Crossroads Merlot 2008, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (£11.50 Mentzendorff) Ripe, but with some leafy freshness to its bright blackcurrant & berry flavours and tinges of chocolatey oak, OK, but just a bit simple & fruity. B-
Crossroads Talisman 2008, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (£19 Mentzendorff) More of that chocolate wafer biscuit oak character, with some spicy warmth to rounbd out the cassis and blackberry flavours, soft and rounded, just feels a little ‘made’ rather than being a product of the soil. B(+)
Viñalba Cuvée Couture Malbec/Touriga Nacional Reserva 2008, Mendoza, Argentina (£9.99 Majestic - £7.99 if you buy 2 until 30/8/10) Sweet, meaty youngster, with ginger notes on top of ripe berries, good but maybe lacks the joyful appeal of the above wine, and apart from that ginger edge, I’m not sure what the Touriga adds to the Malbec. B+
McGuigan ‘The Shortlist’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Coonawarra, Australia (£12.49 Majestic – £9.99 until 31/8/10) Intense earthy cassis flavours, notes of leather and mint, and a touch of smoky oak, but overall, this is just too simple, and the dry hardness on the finish suggests that it’s been over-acidified. B
Part 2 of my look at a selection of wines from Naked Wines – Part 1 is here.
(any topic you’d like to see me covering in forthcoming videos? Do leave a comment below)
Monowai Pinot Noir 2006, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (£10.99 www.nakedwines.com) The berry fruit’s a little stewed, but overall this is plush, velvety and relaxed wine with a hint of coffee – Pinot for Shiraz lovers. B+
Manley Pinotage 2006, Tulbagh, South Africa (£11.99 www.nakedwines.com) Has some of the berry flesh of Pinot Noir, along with a sandy, savoury edge, warming and quite full but not overripe, but let down by a slightly muddy finish. B-
Vicien Syrah Reserve 2006, Catamarca, Argentina (£10.99 www.nakedwines.com) The jammy dodger fruit is OK, but this is let down by rather crude smoky bacon/toasty oak, which dominates and dries out the finish. C+
Moerbei Sable 2008, Stellenbosch, South Africa (£9.99 www.nakedwines.com) There’s toasty oak here too, but it’s in balance with the pippy plum and blackberry flavours, young and a touch alcoholic, but good. B
Blackwood Ridge Shiraz 2008, Central Victoria, Australia (£9.99 www.nakedwines.com) Bold and fleshy wine with buxom bramble and blackcurrant flavours, touches of licorice and oatmeal, and a warm finish: just a bit too hot & jammy for real class. B(+)
Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch Shiraz 2007, Strathbogie Ranges, Australia (£15.99 www.nakedwines.com) Big but quite subtle, showing plush blackcurrant, blackberry and plummy fruit, some licorice and leather and also minerally complexity, good now but built to last. S(-)
A dozen wines from Naked Wines arrived on the doorstep – here’s what I thought of the first six…
Château Lagrave Cissan Listrac-Médoc 2005, Bordeaux, France (£12.99 www.nakedwines.com) Gentle, tender claret, with touches of gravel, tobacco and cedar to its blackcurranty fruit, and a refreshing finish. S-
Ocaso Malbec 2007, Mendoza, Argentina (£8.49 www.nakedwines.com- doesn’t seem to be on the site at the time of posting) Just what you want from Malbec, juicy but never descending into jamminess, with lush, almost oily blackcurrant and blackberry flesh, a touch of vanilla and a fragrant, violet-tinged finish. S-
Parrot Valley Cabernet Franc 2008, Coastal Region, South Africa (£9.99 www.nakedwines.com) There’s a touch of the South African smokiness but it’s in balance with the fragrant, leafy blackcurrant and cherry flavours, while the finish shows a dainty, almost chalky freshness. S(-)
J H Pacas Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Coastal Region, South Africa (£12.99 www.nakedwines.com) Nicely mellow and mature, but still with some freshness to with the ripe (but not overripe_ black fruit flavour, and some tannin too. Tasty, but just a little simple. B+
Belfield’s Blend (Merlot/Cabernet) 2006, Elgin, South Africa (£11.99 www.nakedwines.com) Toasty oak is the first thing you notice, but then a wild, almost meaty, mealy edge comes through, along with plummy blackberry and blackcurrant, while the finish shows a herby, feral edge – nice wine. S
Kimbao Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenère 2008, Central Valley, Chile (£8.99 www.nakedwines.com) An honest, juicy wine, with leafy, minty blackcurrant pastille fruit tinged with the exotic herb and coffee bean of Carmenère. Just a tad simple B(+)
O Fournier Urban Uco Torrontes 2009, Cafayate, Salta, Argentina (£7.50 Bowes Wines) Clean, fresh, zippy, the grapey edge of Muscat meets the more perfumed hand-cream and lychee edge of Gewürztraminer, not hugely complex but good perfumed quaffer. B(+)
Snoqualmie Naked Riesling 2008, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA (~£11.50 Stratfords Wines) Fresh, quite rounded and rich, simple but balanced with tangy citrus acidity and cooked apple and peach flesh. B+
Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2008, Mosel, Germany (£9.90 Tanners) Delightful, sprightly style, with lively quince and citrus fruit, mineral notes like wet slate and racy acidity – long, fresh, pure and delicate. S(+)
Leitz Rüdesheimer Riesling Kabinett 2008, Rheingau, Germany (£13.50 Booths, www.everywine.co.uk) Richer, rounder and more peachy than the Meulenhof, with crystallised pineapple and crystallised and fresh orange, still with the tangy backbone of acidity and touch of mineral. S
Quite a way to go before these are on a par with the reds (see here and here for a couple of recent videos on Argentine reds)
Septima Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Mendoza (£6.99 Codorníu UK) Not a taut, buttock clencher, almost nutty Bordeaux style, quite rounded, light citrus, hint of pear, simple but honest style. C+ (don’t bother visiting the Septima web site – at the time of writing (19/1/10), the most recent thing in the ‘Latest News’ section is from January 2006)
Tapiz Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Valle de Uco, Mendoza (£11.49 Hispa Merchants) Richer, peachier style, Sauvignon for Chardonnay fans, rhubarb and apple crumble edge, powerful but never OTT, not like Kiwi or Loire Sauvignons, keep it for fuller food. B(+)
Chakana Torrontés 2008, Mendoza (£8.49 J E Fells) Slightly bitter and oily, a false citrus character like washing-up liquid or lime/lemon jelly cubes, lacks freshness and fading fast. 0
Finca La Anita Semillon 2008, Mendoza (£17.49 Hispa Merchants) Is this as fresh as it should be? There arenice bruised/baked apple and musky pear flavours, along with a touch of rhubarb and a slightly buttery note, but the hint of raisin and the dry fruitcake edges make me wonder whether there’s a problem with oxidation here. Hmmm… ??
Argento Malbec/Tempranillo 2009, Mendoza (£6 Bibendum) Juicy gluggable, food friendly wine, takes the blackberry and chocolate edge of the straight Malbec and adds in the red berry from the Tempranillo. Maybe not as fragrant as the pure Malbec, but still very pleasant. B(+)
Riglos Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Mendoza (~£24) Seems both less oaky and overripe than the Malbec (see here), with firmer tannins, but again it’s still aiming to impress rather than seduce. And that edge of dessicated blackcurrant skins speaks of fruit that was picked too late and worked too hard in the winery. B+
Riglos Gran Corte 2007, Mendoza (~£33) Plush blackberry and blueberry from the Malbec plus some of the blackcurrant skin edge of Cabernet. Despite the ripeness and toasty oak, this is the best balanced of the 3 Riglos wines, but again I miss fragrance and freshness. S(-)
Renacer Enamore 2007, Mendoza (£22.99 Liberty Wine) Has some of the sour cherry and almond hints of Italian Amarone, but it’s not as pungent and forceful. The violet and berry edge of Malbec comes through, along with hints of chocolate and blackcurrant, and the finish has both tannic grip and a touch of acidity – bring on the Parmiggiano! S+
As you’ll see from this and the video from yesterday, I really struggled to enjoy all the Riglos wines. You can tell someone has taken a lot of care over them, but like the Cobos wines, they just don’t press the right buttons for me. Two things spring to mind. Firstly, sitting next to Paul Hobbs, owner of Cobos and consultant at Riglos, at dinner in London some time last year. At one point he turned to me and said, ‘I don’t know what it is but these wines [Cobos] seem too big for this food. They work with the beef you get in Argentina, but maybe this meat’s not as rich in flavour, and it’s being overpowered.’ Secondly, talking earlier this year to Luis Barraud, Hobbs’s man on the ground in Argentina. I had to ask him to repeat it, just to check that I’d heard him correctly – yes, I had. ‘We are not looking for fresh fruit…’
I and many others do like some freshness in wine, which is why I preferred the trio from Renacer to the range from Riglos, why I prefer Audrey Tautou to Pamela Anderson, and why I prefer the Smiths to Metallica.
Argento Malbec 2009, Mendoza (£5.99 Majestic) Lovely juicy ripe fresh bouncy berry and blackcurrant, a touch of violet and a finish that is bold yet refreshing. Excellent value. B(+)
Renacer ‘Punto Final’ Malbec Clasico 2008, Mendoza (£8.49 Liberty Wine) Ripe, floral and tender, hint of parma violet, rounded voluptuous berry fruit, with a touch of ‘skin’ – damson skin, blackcurrant skin, that sort of thing. Tasty now but has a backbone of tannin, so good for a couple of years yet. S-
Renacer ‘Punto Final’ Malbec Reserva 2006, Mendoza (£14.99 Liberty Wine) Showing some maturity, but while it’s lush and ripe, there’s still an edge of freshness to the plummy berry flavours, along with touches of meaty, leathery maturity and hints of smoke and herbs. S
Riglos Gran Malbec 2007, Mendoza (~£25) Bold, international style, very ripe fruit and lots of new oak, very concentrated and powerful, but while there’s an earthy minerally edge and bags of berry flesh, for me it’s just too big, with none of the freshness and charm I want in a wine (I watched this evolve over four days, and while it did calm down a little, it remained in what I call the TTH category – Trying Too Hard). S-?
Breaking news! In an effort to maintain their share of the world wine market, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Portugal have decided that they will be collaborating in the future to present a combined front against the onslaught of New World wines…
OK, OK, it could never happen. Even the idea of the folk from Burgundy and Bordeaux, or Tuscany and Piedmont combining under a French/Italian banner to promote their wines side by side just doesn’t happen – indeed, the idea of the folk in Barolo and Barbaresco working together requires an adventurous imagination.
Yet the news today is that Argentina, California, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa have combined to form something called New World Wine Alliance and will be grouped together in a single hall to showcase their wines at Germany’s annual ProWein in March next year (Australia apparently is now concentrating on the Far East and hasn’t mucked in with the others). The press release says, ‘All five regions [sic] have continued to grow exports despite the global credit crisis and believe that by working in concert they stand a better chance of competing against the EU, whose own wine-producing members are supported by substantial subsidies in their international marketing initiatives.’
It goes on to list the number of ways in which the five have succeeded in building their wine trades – aggressive branding; demystifying wine; focusing on technical, packaging and marketing innovation; and putting an increasing accent on sustainable wine-growing and wine production.
All well and good, all commendable. But in the middle of this list, one initiative sticks out like a sore thumb – ‘by playing up their regional strengths.’ Now forgive me if I’m being naive, but how on earth does lumping five rather large and quite disparate countries/states together under one banner accentuate the regional strengths? What does Valle de Uco Malbec have to do with Awatere Sauvignon Blanc or Walker Bay Pinotage?
Yet I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Alliance succeed. The five might make quite different wines but what unites them is the lack of Old World baggage. All of them still realise that they need to keep the smiles on their customers’ faces, something France especially forgot about a long time ago. So while the Old World section at next year’s ProWein may have several great wines on offer for those prepared to seek them out, I imagine the hall housing the New World Alliance will be the noisiest, the friendliest and the place where most business is done – not to mention the scene of the greatest consumption of that wine trade essential called ‘beer’ at the end of each day.
TTH – it’s a term I often use in my tasting notes for wines that are Trying Too Hard to impress. Most of the time, they’re just too loud, with the excess volume coming through in either boisterous oak, overripe fruit or OTT extraction (and in some instances all three). Argentine reds often falls into the TTH category. Once upon a time, they were relaxed and gentle, but for the last five years, there have just been too many shouty-shouty wines.
But thankfully not everything from beef heaven conforms to such pigeon-holing. Last night, I was making beef stew, and reached for a bottle of basic red from the sample rack. I came up with Asda 2008 Argentinian Malbec, courtesy of Trivento (the Argie arm of Concha y Toro). And it’s a bundle of joy, packed with violet-scented berry fruit, with a touch of smoky oak, and a lively refreshing finish. Some of it went into the stew, but just as much went into the chef. Price? £4.24. Bargain, fill yer boots
