Our visit to Forest Wines

 

Retirement is a wonderful thing; we heartily recommend it. No longer do you chomp at the bit over traffic delays or any of the minor inconveniences that life was full of when deadlines had to be met etc. Not only that but retirees can roam far and wide without a care and so it was that we decided to visit Forest Wines of Walthamstow, London E17. 

Actually, Walthamstow is not such a big stretch. Time was the Town Hall used to be used for recordings and 100 piece orchestras, choruses, soloists as well as recording crews, equipment etc would make the trek - sometimes working a session during the day with a performance in the evening. Also people live there.

 

First of all, Forest wines is a thoroughgoing neighbourhood wine merchant. There is everything you could ever want from a wine shop. No need to go anywhere else really. On top of that, the service is delightful and well informed. Vaut le voyage.

 

We were happy with our purchases: interesting and modest in alcohol.

Roc'Ambulle Pet Nat, Negrette, Domaine Le Roc. A rare sparkling version of Fronton's Negrette, one of our all time favouurite grapes. We're looking forward to this one with salivating mouth if that's not too gross. 9.5%

Folle Blanche. We've had this before and can't say we were too 'folle' about it. Let's see if this one can't win us over to this variety. 10%

A South African macerated Semillon from Franchhoek. At 12% this is not something you see often from that part of the world. Again, something to anticipate.

Lapierre Raisins Gaulois vin de France Gamay (from Beaujolais). 12%

 

Found at Valencia, February '26.

 

The label reads 'Vicente Gandia Viticoltores desde 1885 Bobal Blanco Blanc de Noirs'

We went to Valencia to visit the Todoli Citrus Foundation an hour away at Palmera. Vicente ("I love all grapes") Todoli has 500 species of Citrus fruit in his collection. We will repoort on his magnificent obsession anon.

Meanwhile, the night before, we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant in town where there was a Bobal blanco by Vicente Gandia on the winelist. Bobal really is the red wine grape of Valencia and as we shall see, Merseguera is the white. 

 

We have never been excited by any Bobals we have tasted but this example vinified white was absolutely outstanding so much so that we had a 2nd bottle right there and then.

 and later bought a bottle from 'La Bodeguilla' in the Mercado Central to take home.

  

At another, even finer restaurant called 'Yarza' we went for this Merseguera 'Las Travinas' from Bodegas Entre Aldeas which was in its way just as stunning as the Bobal Blanco. This was a pleasant surprise because 'Wine Grapes' has it that this variety is 'Uninspiring...generally lackluster...' Not in this case. Nicely aromatic and food-friendly, again we asked for an encore but this was the last bottle. Instead we drank a blend of Caino Blanco and a couple of 'friends' but although pleasant enough was nothing special.

Our last taste of Merseguera had been in 2013 when we tried Bernabe Navarro's 'La Vina de Simon' 100% Merseguera. This one had a bigger impact.

 

We had been to Valencia not so long before and hadn't realized that Merseguera was their signature white grape. On that occasion we had made a pilgrimage to the most venerable wine merchant 'Baviera' where we had bought a bottle of Miguel de Arcos which turned out to be Moristel. So this time we thought we wouldn't bother but then we remembered we have been searching for a good Prieto Picudo and maybe Baviera had something of interest?

 

We called and were offered this Prieto Picudo from Peregrino. At 13.5% the alcohol was below some of the disappointing PPs we had gone through recently and at less than 7 Euros, what could we lose? In the event the wine was pleasant enough. The search continues though.

 

 

Geoffrey Estienne: from Blueberries to Hybrid grapes

 

Now that L'Etiquette is no longer, perhaps the void may be filled at least to some extent by Divvino, 19 Rue Elzivir, Paris 75003.

Last time there we discovered a real rarity, Joubertin and this time a wine called Vin Nu '1', The producer is Geoffrey Estienne at Le Trimoulet, 23600 Boussac, half way between Tours and Clermont Ferrand in the Limousin. 

Geoffrey was a top producer of Blueberries for many years before deciding to plant a vineyard. Limousin is not a big vinegrowing area so there was presumably no pressure to plant any particular variety. 

Nonetheless Geoffrey took a decision to plant unexpected hybrids. That is to say not only recent ones developed by INRA but really old and to some degree unfashionable ones such as 

Clinton

Baco Noir

Noah

Castel 1963 7

Rayon d'Or

Leon Millot

He found some of these in old vineyards in the area and in a vine nursery and has been using his knowledge from growing blueberries to prune and manage these vines differently.

Divvino had a bottle of Vin Nu '1' which is Baco Noir plus a bit of Gamay from Coigny in the Rhone, 3 hours away, not exactly next door.

We actually like Baco Noir having enjoyed bottles from Henry of Pelham (Ontario) and even planted a couple of vines ourselves. We wanted to buy 6 different bottles of Geoffrey's wines but he said the others were not ready yet.

We will be patient. 

Paprika Store Green Lanes, London

 

On a visit to The Dusty Knuckle's wonderful Green Lanes Bakery/Cafe/Pizza restaurant, we spied this shop opposite. Always a succer for Hungarian produce we took a look and found...

masses of Hungarian wine, We can't think of anywhere else you can buy such a range: Bock, Gere, Thummerer, Torley, Varga - you name it. Even better, Paprika is part of a chain with branches in Bristol, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Twickenham and even Dublin.

and wine is not the only thing

Such a large selection and so little time. Our table at The Dusty Knuckle was waiting.

So the easiest and for our taste best choice was to get Portugiesers from Bock and Gere at wonderfully affordable prices.

Some time ago we worked out that Portugieser may have been the grape of the Voslau which was where Vienna got its red wine from in his day. 

Nothing better than to think of the great man when quaffing this Portugieser even if what he really wanted to drink was Rhein Riesling from his native Bonn.

Adieu L'Etiquette

Our traditional shot of the Pont Neuf on the way to L'etiquette

Paying our required visit to Paris's best Natural Wine shop, 'L'Etiquette' we received the tragic news that Herve Lethielleux, mercurial owner and manager would be closing his doors for good in three weeks' time.

Herve

On the one hand we were happy to have caught him just in time to buy one last bottle of interest (we never left without one) we were sad we would be without him in the future.

L'Etiquette became a popular for taking a drink and a snack

He said he had decided to retire and travel the world with his wife after years and years of hard work at the coalface. Herve didn't just sell natural wine, he knew every single producer of the bottles he bought and dispensed information to customers sometimes in a trenchant mode but always backed by kindness and humour.

Slotovino hopes M. and Mme. Lethielleux will join us for a meal when they visit London on their travels. How many caveistes have had an invitation of that sort? None, which goes to show the affection and admiration we have always had for Herve and L'Etiquette.

So what did we buy as our last bottle there? This intriguing Bordeaux made from the rare Castets and 'Merlots' whatever that means. We have heard mention of Castets before in the context of possible new varieties to be allowed in the Bordeaux AOC. It is a variety with good resistance to Downy Mildew and has its origens in the Western Pyrenees. Notes attest to its deep colour, high alcohol and aging potential but only moderate acidity. In 2008 there was barely a hectare remaining in France but it has been spotted in California amazingly enough.

Seen on the Ile on the way home for us as well as the doggies.

Tariffs

 

Always worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

We are very fortunate in London. There is a plethora of wine fairs and shows one of which is the 'Borsa Vini' tasting promoted by the Italian Trade Agency, on this occasion at the impressive IET (  of Engineering and Technology)building, Savoy Place, London.    

Some tastings are better than others and in this case the event struggled to be outstanding. However as we have said before, these events are 'Always worth it' because the subject of Wine is so vast that somehow we invariably find something of interest and there was no exception to this here.

 

 

 

Our first 'discovery' was bumping into Jonathan Rodwell. We had been trying to meet since 2021 when he made contact thanls to a mutual friend Paolo Addis and this blog. There occurred a near miss at the Oxford Wine Festival one year but in the event neither of us could make it. 

Jonathan is an immensely well qualified ampelographer, He has served as head of Vineyard Establisment at Vinescapes and Director of Viticulture and Winemaking for Devonian Coast Wineries – Nova Scotia’s largest grape grower and wine producer. He began his career in the Loire Valley in 1977 and since has worked internationally both in consulting roles as well as managing and developing wine estates – this has predominantly been in France, California and Italy but also with consulting roles with the European Bank of Development in Kyrgyzstan as well as the “British Know How Fund” in the Ukraine. He has also worked harvests as a “flying winemaker” in Slovenia, Romania, Moldova and Chile. He holds degrees from London University, the University of California at Davis and the Bocconi Business School, Milan. 

Jonathan told us he plans to go to Sardinia next and be involved in the fascinating scene there. He is truly a rare grape connoisseur and enthusiast. He told us he grows Marquette and L'Acadie Blanc in pots on his balcony. It really is a privilegs to be in touch with him.

 In terms of new grape varieties, Borsa Vini Italiani had one that was new to us: 'Ervi.' 

 

 

Ervi is a crossing of Barbera and Croatina. We have mixed feelings about these two varieties, loving Croatina but not understanding the popularity of Barbera. We immediately thought of the DOC 'Gutturnio' which is a blend of these two varieties. Gutturnio is not something we have warmed to in the past. Why spoil Croatina by mixing in Barbera? Also we always think of Victor Hazan who dismissed Gutturnio because he found the name ugly. He was not wrong although Gutturnio has its fans. We always remember the winelist at the historic Barca Restaurant in Castel San Giovanni, Lombardia which was a hymne to Gutturnio with about 20 different bottles of the stuff.

 

 

Ervi is an attempt not to make Gutturnio but to take the best characteristics of both grapes. It was obtained by Mario Fregoni in 1977. He was a professor at the Universita Cattolica di Piacenza at that time. In the Colli Piacentini apparently Barbera doesn't always ripen fully and the local Croatina suffers from irregular production. Initially nearly 650 vines of the crossing were cultivated. After 11 years, vine number 108 was selected as the best giving the original name of Fregoni 108. 

Later the name Ervi was chosen because it incorporated the first letters of the name of someone who had been instrumental in the early stages of the study - Ernesto Vigevani. By chance, Ervi is also the word for wine in Aramaic.

Ca Fontani's Ervi was a very pleasant wine with a character of its own, not reminiscent either of Barbera, Croatina or Gutturnio if you ask us. Never mind, we'll settle for pleasant. 

 

 

  

 Elsewhere in the forest. a stand-out wine was Sacco's Bombino Bianco. What a great grape Bombino is! 

 

 

 

  

Further on a surprise indeed: a blend of Fleurtai and Johanniter. An unusual combination to be sure but successful. 

 

 

 Cantina Biologica Le Carezze even make a sparkling version. Nice. 

 We noticed that the same producer made a wine from Palava, a grape we had only ever encountered in the Czech Republic. The friendly Alihan Eksel, sales director told us Palava originated in Croatia but we read that it was obtained in 1953 by one Josef Veverka in Moravia from Mueller-Thuergau and Gewurztraminer. Never mind, it makes a good dessert wine as well as dry table wine. Good to know.

 

 So even if not all wines were great or especially interesting there were enough to make our visit worth it, especially with the pportunity to meet Jonathan Rodwell thrown in.