Slotovino

A satisfied customer

2012-02-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Great to see you both the other week. Thanks for making the trek down. Xxxx (with a lot of help from Yyyy) and I have just finished – with considerable pleasure – our tour through the very nice case of western Swiss wine that you kindly bought for us. We thought we’d give you an unscientific review of the case.

As the first customer of the day at 09.30 the wine-seller was most surprised to find a mono-linguistic Anglo man brandishing a list of Geneva and Valais’s finest wine. Having gathered the case, he did, however, compliment me on my exemplarily taste which I obviously claimed as my own and “just something I whipped-up before breakfast”.

Highlights were definitely the wonderful, honey-fuelled, white Domaine des Curiades 2007 which reminded Xxxx and me of the best of Slovenian whites (try Sutor, Edi Simcic) which I highly recommend as they beat far more expensive French imposters hands-down; the Phillippe Darioli 2008 was also excellent and great with the sea bass we had with it.

The suitably named Domaine du Paradis 2007 is a knock-out, full-bodied red that somehow gets better the 2nd day (yes, we managed to re-cork a bottle or two). The other fantastic red was the Domaine des Freres Phillippoz which is very alcoholic but somehow very light, complex and spicy. A bit like a very good Shiraz.

The only bottle we thought was disappointing was the Denis Mercier 2008 which was pretty forgettable. There was also one bottle that they didn’t have (forget which one) so I replaced it with an excellent champagne that you must try – Jose Michel – which at 34 CHF in Geneva is about the same as a bottle of Evian at the Kempinski. It was an excellent substitute and – in our collective view – hands down beat Pommery, Veuve and Moet (not that we drink that much of any of the above).

If you’re wandering about the other 7 bottles. They were all great; so good in fact that I didn’t get around to writing anything so amusing was the conversation they lubricated.

Parking for Greeks only

2012-01-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

In these days of economic gloom, it's always interesting to see a queue so proceeding along Old Compton St. we joined a throng of mainly young-ish people outside (and inside) a shop called Gerry's who claim to be

the UK's largest selection of spirits and liqueurs. Over the years, our store in the centre of London's vibrant Soho has become famous for being something of an Aladdin's Cave of rare, weird and wonderful examples of the distiller's art.

So spirits were what everyone was queuing for just before Christmas. We joined them and clocked a Peruvian Cabernet Sauvignon at over £17 on the way in. They definitely have an eclectic selection. The original Gerry must have been Greek because ancient sign (difficult to determine whether BC or AD) offers free parking if you are Greek.

A flying visit to Genova

2011-12-27T03:10:00.000-08:00

It's not as if we hadn't been to Genova before but thanks to our insider-guide we penetrated the mediaeval city - Europe's largest - for the first time. Here we encountered, also for the first time the magnificent Duomo S. Lorenzo (above) and the Chiesa Gesu with its two massive Rubens paintings. All this is testament to Genova's historical importance which placed it on a level with the greatest cities in the world; a claim not finally relinquished even today with a surviving shipbuilding and refitting industry outstripping anything in the UK.

Verdi was as much an honorary Genovese as he was a Parisian, spending winters here for many years and writing the quintessential Genovese opera, Simon Boccanegra. The main characters names, Boccanegra, Fieschi, Adorno, Grimaldi are to be found on streets, piazzas, palazzos and so forth at every turn in the centre.

Our visit to the Teatro Carlo Felice was the usual mixture of disappointments (mainly to do with the production as so often in Italy) but otherwise life went on as previously with a fantastic headline the day we were in town

(for which Berlusconi had subsequently to apologize apparently) and excellent gastronomic opportunities.

Our Genova insider pointed us in the direction of one of the loveliest and most interesting restaurants it is possible to imagine; a combination of restaurant, library, bookshop and wine store - "Nouvelle Vague" just a stone's throw from S. Lorenzo. Despite being in a cellar this is a warm and welcoming place where you can spend time browsing books

as well as eating and drinking. We ploughed through the white wines by the glass with pleasure even if in doing so we discovered that Pigato is only a synonym for Vermentino (another variety hits the dust). Nonetheless the Pigato/Vermentinos were outstanding as were once again an Incrocio Manzoni and a Satrico which e were led to believe was a grape variety but is actually a blend from Lazio of some very familiar customers.

The following morning after a visit to the council chamber where the famous scene in 'Simon Boccanegra' takes place and a whip around a Van Gogh and Gaughin exhibition in the same building we just had time for an even shorter tour of the Mercato Orientale, one of the finest food markets in Italy.Earlier in our lightening visit, we had enjoyed a glass of Rossese which is indeed a native variety of Liguria. A lovely refreshing and fruity wine in the direction of Gamay/Beaujolais. We intended to buy a bottle at the airport. There was indeed one on offer but only in the collection of Ligurian speciality foods at an unbelievable rip-off price of over E.17. In fact the Duty Fee shop at Cristoforo Colombo airport it otherwise rather good. We found a Malvasia Nera there as well as a sparkling Riesling Italico (Welschriesling) from Oltrepo Pavese (rather good) and a nice sparkling Bonarda from the same area - all reasonably priced.

Trawling London

2011-12-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

So impressed have we been recently with what is to be found in Berlin and other European cities that we needed to remind ourselves that London is still a leader in the range and depth of its wine imports even if we sometimes grouse about the narrow spectrum of wine types available here.

In recent days we have found the following gems to be bought from wine merchants and others here;

1. An otherwise totally unknown grape variety from the Veneto, unmentioned in the Oxford Companion to wine - Recantina. This from a wine-bar in Wellington St., Covent Garden called Notes.

Notes is interesting because as well as being a Cafe selling wine and appetizing-looking small dishes "fur die kleine Hunger" as the Germans say, it sells Music and Cinema DVDs in the basement. They have another branch near the London Coliseum.

2. Next up, from a surviving branch of Oddbins of all places, a Spanish white made from the Verdil grape found only in the Valencia region.

Verdil is also absent from reference books.

3. Next, mirabili dictu a Pugnitello from a producer totally other than the San Felice winery which was said to have re-discovered this ancient Tuscan grape variety and to have revived it together with the University of Siena. This winery, Roccapesta claims simply to have found a clump of Pugnitello in a corner of the vineyard and has made a whopping great 15% wine with it. This is available from Handfords.

You will seach in vain for Pugnitello in the Oxford Companion to wine.

4. From Lea and Sandeman, a rarity indeed - a dry Brachetto. Having determined that Brachetto is not the same thing as Braquet in the tiny Appellation of Bellet, we are more than ever keen to try this as the more usual amabile version of Brachetto is hardly something to drink more than once.

5. From a previous trawl, an update on the Graciano we bought from Highbury Vintners a couple of months ago. This bottle was reasonably priced (under £11), not over-alcoholic at 13.5% and absolutely delicious. Quite the best 100% Graciano we have tasted although Marks and Spencer's version runs it a close second.

Both Brachetto and Graciano have entries in Jancis Robinson's masterpiece of course but are difficult to find even so.

Everyday Wines Ltd

2011-12-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Wokingham Wine Festival was smaller scale than usual due to the absence through illness of Nick Dobson who is based in Wokingham and whom we have thanked many a time for championing the wines of Switzerland and Austria among others and latterly Israel and Portugal too. We hope Nick is fully recovered.

For us a standout exhibitor was a new company called Everyday Wines Ltd. Their wines were imaginatively chosen with many from Corsica. As well as being eclectic and diverse, they have a clear mission to do what their name suggests - supply us with everyday wines.

In pursuit of this aim they have priced the majority of their wines at the single cost of £5.50. Why everyone else has a separate price for every wine we will never know. We have often wondered what is the point of separating bottles by a few pennies. We appreciate that each bottle may have cost the retailer a different amount but there is surely an advantage to be had in telling the customer that they can have x different wines all for one price. They may make a little more or a little less on some bottles but a blanket amount helps to demystify the proceedings and focuses attention on the product rather than the price. At least we think so.

We only took away two bottles from Everyday wines. The first will be nameless only because it was unexceptional. No doubt a good buy at £5.50 but everyday in nature as well as in name.

The second bottle however was a real find; a Muscat Sec from the Cote de Thongue called "Les Larmes d'Alexandra" which was restrained, low in alcohol and more refined than many a Muscat Sec from Alsace.
Very probably there are other treasures to be had at Everyday Wines. We will give them a try as soon as we have somewhere to put them!

www.everyday-wines.co.uk

Bordeaux 47 years on

2011-12-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

We have just returned to Bordeaux - scene of our first wine experiences - after an absence of 47 years. What took us so long to go back? Well, we could give several reasons such as "events" or "intrigue" etc. but perhaps a contributing factor actually was that we had 'done' Bordeaux (we were there for 8 months) and there were other wine areas to discover, not to mention the fact that Bordeaux was musically a backwater.

Not surprisingly things have changed. The city is beautifully cleaned and restored. The Grand Theatre, previously very threadbare is now absolutely splendid.

The place has a well heeled air and from your arrival at Merignac airport, you are in no doubt as to what you can attribute that!

With less than 24 hours we couldn't visit any Chateaux or appelations so we took our experiences where we found them. First port of call was Max Bordeaux Wine Gallery in the Cours de l'Intendence where you can sample all kinds of Bordeaux

from quite regular Crus Bourgeois

to Chateau Ausone & Co.

At nearly €.40 a snippet we concentrated on the lower end of things which it has to be said wasn't particularly impressive. 47 years ago dry white Bordeaux was a joke apart from a very few honorable exceptions so the discovery of a very delicious if oaky example here at Max was of great interest. This was Clos Floridene, Graves of which Decanter said;

Soft, floral hints, some citrus fruit. A first-class effort, fresh yet complex fruit, excellent balance of acidity, long, ripe finish. Drink up to 2014.

On the Cours Tourny near the Grand Theatre there is a very stylish wine bar called 'Bar a Vin' where entry is only possible when someone on the inside lets you in.

Here we made our second big departure as well as surprise discovery on ordering a Bordeaux Clairet. Another joke from the past: another revelation. This example was from Chateau Lauduc, one of the closest properties to the City of Bordeaux (right bank - Libourne/St. Emilion side). AOC Bordeaux Superieur, 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. What is interesting about Bordeaux Clairet is that it is not a Rose but something between that and a red. It is also a conscious revival of what Bordeaux wine might have been like when exported to England in the olden days. We have since tried another version and been disappointed but Chateau Lauduc shows what can be done in this medium.

In the Theatre bar and at dinner we drank Chateau Biston Brillette, Moulis which outshone anything at Max in its class. It must be said that the nature of Red Bordeaux has changed immeasurably in this half century. Presumably this can be recognised by vertical tasting but it is of course not possible to compare wines from the 60's with modern ones at the same stage of development.

Talking about modern wine, there is a unique wine being made in the Pays de la Vienne near Poitiers - well outside the Bordeaux area - made from Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc by an Australian educated Frenchman called Frederic Brochet under the name Ampelidae. Le K Ampelidae 2005 is the blackest wine we have ever tasted, Cahors notwithstanding. It's what Parker might call a brooding monster (14%). M. Brochet proudly labels it 'Vin Contemporain'. This is certainly the direction in which so much Bordeaux has already traveled. Our Slotovino reader will already know we hope the pendulum will swing back once again - maybe as far as Bordeaux Clairet any century soon?

A tip for Berlin/Schoenefeld

2011-12-15T03:55:00.000-08:00

Halfway through 2012, Berlin/Tegel will close leaving Schoenefeld as the only remaining airport. Nostalgia of a gruesome kind for fascist Tempelhof and more affectionate sort for cold war Tegel will not be tempered by communist Schoenefeld ending up the only gateway to the German capital.

No doubt an extensive development plan will change all this many years in the future. Let's hope as far as the minuscule detail of wine selection at Duty Free shops is concerned, things will be rationalized then.

Meanwhile, don't buy your Dornfelder etc from the official Duty Free shop upstairs but go to Bon Voyage nearer the departure gates where they have a much better and cheaper selection.

Just a tip from Slotovino.

Whisky de Bretagne

2011-12-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

Whisky (note spelling!) from Bretagne (not bad either). Why not? Perhaps a French reply to us Brits producing wine? Can David Cameron protect us from this attack on one of our most successful industries? It may need several more vetos.

What the great composers drank

2011-12-14T02:58:00.000-08:00

We'd love to know more about what great composers from the past enjoyed drinking. Beethoven, (whose father was a singer and something of an alcoholic) used to drink in the evenings with friends at the “Zum Weissen Schwann” in Vienna. One of these was the amateur ‘cellist Nikolaus Zmeskall who used to work at the Hungarian Chancellery. In a note to him Beethoven wrote "Let us meet at seven this evening at the Schwan and drink more of their disgusting red wine." Apparently this was rough and intoxicating and was made from grapes grown locally on the foothills of the Kahlenberg at the eastern end of the Vienna Woods. It is difficult to say what this wine was. These days only international varieties (Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon) and recent crossings such as Blauer Zweigelt, Blauburger and St. Laurent are grown there.
By accident, Schubert once found himself in the castle of Wildbach and was recorded as having very much enjoyed drinking the Schilcher (rose) from Blauer Wildbacher grapes; a wine still very much appreciated and even available in the UK:

"After the weekend, Schubert and Jenger, in the company of Anselm Huettenbrenner and the Pachlers, made a three-day visit to the castle of Wildbach some twenty miles south-west of Graz, which was managed by an aunt of Dr. Pachler, Anna Massegg. Again they made music, assisted by Massegg's eldest daughter, in a beautiful 'blue room' with fine views across the garden; and they were refreshed by generous supplies of the excellent local wine, the Schilcher, a light rose which proved a particular favourite with Schubert."

Franz Schubert, A Biography, by Elizabeth Norman McKay (p.284). Oxford University Press, 1996

The date of Schubert's visit to Wildbach was September 1827.

Schubert's favorite apart from this Schilcher came from the red Kadarka grape, "The Nectar of Szekszárd," There is a legend that it inspired him to write the Trout Quintet. Legends abound concerning Hungarian wine so we should be cautious here.

Not surprisingly, Rossini's 'Gastronomia' is better chronicled but amazingly, he seems to have had a great love of Madeira which he always drank with his Maccheroni. Bizarrely he drank Bordeaux with is fish fillets and Rhine wine with his Turkey.

Rossini knew a thing or two about food so we rushed out and bought a bottle of Madeira Sercial on the assumption that it was the driest kind of Madeira he would have chosen. This example from Barbeito is certainly delicious on its own, as an aperitif. We will certainly try a thimble or three the next time we make Maccheroni (it weighs in at 19%).

Wagner developed a liking for the wines of St. Peray and once ordered 100 bottles to be sent to him in Bayreuth. 100, not 96 or 108.

When Verdi embarked for St. Petersburg in order to present “La forza del destino” at the Mariinsky Opera he brought with him Bordeaux and Champagne rather than the wines of his part of Italy, Emilia Romagna. Wine features in various Verdi operas by the way including Macbeth, La Traviata, Otello and of course Falstaff where there is a famous scene when Falstaff orders ‘una bicchiere di vin caldo” after being fished out of the Thames. It is not always remembered that this wine is later described as being ‘dolce’ – so probably warmed up sweet white wine rather than mulled red or something.

Brahms and Liszt were most famous as cigar smokers: an admirer of Liszt’s even wore one of his cigar buts on the end of a chain in her cleavage. Wine and cognac were Liszt’s other companions throughout his life. Like Schubert, he was also a devotee of Szekszárd wines. The Szekszárd Mass was composed in honour of the region, and Liszt also sent Pope Pius IX Szekszárd red as a personal gift. In old age his doctor told him to drink only Tokaj and water. His other vice was of course Wagner.

A wine connoisseur invited Brahms to dinner and in his honour brought out some of his choicest bottles. "This is the Brahms of my cellar," he announced to the company. After taking a sip, Brahms muttered, "Better bring out your Beethoven." There is a South African wine producer called Brahms.

Among contemporary composers Stockhausen would drink German wine at home. He described himself as a ‘German Composer’. He was eclectic enough though to like any wine that was good including for example a Chateau Marquis de Terme. Henze lives in Marino near Rome and drinks as the Italians do; mainly local wine as a staple but not averse to something altogether more exalted. Pierre Boulez doesn’t drink wine any more but when he did, he was not exceptionally concerned with its provenance and always drank in moderation. So much for "Lunchtime O’Boulez."

Opera singers are more noted for their use of wine in staving off symptoms than in any interest in wine per se. Red wine is either supposed to help or hinder in the case of a dry throat. It depends on whether you believe the great Russian tenor Vladimir Atlantov who says it helps or practically everyone else who warns against it. Eating raw onions is also said to be of assistance in certain cases, so much for that.

So musicians are not so different from the rest of us. Indeed they may be rather more conservative, not having the time to make a passion all-consuming. To show how little time the more obsessive of musicians have to spend on anything but music, here’s a story concerning Stravinsky who returned to Russia in the 1960s for the first time since the revolution having disapproved thoroughly of the Soviet Union.

He was dogged by a Soviet journalist who kept on bothering him for an interview. Finally he gave in. The first question was “Do you have any hobbies?” Stravinsky was nonplussed. “Hobbies? I am a composer. That is my hobby!” The journalist couldn’t let it drop. “But surely you have other interests apart from composition?” Stravinsky. “All right, I am interested in Ornitholigy”. “Ornithology – how fascinating. What is your favourite bird?” Stravinsky: “The Double-Headed Eagle.”

Stravinsky incidentally drank Ballantine's 30 year old Scotch in large quantities never leaving home without a bottle or flask full. It has been described as 'exquisite and expensive.'

The vineyards of Berlin, London, Paris...

2011-12-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

At 52,310 degrees North, Berlin is more northerly than either the vineyards of Meissen or the Ahr Valley. It is even further North than Chateau Slotovino (51.34 N) or even Astley Vineyard, Stourport (Worcestershire) which was at one time England's most northerly vineyard (52.21 N).

All this may be hugely uninteresting were it not for the fact a) that both Meissen and the Ahr Valley make the claim that they are Germany's most northerly vineyard and b) that there are indeed vineyards in Berlin. In 6 districts, there are said to be 10 producers. 11 if you count the patch of vines outside the office of one of the Laender (Pfalz?)

right in the middle of town within sight of the Reichstag. Indeed, the producers had to have a conference recently at Myers Hotel, Prenzlauer Berg.

There is said to be a 700 year history of winegrowing in Berlin and Brandenburg. As well as Prenzlauer Berg where the soil is sandy, Kreuzberg seems to be a prominent area with vines planted around an athletics stadium. Something to be encouraged in our view.

Riesling seems to be the grape grown in all these districts. Germans can obviously not get enough of it.

All this is a bit of a challenge to Chateau Tooting in London In Paris they have the Association des Vignerons de Paris who, like Tooting pool the grapes they grow in plant pots on terraces, balconies and courtyards in the city. Grape varieties of the Paris wine, free of any DOC rules are wonderfully eclectic. Whites include Perlette and Chasselas de Fontainebleau and Reds, Aladin, Alphonse Lavallee and Brant. There are actual vineyards in Parisian spaces including Montmartre (the best known) as well as parks etc. There they grow Gamay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Perlette, Chasselas and something called Perdin.

Paris (Montmartre in fact) is 48.53 degrees North.

A walk up Kollwitzstrasse

2011-11-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

Berliners are not very enthusiastic about what happened in the district of Prenzlauer Berg. When the wall came down, the inhabitants of this shabby area were moved out and the buildings were done up and Yuppies moved in. OK, but now whether Yuppies or original inhabitants, the area is revived and even Brecht might have applauded the result. Dass da gehören soll, was da ist, denen, die für es gut sind also die Kinder den Mütterlichen, damit sie gedeihen die Wagen den guten Fahrern, damit gut gefahren wird und das Tal den Bewässerern, damit es Frucht bringt.“

Oh dear, our German studies are getting the better of us. Never mind, a walk up the Kollwitstrsrasse is today something very pleasurable and even inspiring at least as far as the visitor is concerned. There are plenty of wine merchants as wells as wine bars, Delicatessen, Restaurants, Cafes etc. Also, an international feel with Hispanic and Italian places and around the corner, a couple of Russian ones.

The scene is lively at night. Maybe not so great for residents.

The Wine merchants include Weinladen Schmidt

a branch of Jacques' Weindepot (German equivalent of Majestic)

and the Delis include Sardu, a Sardinian place strangely enough.

At the very beginning of the street, there is an LPG Bio Supermarket

selling biological wines of course.

These include a heartening diverse selection. Here's just the Red Greek department

Recommended.

Cremona, song of a great (small) city

2011-11-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

Someone recently and memorably wrote that if the world came to an end, things would continue in Italy much as they always have. With the last days of Berlusconi looking increasingly like something from Gibbon, it was extraordinary to spend even a short time in Cremona and experience life which in some ways may have not changed so much since the Duomo was built in the 13th century or the Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri and Bergonzi interacted with one another in friendly rivalry and collaboration. This is still a town of Luthiers by the way.

Starting with unchecked entrance to the traffic-free Centro Storico in order to get near our hotel, we parked illegally if discretely around the corner, remaining there unmolested for the duration of our stay. If this wasn't proof of a higher civilization, the enthusiasm with which the lady who owned our hotel, the Locanda Torriani (together with her chef-husband) specially opened a bottle of Bonarda just to provide us with a glass which was otherwise not listed as available in this way immediately demonstrated a generosity of spirit increasingly rare in our ever more regulated world.

After our delicious lunch (the hotel is really a restaurant with rooms - always proof of good priorities), we took a stroll to the Teatro Ponchielli where we were to see 'Rigoletto', another glory of Italian culture. Without time to stop we clocked an incredible variety of wines at a small stand including a locally grown Marsanne of all things, a choice of Ortrugos, Barbera, Gutturnio and more Bonarda which we love.

After the matinee performance we made our way back to the hotel and found the market still in full swing with all kinds of local specialities on offer. Where else might you find a market open at 6.00pm?

That evening, unable to get into our restaurant of choice, we settled on what looked like an expensive clip joint. This turned out to be nothing of the kind and in spite of an over-ornate decor, chilly atmosphere and barely another inhabitant, we ate extremely well and were enchanted to find an excellent if slightly bowdlerised Ortrugo. Even the complimentary glass of Prosecco was unusually fine, the whole experience humanised by charming and efficient service.

The next morning, we saw all kinds of local cheese and pasta specialities in the windows of the many gastronomie to be found in this great small city.

The brand of tinned Tuna offered in one was 'Vaticano' no less.

In a large supermarket there were shelves of more Bonarda than you could shake a stick at

and even a selection of Gutturnio.

An amused Isaiah Berlin wrote about seeing two priests walking arm in arm across a piazza eating ice-creams in a similar town shortly after the war. The same spirit still exists. Long may it last!

Two more Vino Sfuso shops in Venice

2011-11-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

Nave d'Oro, Canareggio.

As already noted the Nave d'Oro Vino Sfuso shops are quite widespread in Venice although they seem to be owned by different members of the same family and others. This one is a particularly nice one advertising Torbolino (the new partially-fermented sweet red wine) and exceptionally Frizzante wines.
Vini Sfusi, Calle della Chiesa, Campo Santa Margherita

This is a hard-core place with a good selection but business-like service. We particularly liked the shopfitting.

We took some Prosecco Spento (still Prosecco),Incrocio Manzoni bianco and Incrocio Manzoni Rosso and if memory serves a Cabernet Franc back to the ranch. Strangely enough the two Incrocio Manzonis were the best. It might be worth recalling that there are several crossings but the white is normally derived from Riesling and Pinot Bianco. The red was most probably Prosecco and Cabernet Sauvignon but there is another which is Barbera x Cabernet Franc. Interesting how some crossings are beginning to make interesting wines; we think of Mueller Thurgau, Kerner, Dornfelder, Huxelrebe, Scheurebe etc.

In this little survey, we were told that the majority of Veneziani take home Raboso for red and Verduzzo for their white vino sfuso. Isn't that amazing?

Slotovino's 2011 harvest, October 19th.

2011-11-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

The Grapes

Having made our first drinkable wine in 2010 and done quite a bit of planting in the vineyard we decided to make grape juice this year.

The Sorting Table

A small quantity of 2010 grape juice had gone down very well with the teetotalers and younger members of Slotovino so there it was - Sloto-juice.

Our Fouloir-Egrappoir

It has to be said that Triomphe d'Alsace makes a much better juice than wine just as American native and hybrids such as do Concord, Skuppernong and so forth.

Our basket Press

Given that we had no plans to add preservatives or even pasteurise the juice, we only made a small quantity. You can see the perfect weather and conditions a week later than usual. Just as we finished the weather closed in. Luck was on our side as the birds hadn't yet turned out in force.

The Plug

What we have been drinking

2011-11-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Slotovino has not posted for 2 1/2 months but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Apologies to our regular reader!

Disappointed by the Cesari Grignolino we bought at some expense at Harrods, we tried the version by Montalbera sourced from Premier Vintners. That was more like it although still not for nothing at £14.49. We liked this enough to think about repeating the experience.

From the other side of Northern Italy, we have enjoyed a Malvasia Istriana from Primosic. It is remarkable how flexible the Malvasia grape is. We had in common with most, regarded this grape as rather ordinary but versions such as this declare its genius and are by no means rare. Here, from the aolian island of Salina is a version of Malvasia we also enjoyed very much at a very posh London restaurant where it was ranked among the least expensive wines

Highbury Vintners, an additional adornment for North London

2011-11-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Highbury Vintners has often shown up on Winesearcher so we eventually made the time to go where many others have trod and were delighted to find a worthy contender for our Best Winemerchant award for 2012. There are 8 months left to find a better one but that will be difficult.

Tom Hemmingway and Gillian Sweeney have already won a bushel of awards and the reason is not hard to find. We bought the following online in an attempt to source interesting everyday wine;

Turckheim Pinot Noir 2007

Lard des Choix VdP de lArdeche Rouge 2008

Ogereau Anjou Rouge 2008

Alpha Zeta C Corvina 2009/10

Nieto Reserve Bonardo 2008

Domaine d Escausses Gaillac Rouge Cuvee des Drilles 2010

Senorio de Sarria Vinedo No.7 Graciano 2005

Domaine Cros Marcillac Lo Sang del Pais 2010

Ktima Alpha Axia 2006

Gerovassiliou Malagousia 2009

Keith Tulloch Semillon 2010

Alpha Zeta G Garganega 2010

There are many more wines in the shop than appear on the website. Indeed, if they have a weak spot, Highbury Vintners' website would be it but who doesn't have website problems? On our visit we found plenty more interesting wines. Where else in London might you come across a Chambourcin/Cabernet Franc blend from Ontario?

This turned out to be rather delicious by the way.

We will return to Highbury Vintners soon. Meanwhile just try to visit and not leave with a mixed case!

2011 Edinburgh Wine Festival

2011-09-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

There is no Edinburgh Wine Festival, official or fringe as yet but that doesn't stop Slotovino creating one out of the many interesting manifestations of wine in this city. It is the darndest thing that in this respect Edinburgh has everything whereas its larger neighbour Glasgow has practically nothing. According to Adam, owner of The Fine Wine Company of Edinburgh/Portobello and Edinburgh/Musselburgh it was ever thus. He conceded that Glasgow's interests are more spiritual (geddit?).

Adam's main business these days is internet sales. He ships cases of wine all over the country. The shop was host to a delivery just about to go out. Interestingly, he has identified the hot spot for his sales as the home counties to the north of London, around Watford. Fascinating. With over 3,250 wines on his list there had to be something for everyone. The shop carries a much smaller selection of course but we left with an Argentinian Bonarda/Sangiovese which sounded a good idea and which we had not seen or heard of before, an Austrian 'Landswein' from Gamay apparently - Landswein (country wine) is another rarity, perhaps unprecedented in the UK and a Nero di Troia by Tufarello (Puglia).

Of these so far, the Heinrich Landswein was the sandout. Even at £11.95 this is a wonderful bargain. Only 12.5% it packs a generous Gamay flavour superior to much New World Gamay.

The Fine Wine Company have other interesting wines such as St. Pourcain Pinot Noir, the A, C, G etc. collection from the Veneto which we admire so much (A for Amarone, C for Corvina, G for Garganega etc), and much else. The website is arrangesd extremely well so you can browse by grape, price, country, colour and so on. Only the Abv figures are missing.

No visit to what we will now call the Edinburgh Wine Festival is complete without a trip to Leith Walk and Valvona and Crolla - winner of yet more prizes. For some reason they do not figure on Winesearcher; a huge omission. Perhaps they don't want to participate? In any case they have some of our favourite rarities including Italian Bonarda and Gutturnio as well as so much besides.

Paying our respects to Villeneuve Fine Wines, we learned of another company in town called Hendersons. This is an offshoot of the well known restaurant of the same name in the centre of Edinburgh, but the wine shop is in the charming region of Edinburgh/Morningside, butt of many affectionate jokes:

A Morningside lawyer has some business in Glasgow so walking down Sauchihall Street there he is accosted by the archytipal Glaswegian drunk. Staggering up to him with a bag of chips in one hand and a cigarette in the other he says to the Morningside gent "Hey, Jimmie, giss' a light." Morningside gent: "Sorry my good man I'm afraid I don't smoke, but tell me, how did you know my name was James?"

OK, Hendersons in Morningside is not at all well behaved at least as far as our interests are concerned. By that, we mean they have a quite remarkable amount of interesting wines from the rarest of grape varieties. These include one which doesn't yet have a name.

It is a crossing between Melon de Bougogne and Chardonnay, grown in the Maconnais and rather delicious.

This was only the start. Next came an Australian Sparkling White from the producer Irvine made from 100% Petit Meslier, one of the more obscure Champagne grapes never seen in purezza as far as we know and rarely in any Champagne blend. The result here was certainly interesting if "dusty" in the word of The Prof. There followed two further fascinating bottles. An Italian white called Pantastico,

apparently the ancient name cited by Pliny for a variety now known as Cachhione and grown in Nettuno, Costa dei Cesari (Lazio) and a red from Wales, "Glyndwr", believed from Regent and Rondo. Our final bottle from here was a field blend of 23 different varieties no less from Domaine La Tour Boisee, Minervois, called 'Plantation 1905'. The back label, for once, bears reproduction in full.

Ce vin est issu de la plus vieille vigne de la commune, qui est composee de 23 cepages, dont certains directement issus du 19e siecle. Cette vigne est la propriete des familles Cambon et Grauby, vielles familles du village.
Cette vigne patrimoine du Languedoc, est un veritable monument historique que nous saurons entretenir comme il se doit.
Les greffons que nous serons suceptibles de prelever a l'avenir pourront favoriser une renaissance de certains cepages oublies qui sont encore aujourd'hui, des cepages recommandes pour des vins reputes de notre region.

So nice to have a rest from the reams the French like to write about Terroir.

Our guide on our hurried visit to Hendersons was Doug - surely one of the quickest on the uptake we have ever encountered when asked to suggest some rare grape varieties. Henderson's motto is 'Independent Wines for Independent Minds'. Doug lamented that most punters are reluctant to stray from well worn paths but at least he gives them the opportunity.

This was a great festival and like the actual International and Fringe Festival, we couldn't include everything, so who knows what Tony Crolla has been up to at Enoteca Divino discovered last year or Raeburn Fine Wines, the supplyer of the more pukka set in Edinburgh?

Los vinedas de Ronda

2011-08-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

While in the area we thought we would have a look at the vineyards of Ronda, having enjoyed some of the wines made in this new frontier region and remembering what a lovely place Ronda is to visit.

Assuming vineyards would be visible on all sides when approaching the perfectly preserved small town on its vertiginous crag, our first disillusionment came thanks to the new road which actually descends into a plain strewn with light industry and social housing.

No vineyards to be seen anywhere and just the back end of Ronda of which we had been previously blissfully unaware.

Ploughing through the town (much larger than suspected) we finally came on the Centro Ciudad and missed any Bodegas and the local branch of the Museo del Vino we somehow expected would be on hand, soon finding ourselves going out the other side. Still optimistic, we pressed on through nothing but olive groves on side roads and the small road signposted 'Algeciras'. Time was against us by now so we stopped at a 'Mirador' and surveyed the horizon without success. There was a small patch of lighter green near the ring road from which we had come so we drove towards tha,t again without success.

So finally we had to ask at a roadside bar. The caballero looked mystified but then suggested we took the road for Sevilla and turn off after a few Km. towards Ronda Vieja.

And so it was that we finally found our Vinedas de Ronda, discretely tucked away, almost apologetically among the olive groves and various other farming enterprises.

Decidedly vine-growing in Ronda is still in its infancy.

Our favourite producer, Schatz was the first property we came upon.

It was so much smaller than we imagined and there was no sign of life, let alone a Cellar Door shop or a Reception Area. Herr Schatz is a Swabian who set up here some years ago and brought Lemberger vines with him, hence his popularity in our pages. He must have been looking for somewhere pretty wild and isolated; the contrast with German wine villages where the vineyards are part of the town couldn't be more stark. Huge birds (Buzzards?) wheeled overhead and masses of other rather exotic tiny ones seemed to spring up on our approach. They can't be a pest in the vineyard because we didn't see any netting.
The vineyard itself is immaculately kept and large solar panels lead one to believe the Ecological tag must be serious. There was one other vineyard signposted at the Ronda Vieja turn-off: Dona Feliza 'Chinchilla'. Finding this was no easy matter as we careered down the wrong road clearly signposted as far as we were concerned but not intended by whoever planted the sign. Never mind - we happened by some small plots planted with vines - hardly enough to make more than boutique or even garage quantities.

Retracing our route through this beautiful and very Spanish counryside, we drove through what we fancied might have been a valley of Cork Trees

(identifying trees is not one of Slotovino's greatest accomplishments) and finally reached Chinchilla,

only once again to find the place deserted and firmly barred to visitors.

There must be other areas under vine around if not in Ronda. We are sure the Museo del Vino arranges guided visits. Our little disorganised trip was valuable however in putting the wines in context and understanding the tiny scale of wine production in this beautiful and wild part of Andalucia. Where else might you find fields with Donkeys or families of black hogs, Buzzards or Eagles circling overhead on your way to a European vineyard?

Catedral de Leon

2011-08-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to find Spanish wine below 13% and even these seem to be in a minority these days with 14.5% making an increasing proportion of wines on offer - especially new wave reds. Do the Spanish really drink these winter-warmers in summer? 'Joven' and 'Verano' wines do not offer any mitigation in terms of alcohol it seems.

So when in El Corte Ingles we like to try to find the lowest alcohol wines just out of interest. There are a few styles of white which are satisfyingly low including Treixaduras from Ribeiro, the dreaded Zalemas in Condado de Heulva (Cadiz), a wine from Sevilla which looked nicely obscure and indeed some Verdejos from Rueda at 12.5% etc. The reds posed a greater challenge. At Casa Pablo in Marbella we had been warned not to expect anything from Ribeira del Duero and had been steered towards Rioja of all sections but there was tiddley squat under 13%.

So it seemed that the only place to look was on the bottom shelf at El Corte Ingles among the cheapest wines and lo, for E. 1.69 there was a 12% -er, the bottom of the class - with a satisfyingly cheap but decidedly uncheerful label "Catedral de Leon". The back label is one of those which tells you that the wine is made in our winery, that the colour is red and that it goes with appetisers, meats, roasts and cheeses etc. Not a word about the variety or varieties from which it is made of course.

We bought this bottle anyway, as much for the mystery as for the low alcohol and put it on ice while we logged into the producers' website www.bodegasvinosdeleon.es' There, in sharp contrast to the back and indeed front labels was a very well presented and informative descriprion of this excellent operation and its wines. We were thrilled to discover that the major constuent of our bottle was PRIETO PICUDO, one of Slotovino's recent additions to our hallowed Hall of Fame for rare grape varieties and a standout at our January tasting.

And so it was: the wine was delicious and excellent chilled with a lunch including Gazpacho and prawns, salad etc. So what was going on? Obviously the people responsible for marketing this excellent wine decided that the words Prieto Picudo would spell commercial death to their bottle and furthermore, only a crap name and design would persuade anyone to buy it, priced as it was at the bottom end of the spectrum with the lowest Abv in the shop. Marketing triumphs again, no doubt. Perhaps they sell masses of this wine. Good luck to them. We are sure the consumers don't complain. It's just a pity they may never know their enjoyment comes from Prieto Picudo and another opportunity to advance the cause of diversity is lost.

Welcome Dingac

2011-07-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Even if 14.5% we enjoyed our bottle of Dingac, one of the Croatian wines bought at Murray Hill Wines of New York a couple of months ago.

We recommend readers faced with a choice between Babic and Dingac to go for the latter.

Concerning the thorny question of admission to the Slotovino Hall of Fame, our jury is out for the moment. If the high alcohol level is necessary for this grape to express itself to the level of our sample it would be a disadvantage in our opinion. Also the rather rustic and Eastern European flavour on the tongue initially might be an acquired taste. This is less evident as progress is made down the bottle. Nonetheless, Dingac appears to be a worthwhile addition to any winelist for those seeking something fun and out of the ordinary.

Now for Klarnica and Debit!

8/10/11 IMPORTANT UPDATE

We were wrong! Dingac is not a grape variety but a wine area! We might be excused for making this mistake perhaps because it is obscure enough not to get a separate entry in Jancis Robinson's Wine Companion although it is mentioned as a place where Plavac Mali is produced in the general entry on Croatia.

We stand by our advice to choose Dingac/Plavac Mali over Babic and are relieved not to have to tear Dingac from the Slotovino Hall of Fame having not admitted it in the first place, We have tasted some excellent Plavac Malis in general though so we can admit this grape on the strength of those experiences. TA-DAH!

Slotovino awards 2010/11

2011-07-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

A bit later than usual and perhaps a little shorter than for previous years, the 2010/11 Slotovino awards are nonetheless as eclectic and fascinating as before thanks to the ever-changing face of wine as they say and our luck in finding wonderful new experiences every year.

As ever, we exclude previous winners, so our choices may not always represent net improvements.

Best Red Wine discovery

Casetta, Trentino

A grape totally new to us - as delicious as it is obscure.

Best White Wine discovery

Astley Vineyard 'Veritas' Kerner.

An English white which doesn't taste like an English white - high praise indeed but not only that. This example of the usually uninspiring variety, Kerner is as good if not better than any we have tasted from Central Europe or Italy. Could this be the signature grape for English white one day? Probably not if only because according to Astley Vineyards who inherited the planting from the original owners in the days when it was England's most northerly vineyard, Kerner is very difficult to grow. All praise to them and their hard work.

Best Rose discovery

Strohmeier Schilcher Lestoa (Blaue Wildbacher) (Austria)

This tastes like no other Schilcher we know. It has the weight of a red wine despite the pink clothing. Fascinating as well as delicious. The Blaue Wildbacher is another inexplicably neglected variety, responsible for some wonderful reds as well as this Rose. We are in good company here;
"After the weekend, Schubert and Jenger, in the company of Anselm Huettenbrenner and the Pachlers, made a three-day visit to the castle of Wildbach some twenty miles south-west of Graz, which was managed by an aunt of Dr. Pachler, Anna Massegg. Again they made music, assisted by Massegg's eldest daughter, in a beautiful 'blue room' with fine views across the garden; and they were refreshed by generous supplies of the excellent local wine, the Schilcher, a light rose which proved a particular favourite with Schubert."

Franz Schubert, A Biography, by Elizabeth Norman McKay (p.284). Oxford University Press, 1996

The date of Schubert's visit to Wildbach was September 1827.

Schubert was a great lover of wine; sometimes too much so. As with others at this period there is little information concerning what they actually drank apart from the odd mention of Riesling or Tokay, so this reference to Schubert's actual visit to Wildbach and liking for Schilcher is rare and interesting - to us as Schubert lovers at least.

Best Wine Merchant (UK)

Troubadour Wines, London

Best Wine Merchant (rest of world)

Chambers St. Wines, NYC

Best Supermarket for wine

no award this year

Best Airport Duty Free

Vino Volo, JFK T8

(Worst Airport Duty Free)

Vasteras, Sweden. NB. this concludes our competition to recognise this establishment in May 2011 which our photo showed the entire selection.

Best Promotional outlet for Wine

Vini nuovi Tai, Venice Airport

Most surprising wine discovery
Biddenden Gribble Ridge Dornfelder, the first English Red Wine ofwhich we would not mind having a case (and how many English reds can one say that of?).

Slotovino Prediction for 2011/12

The wine investment bubble will burst.

Best Sommelier

Laure Patry, the 'Bordelaise' at the Pollen St. Social Club, London. We went to this restaurant months before 'Decanter' sang its praises (August 2011) and had already chosen Laure Patry potentially as our Sommelier of the year. Not even realising the magnificent and fascinating winelist was all her own work, we ordered a bottle of Wild Fermant Assyritiko from Gaia, Greece. When Laure showed us the bottle we were disappointed to see the wine was more alcoholic than we would have liked. At those moments with a 500 bottle winelist from which to choose a lower alcohol substitute, we put ourselves in Laure's hands and she suggested without missing a beat a Verdejo by Calamar of Rueda which was ideal. The point about calling Laure 'la Bordelaise' is that we learned she comes from near Bordeaux and we admit prejudice in being surprised she recommended a Spanish wine rather than a French one. She is wonderfully businesslike with a quiet charm. This is what Decanter subsequently said about her;

Sommelier savvy: Head sommelier Laure Patry has
assembled a brilliant list: nearly 500 wines from
all over the world, about half of them natural
(organic, biodynamic, etc) and all good value. We
had an eclectic selection of small plates, and she
recommended María Gomes (the Portuguese
grape) from Luís Pato, and Gaia’s Assyrtiko from
Greece – both among the three dozen offered by
the glass, and both perfect.

Best Restaurant winelist

Caffe Muzio, NYC.

We likes the fact there was maximum diversity and interest in a comparatively minuscule list.

Most promising grape

Ortrugo, Emilia Romagna

Vigneron of the year

Domenici Pedrini (oenologist), Azienda Agricola Pravis, Lasino, Trento who is an owner together with his two partners Mario Zambarda (Vineyard) and Gianni Chiste (sales).
Pravis are a superlative outfit dedicated to reviving, maintaining and restoring 'heritage' grape varieties including Negrara, Rebo, Gropello, Franconia (Blaufrankisch/Lemberger), Nosiola, Schiava Gentile etc.

Most depressing marketing campaign

'Turkey produces 3 times as much grapes as South Africa' but how many of these are for wine production?Best kept wine secret

The wines of Trentino

Most pleasant surprise

Italian alternatives to Prosecco: Passarina, Pignoletto, Spergola

Best wine website

Winesearcher

Colombaud: positively the world's rarest grape?

2011-07-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

We stumbled on this fantastic new website www.vignes-vins.fr while researching a local Vaucluse variety called Aubun of which more in a moment.

Vignes-vins.fr does something so simple and essential one wonders why it had not been done often and before. It lists all the permitted grapes of France, ascribing them to their relevant apellation while giving some interesting information as to their characteristics, history and 'superficie' or number of hectares to which they are thought to be planted.

in the course of this, two apellations emerge as the home of the most obscure varieties of all, Béarn and Palette, The latter of course is the home of the splendidly idiosyncratic Chateau Simone which is permitted a choice of 29 different varieties in its annual assemblage, One of these, Colombaud is said to have a 'supeficie' of 0.00 hectares!

http://www.vignes-vins.fr/Cepages/Cepage_Colombaud.html

As for Aubun, it makes up 40% of a Vaucluse cuvee we bought today. Sadly there must be many such varieties which never see the limelight and are always part of blends so we will probably never experience their unique character. Aubun is said to be similar to the slightly less elusive Counoise. Both are permitted in Chateauneuf du Pape. Apparently Aubun had some resistance to Phylloxera which is not something you hear often. In spite of this it is sadly in decline.

We recommend this site. Now an Italian equivalent would be about ten times as big and fascinating. There's a fun job for someone!

Major find at le Marche des enfants rouges, Paris!

2011-06-10T08:48:00.001-07:00

We couldn't believe our luck. Another Persan, just sitting there in the Marche des enfants rouges, Paris. This one by Domaine St. Germain. Savoie of course. We can't wait to try it.

Ruggine - one of the world's rarest grape varieties.

2011-06-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

"The name Ruggine, or in the Modena dialect “Ruzninteina”, derives from the fact that at the point of maximum ripening the grapes take on a brown hue that makes them seem rusty. Once widespread in the Modena area, today the only hectare of vineyard entirely dedicated to Ruggine is here in Rubbiara. It is a sparkling wine with intense fruity notes, fresh and well developed. The palate has good intensity, balanced with an acidic note supported by softness and a light and forthright body. Ideal for filled dishes, like tortellini and tortelloni."

From the internet. This bottle of Ruggine was photographed at De Vino, 30 Clinton St. New York. We couldn't take it home because it is not permitted to ship sparkling wine in hold luggage. Lucky New Yorkers should get along to De Vino as soon as possible before stocks run out!

We hope and trust Ruggine can be placed beside our other big Italian frizzante finds Passerina, Pignoletto, and Spergola.

Murray Hill Wines of New York

2011-06-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for Croatian wine, this is the place to go. They must have one of the widest selections outside Croatia itself which doesn't mean anything vast but we managed to pick up several wines we had not found even in Croatia from our short preliminary skirmish last year:

Debit

Dingac

Klarnica

Zlahtina

Klarnica (a new one on us) comes from Slovenia in fact and produced a semi-sweet wine grown only in the Vipava Valley.

There was also Babic on which we passed following our generally disappointing experience at our January tasting, various Posips, Sipon, Malvazia Istras etc. so in general a good selection. Recommended.

516 3rd. Avenue (E. 34th. St.)

Sussex Wine, New York

2011-06-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

Our first port of call on arrival in New York was Sussex Wine, 300 E. 42nd St. who according to Winesearcher were the only stockists of the infinitely rare St. Jeannet, the practically extinct white grape variety from the Appellation of the same name opposite Bellet on the outskirts of Nice which had found its way to Argentina and there was grown and vinified by Finca El Reposo., Mendoza.

At this shop we met Jordan, the owner of this company who also has a wine bar and plans the first Sampler-type (Enomatic?) machines in New York, although Union Square Wines seem to have one already). The St. Jeannet was not available at the E.42nd St. branch so Jordan walked us over to his other shop and opened it up specially for us. Sadly we discovered on examining the back label that the Finca El Reposo St. Jeannet is but a blend with 30% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Chardonnay although the 40% St. Jeannet is from 90-year-old vines.

Nonetheless with this kind of enthusiasm, eclecticism and customer care, Sussex Wine is a place to watch.

As dark as a black steer's toochas on a moonless prairie night

2011-06-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

There comes the time when the traveller in America might find a glass of wine at the hotel bar might be in order. The choice inevitably includes a Pinot Noir, thanks to 'Sideways'. So having tried the Malbec and avoiding the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot one may find oneself staring at a glass of Peenoh Nwahr. This is invariably the blackest and heaviest wine one can imagine. Something like drinking Ribena concentrate. A beverage, not a wine. It's a mistake and no mistake. It has nothing to do with wine. How is that possible? It costs $10 or more. We have recently enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Noir del Veneto from Tesco (11.5% - and a properly characteristic representation of this variety) for less. Ugh.

All is not lost so far as US Pinot Noir is concerned. On our way home we stumbled on a new branch of Vino Volo at JFK Terminal 8.

This is the excellent outlet for American wines (and others) which had so enlivened our visit to Detroit Airport some time back. At Kennedy there was no wine bar or tasting that we could see - hardly even anyone in attendance until a very nice person made a hurried entrance. This was not suprising because the shop is tucked away so as to avoid anyone but the truly intrepid finding it and for those who check out the paltry wine selection at the Duty Free,

there is only a shrug when the question is posed as to whether there mightn't be anywhere else selling wine at the terminal.

Here we bought a lovely New York Cabernet Franc from Finger Lakes

and Riemer's 12.5% Pinot Noir from the same area which more than made up for what gets sold at hotel bars.

Not suprising since Hermann Wiemer is a member of a German wine producing family with 300 years tradition behind him who emigrated to New York State in the 1970s. His effort shows what wonderful wine can be produced from this grape in the US without betraying the variety's character.

There may be good US Pinot Noirs from Washington and Oregon. We have yet to taste those that give these states their good reputation, but returning to Hermann Wiemer's New York State Pinot Noir, check out the beautiful light translucent colour.

Nothing like the Coen brothers' evocation of darkness (from "The Big Lebowski" by the way).

PS. We posted the first version of this blog the day before Jancis Robinson's piece on American Pinot Noir appeared in the Financial Times. As well as enjoying the co-incidence once more (this has happened before - great minds etc.) we noted with satisfaction that our views are not irreconcilable.

Return vist to our favourie NY wine merchant

2011-06-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

Chambers Street Wines is our favourite New York wine merchant and is in line for the 2010/11 Slotovino wine merchant of the year award later this month unless something very extraordinary intervenes.

On this occasion we met Mr. Wolff as well as our original contact Mr. Lillie, his co-founder and business partner. They share a charming diffidence and scholarly demeanour, friendly, immensely erudite and ready to spend time on answering arcane questions. Complimenting them on their outstanding newsletter which we read regularly and avidly, we learned that it is the work of several hands. This is extraordinary because the style is uniform.

We had the pleasure of meeting their Jura expert, Sophie who was able to point us in the direction of several marvels. Mr. Lillie himself steered us to others, mainly French (his speciality) and we picked up a Beaujolais Nouveau (10.5%) by Doucroux.

Mr. Lillie had recommended Doucroux on our first visit as being an extreme example of a producer of Vin Naturel but had found his wines nowhere else. We also found the Nusserhof Blaterle (Trentino/Alto Adige) we had discovered on the Chambers St. Wines website.

Chris, the Spanish expert was not on hand but we picked up two rarities from that section, a Hondarrabi Beltza from Bizkaiko Txakolina (Biscay).

and a Negramoll from the Canary Islands).

We were presented with a field blend by a garagiste, Anne-Marie Lavaysse of the Petit Domaine de Gimios in Minervois called 'Rouge Fruit'.

Talking about field blends, Jura specialist Sophie pointed out one by Jean-Francois Ganevat called 'J'en veux' which consists of 17 grape varieties including the following;

Petit Beclas

Gros Beclas

Gueche white and red

Seyve Villard

Corbeau

Potugais Bleu

Enfarine

Argant

Poulsard Blanc

Poulsard Musque

Gouais Blanc

It is not known how M. Ganevat manages to ripen all these grapes simultaneously. Maybe he does so separately and then blends them later. Does this still constitute a field blend?

Mr. Lillie also mentioned a grape called Tibouren which Clos Citronne uses to make a Rose. Sophie tried her best to obtain this for our second visit two days later but without success. We couldn't resist a natural Orange wine made from Roussanne and Jacquere.

On that second visit we met Chris. We mentioned we had heard he was the Spanish Expert but he shrugged this off. Too modest. He knows all there is to know about Spanish wine and more. He bewailed the Franco years of neglect and the subesquent rush to bring in international varieties which he abhors. He taught us about all kinds of indiginous Spanish Grapes including

Albarin Blanco (Leon)
Puntxo Fort (Monsant)
Vildillo (Carinena)

We will look out for these.

Meanwhile we added a Bermejo Listan Negra (Canaries) which Chris stated authoritatively was the mysterious Mission or Criolla grape which the Jesuits had imported into the Americas to make the first wine there. Well, another enigma solved!

As we were paying for these marvels, Sophie hissed to Chris that we should get a discount to which Chris responded that there was already a discount applied. Goodness where it came from. We had certainly not requested it, welcome though it was. Could it be that anyone who expresses some enthusiasm for what Chambers St. Wines are doing gets one?

We can't recommend Chambers Street wines highly enough.

Brands

2011-05-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

Funny thing Brands. We are implacably against the branding of wine. It results in the abdication of taste and choice. On a recent TV programme the story was told about how Coca Cola launched New Coke in the 1970s after market research found that 61% preferred it to 'old' Coke.

The ensuing mayhem caused them to withdraw New Coke and re-instate traditional Coke pronto. They had forgotten that all their branding over so many years had rendered the concept of 'improving' the product irrelevant. People just wanted what they knew and had been told to enjoy since their earliest years.

We at Slotovino like to say how we like every bottle to have a story and we are not interested in the main in wines that just taste marvellous without having any particular background. Maybe this is branding of a kind? An uncomfortable thought.

Nonetheless, a big stand at the London International Wine Fair unapologetically declaring their business as 'International Brands' made us happy branding hasn't got further than it has.

Sensible Wine Services Ltd.

2011-05-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

We thought this was quite funny especially given the 'wrecked' appearance of the stand on the first day, In fact they supply Riedl Glasses and other equipment for the following;

Wine tastings
Dinners
Events
Weddings and parties
Promotions

Russian Wine

2011-05-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is Russian not just Soviet wine, 100 km from Magarch (now in the Ukraine) are the vineyards of the Vedernikov winery on the right bank of the Don near Rostov. Vedernikov was represented at the London International Wine Fair by Maxim who jokingly turned around the fact some of his most interesting wines had been held up at UK customs. "You can feel safe" he said. "your customs are doing a great job!", Very Russian sense of humour and charming.

Maxim's enthusiasm for his wines was not tempered by this little mishap and we tasted an excellent Aligote thus satisfying one of our oldest ambitions. Aligote is the lesser grape of Burgundy as everyone knows. Burgundian Aligote is often pressed into service to make a Kir which is hardly a ringing endorsement of the variety. It is given the worst soils in Burgundy to grow in. The best Aligote we had ever tasted was from California when Au Bon Climat we think it was decided one year exceptionally to make a 100% example. Unfortunately and inexplicably never again.

We had read that for some reason Aligote had been widely planted in Russia and especially Bulgaria but had not had much opportunity of tasting one apart from a decent example from Laithwaites of all places.

The Vedernikov Aligote was a fine example, perhaps still not as revelatory as the Californian one but worthy of an international audience.

Maxim informed us that there are 3 native Russian grapes the others having been held up in customs. These are Krasnostop Zolotovskiy, Tsimlyanskiy Chorny (Black) and Sibir'kovsky (White). We were fortunate enough to taste the Tsimlyanskiy which had a strong but attractive character. The others were still detained at the pleasure, no doubt of HM Customs.

One delightful afternote; we asked the Abv. of one of the wines and were told 12% - 14%. Given the laudable attempts of Swiss and US vignerons to give uber-precise values (12.8%, 13.2%) we thought this was pretty hilarious and redolent of Soviet practices until we remembered the time we noticed BBR wines were routinely entered in the winelist as 1% lower than what was written on the label and most governments allow some tolerance in these matters. It is just that we at Slotovino believe degrees of alcohol act like the Richter scale and increase exponentially as far as effect is concerned. Hence 13% might as well be twice as intoxicating as 12.5%.

Vedernikov also make Rkatsiteli, Riesling and blends including the above reds, Cabernet Sauvignon and something called Golubok about which their literature and even Maxim was silent...(it's an old crossing including some Cabernet Sauvignon) and is used as a teinturier. It is early ripening and 'smoky'. Some has been planted in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA.

Vedernikov was not the only Russian winery represented. there were also Abrau-Durso whose sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon we tasted last year, Tsimlyanskoe wines and 5 others. There is a long tradition of wine in the area going back to pre-historic times. We wish modern producers the best of luck in reviving the tradition.

Some nice Grignolino at the London International Wine Fair

2011-05-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Grignolino is one of our faves ever since the chap at Torino airport tried to prevent us insisting he opened a bottle for a taste by calling it 'un vino da ragazza.'

Indeed the ragazzas at the Vicara stand (Azienda Agricola Visconti Cassinis Ravizza srl. Rosignano Monferrato, Piemonte) were kind enough to pour us their really attractive Grignolino. There's very little better than we can think of at least while drinking it.

Albarossa

2011-05-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

At the London International Wine Fair (LWIF) there were acres, (hectares?) devoted to the wines of Italy and Sicily in a kind of village at the right hand end of the exhibition hall. here Cmpanalismo reigned. Asking for Tocai Rosso under 'veneto' one was referred perhaps to Lombardia, then to Friuli with the vaguest of waves (actually no one had this interesting variety to offer) and on asking a Western Sicilian producer if he had any Nerello Cappuccio, we were told that this was an eastern Sicilian variety and they were somewhere 'over there' with a gesture which might have indicated Bongo-Bongo land. Operatically we have heard of the division between Palermo and Catania so this is not limited to the wine world.

So to the Monferrato (Piemonte) stand where we idly asked them if they had any unfamiliar grape varieties. Might we have heard of Albarossa? Huh? ALBAROSSA!!! No we had not. And so, dear Slotovino reader we were introduced to a crossing of Nebbiolo and Barbera made by Prof. Dalmasso in 1938 and propagated by him for 30 years at the Tenuta Cannona (Centro Sperimentale Vitivinicolo della Regione Piemonte).

The taste was good - more than the sum of the parts. In other words a symbiosis rather than a combining of two tastes - just what differentiates a crossing from a blend perhaps. Albarossa may not have caught on the way Rebo (Merlot x Teroldego) has caught on. Indeed we tasted our first Rebo at the LIWF. We think we might hav preferred the Albarossa.

Whether there will be any takers in the British market for either is a point that is truly moot. Peccato.

New York Old Vine Baco Noir

2011-05-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

We had tried Baco Noir, an old French hybrid at the late lamented Vintage New York shop in SoHo and found it let us say 'interesting'. Indeed when re-planting our own micro-vineyard in the Thames Valley we wondered why this variety had never come to anything in the UK as far as we knew.

So when we found this example at the New York stand at the London international Wine Fair we had a good taste and found it more than 'interesting' in the ironic sense. The first impression is definitely of a hybrid but on the length the effect is pleasing. Perhaps with the old vines comes improved methods of vinifying this variety? No membership of the Slotovino Hall of Fame but worth the taste and perhaps good with Indian food.

Other New York wines were the familiar Cabernet Francs, Pinot Blancs, Vidals and even a Rkatsiteli which Dr. Frank pioneered but rather fewer Rieslings that we would have expected given their triumphs in recent competitions and tastings. We spoke to a gent we had befriended in the 2010 LIWF who told us there had been progress with an importer for the UK and that some wines from Wolffler and a Rose from Channing Daughters might soon be available here. Good news indeed.

Crljenak

2011-05-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

And there it was, our first Crljenak of legend, there on the Croatian stand at the LIWF. Read about, googled, referenced in connection with Primitivo and Zinfandel, here it was, the grandaddy of them all and in the tasting, convincingly so. Sorry about the drip in the above photo but you can understand how the Croatians might have poured with a flourish being at the fount of some of the world's most popular wines.

More Hunter Valley Semillons from Tyrrell

2011-05-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

At the stand of John E. Fells and Sons Ltd, Fine Wine Importers sinch 1858, we discovered two further examples of Tyrrells Hunter Valley Semillon to add to the Old Winery, Lost Block and flagship Vat 1: the very Australian sounding 'Johnno's Block' and Brookdale (which weighs in at a (for the Hunter Valley) whopping 12% Abv.

Dominic Small of this company explained that Tyrrells have many blocks over a wide area and tent to make separate wines from them which is great news for diversity. Our very first encounter with Hunter Valley Semillon had been Tyrrell's 'The Stephen' in a vintage of at least a decade previous to our tasting in a restaurant on the beach at Melbourne. Mr. Small offered to put a case on one of their containers for us if we wished and we may take him at his word. He stressed that normally he sells to agents or importers of course.

We tasted The Johnno which was rather refined and pure and the Brookdale which was predictably richer and more rounded. Nice to discover the gamut of tastes in this one appellation.

Frappato

2011-05-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Never fans of Frappato or particularly of Cerasuolo di Vittoria which is Frappato with Nero d'Avola we tasted an example in the forest of Sicilian stands at the London International Wine Fair mainly because of its low alcohol (12.5%) and the delightfully suave gentleman there. The latter explained that their Frappato was made in a light style and could be chilled and served with fish.

We were immediately won over by the dissimilarity to the Frappatos of old and as so often happens we ercognise this grape in what to us is its best expression. Highly recommended to anyone wanting something exceptional to import into this country and grace their list.

Passerina

2011-05-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

In May 2010, we encountered the first mention of Passerina at Castel Cosimo winemerchants in Hamburg and vowed to keep a look out for this variety in the future. Thanks to the Marche stand at the London International Wine Fair, we finally caught up with Passerina and were reasonably impressed, so without instant admission to the Slotovino Hall of Fame, we can recommend Passerina as yet another fine Italian regional variety worthy of a visit.

We would also like to add the Spumante version to those looking for an alternative to Prosecco. We have noted before that such is the quantity of Prosecco produced that it is quite a lottery to find a good one. In short it has become a brand and discrimination has been left at the door.

We are building up quite a good list of Italian Sparkling wines which are good alternatives to Prosecco. We now have

Passerina
Pignoletto
Spergola

not to mention Franciacorta which is the Italian's attempt at Champagne and quite often quite a superior product.

Schioppetino, Picolit and Piculit

2011-05-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

On the Friuli stand we were given a seminar on Schioppettino (not Schiopetto which is the name of a famous producer in Collio). We have recently become rather enamoured of this variety and were offered four examples to taste each of which expressed a different side to this variety's personality. We have here another variety worthy of inclusion in our Slotovino Hall of Fame.

We have encounteres Picolit before as a dessert wine, in Grappa and as we thought in Red wine. It took two rather impressive sommeillers from this stand looking more like ushers from the Teatro alla Scala with their well fitting clack uniforms and chains of office draped around their shoulders to understand that the Red wine was from a grape spelled Piculit instead of Picolit and as usual with this kind of thing nothing to do with its near namesake. There was no Piculit to taste and we passed on the sweet Picolit. We might have had a bottle of Piculit from Bat and Bottle once but had not been exactly bowled over if memory serves.

Zlahtina

2011-05-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

At the Croatian stand we were offered two kinds of Zlahtina, one grown on the plain and one on a mountainside both from the island of Krk. Not surprisingly the Mountain Zlahtina was by far the better and we hereby admit Zlahtina to the Slotovino Hall of Fame - not something we were about to do following our preliminary skirmish with this grape in the neighbouring island of Vis last year.

UK wine importers could do worse than introducing this excellent and delicious example to this country.

Rarities at the London International Wine Fair

2011-05-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

The annual London International Wine Fair held at ExCel Exhibition and Conference Centre in Docklands is a commercial wine fair bringing suppliers and buyers together for the purpose of doing business. So in a way it was a surprise to find any rare grape varieties there at all.

We only had a couple of hours to scratch the surface but the pickings were not bad at all and we came away with positive hopes for the future in spite of some fantastic howlers committed by representatives manning the stands with their specialised wines on offer. Examples included girls on the vast Sicilia stand who assured us that Etna was a grape variety (admittedly they slunk off when we started to read the back label of one 'Etna Rosso'), men on the equally grand Argentinian stands who had never heard of Bequignol (of which Argentina produces more than Riesling as we have already noted in these pages), Saperavi Severnyi - a mystery to those on the Georgian stand, and only vague awareness of Negrara as a variety of grape on the Valpollicella stand (they assured us it was a village, not a grape until they remembered the village is Negrar and not Negrara). OK we may have been showing off a bit to these unfortunates but there is a more serious point in that grape varieties are not always considered as particularly important. On the Rias Baixas stand they were nonplussed to be asked about the Reds of Galicia and even wondered if there were any drinkable ones! On Vini Portugal there was a young rep who had never heard of Colares and another who reckoned it was too expensive for what it was which was not great! It was all we could do not to spontaneously combust.

Fortunately there were far more really well informed reps and we were glad to have been given several invaluable tutorials on the following on our short stay;

Albarossa
Baco Noir and other New York wines
Crljenak
Hunter Valley Semillon
Frappato
Passerina
Russian Wine
Schioppetino, Picolit and Piculit
Zlahtina

Separate blogs on each of these may be found above.

No doubt there were plenty more gems but where else could we find and taste all this under one roof? We would have liked to explore the national stands of Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Lebanon, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey but we did pass by Hungary where we were disappointed not to find any Cserszegi Fuszeres, Jufark, Kiralyleanyka, Ezerjo etc. and an Indian winery new to us called 'Sveta' whose Chenin Blanc was positvely the best Indian Chenin Blanc we have ever tasted (pure and clean).

Most of the wines that interested us were without representation or importers in the UK which re-inforces our impression that although more eclectic than many it is only a few species of wine that we are offered in this country. Most lacking are the aromatics and the light food wines. There is a preponderance of heavy, chunky, strong and warming wines on our shelves, each trying to demonstrate maximum extraction but without offering a wide variety of flavours.

There were no English, Welsh or Irish wines represented...

We go mad in Malaga's Museo del vino

2011-05-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ever since we discovered the Museo del Vino (cf. blog of 22.11.09 ) we have been chomping at the bit to get back there and check their stock in an unhurried way.

We vowed to get a few bottles of our two big discoveries that time, the white Doradilla/Moscatel and the red Tinta Rome - both Sierra da Malaga wines made from what they call local grapes although Doradilla can be found as far as Australia and Moscatel is quite widespread not least in Bordeaux.

Hardly daring to hope we would find the Museo del Vino again (up a small street not quite in the centre of town) let alone that the wines we were looking for would still be available we were delighted to have success on both counts.

Pedro was still there behind the till. He speaks 5 languages and knows everything there is to know about the wines of Malaga and Ronda.

Under his guidance we scrutinised everything on offer, not a huge selection it has to be said but fascinating. Most of the reds were blends from a repertoire of varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, Syrah and yes, even Tinta Rome in one case.

These all tended to look heavy with typically 14% or 14.5% Abv. Curiously, Schatz´s Lemberger ('Acinipio') was not stocked on the grounds that this grape is not included in those permitted by the appellation although Schatz´s Chardonnay was available. We went a bit crazy and bought quantities of our Doradilla/Moscatel and Tinta Rome as well as a Rose from Petit Verdot (at 13% one of the least alcoholic!). It has to be said the Tinta Rome was 2006 and past its best but still unique.

The Museo del Vino has a great many talks, tours and courses as well as the shop. An estimable institution which we were happy to see thriving. Vaut le voyage as they say.

Coming out of the Plaza de los Viñeros we saw this somewhat sobering sign.

Walking on pensively we had hoped to find the Palacio Cropani open. This was a Bodega which had looked so enticing last time but had been closed. This time it was more than closed - it was boarded up. Perhaps the AA is particularly effective in these parts?

World's worst airport duty free?

2011-05-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

a) there is practically no wine to choose from

b) they claim to be prohibited from selling to passengers bound for other EU countries.

Where are we? Clue: this is a small airport 99 km from an EU capital. There is a prize for the first person to name this airport (Slotovino employees, friends and families are not eligible to participate).

Yesterday's results from the London Grape Bourse

2011-05-06T00:31:00.000-07:00

Up:

The big news was the entirely unexpected and dramatic rise in Kerner (Astley Vineyards 'Veritas' from Worcestershire. The ascendence of Ortega in its dry form also took the market by surprise as did Auxerrois. Rises were also recorded in Huxelrebe, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Noir Precoce ( Fruehburgunder). Dornfelder continued its steady, seemingly inexorable ascent.

Down;

Surprise falls were recorded in the Bacchus sector with one exception - Wareside Wines 2010 (Hertfordshire) . More predictably Seyval Blanc and Orion were heavy losers in the whites whereas Rondo and particularly Regent were relegated to not very attractive Roses and use in blends where we suspect they did not contribute positively. Madeleine Angevine and Triomphe d'Alsace are now very much has beens, such are the advances in other varieties.

Sparkling;

This sector is not quoted in our Bourse because most examples are blends.

Where were we? English Wine Producers Trade and Press Tasting, May 5th. With many thanks to Henrietta Green and Julia Trustram Eve.

Pignoletto joins SHoF

2011-04-19T01:39:00.000-07:00

We were introduced to this wonderful white grape in a sparkling version from Umbria by the noted vinophile Charles Taylor who knows a thing or three. Immediately we recognised that with Spergola (a recent addition to SHoF - Slotovino Hall of Fame), here was a rival (we think an improvement) on Prosecco. There is also the still version which we haven't tried.

Pignoletto has been declared as being identical to Grechetto but not everyone agrees or accepts this finding. If it is indeed Grechetto then the SHoF is pleased to add that grape to our list. Others say it is a distant cousin of Riesling.

A glance at Winesearcher.com shows any number of Pignolettos - sparkling and still - available in many markets so clearly there are many in the know. The version by Tedeschi was so appley it tasted like cider. We were immediately won over. There is a Pignoletto available from Laithwaites for almost the same price as Spergola (around £7) and has even been served on British Airways flights. It has nothing to do with the red grape Pignolo (= 'fussy' in Italian).

In praise of Azienda Agricola Pravis, Lasino, Trento.

2011-04-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

This winery produces the following marvels;

White

Müller Thurgau
Nosiola

Red

Schiava Gentile
Rebo
Groppello di Revò
Negrara
Franconia (Lemberger/Zweigelt)
Lagrein

We have secured the 100% Negrara and sevreal others apart from the Nosiola which find underwhelming in it's table wine form. Maybe it makes wonderful Vino Santo (?). The Negrara is we feel particularluy rare to find 'in purezza'

and the Rebo althogh reasonably well known in the Trento region was a new one on us and hence interentantissimo.

We also applaud Gropello wherever we find it.

What Ted brought from Australia

2011-04-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

An acquaintance of ours, Ted Kravitz "Ted our man in the pits" from BBC F1 racing brought us three interesting bottles back from the Australian Grand Prix. The first was an excellent Semillon from the Barossa, not Hunter Valley this time. It is by Peter Lehmann and is called 'Margaret' after his wife. Reasonably low in alcohol this wine has won prizes and is interesting for both these facts. Only today the press bring to British people's attention that Hunter Valley Semillon is one of the great contributions of Australia to the world of wine. We agree with that wholeheartedly and now it seems the Barossa can join in the party.

The next bottle was an Aussie Montepulciano from the Adelaide Hills by Minchia which went down only too easily

and the third was something molto interessante, a Rondinella (60%)/Corvina (40%) Amarone blend by Freeman Vineyards, Hilltops NSW.

It doesn't say on the bottle what the ratio is between the Rondinella and Corvina

so we emailed Freeman Vineyards and received a detailed reply from Brian Freeman giving the above percentages and saying thst he is planting more Corina because he finds the Rondinella lacking in personality. He uses the Rondinella in Rosé now. We asked about Molinara and he said he reckoned that wouldn't have any more personality than Rondinella. It's good to find someone with such initiative. Brian Freeman reminds us of such free Australian spirits as Robin Day of Domaine Day who make all sorts of interesting wines from Saperavi to Sangiovese, Ilario and Dino Michelini of Michelini Wines who make a Marzemino, Joseph Grillo (who also makes a 'Moda Amarone' wine called "The Joseph", Mark Lloyd of Coriole vineyards who make Sagrantino and others.

Oddbins RIP

2011-04-17T14:28:00.001-07:00

Not odd enough?

Germany's second most northerly vineyard

2011-04-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

In the Ahr Valley, they claim to be Germany's most northerly vineyard but this is not true. Schloss Proschwitz near Zadel in Sachsen is 51° 12" North whereas Dernau, one of the most important villages in the Ahr Valley is only 50° 32" North. On the other hand the Ahr is best known for red wines and Schloss Proschwitz and the rest of the Meissen vineyard is best known for white. The Ahr valley certainly is a remarkable sun trap with an incredible bowl where mostly Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) is planted on the vertiginous slopes.

We have not been convinced by Ahr Spätburgunder, perhaps because we haven't tasted one of the very expensive ones. The others seem to be along the lines of Alsace Pinot Noir but without the lightness and freshness. Pinot Noir does dominate - so much so that even the whites are made of it; 'Blanc de Noir' is a feature of most producers and is rather pleasant. nevertheless, many other grape varieties are to be found in the Ahr. We bought a Cabernet Mitos from Weingut Schlosshof in Dernau

together with a bottle of their Regent. They also do Saint Laurent, Zweigelt, Dornfelder, Dominus, Ortega, Kerner, Huxelrebe, Saphir, Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc) and yes, Riesling.

In the villages strung out along the Ahr, the vineyards and wineries come right down into town.

Indeed it sometimes seems as if these are vineyards containing villages rather than villages containing vineyards - an impression reinforced by actual vineyards every so often in the village centres.

Schlosshof claims to be the winery oldest in Dernau. We were also recommended Kriechel in Ahrweiler where we bought a Frühburgunder, the early ripening clone of Pinot Noir.

Apart from the fact this ripens 2 weeks earlier there is not always a clear difference between the two Pinot Noirs. Some say that due to the smaller berries the Frühburgunder makes a fuller wine and Spatburgunder is characterised by a more aromatic flavour. Be that as it may Frühburgunder is very much the rarer grape.

There was also a recommendation for Weingut Adenauer in Ahrweiler but they were closed. Stoddern in Rech was also closed and we couldn't find the highly recommended Meyer-Näkel in Dernau but fortunately Weingut Deutzerhof in Mayschloss was open

and here we were given three excellent and interesting wines to taste: a Dornfelder, a Frühburgunder and a Portugieser from vines planted in 1927.

This was a revelation and we departed with a bottle for the mystification of friends back home.

Ahrweiler is a jewel. A well kept secret. An ancient and perfectly preserved little town well worth the journey. The Ahr valley is beautiful - and well under an hour from Cologne/Bonn airport. Almost Germany's most northerly vineyard.

The 2010 arrives and we decide to re-plant the vineyard

2011-04-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, our Triomphe d'Alsace Rosé was finally bottled and released. It had been the last chance for our Triomphe grapes.

Another undrinkable wine and they would have been used henceforth for grape juice which is admittedly delicious. Encouraged and it has to be said bolstered with rather too much euphoria, we embarked on a programme of soil improvement and planting in the gaps where nothing has grown for many a year. We thought at first that we would just order a very few vines to see what might succeed but with the bit between our teeth ended up with a full scale experimental vineyard: 27 x Dornfelder, 15 x Frühburgunder, 25 x Pinot Noir, 27 x Regent, 27 x Rondo, 8 x Wrotham Pinot. These will be planted in a small plot at the top of the garden. In the middle plot are our disobliging Bacchus. This year, we are determined to spray them for the first time. It appeares Bacchus will not produce without treatments. We thought this was a bit of a swizz given that Bacchus is only a crossing - we might as well be growing Pinot Blanc or some such pure vinifera variety. Then after extensive enquiries we were informed that if we wanted something the equivalent of our Triomphe which didn't need any looking after, the only thing was Seyval Blanc. With a trip to Cologne in the offing we decided to visit the Research station at Geisenheim and see if they had come up with anything new for the job since Seyval Blanc was pioneered by Mr. Seyve and his son-in-law, Mr. Villard in 1919. What an admirable the Forschungsanstalt Geisenheim is! As well as industriously researching, crossing and hybridising all kinds of grapes it is a University as well.

It was here that Müller-Thurgau was first propagated and they have the original plant to prove it.

Here, what was called a 'Vorlesung' (lecture) was taking place:

Having requested a guided visit we were entrusted to Dip. Ing. Bettina Lindner,

the co-author of the Report on Geisenheim Grape Varieties and Clones (Geisenheimer Rebsorten und Klone, Geisenheimer Berichte 67).

She not only talked us through the various varieties fitting our needs but took us down to the cellars in order to taste the wines made from them.

This was an unimaginable advantage and half a dozen varieties we alighted on GM 8107-3,

a deliciously apply (Bettina preferred citrussy) wine from grapes descended from Ehrenbreitsteiner and FR 52-64 (meaning a grape cultivated by the Freiburg Institute in 1952). Ehrenbreitsteiner is itself a crossing of two generations of other crossings. As in any other kind of breeding the hope is that progress may be made over time. Bettina Lindner told us she had sold the GM 8107-3 to a French gentleman looking for varieties to plant in Brasil or some such humid part of the world and this person had decided the variety should have a proper name and chose 'Bettina'. We were pleased to follow his lead, so 'Bettina' it is.

We were also offered samples of Red varieties including Bolero which has become popular as a disease-resistant variety. The problem with the taste of Bolero was a hint of smoked ham in the background. Not unpleasant in itself but a little too original for its own good in our opinion. After signing a solemn document promising not to give anyone cuttings we departed with 30 'Bettina' vines in a plastic bag and made for Rebschule Martin in Gundheim (the German for vine nursery is rendered rather charmingly as Rebschule or literally 'Grape-School'). Gundheim is a bit further on than Gundersheim which we fortunately stumbled on by mistake. Fortunately because it is a remarkably beautiful village unlike any others we have seen in Germany. Not at all bijou or kitsch. No half-timbered houses or Gingerbread atmosphere. Here was an almost French mood with rendered buildings and a Burgundian kind of charm.

Turning down Rieslingstrasse in Gundheim we came across the Rebschule of the charming Herr Martin - it was just about now that we realised everyone we had met in the course of our investigations in Germany had been charming.

Herr Martin checked his stock from which we decided on 25 Solaris vines being hardy, fungus-resistant and early ripening. They grow it in Denmark so we think it may be suitable for a particularly ill-favoured corner of our little vineyard. Solaris has as its parents Merzling (which is Seyve-villard 5276 x (Riesling x Pinot Gris)) as mother vine with Gm 6493 (which is Zarya Severa x Muscat Ottonel) as the father. Back at the ranch and by now completely obsessed, we ordered 25 x Goldriesling and 25 x Johanniter from Rebschule Steinemann, also in Hessen. We had been warned against these varieties for growing in England but at under €2 each, we couldn't resist. We have enjoyed Goldriesling so much from Germany's most northerly vineyard in Meissen and Johanniter from The Netherlands that we are hopeful (delusional?) that we may get something in a hot year those climate change experts have been promising us.

The digging and planting is being done by Burt and Sean who sound like two characters from Sesame Street. When we saw how much effort was needed in our stony clay soil, we rang around and discovered a mechanical digger for hire just down the road.

Much better. We have left plenty of holes for other varieties, perhaps next year.

Eventually the idea is to decide on what does best on our plot and rip out the rest. Somehow we hope it will be 'Bettina' for the whites and perhaps Dornfelder for the reds.

Hamburg and Lübeck revisited

2011-04-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Not much to report in Hamburg this time apart from the news that Hanseaten Select may import Chinese wine again. This time we met Mike-Alexander Brede who is the enterprising man behind Europe's only importer of Chinese wine. He said it would be from different producers in the future. In Lübeck we found Weinhandelshaus H.F. von Melle - almost identical to Tesdorpf and in a parallel street as well as in many respects a parallel universe.

Von Melle is the more interesting if less pukka establishment from our point of view. There we found a rare bottling of Cabernet Dorsa

as well as a Regent
and a Dornfelder. There were several wines open for tasting and they were kind enough to let us try their Portugieser (jury still out) and yes, their Lübecker Rotspon! Finally we were able to prove the pudding. As readers (or was that reader?) of this blog will remember we thought this ancient marketing gag was beneath us on our first encounter months ago (see blog of 17.5.10) and the fact that the wine called Rotspon is just locally bottled stuff selected each year from places such as the Pays d'Oc doesn't seem to inhibit Lübeckers from buying it here,

there and even at the airport. We didn't buy it. Loaded down as we were we still dived into a general store with some bottles of wine on our way from von Melle to the Theatre and here we found a bottle of Samtrot - a rarity indeed. Samtrot is said to be a clone of Pinot Meunier (Schwarzriesling) with its own character. We couldn't resist and have high hopes based of the Grafen Neipperg provenance and reassuringly high price.

At Lübeck Airport (Ryanair customers take note) there is Dornfelder and Sylvaner to be had at reasonable prices.

Wine trade, world's most competitive

2011-03-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

A restauranteur of our acquaintance told us how he is beseiged by the wine trade trying to sell him wine for his restaurants. He reckons it must be the most competative business in the world. Maybe we'll stick with the day job.

Things looking up in West London

2011-03-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

A new wine shop in Brompton Road! A fully-fledged independent called SIPP at No. 203, quite near Emporio Armani for those who know where that is. They are knowledgeable and nice young French people whose selection is eclectic and discerning. We bought a Brazilian red blend of Touriga Nacional, Afrocheiro, and Tinto Roriz which we had enjoyed from a previous source just to encourage them. Their website will soon be active: www.sipplindon.com

Meanwhile, in our researches was the discovery not far away of another wonderful establishment, Troubadour Wines of 263 - 267 Old Brompton Road, SW5 which has been open for just over 2 years already.

There we found not only the same bottle of Brazilian as at Sipp for slightly less but also Bests Great Western Pinot Meunier which we used to buy from Harvey Nichols with much pleasure before they stopped carrying it.

This was actually Troubadour's last bottle but we hope they will order it again. Almost on our way out we were thunderstruck to find an Ancelotta by Familia Zuccardi from Argentina!

We were promised by the thoroughly well informed and bright young chap behind the counter that they were expectin a big consignment of new stock in mid-March. We will certainly scoot back to check that out as soon as possible.

Another result from our Googling - sorry, researching - we discovered that Harrods were the only stockists of our latest enthusiasm a Grignolino, so along we went to discover they have made their wine department over to excellent effect.

The staff there are enthusiastic almost to a fault. How good to see practically the entire former Pantry given over to what looks like a greatly enlarged selection of wines. Harrods is a strange place. Some departments have remained excellent while others...

Meanwhile over at Selfridges, we picked up a real rarity - one now with added poignancy - the first example we have seen of the indiginous Japanese grape Koshu.

Slotovino Hall of Fame has a new member: Casetta

2011-03-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, a rare red grape from Trentino Alto Adige: Casetta has made a big impact on a recent fact-finding trip to the area. This is one of the ancient varieties to be found in this fascinating part of Italy. Other local varieties include Enantio (used in what is referred to as Lambrusco Trentino) and Pavana which we have not been able to find. A crossing of Teroldego and Merlot called Rebo after the great 20th century grape geneticist Rebo Rigotti

who created this and many other crossings is also a feature of the region. We have been able to source a Rebo and this will be put through our rigorous testing program very soon.

Nosiola is another variety native to Trentino but after thorough trials we have decided that although perfectly acceptable, it is not worthy of the high honour of inclusion. We have not tried the sweet version referred to as Nosiola Vin Santo. This may yet be Nosiola’s ultimate calling.

Moscato Rosa makes another sweet wine in Trentino. We did not taste this but a Moscato Rosa from Sicilia. Again the impression was positive but not up to our high criteria for inclusion in our Hall of Fame.

We have also yet to taste Schiava Grigia or the Malvasia Nera of the Südtirol/Alto Adige. We have managed to bring back local versions of Schiava and Portugieser however. Local expressions of Müller-Thurgau, Incrocio Manzoni Bianco and Pinot Bianco all shone.

The Trentino/Alto Adige/Südtirol region emerged as no less rich in diversity than the Val d’Aosta or Savoie. These mountain areas are hosts to many secret treasures.

The excellence of wines produced from these grapes is not due to them being grown on mountain sides but to the effect the mountains have in concentrating warmth on the growing areas in the valleys over the growing season when for example Bolzano in the Alto Adige can sometimes be the hottest city in Italy.

St. Jeannet

2011-02-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

25 km from Nice, opposite the micro-vineyard of Bellet is a forgotten appellation called St. Jeannet. This is one of those tiny historic terroirs like Colares in Portugal in danger of being annihilated by developement and the encroachment of modern life.

We haven't tasted the wines of St. Jeannet but the story has been enough to make us not only wish we had but to recruit us to the cause of preserving this idiosyncratic vineyard. Unlike the vast majority of our good causes, St. Jeannet's singularity lies not in the varieties of grapes grown there (Rolle/Vermentino, Muscat, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Syrah) but in the fascinating method of vinification traditional to the area.

This includes, for the red wines at least putting the wine in clear glass 'Bonbonnieres'

and leaving it to the mercy of infra-red rays, temperature fluctuations and no doubt an amount of oxydisation. We have seen some of these methods in the Jura (oxydisation) and Friuli (elevage in amphorae) but St. Jeannet seems to embrace all these together.

We have it on the authority of Olivier Cautres of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, a connoisseur of rank if ever there was one, that the white is something very special indeed.

In 1950, vines accounted for one third of the land of the commune of St. Jeannet making it famous for table grapes as well as wine. White wine from Rolle was kept in granaries and subjected to heat and cold making a madeirised, fruity dessert wine which was known and available in Paris.

Horticulture and developement almost killed the vineyards but about twelve producers remained and fought back. Prominent among them was the Rasse family who have persevered and whose wines are always snapped up before they can find their war very far.

Just in case, dear Slotovino reader, you think we have gone soft in the head from recounting this sentimental story, there is a silver lining in the shape of yes, you guessed it, a very rare grape variety indeed: St. Jeannet, no less which is believed to have originated here in our St. Jeannet and is now to be found only in Argentina where it accounts for one wine, Finca El Reposo St. Jeannet.

We glean from Google that this is "a long lost variety planted in Argentina in 1912", and that this is "the only planting of Saint Jeannet left on the planet on a plot located in Cruz de Piedra, Mendoza." Another brave soul maintains "This variety originally from Asia, was introduced in Southern France by the Greeks. The Benegas family brought it to Mendoza. Its main characteristic is its late ripeness and acidity. In the beginning of the 20th century, this wine was used to enhance the acidity and body of the sparkling wines." We haven't yet found the connection with the commune of St. Jeannet and we haven't heard of any of this variety still growing there but here is an interesting story to be sure and wine is surely better for having a past, don't you think?

Triomphe d'Alsace

2011-02-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

The lowly hybrid Triomphe d'Alsace has never made a good wine and rarely even a drinkable one. We should know having tried to do so ourselves on several occasions and having tasted as many commercial examples as possible whether in blends or straight.

Triomphe's only virtue seems to be that the vine itself is immensely obliging. Whatever you do or don't do in terms of pruning, spraying, feeding etc. it will come through almost anything the English and for all we know Welsh, Irish and maybe even Scottish climates can throw at it with fruit ripe enough to make wine of sorts. It's the wine that is the problem - or has been until now.

We started off trying to get as much sugar and concentration as possible but this mongrel crossing (K319/3 Knipperle x Vitis riperia x Vitis rupestris or else Vitis riparia × Vitis rupestris × Goldriesling, no one seems sure) has a thoroughly unpleasant bitter characteristic which precluded it from making cooking wine, Sangria, vinegar or any use whatsoever. We then asked our winemaker, the brilliant Vince Gower of Stanlake Park to try to get more acid and less fruit into the equation and in 2009 he produced something almost drinkable if rather peculiar.

Our 2010 harvest was going to be our last attempt at making wine. In the meanwhile we had discovered that our grapes made a delicious grape juice so if we couldn't make wine this time it would be grape juice in future. We decided to try just one more thing - a blanc de noirs.

Triomphe is a teinturier with red flesh as well as skins so as well as being a ridiculous concept, it was never actually going to make a white wine and so it happened that we ended up with a pink one.

Vince has filtered and stripped out the unpleasant Triomphe flavours leaving a light, slightly watery but hopefully refreshing rose that could have come from one of the lower shelves at the supermarket. A triomphe indeed!

Slotovino January clearance tasting

2011-01-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

With the help of over 20 friends we tasted the following bottles most of which have already been mentioned in this blog

WHITES

Schloss Proschwitz Elbling 2008, Sachsen. 11.5%
Jan Ulrich Goldriesling Sachsen 2010 11.5%

Colonjes Johanniter Groesbeek, Netherlands, 2008. 11.6%

Chanton Visp Gwäss (Gouais) Valais, 2006 Switzerland. 11.8%

Albòre Spergola. Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa DOC. VFQPRD. 12% (Sparkling)

Dom Diego Azal Vinho Verde, Minho, Portugal. 12.5%

Stitti Mantonico, Calabria 2007. 13%
Teliani Valley Tsolikouri 2007, Tvishi district of Lechkumi. Georgia, 13%
Sclavus ‘Metageitnion’ Vostilidi, Cephalonia 2009, Greece. 13.2% (Orange)
Bermejo Diego Seco Lanzarote, 2008. 13.3% [= Vigierega/Vijariego]
Marani Mtsvane NV Kakheti, Georgia 13.5%
Cogno Anas-Cetta Nascetta, Langhe 2007. 13.5%

Intrepid Ortrugo, Colli Piacentini, Emilia Romagna 2009. 13.5%

Qinta dos Currais Síria Beira Interior, Portugal, 2008. 13.5%

Vin d’autan Ondenc. Gaillac. Robert Plageoles & fils, 2001. 9.8% (Sweet)

REDS

Colares Adega Regional Ramisco Portugal 1992. 11%
Grisard Cuvee Persan, Savoie. 12%

Chateau Changyyu-Castel Cabernet Gernischt 2003, Shandong Province, China. 12%

Tenuta Zagaria Uva di Troia Vigna Grande 2005. Castel del Monte (BA),13%

Terenzuola Vermentino Nero 2009. IGT Toscana. 13.5%

Benanti Nerello Capuccio, Etna. 13.5%

Dominio Dostales Prieto Picudo Vino de la Tierra de Castilla Y Leon 2005. Sp13.5%

Satrapezo Saperavi 2006, Kakheti Georgia 13.5%

Pianetta di Cagnore Vernaccia Nera, Marche 2001. Italy.13.5%

Piovene Porto Godi Tai Rosso, Colli Berici, Veneto. 13.5%

Plageoles: Domaine des tres Cantous 2008, Prunelart, Gaillac. 14%

C’a Bruzzo Tocai Rosso (now Tai Rosso) Vigna Veccia, Colli Berici, Veneto 2008. 14%

Centomoggia Casavecchia Terre dei Principi Castel Campagnano Campania 2006. 14% (corked?)

Ambrusco Palagrello Nero Terre dei Principi Castel Campagnano Campania 2006. 14%

Brecce Rosse Vernaccia Nera, Serrapetrona, 2005. 14%

Vinoplod Vinaria Babić, Sibenik, Croatia NV. 14.3%

The most contentious wines were the Sclavus ‘Metageitnion’ Vostilidi Orange wine, the Chateau Changyyu-Castel Cabernet Gernischt 2003, Shandong Province, China and the C’a Bruzzo Tocai Rosso Vigna Veccia with votes both for and against. The Croatian Babic wasn’t much liked but there were some surprise standouts with the Dutch Colonjes Johanniter leading the way.

Also favoured were the Schloss Proschwitz Elbling, Albòre Spergola, Teliani Valley Tsolikouri, Intrepid Ortrugo and the Vin d’autan Ondenc Gaillac doux by Robert Plageoles in the whites and the Grisard Cuvée Persan, Tenuta Zagaria Uva di Troia, Terenzuola Vermentino Nero, Benanti Nerello Capuccio, Dominio Dostales Prieto Picudo and the Satrapezo Saperavi in the reds.

It was surprising that so many of those present had never heard of most of these varieties and gratifying that they were pleasantly surprised by most of them.

Joining the Slotovino Hall of fame are

Elbling

Johanniter

Ortrugo

Ondenc

Tsolikouri

Casavecchia

Palagrello Nero

Uva di Troia

Vermentino Nero

To which, in honour of the Plageoles family, (see Slotovino Roll Call of Honour) we take the opportunity to add Mauzac in all its 7 manifestations. A productive and fun evening. To be repeated one day. Here is now an updated Slotovino Hall of Fame list.

Whites:

Antao Vaz
Auxerrois
Bombino (Trebbiano d'Abruzzo)
Doradilla
Elbling
Encruzado
Goldriesling
Gringet
Johanniter
Loin de l'Oieul
Loueiro
Mauzac
Ondenc
Ortrugo
Pecorino
Perlé
Spergola
Torbato
Trajadura/Treixadura
Verduzzo
Vilana
Welschriesling (Riesling Italico)
Xarel-Lo

Reds:

Ancelotta
Argaman
Baga
Blauer Wildbacher
Canaiolo
Casavecchia
Cornalin
Folle noire
Francisi
Gascon
Graciano
Grolleau
Gropello
Maglioppo
Marselan
Mencia
Nerello Capuccio
Osoleta
Palagrello Nero
Perricone (aka. Pignatello)
Persan
Piedirosso
Pineau d'Aunis
Plavac Mali
Poulsard
Prieto Picudo
Pugnitello
Ramisco
Romé
Saperavi
Sciacarello
Tinto Cão
Uva di Troia
Vermentino Nero
Vernaccia Nera
Vranec

Report - Christmas and New Year 2010/11

2011-01-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

As hinted already in these pages, there were surprises good and bad over the holiday season. This is inevitable if you palm experiments off on guests instead of offering them someting tried and tested. Sorry to say we just like living dangerously. We learned that you have to have several alternatives up your sleeve though and this time, we needed them.

So here's the balance sheet:

Credit

L'Albore Spergola (see Blog entry)
Simonutti Pineau d'Aunis 2008
Biddenden Dornfelder 2009
Tbilvino Khvanchkara 2007
Strohmeier Blauer Wildbacher Lestoa Rot
Strohmeier Blauer Wildbacher Lestoa Rose
Col Sandago Blauer Wildbacher 2005
Margaretenhof Dornfelder 2006
Ch. Haut Chaigneau Lalande de Pomerol 1999
Bean & Beluga White

Debit

C'a Bruzzo, Tocai Rosso 2008
Domaine Grisard Cuvee Persan 2009
Niepoort Palomino
Hatzidakis Voudomato 2008
Strohmeier Rose
Bartucci Bugey Cerdon Sparkling Rose
Grafen Neipperg Schwarzriesling 2009
Bean & Beluga Red

Concerning the successes, the Biddenden Gribble Ridge Dornfelder was outstanding. The first English red we have ever had of which a case would be welcome. The Tbilvino was a semi-sweet blend of two varieties unknown to us: Aleksandrouli and Mujuretuli. This was first brought to our attention by the 24 year old Georgian Verdi baritone Mikheil Kiria who told us that Kvanchkara was the best Georgian wine.

Here he is outside the Louvre (he's the one in the foreground).

We were told it resembled more a luscious New World red than a sweet wine as such and that description was quite right. We drank it as a Vino da Meditazione rather than with food which nonetheless would have been possible.

Blauer Wildbacher was the standout successful variety of the season. Even the Italian version from the Colli Trevigiani was excellent.

The Margaretenhof Rheinhessen Dornfelder was the house wine of the cafe at Dresden Airport

but that didn't prevent it from being delicious. Together with Blauer Wildbacher, Dornfelder really shone in these days.

As you see, we are already strayng into our German trip in the first days of January (of which more later) and here we list a wine which was given to us and not one we had bought in for the obscurty of its grapes. This was the phenominal Chateau Haut Chaigneau -

not only the very best Lalande de Pomerol we have ever tasted but in fact the very first really good one. All previous examples we had ever tasted had been disappointments to the extent that we had quite given up on this rather unloved Appellation. It just goes to show how things have improved in Bordeaux over the years. We believe there are such things as a good Cotes de Bourg or Blaye and even drinkable Boreaux Superieurs and plain Bordeaux!

The White Cuvee we tasted at the Semperoper bar was made by a new Gastronomie in Dresden called "Bean and Beluga" (geddit?) from local white varieties whch were explained to us but which we have forgotten. They may have included Goldriesling. At under 12%, this was excellent. Unfortunately their Red blend was not as successful, containing the first German Cabernet Sauvignon to pass our lips together with Merlot. This was 14% and didn't bode well for German Cabernet Sauvignons for which there is apparently something of a mode.

The other disappointments need some explanation because some of these wines have been highly praised in this blog. The C'a Bruzzo Tocai Rosso and Grisard Persan are both different vintages from those we were so happy to discover and we may not have given these particular wines enough time to breathe or may not even have stored correctly. The Niepoort Palomino definitely tasted oxidised or maybe we should say 'rancio'. We're not sure if that is how this sherry grape is meant to be or if it was just as a result of having been stored too long in our rather warm cellar.

Real disappointment came with the Hatzidakis Voudomato.

They warned us it was sweet but the sweetness of this beverage was such as to make it consumable only by dribbling it over Vanilla icecream. Our 50cl bottle sits on top of the fridge awaiting the odd occasion when it can be used. This may not come for a while! A pity because the vines are not only from the uber-obscure Voudomato variety but are said to be the world's most ancient at 500 years old.

Strohmeier's Rose was their only non-Blauer Wildbacher wine we tasted. It was a perfectly acceptable Schilcher but nothing as interesting as ther Lestoa Rose (made from Blauer Wildbacher).

We have enjoyed Grafen Neipperg's Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) in the past but maybe 2009 was not a great year for this grape or perhaps it needed more bottle age.

Nothing wrong with the Bugey Cerdon Rose - just that we didn't realise it was Demi-Sec which was our fault because we were aware it was 8% alcohol - the same as wines like Moscato frizzante or Asti Spumante. That kind of thing is liable to get you into trouble when guests arrive and you offer them a sweet sparkling wine as an aperitif.

Slotovino Roll Call of Honour

2010-12-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Robert and Bernard Plageoles In 2011 we would like to institute the Slotovino Roll Call of Honour to celebrate those brave souls who are responsible for propagating or rescuing 'heritage' grape varieties in danger of extinction. We have come across a few of these already in our travels and we believe they should be celebrated as much as their wines which we also celebrate in the famous Slotovino Hall of Fame. We love lists at Slotovino so here is our embryonic Roll Call of Honour together with the grapes relevant to each name; Giuseppe Apicella, Alfonso Arpino and Luigi Reale - Tintore Emilio Bulfon - Cividin, Cjanorie, Forgiarin, Moscato Rosa, Picolit Neri, Sciaglin, Ucelut Casali Viticultori - Spergola Francisco Figueiredo and others - Ramisco Jean-Pierre and Philippe Grisard - Persan Walter Massa - reviver of Timorasso and leader of a new wave of winemakers in South East Piemonte Jose Luis Mateo Bastardo, Caíño Redondo, Caiño longo, Zamarrica, Brancellao, Sousón, Arauxa, Dona Blanca and Monstruosa de Monterrei in Galicia Heinrich Mayr for nurturing the white heirloom variety Blaterie at his Nusserhof property near Bolzano, Alto Adige Robert & Bernard Plageoles, 7 types of Mauzac, Ondenc, Prunelart, Verdanel etc. Domenico Pedrini and Gianni Chiste' of Azienda Agricola Pravis, Lasino (near Trento), Negrara and Gropello di Revo back from increasing obscurity in the Trentino area. The Rasse family (Rene and his sons Georges and Denis) for maintaining the idiosyncratic St. Jeannet appelation (near Nice) when almost all other vignerons (there were 70 in the 1950s) have sold their land to developers. It is in this case the Terroir if not the varieties which were endangered although some rare Braquet is grown together with Mourvèdre, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache, Rolle, Ugni Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat and Grenache Noir and the bizarre and ancient method of aging the reds in 'Bonbonnieres' before putting the wine in oak barrels. The smaller surviving growers include Mimi Lorenzato, Roger Barrière and Lazare Giambi. Agricola San Felice - Pugnitello Luigia Zucchi - Nibio the regeneration of the ancient grape variety, Nibiò, which once held position as Monferrato's noblest and highest value. 200 years of neglect nearly resulted in its extinction, but producer Luigia Zucchi has fronted the campaign for its rebirth. There are no doubt many more and we will add to the list, but this is a start and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Spergola is last entry Slotovino Hall of Fame, 2010

2010-12-31T04:27:00.000-08:00

We hail the rare Emilian grape Spergola as our last addition to the Slotovino Hall of Fame in 2010. We were dubious about adding this to our order from Bat and Bottle but it has turned out to have been one of our Christmas stars. At £8.75 for a bottle of Casali's L'Albore Spergola Secco, Vino Frizzante Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa (Reggio Emilia) we have placed an order for multiple bottles and look forward to drinking this appley sparkling wine in the place of any Prosecco or several Champagnes of our acquaintance for some time to come. Restaurants would do well to offer this amazingly good value sparkler instead of some of the boring and disappointing wines we so often find in this sector.

As we owned up some time ago. we were wrong to dismiss sparkling wine out of hand. Together with our discovery of sparkling Cabernet Franc from the Loire by Ackerman (£7.99 from Waitrose) this Spergola is indeed a discovery which we can recommend unreservedly.

NB. We found a pink Cremant de la Loire also made from Cabernet Franc so Ackerman are not exclusive in this felicitous choice of grape for sparkling rose.

Paris - a moving feast

2010-12-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

Some things change, others not. Quite a blow was the disappearance of our friend Julien in the Rue Charlot. Julien had worked for a number of years for Oddbins, Camden Town and his shop Caviste Julien was a really excellent neighbourhood place where a tremendous variety of wines were to be found. Could it be that Julien's stock was too eclectic? Certainly his successors "Nysa" while maintaining some of his stock seem to be headed in a more conventional direction. Nysa were holding a tasing party for their opening. We were trundling by, laden with shopping when a friendly inebriate on the pavement outside told us 'ne hesitez pas, entrez!' So we did. There was one of Julien's bottles on tasting, a nice Alsace Pinot Blanc (13.5%). We bought it - from what the shopowner said, perhaps the only one sold that evening. Still everyone seemed to be having fun.

This leaves the shop Le Versant Vins in the nearby Marché des Enfants Rouges even more of a beacon of interest in the area.

ALL the wines there are naturel or biologique. We studied the selection more attentively than on previous visits and were even more impressed than before. We bought a jolly Pineau d'Aunis sparkler with a fizzy drinks type cap for closure. We didn't realise this was white or just off-white until opening it but it was not a disappointment. No doubt someone makes a red sparkling Pineau d'Aunis but we recall that quite a lot of this grape goes to make Rosé. We couldn't resist buying a bottle of Simonutti's Pineau d'Aunis and were glad to have it to follow Julien's Alsace Pinot Blancs that evening when we ate a slightly spicy fish stew created by Mrs. Slotovino. Both were excellent accompaniments to this wonderful dish.

In restaurants and bars we had better luck than usual. Brasserie Balzar's Saumur Rouge was so good we forgot to look at the label and the Beaujolais at l'Auberge Pyrenées Cévennes in the Rue de la Folie Méricourt was so good we called from London to find out what it was. It is by Paul Durdilly, a negociant of Southern Beajolais, so the wine is just Beaujolais - not from any of the Villages. Delicious. At the Bar du Theatre opposite the Theatre Hauts de Seine at Puteaux, you are served an equally delicious Touriga Francesa from the Douro if you ask for a 'vin rouge' at the bar. OK, it's a Portuguese Bar but still, it takes some courage to do such a thing in France, especially with a twinkle in the eye from the server.

Our old friend Rupert marched us up the Rue de la Montagne Ste. Genevieve to 'De Vinis Illustribus', an interesting establishment for those interested in old vintages. We had a very informative tutorial from Lionel Michelin who had taken over a famous institution run by Jean-Baptiste Besse until about 4 years ago. We were shown the ancient cellars and some venerable bottles were trotted out so we could see their labels, shoulder levels etc. They even have a small but enticing selection of modern wines including a Hungarian Cabernet Franc we happen to have at home: 'Ikon'. Rupert managed to find something here from the 21st century.

From there it was only a hop, skip and jump (OK the weather was cold) to Les Caves du Pantheon which impressed us even more than on our first visit - the good impression being directly proportional to the greater amount of time we had there. Rupert found another two bottles at this address. We shared the selection of a Bugey sparkling Rosé

which at 8% prOmises to be something out of the ordinary as well as a Carignan Blanc (!)

a Terret Blanc

and a Greek dessert wine made by that most interesting Santorini producer, Hatzidakis from a grape variety called Voudomato. It is claimed that some of the vines on Santorini are 500 years old. This wine (Voudomato)is only 11% and is available from Green and Blue in London. Don't try their Clapham branch though. It closed down sadly not long ago. Things change in London too.

The Caves du Pantheon is a medium-sized shop but one that repays any amount of time. The laconic and amusing person we recognised from before is a mine of interesting information. Our only other port of call was another place we had cased on a previous visit - La Cave des Pupilles in the Rue Daguerre, This was thronged with Christmas shoppers and sterangely enough there was a Greek wine tasting going on including the rarissimo Vostilidi grape we had bought from Caves du Pantheon a year ago. We left them to it and will return another time as we believe there may be some interesting wines here.

Our real reason for going to Paris though was to pick up a consigment of Domaine Grisard's Persan,

a Savoyard wine so rare that it is not even available in Paris. Persan was one of our greatest finds of 2009

so we hope it will not disappoint this time. That would definitely be a move in the wrong direction.

Non-Tollerman Argentina

2010-12-07T09:55:00.001-08:00

On this visit we became intrigued to find out what the Portenos drink for their everyday wines. Visiting a branch of Carrefour

- the French supermarket chain that is even bigger than Tesco - we clocked the fact that many of the most prominent wineries (such as Michel Torino of our favourite Don David range) also produce wines for the low end of the market. These tasted no better than their prices ( 7 - 11 Pesos or £1 - £2 a bottle) would have led one to expect. The only exception here was Etchard's excellent Torrontes on sale for 11.5 Pesos which was rather good.

Eleswhere there were dodgy brands such as San Felipe's '12 Uvas' which makes the astonishing claim to be the only wine in Argentina to consist of

Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Bonarda, Sangiovese, Barbera d'Asti (sic), Pinot noir, Tempranillo, Chardonnay, Chenin.

(they might have said the whole world and been pretty sure they were safe in doing so). Apparently these brands have been going for a long time and have their faithful public.

We had also found a 'genuine' Argentinean Chianti,

lots of "Champagnes" also grown in Argentina. We knew about the "Borgognas" and the "Beaujolais" of Bianchi from our previous visit. Surprisingly generic Tinto or Blanco served as restaurant house wines were not as bad as these bottom end supermarket wines so a certain amount of choice is obviously available and some wines are better than others. Interesting to us was the fact that the Cabernet Sauvignons stood up better than the Malbecs, Tempranillos and Syrahs at this end of the market.

Trawling through the better wine shops such as The Winery (a chain) and Ligier,

we found an 11.5% Valle de Uco Sauvignon Blanc at 11.5% by O. Fournier for only 40 Pesos (£6.66)

which was as refreshing as any wine could be. O. Fournier is of course one of the greatest producers in Argentina but they refuse to send their wines to 'Vinas, Bodegas & Vinos de Argentina' for some reason which is obviously a crippling blow to this publication. It is a pity that we didn't find any other good guide to Argentinean wine while we were there.

The Winery is a pleasant chain with knowledgeable staff, a welcoming seating area and surprisingly high standard of shopfitting which one encounters everywhere in this cash-strapped country.They have the usual range and were not able to think of much when asked about any rarities or out of the ordinary stuff. Strange because we found this sparkling Bonarda from Alma 4 which looked interesting given that we had not encounteresd such a thing elsewhere.

At the airport we bought a bottle of Rutini’s ‘Trumpeter’ Mendoza Petit Verdot, a Bodegas Bianchi Nebbiolo and a Corte Friulano ‘Gran Lurton’ which is actually a blend of Sauvignon Vert, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Torrontes). There was also a bottle of Yacochuya red bearing the signature of Michel Rolland but no sign of alcohol content. We looked in vain for Cruzat Larrain.

Tollerman says this is the benchmark of Argentinean Espumante. According to Winesearcher Pro, this is not yet available outside Argentina. The winery itself seems only to have been established in 2004. A pity the airport doedn't recognise this yet.

Well, another reason to return to Argentina - in case we needed one.

Tollerman of Argentina

2010-12-03T08:57:00.001-08:00

On the inside of the cupola of the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires (one of the 5 world’s greatest opera houses) is a pantheon of composers’ names not visible in the photo above but trust us, they are there):

Gluck

Haydn

Mozart

Cherubini

Meyerbeer

Rossini

Bellini

Donizetti

Schumann

Chopin

Verdi

Berlioz

Bizet

Wagner

Gounod

As with all such lists it is amusing for future generations to see who has endured and who has been omitted. If Gluck, why not Handel?, if Schumann, why not Schubert? If Chopin why not Liszt?. Where are Bach, Beethoven, Weber, Brahms? The Russians (Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky) are entirely absent.

With wine, it seems tastes change even more rapidly. On our recent return trip to Argentina we learned that as little as 10 years ago no one was interested in Malbec. Now it has become the Argentinean signature grape with a vengeance. Not only that but it has become synonymous with Mendoza, so as we know diversity has gone out of the window with interest seemingly restricted to comparing one Malbec from Mendoza with a great many others, all more or less in the same rather assertive style.

Winemakers and consumers alike might spare a thought for one name on the ceiling of their newly restored opera house – Meyerbeer. At the time when Wagner was a struggling young composer in Paris, Meyerbeer ruled the operatic world.

In a country where the second most planted red grape, the rather interesting Douce Noire (aka. Bonarda) is called the “Ugly Duckling,” where consumers are notoriously conservative and brand–orientated and apparently uninterested in diversity there seems at present little hope for much change until Malbec goes the way of Meyerbeer. Meanwhile there may be other varieties waiting in the wings. For example, take the case of Béquignol, a fascinating import from Bordeaux and South-West France which accounts for 0.94 of Red Wine production. This means that there are no less than 2,256 acres of Béquignol grown in Argentina which is more than Barbera (1,828), Torrontés Mendocino (as opposed to the more familiar Torrontes Riojano - 1,643), Riesling (271) and Viognier (1,848) according to the website www.winesofargentina.org.

No one in any of the wineshops we visited had ever heard of Béquignol, so we made contact with Nigel Tollerman who according to our research is a mainstay of the Argentinean wine scene in Buenos Aires. Starting at Sommelier School in Argentina before he had learned Spanish he has set up in his own business (0800-VINO)

and was (perhaps still is) the only wine merchant in Buenos Aires to have a temperature-controlled cellar. As he says, most of his competitors don’t know much about wine. We ourselves discovered some of them still think Bonarda is an Italian grape and Torrontes a Spanish one (Bonarda is French - Savoyard - and Torrontes is a native cross between Mission or Criolla Chica and Muscat of Alexandria and has nothing to do with the Torrontes of Galicia).

Nigel informed us that various wineries grow all kinds of experimental varieties but either sell the resulting bottles only at the cellar door, use them in blends or do not sell them at all. He added that the Argentinean consumer is very conservative and very brand-orientated. He was seemingly happy to tutor us in all aspects of Argentinean wine.

Nigel is fantastically hardworking and has already built his business up to a commanding position, it seems. He spends two or three months in the UK every year and travels extensively throughout Argentina seeking out interesting wines from small producers. He was intriguing on the subject of Natural Wines saying because of the excellent dry growing conditions, often accompanied by healthy winds, Argentinean vines did not need much spraying and many vineyards were biological without even bothering to become so officially. On the subject of sulphur, he said that all wine contained naturally occurring sulphurs so even unsulphurated wines were not free of them.

Coming from the Sommelier side of the business, Nigel knew how to get the best out of us and at the same time give us his best. Asking us what we wanted to spend and what our interests were, we walked off with the following bottles – twice as many as intended but quite a bit cheaper than we had expected. He accomplished all of this while dealing with other customers on the telephone, beautifully and painstakingly wrapping our bottles first in tissue paper and then, unbidden in bubble wrap - even putting his seal on top

- and getting a pile of orders out by the end of the day (a Friday) so he could 'relax' at the Hurlingham Club on the weekend. Nigel's wines wrapped and sealed:

and hey presto:

Torrontes: Aguijon de Abeja 2009, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, 13.7%

Cabernet Sauvignon: Carmelo Patti 2003, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, 14%

Malbec: Opalo 2008, Valle de Uco, 14% (“no usamos madera” – unwooded).

Bonarda: Durigutti 2008, Mendoza, 13.5% (“neither cold stabilised, filtered or fined”)

We look forward to these especially the Durigutti whose Malbec was the standout wine at a tasting organised by Anuva Wines – a very ‘gemütlich’ small-scale event which nonetheless managed to present 4 varieties in a flight of 5 wines and represent various regions as well.

For anyone wanting to make sense out of Argentinean wine though, Tollerman's the man. He will even ship to you anywhere in the world served by DHL if you like. www.0800-vino.com

Bequignol = Prunelart: NOT

2010-11-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

28.1.11

Our blog of 23.10.10 lamented that Bequignol was the same thing as Prunelart but we have learned from none other than Julia Harding MW that this is not so. Our apologies to Slotovino readers. We hope you have not been too seriously inconvenienced. Here is the original post:

Shock horror! No sooner than we had thought we had discovered a new variety (Bequignol) than we discover (thanks to Wikipedia) that this is nothing else than Prunelart, a bottle of which lies in our cellar as we google.

We were checking varities in advance of a trip to Argentina when the 'Wines of Argentina' site gave us the name Bequignol as a grape produced in that country. Prunelart is made by Plageoles in Gaillac. Wikipedia tells us that this rarity is to be found only in pockets in South West France (Vienne and Gironde including Bordeaux), Argentina, Australia, Brasil, Spain and Italy.

In Argentina, Bequignol/Prunelart accounts for 0.94% of production and covers only 2,256 acres - more than Barbera nonetheless which we suppose is a cause for celebration.

Wijn Antiquariaat

2010-11-12T09:12:00.001-08:00

Gerard has been squirreling eclectic and ideosyncratic fine wines away in his shop near the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for decades and consequently has built up a fantastic inventory of great wine for those looking for something with some bottle age.

Inevitably there are legions of Bordeaux and Burgundy but also rarities such as Colares which makes Wijn Antiquariaat different from other similar operations. Not only that, Gerard knows his stuff and has visited the respective areas (including Colares). He is another of the rare enthusiasts one sometimes meets who are more inteersted that you should enjoy a nice bottle of wine than in extracting the last penny from you, making nonesense of the ditty

Never do business with the Dutch,
They give too little and take too much.

Gerard is also a real character. He has a clockwork torch for looking at labels in dim corners. He also holds tastings and invited us to one of Rioja the afternoon we were in his shop (unfortunately we couldn't stay).

We asked him if he know the best place to buy Dutch wine and he said that everywhere would be closed but that if we wanted he could lay his hands on some very good Dutch wine. We are sure he could

In fact we had taken the precaution of going to Gall & Gall, the store we had discovered on a previous visit and bought a bottle of Colonje Johanniter.

Johanniter is a crossing of Riesling and Seyve Villard and is quite common in the Netherlands. Also available was Knapse witte also from Colonje (whose vineyards are in Groisbeek in the south of the country).This consists of a blend of two other hybrids which were completely unknown to us, Helios (progeny of Merzling, Seyve Villard and Muller Thurgau bred in the Staaliche Weinbauinstitut, Freiburg-im-Breisga)and Riesel (a Swiss crossing by Valentin Blattner of varieties which seem to have been kept confidential).

Gerard probably wouldn't approve but we had to start somewhere with Dutch wine.

Comparisons

2010-11-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Jancis Robinson recently wrote that (in Argentina) Bonarda was rather less noble than Malbec (FT, 25.9.10). In her 'Vines, Grapes and Wines' (itself a classic, published in 1986) she avoids the use of the word noble and refers to varieties as Classic, Major and Other, admitting that there is an element of quantity as well as quality in these classifications. In other words, just because it is listed under 'Other' it doesn't mean that a variety is inferior to a Classic or Major variety, just that it is not so widely planted or as well known internationally.

It may also be because it has not been defined as such by the French:

"Historically speaking, the noble grapes comprised only six varieties. The white noble grapes were Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Chardonnay. The red noble grapes were Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot." (Wikipedia). The author adds; "The phrase 'noble grape' is a classical term used to describe the grapes traditionally associated with the highest quality wines. The term is not as commonly used today...partly because the term originated in France which leads some critics to feel that the term unfairly slights varieties grown in other regions.

So Jancis Robinson probably means Bonarda (in reality Douce Noire) is less noble because plantings in Argentina are lower than those of Malbec. That's what we hope she means, but use of the words 'less noble' suggests Argentinian Bonarda is qualitatively inferior to Malbec. We at Slotovino would not wish to make such a comparison. It would be like saying Mozart is inferior to Beethoven or vice versa.

True some varieties are still waiting to achieve their full realisation but there have been so many examples of reviled grapes ("les mal aimés") producing wonderful wine out of the blue (such as Dov Segal's Argamon) that we would not like to dispense with any of them entirely (despite the rude things we have said about them in this blog - see Caradoc).

Slotovino wins by 2 days 23 hours and 59 minutes.

2010-11-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

We are in the avant-guarde yet again.

Our 'Vini, Salume, Pane, Latte' blog was posted at 10.32 on November 1st and Slurp posted the following later at 10.31 on November 4th:

"This is a wine we recommend buying by the case simply because it's so versatile and as indispensible as bread or milk!"

Our point was very similar - that there is a type of wine whose use is as a staple.

It would be a great idea if restaurant House Wines were to fulfil this role instead of being plonk for cheapskates as so often. Invidious comparisons with the rest of the list could then be avoided if it was clear they served a different purpose. We would then favour most wines being sold at a similar price as Franco, our Sommelier of 2009/10 does in his restaurant (see Slotovino Awards 6.7.10) does. Obviously some wines are more expensive than others but we find ourselves choosing by price as much as anything else whereas it should be by wine.

So let's abolish House Wines and have Draft Wine instead in a separate category, perhaps with Fine Wines in a third category. Just another of our thoughts...

Torbolino

2010-11-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

The New Wine of the Veneto is called 'Torbolino' and seems to be a popular seasonal treat, much like Federweisse in Germany. It arrives at the end of October so is not fully fermented at 8%. It is semi-sweet but rather delicious. The examples we found were made with Chardonnay (right) and Raboso (left - pay no atention to the labels on these. They are ex-mineral water bottles). In the middle is a sparkling Marzemino which we bought to see if the interesting example we had drunk in Vienna was a flash in the pan (it was).

Information about Torbolino is very difficult to come by. It doesn't have an entry in the Oxford Companion to Wine and Google only has a couple of mentions. One of these (with thanks to the author Marc Millon) is worth quoting ;

I notice a sign for “Torbolino”. I’ve not come across this before. It is the local term for mosto or newly pressed grape juice that is in the process of still fermenting, and thus is no longer grape juice but not yet wine: something frothing and vivacious and deliciously in-between. In Piedmont’s Langhe hills, we’ve enjoyed this mosto with our winemaker friend Mario around a campfire, while roasting castagne, chestnuts. In the German-speaking Südtirol, we’ve sampled törgellen, a simple repast of speck, cheese, good bread and the new, still-fermenting mosto. So here, I purchase a litre of the white torbolino, made from Prosecco grapes, and a litre of the red, made from Cabernet. The red is better, and our daughter Bella quickly downs a couple of tumblers on our return to our palazzo.
This torbolino, it has to be said, is good; it is seasonal; it tastes of our mood, the old year slowly transubstantiating into something new.

Marc Millon, www.marcmillon.co.uk

Vini, Salume, Pani, Latte

2010-11-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

It takes us at quite a long time for things to fall into place but now we think we understand the phenomenon of Vino Sfuso, Vin En Vrac, Wine on Draught etc, so here's our theory.

Venezia seemed to be the centre for Vino Sfuso because there were far more outlets with their demijohns of wine filling empty mineral water bottles than in other cities. Finally the penny dropped: it is not possible to have bulk wine stored in the vast vats we had seen in Torino, Napoli and other places due to the fact that everything has to be transported on water and then lifted into position. Apparently evey Italian town has its Vino Sfuso outlets, Venezia just has more of them for this very simple reason.

So Vino Sfuso is a widespread phenomenon in Italy at least, not a Venetian speciality.

Our next Eureka moment came when we found the above sign outside a food shop: "Vini, Salume, Pane, Latte," the staples of life. In this context, wine becomes a commodity, almost a necessity as opposed to a luxury item. The cost of vino sfuso is appropriately modest, between €2 and €3 per litre. Meditteranean people typically dink only a glass per meal and often add water. Draught wine is also much lower in alcohol than most bottled wine. So vino sfuso is used for a completely different purpose than how we use wine in Northern European countries for example. Here in the North, wine is used as an aperitif, to lubricate guests at dinner parties, to make merry, to celebrate at special occasions and so forth. We also need it to warm us up and for many other reasons. What we hardly do is to use it as a commodity, forgetting names and brands, including it in our diet as a staple - what is sometimes called a food wine.

For this reason, not only do we not have places selling vino sfuso but it is almost impossible to find even this type of wine in our shops. This is as much a deficiency as if in music an entire genre such as Jazz or Baroque music were missing. If we take a look at the range of wine sold in Northern Europe it is almost all of one kind: rich, warming, deep, flavoursome, fruity, increasingly high in alcohol. Wines tending towards the vino sfuso style are few and far between. We would list the following

Hunter Valley Semillon
Vinho Verde

Alsace Pinot Noir
Bardolino
Beaujolais Nouveau
Tarrango

there must be more but already we're scraping the bottom of the barell.

A glimmer of hope. You can buy a good Pinot Noir from Bourgogne en vrac from Wines of the World in Clapham or Earlsfield London

549 Garratt Lane,
Earlsfield,
London,SW18 4SR
Phone: 020 8947 7725

10a The Polygon,
Clapham Old Town,
London,SW4 0JG
Phone: 020 7720 6607

at a cost of £5.50 if you bring your own 75cl bottle. They also sell it already bottled at £7.99. The wine is described as "declassified domaine burgundy, hand–picked, hand–selected, vinified in the traditional manner and aged for 3–6 months in oak. The grapes for this vintage are all from Domaine Maurice Gavignet’s 10 hectare estate near Nuits St Georges (but in less abundant years he may buy some grapes in). The En Vrac wines are put into the box using the latest technology, under pressure without any contact with air."

Wines of the World have a really thoughtful and interesting selection with for example the majority of the Argentinian wines from regions other than Mendoza, a 100% Graciano under £10 and so on.

Yet another fine mess

2010-10-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

At the Garden shop at Wisley (Surrey), we just read that Palomino = Golden Chasselas. Fortunately it turns out that Chasselas and Golden Chasselas (aka Chasselas Doré) are not the same thing.

However, fearing another extinction by synonym (such as we have suffered before) we turned as ever to The Oxford Companion to Wine. Here the waters if not muddy are not quite clear.

Under Chasselas, we read that 'In France it [Chasselas] is rather despised, not least because as Chasselas Doré or Golden Chasselas, it is France's most common table grape.' The entry goes on to say 'Total French plantings in 2000 were more than 3,000 ha/7,500 acres.', not quite removing the idea that Chasselas is not the same thing as Golden Chasselas.

But others are clearer that Chasselas and Golden Chasselas are not the same; www.winegeeks.com states; 'It (Chasselas) is not related to the American grape Golden Chasselas which is thought to be the Sherry grape Palomino.' (How an American grape became the variety for the base wine of Sherry is not explained, or are we missing something here?)

Now to the relationship or non-relationship between Golden Chasselas and Palomino.
Under Palomino the same Oxford Companion to wine puts things thus 'California's acreage of the variety [Palomino], once wrongly identified as Golden Chasselas...'

Oz Clarke however is not quite so categorical; 'the Grape grown in California as Golden Chasselas is most likely to be Palomino.', adding elsewhere the seemingly contradictory 'Palomino used to be known as Golden Chasselas.' (and stating by the way that Palomino is 'one of the dullest grapes in the world').

Others still assert that Palomino = Golden Chasselas;

'Golden Chasselas

Known in the Napa Valley and adjacent districts as the Golden Chasselas and elsewhere in the state under its proper name, the grape is not a variety of Chasselas, but none other than the Palomino, celebrated for the production of Sherry in the Jerez district of Spain and elsewhere.' (www.oldandsold.com).

If we're not out of the woods with Golden Chasselas yet, it is comforting to know that Chasselas is not Palomino. Chasselas is after all a grape we have appreciated in the wines known as Fendant in Switzerland, but also in the Loire, Alsace and thanks to Eric Pfifferling, Tavel.

Our bottle of Niepoort Palomino will no doubt settle the matter of whether Oz Clarke is right or not but is that Palomino Fino or Palomino Basto? That doesn't matter so long as neither is Chasselas, we reckon.

The Easternmost Vineyard in England

2010-10-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Mersea Vineyard is the easternmost vineyard in England or Britain for that matter.

The Eastern vineyards are the driest too. Mersea Island is an interesting place - rather Dickensian - which is cut off by the tide once a day. Islanders are a tight knit community and different from other Essex people.

On Long Island New York we learned about salinity in the soil and how this affected some grapes more than others. We visited Mersea Island Vineyards at harvest time and tasted some of their wines. The standout was a Rose made by an interesting method;

"Made from a blend of our white grapes which has then been fermented on the skins of our Pinot Meunier grapes to produce this delightful wine. "

This is remeniscent of the way Dov Segal's magnificent Argamon is made by fermenting the Argamon grapes on Merlot lees. We wonder what other wines are made by this method. It seems to be capable of great things.

The advisor is John Worontschak, an Austalian late of Thames Valley Vineyards and consultant to many others.

Grapes grown include Muller Thurgau, Ortega, Reichensteiner, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

Thames Valley report, harvest time 2010

2010-10-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Having started so promisingly, the grape harvest in the Thames Valley has not turned out well according to insiders. Our Bacchus crop withered on the vine (powdery mildew). We regretted not having sprayed it so were relieved when we were told that the result would have been the same even if we had.

Our Triomphe d'Alsace however was as hale and hearty as ever (such an obliging grape). We have discovered that it makes wonderful grape juice so we juiced a small fraction of the reasonably large crop. It would have been larger had we picked a week earlier but the birds know a thing or two about ripeness and had helped themselves to about 20% of the crop.

Despite its resistance to weather and disease we are losing faith in Triomphe which is being described ever more frequently as going out of favour. Tasting even commercial examples we have to agree it really doesn't make very appealing wines. This year we have decided to try something completely different and have asked our winemaker to attempt to produce a 'blanc de noirs' or white wine from our red grapes. Our thinking is that to do so the juice has to be forced through a carbon filter which removes a lot of flavour. Now you're taking!

This winter we are going to do some work on the soil, plant as many new varieties as we can obtain from our esoteric list and see over the next few years which produce viable fruit. We may then make a 'field blend' while replacing the failures with the successful varieties. We promise to spray the Bacchus and if our 'blanc de noirs' doesn't work out, keep the Triomphe for juice which is popular with certain members of the family.

Another report will be posted in the new year when we get to taste our 'white' wine.

Frieze Art Fair copies Slotovino

2010-10-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

How's this for Art imitating Life?

Slotovino, August 2010

Frieze Art Fair, October 2010

It is true the Frieze effort has wheels but ours has two yellow straps which sorry to say are definitely more secure and also brown tape all over for added safety. The price of the Frieze effort was £1,800. Ours of course much more.

Torino: chocolate and wine

2010-10-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the very epicentre of Italy's greatest wine area, Torino appears more interested in chocolate than their famous local wines.

Indeed we even saw an invitation to a chocolate-tasting

at a certain venerable establishment in this city of Pasticcerias and sweet shops;

birthplace of the chocolate bar.

As for their Barolos, Barbarescos, Barberas, Dolcettos and Nebbiolos of Alba and the Langhe it would seem that producing such marvels just happens effortlessly. How wrong can one be?

We entered Torino determined to find good cheap Barolo or at least one under €20. Why should it always be so expensive? Firmly believing that the price of wine has more to do with the lifestyle and aspirations of the vigneron than intrinsic worth or cost of production we were sure of finding Barolo at half the price for local consumption.

Wrong. There was the same explanation wherever we went. Barolo is difficult to produce. It requires certain sites. It only ripens properly if the conditions are right. It must be aged for 2 or 3 years in cask and then further in bottle. You may find Barolo for under €20 but it will not give the experience of proper Barolo. This information came from establishments such as the great Gastronomia Paissa

and the Casa del Barolo,

an appropriately plutocratic establishment with entry only in response to a buzzer.

Research had thrown up two Vino Sfuso outlets in Torino so why not go from the pillar of expensive Barolo to the post of wine on draft? First we visited Scaringella Vini e Bevande which was quite different from any of the other Vino Sfuso shops we had seen in Venezia.

It was more like something we had once found in Napoli with large tanks of wine in bulk where customers could fill a demijohn (minimum 5 litres) with a small selection of wines; Dolcetto, Barbera and one or two others.

The shop also sold other wines and spirits in bottle. Over the yard they had yet more tanks and a bottling plant.

So as well as filling your demijohn, you could buy the wine in bottle. What Scaringella wouldn't do was to fill your empty mineral water bottle or other container (unles it had 5 litres or more capacity presumably). We bought a bottle of Dolcetto and one of Barbera at around €3 each. The Barbera was better but neither was better than ordinaire.

From there we went to 'L'angolo del vino' in another part of town.

This was rather extraordinary - a Venetian establishment transposed to Torino complete with Veneto varieties 'delle Marche Trevigiane' (Treviso), selected from a company called 'l'Azienda vitivinicola La Costa di Vò coming from barrels with taps.

We found the following varieties (there are 21 on offer);

Ancelotta (YES Ancelotta, despite dire warnings we had heard from Venezia to Edinburgh that the Ancelotta crop had failed)
Barbera (OK there had to be one or two local varieties - provided by Rolfo Pietro, producers in Govone and San Bartolomeo)
Blends of various reds
Cabernets S. and F.
Chardonnay
Pinot Grigio
Raboso (rose and red)
Refosco

These were just as good as could be found in Venezia which seems to be a model for Vino Sfuso shops outside Venezia itself. We bought a litre of Ancelotta which was every bit as good as the first Ancelotta in purezza we ever tried and which convinced us of the high merit of this grape.

Like all the best Vino Sfuso shops, l'angolo del vino is something of a meeting place. We had to wait our turn while several others were served. We had to be patient to get these shots without embarassing anyone by including them in them

In ordinary restaurants we concentrated on the 'lesser' Barberas, Dolcettos etc. Pleasant and attractive though these were we still didn't fall head over heals for them. The only consolation was a continuing pleasure in drinking Grignolino.

Torino is a delight, preferable to Milano in our opinion. The Teatro Regio is well run and they produce better opera than most Italian houses. There is a convenient Ryanair flight from London, so no excuse for Brits not to visit. It was also the site of the 2006 Winter olympics so is in a way a Ski resort as well as everything else. We hope to return one day and crack the Barolo problem once and for all.

At Torino/Caselle airport there is a good selection of Subalpino (Piemonte) wines. The girls in the Duty Free shop answered our questions by saying 'look, all the wines here are from the best producers in Piemonte so anything you buy we can promise you will be OK.' Hmmmmmmm.

In fact we came away with a couple of rarities; a sparkling Bonarda and a still, dry Freisa which boasted quite the most bizarre label we have ever seen.

No doubt a marketing department's bright idea of how to sell such an interesting wine.

Taking up position near our gate there was a welcoming wine bar where various wines were on tasting. Asking the guy with the apron if he had a Grignolino on tasting, rather than open a bottle he said 'Grignolino e un vino da ragazza' or words to that effect.

We would have been pleased to have been ragazzi in this case.

Enoteca Costantini, Roma

2010-10-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

Passing through Roma, we had to make a pilgrimage again to Enoteca Costantini whose Aladdin's cave held such promise and where we had first encountered our beloved Vernaccia Nera. Again we were not disappointed, despite a false start in the form of a retainer with only fitful understanding or interest in what we were after.

As in Parma, both he and the more collaborative colleague we subsequently buttonholed pointed us to a Piemontese blend which they swore was an indiginous grape variety. A misunderstanding which was clarified by reading the minute print on the back label.

Nevertheless, we exited like Max Bialystock coming out of the bushes waving an old lady's check with the following two treasures:

1. A Nero Buono from Lazio. The only known facts about Nero Buono seem to be that it is rarely found, that it comes from the area around a place called Cori and that it is "used as a blending-component in the red Cori DOC. The grape is said to add good colour, concentration and tannins to the blend. With this grape added the wines ability to age increases." The London merchant Slurp has a version from Poggio le Volpi. Their website says "The Poggio le Volpi estate was established in the 1990s by Felice Mergé. The vineyards are situated in Frascati (Lazio). This is an elegant and velvety wine with a lingering finish showing aromas of berries, chocolate, liquorice and coffee in the background." £21.60. Our version was considerably cheaper quite understandably. It seems a pattern is emerging in our discoveries of worthwhile new grapes. So many have been used to add colour or body to blends. We only have to think of Alicante Bouschet, Persan, Ancelotta etc. We have similar hopes for Nero Buono.

2. Cagnulari - a grape from Sardegna.

Here's another fine mess. According to Wikipedia, this is both Graciano and Morrastel (which we thought was Mouvedre) from Spain - understandable considering Sardegna's centuries under Spanish rule. However, Wikipedia warns us severely that Morrastel (with one 'l') is not Mourvedre: Il ne faut surtout pas le confondre avec le morastell ou monastrell (with 2 'l's) des pays catalans qui est en réalité le mourvèdre, il est vrai que ce dernier ressemble de beaucoup au Morrastel.

On another ampelographic website, synonyms also include Bastardo Nero which we thought we had heard in connection with Trousseau but all the lists of synonyms equate Bastardo (without the Nero) with Trousseau Noir (i.e. with the Nero). Could Bastardo be different from Bastardo Nero? That would really be too much to swallow (joke). NB also our friend Tintilla making an appearance here;

Bastardo Nero, Bois Dur, Bordelais, Cagliunari, Cagnonale, Cagnovali Nero, Cagnulari, Cagnulari Bastardo, Cagnulari Sardo, Cagnulatu, Caldareddu, Caldarello, Cargo Muol, Courouillade, Courouillade, Couthurier, Drug, Graciana, Graciano Tinto, Grosse Negrette, Jerusano, Karis, Marastel, Matarou, Minostello, Minustello, Monastel, Monestaou, Morastel, Morestel, Morrastel, Mourastel, Perpignan, Perpignanou Bois Dur, Plant De Ledenon, Tinta Do Padre Antonio, Tinta Miuda, Tintilla, Uva Cagnelata, Xeres, Xerez, Zinzillosa, Cendrón, Juan Ibáñez, Tanat Gris, Tintilla de Rota.

the ever informative and eclectic Caves de Pyrene has its own list of synonyms for Cagnulari;

(a.ka. Cagnorali nero, also a.k.a. Cagnonale)also a.k.a. cagliunari in Alghero, also a.k.a. cagnulari Sardo, also a.k.a. Tinta Miuda also a.k.a. caldareddu( in Gallura) recommended in the provinces of Cagliari, Oristano and Sassari.

They go on to say;

It is said to have come from France( in the second half of the 19th century) under the incorrect name of Mourvedre, but it is in fact very different from Mourvedre, and it is also said to come from Spain( during the Aragonese occupation of the island between 1322 and 1713. It is in particular found in the province of Sassari. it is very rarely vinified alone. there are 250 ha of Cagnulari planted in Sardinia.

Whatever. We love Graciano so an Italian version promises a great deal. We are looking forward to tasting this bottle, again thanks to Enoteca Costantini.