;
Brown Brothers Pinot Grigio 2007, €13.95 - good, nice fruit, quite citrus style;
Thorn Clarke Pinot Gris 2008, €17.50 - good to very good, big, full wine with rich, ripe fruit;
Tim Adams Pinot Gris 2008, €15.95 - good, mineral but almost riesling!

Yalumba Y Viognier 2007, €13.99 - good, peachy ripe fruit, nice weight;
Yalumba Eden Viognier 2008, €18.99 - very good, elegant peach fruits, rounded, well-balanced;
De Bortoli Viognier 2007, €23.95 - good, with nice fruit weight but some oak notes;
Yalumba Virgilius 2007, €34.99 - excellent, very aromatic, quite intense mid-palate, but elegant and well-balanced, long;
Rutherglen Estates Marsanne Viognier 2007 - fair, off-dry, slightly herbaceous and lacked real depth;
Heartland Viognier Pinot Gris 2007, €15.50 - good to very good, really ripe and quite big;
Yering Station Marsanne Viognier Roussanne 2005 - good, slightly talcy or soapy but nice enough fruit;

Peter Lehmann Tempranillo 2006, €12.99 - good to very good, ripe and supple entry, nice berry fruits on palate, smooth and long;
Campo Viejo Reserva 2005 - quite good, quite soft and round but lacks depth of a Reserva;
Running with Bulls Tempranillo 2008, €18.99 - good to very good, especially as it was bottled only in September! Rich, ripe and big fruits but still quite elegant - made by Yalumba;
d'Arenberg Sticks and Stones Tempranillo Grenache 2004, €21.99 - good to very good, still quite deep colour but with lovely berry fruits, round, rich and smooth;

Rutherglen Estates Nebbiolo 2005, €14.95 - good, lovely berry fruits and leaf notes on nose, juicy berry fruits on palate and well-balanced;
Thorn Clarke "Morello" Nebbiolo 2005, €19.95 - good to very good, deep, rich nose, fresh acidity, dark earthy fruits and long;
Ricossa Barolo 2003, €24.99 - fair, closed nose, sour palate, firm tannins.

Update on the Mosel bridge

2009-11-04T10:42:00.004Z

Hi all - just a quick update on the Mosel bridge. Here is a email from Sarah Washington, with links to an online petition against the bridge - please sign this.

>>The German gourmet magazine DER FEINSCHMECKER has begun an online petition to help save the valley and vines from the politician's bulldozers and concrete.
On the left hand side of the following web page you will find an English translation of the petition and instructions on how to fill it in. The petition is further down in the centre of the same page.

http://www.b50neu.de/feinschm_e.html

You have until the 1st of December to sign the petition and circulate this link wildly. (After so doing you will accrue undying appreciation from all corners of the planet.)
News in brief:
Building work is moving ahead in several places (digging holes and clearing land). To counter this the debate is finally hotting up here in Germany. Tomorrow evening (Tuesday 3rd Nov) the story will be covered on the highly respected investigative news show Frontal21: http://frontal21.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/13/0,1872,7921069,00.html

With thanks for your help and kind regards,

Sarah Washington<<

Australian oddballs

2009-10-30T15:33:00.005Z

Well, they do play footie, don't they LOL?
Yesterday, I had breakfast with the indefatigable John McDonnell of Wine Australia Ireland, to discuss a Landmark Masterclass, when he mentioned that he was hosting a small tasting on alternative varietals and would I like to attend? Well, since tasting is better than working, I said yes, especially as Louisa Rose of Yalumba was going to be there.

We started with some pinot grigio/pinot gris, then some viognier, then some tempranillo and finally nebbiolo. During Landmark, Louisa and Max Allen had hosted a similar tasting so it was fun to do this again, especially as there were quite a few different wines. As I don't have my tasting sheet with me, I'll just outline some thoughts.
First, pinot gris. I think this is a super grape, way better than sauvignon blanc and I would love to see more of it worldwide. Excellent in Alsace, super as grauburgunder in Germany and Austria, very good as the grey Friar in Hungary this grape has proven itself a lot time ago. As the crisp, fresh Italian pinot grigio it has become quite popular, as well as populist, in recent years but that's fine - it's a valid style and gets people to discover this excellent grape.
The wines we had were all good, including a pinot grigio from Guerrierri, and showed that Australia can make light-, medium- and heavy-weight PG no problem - more please!
The viogniers were a Yalumba masterclass and, I felt, Louisa's wines showed very, very well. It is an odd variety everywhere and, I feel, will always be something of an interesting curiosity, but well worth seeking out.
The tempranillo's included a Rioja but they were better than my previous experiences of Aussie tempranillo, which had been more tannic than I would like. These showed restraint, berry fruits and a palate suppleness that i expect frm this grape. Not yet convinced, but pleasantly surprised.
Finally, the nebbiolo wines - we had three super wines at Landmark and the two we had here were pretty good as well. This is, I think, definitely a grape with potential for Australia.

Diploma in the Rhone

2009-10-28T12:12:00.004Z

For the Rhone lecture, held on 13th October, the students got a decent range of wines to taste (as I pick the wines, I would say that wouldn't I? LOL). As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

We started with Domaine Martin Côtes du Rhône 2007 (WWC), which I thought was both very good and also good value for money at €13.75. The 2007 vintage is rated highly and this wine definitely over-delivered being rich and deep as well as very drinkable. This was followed by Domaine Martin Cairanne 2005 (WWC), at €16.99 being more expensive, but showing very good structure. The general feeling was that this wine was actually overshadowed by the quality of the first. This domaine makes very good wines and their basic CdR is not made as a simple, easy wine but rather as a wine which shows good Rhone style. The Cairanne was quite typical, being black-fruited and fragrant. You have to wonder why Cairanne, which is possibly the most recognisable of the CdR Communeaux wines isn't a Cru and how Vinsobres, for example, is.
The next was Domaine du Joncier “Le Gourmand” Lirac 2007 (JN) €17.29, a very rich and supple wine, but not warranting its Cru status, I felt. But the Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2001 (JN) €76.95, was a different matter altogether. It was very good, having that lovely sweet tobacco note of maturing red wine with great depth. The René Rostaing Côte Rôtie 2004 (JN) €59.25, was a little disappointing; 2004 was a decent year but the fruit was not great. The Jaboulet Condrieu “Les Cassines” 2007 (GL) €46.10, was typical but the Domaine du Tunnel Cornas 2006 (WWC), €44.45, was super being typical Cornas - big, deep and powerful but also very elegant. Finally, a real treat, the lovely and elegant Jaboulet Hermitage “La Chapelle” 2005, (GL) €83.30 - a very, very good wine.
All in all, I was pretty happy with these and, I think, the students got a good idea about the styles of wine produced in this oft-forgotten region of France.
The stockists are WWC = Wicklow Wine Company, JN = James Nicholson, GL= Gilbey's. The last named is a wholesaler and can only sell to retailers.

Diploma in Bordeaux and SW Fance

2009-10-27T13:44:00.011Z

Now, the 2nd years do a lot more tasting - and they've had some excellent wines along the way with more to come! Stockists in parentheses with details below.

Their first lecture was Bordeaux and South-west France, 6th October, with Barry Geoghegan MBA. The wines tasted from SWF were a typical “Les Sarments” Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne 2008 (64) €10, a very nice Château de Jurque Jurançon 2007 (64) €14.95 - a hint of oak and much richer in style than expected, an interesting Château du Cayrou Cahors 2001 (quite firm in style but really good - WWC €18.25), the lovely Château Aydie Madiran 2006 (64) €15.80, the excellent Château du Cèdre “Le Cèdre” 2001 (64 and LC) €36.95, and the wonderfully sweet Château de Jurque “Séduction” Jurançon 2005 (64) €17.95.
For the Bordeaux tasting they got the very good Dourthe “La Grande Cuvée” Sauvignon Blanc Bordeaux 2007 (OB) €12.99 - a lovely sauvignon blanc, the always excellent Dourthe Château Pey La Tour Bordeaux Supérieur 2006 (OB) €16.99 - about the best 95% merlot wine you can buy, the lovely and fragrant Château Manoir du Gravoux Côtes de Castillon 2006 (JN) €18.75 - classic firm but fruity red Bordeaux, a very good Mondot Saint-Émilion 2005 (OB) €55 - rich, ripe and elegant, the superb (and I mean really seriously good) Château Petit-Village Pomerol 2005 (WWC) €87, a beautifully elegant Château Langoa-Barton Saint-Julien 2001 (JN) €58, and a still developing Château Gruaud-Larose Saint-Julien 1999 (CO) €75 - one of my favourite clarets, as is Langoa, followed by the (I think) out-of-stock Château Rieussec Sauternes 1998 (OB) €63 - gorgeous stuff, wonderful botrytis character and very elegant.
The stockists are 64 = 64 Wine, WWC = Wicklow Wine Company, OB = O'Brien's, JN = James Nicholson, LC = Le Caveau, CO = Coman's. The last named is a wholesaler and can only sell to retailers.

Diploma joys for starters.

2009-10-27T13:32:00.007Z

I suppose one of the benefits of running the WSET Diploma in Ireland is the chance to taste some pretty good wines. This month has been very busy - all in all 8 lectures, all full day events. By the end of today some 77 wines will have been tasted by the 1st and 2nd year students. Stockists in parentheses are listed at the end.

A brief resume for those who want to know what it's all about. The 1st years don't taste too many wines - their lectures cover Viticulture, Vinification, Tasting Techniques, Study & Examination Techniques and Global & Local Markets. For their Grape Varieties lecture, they tasted a decent Dr Thanisch Berncasteler Doctor Riesling Spatlese 2003 (GG) €40, a yummy Marc Colin Puligny-Montrachet “Le Trézin” 2007 (BD) €38, a good Peter Lehmann Barossa Semillon Reserve 2001 (CO) €21 or so - the last year as Reserve as it's now Margaret, a good but not great Domaine duClosel Savennières “Clos du Papilon” 2004 (JN) €33, the always reliable (and often under-rated) Hunter’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (GL) €19.45, the very good Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Pruliers” 1er Cru 2006 (BD) €48 - Chevillon is a text-book producer IMHO - as well as a very good St Hallett “Old Block” Barossa Shiraz 2003 (GL) €39.50, the very good Santa Rita “Floresta” Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (GL) €31.20, a good Carmen Gran Reserva Merlot 2008(ED) €16.30, a slightly disappointing Moulin de la Gardette Gigondas 2004 (WWC) €26.45 (2004 really doesn't show that well) and a lovely and classy Muga Gran Reserva “Prado Enea” 2000 (CO) €43.75.
Now, that's all they get to taste at this stage - the real meat of the course happens next year for them. Still, that's a nice range to start with!
The stockists are WWC = Wicklow Wine Company, JN = James Nicholson, BD = Burgundy Direct, ED = Edward Dillon, GL = Gilbey's, GG = Gleeson Group, CO = Coman's. The last four named are wholesalers and can only sell to retailers.

A bridge too far?

2009-09-25T14:04:00.005+01:00

To all lovers of Mosel wines, in particular those from Erden, Rachtig and Urzig you might be interested to look at these plans here for a motorway bridge over the Mosel cutting right through the above-named villages. A number of the locals are campaigning against this, not surprisingly, and have enlisted the support of Hugh Johnson, among others.

Apparently, the bridge and motorway are being built to bring traffic in from Hahn, Ryanair's airport which is nowhere near Frankfurt, and it is claimed that it is seriously threatening their integrity and interfering with [...] drainage" of these and their vineyards in Wehlen, Graach and Zeltingen.

Now, I have to say I'm not entirely sure how these last three will be that adversely affected as the motorway runs along the crest of the hills behind them, beyond the fairly decent forest which lies atop the hills. But, looking at the plans the bridge, with numerous supporting stilts, runs right through the vineyards of the first three named villages and can be expected to have some effect there.

If you want to register your protest then contact Sarah Washington (washsarah@gmail.com) as she is leading the protests in situ in the Mosel.

One way or the other, this bridge seems to make no great sense - this part of Germany is beautiful and, generally, very quiet. I can understand the desire to bring more people here (all governments face a choice between improving local economies by bringing in more tourists yet, thereby, destroying the attraction) but this seems madness to me. What is not clear from the maps is where this new motorway ends - it appears to head towards Brussels but I'm not sure, and there would be no great need for a motorway for that traffic. Even sillier is that, at a time when we're challenged by climate change, bringing more emissions through greater traffic densities just seems bizarre.

Anyway, have a look at the video and maps and make up your own minds.

Another quickie...

2009-09-22T16:41:00.004+01:00

...sometimes, they're the best.

If you go here, you'll find all sorts of information about next years Landmark Australia Tutorial. This will be held in the beautiful Yarra Valley (windy so bring warm clothes) and will also be open to Australians, which Landmark 2009 was not.

If you want to know what I felt about and got from this year's Tutorial, then read back through my blog. What I can say here and now is that it was the best wine week of my life and a truly unforgettable experience.

We have a saying in Ireland: if you're not in, you can't win! I almost didn't apply, assuming that I wouldn't have a chance of being selected. So, if you're not sure whether you should apply or not, get off the fence and do it - you'll regret not applying and who knows, you might be one of the lucky 12 who are selected.

Forging links

2009-09-14T11:06:00.006+01:00

This is a short but important post. Next June (right in the middle of the World Cup, which is what happens when you let the women run the show!) the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) will hold a Symposium in Bordeaux, entitled Forging Links.

IMW holds a Symposium every four years and they are excellent opportunities for anyone interested in wine to get together and listen to some amazing speakers. The last symposium, Lateral Vision, held in Napa in 2006 had some fantastic sessions (it too was right in the middle of a major football championship!!) and was very, very good.

If you're interested in going you'd want to buy your ticket soon - as of IMW's AGM last week, 106 tickets had been sold, which is just about half of those available. Please use any of the links in this post to find out more.

A lot of people outside IMW often say that we are elitist, unfriendly and don't do anything useful - well, they've never attended a Symposium. While we may well be arrogant (on one trip we decided that the collective noun for a group of MWs should be an arrogance as opposed to a nose!!!) we do our best to bring everyone in the world of wine - producers, consumers, educators and anyone else - together to learn from each other. Give it a go, you'll enjoy it.

Today spätburgunder, tomorrow...

2009-09-13T21:53:00.007+01:00

On Thursday 10th September 2009, the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) held a German Pinot Noir Masterclass at Vintners Hall in London. There were 20 wines to taste, and an illustrious panel of producers, who had generously given up their time to attend (especially generous as harvest was starting for one of them already!). We had Meike Näkel, one of the daughters of Werner Näkel, of Weingut Meyer Näkel in the Ahr; Dieter Griener of Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau; Paul Fürst of Weingut Rudolf Fürst Burgstadt in Franken; the lusciusly named Yquem Viehhauser, Cellar Master (or Mistress to be exact) of Weingut Bernhard Huber in Baden; and Joachim Heger, of Weingut Dr Heger, also in Baden.

Now, spätburgunder is not exactly the darling of the wine trade, although plantings in Germany have increased and it is now about 7% of total plantings. My own experience, over the years, is that it has often been made with too much oak and not enough finesse. Having said that, I tasted a lovely spätburgunder at Von Buhl in 2007 which had lovely fruit and texture. Generally, it has always seemed to be the case that the wines lacked the elegance of Burgundy, although often commanding prices of similar levels!

We started with the Meyer Näkel wines, with three wines from the Dernauer Pfarrwingert Grosses Gewächs vineyard and the fourth an Auslese from the same vineyard. The 2007 was a very good wine, with quite classic pinot noir characters, noticeable black pepper but well-made and long. The 2006 was similar but much deeper in fruit style, black fruits as opposed to the more red fruit style of the '07. I thought this was very good to excellent but I had reservations about the prices (GBP44.65 being the stated price in the tasting booklet!). The 2004 was not as good, being noticeably more acidic in style, lacking fruit depth on the mid-palate and also showing some volatility. The 1999 was a mature wine, very smooth with sweet tobacco leaf notes and a supple mid-palate. Drinking very well now but not suggesting any need to keep it.

Next to the Kloster Eberbach wines.Again, we had four wines from the same vineyard: Assmannshäuser Hollenberg. The 2005 was decent, with nice youthful red fruits, but finishing a bit oaky for me. The 2003 was remarkably good, indeed very good. Quite stewed on the nose with dark, bitter plums and chocolate (a very hot year, similar to 1947 and 1959) suggesting a bitter tannic palate, nothing could have been farther from the truth as the palate was rich, with supple acidity, deep dark fruit, no noticeable tannins ad well-balanced alcohol (15% abv) to boot! The 1989 was very good, although perhaps drying out a bit on the finish. It had a lovely mature nose with spicy notes and tobacco leaf, similar flavours on the palate and very elegant. The 1959 was a really interesting wine. Almost port-like on the nose with a burnt sugar note, the palate was sweet on entry, with ripe, spicy fruits, quite smooth and drinking well. Although Herr Griener felt it would still age I felt it was a very good curiosity - it shows that pinot noir can age well but was not, for me, a wow wine.

Next we had the wines from Weingut Fürst in Franken. For me, these were the most consistent but also the best of the day. Again, four wines from the same site, the R Centgrafenberg Grosses Gewächs. I am a keen fan of wines from Franken, both riesling and silvaner, but this was the firs time I'd tasted a spätburgunder from this region. The 2007 was dense and very good - cheery and black pepper nose, with ripe sweet cherry fruit entry, fresh tannins, black pepper spice and minerality on the mid-palate and a long finish. The 2005 was not so good, being slightly volatile on the nose and with cabbage-cherry fruits on the palate, with dry tannins and slightly unbalanced alcohol on the finish. In fact, I found the 2005s generally to be variable throughout the tasting. The 2003, however, made up for the 2005 - intensely peppery on the nose, with notes of clove as well, it was rich, with dark cherries, firm but well-integrated tannins, mineral mid-palate and a long, tight finish. Very good. The 1997 was another wine to show the ageing potential of pinot noir, having quite a dark berry fruit nose and similar style on the palate - indeed, showing almost no aged characters at all. Again firm and mineral on the mid-palate but very well-balanced and long.

We then had the first of two visits to Baden, starting with the wines of Bernhard Huber. We had two Hecklinger Schlossberg Reserve QbA wines, followed by two Reserve QbAs. The 2006 was very good, with cherry and pepper notes (something of a common theme!) on the nose, and rich, spicy fruits on the palate. Firm and mineral, some oak spice, the wine opened up on the finish with lovely cherry fruits. The 2005 bucked the trend for tis vintage, being very good indeed but expensive - €48 at the cellar door! Made with 70% whole clusters, it had a cinnamon spicy nose, with very smooth ripe cherry fruits and supple acidity, soft tannins, sweet ripe fruits mid-palate and very elegant and long. Really nice. The 2001 was one of the best wines of the day, having a dark cherry nose, with rich, supple and deep cherry fruits on the palate, very elegant and very long. Really lovely and at €40 cellar door, good value. However, I found the 1990 to be bad - the nose smelled like old spice and the palate was sour and tart - a wine that was far too old and had not stood the test of time. The €90 being asked for this wine was €90 too much.

Finally, the wines of the Dr Heger winery, based in the Kaiserstuhl. Overall, these wines were disappointing for me. It must be noted that Joachim Heger had chosen wines which showed changes in style, in particular wine making methods, and that, therefore, the quality of the wines was secondary to their educational significance. We started with an Achkarrer Schlossberg *** QbA 2005 which showed a return to the general 2005 style - nice but lacked sufficient fruit depth to match the oak. The Ihringer Winklerberg *** QbA 2001 was a much better wine. Spice and tobacco leaf nose, it had better fruit depth on the palate and still showed some primary cherry fruits. Very well-balance, it was long and really good. The 1999 *** QbA from the same vineyard was not so great - they had problems with slow fermentation (resulting in 4.7 g/L residual sugar) and, for me, the wine was volatile on both nose and palate and lacked any redeeming qualities. The 1993 *** Spatlese Trocken was not good at all - tart and bitter at once, lacking depth and not good at all. This was made, I believe, in a rotofermenter, whereas the 2001 was made using punch-down. Whether the method had as much influence as the vintage I don't know, but these were worth tasting to see an evolution taking place.

I am on record as believing that the best pinot noir is from Burgundy, although caveat emptor as there is a lot of rubbish to be had in this most wonderful of wine regions. Following that, the wines from the better wineries in California (those who treat pinot carefully and who seek finesse rather than slap-in-the-face power), then Tasmania and, following from Landmark, Yarra and Mornington and other areas in Victoria in Australia, with Austria being the dark horse on the outside. Germany is never likely to feature highly: not because the quality isn't possible - it is - but because the prices are very high. There is very little to be done about this as production is small and there is high demand but when I can buy a Saintsbury for €35 or so in Ireland where we have extremely high taxes on wine, to be asked for €40 - 90 for wines of lesser quality in Germany is ridiculous. For me, riesling will always be the best German grape but the best burgunder in Germany is grauburgunder - pinot gris. There is a lot of really good wine made from GB and I believe it delivers a better quality to price ratio.

Terroir - some thoughts

2009-08-13T17:09:00.003+01:00

According to Decanter.com "A new study of the Beaujolais terroir has just been authorised in order to create the first ever classification." What is this terroir thing? You will have come across this term before and, no doubt, have heard or read definitions of it. Usually it's defined as some loose combination of grape, soil, climate and winemaker which gives to a wine its identifiable stamp of origin. Only a wine from a terroir has this, apparently.

Hmmm. I don't buy this at all. For starters, most wines are indelibly stamped by their winemakers and not much else. "Ah yes, but zat is becauz zey ar not terroir wines!" I hear Peter Sellers say. Hmmm, how is it, then, that two burgundies from the same vineyard and vintage can often taste very different? Don't they share the same terroir? If you scratch a French man deeply enough he'll use the terms terroir and soil interchangeably, thereby moving goalposts so much that you can't win the debate!
In another article on Decanter.com, oenologist Stéphane Derenoncour said, of climate change: 'French wines, elegant and refined, the jewels of our common national heritage, are in danger. Climate change is rendering our vineyards ever more vulnerable. Summer heat waves, recent hail storms in the Bordeaux region, new diseases arriving from the South, such irregularities will soon become far worse still. If nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases, vineyards will be displaced 1,000km beyond their traditional borders between now and the end of the century. Terroirs will not survive." (My bolded italics). Terroirs will not survive? But that's nonsense if terroir simply means the combination of local conditions, grapes and good wine making - all that will happen is that the terroir will change and different wines will result.
I can state, pretty categorically, that many wines from all over the world have clearly identifiable origin characteristics (if they didn't, passing the MW exam would either be dead easy or extremely difficult - I'm not sure which LOL) and, for me, the whole concept of terroir is a typically French philosophical construct designed to make them appear to be the great and good of the wine world. Which they are not. By any means. By a very long mile, never mind kilometre.
Yet, there are superb wines produced in France, right beside some bloody awful muck - Burgundy is a good place to look. Yes, Chambertin is a vineyard which produces great wines but there are those which bad and I have seen vines submerged in water in the same Grand Cru vineyard after a hard night's rainfall. Where's the terroir in that?
Does Beaujolais need more terroirs? No - France is already awash with AOCs that even experts have never heard of and that the self-same experts cannot easily distinguish from each other. Now, if the surveys mentioned are simply trying to determine best sites and vineyards, well that's one thing, but if it leads to a Burgundy-style Premier and Grand Cru vineyard scheme then that's just one more complex nail in the coffin of French wine sales.
Wouldn't it be better to have a simple offer (which is what Beaujolais already has) rather than complicating issues? It's great to know what soils exist in a region and, from an oenologist's or viticulturalist's point of view, this is important but does it really matter in terms of marketing?
Anyway, I just needed to rant and this seemed like a good topic. Bye bye.

New Zealand spice

2009-08-11T14:46:00.002+01:00

Well, I tried another birthday wine last night - the Mountford Estate Pinot Noir 2004 from Waipara in New Zealand. A lovely light ruby to garnet colour, with quite a ripe fruity nose but with hints f pepper spice, and a smooth palate with supple tannins, ripe dark berry fruit and supple acidity all well-balanced. Some cherry fruits as well and overall a lovely, smooth and elegant wine. Thanks Michael!

Lebanese charm

2009-07-27T22:41:00.003+01:00

Well, tonight I tasted the first of my birthday wines. Massaya Classic 2005 is a blend of 60% cinsault, 20% cabernet sauvignon and 20% syrah. Produced in the Bekaa Valley it's an interesting blend of grapes and producers - Dominique Hebrard of Chateaux Bellefont-Belcier and Trianon, Frederic & Daniel Brunier of Vieux Telegraphe and Sami and Ramzi Ghosn of Tanail in Lebanon.
The wine has a lovely ruby, garnet colour evenly fading from core to rim, suggesting some maturity. The nose is ripe and spicy, with warm berry fruits, some dried fruit and some pepper, suggesting a rich wine beginning to mature. The palate has a sweet, smooth entry, soft tannins and supple acidity, a rich but elegant middle palate, and a sweet long fruity finish. Overall, a good to very good wine.
So, thanks Bren for the good bottle.

A birthday post

2009-07-21T18:06:00.002+01:00

Well, a quickie - today I'm 50 and among the fabulous presents I got (having asked for none it's quite astonishing to get loads LOL) were 5 wines. At some stage I'll taste them and post the notes.

The wines are Chasse-Spleen 1985, Veuve Clicquot 1999, Marimar Estate Don Miguel Pinot Noir 2004, Mountford Estate Pinot Noir 2004 and Massaya Classic 2005.

That's it - short and sweet.

1963 Taylor

2009-06-30T22:52:00.008+01:00

Hi, a brief post tonight as I'm in a hot hotel room in Luxembourg and it's hard to sleep. Why am I in Luxembourg? Well, a good friend just turned 80 today and we went out for a lovely meal - myself and my sister Mary, Martin the birthday boy and his partner Cliodhna, plus two other friends of Martin, Jake and Diana. Our dinner was at the Jaegdschlaas, a very reliable restaurant - though not the best for vegetarians - where I had a lovely filet de cheval!
To drink, a 2006 Domaine des Entrefaux Crozes-Hermitage - a winery I know well and this was a beautifully balanced wine with classic "black olive" syrah characters with pepper and cherry. Quite youthful and showing very good ageing potential.

Last night we had a big party where Concha Y Toro's Casillero del Diablo 2007 red was served alongside the Cave de St Martin's 2007 Pinot Gris Cotes de Remisch. The red was good, the PG was lovely; both however were under cork and 4 out of 28 bottles were corked.

Tonight, we repaired chez Martin & Cliodhna where we opened a bottle of 1963 Taylor's - at least, that's what Martin said it was although there were no identifying marks other than on the wax seal. It was gorgeous - almost tawny in colour, with a lovely nose of soft, rich raisined fruit and some nuts, and a beautifully smooth palate. By the time we'd finished I didn't have the wherewithal to check the cork (which had crumbled anyway) but I'll take it as stated. Nice way to finish what has not been a good day for the Irish wine trade.

Jake had a good story about an Oxford dinner where one Fellow asked another about the new Bishop of Ely: "Nice man, but not a passing man!" was the response. Meaning, he spent too much time talking and didn't pass the port quickly enough!

Riesling rant

2009-06-22T13:47:00.014+01:00

Last Friday, 19th June, the German Wine Institute held a tasting of riesling and other wines from Germany in the Westbury Hotel in Dublin. I only tasted a few wines as I was under time pressure, but I was impressed by those I tried. However, during some chat the topic of "I don't drink riesling - it's sweet!" came up and I thought it's about time for a rant.

First, riesling isn't sweet - it's a grape and the wines made from riesling can range from the bone dry to the very luscious in sweetness. Second, what's wrong with sweet wine? I realise that I'm very lucky to have the chance to taste a wide range of wines and styles and to be in a position to develop an understanding of what makes wine so good but I still don't get why people choose to close their minds so readily in relation to certain wine styles e.g. sweet wines and chardonnay, for example.

Just like CJ in Reggie Perrin, I didn't get where I am today by closing my mind - quite the opposite. Doing the MW course forced me to re-evaluate my opinions about many styles of wine so that I am now a fairly catholic taster and drinker. Sweetness - what's it there for? Well, there are three real reasons for making a wine sweet.

The first is a high level of acidity which needs some sugar to balance it out. This can result from certain grapes or wines made in very cool climates where acids might not diminish during ripening even as flavours develop. The second is to make a wine where sweetness is essential e.g. Sauternes or Beerenauslesen etc. These are wines where, by a variety of methods, the amount of sugar in the grape juice is increased through dehydration of the grape, resulting in a wine with noticeable residual sugar. The third is where the wine is not that great and a bit of sweetness makes it palatable.

Let's look at this last case first. Which would you rather drink - a bad wine or a decent but unremarkable sweet wine? You might answer "neither" but not so long ago winemaking technology was such that those were often your only choices for white wines. Nowadays, if you've ever tried Blue Nun or Black Tower or Piat d'Or you'll find that these are simple, fruity, medium-dry wines which are very pleasant to drink. I wonder how many of the "knowledgeable" journalists and critics who bad-mouth these wines have ever tasted them? I do, and quite regularly - one of the benefits of being an educator. They're well-made and do exactly what they say on the tin.

Now, on to riesling. In Alsace it's bone dry but often lean, in Germany it's made dry (-ish) for the local market but often quite sweet for export, in Austria it's usually dry (notwithstanding some lovely exceptions tasted recently - see my last post) and in Australia it's usually very crisp and dry. Which style do I prefer? Well, I find Alsace often too lean, I love sweet Mosel and Rheingau but also the drier styles from Pfalz in Germany, I think the minerally, dry style of Austria is fantastic and I love the crisp lime of Clare Valley as well as the softer floral style of Eden Valley in Australia.

So, is sweetness ever bad? Well, only in the sense that if a wine with little or no real fruit character is being masked by sweetness (or oak, for that matter) then I would consider that the wine is bad, not the sweetness. There are plenty of lovely off-dry or sweet wines - try Torres's San Valentin Blanco which is an off-dry parellada and is gorgeous - easy to drink and fruity. Or, try some of the following, tasted on Friday...

As already mentioned, I didn't have much time so I started with Ben Mason of the Wicklow Wine Company who import the excellent wines from Max Ferd. Richter in the Mosel. These are all good to excellent, with a gorgeous Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese 2008 being one of the highlights. I never got back to taste their auslese but the real find was the Mulheimer Sonnenlay Zeppelinlabel 2008. Not only does it have a lovely label (they're in the main street in Wicklow so call in to see it!) but it was a really fresh, zingy wine. I cant even remember if it's sweet or dry, for what it's worth, but I do remember it as being very good!

Beside them were the wines of Markus Molitor, also from the Mosel, which are not currently imported into Ireland. They had three Trocken wines to taste and then three sweet styles. I found these to be very good indeed, with a lovely intensity of riesling character. Their 2008 Zeltinger Deutschherreberg Auslese was lovely.

Next I tried the wines of Manfred Breit, based in Piesport in the Mosel, also unrepresented in Ireland. He had three trocken wines which were good but his Piesporter Goldtropfchen Spatlese 2008 was very good with lovely ripe apple flavours; surprisingly, it had 77 g/L residual sugar (Auslese Goldkapsel levels) but really didn't seem overdone at all! He also had a lovely, light zippy spatburgunder which, I gather, sells at €8 in Germany - which is really good value here but quite expensive there.

I then headed to the stand of the Burgerspital Weingut Wurzberg. Franken produces quite different styles of wine to other regions of Germany, as well as using the old Bocksbeutel bottle. Here, they had a nice enough dornfelder/trollinger rose, a good, typically mineral and earthy silvaner, some really good rieslings, including an very good Frickenhauser Kapellenberg Auslese but the real star, surprisingly for me, was a really spicy, firm gewurztramier. Normally I don't care too much for GW as it's often blowzy and one-dimensional but this was very good.

Next door was the Schloss Wackerbarth winery from Sachsen, in the former east Germany. This was the first time I had ever tasted any wines from this part of Germany and I was impressed. A good riesling, good grauburgunder (pinot gris) and an interesting traminer. They also had two very good sparklers, both bottle-fermented. Well worth seeking out.

I ended at the Schloss Reinhartshausen of the Rheingau. I thought these were very good with classic Rhengau-style rieslings - pears and apples with smokey slate notes - but also a really good spatburgunder.

So, there you are - stop mixing up poor winemaking with good winemaking; sweetness is neither good nor bad, per se - it all depends on the overall balance and quality of the wine.

Analysis in Vienna

2009-06-16T13:58:00.010+01:00

Well, if you're going to do a spot of analysis you might as well go to Freud's home town :)
So, last Thursday the entire Council of IMW decamped to Vienna as very grateful guests of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. We were there to hold a Strategy Meeting and also to meet with some of our supporters and exchange views on what IMW is, where it should be going etc. Naturally, as this topic is not for public consumption I won't mention it, other than to say that we had a very good three days.

However, we combined work with a mini-trip to Austria and this was very good indeed. First, let me thank AWMB and Willi Klinger for enabling us to meet in Vienna and for helping to organise an excellent programme. Also, I would like to mention our two newest supporters who were very generous - Palais Coburg and the Esterhazy Foundation. You'll see shortly how generous they were and how being on IMW Council can vastly improve your lifestyle!

Thursday evening was spent in the delightful Wein & Co near Stephansdom in Vienna. Here, as a test/treat(?) our playful Chairman Pepi Schiller gave us (blind) a glass of 1992 Gruner Veltliner from F X Pichler. As per the now famous 2002 London tasting this was very similar to a good, aged white Burgundy and was a delicious wine.

The next day was spent in meetings at the Palais Coburg. If you haven't been here you have missed one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. On top of that, they have a very spectacular wine cellar (over 60,000 bottles, worth well over USD20 million, I think, and including 100 vintages of Yquem, a USD1 million lot of Mouthon Rothschild, wines from 1727 and so forth) which is well worth a tour. We had a lovely "buffet" lunch (three courses with very fine wines indeed) as well as a wonderful dinner in a beautifully gilt and mirrored room in the hotel itself. This sort of thing normally doesn't happen to ordinary joe soaps like us so this was spectacular. Even Pepi was impressed, noting that we got into the wine cellar without having security guards in attendance, which is the norm!

On Saturday, we visited the Neusiedlersee in Burgenland. This lake is 30 km long, has a surface area of about 320,000 KM squared but is only 1.2 metres deep! We tasted sweet wines from four producers in Illmitz and these were lovely. From Weingut Angerhof, a range of superbly varietally-true wines: Sauvignon Blanc Beerenauslese 2006 (by far and away the best SB I've tasted in years!), a Muskat-Ottonel Schilfwein 2006 (schilfwein is made from partially dried grapes), a Chardonnay Trockenbeerenauslese 2005 (one for fans of Jean Thevenet in the Maconnais!) and a Samling 88 Trocenbeerenauslese 2005 (samling is a synonym for scheurebe). The redoubtable Willi Opitz showed a Welschriesling/Scheurebe Beerenauslese 2007, a Schilfmandel Muskat-Ottonel 2004, the "Opitz One" Zweigelt Schilfwein 2007 (red wine) and a Pinot Gris TBA 2006. Interestingly, he offered morsels of food with each and the zweigelt went really well with a soft Danish blue cheese.

Then, from Weingut Stolzerhof we had a Welschriesling BA 2005, a Gruner Veltliner Eiswein 2006, a Muskat-Ottonel Eiswein 2007 and "Ambrosia" TBA 2005. The eisweine have to be picked at -7 Celsius, so those of you who feel grape picking is a fun, romantic job - well, off you go! Finally, Weingut Helmut Lang offered two Samling TBAs - 2006 and 2002 (the rich development characters in the older wine were lovely to see) - and a Gelber Muskateller Eiswein 2008 and a Welschriesling TBA 2005 (still a a barrel sample!). Overall, a lovely way to start the day.

This superb tasting was then topped off by a lovely cruise across the Neusiedlersee in a solar-powered boat owned by the National Park authorities. On arrival in Rust, home of the Austrian Wine Academy we had a gorgeous lunch in a local buschenschank (a local wine bar) whose name escapes me followed by a brief follow-up meeting at OWA. Here, Pepi gave us a 1954 GV from Winzerberg Krems which was still in pretty good nick! But, in case we hadn't had enough fun we then visited Heidi Schroek, the Queen of sweet wine, and tasted wines from her joint venture with the recently departed Alois Kracher, as well as her own wines. She is a very charming, informative woman who makes seriously good wines - only sweet but fabulous to boot.

So, could the day get any better? Well, after that we visited the Esterhazy winery fora quick taste of 18 Blaufrankisch wines. Now, I should warnm you that if you dislike firm, chunky tannins with crisp acidity then blaufrankisch is not the grape for you. There were some lovely wines, with Paul Achs's wines being very god (he also makes excellent pinot noir). This was a prelude to a visit to Schloss Esterhazy in nearby Eisenstadt. The Esterhazy family is Hungarian family with a long history in the region, especially benevolent. The family suffered terribly during the communist era but the Esterhazy Foundation (our newest sponsors) carry on the family's work. We were treated to a private viewing of the crrent exhibition on Josef Haydn (he lived and worked at Schloss Esterhazy for 40 years) and then had, in the courtyard, a private recital by a very talented string quartet. This was followed by a lovely dinner with doe (a deer! a female deer) on the menu. All in all, some day and fun all the way through.

Sunday, you would think, would have to be special to follow that and, given that we had to rush the day in order to make flights the omens were not good. Yet Pepi managed to deliver a superb send off. After a drive to the Wachau region we started with a tasting at Domane Wachau where the Domane (the renamed Freie Weingartner Wachau or Wacha Wine Coop) showed wines, as did Rudi Pichler (Oz Clarke's doppelganger), Johannes Hirsch and Fred Loimer. The theme was riesling and terroir. Riesling is not the strongest grape in Austria, GV is, but still produces some excellent wines and these producers from Wachau and Kamptal showed how good it can be. From DW we had 2 Kellerberg Smaragd (2007 and 2008) and 2 Achleiten Smaragd (also 2007 and 2008). From RP we had 2 Steinriegl Smaragd (2005 and 2007) and 2 Achleiten Smaragd (2005 and 2007). Rudi's 2005 Achleiten was excellent. JH showed 2 Zoibinger Gaisberg (2006 and 2007) and 2 Zoibinger Heligenstein (2006 and 2007) while FL offered 2 Seeberg (2006 and 2007) as well as 2 Steinmassl (2006 and 2007). This was a lovely tasting of rieslings with minerality, depth, fruit and well-balanced acidities. Lunch then followed in the Domane's property, looking out over a lovely vinescape on the banks of the Danube.

Then, a mad rush to Weingut Sepp Moser, to taste GV - four top notch producers with their take on gruner veltliner. GV is Austria's most important grape and, while not yet widespread throughout the world, has so much to offer. Crisp and peppery in youth it has an astonishing ability to morph into chardonnay as it ages. Along with minerality on the palate this all combines to mean that GV is one of the great food varietals as V wines match many different foods.

We had a Gebling 2008 from Moser - an astonishing burst of fresh black pepper on the nose - followed by a Schnabel 2008 - mineral and firmer - and then a Breiter Rain 2002 - rich and ripe. Then the great Willi Brundlmayer with a Kaferberg 2007 - very elegant pepper style - followed by a 1994 Lamm - lovely and round - with a 1992 Lamm (oak fermented and matured) showing almost like a fine old Burgundy. Wow! Then Stadt Krems, the winery owned by the town of Krems, showed a 2008 Wachtberg - lovely apple-blossom notes - and a 2003 Wachtberg - still youthful but with lovely peppery notes - and then a 1971 Wachtberg. This wine was spoiled by the cork sufficiently for it to show some dullness but underneath there was a fabulous wine which still had some primary fruit character.

Markus Huber from Traisental region then showed a 2008 Alte Setzen - clean, youthful apple notes - followed by a 2006 Berg - seriously good, intense and ripe - and then a 2002 Berg - mineral, pepper and fruit all in one glass.

To wrap up, Nikki Moser then showed his 2007 "Minimal" - a wine made with no sulphur treatment, one and a half years on lees with batonnage, racked once, bottled unfined and unfiltered. I have to say i found it odd, having a deep yellow colour, an almost banana fruit nose, with a soft orange toffee character on the palate. Still, a worthy wine to say auf wiedersehen!

Well, how was it for you?

2009-06-06T13:23:00.007+01:00

Well, I'm now in the Qantas Business Lounge in Singapore Changi, finishing off my posts about Landmark. So, I suppose, I have to ask whether it did what I had expected and whether it achieved its objectives.

To the first question is the answer is that it exceeded expectations so much as to be almost unquantifiable. We had an excellently organised week (well done to Lucy and Prue, to Paul, to P J , James and all the others who worked so hard to keep things running smoothly), we had three excellent core tutors who were able to guide us, debate with us and laugh as much as we did (well done to Michael, Tony and Andrew) and a great range of guest speakers who are too numerous to mention.

On top of that we had a great range of wines - some of these are so rare that they may never be tasted in public again; many were donated from private cellars for our benefit. I have to say, you feel very humble when people who have never met you are willing to do this. The wines showed us Australia in 4 dimensions - the three of apace as we explored almost every region in Australia and the 4th of time as we saw wines going back to 1909! Diversity was one of the tutorial's aims and this was achieved brilliantly.

Finally, we had a great group of students - this group gelled extremely well and I can honestly say that this was one of the best groups I've ever met. I have been at other tasting events where not everyone added to the group dynamic but here everybody got on and played their part. The organisers are to be commended for their ability to select people as well as they selected wines!

In relation to the second question it certainly achieved the first of its objectives - there are now 12 confirmed apostles (we were disciples but we've graduated!) and we will be spreading the word as best we can. As to the second objective, the message being understood - well, only time will tell but I expect this to be achieved as well.

I have to say I was very sad to leave - it has been a great week and, I confess, I feel quite emotional about it in much the same way as Jamie Goode. The generosity and friendliness of all we met and those we didn't is seriously impressive - I cannot imagine such a level of altruism in the Irish or UK wine industries. Landmark is based on the well-known Len Evans tutorial which is free for participants. Total cost of the LE is probably AUD100,000 yet those who attend have only to get there, once they've been selected. Get that - the industry sponsors the tutorial as it believes this is the best way to get the message across. Think about that - can you imagine this happening at home? Anywhere else? I can't.

Anyway, I'm now on my way home with much to think about and I am truly grateful to Landmark for the professional benefits but also the personal benefits of having met such a great group of people. Thank you.

Heaven, I'm in lickoffable heaven...

2009-06-06T12:21:00.006+01:00

By the end of this tasting Kerri Thomson, of K T and the Falcon fame, stated that she was scared of my tasting notes... but what goes on tour stays on tour! This was a great way to finish the week. Even though we were rushed, due to time pressure, the wines shown and their fantastic individual character made this a real treat.

Fortified wines I love them, especially the classic Australian wines. No longer able to use terms such as Sherry or Tokay, we tasted some Apera (sherry-style, presumably from aperitif), some Topaques (the new word for Tokay) as well as Muscats, Vintages and Tawnies.

We had James Godfrey as our guest tutor and he was an excellent guide. He works with Seppeltsfield, a company with an amazing range of wines in its portfolio. They have an unbroken range of wines dating back to 1878 (yes!) which means anyone in the world can get an actual wine from their birth year, if they're wiling to pay the prices!! More of which anon.

We started easily enough with two Aperas: Morris of Rutherglen Show Amontillado and Seppeltsfield Museum Oloroso DP104. These were both lovely wines, with the Morris showing some quite noticeable flor character, as any good Amontillado should. The Oloroso was quite rich and deep with a real nutty dryness on the finish. These two were as good as anything of similar style from Jerez itself.

Then a Vintage and two Tawnies plus a gem. The Seppeltsfield 2005 Vintage was a really gorgeous wine, with really perfumed youthful fruit notes and great depth on the palate. Amazingly rich in style we were astonished to learn that tannin had been added to the wine - it felt so smooth!

Then A Seppeltsfield DP90 Rare Tawny and a Grant Burge 30 Year Old Tawny. The former was a really elegant wine whereas the latter was really yummy and luscious. I had stopped spitting out at this stage as these were just too damn good to waste - and I've expectorated at Chateau d'Yquem!

The gem was The Penfolds Great Grandfather Series 1 was just an amazing wine - I have wine friends who will understand the reference in the title and this was a perfect example.

Then three Topaques. Campbells of Rutherglen's Isabella Rare, Seppeltsfield's Paramount Rare and Morris's Old Premium. Muscadelle, the grape used and which is now called Topaque instead of Tokay, gives a somewhat less fragrant character than muscat and has a malty, cold-tea character, as well as raisin notes. These were gorgeous and luscious (if you have any problems with blood sugars then these wines are not going to be good for you! The average sugar levels would be about 450 g/L!!!) and had lovely burnt fruitcake notes.

Then three muscats: McWiliam's Show Reserve (from Riverina fruit), Morris Old Premium and Campbell's Merchant prince Rare. These showed brilliantly - each had that classic floral orange note that muscat has but with rich, dense dark fruits, bitter chocolate overlays and, again were extremely luscious. One of the amazing things about these wines is their elegance even though they are so rich and viscous!

Then three absolutely amazing wines - Chambers Rare Muscadelle, Morris 1928 Liqueur Muscat and Seppeltsfield 1909 Para. Yep - one from 1928 and one from 1909!

Well, the Chambers was incredible: rich, syrupy (the glasses stained amber as you left them to settle), plum and burnt fruitcake nose, with coffee and chocolate notes on the finish.

The Morris was even better - black and amber colour, quite a spirity nose, initially, with dark orange chocolate notes, the palate was like treacle with beautifully evolving raisin, orange and caramel notes.

Then the 1909 (which is the current release - yep, they only release this wine after 100 years! Yes!! That's right!!!). The nose was quite volatile and yet this blew off after a few minutes. The palate was drinking 100% cocoa chocolate but with really rich sweet sugars on top and finished amazingly dry - it was hard to believe you'd just tasted a wine with huge amounts of sugar! It changed every time you went back to taste it - bitter orange fruits, with chocolate and burnt fruit flavours. Really, just astonishing. If you want to try this for yourself, then it's a snip at AUD1,000 per half bottle - AUD10 a year!

By the end of this tasting the whole room was really excited - Jamie Goode confessed that tasting the Morris 1928 almost made him want to cry and I can well understand this. These wines were truly, truly amazing - if the words seem to be repeated a lot it is because I do not have the vocabulary to really do these wines justice.

Finish on a high - we really did.

Bubbly personality

2009-06-06T02:27:00.006+01:00

Well now, some of us have very bubbly personalities and today was the day for them, We had a great masterclass tasting of the best of Australian sparkling wines from Tony Jordan and Ed Carr. A few interesting things came out of the pre-tasting discussion. In Australia, some 70% of the bottle-fermented wines are made by the transfer method, something of which I had been unaware. This is a method where the yeast sediment is removed by filtration rather than riddling and disgorging. It gives exactly the same quality as the traditional method but adds uniformity across bottles (all the wine is blended then re-bottled) and is very cost effective.
We started with Domaine Chandon's Z*D 2005, a zero dosage wine. Tony gave me a dirty look for saying it was broad - I think he'd have preferred rich! This was followed by the 2004 Yarra Burn Blanc de Blancs and then the somewhat oxidatively styled 2004 Josef Chromy Pinot Noir Chardonnay from Tasmania. A really nice Brown Brothers "Patricia" 2004 followed, and then a lovely Arras Grand Vintage 2003 from Tasmania. This was really good.
Then some late disgorged wines: a Chandon 2002, a Jansz 2001, a Hardys Sir James 2000, a Petaluma Croser 1998, an Arras 1998 and a Hanging Rock Cuvee VIII NV. This last was a bit odd but the rest were pretty good.
Then, two roses, a Bay of Fires and a 2005 Chandon, this latter being very good. I found the Bay of Fires fair to good, which has always been my experience with this wine.
Finally, the star of the show for me - Seppelt's Show Sparkling Shiraz 1994. What a wine! Still youthful in style, showing clear Grampians regional character, with a really rich, deep but well balanced palate. Yummy! Really yummy.

Dinner blues

2009-06-06T02:19:00.004+01:00

If I had one complaint about this week it would be two complaints! First, too many wines to taste at dinner - 14 - 16 wines with a meal is an awful lot. Second, big chunky reds with cheese - why not white wines?

So I skipped out of dinner early because that's what I do.

I hate blind tastings!

2009-06-04T23:20:00.004+01:00

What? Another blind tasting? We travelled to the Lovely Maggie Beer's Farm (both Maggie and the farm are lovely) to meet with one of the great personalities of the Australian wine industry, Brain Croser AO, who decided to put us through a fiendish blind tasting.

Twenty wines, all shiraz and/or cabernet (this included cab. franc), 10 of which were single vineyard, 8 of which were single region and two were inter-regional blends. All we had to do was ask six questions of each wine: was it varietal/regional in style or winemaker wine; was it cabernet or shiraz; where was it from; was the alcohol balanced or too high/low; was the acid balanced or too high/low; and was the sugar high, evident or dry?

So informed, we started and it was a tricky tasting. One wine was more or less equal parts cabernet and shiraz so there were 13 shiraz wines and 9 cabernet wines, as it were, in the tasting. I got 9 of the shiraz wines but only 3 of the cabernets so that was disappointing. I did nail four of the wines, which was nice, even if the shiraz viognier from Canberra is pretty easy to spot!

I found the regional characters hard to spot, which is not the best thing to admit after a four day intensive course on the regions of Australia but looking at my mistakes I was fairly close in climatic feel i.e. I went for a cool region but the wrong one! Still, work to do on this at some later stage.

I nailed the Brokenwood Graveyard, which was great, because the Hunter shiraz style had been a mystery to me before this trip. I also got the Cullen Diana Madeline and, for both of these, very few in the room managed to do this. Nyah boo sucks to ye!

It was a very entertaining tasting and made feel like a young MW student all over again - please let me out of here!!!!!! Interestingly, as Brian went through the results, the group did pretty well, which suggests that the Landmark people have done a good job. So, with that positive note, I'll sign off.

Love is blind

2009-06-04T23:10:00.001+01:00

I love pinot noir and Tom Carson decided to test us by putting on an excellent blind tasting of 14 pinots. As a result of the 2001 MW trip I, and many of my colleagues, was convinced that outside of Tasania there was no decent pint noir in Australia. The wines we tasted were generally big, extracted and quite oaky. But this tasting was a real eye-opener and, probably, achieved brilliantly what Landmark is all about - it informed us of the change in styles and the breadth of quality pinot noir available here.

We had 2 flights of seven wines - the first the "Young Guns", the second the "Old Masters". As someone who is approaching 50 I regret to say that the young guns took the day, although there were some fabulous wines in the Old Masters.

A deliciously fruity and soft Holyman 2007 from Tasmania led off, swiftly followed by two equally fruity and smooth wines, the Bindi Growers Block 5 2007 from Macedon and a gorgeous Yabby Lake 2007 from Mornington. These "flighty" styles were soon followed up by the bigger hitters, Stefano Lubiano 2006 from Tasmania becoming firmer in styles, a Kooyong Ferrous 2006 from Mornington showing some muscle but well-balanced, then a superb Tarra Warra MDB 2006 from Yarra, followed by some Kiwi interloper from someplace called Felton Road. Admittedly, a bit like the hard-working P J Charteris, it was super.

Then, we had the Old Masters, a few of which were showing their age. I found the Ashton Hills 2003 from Adelaide Hills to be drying out and would, perhaps, have been better a year or three ago. The Paringa Reserve 2003 was very big and muscular and, for me, should have been tested for performance enhancing drugs. A valid style, I guess, but too big for pinot. The shocker was the 2002 Domaine de la Romane Conti St Vivant which was very old looking. But Tom had saved the best for last - a 1999 Mt Mary from the Yarra was perfectly a point and really good. The Bass Phillip Premium 1997 from Gippsland was lovely and ageing well. Then the two eye-openers: Bannockburn Serre 1997 from Geelong was remarkable. Although almost sherry-like on the nose it had a gorgeous palate and was a beautiful drink. The Coldstream Hills Reserve 1992 was just fantastic - drinking well now but suggesting at leats another 3 to 5 years ahead of it.

I put my hand up and admitted that I was wrong and that Australia really does have great pinot nor. I hope this will help with my parole board meeting later today LOL

Anything but...

2009-06-04T23:08:00.001+01:00

I never got the ABC thing - why would you not want to drink chardonnay? A bunch of idiots decided that chardonnay was boring so started Anything But Chardonnay because they were too stupid to see what chardonnay has to offer. Let's examine this. Chardonnay is a grape so, be default, can be no more or less boring than any inarticulate living thing. Ah no, they say, there's a lot of dull, homogeneous chardonnay wines out there. Oh right, so it's the winemakers who are boring then? Well, why didn't you all get up off your backsides and find the good chardonnays, the ones that show the range of styles and flavours this grape offers? Because you're lazy - end of story.
By the way, if my comments offend anyone, good - and don't bother complaining because I won't listen.
Chardonnay comes after riesling, in my opinion, but far exceeds other varieties in the range of wines it can produce. Crisp and lean or broad and round, with or without oak, big and massive or light and delicate they're all possible. Chardonnay is also a very savoury grape - it makes wines that go so well with food. So, if you're the kind of person who finds wine confusing (which it can be) and you're wondering whose opinions to follow in re chardonnay, let me help you. Listen to me - drink more chardonnay. Then learn about wine and drink loads of other wines as well BUT never, ever just follow the herd and stop drinking some of the best wines you can buy.
It's 07:15 here and, as you can see, I'm not an early morning person!
Yesterday we kicked off with chardonnay and had a lovely tasting, all of the 2006 vintage: Tyrell's Vat 47 (Hunter), Cullen Kevin John (Margaret River), Vasse Felix Heytesbury (MR), Leeuwin Estate Art Series (MR), Shaw + Smith M3 (Adelaide Hills), Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard (AH), Giaconda Estate Vineyard (Beechworth), Bindi Wine Growers Quartz (Macedon Ranges), Stonier KBS Vineyard (MOrnington Peninsula), Oakridge 864 (Yarra Valley), Tarra Warra MDB (Yarra), Freycinet Vineyard (Tasmania), Hardy's Eileen hardy (Tasmania, Yarra, Tumbarumba) and Penfold's Yattarna (Tasmania, Adelaide Hills, Henty).
This was a lovely range of wines, from the lemony wines of Margaret River to the classically big Giaconda to an excellent Yattarna. Overall, there were elegant, fresh styles as well as bigger styles but all showed great class. The Giaconda is an interesting wine in light of the ABC nonsense. It's big and fairly in your face (the Leeuwin falls into this category as well) but so what? These are quintessentially Australian in that the average Australian is big and friendly and these wines are like that. They're not big and loud, just generous and welcoming. hen you want a more delicate style (or if that's what you prefer) don't say these are bad, just switch to another wine.

To BD or not BD...

2009-06-03T23:15:00.004+01:00

That is the question; whether tis nobler in the vineyard to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous chemicals, or, to take up preparations 500 and 501 against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them...

Last night's dinner had one great benefit, the chance to talk to Vanya Cullen who is a keen advocate of biodynamics (BD as it's known here) and, as far as I know, runs a carbon neutral winery. We also had Julian Castagna but, forgive me Julian, Vanya's a lot prettier so she gets the limelight! Who says sexism is dead?

BD has a number of principles which include using homeopathic quantities of certain preparations to combat vineyard problems or to encourage vineyard development. Without a doubt, pretty much any vineyard grown BD produces fabulous fruit and the vines appear to be a lot healthier or sturdier than those grown under standard regimes. The question for many is: does BD really make a difference?

In 2007, I attended the annual IMW pilgrimage to Geisenheim where we had a weekend seminar on BD ad organics. We were show a number of trials which being undertaken to measure the efficacy of various BD preps, as well as comparing BD against organic and standard viticulture. Here in Australia Mike Brown of Gemtree is facilitating a similar programme which compares BD against organic against heavy conventional against light conventional. I found these all interesting but as the Scots would say, I hae ma doots!

Some years ago Paul Dolan of Pardcci (ex-Fetzer) said how his compost, which had been sprayed with a BD prep, had a higher earthworm count than an untreated heap and this was "proof" of the benefits of BD. Pondering this later, as an ex-mathematician, I realised that this is nowhere near proof. There is anecdotal evidence and there is statistically significant evidence. Anecdotal evidence is where something happens to you, you mention this to someone else and they adopt whatever position you have recommended on the basis of your recommendation. For wine geeks this means always following Robert Parker or James Halliday or Jancis Robinson MW, for example. Their anecdotal opinions are taken as gospel.

Statistically significant evidence is where you determine, through elimination of variables in the trial and statistical analysis of results whether the result is significant i.e. whether the results show that you have isolated the key determinant of effect and whether it works. For example, if a treatment is no different to a non-treatment then statistical analysis will highlight this. If however, a trial determines that the use of a treatment significantly changed an outcome then that treatment has been shown to be effective. By the way, this effect could be detrimental as much as beneficial.

Now, we know (and we do, regardless of opinions to the contrary) that homeopathy does not do anything - people get better through a placebo effect. For those who say I'm wrong and that their opinion is as valid of mine I should point out that I am not stating an opinion I am reporting medically researched fact. For those of you who want an easy look into this read Ben Goldacre's book "Bad Science" - then stop worrying about getting anti-oxidants into your diet: they are bad for you!

So, given that homeopathy doesn't do anything and that the homeopathic dilutions are only water (check out the BBC Horizon programme with James Randi on the so-called memory of water) what of BD? Well, if Paul Dolan had told me that he had sprayed his other compost heap with water every time he'd sprayed his BD heap, counted the earthworm populations and statistically analysed the results (in any two heaps one will always have more - the question is what difference in the numbers is significant?) and repeated these trials over many years and got consistent results then, and only then, would I take it as proven.

To reiterate the difference between anecdotal and proof bear in mind that a number of people have fallen out of planes with parachutes that didn't work yet survived the fall. That's anecdotal evidence that you might not die if this happens to you. But would you voluntarily jump without a 'chute? No, you have personal experience that falls are dangerous. In areas of life where your experience is limited, though, you tend to rely more heavily on anecdotal evidence because humans value experience highly.

Back to BD. If someone will run a vineyard on BD principles BUT only spray water whenever they would otherwise have sprayed BD preps and then measure that vineyard against a similar BD one, do this over a good many years, do tastings of the wines etc then we might see if the active interventions of BD work.

Finally, who cares? I mean this - if the results (the wine if the bottle) are really all that matters why worry about proof or disproof? Why argue with those mad few who take BD as a religion - a faith? People with faith cannot be shaken by any degree of evidence. if BD makes the happy, why not leave them alone? For those who always seem surprised that scientists use BD, why? They looked at cause and effect (in a broader sense than the narrow viewpoint of BD) and made a logical decision - the results are what I want to achieve so that's what I'll do. Do you know how a computer actually works? If you answer yes then you'd better be a qualified quantum scientist because otherwise you don't! Does it make any difference as to how you use a PC? Of course not.

OK, breakfast has just arrived so sod off you lot and leave me alone LOL

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow...

2009-06-03T14:39:00.003+01:00

Another marathon dinner session - slow food and wines. Jansz Premium Vintage Rose 2005 - my Finnish MW colleague Essi Avellan judged this to be very good. I tried the Avonmore Organic Pale Ale which I judged to be very good. The Pennyweight Woody's Amontillado was, well, hmmmm, not at all like an amontillado Sherry being pale and sweet.
Two roses followed - the Sutton Grange Fairbank 2008 (hardly rose in colour at all) worked very well with the food, while the Lucy Margaux Vino d'Auge 2008 was lovely on its own.
The Gemstone Albarino which cannot be called albarino so is now a grape without a name and this is really getting boring was nice but no match at all for its pork belly and apple dish. The Moonarra Holly's Garden Pinot Gris 2008 was a match, and a very good one at that. The Ngeringa Viognier 2007 was lovely but, again, did not match the dish.
A Bass Phillip Pinot Noir 2007 was simply fantastic. Again, it didn't go well with the quail pie as there was a strong red wine jus but it was gorgeous. The Castagna Genesis Syrah 2007 was a better match having the depth to match both meat and sauce. The Ngeringa Syrah 2006 was good.
Then, to ruin both cheese and wines we had ewes cheeses with a Castagna La Chiave Sangiovese 2002 (gorgeous), a Castagna Un Segreto Sangiovese/Shiraz 2005 (peppery and lovely) and a Cullen Mangan Malbec/Petit Verdot/Merlot 2007 (rich and deep). Any chance we could get some off-dry whites with the cheese, please? Pretty please?
Ooops - two off-dry to sweet rieslings, each destroyed by the intense lemon curd dessert. KT and the Falcon 2008 (nice enough) and a Lethbridge Kabinett 2008 (very nice) but both should have been served one course earlier. A Ngeringa Altus Vin Santo was lovely and the Sutton Grange Ratafianovese 2007 was, well,.... have you ever been dared to drink something and discovered that it wasn't that bad?
Say no more and off to bed.

What's the alternative?

2009-06-03T14:25:00.003+01:00

The afternoon session was held in Yalumba's winery in an old, refurbished underground tank. In here, no-one can hear you scream....
Louisa Rose and Max Allen led an extensive tasting of many alternative wines. While a bit long (20 wines) it was interesting and there were some really thought-provoking wines. We started with 2 pinot gris wines (Henschke and Delatite), then 2 viogniers (Yalumba and Castagna) and a roussanne (Giaconda). Then an arneis (Dal Zotto), an albarino which cannot be so-called anymore because it's savagnin or traminer but that takes too long to say (Crittenden), a mad blend (Spinifex's Lola), a friuliano (Quealy) and a fiano (Coriole).
I liked both pinots gris, the Yalumba viognier, the arneis (which would be lovely with prawns) and the fiano. The friuliano was weird and the rest were nice but not great.
Then we had some reds. We started with gamay (R Wines), sangiovese (Greenstone), tempranillo (Gemstone) and mourvedre (Hewitson). I loved the gamay but seemed to be in a minority here. The sangiovese was very good, I found the tempranillo tough and tannic (all Australians say these are classic tempranillo characters but not where I come from!) and the mourvedre was an old-fashioned style but lovely.
Then 3 really good nebbiolos. Arrivo's lungo macerazione (very very good), Luke Lambert (good, fresh style) and Pizzini (rich and complex although, again, the group generally didn't like this one).
Then three oddities - Boireann's Tannat (big, chunky, good), Cobaw Ridge's Lagrein (very good, peppery) and First Drop's Montepulciano (extracted and massive and not like any montepulciano I've ever tasted).
Overall, some hits and some misses but very entertaining indeed.

Call a cab

2009-06-03T14:14:00.003+01:00

Under the guidance of Rob Mann, a most temperate young winemaker, we tasted two flights of cabernet wines. These were impressive, and showed that there is some pretty high quality cabernet sauvignon in Australia.
Flight 1 was: Mt Mary Quintet Cabernets 2005 (Yarra Valley), Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet/merlot/cabernet franc 2005 (Great Southern & Margaret River), Cape Mentelle Cabernet 2005 (Margaret River), Woodlands "Colin" Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Margaret River), Sandalford Prendiville Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Margaret River) and Mouton Rothschild 2005 (Pauillac).
A very successful flight. The Margaret River wines all showed well and both the Cape Mentelle and the Woodlands were lovely wines which would definitely benefit from bottle age. The Mouton stood out for a mineral, lean type of wine in comparison to the other wines, although it was very good to be fair.
Flight 2 was Parker Terra Rossa First Growth 2005 (Coonawarra), Majella The Malleea 2005 (Coonawarra), Henschke Cyril Henschke 2005 (Eden Valley), Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 2005 (Clare Valley), Chateau Reynella Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (McLaren Vale) and Penfolds Cellar Reserve 2005 (Barossa). I really liked the Henschke and I still don't get this particular Wendouree wine but, again, this flight worked well.

Lean green machine

2009-06-03T09:32:00.003+01:00

OK, these exhaustive tasting notes are taking me too long to do so, from here on in, I think these'll be shorter. Wednesday started with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and blends of the two. ed by Iain Riggs of Brokenwood we had an interesting morning. The semillon flight was: Tyrell's Vat 1 Semillon 1998 (Hunter), Brokenwood ILR Semillon 1999 (Hunter), Peter Lehmann Margaret Semillon 2002(BArossa), Tempus Two Copper Zenith SEmillon 2003 (Hunter), Vasse Felix Semmilon 2005 (Margaret River), McWilliams Mt Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2006 (Hunter) and Thomas Wines Braemore Individual Vineyard Semillon 2008 (Hunter).
Apart from the Brokenwood which had a cork problem, but still showed some great palate weight, the rest were all very good. The Peter Lehmann was quite a revelation with only 12% abv and a very supple acid style. The Vasse Felix was the most different wine of the flight wit big tropical fruits but well made in it's style.
Then three sauvignons - Shaw & Smith 2009 (Adelaide Hills), Angullong 2008 (Orange) and Logan 2008 (Based in Mudgee but orange fruit). The S + S tank sample showed great depth and promises to be very good. I found the Angullong light and not great but the Logan was excellent.
Next, the moment of truth - five sem/sauv or sau/sem blends. Personally, I didn't like them much at all and, in typical style, said so. I appreciate why these were shown but I thought they were weak and showed nothing that suggested to me that this blend style is going to do well outside Australia. The really good bit is that the winemaker for one of the wines was right beside me, but he took it well. Still, I think I'll check my insurance asap LOL!
Funnily enough, while quite a few defended the wines, one or two agreed with me so maybe I'm not just an arrogant old so-and-so - or maybe I am!