"Order my book on the Roussillon wine region (colour paperback) DIRECT FROM ME SAVING £4/€4 (UK & EU only), or Kindle eBook on Amazon UK. Available in the USA from Barnes & Noble in hardcover, paperback or eBook; or Amazon.com. For other countries, tap here." Richard Mark James

31 May 2011

New Zealand: Nobilo

Nobilo vineyard was founded in 1943 by Nikola Nobilo (pic), a Croatian emigre with a family-winemaking background, and is now part of the giant global Constellation group, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing looking at these two tasty wines. They’re part of the winery’s ‘Regional Collection’ range sourced from different vineyards around New Zealand; in this case Gisborne, billed as “the Chardonnay capital” on the back-label (I wouldn’t entirely disagree, from memory, although other NZ regions might) and Hawke’s Bay, celebrated for Merlot, both on North Island’s east coast. A refreshing change too to buy Southern Hemisphere wines with a bit of aged character, although that could just be as the retailer has old stock to clear! They were both £5.99 on offer at Wine Mark / Russell’s Cellars in Northern Ireland. nobilo.co.nz


Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2008 (13.5%) - dark plum and blueberry with soy sauce/liquorice vs leafy/red pepper edges, nice ‘sweet vs savoury’ development, quite complex; attractive lush vs tangy palate, ripe sweet vs light bitter twist of tannins/acidity, fair weight and roundness vs dry bite, maturing vs still quite chunky finish. Good with Aberdeen Angus chilli burger (from the Cooperative). 2

Gisborne Chardonnay 2009 (13.5%) – enticing buttery oat and lees notes vs pineapple and citrus, quite rich with maturing nutty side vs a bit of crispness underneath; rounded and milky with medium weight, well balanced with subtle finish. Drinking nicely now although beginning to fade out a little. Kinda South Hem Chablis but smoother. 1+


27 May 2011

Chile: Leyda

I remember tasting wines from Viña Leyda, the winery, back when nobody had heard of the Leyda Valley and people had just started talking about Chile's new cooler climate coastal regions lying, in this case, to the west of Santiago (and just south of the perhaps better known Casablanca valley), let alone other new areas further north e.g. Limarí, Elquí. Leyda was set up in 1997 and was the driving force behind creating a name-sake sub-region in 2002 (this could get confusing...). They've been busy since then too, as the estate now comes to nearly 250 hectares (towards 700 acres) of mostly 'cool' varieties as per my tasting notes below.

'RED'

'Red is for wine, blood, revolution, colour... Time-warped slices of mystery, history, fantasy, crime, art, cinema and love...' Buy the e-book or paperback novel on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Click here to view the RED blog!

Send an email

Name

Email *

Message *

Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.