A Sicilian wine. The varietal is Zibibbo which is apparently related to muscat.
Tasted at Bedales.
Very pale, clear and somewhat green. Can definitely smell the muscat notes. Muscat is famous for making wines which smell like the grape... unlike pretty much all other wines. Have never had a muscat grape - really must try this.
A medium bodied wine, surprisingly crisp and acidic for such a southerly climate. Dry, long and with strong mineral notes. Too astringent for my liking. To me, one of the reasons for tasting wine in a systematic way (appearance, nose, palate and only then conclusions) is that it enables you to make a reasonably objective assessment of the wine without letting personal preferences getting in the way. This is a case in point. I didn't particularly like it and probably wouldn't order it again but could see that it was a well made wine which lots of people will love.
Friday 27 February 2009
Sunday 15 February 2009
St Henri Shiraz 2004
This is one of Penfold's premium wines. It is largely shiraz, although there is usually a small amount of cabernet sauvignon in the blend also. There are strong blackcurrant aromas, with tobacco and earthy notes also fairly prominent. Some spice, maybe white pepper and cloves. Not really black pepper which I found fairly surprising.
This wine was full bodied. The blackcurrant notes continued on the palate. The tannin was not as intense as I would have expected, although maybe the rather superb steak* I was having with this wine had something to do with this. The balance of this wine was very impressive - at no point did any particular flavour appear to overwhelm the rest of the wine.
* = One of the best steaks I've ever eaten. Bought from the Northfield Farm stall at Borough Market. Yum, yum, yum!
This wine was full bodied. The blackcurrant notes continued on the palate. The tannin was not as intense as I would have expected, although maybe the rather superb steak* I was having with this wine had something to do with this. The balance of this wine was very impressive - at no point did any particular flavour appear to overwhelm the rest of the wine.
* = One of the best steaks I've ever eaten. Bought from the Northfield Farm stall at Borough Market. Yum, yum, yum!
Joseph Phelps "Le Mistral" 2005
In true New World style the back label of this wine gives copious detail about the constituent grape varieties. So, for those who care, this is a blend of:
59% Syrah
23% Grenache
8% Carignane
5% Petite Syrah
5% Alicante Bouschet
A deep and brooding inky black colour, with a bright and youthful purple rim. The nose has intense pepper and blackcurrant notes with hints of violet and some spice - perhaps nutmeg? Maybe cinnamon. A full bodied wine - very tannic and acidic, but well balanced. The youthful, fruity notes continue on the palate and the wine remains balanced until the finish. This would have been great with food, but was fine to drink by itself.
59% Syrah
23% Grenache
8% Carignane
5% Petite Syrah
5% Alicante Bouschet
A deep and brooding inky black colour, with a bright and youthful purple rim. The nose has intense pepper and blackcurrant notes with hints of violet and some spice - perhaps nutmeg? Maybe cinnamon. A full bodied wine - very tannic and acidic, but well balanced. The youthful, fruity notes continue on the palate and the wine remains balanced until the finish. This would have been great with food, but was fine to drink by itself.
Sunday 8 February 2009
St Emilion Craziness
So today Adam, Jenny and I went to the Buenos Aires Restaurant in Purley for an excellent St Emilion lunch with a truly fantastic wine list.
The Champagne reception was quite impressive. We began with the Veuve Cliqcuot 1995 rose, served from a Jeroboam, which is a truly impractical size for a bottle of wine. This was followed by Le Grand Dame 1990 served from a Magnum. With the blind Champagne tasting earlier this week this makes 4 different Veuve wines tasted within 48 hours. Quite impressive.
Here is an indication of the scale of the jeroboam:
Some tasting notes:
Veuve Clicquot 1995 Rose en jeroboam
The colour of this wine was so intense it almost had hints of orange - see the picture below. A rather mellow aroma profile with hints of raspberry and strawberry. On the palate the wine was fruit-driven. The mousse was rather restrained, maybe aging too quickly..? Some tannin in the wine, particularly considering that this is a Champagne; however, the tannin was balanced by a quite pleasant hint of sweetness. On the finish, the fruit vanished pretty quickly leaving just the acid. In conclusion, this was pretty good, but not aging as well as expected.
Veuve Clicquot 1990 La Grand Dame en magnum
This wine was bright, clear and golden with lots of fine bubbles. The most prevalent aromas were yeasty/autolysis and biscuit notes, as would be expected from a vintage Champagne. There was also some secondary development character coming through, mainly as a strong nutty aroma. The mousse was fine - particularly given the age. The acid was well balanced with the fruit and the finish was very crisp, refreshing and dry. All in all, this wine was clearly excellent, but maybe not at its best as an aperitif. The strong acid and intense flavour might be best paired with food.
Chateau Pavie St Emilion Rose 2004
Pretty good considering I'm normally not a fan of rose wine. The nose was clean with mostly red-fruit character. The palate was round with a smooth mouthfeel. The tannins were, not surprisingly, quite low. Despite being quite unassuming the wine was well balanced and rather pleasant. Considering my normal low opinion of rose wines, I was impressed with this. Not amazing, but a good example of its type.
Chateau Puy-Blanquet 1982
At first glance this wine might appear to be past its best. The wine was definitely on the brown side and there was some volatile acid on the nose. However, despite being low on fruit, the nose was clean with pleasant tobacco and cedar-wood notes. Whilst past its best the palate was surprisingly intense and fruity, with a good length. All in all, I liked this wine and would have probably been more effusive if there had been less stiff competition on the day.
Chateau Cure-Bon "La Madeleine" 1982
This was an unexpected benefit since it was not mentioned on the wine list. The rim was quite pale and watery, but otherwise the wine was opaque and bright. Whilst the nose smelled 'old' the palate was surprisingly fruit-driven. There were pleasant plummy notes and some bitter chocolate. The tannins were fine and medium intensity and well balanced with the acid. This wine had aged very well and showed excellently - particularly when one considers the wines this was tasted against.
Chateau Ausone 1982
Considering that this wine would cost over £500 if bought today, this wine was quite underwhelming. The nose was impressively fruit-dominated with strong red-berry notes. The secondary development aromas were far more restrained than one might have expected for a wine of this age. The tannins were intense and the wine was still fruity with well balanced acid. However, the tannins felt as though they outweighed the fruit - particularly on the finish. So whilst the wine was clearly very good and dealing with age very well it was still far from the perfect wine one would hope for at this cost. Had I tasted it blind (and without the burden of the preconceptions that come with knowledge of its cost) I'm sure I might have rated it more highly.
Chateau Angelus 1980
This wine was quite pale but this was not reflected in the taste. The nose was very fresh and fruity and only showing a moderate amount of secondary development considering the age. On the palate this was only medium bodied. There were high levels of tannin, but they were fine and pleasant on the finish. All in all a quite classy wine.
Chateau Pavie Decesse 1961
This wine definitely looked old. The nose was surprisingly reserved with quite pronounced volatile acidity. The palate was definitely past its best with some vinegar notes appearing on the finish. Despite this, it was clear that this used to be a formidable wine - the pedigree couldn't help showing through. However, the wine deteriorated rather quickly in the glass. It would not be fair to judge this wine on the basis of this showing. However, I'm sure that a few years ago this wine would have been fantastic.
The Champagne reception was quite impressive. We began with the Veuve Cliqcuot 1995 rose, served from a Jeroboam, which is a truly impractical size for a bottle of wine. This was followed by Le Grand Dame 1990 served from a Magnum. With the blind Champagne tasting earlier this week this makes 4 different Veuve wines tasted within 48 hours. Quite impressive.
Here is an indication of the scale of the jeroboam:
Some tasting notes:
Veuve Clicquot 1995 Rose en jeroboam
The colour of this wine was so intense it almost had hints of orange - see the picture below. A rather mellow aroma profile with hints of raspberry and strawberry. On the palate the wine was fruit-driven. The mousse was rather restrained, maybe aging too quickly..? Some tannin in the wine, particularly considering that this is a Champagne; however, the tannin was balanced by a quite pleasant hint of sweetness. On the finish, the fruit vanished pretty quickly leaving just the acid. In conclusion, this was pretty good, but not aging as well as expected.
Veuve Clicquot 1990 La Grand Dame en magnum
This wine was bright, clear and golden with lots of fine bubbles. The most prevalent aromas were yeasty/autolysis and biscuit notes, as would be expected from a vintage Champagne. There was also some secondary development character coming through, mainly as a strong nutty aroma. The mousse was fine - particularly given the age. The acid was well balanced with the fruit and the finish was very crisp, refreshing and dry. All in all, this wine was clearly excellent, but maybe not at its best as an aperitif. The strong acid and intense flavour might be best paired with food.
Chateau Pavie St Emilion Rose 2004
Pretty good considering I'm normally not a fan of rose wine. The nose was clean with mostly red-fruit character. The palate was round with a smooth mouthfeel. The tannins were, not surprisingly, quite low. Despite being quite unassuming the wine was well balanced and rather pleasant. Considering my normal low opinion of rose wines, I was impressed with this. Not amazing, but a good example of its type.
Chateau Puy-Blanquet 1982
At first glance this wine might appear to be past its best. The wine was definitely on the brown side and there was some volatile acid on the nose. However, despite being low on fruit, the nose was clean with pleasant tobacco and cedar-wood notes. Whilst past its best the palate was surprisingly intense and fruity, with a good length. All in all, I liked this wine and would have probably been more effusive if there had been less stiff competition on the day.
Chateau Cure-Bon "La Madeleine" 1982
This was an unexpected benefit since it was not mentioned on the wine list. The rim was quite pale and watery, but otherwise the wine was opaque and bright. Whilst the nose smelled 'old' the palate was surprisingly fruit-driven. There were pleasant plummy notes and some bitter chocolate. The tannins were fine and medium intensity and well balanced with the acid. This wine had aged very well and showed excellently - particularly when one considers the wines this was tasted against.
Chateau Ausone 1982
Considering that this wine would cost over £500 if bought today, this wine was quite underwhelming. The nose was impressively fruit-dominated with strong red-berry notes. The secondary development aromas were far more restrained than one might have expected for a wine of this age. The tannins were intense and the wine was still fruity with well balanced acid. However, the tannins felt as though they outweighed the fruit - particularly on the finish. So whilst the wine was clearly very good and dealing with age very well it was still far from the perfect wine one would hope for at this cost. Had I tasted it blind (and without the burden of the preconceptions that come with knowledge of its cost) I'm sure I might have rated it more highly.
Chateau Angelus 1980
This wine was quite pale but this was not reflected in the taste. The nose was very fresh and fruity and only showing a moderate amount of secondary development considering the age. On the palate this was only medium bodied. There were high levels of tannin, but they were fine and pleasant on the finish. All in all a quite classy wine.
Chateau Pavie Decesse 1961
This wine definitely looked old. The nose was surprisingly reserved with quite pronounced volatile acidity. The palate was definitely past its best with some vinegar notes appearing on the finish. Despite this, it was clear that this used to be a formidable wine - the pedigree couldn't help showing through. However, the wine deteriorated rather quickly in the glass. It would not be fair to judge this wine on the basis of this showing. However, I'm sure that a few years ago this wine would have been fantastic.
Friday 6 February 2009
Blind Champagne Tasting
A successful inaugural event for Bacchus Vintage. However, we came to the conclusion that 14 wines is too many when people are drinking rather than spitting. Tasting notes for the final few wines were rather brief and incoherent. The atmosphere in the tasting changed from:
to this:
as the evening wore on!
The format for tonight's event was blind tasting. It was organised totally blind in that not even I knew which order we were tasting the wines in. Once the wines were wrapped in foil, several people mixed the order up.
As well as 11 champagnes, there were 3 ringers: a moscato d'asti, a saumur and an English sparkling wine. The asti clearly had no chance of masquerading as a Champagne - the colour, the flavour profile and the sweetness were completely different. However, the Saumur and the English Sparkling were much more successful ringers. Several people could not identify the Saumur and not a single person correctly identified which wine was the English.
In a win for those who believe in efficient markets, the most expensive wine of the night (around £65) was also the runaway favourite. So, clearly, there is a bit of 'you get what you pay for'. However, the second favourite of the night was only £25, and significantly cheaper than other wines which it was much better than.
The least favourite Champagne of the night was definitely the Jacquesson Cuvee 732, which lost only to the Asti. Definitely a case of not getting what you've paid for! I was surprised by this since all the champagnes I've had from Jacquesson have always been excellent. However, this is a low-dosage Champagne. I've had a low-dosage Champagne in a previous blind tasting and it also performed very poorly. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that these low-dosage wines are the Diet Coke of the Champagne world!
Wines Tasted
1. Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label NV
Available just about everywhere.
2. Taittinger Brut Reserve, NV
Oddbins sell for £45 (ripoff). Cheapest found on internet is £25.
3. Waitrose Blanc de Blanc
£21 from Waitrose.
4. Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2006
Ringer #1 - the English Sparkling wine. £19 from Waitrose.
5. Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve "mis en caves" 2004
2nd favourite of the evening
around £25 - £30. Ocado has it for £30. I bought from Waitrose at around £25.
6. Moscato d'Asti. Producer not recorded.
Tamsin/Alasdair should have details...
Ringer #2
7. Champagne Bredon Brut NV
£18 from Waitrose.
8. Waitrose Blanc de Noir
£17 from Waitrose.
9. Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 Vintage Brut
Clear winner on the night.
£67 from Majestic or BBR.
10. Deutz NV
£35 from Nicolas.
11 Chapin & Landais Le Grand Saumur 2005
Ringer #3
£9.75 Stone, Vine and Sun
12. Jacquesson Cuvee 732
Low dosage. Showed badly. The least favourite champers for most people. For almost all people this even lost to the Saumur. Cost is £32 from BBR.
13. Alfred Gratien Brut NV
£25 from BBR.
Good, solid showing.
14. Champagne Bonnet 1999
Source and cost unknown.
to this:
as the evening wore on!
The format for tonight's event was blind tasting. It was organised totally blind in that not even I knew which order we were tasting the wines in. Once the wines were wrapped in foil, several people mixed the order up.
As well as 11 champagnes, there were 3 ringers: a moscato d'asti, a saumur and an English sparkling wine. The asti clearly had no chance of masquerading as a Champagne - the colour, the flavour profile and the sweetness were completely different. However, the Saumur and the English Sparkling were much more successful ringers. Several people could not identify the Saumur and not a single person correctly identified which wine was the English.
In a win for those who believe in efficient markets, the most expensive wine of the night (around £65) was also the runaway favourite. So, clearly, there is a bit of 'you get what you pay for'. However, the second favourite of the night was only £25, and significantly cheaper than other wines which it was much better than.
The least favourite Champagne of the night was definitely the Jacquesson Cuvee 732, which lost only to the Asti. Definitely a case of not getting what you've paid for! I was surprised by this since all the champagnes I've had from Jacquesson have always been excellent. However, this is a low-dosage Champagne. I've had a low-dosage Champagne in a previous blind tasting and it also performed very poorly. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that these low-dosage wines are the Diet Coke of the Champagne world!
Wines Tasted
1. Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label NV
Available just about everywhere.
2. Taittinger Brut Reserve, NV
Oddbins sell for £45 (ripoff). Cheapest found on internet is £25.
3. Waitrose Blanc de Blanc
£21 from Waitrose.
4. Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2006
Ringer #1 - the English Sparkling wine. £19 from Waitrose.
5. Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve "mis en caves" 2004
2nd favourite of the evening
around £25 - £30. Ocado has it for £30. I bought from Waitrose at around £25.
6. Moscato d'Asti. Producer not recorded.
Tamsin/Alasdair should have details...
Ringer #2
7. Champagne Bredon Brut NV
£18 from Waitrose.
8. Waitrose Blanc de Noir
£17 from Waitrose.
9. Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 Vintage Brut
Clear winner on the night.
£67 from Majestic or BBR.
10. Deutz NV
£35 from Nicolas.
11 Chapin & Landais Le Grand Saumur 2005
Ringer #3
£9.75 Stone, Vine and Sun
12. Jacquesson Cuvee 732
Low dosage. Showed badly. The least favourite champers for most people. For almost all people this even lost to the Saumur. Cost is £32 from BBR.
13. Alfred Gratien Brut NV
£25 from BBR.
Good, solid showing.
14. Champagne Bonnet 1999
Source and cost unknown.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Port and the Douro Valley
Although there had been much drunken talk of creating a London-based successor to Bacchus prior to this visit, it was only on our Port-tasting holiday that serious plans were hatched. So it seems fitting to start the Bacchus Vintage website here. And the fact that I've only just got around to pulling the photos from my phone and am looking for an excuse to use them has nothing to do with it.
In planning this trip we relied heavily on a book called "The wine and food lover's guide to Portugal". It was pretty indispensable in planning stuff -particularly when we went up the Douro Valley. A proper review of the book will follow later but the basic message is that I wish all wine regions had such a book since it would make planning wine holidays a doddle.
Porto
Porto is well set up for easy wine tourism. The old town of Porto is North of the Douro River. Across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia sit all the Port houses. If you are in Ribeira then you can simply walk across the bridge. Otherwise simply get a taxi from your hotel to whichever port house you are going to. Many of the port houses will have a free tasting which you passers by can partake of, after which they then hope to sell you bottles of their wine. Alternatively you can follow the free tasting with paid-for tastings where you get to drink the proper stuff. Do this rather than buying wines onsite to take away - the wines are not sold at a discount to local wine shops in Porto or the airport duty-free (which is very well stocked) so you may as well purchase the wines elsewhere.
The main revelation of this trip for me was the amazing quality of the 40-year old tawny ports. Having tried many 10- and 20-year old tawnys before I'd come to the conclusion that the extra age did not add enough to the wine to justify the extra cost. However, it appears that something magical happens to tawny port between 20 and 40 years of age. Every single 40yo tawny we tasted was fantastic - it's just a shame they are so much more expensive.
Port houses to visit which come particularly recommended are Grahams and Taylors (not surprisingly). Grahams in particular has an excellent and informative visitor centre, with some truly amazing ports for you to taste. A strong contender for my wine of the holiday was the 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio we tasted there.
The Douro Valley
We took the train from Porto to Pinhao on around 5pm on Friday afternoon. This journey up the Douro is supposed to be one of the world's most beautiful train journeys. However, it's also a packed commuter route which we were travelling on during Friday rush hour which detracted from the beautiful scenery somewhat! Not least because we didn't get a seat until about half-hour before we arrived in Pinhao. The train journey was followed by a short taxi ride to Quinta de la Rosa, where we stayed the night.
After heading out for a looong and boozy dinner we headed back to Quinta de la Rosa to discover that we'd inadvertently locked all the other people staying there out of their rooms. oops!
The next day we had tours and tastings at two Quintas with radically different approaches to wine making. Quinta de la Rosa makes wine in a traditional manner. There is a mechanical lagar (check spelling) but foot treading of grapes is still used for at least some of their wine. Dusty and covered in cobwebs, the conditions in the winery would give many New-World wine makers an OCD-induced heart attack. However, the wine was excellent, particularly the vintage port.
Later in the day we visited Quinta do Portal. The winemaking practises here could not be more of a contrast to Quinta de la Rosa. Bright, clean and shiny. Yet some fantastic wine at both places. And they get extra points for the fantastic tasting they put on for us. See the pic below for slightly drunken evidence of this. (Note Adam clutching several bottles of port to his chest!)
After this we got a late train back to Porto and flew back to London on the Sunday. There are two flights back to Stansted from Porto on Sunday - we took the later of the two. If anyone reading this is planning a trip to Porto my strong advice would be to not bother. Pretty much everything you might want to do in Porto is closed. Add to this the problem that the later flight gets you back to Stansted in the wee hours and you definitely want to get the earlier flight
So... Porto is a fantastic place to go on a wine tasting holiday and I will definitely go back in the not too distant future.
Links for those who care...
The Wine and Food Lover's Guide to Portugal
Quinta de la Rosa
Quinta do Portal
Quinta do Vesuvio
In planning this trip we relied heavily on a book called "The wine and food lover's guide to Portugal". It was pretty indispensable in planning stuff -particularly when we went up the Douro Valley. A proper review of the book will follow later but the basic message is that I wish all wine regions had such a book since it would make planning wine holidays a doddle.
Porto
Porto is well set up for easy wine tourism. The old town of Porto is North of the Douro River. Across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia sit all the Port houses. If you are in Ribeira then you can simply walk across the bridge. Otherwise simply get a taxi from your hotel to whichever port house you are going to. Many of the port houses will have a free tasting which you passers by can partake of, after which they then hope to sell you bottles of their wine. Alternatively you can follow the free tasting with paid-for tastings where you get to drink the proper stuff. Do this rather than buying wines onsite to take away - the wines are not sold at a discount to local wine shops in Porto or the airport duty-free (which is very well stocked) so you may as well purchase the wines elsewhere.
The main revelation of this trip for me was the amazing quality of the 40-year old tawny ports. Having tried many 10- and 20-year old tawnys before I'd come to the conclusion that the extra age did not add enough to the wine to justify the extra cost. However, it appears that something magical happens to tawny port between 20 and 40 years of age. Every single 40yo tawny we tasted was fantastic - it's just a shame they are so much more expensive.
Port houses to visit which come particularly recommended are Grahams and Taylors (not surprisingly). Grahams in particular has an excellent and informative visitor centre, with some truly amazing ports for you to taste. A strong contender for my wine of the holiday was the 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio we tasted there.
The Douro Valley
We took the train from Porto to Pinhao on around 5pm on Friday afternoon. This journey up the Douro is supposed to be one of the world's most beautiful train journeys. However, it's also a packed commuter route which we were travelling on during Friday rush hour which detracted from the beautiful scenery somewhat! Not least because we didn't get a seat until about half-hour before we arrived in Pinhao. The train journey was followed by a short taxi ride to Quinta de la Rosa, where we stayed the night.
After heading out for a looong and boozy dinner we headed back to Quinta de la Rosa to discover that we'd inadvertently locked all the other people staying there out of their rooms. oops!
The next day we had tours and tastings at two Quintas with radically different approaches to wine making. Quinta de la Rosa makes wine in a traditional manner. There is a mechanical lagar (check spelling) but foot treading of grapes is still used for at least some of their wine. Dusty and covered in cobwebs, the conditions in the winery would give many New-World wine makers an OCD-induced heart attack. However, the wine was excellent, particularly the vintage port.
Later in the day we visited Quinta do Portal. The winemaking practises here could not be more of a contrast to Quinta de la Rosa. Bright, clean and shiny. Yet some fantastic wine at both places. And they get extra points for the fantastic tasting they put on for us. See the pic below for slightly drunken evidence of this. (Note Adam clutching several bottles of port to his chest!)
After this we got a late train back to Porto and flew back to London on the Sunday. There are two flights back to Stansted from Porto on Sunday - we took the later of the two. If anyone reading this is planning a trip to Porto my strong advice would be to not bother. Pretty much everything you might want to do in Porto is closed. Add to this the problem that the later flight gets you back to Stansted in the wee hours and you definitely want to get the earlier flight
So... Porto is a fantastic place to go on a wine tasting holiday and I will definitely go back in the not too distant future.
Links for those who care...
The Wine and Food Lover's Guide to Portugal
Quinta de la Rosa
Quinta do Portal
Quinta do Vesuvio
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