Burgundy – One region but many styles of Wine

Burgundy – One region but many styles of Wine

On a recent trip to Burgundy it was really brought home to me how the styles and character of the wine differ from area to area. This is what makes Burgundy so interesting for me; all of the good wines have regional character. They have the much talked about goût de terroir.

My wife and I were visiting her family in north Burgundy and because her father was born in Beines near the town of Chablis we have a particular fondness for the wines of the area. But this fondness is not just based on sentimentality as the quality of the wines from northern Burgundy can be outstanding. The hospitality of our Burgundian cousins was also outstanding.

We drank two red wines:

Le Bourgogne-Côte-Saint-Jacques 2010 produced by Domaine Christophe Lepage from the commune of Champlay near to Joigny, which is about 24 kms down river from Auxerre on the banks of the river Yonne. The river Yonne to the south and the Othe forest to the north protect the vines from excessive heat or cold in all seasons.  

About 11 hectares of land is under vine in the Côte-Saint-Jacques “appellation”. Since the late 1970s there has been a revival in the fortunes of the Joigny vineyards. Grape production almost disappeared here during the early part of the twentieth century owing to infestation of the vines by the phylloxera pest which almost completely destroyed the vineyards.

The soil here is composed of sand, flint, gravel and clay overlying late cretaceous limestone and it is ideally suited to the cultivation of the Pinot Noir grape. The vineyards here are the most northern of the Burgundy Appellation so the red wines are not as rich as the wines further south.

This wine tasted of cherry and red fruits with soft tannins. It was of good basic quality and was fully mature but it would not improve in the bottle for much longer

.

Côte-Saint-Jacques wines are not readily available in the UK, it is best to pay a visit to the area. Joigny and Auxerre are towns which are well worth visiting they are about 4 hours from Calais by car.

Bourgogne –Epineuil Les Beaumonts 2009 Vignobles Dampt; this is a prize winning red wine. Epineuil is one of my favourites: it is produced in the eponymous commune near the town of Tonnerre.

The soil is based on Kimmeridgian calcareous outcrops which lends a flinty or steely taste to the wine and this combined with the cherry and red fruits flavours gives a completely distinctive character to the wine.

This wine tastes much more complex than the Côte-Saint-Jacques.

It is the soil which makes the difference and even though Tonnerre is only twenty five miles from Joigny the geology is completely different.

The wine was fully mature and ready to drink now but I am certain that it could be kept for a few years longer.

The vineyards of Tonnerre suffered a similar fate to those of Joigny and before the end of the 19^th century it was regarded as one of the most prestigious in France; it is now recovering its reputation. Epineuil is set to become one of the princes of wine. It is also difficult to obtain in the UK so a visit to the area is recommended.

We drank two white wines:

Chablis Premier Cru Beauroy 2008 from Domaine Alain Geoffroy: this is a good quality Chablis which had all the complex flavours that I would expect from a premier cru wine. It tasted of peaches and citrus fruits with a mineral flavour imparted by the Kimmeridgian soils.

This wine is 100% chardonnay and was not matured in new oak barrels. It tasted fresh. We drank this wine with fish at the start of a meal and chaource with the cheese course. This wine is OK to drink now but it will keep and improve in the bottle for several years longer. 

Chablis is one of my favourite white wines as I am not over fond of white wines which have too much oak flavour. Chablis is easily obtainable in the UK but at inflated prices compared to France, so this is another good reason to visit the north of Burgundy.

Saint-VéranTerra Incognita 2008 White: the appellation of Saint-Véran is from much further south in the Burgundy region in the Mâconnais district which is west of the town of Mâcon. The climate is much warmer here and this is reflected in the style and character of the wine: it is much richer than the Chardonnay based whites form the north of Burgundy. The soil is also different to that of Chablis as it is based on limestone marls.

This wine is so different in style to the Chablis premier cru that you could be forgiven for thinking that they are from completely different regions. It too had a flavour of stone fruits and peaches but there was the distinct taste of vanilla spice. Unlike the Chablis it had been matured in new oak barrels. There was none of the mineral flavour from the Kimmeridgian soils of the Chablis sub-region. It was good quality wine but not outstanding. 

The Mâconnais sub-region produces more dry white wine than the rest of Burgundy put to together and is an ideal place to find and good quality White Burgundy which is excellent value for money. 

So there you have it, two good quality red and dry whites which reflect the character of their sub-region and even their local area. The Burgundy region covers just over 12,000 square miles and it is easy to travel from part to another but there are many styles of wine. In some wine producing countries you would need to cross a whole continent to find wines of such distinctive character.

Planet of the Grapes - Bow Lane London

I had time to spare for lunch with a colleague in Bow lane so I popped in to Planet Of The Grapes to see what it is all about. Normally, a name such as this which apes the name of a film would put me off- pardon the pun.

I was really impressed  when I asked the waitress to recommend a real dry white wine and the answer was Domaine Vatan Pouilly-Fumé 2010. The wine was superb and I happily paid £10 for a glass. It had the distinct flavour of a Loire Valley white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. It had green fruit and apple flavours and a gorgeous smokey, flinty aroma; this wine was typical of the area.

I bought a bottle at £16 to take home and this represented tremendous value for money for such a good wine from a good producer. I shall share it with friends over a fish dinner.

The wine was made from grapes from selected plots of land where the soil is based on silaceous clay interspersed with  flint stones. It was the perfect wine to drink on its own on a hot summer day but better with food of course.

It was a pleasant to find a wine bar where the waiting staff actually know something about wine and make a perfect recommendation. Of course, I cannot resist a rant about varietal labelling. Merlot is not a wine it is a grape.  Merlot is used to produce grapes in almost every wine producing country. The "wine" is rarely 100% Merlot as it will have been blended with other black grapes. the same reasoning applies to Chardonnay.

I was in an Italian restaurant the other day and asked the waitress to recommend a red wine, she suggested Merlot. She was Italian; why did she know nothing about wine? I settled for a Sicilian red, she new where Sicily was but why did she not know that they produced some very good wine? Why should I be treated as an ignoramus?

Is it not time for all wine bars and restaurants to follow Planet Of The Grapes lead and employ people who know something about wine.

If you settle for "Merlot Wine" you will probably get  poor quality bulk produced plonk from anywhere in the world but being sold at inflated prices. At Plane Of The Grapes I knew what I was getting and I was prepared to pay that little bit extra for the wine and the good service.

The range of wines from all over the world in Planet Of The Grapes was impressive and the wine knowledge of the manager, Fabio, was equally as impressive. A quick glance at the Bordeaux and Burgundy counters revealed that I had tasted a fair proportion of them . I could be worth a fortune now but I would not have enjoyed my life so much.

So three cheers for Fabio and his staff. I am going back.

http://www.edvwines.com/xq/asp/ID.21/qx/brands.html

http://www.planetofthegrapes.co.uk/

Domaine Debray Auxey-Duresses AOC 2005 White Burgundy

We drank this wine after the Wolf Blass Yellow label sparkling wine but with our food- see my previous posting. This wine is typical of a white Burgundy form the Côte de Beaune area with a complex flavours of nuts, butter, fruits and spice. it is not dissimilar to its more illustrious brothe from the neighbouring commune of Mersault. It compares favourably.

The limestone marl soils and the climate here really suit the Chardonnay grape. This wine has the distinct character of the region. The Côte de Beaune produces some of the world's finest dry white wines with a subtle oak finish. In my opinion the New World still has a long way to go to beat even the modest wines from Debray who is a really good producer.

This wine went perfectly with casseroled chicken but it would go equally as well with fish especially smoked salmon. The 2005 vintage is ready for drinking now.

I can't remember how much I paid for this wine but  now I think that we are talking about £16 to £20 pounds a bottle

http://www.domaine-debray.fr/vins-beaune/img/rvf-juin2010.pdf

http://www.burgundyeye.com/wine/winegrowers-merchants/beaune/domaine-debray-beaune/

Wolf Blass Yellow Label Sparkling Wine Brut and Buck's Fizz

The weather was so hot last weekend that we decided to eat outside. We had some friends coming round and one of likes sparkling wine. My wife suggested buck's fizz so I looked for a bottle of cheap wine to contaminate with orange juice. The best I could come up with was Wolf Blass Yellow Label 2009 white sparkling wine made for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

I thought for a moment and asked myself - "why should I ruin a perfectly good bottle of fizz as I would not do this with Champagne?".

The Wolf Blass was chilled and we all drank it and I was quite impressed. It was not as good as Champagne as it did not have the savoury taste and the complexity of flavours. It was full of fruit however and ready for drinking. Unlike most Champagne, the Blass was not blended from different years and was a real vintage wine.

The Wolf Blass, however, was blended from vines from different vineyards and I suspect that it has been produced in bulk. Unlike Champagne, this wine was probably produced by the transfer method whereby the wine is disgorged into a pressurised tank after secondary fermentation in the bottle. The sparkling wine is then filtered and has a "dosage" added to balance the acidity; it is then re-bottled. This method of sparkling wine production is sometimes termed "bottle fermented".

http://www.wolfblasswines.com/en/Our-Wines/Yellow-Label/Sparkling-Brut-Pinot-Noir-Chardonnay.aspx

Champagne and Cava are made from the traditional method so they are not disgorged into a tank after secondary fermentation. The "dosage " is added to the original bottle. The same bottle is used for the process of sparkling wine production and retained throughout. This traditional method is more expensive and is used for better quality wine.

The Wolf Blass Yellow Label does not in any way taste inferior and it is of good everyday drinking quality. As my Australian friends would say. "It is not a bad drop of grog". At around £8 pounds for a bottle it represents very good value for money and is an excellent wine to drink as an aperitif - but not mixed with orange juice please.

I always have cheap bottles of  cognac and whisky available for when people ask for mixers. My wife has been known to use my Camus XO or Glenmorangie. As far as I am concerned it is complete sacrilege to drink mixers with the best spirits. It is also sacrilege to mix orange juice or kir with Champagne.
Some people have a different opinion and they deserve what they get.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/saveur-100-cognac-cocktails


The same goes for beer; Shepherd Neame Master Brew cask conditioned ale does not improve the taste of  lemonade if you order a shandy. It is better to stick to the cheapest beer the pub can offer or have a glass of water to quench your thirst.

So, lets keep our good sparkling wines unadulterated and reserve the real plonk for mixing.

Stray''s of Newark - Great food but no Fino

My wife and I went to a family meal recently at Stray's of Newark. This is a fine old establishment in a fine market town.

Stray's specialises in Tapas and they have music performances. So what better way to spend a hot Friday night eating Spanish food and listening to some jazz with the family.

The menu had a wide selection of food but no Fino. I was a little bit surprised by this as Fino and Tapas are like Siamese twins that should never be separated. Fino or Manzanilla Sherry is the life blood of a Spanish Tapas bar.

When I spoke to the manager he told me that there is no demand for Fino - so why keep stocks of wine which will never be drunk and which should be drunk as young as possible. It did not make economic sense so point taken.

Fino is one of the finest wines and it has a completely distinctive style. It has a light to medium body with a complex flavour of nuts and yeast with a hint of acetaldehyde. It is a completely dry wine because the method of production encourages the growth of yeast or Flor on the surface of the wine in the cask. This Flor consumes any remaining sugar left over from fermentation and any glycerine in the wine.

The development of Flor in Sherry is a random and natural process which only occurs in the Jerez region of Spain. This combined with the Albariza soil and the Palomino grape variety produces one of the world's best fortified wines.

Anyone who does not drink Fino with their Tapas is missing out on a wonderful food and wine combination. Fino goes well with the whole range of Spanish food. It even handles food which is strong in garlic.

Millions of British people go to Spain for their holidays every year. Surely, some of you must have discovered Fino and Tapas or did you all stick to Omelette and Chips and Fosters?


I urge all food lovers to order Fino the next time you go to a Spanish restaurant or even to the wine bar down the road. It is great to drink at home as an aperitif and no-one who I know who likes wine has ever refused a second glass unless they were driving.

If there is no demand then bar owners will not stock it. You should always drink Fino chilled and the younger the wine is bottled the better. Because the wine is fractionally blended from different years in a Solera system there can be no vintage.

http://www.strayscoffee.co.uk/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jan/19/sherry-guide-beginners-wine-spain

L'Homme De Bois - Honfleur

We went to the L'Homme De Bois in Honfleur last Monday evening. It is a very good restaurant not far from the port.

http://www.sammagenceweb.com/restaurant-lhomme-de-bois-honfleur-27721-honfleur

What do you do when you have a party of four and two are going to eat beef and the other two are going to eat fish? Do you order a bottle of red and a bottle of white and risk the wrath of the health authorities? Do you order two half bottles even though the choice is limited? Or, do you at least share a bottle of wine even if you are not sharing the food and order a bottle of Les Restanques du Moulin Bandol Rosé 2012.

Well I chose the latter and  this was a superb wine which goes equally well with grilled Côte de Bœuf
and Grilled Sea Bass. Bandol is one of my favourite wines. The Rosé is made from a mixture of  Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsault grapes.

This wine has a lovely aroma with a taste of raspberries, strawberries and other red fruits. At 28 EUR for a bottle in a Restaurant it was particularly good value for money. You can buy it on the retail market for around 10 EUR a bottle.

http://www.espritwine.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29925

                                                                                                                                         

The food and service in the restaurant was also of high quality. Although I ate fish, I also tasted rather a lot of one of our company's Côte de Bœuf. The wine went extremely well with both.  Perhaps my wine education was not wasted after all.

Sipping the wine also made me reflect on my good fortune to be able to drink such good wine in such favourable circumstances. Maybe the wine course made a philosopher out of me as well!

The restaurant was very good with customer service and the waitress ignored my wife's entreaties not to serve chips with my fish. Fish and chips is not just the preserve of the British, as the French, Belgians and Spanish love this combination too.

The restaurant had a nice mix of tourists and local people. It is well worth visiting  the L'Homme De Bois and Honfleur too.

Bandol Rosé is not made from mixing white wine and red wine but from a special technique which only allows the skin of the black grapes a short period of contact with the fermentation must. Producing Rosé wine from blending  red and white white is banned in France except for the Champagne region.

Bandol Rouge is also a very fine wine made primarily from the Mourvèdre black grape.

The Bandol region of Provence also produces some fine white wines.

If you have not tried Bandol then I strongly recommend that you do, especially the Red. You will not be disappointed.

Château Barreyres Haut Médoc Cru Bourgeois 2010

My wife bought this red Bordeaux in a Carrefour supemarket last weekend on our trip to Normandy. And it is a very fine wine for the money. How come I can spend years studying wine and my wife can just show up at the supermarket and find a good bottle for about 12 Eur? Perhaps my wine education was wasted.

This wine won a silver medal at the Vinalies Internationales and I am not surprised by this. This 2010 wine is ready for drinking now but it can be kept for a lot longer. The vines are grown on clay soils with gravel in the Haut-Medoc. - 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot. The tannins are softening nicely and the wine has the aroma of red and black fruits typical of the region.

http://www.chateau-barreyres.com/pdf/Barreyres_Fiche_09_GB.pdf

It has all the hallmarks of a very good wine at a very reasonable price. We drank it with a
Côte de Bœuf cooked on a barbecue. The beef came from the same supermarket and it was superb. How come we cannot get meat of such quality in British Supermarkets?

Anyway I digress, you can buy this wine in in the UK and it is worth searching out but of course it will cost you 12 GBP rather than 12 EUR. This is genuine good quality wine which tastes as if it was made with care and with respect for the climate and terroir of the region.

You could pay twelve pounds just to drink industrialised and homogenised wine which could come from anywhere. So, why not try Château Barreyres  to find out what good wine making is really about.

Health Benefits (or Dis-benefits) of Drinking Alcohol

Every day we are bombarded with articles about the benefits or dis-benefits of drinking alcohol. I wish everyone  would stop.

There are probably no direct benefits for your health from drinking wine, beer or whisky other than making you feel good if you consume the alcohol with friends in a convivial atmosphere. The health benefits of consuming anti-oxidants can easily be obtained elsewhere.

It is unethical to conduct experiments on human beings and it is almost impossible to test for independent variables with regard to food and drink.

All the evidence regarding the health benefits of one food or beverage or another is derived from statistical analysis or the review of one report or another. There is no direct evidence that drinking one glass of wine or beer a day improves your health.

Equally, there is no direct evidence of how much daily consumption of alcohol is dangerous for an individual's health. Healthy drinking recommendations are also based on statistics derived from the whole population.

For some people it is dangerous to consume any alcohol especially including ex-alcoholics and sufferers of liver disease.

Some people can probably safely consume more that the recommended daily doses without ill effects.

It is down to commonsense not to consume too much alcohol, or junk food for that matter, for if you do you will certainly damage your  health. You do not need the government or the health authorities to tell you this.

It is also a certainty that you are going to die whether you eat junk food or drink beer or not. So in the final analysis all the statistics are meaningless. It is being born that eventually kills you but it is how you live your life along the way that matters. Sipping a few glasses of wine certainly makes the inexorable fact of death more palatable.