First Drop Wines Bella Coppia Arneis 2009, Adelaide Hills, Australia (currently N/A in the UK) Clean, fresh and zesty, combining fleshy pear fruit with crisp citrussy acidity and a slightly briny/savoury finish. B+
Zalze Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2009, Western Cape, South Africa (£6.49 Waitrose) Starts off slightly jelly-like, but then improves to show voluptuous, peach, pear, and tropical fruit flavours with a creamy, nutty edge and a juicy tender finish. B(-)
Tesco Finest* Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2008, Stellenbosch, South Africa (£7.11 Tesco) Not as ripe & tropical as the Zalze, with sappy flavours of apple, pear, nectarine, guava and plum, set against richer yeasty/mealy notes. Very tasty. S-
Clay Station Viognier 2009, Lodi, California (£8.95 The Wine Society) Has some of the classic peach kernel and cream flavours, along with a a slightly confected sherbet/dolly mixture character. Quite voluptuous but lacks freshness. B-
Tesco Finest Sonoma County Chardonnay 2006 (£9.99 Tesco) Ripe and oaky, but not OTT in either respect, this has freshness and zing missing in virtually all similarly priced competitors, touches of pineapples and peaches, with mealy nuttiness and just the right amount of toasty oak. B+
Wild Boy Chardonnay 2008, Santa Barbara (£19 Latitude Wine, Berry Bros & Rudd) Leaner but finer than the Tesco wine, with cool, fresh flavours of ripe green apples, pears and stone-fruit, subtle and very lightly oaked, tasty now but looking good for the next 2-3 years. S(-)
Au Bon Climat Chardonnay 2008, Santa Barbara (£20.50 The Vineking, Slurp.co.uk, Reid Wines, Berry Bros & Rudd) More concentrated than the Wild Boy, but with a straighter spine. Similarly keen fruit flavours and subtle oak notes, but there’s more poise and minerality here. Very good, and with 5yrs+ of life ahead of it. S(+)
Louis Latour Marsannay Blanc 2007, Burgundy, France (£12.99–£14.99 Majestic Wine Warehouses; Ann et Vin, Newark; Flagship Wines, St Albans; Forth Wines, Scotland; Magnum Fine Wines, London; William Mason Fine Wines, Norwich; Duncan Murray Wines, Market Harborough; La Zouch, Ashby de la Zouch; The Southwell Vintner, Southwell) Not in the same class as the previous 2 Californians, there’s a pleasant green apple note, but it’s let down by a slightly cheesy note, and lacks the concentration to back it up. B
…isn’t all that bad – a couple of pounds, mostly of home-made stuffing. It’s been wonderfully snowy in Saddleworth which has meant that I haven’t been out each evening at all those parties that get squeezed into the Festive Fortnight. Shame on the social front, but good on the waistline. Also gives me the chance to open some decent bottles, most surprising of which has been the 200 Clos d’Yvigne Bergarac red – there are St Emilions at squillions times the price that lack the charm, complexity and drinkability of this lithe beauty. Back to cooking – have one of Alex’s picky friends here for a meal, and I’ve never seen him eating anything that isn’t based on either dough or sugar. Am trying to tempt him with roast chicken, but I ‘m not holding out much hope. On the video front, normal service will resume when I’ve shaken off the Yuletide torpor – in fact, watch out for some new developments on the vid front…
Off to do some basting now, and then open 1996 Ridge Santa Cruz Cabernet – had a Geyserville of the same vintage recently and it was a belter.
It’s a struggle to find sensibly priced Californian wines in the UK – here are three that deserve closer attention…
Castle Rock Central Coast Pinot Noir 2008, California (£13.99 Adnams Cellar & Kitchen) Soft spice, gentle ripe raspberry red cherry, a hint of Mivvi lollies (vanilla and strawberry if you don’t know them), juicy and friendly wine, hint of leather, not too complex but very tasty. S-
Castle Rock Syrah 2007, Russian River Valley, California (£11.99 Adnams Cellar & Kitchen) Vanilla and wafers, the winemaking rather obscures the fruit, there is some spice and and dark, almost ginger-like berry and plum character, but for me the vanilla/chocolate edge of oak is overdone. B(-)
Castle Rock Petite Sirah 2006, Russian River Valley, California (£11.99 Adnams Cellar & Kitchen) Quite big blue fruit and chocolate character, exuberant, almost tar and ash character, some vanilla from the oak aging, but it’s not as clunky as in the Syrah – maybe due to the extra year on bottle? Still plenty of tannin, nicely rustic, and with its best still to come. B(+)
Viader 2005, Napa Valley, California (£59.99 corkr.com) Massive, intense blueberry and blackcurrant aromas and flavours, intense, rich almost oily texture, a touch of tar from the Cab Franc (31% of the blend) and hints of graphite, dark chocolate, green olives and Mediterranean herbs. Undoubtedly concentrated, yet is it almost too much of a good thing? Over the course of 5 hours, it remained very forward and showy – I’m sure earlier vintages were more lithe and fine-boned. Impressive but I don’t know if I want to drink it. S(+)
Not sure how they’ve managed to do it but Majestic has got hold of a parcel of wines from four Constellation wineries – Bay of Fires in Tasmania, Houghton in Western Australia, Ravenswood in California and Flagstone in South Africa – and are selling them at prices that will doubtless piss off many other retailers. The prices for the top Flagstone reds in particular must make the winery’s founder Bruce Jack, who sold the place to Constellation a few years ago but remains in charge of the winery, feel like he’s had the rug pulled out from under him. There’s a bit of me that thinks I shouldn’t be pushing this offer, but there’s also a bit of me that says that the wines deserve attention from as many people as possible. Move quickly – stocks are limited. For notes on three of the top wines which I tasted this afternoon, see here.
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.
Not the best but perhaps the most notable is the Sovio Sparkling White Zinfandel which according to a press release is “the world’s first 5.5% lower alcohol wine which is every bit as balanced, aromatic and flavourful as any good wine should be.” Apart from Moscato d’Asti of course. But compared with most other low alcohol wines, it’s a significant improvement – read all about the method of de-alcoholisation here.
And finally from now on, most of the wine reviews will be on the First Taste pages (click on the tab above), with a blog post at the end of each week to outline what’s on there.
behind the world’s first 5.5% lower alcohol wine which is every bit as balanced, aromatic and flavourful as any good wine should be.
Cast your mind back 20 years, if you can (and if you can’t, sorry, indulge a sad old wine man for a few moments). Cheap Californian wine was just as disappointing as it was today, but in the midst of the gloom, one producer stood out like a beacon – Fetzer. The Valley Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon was a dream of a wine, the Zinfandel did what it was supposed to do and then some more, and the Chardonnay was also a peach. In short, if it said Fetzer on the label, then it came up with the goods.
But then from the mid-1990s onwards… It’s hard to argue against some of the rot setting in following the purchase of the company by Brown Forman in 1992. Whatever it was, the wines, once so reliable, began to taste less interesting and more ‘manufactured’. I’ve kept recherching le temps perdu since then, and for the most part have remained underwhelmed.
But I’m always willing to have my mind changed, and it was that in mind that I opened this duo, a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Lake and Mendocino) and a 2006 Merlot (Mendocino).
I’d love to say that they’re opinion-changing wines, but they’re not. The Sauvignon has a pleasant, grassy pear character, with a character almost like fresh hops, but it still feels created, not begotten. The Merlot, though not a blockbuster, has that chocolately brashness of too many modern wines. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it just slips out of the mouth and out of the brain, apart from a slightly sickly vanilla-like residue. Both are perfectly drinkable, but with so much interesting wine around, I really don’t want to drink any more of either of these.
