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 Lebanon
November 2005:
Beirut, Baalbek and Bekaa
This was a fascinating trip full of pleasant surprises in personally
uncharted territory.
Château Musar is still the star (click on
the vineyard, right) but there are several wineries, large and small, that show
great promise. Lebanon appears capable of offering something different,
combining traditional French winemaking philosophy with a distinctive Middle
Eastern accent, and sometimes high quality with reasonable prices... Also
includes
Château Nakad,
Château Ksara, Domaine des Tourelles, Clos Saint Thomas, Heritage,
Château Kefraya, Cave Kouroum and Domaine Wardy.
 Autumn
tour of Armagnac cellars
Watching Marc Saint-Martin stoke up Marie-Jeanne’s fire with
chunks of dry wood evokes romantic images of steam trains and times gone
by. It’s actually the name of his “probably at least 100 year old”
travelling still: each one has a story to tell and emphasises the artisan
nature of Armagnac production even today... Other producers profiled
(click on the cigar): Château du
Tariquet, Domaine de Boingnères,
Château de Bordeneuve/Baron de Sigognac, Domaine d’Espérance and Château de Laubade.
 Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol and
Saint-Emilion: visit during vintage 2005
I was fortunate enough to be invited by Bordeaux wine company Yvon Mau at the
end of
September 2005 to catch the action of the harvest in full swing. We visited an
interesting cross-section of Châteaux including world-famous names,
up-and-coming estates and some that have recently changed hands, and a
ground-breaking maverick: Smith Haut-Lafitte, Brown (the Mau family's latest
purchase), Taillefer, Beauséjour, Haut-Bailly, Romer (Sauternes actually) and Val d'Or
owned by Philippe Bardet, who's invented an extraordinary
sorting machine... click on the brooding SHL pic.
EmpordàEmpordà-Costa Brava is a small wine region in
the northeast corner of Catalonia, in the heart of which you'll
find the attractive town of Peralada (Catalan spelling) not too far from Figueres,
home of the magnificent eggs-and-baguettes Dalí museum. You can visit the old Castillo de Perelada cellars, where they still age their top of the range wines...
click on the museum above.
Roussillon
- French Catalonia
Click on the title for tasting notes on the
following five wineries:
 Château Planères
This 60 hectare estate (150 acres) is located just outside the village of
St-Jean-Lasseille, off the N9 road between Perpignan and Le Boulou, stalked by
the Albères mountains which mark the Franco-Spanish border...
Domaine Hylari
Jean-Michel Hylari is based in the villages of
Estagel and Tautavel (northwest of Perpignan) and focuses on small quantities
of distinctive reds, dry whites and superb fortified Rivesaltes: aged Tuilé &
Ambré styles and youthful Muscat...
Vignerons de Terrats
Exemplary co-operative wine cellar - sporting a
bizarre kind of giant stack of vats work of art - in the Côtes du Roussillon,
situated
southwest of Perpignan, northwest of Collioure. Charming village and scenery too
(I live down the road by the way)...
Domaine du Mas Blanc
Following a flying visit to Jean-Michel Parcé's cellar in Banyuls sur Mer
during the vintage September 2005, here are a few notes on some of his wonderful Collioure
and Banyuls wines...
Fruité Catalan
In contrast, is this the new face of French wine? I
stumbled across these wines in a supermarket outside Montpellier - couldn't miss
them really, piled high with distinctive yet simple butterfly motif packaging
and bright pinky purple capsules and plastic corks...
 De Bortoli Yarra Valley
Some new releases from this leading Victorian winery, as in
the Australian state, obviously, rather than demonstrating prudish 19th Century tendencies...
Click on the winery pic.
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)...
 International
Riesling Review
An exciting comparison of wine styles from top Riesling producers around the
world:
South Australia - Grosset Wines; Germany - Weingut Wittmann, Bassermann-Jordan,
Robert Weil & Leitz; Alsace - Domaines Schlumberger; New Zealand - Spy Valley;
Washington State, USA - Chateau Michelle & Ernie Loosen. Click on Polish
Hill, left.
Tannat: Madiran
v Uruguay
In fact, much more than Madiran v Uruguay: there are also some very good reds from
the lesser known Côtes de St-Mont appellation of southwest France. All the Uruguayan wines tasted
are 100% Tannat (although many do blends as well), whereas the
French ranged from 60% upwards. My top three were: 1er Cru Garage Tannat from
Familia Deicas, Cuvée Charles de Baatz from Domaine
Berthoumieu, and Château Bouscassé/Alain Brumont's
Madiran Vieilles Vignes. Click here to read the full
report and my tasting notes...
 Monastrell-Mourvèdre-Mataro
strikes back! Jumilla, South Africa and
Australia
Monastrell - Mourvèdre - Mataro: the three most common passports this great
grape variety travels under. You'll find lots more tastings of M-based wines and info
on the various
Bandol pages of the site and this
Pic St-Loup feature, as well as
articles and
news items... I've included wines where Mourvèdre is
blended with other grapes - such as Tempranillo, Grenache, Syrah/Shiraz,
Cabernet even - or wines made entirely from those varieties... Tasted May 2005 at the London
wine trade fair.
 Faugères, Saint-Chinian and Coteaux du Languedoc
Notes and ratings on 35 wines selected from the 'Meet the wine growers' tasting
- Mas de Saporta, Montpellier, March 2005. More info on these regions and
producers on the
Languedoc Wines
website - also read my reports for
Off Licence
News on the
latest developments in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
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...
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. Bottled in 2004, the Ruby is aged for
around 6-7 years and the Tawny 8-9 years...
 Pic Saint Loup
In further pursuit of Mourvèdre but not forgetting Grenache and Syrah of course... A few
great wines discovered on a day trip to Château La Roque, Mas de Mortiès and
Domaine de l’Hortus in March 2005. All dotted here and there in the wild terrain north of
Montpellier, watched over by the eponymous peak (650 metres high). Read this for more
info and tasting notes: Vinisud 2004 - Pic Saint-Loup or visit the
PSL website.
 Domaines Paul Mas
Reviews of the latest releases from this go-getting Languedoc producer and
exporter. Also read my article published in the weekly trade magazine
Harpers:
Is there a d'Oc in the house?, which includes
straight talking from
Jean-Claude Mas (Jan 2005).
 Fenouillèdes & Millésime Bio 2005
Click on the vineyard for old vine Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre & Syrah-powered reds; a few
interesting dry whites and Muscats; plus fab Vins Doux Naturels (sweet fortified white, amber and red wines) from Fenouillèdes country.
This beautifully rugged, northwest corner of the Roussillon forms the
'border' between French Catalonia and the Pyrenees and Corbières hills... (Jan
2005)
In addition, a selection of worthwhile bottles gleaned from
Millésime Bio 2005, a feet-friendly organic wine show held in Narbonne (Languedoc, France) in January 2005, which includes a number of
biodynamic producers. As you can see, I was particularly fond of
André Kleinknecht's
classic Alsace wines...
 Cortes
de Cima wines & olive oil
Many Mediterranean wine estates also produce high quality olive oils. Cortes de Cima,
found in Vidigueira in
Portugal's sweeping Alentejo region, released this delicious olive oil at the
end of 2004: click on the bottle for tasting notes etc. Plus a handful of their red wines
tasted on various occasions; and they also grow and make rather nice kiln-dried
tomatoes by the way...
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 Fête des Vignes Montpellier
Dec 2004
Click on the logo to discover 18 worthwhile wines tasted at the
first Fête des Vignes de Montpellier Agglomération. While in town on a
gloriously sunny, early December afternoon, I stumbled across this local
fair ("for local people") in the elegant imperial Place de la Comédie. The wine
capital of the South is literally surrounded by vines (although it
probably shouldn't be given the location of certain vineyards) - all of the
growers mentioned here are on the
Montpellier
wine route. This is
Coteaux
du Languedoc country taking in individual areas such as Grés de
Montpellier and Pic
Saint-Loup, as well as attractive vins de pays varietals too. Plus a few dry
and sweet guest Muscats thrown in...
 Turkish Delight
Apologies for the clichéd title, but it's an example of the kind of
prejudice Turkish wine producers might have to overcome to get people to
take their wines more seriously. I've posted my tasting notes (click on
the vineyard) on most of
the wines (leaving out a couple of stinkers) discovered on a fascinating trip to Turkey's
vine-lands and their extraordinary city of Istanbul (must go back sometime...) in
September 2004. We visited the coastal wine area of Marmara, west of
Istanbul in Thrace region, and wineries in central Anatolia, Turkey's
rocky Asian heartland nearer to Ankara. I never did get around to writing up my
full thoughts on vineyards, wineries
and potential for export; with some nice people, restaurants and carpet
salesmen thrown in too. Perhaps one day when I unearth my notes again. During the meanwhilst,
click here
to read an extended version (I've since added a bit more info and opinion) of the news report I did for
Decanter.com; or click there to view the published piece on Decanter's site.
Returning to
your screens as soon as possible:
Waitrose Christmas Wines
Out of 50 recommendations picked from their Autumn press tasting, there should
be something for everyone here. Waitrose snatched the award (again) for Wine
Supermarket of the Year in the 2004 Wine International Challenge, and it's not
hard to see why. They have 166 branches, and the wine department seems to be run
a bit like a specialist shop chain (or at least should be). The good news is
that Waitrose has spread into virgin territory in the north of England and
Wales, since they bought 19 stores in the fallout of the Morrisons takeover of
Safeway...
More information
Majestic Winter List
Here's my (probably too large at 50 wines) selection from the Majestic Wine
Warehouse press tasting Oct. 2004, including a handful of esoteric wines only
available from their Fine Wine Centre in St. John's Wood, northwest London.
Majestic now has about 120 stores around the UK with more in the pipeline
apparently. Having to buy a case of wine at once may not be to everyone's
liking, but is, at least, made easier by taking advantage of the deals you can
get by purchasing two bottles of the same wine or country (I've marked these
where I think it's worth pointing out)...
more information
Lingenfelder Vineyard Creatures
Click here to read the original news item about these wines (scroll down), and
above for my tasting notes and food pairing suggestions. Rainer Lingenfelder,
like other switched-on German growers, has simplified his 'offer' (to use the
marketing speak) and injected a bit of fun into this range. Attractive packaging
with groovy matching screwcaps, grape variety and eco-leaning message come
first, rather than complicated vineyard names and (so-called) quality levels.
However, priced at £5.99-£6.99, most of the wines represent good value and,
according to Lingenfelder, are made from selected grapes of Kabinett to Auslese
quality in traditional terminology. I assume he's also releasing them in the US.
Bandol September-November 2004
"The costumed tradition of ‘les Vendanges du Rond-Point des Mourvèdres’ –
harvesting 225 Mourvèdre vines planted on the roundabout near motorway exit La Cadière-Le Castellet north of the town of Bandol – took place on Thursday 7th
October in temperatures of over 25°C..."
Click here to read this report written for Decanter.com The ceremonial picking
and pressing of grapes were followed by a tasting at the roadside - I've
highlighted a dozen mixed Bandol reds and rosés...
Either side of this event, I visited several estates for some research I was
doing
on the Mourvèdre variety: Pibarnon, Laidière, Terrebrune, Vivonne, Tour du Bon,
Bastide Blanche, Lafran-Veyrolles, Gros'Noré, Tempier, Ott and Sainte Anne. So,
you'll find plenty more recommendations including a few excellent older vintages
under: Bandol
2 - Mourvèdre madness!
more information
Bandol tastings 2003
Aldi posh wines
Cheap and cheerful German discounter Aldi has been making a real effort with its
wine range - in the UK at least - and has come up trumps for Christmas 2004. The
wines I've selected here from Champagne and Bordeaux (a bit 'establishment' I
know) should be in store now or soon. In particular, the two classy reds offer
great drinking and value for money (£8.99) and are both second wines from
leading Châteaux (Dassault and Malescasse). Aldi has 274 stores in the UK by the
way.
Screwcaps on Grand Cru Chablis?
I recently reported (click here and scroll down) that Domaine Laroche bottled
some of their Chablis Premier and Grand Cru wines under screwcap as an
experiment. So browse my tasting notes to compare the same pairs - Les Blanchots,
Les Clos and Les Vaudevey all from the promising 2002 vintage - sealed under
natural corks versus Stelvin closures...
more information
Soy Argentina
I've split this tasting report in two focusing on the regions of Mendoza and
Patagonia with over 50 wines to talk about. Patagonia, the most southerly wine
region of Argentina, is fast becoming the final frontier for grape growing or
literally where you'll find wineries at the end of the world, as Bodega del Fin
del Mundo suggests. Some vineyards are located at over 1000m above sea level,
which must push the idea of cool climate to extremes. Fin del Mundo in Neuquén
planted much of their 600 hectares in 2000-01, so 2003 was the first commercial
vintage using their own fruit. As you can see, a bodega to follow although they
should drop the oak from the Pinot Noirs. Humberto Canale in Río Negro is
already an established quality name, but the same still goes for their Pinot...
more information
Germany - Southern States
Franken, Baden and Württemberg - and I'd also include the southern part of Pfalz
(the Palatinate) - are the so-called 'southern sunshine states' (relatively
speaking), according to the catch phrase coined by their PR campaign. Sarcasm
about the German weather aside, the 2003 wines do show the richness and ripeness
of that very sunny year, and the 2001 and 2002 vintages are quite fine in
general. From this mini-tasting, Riesling and Grauer Burgunder (= Pinot Grigio
or Pinot Gris) stood out, and Spätburgunder - the German name for Pinot Noir -
appears to have a good future in certain areas and in the right hands (confirmed
by other wines tasted from the south). By the way, I didn't score the Silvaner
as it wasn't clear if we had a dodgy bottle or just a boring wine...
Oz regional focus
Spotlight on new, lesser known and established wineries in key regions of the
four main wine states of Australia:
Victoria - New South Wales - South Australia - Western Australia
Click below for full editorial comment and links to tasting notes.
more information
New South Africa
OK, so names such as Vergelegen and Beyerskloof can hardly be called new, but it
was difficult to pass them by without catching up on the latest from these two
leading producers. Beyers Truter was also involved in an empowerment project,
whereby the farm workers bought a majority share of Bouwland winery and
vineyards; Beyers remains a partner and winemaking consultant. Delaire was a
pleasant surprise, their wines showing real elegance and charm. In addition,
Stellar Organics is an impressive operation, now farming or purchasing over 1000
tonnes of organic grapes. The Cabs and Shirazs are especially promising. Tasting
notes from the London Wine Fair May 2004.
South African Syrah - Shiraz
Click on the picture to discover a dozen highly recommended Shiraz/Syrahs from
the Cape, tasted in May at the 2004 London Wine Fair. These rich spicy reds are
all from the 2001 and 2002 vintages. The latter, in particular, is looking big
and sexy; but South African winemakers need to watch those alcohol levels, the
downside of waiting longer to get full ripeness in Shiraz grapes. See above for
another tasting report on SA wines.
Click on the WOC logo to browse through 40 of my notes (tasted at the London Wine
Fair on 18th May 2004), including all the Trophy and Gold medal winners plus
selected Silvers from the first Wines of Chile Awards held in Santiago in Dec
2003. The generally high scores reflect, of course, the fact that the wines had
been pre selected by some fine palates, and Chilean winemakers should be
heartened by the results. Slight concerns over the frequency of words such as oaky, herbaceous and bitter; but there are plenty of really good wines here
mostly priced under £15 (US$25-30) with many considerably less than £10
(US$15-20). By the way, tasting notes such as 'red pepper' shouldn't cause alarm
or bemusement; merely a hallmark of some of the complex wines made from Carmenère! And great to see several organic wines right up there too.
New Zealand Pinot Noir
These two dozen Pinot Noirs were tasted at the London Wine Fair on 20th May
2004, on the New Zealand stand and at a few of the larger companies. Sufficient
evidence to prove NZ has come of age with Pinot and that they were right to
focus on this red grape variety in specific regions. It's a pity there were no
wines represented from Central Otago, arguably where some of the very best PNs
are coming from, and only a handful from Martinborough. However, my notes and
scores demonstrate that Marlborough, housing the majority of NZ's Pinot
plantings, is performing well from good value brands up to very fine single
estate wines...
more information
Old, obscure and orbital
During this year's Master of Wine student seminar in Austria - on Saturday
evening 21st Feb 2004 - everybody brought along an 'interesting' bottle, tasted
with an excellent six course dinner laid on by the Sifkovits Hotel in Rust. So
here are my tasting notes on an unusual collection of classics and unknowns,
some still youthful and others maturing gracefully. Thanks to everyone there for
sharing these lovely wines. I've also added five supreme creations, mostly from
the 2000 vintage, tasted the day before as the climax to a session on the art of
blending: Palmer, Opus One, Tignanello, Daumas Gassac and Szepsy's Tokaji.
Wine for Spice
These three semi-sparkling wines from Ampurdán-Costa Brava in northeast Spain
represent the first stage of a potentially broad range launched by Wine for
Spice. Owner Warren Edwardes has sourced some interesting wines here, a cut
above the usual offerings in Indian or Asian restaurants, looking closely at
what works best with spicy food. The combination of aromatic fruit, fresh
acidity, light fizz and a bit of sweetness (in two of the wines) - in addition
to avoiding oak and tannin - is a solid one. I've also found before that rosés
make particularly good partnerships in a wine with spice context. Future
developments may include a Vinho Verde/Albariño/Verdelho, sparkling Shiraz or Tempranillo, medium-dry Riesling, and 'fully' sparkling rosé and white. Pile
into those chillies.
 Pass
the
Bolly...
Notes and views on the Champagne market and the art of blending,
based on a presentation to MW students on 17th May 2004 by Ghislain
de Montgolfier from Champagne Bollinger. After the text, you'll find a few ecstatic tasting notes and reviews
(well, Bolly is pretty good, no?)
of the
'finished product' including
Special Cuvée, La Grande Année 1990-95-96-97 and the incomparable
one-off 1985 RD ("if it's the 85, you were expecting me," as 007 might have said...).
Click on the logo.
Rosé Riot
Rosé is becoming painfully chic: I've grouped together 'rosés of the moment'
with pink wines tasted last year and beyond, ranging from dry elegant little
numbers from France to fruity blockbusters and fizz from New and Old World alike
(to use those patronising colonial terms). Where the tasting note dates back a
bit, go for the youngest vintage available. Having said that, some serious rosés
do benefit from a touch of bottle age. And click here for even more rosés: Bandol, Bandol and... Bandol (I don't have shares in the appellation by the
way).
Côtes de Provence Cru Classé - Coteaux d'Aix - Les Baux-de-Provence
Read about rosé: City Life (scroll down) - therestaurantgame.com - Refresh
Austria
I've put together a comprehensive feature based on my trip in February: piles
of tasting notes with commentary covering top growers in Burgenland around the Neusiedlersee, Thermenregion, Kamptal, Kremstal, Wachau and Styria. Expect
plenty of sexy sweet wines, Grüner Veltliner and Riesling of course, as well as
fine Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and surprisingly good red wines. Click here to
read my article published in Harpers and below for a report on each tasting with
links to my notes...
more information
Washington State wines
Almost 50 tasting notes on 16 wineries who bared their souls in London on 18 Feb
2004. The tasting offered a good overview of Washington State wines with some
highs and lows, like anywhere; but it's clear Cabernet and Merlot stand out in
particular. Certain wines are a bit pricey, although the quality is
correspondingly high (mostly), yet the few 'value' wines don't really hold their
own against similar examples from say California or Chile. Highlights include L'Ecole No 41, Zefina, DiStefano, Columbia Winery's Red Willow Syrah, Woodward
Canyon, Waterbrook, Hedges and the sublime Pepper Bridge. Click on the vineyard
shot...
Vinisud 2004
This huge show took place in February in Montpellier: click on the logo to read
my comments and on the underlined links for tasting notes on the hottest
Mediterranean wines, with particular focus on Pic St-Loup, Minervois La
Livinière and Nerida Abbott's range.
more information
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