Ramos Pinto Tasting
Vivat Bacchus
9 March 2009
Duas Quintas, Branco 2007
White table wine
Very similar to a sauvignon blanc. Actual grape varieties are Viozhinho, Rabigato and Arinato. Pale (almost translucent) lemon green. Grassy and asparagus on the nose with green fruit and a little peach. Feels a little hot but otherwise refreshing and quite well balanced.
Duas Quintas, Tinto 2006
Red table wine
Massive burst of ribena and cherry. Full bodied and very tannic with quite high acid. A bit of an assault on the mouth, but this would be softened with food. Good length. Overall pretty good. Drinking well now but would probably benefit from a little time.
Ruby Reserve "Collector"
A little bit of spirit on the nose - not quite integrated into the wine. Intense black fruit. Smooth, full-bodied and quite sweet. Good length with a hot finish. Very pleasant.
LBV 2003
The grape spirit is still there but more integrated than in the Ruby. Very acidic and sweet. Good length, maybe a little unbalanced on the finish.
2000 Vintage
There is lots going on with this wine. Intense black fruit, some floral notes and some leathery, savoury and spicy development character beginning to show. Quite a complex nose. Full bodied and tannic with acidity to balance the sweetness. This is well balanced and very long. I like this one a lot.
10-year old Tawny
Deep tawny colour. Nutty character (predominantly almonds). Fruit character is reminiscent of dried fruit. Maybe figs. Not bad.
20-year old Tawny
Burnished amber. Much more complexity on the nose. Marzipan, almonds, dried apricots. Sweet but with good adicity. Intense and well balanced. This is very good, and a serious step up from the 10-year old. Which is a little unusual because normally I find the difference between the 10 and 20-year old tawny to be quite small.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
WSET Tasting Group
So it looks as though the WSET advanced course I'm doing is developing a side-project involving even more drinking. Six of us from the course are now involved in a regular tasting group. The rough idea being that on Mondays we drink wines from the region we will be covering in class the following Wednesday. One of the people on the course works at The Groucho Grill and so she organised the tasting to be held there.
This Wednesday the class will be covering Bordeaux and the South-West of France so we all brought along a bottle from one of those regions to compare. The wines covered were all very interesting as was the way in which they opened up over the course of the evening. Since we were at the Gaucho we compared the French wines to a couple of the Argentinian wines from their list. The Argentinian wines were much more restaurant-friendly in that they were drinking nicely from the moment the cork was pulled whereas the Bordeaux wines took a while to open up. Having said that, after they had opened up most of them were pretty damn good.
Merlot Dominated
1. Calvulcura 2004, Argentina
60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon
Fairly pronounced nose with lots of ripe black fruit. Quite jammy and concentrated. At first this wine was a total fruit-bomb with some spicy wood. After a little while some of the more vegetal notes come through - particularly green pepper. Quite high acid, medium tannins and noticeably high alcohol. Medium-high body with similar intensity of flavour. The only flavour on the palate not expected from the nose was chocolate. This is very good but would improve with age.
2. Chateau Moulinet 2005, Pomerol
From the beginning the aroma profile on this wine was very rich, spicy and inviting. However, at first the palate was very woody and the tannins were out of balance with pretty much everything else. However, once the wine opened up everything tasted more balanced and there was plenty of fruit. Very good, but far too young (a bit of a theme over this evening)
Cabernet Dominated
3. Chateau Ferriere 2004, Margaux
The fruit was quite hidden, but came more to the front after it had been open for a couple of hours. The mouthfeel was very smooth with tannins, acid and body all being sort of mediumish. The flavour profile was quite intense with plenty of tart fruit. After the wine had opened up there were very noticeable and quite concentrated coffee aromas - to the point that it was reminiscent of a concetrated coffee liqueur like Kahlua.
4. Chateau Ferrande 2005, Graves
On the nose this started with a fairly strange aroma. Something quite earthy and mineralic. Wet stone? Then fruit was quite cooked. Something quite vegetal also. Very tannic, but quite fine tannins and pretty high acid. On the palate there is plenty of black fruit and something a little dusty. Plus a fair amount of oak. Decent length. Very pleasant as it opened up. So, again, needs plenty of time.
5. La Reserve de Leoville Barton 2004, St Julien
The best of the wines tasted on the night. Subtle and complex with blackcurrant, herbs, blossom and something quite perfumed on the nose. Also orange peel which was unexpected. The tannins were high, but still felt soft. Body and alcohol were medium. The flavour intensity on the palate was medium-high with fantastic length. Outstanding on the night; however, had taken a fair amount of time to open up. When this was first opened we decanted it and it hardly gave anything on the nose but over time it became awesome. This wine really highlighted the futility of ordering a young bordeaux at a restaurant - if you just pulled the cork and started drinking this you'd have been very disappointed with a wine which eventually showed itself to be excellent.
Malbec Dominated
6. Cedre Heritage, Malbec, Cahors
Normally Cahors would not mention the grape variety on the label. Presumably this indicates that the minimum concentration of malbec here was 85%. Lots of American oak on the nose with plenty of coconut. The fruit was black and quite intense. No ceder notes at all, which was slighly surprising given (i) the name and (ii) the picture of the ceder on the label. Something quite savoury on the nose - smoky bacon? Definitely meaty. Some herbal notes - perhaps tarragon? Aniseed? A quite complex and interesting nose. High acid and tannin with intense flavours. The most prominent flavour was tomato - a flavour which all of us identified and were pretty bemused by. Not fresh tomato either, sort of a concentrated tomato-based pasta sauce. Weird, but good. Palate was very nice, but a little 1-dimensional considering the complexity of the nose.
7. Rupestre 2004, Cafayate
Like the Argentinian wine tasted at the beginning, this was pleasant and drinkable from the outset. However, unlike the Calvulcura, this wine went through massive changes in the glass. At first the main aromas were wet leaf, mushroom ketchup and freshly picked tomato. A little black pepper. Then the smoky flavours came through later, then leather, then green pepper and finally more traditional fruit notes. This was weird and complex but very good.
Food
After this we had plenty of wine left... and a raging hunger. So four of us who stayed behind after the tasting shared a steak sampler and polished off the rest of the wine. The steak sampler is where you share four different steaks - a superb idea. Never before have I had fillet, sirloin, rump and rib-eye all in one meal. The wines of the evening were all very much improved by pairing with the meat. Can't recommend highly enough.
This Wednesday the class will be covering Bordeaux and the South-West of France so we all brought along a bottle from one of those regions to compare. The wines covered were all very interesting as was the way in which they opened up over the course of the evening. Since we were at the Gaucho we compared the French wines to a couple of the Argentinian wines from their list. The Argentinian wines were much more restaurant-friendly in that they were drinking nicely from the moment the cork was pulled whereas the Bordeaux wines took a while to open up. Having said that, after they had opened up most of them were pretty damn good.
Merlot Dominated
1. Calvulcura 2004, Argentina
60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon
Fairly pronounced nose with lots of ripe black fruit. Quite jammy and concentrated. At first this wine was a total fruit-bomb with some spicy wood. After a little while some of the more vegetal notes come through - particularly green pepper. Quite high acid, medium tannins and noticeably high alcohol. Medium-high body with similar intensity of flavour. The only flavour on the palate not expected from the nose was chocolate. This is very good but would improve with age.
2. Chateau Moulinet 2005, Pomerol
From the beginning the aroma profile on this wine was very rich, spicy and inviting. However, at first the palate was very woody and the tannins were out of balance with pretty much everything else. However, once the wine opened up everything tasted more balanced and there was plenty of fruit. Very good, but far too young (a bit of a theme over this evening)
Cabernet Dominated
3. Chateau Ferriere 2004, Margaux
The fruit was quite hidden, but came more to the front after it had been open for a couple of hours. The mouthfeel was very smooth with tannins, acid and body all being sort of mediumish. The flavour profile was quite intense with plenty of tart fruit. After the wine had opened up there were very noticeable and quite concentrated coffee aromas - to the point that it was reminiscent of a concetrated coffee liqueur like Kahlua.
4. Chateau Ferrande 2005, Graves
On the nose this started with a fairly strange aroma. Something quite earthy and mineralic. Wet stone? Then fruit was quite cooked. Something quite vegetal also. Very tannic, but quite fine tannins and pretty high acid. On the palate there is plenty of black fruit and something a little dusty. Plus a fair amount of oak. Decent length. Very pleasant as it opened up. So, again, needs plenty of time.
5. La Reserve de Leoville Barton 2004, St Julien
The best of the wines tasted on the night. Subtle and complex with blackcurrant, herbs, blossom and something quite perfumed on the nose. Also orange peel which was unexpected. The tannins were high, but still felt soft. Body and alcohol were medium. The flavour intensity on the palate was medium-high with fantastic length. Outstanding on the night; however, had taken a fair amount of time to open up. When this was first opened we decanted it and it hardly gave anything on the nose but over time it became awesome. This wine really highlighted the futility of ordering a young bordeaux at a restaurant - if you just pulled the cork and started drinking this you'd have been very disappointed with a wine which eventually showed itself to be excellent.
Malbec Dominated
6. Cedre Heritage, Malbec, Cahors
Normally Cahors would not mention the grape variety on the label. Presumably this indicates that the minimum concentration of malbec here was 85%. Lots of American oak on the nose with plenty of coconut. The fruit was black and quite intense. No ceder notes at all, which was slighly surprising given (i) the name and (ii) the picture of the ceder on the label. Something quite savoury on the nose - smoky bacon? Definitely meaty. Some herbal notes - perhaps tarragon? Aniseed? A quite complex and interesting nose. High acid and tannin with intense flavours. The most prominent flavour was tomato - a flavour which all of us identified and were pretty bemused by. Not fresh tomato either, sort of a concentrated tomato-based pasta sauce. Weird, but good. Palate was very nice, but a little 1-dimensional considering the complexity of the nose.
7. Rupestre 2004, Cafayate
Like the Argentinian wine tasted at the beginning, this was pleasant and drinkable from the outset. However, unlike the Calvulcura, this wine went through massive changes in the glass. At first the main aromas were wet leaf, mushroom ketchup and freshly picked tomato. A little black pepper. Then the smoky flavours came through later, then leather, then green pepper and finally more traditional fruit notes. This was weird and complex but very good.
Food
After this we had plenty of wine left... and a raging hunger. So four of us who stayed behind after the tasting shared a steak sampler and polished off the rest of the wine. The steak sampler is where you share four different steaks - a superb idea. Never before have I had fillet, sirloin, rump and rib-eye all in one meal. The wines of the evening were all very much improved by pairing with the meat. Can't recommend highly enough.
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Tuscan Ragu Recipe
Here is the recipe for the fantastic pork ragu we cooked whilst planning the Tuscan wine holiday.
1.5 kg de-boned pork shoulder
6 oz diced pancetta
2 onions
4 stalks of celery
6 whole cloves
fresh rosemary
1 bottle of full-bodied red wine (ideally a sangiovese)
500 ml stock
2 tins whole tomatoes
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Coat the pork shoulder with flout. Cover the bottom of casserole pot with oil. Heat until shimmering but not smoking and add pork. Sear the outsides of the meat for long enough that all the surface is covered with thick brown crust.
At the same time (or in advance if easier)... fry the pancetta until golden brown. Remove and reserve. Fry the veg in the pancetta juice (mmmm pig fat) until soft.
When finished browning the meat, add the wine, one small glass at a time. The first one will hiss and spit a fair amount. You want to burn off the alcohol so this is good. Once all the wine has been added, boil for five mins. Then add the pancetta, the fried veg, the tomatoes, the stock and 500ml of water.
Take the casserole dish off the stove, cover and put in the oven. Simmer for 3 hours. The liquid will reduce and the meat will be falling off the bone. Remove the meat. Strain the rest of the liquid and press through a sieve. The recipe says this should be discarded, but it tastes awesome so have it on the side. Skim the fat from the juice, shred the meat (the meat is so soft by this stage that this will just be a case of poking it lightly and it will fall to pieces).
Put the shredded meat and the skimmed juice into a pan, heat through and then have with fresh pasta. Make appreciative noises about how awesome it tastes.
1.5 kg de-boned pork shoulder
6 oz diced pancetta
2 onions
4 stalks of celery
6 whole cloves
fresh rosemary
1 bottle of full-bodied red wine (ideally a sangiovese)
500 ml stock
2 tins whole tomatoes
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Coat the pork shoulder with flout. Cover the bottom of casserole pot with oil. Heat until shimmering but not smoking and add pork. Sear the outsides of the meat for long enough that all the surface is covered with thick brown crust.
At the same time (or in advance if easier)... fry the pancetta until golden brown. Remove and reserve. Fry the veg in the pancetta juice (mmmm pig fat) until soft.
When finished browning the meat, add the wine, one small glass at a time. The first one will hiss and spit a fair amount. You want to burn off the alcohol so this is good. Once all the wine has been added, boil for five mins. Then add the pancetta, the fried veg, the tomatoes, the stock and 500ml of water.
Take the casserole dish off the stove, cover and put in the oven. Simmer for 3 hours. The liquid will reduce and the meat will be falling off the bone. Remove the meat. Strain the rest of the liquid and press through a sieve. The recipe says this should be discarded, but it tastes awesome so have it on the side. Skim the fat from the juice, shred the meat (the meat is so soft by this stage that this will just be a case of poking it lightly and it will fall to pieces).
Put the shredded meat and the skimmed juice into a pan, heat through and then have with fresh pasta. Make appreciative noises about how awesome it tastes.
Monday 13 April 2009
Wines tasted whilst planning Tuscan holiday
Wine Society's Vin d'Alsace 2005 (Hugel)
Clear, pale lemon with a wide watery rim. Quite intense with floral notes (rose?), citrus, green apple and grape. Some smoky mineral notes too. On the palate, this is medium to full bodied with lots of acid. Quite intense citrus, peach and some nutty flavours. Quite long. This is well balanced and developing well. A good wine, ready to drink now
Cote du Puy, Jean Foillard, Morgon 2007
A real surprise this one. Knowing my general dislike of Beaujolais, Adam went to the Sampler and challenged them to find him a good one. I tasted this one blind and, to my astonishment, it was actually pretty decent!
Quite pale ruby with relatively restrained nose. Smoky, woody notes are the most dominant aromas. The fruit character is mainly black cherries. Low tannins, high acid. More red fruit on the palate. Raspberry jam? Light body, medium length. Quite refreshing. This was good to very good. Lacks the tannin to go with food but as an aperitif it's very pleasant. What a surprise!
Villa Cafaggio, Chianti Classico 2006
We'd cooked an awesome pork-shoulder ragu (recipe in next post) from the Tuscan section of the superb Vino Italiano Book so it seemed appropriate to have this with a Tuscan wine. The colour was deep red - a real contrast to the Morgan we'd just had. Pretty intense nose with smoky, tar, dried black fruit. Some oak and some floral notes. Lots of complexity on the nose - every time we tasted it there were new aromas coming to the fore. Quite high tannin and acid, in balance with one another. Intense flavours on the palate. Tart black fruit, cedar, wood.
Developing nicely. Well balanced all the way to the finish with good length. Very good. Can drink this now but will improve over time as the wine softens and balances, but very good with food now.
Les Hauts de Pontet-Canet 2000
Quite deep ruby colour, surprising lack of brown on the rim. Nose is dominated by wood and cigar box. Some red fruit underneath, quite plummy. On the palate, too much wood also. There's a reasonable amount of good stuff in there but it's dominated by the wood. This probably will not get better with time. Probably was better in the past when the fruit would have been more dominant. A bit of a disappointment considering this is a 2000.
Chateau Fayau 1999
This is from Cadillac. Just done a bit of google and it turns out that Cadillac the wine region is related to Cadillac the car. Who knew? Apparently Detroit city was founded by Sir Lamothe-Cadillac. The region is very close to Sauternes and makes sweet wines in the same style. Lower quality, but significantly lower cost too.
The colour was moderately deep amber. The nose is quite surprising. As well as the expected notes of toffee, apricot jam there was a definite acetone aroma. People mentioned nail polish remover. However, the good stuff was intense enough that this was not a show-stopper. Some definite marzipan, frangelico and quince jelly notes.
On the palate, the nutty notes continued with marzipan and almonds being the most prominent. Pronounced fruity notes (apricot jam). very long with orange flavour on the finish. High alcohol
This was a good wine - very good considering the cost. It's managed to age 10 years nicely. I'd be worried about keeping it any longer in case the acetone got out of hand. As sweet wines go it's far from being amazing, but appropriate quality for the late stage of the evening.
Clear, pale lemon with a wide watery rim. Quite intense with floral notes (rose?), citrus, green apple and grape. Some smoky mineral notes too. On the palate, this is medium to full bodied with lots of acid. Quite intense citrus, peach and some nutty flavours. Quite long. This is well balanced and developing well. A good wine, ready to drink now
Cote du Puy, Jean Foillard, Morgon 2007
A real surprise this one. Knowing my general dislike of Beaujolais, Adam went to the Sampler and challenged them to find him a good one. I tasted this one blind and, to my astonishment, it was actually pretty decent!
Quite pale ruby with relatively restrained nose. Smoky, woody notes are the most dominant aromas. The fruit character is mainly black cherries. Low tannins, high acid. More red fruit on the palate. Raspberry jam? Light body, medium length. Quite refreshing. This was good to very good. Lacks the tannin to go with food but as an aperitif it's very pleasant. What a surprise!
Villa Cafaggio, Chianti Classico 2006
We'd cooked an awesome pork-shoulder ragu (recipe in next post) from the Tuscan section of the superb Vino Italiano Book so it seemed appropriate to have this with a Tuscan wine. The colour was deep red - a real contrast to the Morgan we'd just had. Pretty intense nose with smoky, tar, dried black fruit. Some oak and some floral notes. Lots of complexity on the nose - every time we tasted it there were new aromas coming to the fore. Quite high tannin and acid, in balance with one another. Intense flavours on the palate. Tart black fruit, cedar, wood.
Developing nicely. Well balanced all the way to the finish with good length. Very good. Can drink this now but will improve over time as the wine softens and balances, but very good with food now.
Les Hauts de Pontet-Canet 2000
Quite deep ruby colour, surprising lack of brown on the rim. Nose is dominated by wood and cigar box. Some red fruit underneath, quite plummy. On the palate, too much wood also. There's a reasonable amount of good stuff in there but it's dominated by the wood. This probably will not get better with time. Probably was better in the past when the fruit would have been more dominant. A bit of a disappointment considering this is a 2000.
Chateau Fayau 1999
This is from Cadillac. Just done a bit of google and it turns out that Cadillac the wine region is related to Cadillac the car. Who knew? Apparently Detroit city was founded by Sir Lamothe-Cadillac. The region is very close to Sauternes and makes sweet wines in the same style. Lower quality, but significantly lower cost too.
The colour was moderately deep amber. The nose is quite surprising. As well as the expected notes of toffee, apricot jam there was a definite acetone aroma. People mentioned nail polish remover. However, the good stuff was intense enough that this was not a show-stopper. Some definite marzipan, frangelico and quince jelly notes.
On the palate, the nutty notes continued with marzipan and almonds being the most prominent. Pronounced fruity notes (apricot jam). very long with orange flavour on the finish. High alcohol
This was a good wine - very good considering the cost. It's managed to age 10 years nicely. I'd be worried about keeping it any longer in case the acetone got out of hand. As sweet wines go it's far from being amazing, but appropriate quality for the late stage of the evening.
Sunday 12 April 2009
Wolf Blass 'Heritage Release' Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
Wolf Blass
Heritage Release
South Australia
Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
14.0% abv
Showing some age, this has some garnet notes on the rim and is less intense on the core than when I first tasted this particular wine (probably three years ago). The nose, whilst still showing strong blackcurrant notes has savoury spices (cloves, cinnamon) mixed in with earthy and leathery notes. Clearly showing some development. The wine is medium bodied, which is a surprise considering the alcohol, the intensity of aromas and the year (very good for South Australi). This is probably because the tannins are only medium, whereas when this was first tasted they were quite pronounced. The palate is very fruity, far more so than the nose and there is plenty of acid. The flavour profile is quite complex on the palate and this wine is long, with a pleasant finish.
This is a good wine. However, I'm glad I drank it now. The tannins have fallen quite significantly over the last three years and, even though there is plenty of acid and fruit left, there would not be enough tannin in the wine for it to age much further. The tannins were at a pleasant level now and, in fact, I think this wine was probably at its peak now.
Heritage Release
South Australia
Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
14.0% abv
Showing some age, this has some garnet notes on the rim and is less intense on the core than when I first tasted this particular wine (probably three years ago). The nose, whilst still showing strong blackcurrant notes has savoury spices (cloves, cinnamon) mixed in with earthy and leathery notes. Clearly showing some development. The wine is medium bodied, which is a surprise considering the alcohol, the intensity of aromas and the year (very good for South Australi). This is probably because the tannins are only medium, whereas when this was first tasted they were quite pronounced. The palate is very fruity, far more so than the nose and there is plenty of acid. The flavour profile is quite complex on the palate and this wine is long, with a pleasant finish.
This is a good wine. However, I'm glad I drank it now. The tannins have fallen quite significantly over the last three years and, even though there is plenty of acid and fruit left, there would not be enough tannin in the wine for it to age much further. The tannins were at a pleasant level now and, in fact, I think this wine was probably at its peak now.
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium 2000
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium
2000 Oberemmeler Rosenberg Riesling
Hochgewachs
9.0% abv
Bright, clear and medium intensity gold. The nose is intense and quite complex. Toffee apple, apricot and honeysuckle as well as stewed apple. Showing some interesting development as well. This wine has some residual sugar, but is very acidic, even after nine years so it remains crisp and refreshing. The palate has a more intense fruit character than the nose. Apples, apricots and some tart green fruit - maybe grapefruit. The sweetness is more like honey than toffee on the palate. This wine obviously would have been fine with a little more age since the palate is still very fruity. The length is fantastic - 1 minute plus. Well balanced until close to the very end. Only criticism would be the finish can be a little cloying (after about 30s or so).
A very good wine, particularly since 2000 was not a great year for Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Rieslings. Would be interested to see what the 2005 was like. Well balanced with complex flavour profile. Developing nicely, but would still last for quite a few years more. Considering that this was from Majestic for a little over a fiver (bought a few years ago) this is cracking value for money. In fact, would be good value at more than twice the price. Long live the unpopularity of German wines!
2000 Oberemmeler Rosenberg Riesling
Hochgewachs
9.0% abv
Bright, clear and medium intensity gold. The nose is intense and quite complex. Toffee apple, apricot and honeysuckle as well as stewed apple. Showing some interesting development as well. This wine has some residual sugar, but is very acidic, even after nine years so it remains crisp and refreshing. The palate has a more intense fruit character than the nose. Apples, apricots and some tart green fruit - maybe grapefruit. The sweetness is more like honey than toffee on the palate. This wine obviously would have been fine with a little more age since the palate is still very fruity. The length is fantastic - 1 minute plus. Well balanced until close to the very end. Only criticism would be the finish can be a little cloying (after about 30s or so).
A very good wine, particularly since 2000 was not a great year for Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Rieslings. Would be interested to see what the 2005 was like. Well balanced with complex flavour profile. Developing nicely, but would still last for quite a few years more. Considering that this was from Majestic for a little over a fiver (bought a few years ago) this is cracking value for money. In fact, would be good value at more than twice the price. Long live the unpopularity of German wines!
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Celebrity Wine
Noticed today that Sting is the latest celebrity to start producing their own wine. According to the article (with the not-surprising headline of "Message in a bottle") Sting is going to produce a Tuscan wine.
This gives me two ideas:
(i) There are now probably enough of these celebrity wines that we could do a Tasting of Celebrity Wines (I hear some of them are pretty good)
(ii) We must see whether we can get to taste this when on our Tuscan holiday this summer. Sadly I can't find the name of the wine yet so this might prove a little tricky
This gives me two ideas:
(i) There are now probably enough of these celebrity wines that we could do a Tasting of Celebrity Wines (I hear some of them are pretty good)
(ii) We must see whether we can get to taste this when on our Tuscan holiday this summer. Sadly I can't find the name of the wine yet so this might prove a little tricky
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