A mixed baker's dozen (plus) of wines worth taking bad photos of...
M&S 'Found' Weißburgunder 2021, Pfalz Germany (12.5% abv): Or Pinot Blanc to use its more familiar French name (Pinot Bianco in Italy). This juicy zesty pear and nectarine tinged dry white is from talented winemaker Gerd Stepp, who's made other tasty 'modern' German wines for Marks including delicious Riesling and Pinot Noir. Resembles Alsace Pinot Blanc in style but with more flavour. £9.50
The Crafty Brewing Co label is an 'exclusive' range brewed by the
Rye River Brewing Company in Co. Kildare for Lidl Ireland. Their deliciously refreshing
Belgian Style Saison (4.8% abv), whatever that means, is very aromatic and crisp while full-flavoured. The brewery's (edited) tasting note says it all (and much more...): 'Hazy and unfiltered with a stiff rocky foam that exudes an aroma of fruits, spice, bubblegum and herbs... (and) subtle notes of Sauvignon Blanc (it really does) from a late hop addition finishing dry.' Good with Thai green curry. €1.99 (500ml).
Following on from my '
50 years of Chardonnay' in Australia feature, five other gratuitous Chardies enjoyed recently include:
Le Stopgap Chardonnay 2021 Vin de France, Jacques Depagneux (13% abv): 'Much of the blend comes from Limoux with a little from the central Languedoc and essential dash from the Mâconnais...'
Indeed, fifty years young. As Wine Australia put it in the intro to a recent celebratory tasting: "With the first varietally-labelled Chardonnay produced in Australia in 1972, now is the perfect time to revisit the story of Australia’s most iconic white wine. From the first vine cuttings in the 1830s to the big buttery wines of the 1990s, to today’s regionally distinct refined styles, Australian Chardonnay has come a long way."
(Tyrrell's, Leeuwin, Forest Hill, Penfolds, Moorooduc, Giant Steps, Shaw&Smith, Tolpuddle. And a wine geek warning!)
Cabré & Sabaté is yet another packaging guise created by bespoke-label Cava maestro Jaume Serra for Mercadona and other supermarkets in Spain; this impressive winery also produces very good fizz for several UK retailers (Asda, Aldi, Morrison's...).
Lo Cometa Garnatxa Blanca 2020 Terra Alta, Catalunya (organic, 13.5% abv): Which is Catalan for Grenache blanc, this unusual full-bodied dry white is more about flavour and texture than aroma. Subtle honeyed notes with yeast-lees, white peach and pears edged with aniseed and blanched nuts; quite powerful while juicy and concentrated with lingering mineral freshness. £7.25 The Wine Society (out of stock, wait for the 2021), €6-€7 Germany (Lidl has some 2019 left), Netherlands €9.
For those of us who enjoy (proper) dry rosé all year round, not just in summer (it's a good compromise for a white wine drinker and a red wine drinker sharing the same meal and bottle), it's no surprise that 'serious' rosé does exist. But some people in France and someone in Italy had the bright idea of creating the
Rosés de Terroirs association as a collaborative marketing project to promote the regions and producers who are famous for making this type of full-on pink wine.
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Poet Frédéric Mistral. |
These eleven wines (we go that one extra, so "these go up to 11") were worth typing about picked from the latest batch of diverse samplings from IGP Pays d'Oc (essentially the entire
Occitanie region although these are all from the Languedoc), boldly billed in the press release as 'Pays d’Oc wines for every festive occasion.' Previous posts on Pays d'Oc include these linked below (there'll be more if you can be bothered to look, use the search doofer on the right):
Santa Tresa Rina Ianca Grillo Viognier 2020 Sicilia (organic, 13.5% abv): Another delicious Grillo-based bottle from Sicily - click
here and
here for more of those - this time with 30% Viognier added, which ups the exotic apricot and peach flavours with full palate weight, yeast-lees edges and appealing amount of freshness. Wine Society £8.25.
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).
Rancio Sec Arnaud de Villeneuve, Côtes Catalanes, France (16% abv) - This very dry rancio style is an old-as-time Catalan speciality - although made elsewhere in France and Spain (and Europe) in similarly tiny quantities - and is distinctly different from other traditional cask-aged bottlings from the Roussillon, which is well-known for its mostly red, fortified sweet wines. This tasty 'commercial' example is made by one of the region's biggest (if not the) co-operative wineries...
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!)
NEW: I've republished a less-expensive colour paperback of my book on the Roussillon region:
In the UK or EU, you can order it direct from me and save £4/€4 (£20 or £24 including postage: Royal Mail Tracked 48 service or International Standard; or delivered by Amazon). Select UK or EU in the drop-down menu below and proceed to the checkout (in a new window) using your PayPal account or your debit/credit card: this website does not process or store your card or personal data.
These nine varied wines are available from
the Wine Society in the UK (and some of them from other wine stores and in other countries), which I became a member of recently, and represent my favourites from a first mixed case purchased (I picked each wine but you can order from several pre-selected options).
The three 2019 vintage reds tasting-noted here come from a few different northern Roussillon vineyard locations. Full profiles of these wineries and notes on their other wines and previous vintages can be found in
my book on the Roussillon. These tasty reds are all available from the Wine Society in the UK (among others, and in other countries), which I became a member of recently.
It's not just that desperate label which grabbed me about this Aussie white - hmm, where's that Chardy from then? Perhaps add a picture of Dame Edna sniffing it on the back-label to be sure. This tasty unoaked Chardonnay is one of Aldi's burgeoning Specially Selected range and is also great value for €7.99 at Aldi Ireland or £5.99 in the UK.
Frankly, almost always more interesting than Prosecco (unless you pay for some of the top names), here are five Catalan fizz favourites enjoyed in recent times.
Vilarnau Rosé Brut Reserva (12% abv) - Toasty, red-fruity and full-flavoured, this delicious Cava Rosado is based on Garnacha (Grenache) and Pinot Noir. Tesco was 'clearing' it out for £8 (it's gone already)...
This is the first full update on Roussillon wine producers since
I published my book on the region (did I mention it already?! Click there for details), focusing on new vintages and releases from wineries featured in the book, and potentially any new-to-me places that would then be slotted into the winery guide sections for a future edition. Domaine of the Bee was tentatively launched in 2004 (some old vines purchased) by Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, wife Amanda and business partner Philippe Sacerdot.
The Gourmet Food Kitchen seems to be a unique idea in UK City of Culture Coventry, launched by local chef Tony Davies (pic. below) 'who has worked in kitchens across Europe.' Located in Fargo Village just out of the centre (Far Gosford Street, Coventry CV1 5ED), which has the feel of a burgeoning trendy boho kind of spot. Tony offers 'a chef table experience' reserved in advance on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for 12 guests only, whether one large group together or a few smaller tables and seated outside when the weather's good, serving up a slow onslaught of seven flavoursome elegant and varied mini-courses across the evening, each one introduced by the chef.
Château Viranel Intuition blanc 2020 Saint-Chinian Languedoc (60% Grenache blanc, 15% Roussanne, 20% Vermentino, 5% Bourboulenc, 13.5% abv): This delicious mix of southern French grape varieties undergoes a modest 15% of the blend fermented in barrels (and all the better for it) with the completed wine stored and stirred on the yeast-lees for three months to maximise flavour and texture.
This multi-faceted business is also known as the Chiltern Valley Winery & Brewery and Old Luxters Vineyard and Barn (wedding reception venue), with a luxury farmhouse B&B (four rooms) and cookery school too; in addition, they make a range of fruit liqueurs and sell local cheeses, honey and chocolates among other things! Certainly couldn't accuse them of not being enterprising.
These five rosés are all IGP Pays d'Oc from the Languedoc.
Marselan 2020 Les Caves Richemer (13.5% abv) - As I said in two previous posts about IGP Pays d'Oc (
part 1 and
part 2), Marselan is a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache that's been around for a few decades and has adapted well to the Languedoc. Well-made easy-going tasty rosé combining juicy red fruits and white peach with creamier food-leaning mouth-weight and fresh zingy finish. Not bad match with a kinda 'surf & turf' pasta dish: spicy sausage tortelloni topped with bolognese and sardine sauce with courgettes, garlic, ginger and smoked paprika! France cellar door €4.30, Netherlands €8.95, US €9.99.
Moschofilero & Roditis 2020 (12% abv) - One of the newish M&S 'Found' range sourced from the Peloponnese, the southernmost part of mainland Greece, and produced by Semeli Winery from these two indigenous varieties (80% Moschofilero in fact) grown in two different high-altitude vineyard areas. Very aromatic with citrus and grapey Muscat-like notes, zesty yeast-lees tones too, concentrated zingy palate with lingering aromatic fruit on its crisp elegant finish. Highly recommended dry white: try with smoked salmon or haddock, prawn curry, asparagus or goats' cheese. £8.50
Admittedly it's a big brand, relatively, but this smooth and serious Blond(e) beer is a long-time favourite and still offers more quality and flavour than many other bottled beers, even in the welcome days of trendy craft beers (I think the Belgians may have done 'craft' for some time already). Definitely a sipping or foodie beer in moderate amounts due to its powerful 8.5% abv, I love its irresistible combination of refreshing hoppy bite and full fruity flavour.
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)...
Aspall is an almost 300 year-old cider house (hence ye olde spelling of cyder on the label), as
the website tells us: "In 1728, Clement Chevallier planted the first large-scale cyder orchards in Suffolk (England)." Their modestly named Premier Cru Cyder (with serious 6.8% abv) is described as "the first cyder produced by Barry and Henry Chevallier Guild when they joined the business - seven years in creation - and still their favourite drink." I wouldn't argue with that, cider-wise at least.
An enticing half-a-dozen of whites, red and rosés sourced from big supermarkets and one-store independents priced £7 to £10 in the UK.
Vara Rosé 2020 Cramele Recas Estate, Romania (12% abv) - Good-value dry and zingy rosé made from 65% Merlot and 35% Feteasca Neagra, which develops creamy straw-raspberry flavours followed by crisper cranberry type crunchiness. £7
Marks & Spencer (image from their site). Versatile with food.
The second instalment of a mini-feature on
Pays d'Oc IGP wines from the Languedoc (see
Part 1 for more about terminology, rationale etc.) focuses on half-a-dozen varietal wines, this time including well-known grape varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon blanc) and relatively new arrivals to the region or discoveries (Albariño, Marselan). Last time, my notes were mainly centred on a few different styles of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache and Viognier.
Many wine producers in southern France make wines labelled as Indication Géographique Protégée or IGP, which replaced Vin de Pays over ten years ago as part of a Europe-wide rationalisation of wine laws and 'trademarking' of specified wine areas. Hence in Italy, it's Indicazione Geografica Protetta or Indicación Geográfica Protegida in Spain, although confusingly they still also use the term Vino de la Tierra ('country wine') whereas the French have dropped Vin de Pays.
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...)
Aruci Aruci caffetteria, gelateria & Casa Siciliana Trattoria - Scicli, Ragusa province.
A few reminiscences, sightseeing tips, places to stay, photos and a little food and wine condensed from a lucky-break week spent in Sicily last September in between Covid restriction lockdowns. The plan was to avoid big towns and cities (so no Palermo or Catania this time unfortunately), hire a car, stay in the middle of nowhere and not tour around too much (pretty much the opposite of a 'normal' holiday), which part of the south of the gorgeous island provided a perfect backdrop for (Ragusa province and Agrigento a couple of hours up the coast).
Zeitgeisty is admittedly a little literary and pretentious, and I wasn't aware it was a word as such, in the adjective form with a 'y' ending, until I saw it recently in a one-line review on the back cover of a new book (quoting a well-known writer so it must be okay). Any road, this latest batch of wine buy tips kicks off with a handful of tasty drops of bubbly, which always has a certain 'spirit of the times' feel about it on any occasion and any time of year, especially to toast in winter drawing to a close sooner rather than later.
Screenshot from the Feb. digital edition:
This short paragraph from an article in the February 2021 edition of
The Wine Merchant magazine (UK business publication) is a taster of a few combined extracts from
my book on the Roussillon region themed around the Grenache variety. Follow the link above to read the feature (full digital issue) or
go to winemerchantmag.com to find out more and buy a printed copy.
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...
'Here we are in the ship of the imagination...' Remember that awe-inspiring space travel programme 'Cosmos' back in the 80s by Carl Sagan (paraphrasing one of his most cosmological lines)? Don't know why I thought of that though: stellar white wines of the split-atom millisecond perhaps? Sounds more out-there than international or global, especially as these words are usually stranded with media-nouns like crisis, conflict or pandemic; or similar marketing babble (e.g. brand, product).
Apart from another excuse to plug my
new book on the Roussillon (links to previous post with details, or go straight to
Amazon UK or
USA or
Barnes & Noble to buy it - other formats and countries' stores are also linked in the post above), here are some of my hot red wine tips from the region made by producers featured in the book. Many winemakers have just released their 2018 and 2019 reds, and I look forward to tasting more of these next year (?!) when we're able to travel safely to France again due to the ongoing Covid-19 nightmare.
This detailed book on the Roussillon wine region in deepest south of France, or far western French Mediterranean to be more precise, is available to order on Amazon as a paperback (with colour photos) and eBook (Kindle). Follow the link below to your 'marketplace' to read the blurb, get swept away and purchase a copy!
Or buy it DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR (UK and EU only):
Prestige Cava Rosado & Prestige Cava Brut
At first, I thought this dynamic duo were the usual Marks & Spencer Cavas with flashy new labels and a price rise, but they are additional to the range and definitely noticeably tastier and toastier quality-wise for the £10 price tag.
'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!
Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.