Argentina: Malbec, Syrah and Pinot Noir.

Following my post on Cabernets from Argentina, this second instalment of a short duet about Argentinian reds moves on to Malbec, Syrah and Pinot Noir. Malbec is a familiar proposition nowadays: the variety came from southwest France to Argentina in the 1850s and now represents 40% of red grapes (winesofargentina). Syrah has a shorter history but has gained ground over the last decade, producing sometimes superb varietals and as a component of full spicy red blends.

New Zealand: Syrah, Cabernets, Malbec and Merlot.

New Zealand Wine Inc. Craggy Range Syrah.

From www.nzwine.com.

Syrah isn't the newcomer to New Zealand's vineyards that I imagined it might be, with 'a long history dating back to the mid-1800s.' Most of this seductive variety is planted in Hawke's Bay region, a vast cove on the east coast of North Island and one of NZ's sunniest spots; followed by the Auckland / Waiheke Island area in the north with its warm seaside climate. But, at 350 and 50 hectares of Syrah plantings respectively, the wines are of niche interest even if very promising.

10 wines and a cider of the moment.

D'Arenberg The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne 2021 McLaren Vale, South Australia (14% abv): Asda £10 on offer, normally £13. Stylish and unusual full-bodied white, floral nutty and exotic with zesty yeast-lees and citrus tones; generously textured mouthfeel from a small portion of each variety being barrel fermented, otherwise not noticeable.

A dozen more winter wines of the mo

Muga Reserva Rioja 2016 (14% abv) is a splendid oak-aged blend of 75% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo (= Carignan) and Graciano. Smoky spicy oak aromas in that traditional Rioja fashion but with lots of rich dark berry fruit and beginning to show enticing balsamic maturing notes, quite dense powerful and structured with concentrated savoury fruit, a little firmness still on the finish but with lovely silky tannins too. Good with lamb shank; should benefit from another few years' bottle age. Half-bottle £9.25 (image = the Wine Society).

Cahors Malbec: Château de Gaudou lieu-dit range

Or lieux-dits in the plural, a common term in France for old place names found on a map or land registry, something like a historical townland or local name for say a particular site, hamlet, hill, field, valley or parish. Five Cahors wine estates, based in the Lot département in southwest France, are involved in an initiative called 'Generation Cahors Lieux Dits': Château Famaey, Château de Gaudou, Domaine d'Homs, Château Nozières and Château de Rouffiac. (This long feature carries a wine-geek warning!)

Chile review 2021 masterclass

Valle de Elqui

Two tasting sessions featuring very diverse wines were held live via Zoom at the end of May, hosted by Wines of Chile UK, Tim Atkin MW and several leading Chilean winemakers also online commenting on their wines as we sampled from home. Tim picked sixteen whites, reds and a rosé to showcase the latest developments on the ground in Chile, enhanced by lots of up-to-date information on vineyards, grape varieties and wine regions. Atkin produces a substantial report every year on the Chilean wine scene, which can be purchased from this website here. Wine geek warning: this post is quite long and 'serious' (but does contain some great wines to look out for)...

Varietal wines of the moment (except Sauvignon blanc)

Finest Valle de Leyda Chardonnay 2020, Chile - Luis Felipe Edwards (13.5% abv): As soon as this delicious fruity Chardy was discovered among Tesco's large 'Finest' range, it went out of stock; hopefully just temporarily. Ripe peach and melon fruit with creamy tones then zestier citrus on its weighty but balanced finished. Oak is suggested in the blurb but it was hard to spot, perhaps adding to its rounded texture and cashew flavours. £8 Tesco. (Since then, a subsequent bottle did strangely taste oaky...)

Red & rosé wines of trying times

Whereas the fifty-odd 'white wines of the cosmos' in my previous feature were arranged by store, these forty red and rosé tips have been grouped by good old-fashioned grape variety (or combinations of). Once again, no apologies offered for, this time, an irrational amount of Grenache, including GSM (Grenache / Garnacha, Shiraz / Syrah and Mourvèdre blends), as well as Pinot Noir...

Ballyhackamore Belfast BYO: Rajput and Good Fortune restaurants (with wine tips to match dishes).

Ballyhackamore in east Belfast - known locally as 'Bally-snack' thanks to no shortage of eateries and cafés along this busy stretch of Upper Newtownards Road - is home to at least two recommended restaurants, where you can bring your own wine. The Rajput has become something of an Indian food institution, and I've always found the quality to be very consistent and the service top notch. It has also become one of the dearer Indian restaurants in Belfast, although no more than some fancy places with arty pretensions where you don't get enough food for the money. Whereas, even if the prices have edged up a little at Rajput, you always get good portions of tasty and varied dishes.

'Wines of the week'

This varied selection of 'wines of the week', to use the popular editorial-speak, is making an impromptu appearance here instead of the more customary 'wines of the moment', just for a change of scenery, along with a few random dishes that made a good match. Some of these wines were opened at two recommended BYO restaurants located in Ballyhackamore in groovy suburban east Belfast, known affectionately as 'Bally-snack-amore': the Rajput Indian and Good Fortune Chinese, which will both be featured on this blog shortly.

American 'reds of the moment' (North and South)

Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2014 (14.5% abv) - California, USA. Tasty reminder that Zinfandel is indeed a 'black' grape variety for making solid wild-edged red wines (as opposed to crap rosé), this is smoky and chewy with rich sunny fruit. Sainsbury's £10 (occasionally on offer at £8).

Cahors: Combel La Serre, Haute-Serre, Mercuès

These Cahors words & wines are an extract from the recently updated version of my French wine tasting & touring e-magazine (click there for more info) available as a Kindle e-book on Amazon or emailed as a (monster) PDF file.

Château Combel La Serre

Following on from what I've said recently about the Red Squirrel Wine company, their buyers have also been snooping around Cahors country in search of real Malbec; and obviously found some at Julien Ilbert’s winery Combel La Serre. There’s more about him and some of his previous vintages a little further on in this Cahors section (again, click above): I met him a few years ago in the region and was pretty impressed, thinking we’d be seeing more of him and his now 100% Malbec wines (even if they are a tad dear although so are the others reviewed here...).

Pur Fruit de Causse 2014 Cahors (no oak, 12.5% abv) - Alluring fruity 'funky' nose, very Malbec berry and spice style though; this one has light bite and grip. £14.99

Château Combel La Serre 2012 Cahors – Grippier and more textured wine than above showing good depth of enticing smoky fruit; very nice Malbec. £16.99

Château de Haute-Serre

There’s an in-depth profile of Georges Vigouroux‘s flashy estate winery and restaurant a few chapters further on, gleaned from a trip there (and rather good lunch it has to be said) a few years ago. Since replanting the hillside vineyards on this old property in the 1970s – 60 hectares surrounding the chateau - he’s injected even more money into Haute-Serre to make it a shining example of what can be done in Cahors (when you’re rich obviously). The wines are certainly impressive (even if sometimes a bit overly oaky in my view) and occasionally come up to ‘fine’ wine level, with a deliberate sense of recreating a Bordeaux-style ‘grand cru’ based on the region’s Malbec variety. In the UK, Oddbins have recently listed a couple of the range including their top red reviewed below and Lafleur de Haute Serre 2014 at £12.75.

Grand Vin Seigneur 2012 Malbec (13.5% abv) – Quite oaky still to start with coconut shavings on the nose, but it’s complex too with spicy herby damson, cassis and black cherry vs more savoury black olive even; very dense and purple colour still, dry coating of fine-textured tannins (posh oak probably), powerful yet well balanced with grip and fresh bite vs nice ‘sweet’/savoury fruit combo, concentrated long finish and classy with it despite that new oak coating. Second day: less oaky on the nose and smokier, very concentrated actually with dry vs fine coated tannins on the palate. Serious wine. £18.50 Oddbins.

Château de Mercuès

The asset-rich Georges Vigouroux & company also owns this magnificent property, a pukka posh 13th century castle (pic. top) with all the historical trimmings found to the north-west of the town of Cahors further up and overlooking the winding River Lot. He bought and had it transformed into a luxury 30‐room Relais & Châteaux hotel and restaurant in 1983, which is run by Bertrand-Gabriel Vigouroux along with 32 hectares (80 acres) of mostly Malbec vineyards. More info: chateaudemercues.com.

Le Vassal de Mercuès 2014 ‘Malbec de Cahors’ (90% Malbec, 8% Merlot, 2% Tannat; 13% abv) – Dense purple colour still, enticing blackcurrant and blueberry fruit with spicy earthy hints and a more savoury side too, concentrated palate with nice sweet vs sour fruit mix, firm textured with light bitter twist but the tannins have an attractive dry coating. Stylish red that should improve for a few years yet, and apparently this is the estate’s ‘second wine’. UK: £13 for the 2013 at Dulwich Vintners (who stock some older vintages of the Haute-Serre ‘Grand Vin’ above, part of one of the most serious Cahors’ ranges I’ve ever seen); The General Wine Co./Amazon £11.99/£11.39 on offer (vintage not specified). US: $13.99 Ball Square Fine Wines (MA) - vintage not specified; Sipping Serendipity Wine (WA) $16 for the 2009.

Cahors: special supplement updated

I've updated my Cahors special supplement exploring one of south-west France's most exciting wine regions and 'home of Malbec,' as the PR slogan goes. This report has now expanded to nearly 20 pages of words, wines and photos including new profiles and my notes, views and reviews on/of these ten leading organic châteaux and wineries: Lacapelle-Cabanac, Chambert, Haut-Monplaisir, Le Clos d'un Jour, Cèdre, Mas del Périé, Cayrou, Tour de Miraval, Marjolière and Les Hauts d'Aglan.

It's now available as part of a massive French wine e-magazine HERE.

Photo: "150 to 200 year-old" cedar tree in front of curious round-tower outbuilding next to Château du Cayrou.

North & South America: 'wines of the moment'

Argentina

2012 Catena Zapata 'High Mountain Vines' Malbec – Mendoza (13.5%) - Quite expensive but definitely a superior version of Malbec. £12.79 WineMark

2012 Viñalba Malbec-Syrah Bodegas Fabre – Patagonia (14.5% abv) - Very good value and fairly serious too. £8.98 Asda

'Wines of the mo' - Germany, S Africa, Spain, France, Portugal, Argentina

rustenberg.co.za

My favourites - and many of the enthusiastic attendees - from around the globe tasted on a recent Saturday 'wine workshop' I ran in Belfast, which deserve a little more airing:

Germany, Mosel: Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett 2006

Argentina: Malbec

"Argentina and Malbec apparently go together like, erm, bucket and spade, Chablis and Chardonnay or Cahors and Malbec even, while I'm on the 'M' subject. Let's get the geeky stats stuff out of the way first off: almost one-third of the country's vineyard surface area is planted with Malbec, or 83,684 acres (about 34,000 hectares) to be precise, most of it in the Mendoza region (see winesofargentina.org for more info, where I slyly teleported the photo above from). There are only about 10,000 acres of this variety in Cahors, which claims to be its homeland although probably isn't but has been there for hundreds of years. It's been in Argentina since the mid 19th Century and was obviously a big hit, as they've now cornered the world market by far..."
To read this report on Malbec - plus recent articles on Cabernet, Tempranillo, Torrontés etc. - get the full-size special Argentina varietal supplement (and any of my other recent in-depth features), including all my recommended wines and wineries and the usual frank commentary! CLICK HERE to subscribe by PayPal for only £10 a year (approx $16 or €12) or buy it as a one-off special for £2.50!

Malbec crush, Cahors actually!

More Malbec (and Cabernet) from Argentina HERE and HERE.

Argentina whites: Torrontés report HERE.
More Argie reds here: Cabernet and Tempranillo...

Cahors: special wine touring report now available

Château du Cayrou

You can get my special Cahors wine touring supplement as a PDF file with pics, featuring all three parts of my Malbec roadtrip (goes to summary of part 1) trilogy published on French Mediterranean Wine earlier this year, plus bonus winery profiles from this exciting region of southwest France. Yours condensed into a neat 17 page mini-mag PDF delivered by email for only £2.50 (less than $4 or €3.50)...

Or subscribe to both my blogs for just £10 (about $15.50 or €13.50) a year and get it free along with any other in-depth specials produced in this format, such as my 18-page Saint Chinian wine touring report. Pick your PayPal button above or below to pay by card or with your own PP account, although you don't need one to do this.

Subscribe:

As soon as Paypal has confirmed receipt of payment, I'll email the special supplement(s) to you pronto! General T&C referring to subscribing and Paypal payments by bank/credit card can be found here.

More Cahors here.

Cahors: Malbec crush

From a Cahors wine touring trip last year -
click here, here or here for many words!

World Malbec Day

Further to this blurb just posted on FrenchMediterraneanWine.com: It's tomorrow folks, Wed 17 April, and I'll be busy at an Argentina tasting in Dublin sampling as many Malbecs as I can no doubt (report on that to follow after the event). This 'special Malbec happening' is the latest in a curious fashion for lesser-known grape varieties to cheekily book themselves into everyone's diary once a year (well, for wine geeks at least). As for my other southerly French blog, well, I wrote a mini-series of quite long pieces about a Malbec roadtrip around Cahors country not so long ago, so you could amuse yourself with those I suppose:

Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part1 Château Les Croisille - Château Combel La Serre - Château Tour de Miraval.

Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 2 Châteaux du Cayrou, Famaey, Métairie Grande du Théron, Latuc.

Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 3 - Châteaux Haute-Serre, La Caminade, Armandière and more...

Back to Argentina, here's a fruity little "Malbec of the mo" tip to be going on with until my full report from said tasting sees the dark of night:

Viñalta Malbec 2012 Mendoza - attractive easy-going 'modern' fruity style with lots of lively berry fruits and spicy vs liquorice hints, soft and rounded palate with a little substance and grip just to finish it off. Marks & Spencer £7.49

Happy, erm, Malbec day then.

More Malbec from Argentina HERE.

World Malbec Day

It's tomorrow folks, Wed 17 April, and I'll be busy at an Argentina tasting in Dublin sampling as many Malbecs as I can no doubt (report on that to follow after the event on WineWriting.com). This 'special Malbec happening' is the latest in a curious fashion for lesser-known grape varieties to cheekily book themselves into everyone's diary once a year (well, for wine geeks at least). As for this southerly French blog, well, I wrote a mini-series of quite long pieces about a Malbec roadtrip around Cahors country not so long ago, so you could amuse yourself with those I suppose:

Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part1 Château Les Croisille - Château Combel La Serre - Château Tour de Miraval.
Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 2 Châteaux du Cayrou, Famaey, Métairie Grande du Théron, Latuc.
Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 3 - Châteaux Haute-Serre, La Caminade, Armandière, and more...

And here's a link to a "Malbec of the mo" from Argentina on my other blog:

www.winewriting.com/2013/04/world-malbec-day featuring Viñalta Malbec...
Happy, erm, Malbec day then.