Monday 14 December 2015

Domaine Toulal Guerrouane rosé 2014

Last weekend we visited France  and tried some Domaine Toulal Guerrouane rosé 2014 for an aperitif before we ate. I was quite impressed; some good wine is made in Morocco and Domaine Toulal is no exception it tasted just as good as a rosé from the Rhône valley that we tried the next day.

This wine is perfect for drinking in the garden on a hot summer's day which despite global warming is a rarity in Britain. This is probably why rosé sales are low in Britain and a nice warming Barolo is more suited to a British summer - it is better to stick to the South of France or Tuscany for garden parties.

Moroccan wine is very good value for money and even though it cannot compete with French, Italian or Spanish wine for absolute quality it gives the lower end wines a run for their money. I have never had a bad bottle and all the wines go with Moroccan food.

You can't find these wines easily in the the UK but an outlet can be found on short a short trip across the channel to a French supermarket. Domaine Toulal costs about 3.99 Euro a bottle and for that price why not buy a case? Moroccan red is generally good as well. So the next time you drive to France search some out all the major supermarkets who all stock wines from the Maghreb.

The wines of the Maghreb are produced on the slopes of the Atlas mountains in the north of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia where the Mediterranean influences the climate and produces conditions perfect for viticulture: there is also plenty of hot sun. The quality of wines from the Maghreb is improving all the time now that bulk wine production is being phased out. Export earnings from wine are on the up and France is the main export market.

A substantial proportion of the people who live in the Maghreb consume wine despite the restrictions of religion. Some of my Muslim friends assure me that it is OK for an adherent of Islam to consume wine provided that your character is unaffected by that consumption, so a glass of wine with a meal is not forbidden - this is a moot point and others would claim that a true adherent of the faith should not consume wine or any other form of alcohol for that matter.


http://www.cdiscount.com/vin-champagne/vin-rose/domaine-toulal-rose-x1/f-1293605-toulalrose.html

http://www.wine-navigator.com/wild-and-rare-in-North-Africa

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Sonic Decanters and other methods of "improving" the taste of wine

I shall not be buying any of my wine lover friends a sonic decanter for Christmas. I would rather spend the money on a decent bottle for them. There may be many of you out there who are tempted to ask Santa to deliver me a sonic decanter  -  thanks a lot but I shall be putting them up for sale on E-bay and use the proceeds to buy a case of 2009 Latour.

There is lots of " hype" surrounding the ultrasonic treatment of wine and plenty of pseudo science to justify why you should give your wine a dose of sound waves.

Some people go for a cheaper solution and put their wine through a blending machine to add oxygen and ultrasonic sound to the treatment.

No one has come up with any good science why you should use ultrasonics or extreme oxygenation to improve any wine even a cheap one.

If you want to keep good or fine wine for any length of time to improve in the the bottle then it is best to avoid vibrating the wine. You should also prevent excessive oxygen from spoiling the wine by keeping it sealed with a cork which only allows extremely small amounts of oxygen to seep into the wine.

The best way to improve the taste of a cheap bottle of wine would be to allow it to breathe for an hour before serving or to decant it. This may well not improve the taste too much but it will not ruin the wine. This is a time honoured practice.

Most supermarkets and wine merchants do not stock poor wines. Occasionally you will buy a wine that is corked or has been oxidised because of a faulty seal. Ultrasonic treatment will not improve a faulty wine . It is best to take the wine back to the supplier for a refund.

There are good winemakers all over the world who make good wine to be sold at a fair price. Most of these winemakers are dedicated people who love their product. Does their wine really have to subjected to ultrasonic treatment for you to appreciate it? Just open their bottle with a good meal and play some Beethoven  - no ultrasonics are  needed to appreciate the  wine or the music.




Friday 27 November 2015

Llivia and The Can Ventura Restaurant

During our September trip to the south of France we paid a visit to the Spanish enclave of Llivia which is situated close to the border of Catalonia, Spain in the French Department of Pyrénées-Orientales. The town of Llivia is very close, about 2 Km, to the French town of Bourge-Madame which itself is situated right on the border with Spain. The municipality is located on a small plain in the hills at an elevation of about 1200m.

There are no border posts and the only way you can tell that you have left France and entered Spain is by the change to the road signs.

Llivia is about 13 sq kilometres in area and it has about 1500 inhabitants and most of them speak Catalan. Many of its citizens also speak French.

http://www.exclave.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=9

We paid a visit on a very sunny Sunday afternoon and dined in the Can Ventura restaurant on Plaza Major. We had a wonderful meal of local saucisson, lamb and creme catalan washed down with a pichet of red Catalan wine.

The service was great and the atmosphere was very friendly. There was a large family eating on our floor but we were not neglected by the waitress. It was apparent that the family straddled the border as half were speaking Catalan and the other half French but French was the lingua franca.

The food and wine deserved  a prize especially when it came to value for money; we paid just 60 Euro for one of the best meals that we had on our trip. The restaurant only merits two knives and forks from the Michelin guide but it merits more from me. I guess that it loses a fork or two because it does does not go in for fancy presentation; they are more committed to taste. It's a pity that the Michelin judges don't recognise this more.

http://www.canventura.com/

If ever you are near the Spanish border in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales then Llivia and the Can Ventura are worth a diversion and a visit.

We walked up to a view point and flying above us was a pair of Lammergeiers perhaps they thought that we had eaten too much and that we were about to expire - they are exquisite fliers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ll%C3%ADvia

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Château Prieuré-Lichine 4ème Cru Classé Margaux 1998 red and Qupé 2012 Syrah Californian red

We had a dinner party with some relatives, who brought along a bottle of Château Prieuré-Lichine 4ème Cru Classé Margaux red, and some good friends. The Prieuré-Lichine is one of my favourite wines from Margaux. It has typical Margaux taste and concentration and it is silky smooth. This wine went down well with some roast pork.

On such an auspicious occasion I thought that I would open a top quality red wine from the USA - Qupé 2012 Syrah from the Californian Central Coast and this, too, is a favourite wine of mine. My family from France rarely get an opportunity to drink any sort of American wine let alone a very good one. I have never seen Qupé 2012 Syrah on sale anywhere in France. We also drank this wine with the pork as there were six of us.

How can you compare these wines for quality and taste as they are from different countries with different traditions?

The Margaux 1998 had matured much longer and I doubt that the Qupé would be at its best after 17 years. The American wine was designed and produced to be consumed younger.

The Margaux had a taste of its own but of course it was easily recognisable as a fine Bordeaux. The Qupé was reminiscent of a French Syrah from the South of France but it had a quality all of its own with a concentrated red fruit flavour with a little bit of spice.

Both of these wines were made to go with good food and were not meant to be slugged back at a party. It is really difficult to say which was the better wine and it was obvious that the winemakers were proud of their product. The Old world and the New united to produce high quality wines. This is what wine-making is all about: they are  little bit more expensive - in the UK the Bordeaux is over £20 pounds a bottle and the Qupé can be found for just under. Of course both these wines are better value for money in their home countries.

We British are lucky, however, as it is easy to find great wines from all over the world - you can't do this in France as easily.


http://www.prieure-lichine.fr/

http://www.wine.com/v6/Qupe-Central-Coast-Syrah-2012/wine/132909/Detail.aspx?state=CA

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Coulon et Fils Île d'Oléron Sauvignon 2013 VdP

This year we spent a couple of days on the Île d'Oléron on the Atlantic coast of France in early September. The island is due south of La Rochelle and just to the north of the Bordeaux region. It is a great place for a holiday in September when most of the visitors have gone home but there are sufficient people around for the island not to be "dead". Winter is probably not the best time of year to go there because of Atlantic gales sweeping in from the west.

The seafood there was simply wonderful. I had oysters with every meal and there is a good range of Atlantic wet fish on the menu and I particularly liked the Sardines. It is also heaven if you like cockles and mussels. We gathered some lovely fresh cockles from the beach and steamed them until their shells opened and ate them with lemon. We did not need to soak them in water before cooking as they were not full of sand. The water on the beach looked very clean and there were plenty of local people collecting shellfish so we assumed that we were safe. We did not suffer from any after effects.

If you are absolutely certain that your cockles have not been exposed to polluted water then you can eat them raw like other of sorts of clams such as amandes de mer or dog cockles in English!

http://www.thefishsociety.co.uk/shop/amandes-de-mer.html

In Wales, where I was born, cockles are often eaten for breakfast and  cooked with bacon and lavabread: you also use lard to fry them. The bacon and lard obviously do not meet the approval of the World Health Organisation. The WHO would also recommend that you only consume 5 ml of wine with this delicious breakfast. I never drink wine in the morning I prefer tea. The next time I eat cockles and bacon it will be in the evening  and washed down with with a glass of smoky Sancerre to go with the bacon.

https://www.msc.org/cook-eat-enjoy/recipes/cockles-and-bacon
 
There was  no need to spend a lot of money to go with our fish on the Île d'Oléron because the local wine was perfect.

Coulon et Fils Île d'Oléron Sauvignon 2013 VdP is great white wine even if it is not as celebrated as its Sauvignon Blanc cousins to the south in Bordeaux. You can't find it anywhere in Britain and I have never seen it in a wine merchant other than on the island itself. If you want to try it then why not pay a visit? There are lovely villages on the island and miles of golden sand and oyster beds. It is a gastronomic heaven.

http://www.hachette-vins.com/guide-vins/les-vins/coulon-et-fils-ile-d-oleron-sauvignon-2007-2009/20096681/





Monday 12 October 2015

Faulty wine

We opened a bottle of Fitou the other night and  felt a prickling sensation on the tongue. The wine was meant to be a still red. The wine was also undrinkable. It was obviously in poor condition so we poured it down the drain.

There was a production fault in this wine and somehow a secondary fermentation had occurred within the bottle to ruin it. Perhaps the bottles had not been sterilised properly before they had been filled. Whatever the reason the extra fermentation had ruined the feel and taste of the wine.

The wine was bought at a wine fair at a French supermarket and cost about 5 Euro a bottle - not cheap by French supermarket standards. Had we lived in France we would probably have taken the wine back for a refund but we had not lost much money.

It is not often that you buy a bottle of wine with this fault which can spoil even the most expensive wine. If you find yourself with an expensive bottle of wine that sparkles when it should not then do not hesitate to return it.

Wednesday 30 September 2015

"Insula" Ile d'Oléron Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon NV

We bought this wine from a supermarket on the Ile d'Oléron on the Atlantic Coast of France just south of La Rochelle. This island is a wonderful place for seafood but more of that in a later blog.

The wine was nothing special but it survived a two week trip around France. We opened it with some friends when we got back.

The Ile d'Oléron is just north of the Bordeaux region and surprise surprise the red and white wines of the island are made from the same grapes as their more illustrious cousins. The wines also taste similar but not as rich; they are a little bit rustic in comparison.

Our friends had brought along a bottle of Saint-Emilion Grand Cru and I was a little bit hesitant to open such a humble wine but my friends are not wine snobs and they always give me an honest opinion. The non-vintage Insula red was nowhere near the same class as the 2003 Saint-Emilion but no-one expected it to be. Our French friends had never tasted the wine before and our English friends wanted to know what we drank on our holidays. At least no-one complained.

The Insula red just about held its own and it went down well with some English cheese: however, of course, it was a little bit rustic and light but it had the distinctive taste of the island and it didn't feel like it had been made in a factory. This is not bad for four Euros a bottle. You will never find this wine in Britain and I have not seen it in any French supermarket on the mainland.

I never knew that the Ile d'Oléron even produced wine; it is not something that you learn on a course. There is nothing like paying a visit to a wine region to get the feel of the wine and how it is produced. A visit is much better than reading about a region in a book or a wine blog - so Good Health.

http://www.vivino.com/wineries/insula/wines/ile-d-oleron-merlot-cabernet-9999



Tuesday 25 August 2015

Gallo Family Vineyards White Zinfandel 2013 California

I would not normally buy this wine and I didn't. Someone brought it around when we had a barbecue. I got it from the wine rack without looking at the the label.

One of our friends had come over from France and it was a hot summer's day and we were in a rush to eat outside before it got cold - it was just before 6 pm. I grabbed the wine and chilled it in a wine sock. The women wanted some rosé wine and who was I to argue. But this was a chance to test out French people's ability to spot their own wine -or not.

My wife and our friend tasted the wine blind and they had no complaints and my wife made no comment about the origin f the wine. I found the wine very sweet but the sweetness was not balanced by a decent level of acidity. However, the wine went down well with some salad and ham.

The wine is made from the Zinfandel grape which is quite common in California and often used to make spicy red wine.

White Zinfandel is not the name of a grape but it's the name of  the process used to make the wine which involves stopping the fermentation of the grape must before all the sugar is used up. This is why the wine is sweet and this is why the wine is so popular.

A bottle of this wine costs around £6.50 which is rather expensive so it must have something going for it as it has to compete with cheaper rosé wine from France and Spain.


To me this wine does not merit the the five star rating given to it by Tesco's customers - perhaps I am a wine snob. I also think that Tesco's tasting note is very much over the top.  I felt that the wine tasted as if it had been made in industrial quantities and that it had a chemical edge but maybe this was because of my prejudice; I had after all had sight of the label.  However, if the wine had been no good my wife would have told me. I did not feel inclined to open a different bottle.

I would give it a three star rating because the wine is of good quality for every day drinking but  in my opinion it is nothing special at the price. In Britain there is more duty on wines imported from outside of the EU and this is why the wine is so pricey. 

There is nothing wrong in buying wine of this quality and it is like comparing standard cheddar cheese to mature cheddar. I don't want to eat expensive cheddar every day of the week I am content with the standard supermarket product. I save the good stuff for a special occasion. I am not a lover of rosé wine but if I want to spoil myself I go for a Bandol  but of course that is much more expensive than the Gallo White Zinfandel.


The Gallo wine is not strong in alcohol at 9.5% but I did not notice it. The wine is very easy to drink and you could easily find yourself opening another bottle: Cheers. 



Wednesday 19 August 2015

Chantet Blanet Bordeaux Haut Médoc 2013 red AOC

Chantet Blanet is a brand name for wines produced by Oeno-alliance who are based in Bordeaux. Their Haut Médoc is a blend of red wines produced in this famous area. We bough the wine in a Leclerc supermarket in France just for every day drinking. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wine. It went down very well with bavette steak. It was a wine typical of the Haut Médoc and even though it was from the  2013 vintage, which was not one of the best, it was of good quality but the wine from this brand is not for keeping.

The wine, however, was matured in oak and for around 5 euro a bottle it was a real bargain. The brand name is used on lots of wines including Saint Emilion. None of these wines are top notch but they are good quality wines to get out when you are not trying to impress someone.

We had a barbecue this weekend and the wine went down well with couscous and none of our guests complained but perhaps they were too polite. When I opened a bottle of much better quality Bordeaux later but at at six times the price they got my point that the good stuff didn't taste six times better. Perhaps the wine had dulled their senses.

If you are visiting France and have time to go to Leclerc then you will not go far wrong by selecting a Chantet Blanet wine for good everyday drinking at a fair price. Leclerc is much better than visiting a British supermarket in terms of value for money and the range of French wines.

Oeno-alliance is owned by the Castel Group who also own the Nicholas wine merchant chain. The Castel  group also own Château Beychevelle but that is another story.

http://www.groupe-castel.com/en/group/


http://www.beychevelle.com/

Friday 7 August 2015

Pensions and Wine Investment

There have been reports in the UK press that people who are about to draw down on their pension savings are being approached by unscrupulous "investment advisers" to put their money into fine wine. Some of theses advisers are fraudsters. Recent changes to UK pension rules allow individuals more flexibility to access their funds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33804578

Apart from market risk where the price of wine falls there are a number of other risks that potential wine investors should beware of:

1) The people you are dealing with. Perhaps this is one of the most important dangers. To mitigate this risk you need to assure yourself that you are dealing with honest and respectable advisers and brokers, who will advise you on the best wines to invest in and how to keep your wine safe and insured. Before you invest it is best to meet the people who you are trading with rather than simply deal over the 'phone or the internet.

2) Title to the wine is important; it is best to actually own the wine rather than buy a wine contract. If you decide to buy a wine contract, where you do not have title to the actual wine, then you should make doubly sure that you are dealing with an honest trader who is financially stable  and who will not renege on the contract.

3) Real wine: be sure that the wine that you are buying is not fake; it is best to trade only with a reputable supplier.

4) High rates of return represent higher risk of losing your money. If you are attracted to a higher rate of return then you run the risk of losing some or all of your money. This principle applies to all investments. It is essential that you are wary of investment advisers who offer you higher rates of return than the market in general offers; such advisers could be incompetent or worse still dishonest.

Prospective pensioners should be aware that you can only benefit from a wine investment as the result of a capital gain. Wine investment does not generate dividend or interest income. The same is true  of  investing in gold, paintings or fast cars etc.

It is probably best to spread out your investments across savings accounts, ISAs, annuities  and trust funds etc. These types of investment generate interest or dividend income. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

If your wine investment does not live up to expectations in the middle to long term then you could always cut your losses and sell. You can only do this , however, if your wine actually belongs to you or you have invested in a safe contract. If your wine is fake or has been stored badly then you will lose everything and it won't even taste good if you decide to drink it.

Buyer beware.





Thursday 30 July 2015

Clear Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2013

This wine is from South Africa. We drank half a bottle of it with Paella one evening and the other half the next night with veal and it was quite good. When I opened the bottle, which was sealed with a screw cap, I covered the label so that my wife could not see where it was from. I asked her to guess where the wine came from.

My wife is pretty good at guessing where wine comes from but on this occasion she was flummoxed even though I gave her some clues. She guessed that it was not from Europe: not bad. I tried to research this wine without much success. I surmise that it is not a wine produced in a single estate but that it is blended wine from different vineyards. The quality is not good enough to give you much of a clue about its provenance. This is not to say that it is not good wine. It went well with the fish and it had a fresh citrus fruit taste. What I liked about it was the fact that it did not have an overpowering taste  and smell of green fruits and "cat's pee" which is common to some wines from some cool climate producers, who make white wine from Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc grapes. The wine was rather palatable and it would go down quite well with fish at a barbecue or party.

You can buy this wine from a Sainsbury supermarket discounted at £6.00 a bottle which is about what the wine is worth in the UK.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsburys-price-comparison/white_wine/clear_springs_sauvignon_blanc_750ml.html


However, you can buy much better quality white wine from Bordeaux made primarily from the Sauvignon Blanc grape for a similar price in a French supermarket. The wine however will probably not he labelled as Sauvignon Blanc. If you live in the south of England this is a good reason for making a short trip to France to buy your wine.

There is nothing wrong with drinking Clear Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and it makes a pleasant change especially on "warmish" summer days in a Kent backyard. I recommend it.

Friday 24 July 2015

Age UK and drinking problems

According to Age UK problem drinking in the middle classes and in the over 50's age range is a hidden phenomenon.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/23/harmful-drinking-among-middle-class-over-50s-is-a-hidden-phenomenon

Age UK have produced a new study :

"Socioeconomic determinants of risk of harmful alcohol drinking among people aged 50 or over in England"  using from meta data from other studies especially the "English Longitudinal Study Of Ageing". http://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/.
This study is telling me nothing that I do not know already and I wonder what its usefulness will be. The verbosity of its title is a real give away.

Some of the conclusions of the report are almost unintelligible drivel:

 “Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process. Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”

What is a "successful ageing process"? Surely that would mean mental good health as well as good physical health and wealth?

What is a "successful ageing paradigm"? Does this mean that older people are to be patronised with another anti-drinking campaign?

“Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger.” Surely, this statement is a contradiction of terms.

I happen to be in the group of people that Age UK are concerned about. As far as I am concerned I am perfectly capable of looking after myself and I do not need to be told how many glasses of wine I should or should not drink.  As a matter of course I do not usually consume alcohol for at least three days a week and usually I have at least 2 consecutive days a week when I do not drink. My wife does the same and we have no intention of ever becoming dependent on alcohol or letting it ruin our health. The same applies to most of our friends in this age bracket and those that glug more than half a bottle of wine or so per day know that it might not be doing them any good.

The Age UK study portrays some people over 50 as socially inept loners who do not contact their family and friends or join in other social activities. It then tries to draw conclusions from this by using statistical techniques such as Markov Chains and Stochastic reasoning. None of the conclusions of the report seem to be based on evidence collected in the field. It seems to predict that if you are affluent and over 50 then your health is in danger because you will drink too much without knowing it. Everyone already knows that if you drink too much you will damage your health.

The problem is how do you get the point across to someone who is a problem drinker that they should cut down? You will not do it by producing fancy named reports or by patronising people. You won't do it either by doing this:  "the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”

One of my friends has multiple sclerosis, he does not drink too much but whenever I visit him we share a bottle of wine over a meal. He realises that even drinking one glass of wine goes against the grain of the official medical advice. His view is that if he cannot enjoy a glass of wine over meal with a friend then his life would not be worth living:so good on him.

The whole of life is about balancing risks against benefits. I go for a nice long run three times a week but every now and then I trip up and get scratches, bruises and sprains for my efforts. It is my view that it is worth a few bruises to improve my blood circulation and it might even be worth a broken arm - if I am unlucky. 

Having a glass or two of wine with a meal on a few occasions per week may not do my physical health any good but it sure cheers me up; nothing that Age UK can say will change my behaviour. If ever I feel that having a couple of glasses of wine could damage my health then I shall have to good sense to stop. 

The full report can be read here.




Tuesday 21 July 2015

2001 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial

This is especially good red Rioja which has won prizes and no wonder. The 2001 is ready for drinking now. We drank ours over lunch with family with some Kent lamb roasted until it was reasonably well done on the outside but rare in the middle.

This wine is a perfect example of a fine Rioja and its quality competes with the finest of the region. It is full of fruit flavour with a hint of vanilla from the oak maturation. The wine is of full body and is completely dry  and the tannin is beginning to soften. It has all of the complexity and concentration of a great wine. It is one of my favourites and worth every penny that you have to pay for it at around £25 a bottle in the UK.

Some other great red Rioja wines that I have tasted are:

Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial

Marques de Riscal Gran Reserva

Bodegas Muga Reserva

R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva

Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial compares favourably with all of these great wines.

Tuesday 30 June 2015

Wine and "The Placebo Effect" and "Experienced Pleasantness"

I have no doubt that there is a placebo effect related to wine tasting and that many people fall victim to this including myself.

It is worth reading the controversial articles below. I have been at wine tastings where the tasters have almost refused to believe that a wine was faulty. The wine in question was a Bollinger Vintage Champagne: there was nothing wrong with the wine when it was put in the bottle but the cork was faulty and the wine therefore had the bitter and earthy taste of a corked wine. I was on a wine course and  many of the students refused to accept that such an expensive wine could be at fault.  To me and some of my fellow students the wine tasted spoilt and eventually we were able to convince the rest that the wine was in fact spoilt. We had to make allowance for some of the tasters who were completely insensitive to the taste of "corked" wine.

There have been many experiments performed where tasters were asked to identify a particular wine or type of grape or to be able to differentiate between white wine and red wine at a blind tasting. It seems that it is much more difficult to assess a wine when you cannot see its colour  or see the label.

Scientists have also put red dye into white wine and asked the tasters to describe the wine. Often the tasters describe red wine tastes.

It is quite easy to fool the most experienced tasters and even Masters of Wine, heaven forbid, at a blind tasting. Experienced pleasantness is a phenomenon which is easily influenced by the mind's eye - we often assume that a product is better because it costs more.

Price is also an influential factor apart from brand name. The students tasting the Bollinger were unable to accept that such an expensive wine could taste so awful. Unfortunately the fungus that causes wine taste does not recognise price, reputation or brand name; it acts just like the flu virus.

Top price wines with a particular brand name may not be in fact be top quality wines. We must all beware of the placebo effect and keep our feet on the ground when describing wine and its quality. We must also not become wine snobs and dismiss cheaper brands. Blind tasting is a great equaliser.

Our sense of taste and smell can easily be influenced by the suggestion of others and our beliefs for we are not completely rational. I have often been influenced by others at a tasting into ignoring my initial impressions. Quite often, as a naïve student, I have  tasted or smelt none of the fruit or floral flavours that my fellow tasters were describing but I have written down that I have actually tasted such flavours - all in a kind of King's New Clothes effect. I have known better for years not to fall for it.

All is not lost , however, the other night my wife described the taste of a red wine exactly as the producers had described it on the rear of the bottle. My wife could not have read the description prior to the tasting and she could not have known what wine I was going to pull from the rack before I opened it - this is good tasting indeed and she hasn't passed any wine exams.

Identifying a good wine is not just about tastes and fruit flavours. We need to asses the wine for its acidity, sweetness, tannin, concentration and complexity and its length on the palate and how well the wine is balanced. You may think that the placebo effect is too simple to affect our judgement of all this - not so.

You may ask what is the point of wine tasting and buying good wine or even studying it?. Well it gives great pleasure to many. Many people have found pain relief from the placebo effect in medicine. So the placebo effect does help to make life better. However, we should be aware of the dangers when something is marketed to be what it is not especially if money is tight. You should also be aware of the placebo effect when invited to a tasting as part of a wine investment promotion.

Despite all, you can imagine how good I feel when I can identify a wine blind, even though this rarely happens, but no placebo effect here. This skill can be learnt to some extent but familiarity helps. At a blind tasting in England my wife was easily able to pick out the English sparkling wine from the Champagne. Being born in the region helps as she has been familiar with and drinking Champagne wine for years.

http://palatepress.com/2009/10/wine/the-placebo-effect-and-wine/

http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/1050.full

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/baba-shiv-how-wines-price-tag-affect-its-taste

It is not just wine enthusiasts who can be fooled by the placebo effect. I was once in a cosmetic shop in France with my wife who bought some face cream, which was being marketed on the basis that after application, of the magical potion, one's face would defy the laws of gravity and all the crinkles would disappear. The shop assistant could not understand why I laughed. When we left the shop I mused that Isaac Newton would be laughing too; my wife explained that despite all this the cream made her feel better. Perhaps, this is what life is all about.

It is not just women who fall for this sort of marketing. One of my other interests is Hi-Fi which is a past time dominated by men. Some "audiophile" enthusiasts believe that paying more is better. They even believe that electrons flow through wires better when they are connected up in a certain way, and the manufacturers have put arrows on the cables to show which way round they should go. Think about it for a few seconds, they actually believe that this improves the sound and they actually hear the difference. Of course it is only cables which costs hundreds of pounds per metre which react in this way. Your average electron from Maplins  knows nothing about this and just flows from negative to positive polarity. Just like cork taint fungus electrons do not recognise cost or brand name and reputation.

Lots "audiophiles" spend all their money on such frippery and some of them get themselves into debt trouble - all as a result of the placebo effect: I hope some of them have got some money left to spend on a decent bottle of wine.

http://coconut-audio.com/rcainterconnects.html







Friday 26 June 2015

Château Tour Saint Germain 2011 AOC Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux.

We drank this wine over a family supper and we were very impressed after drinking a bottle of bog standard Lambrusco as an aperitif - oh well. The 2011 vintage was very mixed in Bordeaux; it was too hot in June and too cool in July and August. The Château, however, was able to maintain its standards to produce a fruity well balanced wine which is now ready for drinking.

The vineyards are situated not far from the city of Blaye on the right bank of the Gironde. Blaye is a citadel city which is well worth visiting for its wine and its cuisine.

Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux is one of my favourite appellations. The wines are of a really good standard and they are unpretentious and they are exceptional value for money. Château Tour Saint Germain is a perfect example and it should drunk with good food.

We bought this wine in France but I cannot remember where or when or how much. All I know is that it is exceptional value for money and it puts to shame many branded names from all over the world including Bordeaux.

The wine is made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes and is matured in oak barrels. You can really tell that the winemaker is proud of his product. If you can find it buy it: you will not be disappointed.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/tour+st+germain+cote+de+bordeaux+blaye+france/2011

http://tour-saint-germain.com/

Monday 15 June 2015

Lloyd Reserve Shiraz 2005 Red - Coriole Vineyards McLaren Vale

Lloyds Reserve Shiraz is an estate produced wine from the Coriole vineyards and is a really superior product which rivals most other wines that I have tried from France, Italy, Spain, the US and Australia. It has its own unique flavour. This wine is little known in England and I have never seen it on the shelves of a wine merchant: it was a present brought to me by some Australian friends.  They could not have chosen a better gift.

The 2005 is now ready for drinking but you must drink it with good food to really appreciate it. We drank it with lamb from the Kent marshes, cooked rare with garlic, onion and rosemary. It went perfectly with a richly flavoured dish and the tannin in the wine refreshed the palate all the way through the meal: gorgeous.

The McLaren Vale in South Australia has a Mediterranean climate which is perfect for the growth of the Shiraz grape.

The wine had a flavour of red and black berry fruits with a spicy edge typical of the Shiraz or Syrah grape. The wine was strong in alcohol and full bodied but the tannin was really beginning to soften. It was dry with a balanced acidity. It had none of the jammy flavour often associated with Australian red wines produced by the major brand names. All the components were well integrated and it had long length on the palate and this combined with its complexity and concentration of fruit flavours leads me to conclude that it is exceptional wine. If you can find it in the UK or the US it will cost you more than a bob or two or a considerable number of quarters. It is worth every penny that you can find and when compared to other good quality wines it represents a bargain.

Luckily my friends brought me two bottles and I am saving the other for  another special family occasion. I am fortunate to have such good friends.

https://www.coriole.com/wines/reserves/lloyd-reserve-shiraz/ - none of this is "hype" as far as I am concerned.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/coriole+shiraz+lloyd+reserve/1/-/-/a/26

Friday 12 June 2015

2001 Les Vignerons du Brulhois Château Grand Chêne, Côtes du Brulhois Red, France

We drank this wine a couple of weeks ago and it was simply superb. It had aged very well and still had a lot of life left in it. It will age for several years more was beginning to reveal itself.

The label on the back of the bottle described the wine as having a flavour of plums and red fruits and oak and with a flavour of roast coffee or Torréfaction in French. My wife guessed these flavours blind. Rarely does a wine taste exactly as it says on the bottle.

This is perfectly well integrated wine with a long length on the palate.  I cannot remember how much it cost when we bought it in the region but it was probably less than 10 Eur per bottle. It is superb value for money and if you can find it then I recommend that you buy a  case.

It went down really well with some  roast beef cooked rare.

Côtes du Brulhois wines were once termed "black wines" on account of the strength of the deep black colour of the Tannat grape used in production.



The Côtes du Brulhois was granted appellation status in 2011.

http://www.thevineroute.com/southwest/les-vignerons-du-brulhois-in-the-land-of-black-wines/

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Investing In Wine For Profit

In my E-Book " Investing In Wine For Profit" on Amazon, at a bargain price, I made comment that the price of oil is related somehow to the price of investment wines. When oil goes down in price so does wine. And low and behold the price of wine has been falling in recent months.

http://www.liv-ex.com/staticPageContent.do?pageKey=Fine_Wine_100

I can't for the life of me think what the connexion would be other than general confidence in the price of commodities.

The Chinese economy seems to be cooling off and the demand for investment wines is falling. Businessmen are now less prone to giving gifts of expensive investment wines to their prospective customers. The price of commercial property is falling.

Across the developing world investors and speculators are indulging in margin borrowing to fund the purchase of high yielding (and of course high risk) bonds and other financial instruments. Margin lending to finance the purchase of stocks was a major contributing factor to the Great Depression in the USA which started with the distress selling of stocks in 1929. Few, in the financial markets, seem capable of learning from history.

Margin lending is used to fund the purchase of assets. When the  price of the assets falls the Banks who have lent the money to the purchaser make a margin call in cash to increase the collateral which guarantees the loan. This system of margin lending can catch out both the lender and the borrower. The borrower ends up with junk assets and is not able to repay the loans so the Bank loses too.

This is why in my book I advised that you should not borrow money to purchase wine for investment purposes and should only invest what you can afford to lose.

The world could be heading for another crash if vast quantities of margin lending funds junk assets. As a hedge against fiat money crashing in value it might be wise to invest in some gold in the form of gold chains or sovereigns. If you get into financial difficulties a chunky chain comes in handy as you can sell links as necessary. Keep the gold somewhere very safe such as a safety deposit box but not where jewellers  keep their gold as the vault could be the target of robbers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32799703


In straitened financial times it is probably best to keep actual gold rather than gold contracts which can be reneged upon. The same applies to fine wine. Happy investing and remember the higher the potential return the higher the risk.

If all else fails you can drink your wine and still enjoy it even if it is worth nothing.
 

Monday 20 April 2015

Au Bon Accueil at Champlost Burgundy

 A few weeks ago my wife and I visited Champlost in the Auxerre arrondissement of Burgundy to dine at the "Au Bon Accueil"l restaurant before visiting some relatives. Au Bon Accueil is loosely translated, by me, as "The Warm Welcome". This was a Routier style restaurant which is frequented by lorry drivers, commercial travellers and local workers. The restaurant was full which is always a good sign. No one, in France, goes to a restaurant that does not serve good food and wine. I think that I was the only foreigner in the restaurant not that I was made to feel unwelcome - National Front attitudes had not penetrated here - well at least in the restaurant.

The food was traditionally French so we chose to eat faux fillet steak washed down with a half bottle of Irancy Red. The food was excellent and so was the wine.

We drank a bottle of Matthieu Antunes Irancy red 2013. This wine was excellent and had the typical taste of an Irancy and unique to the region. There are so many nondescript wines which could come from anywhere and quite often they are labelled with the grape variety. Irancy red is made from the Pinot Noir grape but the producers do not need to boast about it. Most Irancy producers produce the finest of wines at very reasonable prices.

Our three course meal with wine cost us around Eur 40. You rarely get a high quality meal for two with an excellent bottle of wine in the UK for 40 Eur. In the UK you have to pay big bucks for decent food and you also might have to suffer the indignity of being addressed as "guys". But, "guys" and good food and wine rarely go together.

They don't have an expression for "guys" in French to address both men and women together; perhaps no one tried to blow up their parliament!
Good wine in France also comes with the name of the region rather than the grape variety and good manners dictate that no one is called "guys" especially women - eh les gars.


http://www.antunes.matthieu.sitew.com/Notre_Etiquette.F.htm#Nos_Vins_Rouges.C

Friday 10 April 2015

Alpa Zeta 'R' Valpollicella Ripasso Superiore 2012 - DOC

Valpollicella Ripasso is one of my favourite wines and a good one is full of fruit flavour.  'R' from Alpha Zeta is a classic example of this wine. Ripasso wines use a technique which " re-ferments" the standard Valpollicela using the lees leftover from the production of Amarone. This improves the concentration of flavours and the structure of the wine. The ripasso technique has been used for centuries.

Valpollicella Ripasso is an individual wine which retains some of the structure and taste of the standard wine but its flavour is more concentrated and the wine has a fuller body. Sometimes it has been referred to as a "poor man's " Amarone but this is not true. Ripasso is a great wine in its own right. The wine is much more approachable than "Amarone" and it does not need to be drunk with heavy food. It goes down well with both Italian and French cuisine. We drank Alpa Zeta 'R' wine with rib of beef cooked in French style by my wife. It also went down well with French and English cheeses.

Alpa Zeta 'R' is produced by Liberty Wines who deploy the skills of Matt Thomson, a winemaker and New Zealander to bring out the best of the Corvina and Rondinella grapes and the ripasso tradition.

This wine has its own individualistic flavour - dare I say New World - whilst retaining the characteristics of the Veneto region's wines. This is wine is exceptional value for money as you can buy it for around £10 a bottle. It is well worth tracking down a bottle or two. One to drink now and one to drink in two or three years as the 2012 will improve in the bottle if kept under favourable conditions. Appellation rules dictate that the wine must be sealed with a cork rather than a screw cap, so lay it on its side.

http://libertywines.co.uk/index.htm?pageto=prddtldrt&productCD=AZ117

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-53507-0001-alpha-zeta-r-valpolicella-superiore-ripasso-veneto-italy

Wednesday 18 March 2015

1990 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy

Allegrini is one of Italy's top producers. Their Amarone is a top red wine. It is produced in the Veneto region of North Eastern Italy from dried grapes. The drying process increases the concentration of sugars in the grapes. It also concentrates the flavour. The grapes are dried on straw mats. Amarone is usually strong in alcohol: our was 14%.

Amarone is made primarily from  the Corvina and Rondinella grapes. Some of the grapes are late harvested and are subjected to noble rot. This increases the complexity of the wine but reduces fresh fruit flavours.

We drank our wine with roast duck. In my mind you should not drink Amarone without food.

As our wine was 25 years old, it was well matured and had turned a Burgundy colour. It smelt of dried fruits with a very slight oxidised character reminiscent of Port. There were also hints of oak. The smell was powerful and the wine smelt as if it was fully mature and ready for drinking.

On the palate the wine was of full body with softening tannin. It was bone dry, it was strong in alcohol but not hot. The wine was warming just like Port. There were no fresh fruit favours and it tasted of stewed fruits. It also tasted a little like aged vintage Port but very dry and a little sour from the acidity. The wine was concentrated and complex and you could tell it had been matured in oak barrels. It had exceptionally long length on the palate. It had all the hallmarks of a great wine.

Drink it now and decant it as it throws lots of sediment which is harmless.

One of our friends who is a wine enthusiast was suitably impressed and so was I.

Formerly, Amarone would have been given the name Recioto  della Valpolicella Amarone or Amarone  della Valpolicella  but this is a bit of a mouthful so now it allowed the much simpler name.

Wine drinkers will recognise the name  Valpolicella  which is a lesser quality red wine and once upon a time it was derided as garbage by an influential wine writer. Valpolicella is much improved and is now a quality wine with lots of fruit.

One of my favourite wines is  Valpolicella  Ripasso which is matured on the lees of Recioto or dried grape wines.

These wines are best enjoyed with food especially Italian. Good Amarone is simply wonderful.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/allegrini+docg+amarone+della+valpolicella+cls+veneto+italy/1990

Monday 16 March 2015

2012 Bodegas Rafael Palacios Valdeorras As Sortes Val do Bibei

We drank As Sortes 2012 White with our meal when we sampled the Les Forts de Latour. This wine is from a top winemaker in the Valdeorras region of Galicia in northern Spain. It is made from the little known Godella grape.

The vineyards are situated in the Sil river valley on slopes at a height of about 240 meters; in a climate influenced by the Atlantic ocean.

Rafael Palacios has produced a well crafted wine here. It is dry with a light body and medium plus acidity. It tastes just as it smells with a nutty flavour combined with citrus and green fruits. It is concentrated and complex with an extremely long length. It has its own distinctive flavour which is a little reminiscent of Albariño which is another Galician wine. The As Sortes is , however, at another class level compared to standard Albariño.

Rafael Palacios As Sortes is a little more expensive than I normally pay for wine but it is worth it and it holds its own with the best wines from France and Spain and even the Les Forts de Latour as you are not paying a premium for an investment wine label. The As Sortes will keep and improve in the bottle for 5 years or so but you can enjoy now. It is best to drink it with good sea food - Sea Bass or Hake.

This is wonderful wine and I thoroughly recommend it.


http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1744199

1989 Les Forts de Latour Red

Les Forts de Latour is the second wine of the famous Château Latour Paulliac. 1989 was a good year in Bordeaux but I was not certain that this wine was going to age well any longer.

I decanted the wine just before some guests arrived to eat roast beef with us. There was plenty of sediment left at the bottom of the bottle and I sampled a glass of the dregs to make sure that the wine was OK. If you swallow a little bit of sediment it does you no harm.

The wine was past its best and was on the downward slope but if you want to buy a bottle now it will cost you around £100. We had bought the wine for considerably less years ago.

The wine had turned a Burgundy colour owing to the age. It smelt perfectly clean with aromas of vanilla and oak on the nose and dried fruits rather than fresh fruits. It was more like stewed prunes than plums.

On the palate it had medium acidity and the tannins where were very light. It was now medium body but I suspect that in 1992 it would have had a fuller body. It tasted very much as it smelt with the typical tobacco box flavour of Bordeaux and the oak taste of vanilla was still there. There was very little fresh fruit flavour and there were vegetal flavours just like aged Burgundy. It was very concentrated but it had probably lost some complexity. It tasted very warm on the palate which in my view is a mark of a wine which has aged well. it was not however hot  as all the components of the wine were well integrated. It had a very long length. All in all it had aged well and was of very good quality. Most wine would have gone rotten after 25 years.

I suspect now that buyers are prepared to pay lots of money for this wine because of the label. If you have got some of this wine then I suggest that you drink it if you are not interested in money, as it is on the way down.

I was interested in the reaction of our guests when they tasted it . I told everyone what wine it was. My wife and one of our female friends were very impressed. I could tell from the faces from my other guests that they were less enthusiastic. I think that we have all got used to drinking wines at a younger age and we are used to strong fruit flavours and even wine enthusiasts get a bit of a shock when they taste ageing fruit flavours rather than fresh ones.

I think I got a genuine reaction from my wife and friends uninfluenced by the label, the reputation or the price or my suggestion and this is what wine appreciation should really be about.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/les+forts+de+latour/1989

Friday 27 February 2015

Château Les Moines Grand vin de BORDEAUX - Crû Bourgeois du MEDOC 1995

Last year we paid a visit, with some friends, to Montreuil-Sur-Mer which is a charming walled town in the Pas de Calais department of Northern France. The town's ramparts were completed in the 9th century and you walk along their entirety.  The town is no longer on the sea as the estuary of the Canche river has silted up.

Whilst our wives went shopping my friend and I went for a look at the wine cellars in the centre of town.

We found the Château Les Moines deep in the cellars and my friend bought me the 1995.We were warned by the vintner that he could not guarantee the quality of the wine.

http://chateau-les-moines.com/

I brought the wine back London to drink it with my friends on a suitable occasion. That occasion came last Saturday night. When I opened the wine, before my friends arrived, to decant it I could immediately smell the taint of a corked wine: it had the bitter and mouldy aroma of TCA or tri-chloroanisole.

TCA is chemical formed when a mould growing on a bottle cork reacts with chlorine based substance used in winemaking to produce a foul smell. TCA infuses into the wine to ruin it with a bitter taste which completely masks any fruit character in the wine. The wine is then termed as "corked". This is why many winemakers have turned to using plastic corks or screw cap enclosures.

Even though improvements have been made by using sterilised corks around 1 in 20 bottles of wine sealed with a traditional cork  have the cork taint. Mould can grow on the inside of wooden barrels used to mature wine so the TCA taint can in theory affect a wine sealed with a screw cap or plastic cork; but I have never experienced this.

I tasted the wine as TCA is not poisonous and it was the worst case of cork taint that I have ever experienced. It was possible to taste the effects of ageing and my wife and I agreed that the wine would have been very good but for the effects of cork taint.

There are some anecdotes that cling film can be used the decanter to absorb the TCA in the wine. I had nothing to lose so I tried it. After some swirling around for about 15 minutes I smelt the wine again; the cork taint was still there. This does not work.

When my friend arrived I let him taste the wine and he agreed this was one of the worst cases of cork taint he had seen. He swallowed it but I spit it out.

I have a brother-in-law who cannot taste wine taint at all and will happily drink a corked wine. People have a varying sensitivity to cork taint. My wife and I are particularly sensitive.  If you are insensitive to the aroma of cork taint your career as a wine taster will be limited.

Luckily, I had a reserve wine Domaine Faively Volnay Les Frémiets 1er Cru 2009 red. This was superb wine just ready for drinking. It had the silky smoothness typical of a Volnay and it had the distinctive flavour of a high quality red Burgundy. The style of this wine cannot be imitated and that is why it is worth paying a premium.

http://www.decanter.com/wine/reviews/domaine-faiveley-les-fremiets-volnay-1er-cru/578084#

During the week we opened a bottle of 2006 Domaine Giraud Châteauneuf-du-Pape Tradition red. This was glorious wine but it had a very, very slight taste of cork taint which came and went on the palate. I could not detect this taint when I smelt the wine, it was only on the palate after I had swirled it round my mouth. Most people would not notice the TCA but my wife confirmed it.

The wine was lovely, however, it had retained its purple colour and was just starting to lighten. It tasted exactly as described below and the strong tannin was beginning to soften. It was rather strong in alcohol at 15% and you could taste it was a little bit hot. Over a few hours we had finished the bottle which is something we would rarely do with a wine so strong in alcohol. After a couple of hours the slight cork taint had disappeared and the wine tasted perfect -almost.

http://www.luxuriousdrinks.com/en/2006-domaine-giraud-chateauneuf-du-pape.html

Beware , however, that not all that glisters is gold some Châteauneuf-du-Pape is not much better than bog standard red so buyer beware.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/07/wine-chateauneuf-du-pape-review

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/north/724191/Montreuil-sur-Mer-Weekend-to-remember.html




Wednesday 18 February 2015

Grace Dieu Whitwick Vineyard 2013 "The Green Man"

I was given a bottle of this wine for Christmas. The Grace Dieu vineyard is situated in the North West Leicestershire village of Whitwick. This is a very northerly vineyard located at 52 degrees and 44 minutes North. Forty years ago Whitwick would have been considered to be a very marginal location to grow wine grapes. The climate has changed considerably since 1975.

Even with a warmer climate The Green Man is produced from the Madeleine Angevine white grape variety which suits a cooler climate. The wine has an alcoholic content of 11% which is not very high by modern standards.

The Whitwick vineyard uses natural techniques in both the farming of the grapes and fermentation of the grape must. Not that I could taste this. I felt, however,that the wine would not give you a bad head if you drank a little bit too much - not that I would ever over indulge!

The Green Man had a crisp and sharp taste on the palate and it had floral characters along with a taste of green fruits  but with a slightly vegetal edge. It was bone dry. It reminded me a little of  Muscadet from the Loire.

We drank the wine with an organic chicken and some of the wine was used in the sauce. I found this wine very palatable  and of good quality. Because it has a distinctive taste, it really does merit the prizes that it has won. It could be easily be drunk on its own in a wine bar or at a party; but I think it is better with food such as chicken or fish such as sea bass or sea bream.

You can find it at £13.50 a bottle but no doubt it will be cheaper at the vineyard. Many wine drinkers might find this wine very expensive and uncompetitive compared to  French or Italian dry whites on a quality basis. This maybe true but English winemakers cannot achieve the economies of scale of their French or Italian counterparts. They deserve our support and this is why I am prepared to pay that little bit extra for a good English wine.

The Whitwick vineyard has had the imagination to give their wine a great name and why not? A wine of distinction deserves a good name rather than just to be called after a grape. If you are in the area why not
buy it and support a very good producer.

http://www.gracedieuvineyard.co.uk/

http://www.lazouch.co.uk/drinkshop/product.asp?intProdID=1188&strCatalog_NAME=&strSubCatalog_NAME=Grace%20Dieu%20Vineyard&strSubCatalogID=2&intCatalogID=&CurCatalogID=10049

http://www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/






Tuesday 10 February 2015

Champion Wines - Australian wine tasting evening

Last Thursday week my wife and I went to Champion Wines Chislehurst, London, to a tasting session run by Penny Champion who is the proprietor of the wine bar and shop. Penny is from Australia and really knows her stuff when it comes to wine not just from Australia but from all over the world. We knew that we were in for a good tasting session which would be both entertaining and informative.

http://www.championwines.co.uk/

Chislehurst is in a very wealthy part of South East London and it is surrounded by parks and trees. There is very much a village atmosphere and the wine tasters reflected this by being informal and friendly even if they were a little reticent and reluctant to talk about the wines and pass comment. There was no such reluctance from me even though I had drawn the short straw with my wife and had to drive. I was spitting the wine so my form of "Winejaw" was lubricated more by the occasion than the alcohol.

Penny's choice of four white and four red wines could not be found in a supermarket. They were certainly a step up in quality and distinctiveness because some of the producers were  from small single estates . Visitors to the supermarket wine shelves would, however, probably recognise the name of Yalumba.

So, let's talk about the wines with the aid of my tasting notes which I have scanned complete with wine stains and I can send them to you if you wish. Wine is not just about taste, however, and to asses a wine you must pay regard to its appearance, smell and feel in the mouth. Smell is perhaps the most important sense as we can only taste sweet, bitter, sour, and saltiness and perhaps the savoury taste of umami. The flavour of wine is derived from our combined sense of taste of smell. We cannot ignore how the wine feels in the mouth, however,  as our sense of touch on the palate gives clues about the acidity, tannin and body of the wine. This is why I described the wines in terms of appearance, smell and taste and feel on the palate.

http://winejaw.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/blind-tasting.html

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/09/umami-fifth-taste


Dandelion Vineyards - South Australia - Eden Valley Riesling  2013

The Eden Valley is located near to the Barossa valley which is one of Australia's most famous wine regions. The Barossa and Eden Valleys were settled by German immigrants so it is apt that there are plantings of Riesling grapes. The Riesling grape produces some of the finest German white wines and it also produces the finest white wines in the Alsace region of France.

The Eden valley is located near the sea and its elevation produces the cooler climate which suits the Riesling grape so well. Add to this some quartz based sandy soil and you have a "terroir" eminently suited to the cultivation of the noble Riesling grape. Of course you cannot have good wine without good winemakers: Dandelion Vineyards have produced a fine wine.

The wine appeared clear and bright and pale lemon in colour. On the nose it had an almost intense smell of of flowers, citrus fruits, spice and petrol. It was aromatic and you could tell that the wine was youthful and was still developing and had not reached full maturity. On the palate the wine was off- dry with well integrated acid and alcohol. The wine tasted very much as it smelt. It was complex and concentrated and had long length on the palate. It had all the indications of a good wine which will mature and develop for more years in the bottle.

It reminded me very much of an Alsace Riesling even if it was not completely dry. At a blind tasting I could easily and wrongly  have identified this wine as an Alsace Riesling if I had not spotted that it was off-dry. The Eden valley is located at about 35 degrees south so the climate here will be warmer than the vineyards located in Alsace and Germany: it is possible therefore that the grapes have a higher concentration of sugar.

I expect that as this wine matures further it will develop more complex flavours. The ability of a wine to mature further in the bottle is also another indicator of good quality.  I was very impressed by the wide range of flavours of this wine and at £12.99 it is very good value for money. It was a great start to the wine tasting and well chosen. This wine will go very well with food. I do not think that I would drink it on its own in a wine bar or at a party.

http://www.dandelionvineyards.com.au/

Omrah Mount Barker Unoaked Chardonnay -2013 (Western Australia)

Western Australian vineyards are located at around 34 degrees south and rely upon the Indian Ocean to moderate the climatic conditions. Mount Barker is located in the great Southern region. Omrah is part of Plantagenet wines. I do not like white wines with too much oak flavour no matter where they come from. Objectively a very good white wine can be matured in new oak barrels but even so I find Burgundy Whites distasteful if they have been exposed to too much oak - even grand cru ones.

What is worse is when makers put oak chippings into the barrel or even add oak essence to the wine to produce an homogenised vanilla flavoured cheap tasting plonk which is not going near my taste buds. This practise has been outlawed in France but I am sure that some winemakers have been tempted.

So I looked forward to sampling a New World wine matured without the benefits of any sort of oak.

The Omrah Chardonnay was clear and bright with a very pale almost white colour this is indicative of a very young wine. On the nose the wine was clean smelling with a medium intensity of flavour. I could smell green fruits , apples and flowers. On the palate the wine was dry and the alcohol was well integrated into the body of the wine. The wine tasted very much as it smelt but some spice added to the complexity.

The flavours were not particularly concentrated and the wine had medium length on the palate. Overall I was not too impressed with the wine and I rated it between average and good. The wine will go well with food but you could drink it on its own in a wine bar. Perhaps I was spoilt by the first wine which was bursting full of complex flavours. This wine was much more restrained but if you are in the the mood for wine that is not too exuberant after a hard day at work  then why not try it? At £11.99 it is not much more expensive than a standard Chablis.

http://www.plantagenetwines.com/product/2013-Omrah-Chardonnay#.VNdLLuasU40

Yalumba  South Australia Eden Valley Roussanne 2012

Yalumba is a well renowned name and most of the wine they produce is above average. I have drunk and enjoyed many of their wines but never a Roussanne based white wine. The Roussanne grape is renowned for its inclusion in the blend for Hermitage and Châteauneuf-du-Pape  - both red and white. The grape grows well in a warmer climate (than in northern Europe) so it suits the Eden Valley very well.

The wine was clear and bright with a light yellow or lemon colour. It was clean and youthful on the nose with a potential to develop a little longer in the bottle but it was ready to drink immediately. It had a flavour of exotic fruits.

On the palate it was off dry with well integrated acidity. It tasted more complex than it smelt with flavours of marzipan and spice. It was concentrated  and complex and had long length on the palate. At first I did not like it but the wine grew on me: I rated it as above average but my wife persuaded me that it really was of good quality. This is another wine which I would prefer to drink with food and this is an indicator of its real quality. At £14.99  it is worth buying to try something a little bit different.

http://www.yalumba.com/vintage.asp?p=154&b=199&l=2083&v=8056#

Mount Horrocks Sémillon  South Australia Clare Valley 2011

The Clare Valley is one of the most northerly wine growing regions in South Australia and the climate is therefore warmer and drier. The Sémillon grape expresses itself well in Australia but there is some dispute where it originates from. The grape flourishes well in South Australian wine regions where the Indian Ocean moderates the climate.

Mount Horrocks restricts production of its wines to about 3,500 cases a year; it is a certified producer of organic wines. The grapes are hand picked and Stephanie Toole has won awards for wine making. The wine is a single estate product. All this is reflected in the quality of the wine which you pick up from structured wine tasting - so it is worth going on a wine course.

The wine was bright and clear and a pale lemon colour. On the nose it was clean with a developing odour; this wine will keep longer and improve with bottle age in a cellar. The nose had medium to pronounced flavours of spice, honey, flowers and minerals. It was aromatic.

On the palate the wine was off-dry with well integrated alcohol. The taste was more complex than the smell with oil and nutty flavours to add to the aromatic fruit character. The complexity, concentration and balance indicated a very good wine which had long length on the palate.

This wine is a class act and it should only be savoured with food. At £20.00 a bottle it is more than I generally pay for a bottle but I believe that it is worth it. From an objective point of view this was the best value white wine that we tasted.

If you are interested in finding out what a very good quality wine is all about then it is worth investing £20. This wine compares favourably with some of the best Italian, French and Spanish wines that I have tasted.

http://www.mounthorrocks.com/mount-horrocks-watervale-semillon/ 

Time for an interlude.

Varietal labelling - why bother?

The white wines were great and it is now time for a break before the reds and time to continue with my rant against varietal labelling. Varietal labelling first started in Germany and Alsace and it should have been left there as part of tradition. As Penny pointed out in her introduction, wine does not taste of grape juice and this is all too true. It therefore follows that wine does not taste of Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay or any other grape variety for that matter.


One of Australia's top wines is Penfold's Grange and it is good enough to have an identity of its own. The same can be said for Charles Melton's Nine Popes; it is a top wine which is blended from many grape varieties and its name is poking a bit of fun at pomposity.

Varietal labelling has gone from the Old World to the New and back. The appellation rules have been changed in France to allow for the grape variety to be printed on the front label so now we are treated to Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir  - hourrah.

The world's best wines have no need to identify the grape variety; why would Château Petrus feel the need to put the name Merlot on the front of the bottle?

Varietal labelling has been a successful marketing ploy which has struck a chord with the public but in some instances it has back-fired.  We now regularly hear the delightful phrase "any white wine but 'Chardonnay'" in the wine bar but only for the punter to be be quite satisfied to slosh back a glass of  Saint-Véran Burgundy. Perhaps what they do not like, about the "Chardonnay",  is the oak chips thrown into the barrel too spoil the taste and quality of the wine.

I'm glad that they haven't named my favourite Bitter from Kent - "Fuggles" after the famous hop variety as no one would drink it.

So now for the four reds.

Innocent Bystander Victoria State  Yarra Pinot Noir 2012

This wine confirms to me why I do not like varietal labelling. Whenever I see "Pinot Noir" on the label I always think of red Burgundy. A good red Burgundy is always one of my favourite wines. My wife is from Troyes in Champagne and whenever we pay a visit we always fetch back a case of red Burgundy. Troyes  is close to the Yonne in northern Burgundy and one of our favourite wines from the is area is Epineuil.  Epineuil was a favourite wine of  King Henri IV and I can see why; it is full of cherry flavour and also has the mineral characteristics so often found in good Chablis as the Pinot Noir vines are grown in similar soil to the Chardonnay grapes used for the famous white. Epineuil is superb wine which can be obtained for bargain prices around 10 Euro a bottle . Alain Mathias is one of our favourite producers.

Whenever I see "Pinot Noir" on the bottle, I should pinch myself. Pinot Noir from Germany, Oregon, New Zealand, Chile or Alsace does not make Burgundy wine. Sorry chaps, you just cannot match the taste or quality of a good Burgundy and you should not try. Why not make a wine which has its own distinctive taste and label it with a decent name?

The Pinot Noir grape grows best in a cool climate and I cannot for the life of me think why they would want to grow it in the South of France. Most of the "Pinot Noir" that I have drunk from the South of France has been completely unpalatable. It is my view that the producers are jumping on the varietal labelling bandwagon. If it is "Pinot Noir" then it must be good - not so.

The Yarra valley is located in Victoria State  and it has a cooler climate suitable for the growth of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Innocent Bystander is an estate produced wine and the grapes are hand picked. This augurs well for the production of a really good wine.

In appearance the wine was clear and bright with a Burgundy colour. On the nose the wine was clean with a youthful smell to develop further. I could smell red fruits and lactic acid from the malolactic conversion used to soften the acidic attributes of the wine. On the palate, I felt that the wine was off-dry with medium tannin and medium acidity and medium body. I could taste the lactic acid and a concentrated taste of red fruits but that was all. The wine tasted one dimensional and jammy. It had short length on the palate. I could only rate the wine as average. My wife felt that  this judgement was a little unfair.

The problem with wine tasting is that it is very much a subjective experience. I found that my taste buds were overwhelmed by the red fruit flavour and I could smell and taste the lactic acid quite strongly. I am particularly sensitive to the taste of lactic acid, perhaps that is why I love cheese so much, but for me it does not improve the taste of the wine.

I also tasted the wine after the tea break when we were served some lovely French Cantal and Irish blue cheese which I tucked into with gusto. Perhaps the cheese flavour was still under my nose.

I am going to give this wine a second go and buy a bottle when I am next in Champion wines. I shall decant the wine and aerate it and consume it with food - probably duck or pheasant.. The wine will probably improve in flavour. I shall also pinch myself  to not to expect it to taste like red Burgundy and enjoy the wine on its own merits. I get a feeling that I shall change my opinion. I also get the feeling that the wine will improve with age. I might buy two bottles and put one aside.

http://www.innocentbystander.com.au/wines/innocentbystander/2013-innocent-bystander-pinot-noir.html

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/who-makes-the-best-pinot-noir

http://www.domainealainmathias.com/nos-vins/

Willunga 100 South Australia McLaren Vale Grenache 2013

The Mclaren Vale is located to the south of Adelaide and has a Mediterranean type climate which is well suited to the growth of Grenache black grapes. Grenache or Garnacha is widely planted in Southern France and Spain. It is blended into such famous wines as Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Rioja. Willunga sources its grapes from a number of vineyards in the vale hence its name - do you remember the Chiltern Hundreds from school?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_%28county_division%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiltern_Hundreds

I was looking forward to tasting this wine.

In appearance it was clear and bright with a medium intensity and colour of ruby. On the nose it was clean and youthful and fully developed for drinking now. It had a strong aroma of red fruits. On the palate it tasted more complex than it smelt. It had the flavour of liquorice. It had a medium to full body. It was dry with a well integrated acid and tannin structure, it was concentrated in flavour and had long length on the palate. It had all the hallmarks of a good wine which at  GBP10.99 is really good value for money. I remarked in my tasting notes that I quite liked it which praise indeed. It is best to drink it now. I really recommend it.

You really need to drink this wine with good Mediterranean style food on a sunny summer afternoon in the garden. You can save an extra bottle for about 7 pm to warm you up when it starts to get cold - UK only of course.

http://willunga100.com/the-wines/10-grenache/

La Boheme Act Four Victoria Yarra Valley  - Syrah and Gamay 2012

At last a wine that has something like a real name. La Boheme is produced by De Bartoli Wines. The vines are probably grown on the lower levels of the Yarra valley where the climate is warmer. The Syrah grape certainly likes a warmer climate.

It looks as though they do not use cultured yeasts to ferment this wine and allow the yeasts which occur naturally on the fruit and in the winery to infuse- for want of a better word- into the grape must. Naturally occurring yeasts are more likely to produce a distinctive wine with its own style. I like the idea of this; just let nature take its own course rather than give way to 21st Century control freak madness.

In appearance the wine was an intense ruby colour but clear. On the nose it was clean and youthful with intense odours of liquorice, toffee, red fruits and spice. On the palate it tasted just as it smelt. The flavours were complex and concentrated. This dry wine was medium to high in  tannin, it had a medium to full body and well integrated acidity. Every component of the wine was well proportioned and there was a long length. This is a wine for food and fine dining. The wine will also keep longer. What more can I say?  The wine was very good and well worth the money - GBP14.99. La Boheme Act Four is what I expect of a good wine as it has its own distinctive taste and I recommend it highly.

Yalumba South Australia Eden Valley "2010 Handpicked Shiraz/Viognier"

We have already considered Yalumba wines and the Eden Valley. Yalumba have a reputation for making very good quality wine. This wine had all the promise to deliver a great wine to end the tasting. It certainly lived up to its promise.

In appearance it was a deep purple colour. On the nose it was clean smelling with pronounced red fruits, liquorice, spice and aromatic and floral flavours. The wine is still developing and will keep further to mature to a better tasting wine. On the palate it tasted almost exactly as it smelt. The wine was complex and concentrated with a long length . All the acid, sugar and tannin components were well integrated and balanced to produce a medium plus body. The wine had long length.

http://www.yalumba.com/vintage.asp?p=154&l=27&v=6869

In my notes I remarked that the wine had its own distinctive flavour and would develop further with bottle ageing. For me the wine was more than good; it was outstanding. When I compared my tasting notes with the description with the wine on their website it was almost exactly the same. I swear that I did not look up the wine before I tasted it. There are no exaggerated claims here either from me or the producer. This wine deserves to be paired with a some really good food and should not really be drunk on its own to calm you down after a hard day at work in front of the the telly. It deserves respect and to be savoured.

The wine also should be given a name; Yalumba have many wines in their portfolio with a proper name. "The Menzies" is  a superb example. There are many great Australians and Australian locations; why not choose one? I think that such a prosaic name as "2010 Handpicked Shiraz/Viognier" really only deserves a place on the rear label.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/11223871/Richie-Benaud-is-a-peerless-example-of-true-grace.html

Just don't serve this wine chilled.

The last over

To finish off the evening in fine form Champion wines produced a well aged Brown Brothers fortified Muscat which was not for sale. This wine was luxurious with intense honey, fruit, floral, toffee and rancio flavours. The wine balanced its  intense luscious sweetness with its acidity. This wine was served with some Australian desserts. I was not going to spit this magnificent wine; I savoured a glass nectar and swallowed it. I can still taste it.

My wife and I love Australia and its people and its best wines. Penny Champion served up a little piece of Australia to warm us up on a cold Chislehurst night. Well done Penny; my wife and I will be coming back.

Friday 23 January 2015

Arbois Trousseau Rouge 1996

We opened a bottle of  Fruitiere Vinicole d'Arbois Trousseau Rouge 1996 to go with our shoulder of lamb for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately the wine was past its best and was very nearly oxidised; it had a smell of sherry. We didn't pour the wine away as it added some flavour to our roast lamb which was sourced from a Kent farmer's market.

Luckily, I guessed that the wine might be past its best and I had a bottle of red Bordeaux in reserve -2010 Chateau Peybonhomme Les Tours  which is a Cru Bourgois wine from Blaye. It was absolutely superb and it will keep for several years longer.

http://winejaw.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/world-cup-wine-brazilian-merlot.html.

The Bordeaux went very well with the lamb so our Christmas dinner was rescued.

I was expecting the Arbois to keep longer. The wine was a present. Arbois wines are produced in the Jura mountains in the east of France. The Trousseau black grape is limited to the region.

The Jura is most famous for its Vin de Paille which is a sweet white wine produced from grapes which have been allowed to dry out on straw mats. The process of drying the grapes increases the concentration of sugar in the berries.

The region is also famous for its Vin Jaune which is a dry white wine which has been exposed to a film of yeast sometimes called "Voile" growing on the surface of the wine sherry style. The film of yeast or "Flor" as it is called in Spain adds complexity to the taste as a result of oxidation. Vin Jaune tastes similar to Fino sherry but it is not fortified; it is produced from the white Savagnin grape.

 http://www.chateau-bethanie.fr/fruitiere-vinicole-arbois-wines-of-jura-en/wine-of-jura-fruitiere-vinicole-arbois-chateau-bethanie-wines-of-jura.php.

We have a bottle of Arbois white wine made from the Savagnin grape from the 1996 vintage. I think that we had better open it and drink it soon; just in case.

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Carta Roja Gran Reserva 2007 red D.O. Jumilla and Bavette Steak

We drank this wine on Christmas Eve with Bavette Steak. We were looking forward to the wine but we were a little bit disappointed. The wine was of ordinary quality but we were expecting it to be much better given the price - £12  a bottle. The San Isidro estate is renowned for good wine. This wine was a grand reserve wine aged in oak for 2 years. It should have an intense and concentrated red berry flavour. But it had lost its intensity , complexity and concentration: this wine should have aged well for 7 years and should have be fully mature for drinking. It tasted ordinary. Maybe it had not been kept properly and had not aged gracefully.

I am a great believer of reading the reviews of the public they give as good an opinion as the "experts". They are worth reading below. Some of the reviewers rate the wine as 1 star out of 5 but I feel this is a little unfair and the 3 star average rating reflects the real quality of the wine. This particular bottle was of average quality.

It is made primarily of the Monastrelle  black grape or the Mourvèdre in France. The Mourvèdre grape is used in blended wines in the south of France to add body to the wine but it is not used as a primary grape in the blend. It suits a hotter climate well. It should have given the Carta Roja lots of flavour and body but this was lacking. Perhaps we just had  a bad bottle. It is now being sold at a discount which probably reflects the real quality of this vintage- £7 to £8 a bottle.

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Carta-Roja-Gran-Reserva-2007/56152011

We were really looking forward to drinking the wine with a Bavette steak. The steak was much better than the wine.

Bavette steak is very popular in France as it is full of flavour and is tastier than most other cuts of steak especially fillet. It is cut from the skirt of the beef and is tougher than sirloin or rump steak and must be eaten rare. If you eat it well done then you ruin it as it becomes almost to tough to cut or chew.  This is part of the reason why British people only eat skirt steak in a casserole as most Brits hate rare meat. Well they are missing out; Bavette steak is a real treat and much cheaper than sirloin steak but with much more flavour. You just need to cook it carefully and make sure it is rare: medium-rare will be almost too tough.

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/beef-bavette-skirt-steak-360g-min

If the wine did not complement the steak too well then my caramelised onions did. It is traditional to eat Bavette with sweet onions. Usually it takes hours to cook caramelised onions but I have got a quick recipe if you don't have time or you have made a spur of the moment decision to eat them with your favourite cut of steak.

Take a medium sized red onion and chop it into strips but not too finely or they will burn. Do not use butter as it can burn as well.
Pour some olive oil into a saucepan and heat it but do not put in too much oil as the onions will fry rather than caramelise.
When the oil is hot but not too hot add the onions and allow them to cook for a while.
Add a couple of teaspoons of Muscovado sugar and stir in and cook until the onion and sugar mix starts to caramelise. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add a couple of shots of Basalmic vinegar to taste and keep stirring.
Make sure you taste the mixture; you can add sweetness to balance the taste if you have added too much vinegar or vice-versa  and you can even add more onion to taste.
Now comes the tricky bit as you really need to soften the onions, so add a little water and allow it to boil off. Keep stirring. Make sure the onions do not dry out.
Repeat the water treatment until the onions have softened.
Watch everything carefully and keep stirring and tasting. When the onions have softened and caramelised sufficiently turn off the heat. All this takes 20 minutes or so. Make sure the mixture does not fry as overcooking will ruin it.
Deglaze  the onions from the pan with water or wine but with only sufficient to make sure all the juices are removed from the pan.

Now you must get your timing right; do not start cooking the steak until the onions have finished as you risk overdoing the steak. The steak needs some olive oil and ground pepper and salt on the surface to taste. The steak should be allowed to get to room temperature if it has been refrigerated as you do not want the steak to be cold in the middle as you are cooking it rare.

Heat the frying pan well. The aim is to sear the top 4 mm  or so of the steak but leave the interior red or bloody even. You must watch what you are doing . Do not attempt any other cooking whilst doing this. If you over cook the steak then you ruin it and there is no going back.

You can add a little chopped garlic for flavour to taste.

Bavette steak is always served with chips, so of course you have to get the timing right and wait until they are almost done until you start the steak. The steaks should not take long to cook and, I repeat, you must watch what you are doing and concentrate on the steaks only.

We served our steak with gratin grilled tomatoes too, which my wife cooked.

http://www.valais-terroir.ch/en/recette-cuisine/ete/gratinated-tomatoes-with-valais-raclette-cheese-0-6449

I like to season my chips with squeezed lemon juice rather than traditional British malt vinegar. I never use malt vinegar and prefer to eat chips from a chip shop without it. I get the chips home and slice some lemon or use wine vinegar if lemons aren't available.

My caramelised onions were delicious. Usually, I do not eat the onions but cover the steak with them for the flavour and then swish them off with my knife. My wife never eats onions but this time she ate all of my quick caramelised versions - yum yum but a pity about the wine.

PS. here are the slow methods for caramelised onions:

http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/crock-pot-caramelized-onions-slow-and-steady-does-the-trick/


http://www.coupdepouce.com/recettes-cuisine/conseils-pratiques/infos-cuisine/comment-carameliser-les-oignons/a/39000