Roussillon: Château Planères, St-Jean-Lasseille

This 60 hectare estate (150 acres) is located just outside the village of Saint-Jean-Lasseille, off the N9 road between Perpignan and Le Boulou, stalked by the Albères mountains which mark the Franco-Spanish border. Their top reds are now classified Côtes du Roussillon Les Aspres. Tasted 26/9/05:

 
2004 Côtes du Roussillon Prestige blanc (Macabeu, Grenache Blanc, Malvoisie & Vermentino) - shows complex yeast-lees notes, much tighter and more concentrated palate than their basic white; good fresh intensity and finish. 85+
2003 La Romanie blanc (mostly Malvoisie) - butter and coconut dominate (10 months in cask with lees stirring) yet it's fresh too, offering nice weight of fruit v toasty character; different, needs food. 87+
2004 Côtes du Roussillon Prestige rosé (Syrah, Cinsault & Grenache) - lots of rose petal and ripe red fruits, particularly straw/raspberry; lovely concentration and depth with a light touch of tannin even. 87+
2003 Côtes du Roussillon Prestige (Mourvèdre, Syrah & Grenache) - nice smoky 'sweet' fruit with background oak, ripe and supple then structured finish with dry grip v appealing fruit. €6 88+
2003 La Coume d'Ars (a lieu dit or specific plot, 50% 100 year old Carignan, 30% 45 yo Grenache & Syrah) - earthier bigger and chunkier with attractive dark fruit background and firm tannins. 88+
2003 La Romanie les Aspres (Syrah, Mourvèdre & Grenache) - spicy coconut overtones lead to a tight palate of peppery black fruits, pretty firm yet elegant and long; needs time to develop. 90
Rivesaltes Grenat - quite oxidised style but has plenty of sweet Grenache fruit v dry tannins, nice finish too. 85+
2004 Muscat de Rivesaltes Excellence (16%) - very floral, grape and orange peel aromas lead on to lots of fresh sweet fruit (65 grams per litre residual sugar) finishing with crisp bite of acidity and alcohol; lovely style. 90

Destination Champagne by Philippe Boucheron

Frustrated by publishers who couldn't handle the concept of a cross-genre book, Philippe set up his own company 'Wine Destination Publications' to get this recommended Champagne travel guide on the shelves. I agree with his comment that "wine tourism publications (is) a market sector that has... been largely ignored." I guess narrow-minded wine specialist or travel guide publishers thought book retailers wouldn't know where to put it in the shop - under wine, travel or restaurant guides? Anyway, who cares: this is rather useful if you're going on a trip to Champagne. Enthusiasm for and years of experience of the region's wines, historical insights, travelling tips and maps, where to eat and stay; it contains plenty of information without being too long and is good read too. Perhaps a little pricey at £18.99 but at least Philippe will be the main beneficiary (after the bank no doubt), rather than a huge indifferent publishing company. He also has plans to release Destination Bordeaux and others in this series. Available "from all good bookshops," as the flyer says: further info from www.destinationchampagne.com

Aldi Greek wines

Aldi Greek wines

Could do much better. These wines aren't very recommendable: not terrible but rather average. I've tasted more characterful Greek wines - admittedly more expensive than their £3.99 price tag. The reds are generally over-oaked and a little bitter; the white is probably the best one of the four. Anyway, here goes... tasted August 2005.
Click here for Aldi Posh wines - more like it (page temporarily missing).
2003 Goumenissa red (Xynomavro Negoska 12.5%) - Goumenissa is the region by the way. The 'best' of the 3 reds: still a tad unripe in the background but this is fruitier, rounder, less oaky and more 'winey', even if a bit basic. £3.99 80
2004 Mantina white, Peloponnese (100% Moscophilero 11%) - Pleasant enough aromatic floral v nutty oily fruit, mineral touches and freshness on the off-dry finish. £3.99 80
2003 Naoussa red, Macedonia (Xynomavro 12%) - Spicy cinnamon oak covering, pleasant enough but lacks fruit and body, finishes a little tart as well. £3.99 75
2003 Nemea red, Peloponnese, Nemea valley (Agiorgitiko 12%) - A bit less oaky than the Naoussa showing better depth of fruit and roundness, but still somewhat non-descript. £3.99 77

Mountain Valley - Montenegro

Mountain Valley - Montenegro

To be brutally honest, the reds in this range go from average to pretty good but the whites are a waste of space, at least the samples I tasted - see my comments in each of the tasting notes. All the wines come from Plantaze's vineyards in the Lake Skadar region, located between the Adriatic coast and surrounding mountains (hence the name no doubt). With a bit of work in the vineyard and winery (and on the pricing), I'm sure we'll be seeing more and better from Montenegro. Tasted August 2005:
2004 Chardonnay - This wasn't good: faulty winemaking or something has left a heavy handed sulphur character; and that bitter finish implies unripe grapes and/or too much skin contact or badly acidified wine. No chance at £5.49. Under 70
2004 K white (11.5%) - Clean towards neutral and, like the Chardy (although not as marked), sulphur dominated with a bitter finish. 75
2003 Cabernet Sauvignon (12.5%) - Simple 'Vin de Pays' type showing black cherry / currant fruit, soft-ish palate v dry coating on the finish. OK but at £5.99... 80
2004 Sauvignon Blanc - Not faulty at least, this is just about OK with some floral and citrus characters; but too boring to ask £5.49 for it. 75
2004 Merlot (12%) - Attractive enough Merlot style offering spicy biscuity plum fruit, reasonably fleshy mouthfeel with light bite of tannins. Again not bad but put it up against a Merlot from France or Chile at the same price... 84
2003 V red (Vranac 12.5%) - Similar soupy rustic style to the Vranac but richer and riper, shows quite good depth of fruit although, for me, the finish becomes slightly rough after a while. £7.49 84
2003 Vranac - Not bad at all actually: maturing rustic leather aromas with nice peppery undertones, fairly smooth and ripe finish. £5.49 85

World Wide Trophy for Best Sparkling Wine goes to...England

RidgeView Merret Bloomsbury 2002 snatched the award in the International Wine and Spirit Competition 2005. This blend of Champagne varieties Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier is made at the vineyard and winery situated north of Ditchling in Sussex. The estate currently produces between 40 – 50,000 bottles a year, and is a family business set up by Mike and Christine Roberts only in 1994; their son Simon shares the winemaking. RidgeView’s sparkling wines are named after Christopher Merret, who apparently recorded making traditional method sparkling wine in 16th Century London with the Royal Society 30 years before Dom Pérignon in Champagne. Open Monday to Saturday 11am to 4.30pm for sales and tastings, their wines are also stocked by Waitrose, Sunday Times Wine Club, the Wine Society and independent specialists around the country. Further info: tel 01444 241441, ridgeviewestate@aol.com or www.ridgeview.co.uk
Tasting notes of Merret older vintages might be resurrected at some point...

Portugal: Porto Solene, Douro valley

Porto Solene

These two new ports from Quinta de São Cristóvão look the part with stylish elegant picture label, flat-shouldered 50cl bottle in clear glass and little black coffin box. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture to copy on the internet! Bottled in 2004, the Ruby is aged for around 6-7 years and the Tawny 8-9 years, and both offer pretty good quality and classic styles with lovely youthful fruit (perhaps too so, it needs a couple of years further ageing to integrate the alcohol) in the case of the former and more mature rich nuttiness from the latter. Tasted July 2005:
Ruby Special Reserve NV, Douro valley (20%) - A little fiery and youthful, but this has plenty of lively and quite concentrated plum and blackberry fruit underneath to please, rounded off with light touches of earthy leather and some dry tannin to offset the sweetness. Try with mature hard cheeses (not Stilton or similar blue). 87
Tawny Special Reserve NV, Douro valley (20%) - Serve chilled: seductive roasted pecan nut fruit adds tanginess to the aged molasses sweetness, with 20% alcohol also lending some balance; keep chilled as it gets a bit sickly once warm. 87

Lots more Port & Douro here.