Wine Grape Club 2020

 

2020 is problematic even for Chris Lisney-Smith the intrepid grape importer (since 1978). Not only do we have actual Brexit at the end of the year but Covid-19 had made the usualy temperature controlled warehouse operation in Hatfield impossible.

Chris and his merry women.

 

This year Chris has had to organize individual slots for customers to take their orders (30 cases pre-ordered minimum) from lorries arriving on specific days at a storage facility at Staples Corner Industrial Estate off the North Circular Road, London. That is working out well so far but there could still be some waiting around for the lorries from Puglia. No Spanish grapes this year, sadly.

Cabernet Sauvignon

 

 

Moscato

Merlot

From the reduced choice of grapes, we decided to buy Moscato, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Quite an exotic choice for Slotovino, but making wine from various grapes gives you an insight into their character, For example our experience with Nero di Troia and Garnacha has been excellent. Real falling off a log stuff, whereas Macabeu and Malvasia are too tricky for us. Moscato has been good when we were not trying to make a Passito version.

Sangiovese and Tempranillo are grapes that disappoint at first but come good after a year in bottle. Trebbiano worked out well but isn't very interesting, surprise surprise.

Interesting Cabernet Sauvignon bunch.

 

So we plan microvinifications each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then a little Bordeaux blend of the two. Coming from Puglia, the character of these two varieties will be more Italian than French so we're not going to go in for a great deal of maceration. 

We'll also make the Moscato in two parts. Last year, our experiment drying Moscato was a total failure. All that resulted was a super-rancio beverage with hardly any fruit discernable. Like a cheap oxydised dry sherry. This year, we'll press half the fruit immediately and leave the other half to macerate for a week or so to make an orange wine.

Watch this space.