September 2017 – Frankly Wines

Five Fab Whites from the Ely Big Tasting

September 28, 2017 admin

I’ve already picked my five favourite reds, now here are five of the whites which stood out for me at the Ely Big Tasting:

Bride Valley Brut Reserve 2014 (12.0%, RRP ~ €54, Liberty Wines)

Bride Valley is a producer named after a place of the same name in Dorset on the south coast of England (it’s between Hampshire and Devon (I had to check as I’m a Northerner myself). The estate is owned by Steven Spurrier and his wife Arabella; Steven is a former wine merchant, a wine educator and a wine writer, and is perhaps most famous for hosting the “Judgement of Paris” in 1976 (though he wasn’t too happy to be portrayed by a 60+ year old Alan Rickman in Bottle Shock!). The soil is said to be similar to Champagne, though I think it’s probably more technically accurate to say that Champagne has similar soil to this part of Dorset as the village of Kimmeridge (whence Kimmeridgian) is close by!

The blend is “typically” 50% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir, the three main Champagne grapes, though not seen in these proportions that often. It’s not the most complex English sparkler I’ve tried, though that’s understandable as it’s a very young estate – but it’s simply a delicious wine, and dangerously quaffable!

O Luar do Sil Valdeorras Godello Sobre Lias 2015 (13.5%, RRP ~ €30, Mitchell & Son)

The Rodero Villa family had been making fine Ribero del Duero wines at Pago de los Capellanes for two decades before they set up an outpost in Galicia, north west Spain. Valdeorras is Godello country with a cool climate that encourages a long growing season and lots of aromatic compounds in the wines. “O Luar do Sil” apparently means “The Reflection of the Moon on the river Sil” – though I presume this only applies at night…

Anyway, the wine itself is delicious – fresh, green fruit with creamy richness from six months on fine lees. Wines like this reinforce my view that Godello can make wines equally as good as – if not better than – Galicia’s other prominent white grape Albariño.

Mahi Estate Boundary Farm Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (14.0%, RRP ~ €26 Quintessential Wines)

I’ve already written about this wine in 2017 but I make no excuses for repeating myself – it’s an excellent wine. Don’t think that this is “just another Marlborough Sauvignon”, it’s far more than that: smoky, funky and citrusy all at the same time. If anything I think this is tasting better than it did earlier in the year, but should keep on developing for several years.

Maison Ambroise Côtes de Nuits Villages Blanc 2013 (13.0%, RRP ~ €28, Le Caveau)

Maison Ambroise are better known for their red wines (as is the Côtes de Nuits in general), with a history going back to the 18th century. The vineyards were reinvigorated by Bertrand Ambroise in 1987 and the amount of land under vine increased to 21 hectares. Organic certification came in 2013.

Oak is used sparingly to add complexity and mouthfeel – details weren’t immediately available but I suspect that any new oak was only a fraction of the total. This is a superlative white – for a relatively modest outlay – so beware, it might just be the wine that gets you hooked on white Burgundy!

Jean Thévenet Domaine de la Bongran Viré-Clessé 2010 (14.0%, RRP ~ €33, Wines Direct)

Viré-Clessé is in the Maconnais, the southernmost sub-region of Burgundy proper before Beaujolais, so the fruit is nearly always riper than Chablis at the other (northern) end of Burgundy. Jean and Gautier Thevenet go even further with their Domaine de la Bongran grapes – they leave them on the vine for several weeks longer than all their neighbours, resulting in powerful wines. The high sugar levels at harvest time combined with natural yeast means that fermentation can take months and months. Such is the richness of the wine that you might think there’s oak used along the way, but not a bit of it. This is an unusual style of Chardonnay that really needs to be tried!

Tasting Events

Five Fab Reds from the Ely Big Tasting

September 26, 2017 admin

The twice yearly Ely Big Tastings are a highlight of the consumer wine tasting calendar. With so many fantastic wines on show it’s pretty much impossible to taste them all, but it’s fun to try. Here are a mere handful of the reds which stood out for me:

Serradenari Barolo La Vetta 2011 (14.5%, RRP ~ €48, On The Grapevine)

Barolo is such an enigma, and can be made in such different styles that you really need to know the producer to know what you are getting. This is one to add to the “thumbs up” list! The vines are in the highest part of Barolo, giving a longer growing season and plenty of acidity and minerality, but above all plenty of fruit! Yes there’s enough tannin to go round, but it frames rather than hides the fruit. I’d imagine that this will improve over the next decade – and continue ageing gracefully after that – but it’s delicious right now.

Frères Laffitte Le Petit Gascoûn Rouge 2016 (12.5%, RRP ~ €13.50, Febvre)

Like its white counterpart that I tried earlier in the year, this is an accessible, easy-drinking wine that is very well made for the money. Le Rouge is a blend of 80% Tannat (better known as the backbone of the tannic Madiran) and 20% Cabernet Franc. Seeing that blend on paper would have given me pause for thought, but it’s actually full of soft summer fruits and isn’t the tannin monster that some Madirans can be. My friend Michelle who tasted it with me said she could imagine herself quaffing this in the back garden on a summer’s day.

Domaine de Montcy Cheverny Rouge 2016 (11.5%, RRP ~ €23 Grapecircus)

The French Appellation d’Origine Controllée system has a lot to answer for (a discussion for another time) but one of its upsides has been preserving traditional grapes and blends, especially in lesser known areas. Cheverny is a small AOC in the Loire for reds, whites and rosés. The reds are a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, sometimes with a little bit of Malbec (Côt to the locals) thrown in – and this bottle has all three of the Loire’s main black grapes: 60% Pinot Noir, 35% Gamay and 5% Malbec. As you’d expect it’s a light wine, but it’s also one of the most alive and vital wines I’ve ever tasted.

Milan Nestarec Klasika Dornfelder 2015 (13.0%, RRP ~ €25, Vinostito)

Dornfelder has an interesting family tree (see below) and is interesting as a grape because it is one of the small number of crossbred varieties that have been successful from both a viticultural and flavour perspective – too many experiments created grapes that could cope with frost or mildew (for example) but whose wines just weren’t that nice to drink. Dornfelder is the second most planted black grape in Germany and has also been successful in other regions with similar climates – Switzerland, England and cooler parts of the USA.

From the name you might have guessed that Milan Nestarec is not German – he is in fact Czech, though his vineyard lies only 14km from the border with Austria. It’s a young winery, founded by Milan Nestarec Sr as recently as 2001. Located in Southern Moravia, it is run organically. This Dornfelder is from their middle Klasika range and has the variety’s typical deep colour, rich mouthfeel, moderate tannins and perky acidity.

Niepoort Bioma Vinha Velha Vintage Port 2015 (21.0%, RRP ~ €120, Wine Mason)

Vintage port accounts for a very small proportion of total production and is only released by the Port houses in the best years when they “declare” a vintage. Maceration and fermentation are done as quickly as possible so that the grape spirit can be added promptly. As an alternative, in years when a Port house doesn’t declare a vintage because they don’t have the required quality of grapes across their holdings, they may release a Colheita port. This will be from a single year but will be a different style as it will have undergone far more ageing in barrel before bottling.

A third way is this wine, a single vineyard vintage port made from old vines where the wine has spent around three years in barrel before bottling. In style it’s somewhat reminiscent of the older style where Port shippers transported large barrels (known as pipes) to London for bottling. Whereas vintage port is highly tannic, sweet and intensely fruity in its youth, this is remarkably drinkable. Yes it has the big fruit – blackberry, blueberry and blackcurrant – but they are accessible rather than being in your face. Who knew young vintage port could be this accessible?

Tasting Events

A is for Alsace, Z is for Zinck

September 22, 2017 admin

Domaine Zinck of Eguisheim

I was introduced to the wines of Domaine Zinck by Charles Derain of Nomad Wine Importers a few years ago, and have been lucky enough to taste them several times since, including the Grand Cru Eichberg Riesling which was my personal standout of last year’s SPIT festival.

The Zinck portfolio is split into four distinct ranges:

the everyday Portrait series which typify their variety
the Terrior series which are from smaller, better plots
the Grand Crus, the top of the Alsace quality ladder
Crémants, sparkling wines for celebration and fun

Earlier this year I was treated to a tasting of some standout wines from the range at Dax Restaurant in Dublin, hosted by Philippe Zinck and Charles Derain, followed by an interesting discussion over lunch (with more wine of course). Full disclosure: I was a guest of Nomad Wines, but all opinions on the wines are my own (unless noted). Of course, tasting French wines in a French restaurant with Frenchmen meant I had to wear my England rugby jacket!

Philippe’s Perspective

Philippe’s father Paul started the winery with 2.5 hectares in 1964, although his parents already had some vines on their farm. Paul gradually improved quality and expanded the land under vine – it had reached 6 hectares by the mid 70s and 8 hectares when Philippe took over in 1997. Philippe accelerated the expansion so that by 2017 the Domaine covered 20 hectares and employed 8 people.

But even more than quantity, Philippe kept striving to improve quality, going fully organic in 2011 and practising biodynamics in some vineyards. He looks for purity and finesse in his wines, balance rather than power, and an authentic expression of where they are made.

What’s new? is a question asked of Philippe by some people in the wine trade – perhaps seeking new blends and new varieties – but each vintage is a new chapter in the story of Domaine Zinck. With only six years since full organic conversion, there are decades of tweaking viticulture and vinification for each variety in each plot – there are no limits in sight!

The biggest challenges are generally natural – the weather patterns in each vintage. Straight forward global warming could be taken into account, but climate change (i.e. more unpredictable, changeable weather) is far more difficult to manage.

Producing such fresh wines with unrelenting summer temperatures into the 40s centigrade is a major achievement. Lots of sunshine and high temperatures could over-amplify the aromatics, letting them get out of kilter, so the canopy is left as full as possible to shade the grapes.

Damp weather (particularly mist and fog) increases the chance of rot and other unwanted diseases, so the canopy is trimmed to allow air to circulate better. If there’s too much rainfall then grass is allowed to grow in between the rows; the grass competes for the water so the vines don’t get too much.

Sylvaner is a variety that is much under-rated; in decades past when quantity was key, Sylvaner would produce plenty of grapes but with little character at these high yields. Now that the variety is being given a fair crack of the whip it is producing some good wines that are worthy of interest. Although not one of the four “noble grapes” of Alsace, Sylvaner is now permitted in one Grand Cru – Zotzenberg.

One of the key challenges facing Alsace as a region is the huge gap between AOC Alsace and the Grands Crus. Additionally, some of the boundaries of certain Grands Crus are thought to be too wide and not suitable for all the varieties that are grown there. One important addition to the region is the introduction of Alsace Premier Cru. Philippe believes that this is definitely going to happen and he would look to have his Terroir series wines classed as Premier Cru. Whether Grand Cru regulations get tightened up is another story.

As the only black grape in the cool climate of Alsace, Pinot Noir hasn’t received much attention – in fact the resulting red wines are often treated more like rosés (quite pale and served at 10ºC in restaurants!) However, the combination of better understanding of how the grape performs in different local microclimates and warmer vintages has enabled some very good Pinots to be produced – so much so that Pinot Noir from vineyards within certain Grand Crus (such as Réné Muré’s “V” from Vorbourg) will be granted Grand Cru status.

So now onto the wines!

Domaine Zinck Portrait Pinot Blanc 2016 (12.5%, RRP €18 at SIYPS)

For Charles, one of the key attractive features of Domaine Zinck is that it is one of the few producers who don’t make their wines too sweet – especially the “everyday” Portrait series. Even if there is some residual sugar the wines are balanced and not “sugary”.

Philippe noted that the 2016 Pinot Blanc is lighter than 2015 – the latter was a very warm vintage.

This is a fresh and fruity wine full of apple and quince. There’s a very round mid palate but a crisp finish which makes it very versatile.

Domaine Zinck Terroir Sylvaner 2014

Made from 35 year old vines on clay and limestone soil. This is highly aromatic! No dilute plonk here, this is probably the best Sylvaner I’ve ever tasted. Flinty and a touch smoky. Elegant and great for food matching.

Domaine Zinck Grand Cru Eichberg Riesling 2015 (12.5%, RRP ~ €34 at SIYPS)

The Eichberg (literally “oak mountain”) is mainly clay soil (good for water retention) and combined with a hot vintage has produced an amazing Riesling. This is a rich, profound wine even in its youth – and it should cellar well to the end of the next decade. The nose alone is fabulous and worth the entrance fee – complex citrus notes where you can pick out different fruits as you inhale. This is a dry Riesling, yes, but it’s far from austere and is so delicious right now that it would take an immense amount of self discipline to lay down!

Domaine Zinck Grand Cru Goldert Gewurztraminer 2013

The Goldert Grand Cru is just to the north of Gueberschwihr with mainly east-facing slopes, and is most renowned for Gewurz and Muscat. Zinck’s Gewurz vines are 50 years old giving intense, concentrated flavours. On tasting, I can only describe it as fecking huge in the mouth! It’s so soft and round, but has an amazing fresh finish. Charles finds some Gewurztraminers to be almost like a lady’s perfume (or in pre-PC days one might have said “smell like a tart’s boudoir”), but this is perfectly balanced.

Domaine Zinck Grand Cru Rangen Pinot Gris 2011 (13.0%, RRP ~ €48 at SIYPS)

Rangen is the most southerly Grand Cru of Alsace, with steep slopes on volcanic soil. and a river of the bottom of the slope which helps botrytis develop. Domaine Zinck buys grapes from Rangen as it doesn’t own vineyards down there. Yields are low and 60% of the vines are on south facing slopes.

This wine is the perfect example of why Pinot Gris is narrowly my second favourite grape from Alsace – it’s so complex, rich and spicy. Ginger is complemented by star anise and liquorice, but to be honest the longer you taste it the more flavours you recognise. Isn’t that what makes wine interesting? Residual sugar is 30 g/L but it’s perfectly integrated and finishes off dry.

Single Bottle Review

Who’s the Dada? [Frankie’s Single Bottle Review #14]

September 19, 2017 admin

As most regular readers will know, I’m very lucky to receive sample wine bottles on a regular basis, in addition to invitations to trade and press tastings. While spitting at tastings is de rigueur (and, quite frankly, necessary if you want to maintain both your palate and the ability to walk unaided), sample bottles are drunk without spitting chez moi.

So what do you do when you have a good few samples that you need to try, but you’re cutting back on the booze for a bit? Share them with wine friends is the obvious answer! Thus, at an informal dinner with friends from the DNS Wine Club I produced four bottles of relatively inexpensive red wine all wrapped in foil – for a mini blind tasting.

The objective of the blind tasting wasn’t to see which was the best wine, but rather to see how good we were at guessing the vintage, main grape(s), country of origin etc. And we were painfully average at that! However, one wine was agreed to be the tastiest – and happened to be the go-to bottle of one of the tasters:

Finca Las Moras Dadá Art Series 1 2016 (12.5%, €10.00, widely available at SuperValu, Dunnes Stores and all good independent off licences)

Las Moras Dada Bonarda Malbec

There are actually lots of different wines in the Dadá Art Series, but this Bonarda / Malbec blend is the most widely available. It’s actually quite an unusual blend, as Bonarda in Argentina is the same grape as the obscure Deuce Noir from Savoie in France (and formerly part of Italy) rather than the slightly better known Bonarda Piemontese. Malbec is of course Argentina’s signature black grape.

Obscure or unusual don’t matter in the end, it’s what’s in the glass that counts – and this is lovely! Blackberry crumble with lashings of custard, it’s that kind of lovely – black fruit from the grapes with plenty of vanilla from the American oak. And for a tenner in Ireland, this is great value for money!

Opinion

Alsace Wines in Lidl Autumn French Wine Sale

September 15, 2017 admin

As in previous years Lidl Ireland are having a French wine sale this autumn, starting on 25th September. “Sale” means different things to different people – here it doesn’t mean price reductions on existing lines but rather a limited release of certain French wines which aren’t all sale all year round.

The wines come from several different regions including Bordeaux, Rhône valley, the Loire, the Languedoc and Burgundy; but of course I have chosen to focus on my favourite white wine region of the world, Alsace!

Jean Cornelius Trio

Disclosure: samples kindly provided for review

Jean Cornelius Alsace Sylvaner 2016 (12.0%, €8.99 at Lidl Ireland)

Jean Cornelius Sylvaner

Sylvaner is often looked down upon as one of the poor relations in Alsace, though that has much to do with grape farmers being paid for quantity rather than quality – Sylvaner can produce high yields but becomes dilute and lacking in flavour. In the hands of a good vigneron it can produce good wines, though it’s more of a quaffing wine than one for contemplation.

This Jean Cornelius 2016 is a great introduction to the grape, if you didn’t know it before. It’s clean, unoaked and dry, which are all normal for Sylvaner in Alsace, despite misconceptions about the bottle shape (don’t mention the “L word”!) If you like Riesling and Pinot Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay then give this a try, as it sits somewhere in the middle of them flavour-wise – there’s a touch of apple and a touch of citrus, making it great for shellfish, subtle fish dishes or as an aperitif – went great with green olives!

Jean Cornelius Alsace Pinot Blanc 2016 (12.0%, €8.99 at Lidl Ireland)

Jean Cornelius Pinot Blanc

Pinot Blanc is the great all-rounder of Alsace; it’s fruity and supple, rarely austere (which Riesling can be) but not as exotic as Gewurztraminer (see below) or its sibling Pinot Gris. In fact there’s a trick which Alsace producers can use – other grapes! Now they can’t just put any old grapes in, but a dash of Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir (without skin contact of course) or Auxerrois is permitted.

Crunchy apple and pear are the key flavours here. As the wine warms a little in your glass it goes from Granny Smith to Golden Delicious, but always finishes dry and crips.

Jean Cornelius Alsace Gewurztraminer 2016 (12.5%, €7.99 (50cl) at Lidl Ireland)

Jean Cornelius Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer – more easily shortened to Gewurz – is very different from most other grapes. It’s highly aromatic and has a distinctive exotic perfume that can divide drinkers (a true “Marmite grape”). Due to the ease with which the variety produces sugar it is often made somewhat sweet – on the listing I received this wine is described as moelleux i.e. sweet, but it isn’t classified as either Vendange Tardive or Sélection de Grains Nobles which are the Alsace terms for certain classes of sweet wines.

And on pouring this revealed itself to be a typical Gewurz – rose petals and Turkish delight. There’s a little fruit sweetness which adds to the round flavours in your mouth, but it finishes perfectly dry – in fact there’s even a little acidity on the finish, something which isn’t always associated with Gewurz.

These wines won’t set the world alight, but they are a great introduction to the wines of Alsace and are good representatives of their varieties.

Opinion

SuperValu French Wine Sale

September 13, 2017 admin

SuperValu French picks
SuperValu’s French wine sale runs until 20th September, both online and in their stores. Here are a few of their wines which I’ve tried and can heartily recommend:

Domaine de Haut Bourg Muscadet Côtes De Grandlieu Sur Lie 2015 (12.0%, €12.99 down to €10.00 at SuperValu)

Muscadet

From the western reaches of the Loire, Muscadet is best known for somewhat neutral flavours and searing acidity – it’s the perfect match for oysters and other shellfish. However, the better vignerons in the area can produce something that offers much more. Based around the Lac de Grandlieu, the subregion of Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu was only established in 1994, almost 60 years after the generic appellation, and represents a fraction of total production.

This has initial notes of tropical fruit (though not over the top), with a touch of creaminess from the time on lees, followed by a long mineral finish. There’s plenty of acidity but it’s not at all austere. Try this instead of a Picpoul!

Domaine de Terres Blanches Coteaux Du Giennois Alchimie 2015 (13.0%, €14.99 down to €12.00 at SuperValu)

Alchimie

Coteaux du Giennois is a Sauvignon Blanc-only appellation close to the more famous Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé in the Loire’s central vineyards. Alchimie has been a favourite of mine over the past few vintages, and the 2015 is great. It’s all about the Gs: gooseberry, grapefruit and grass, appealingly fruity in the mouth. It’s definitely French Sauvignon (well this is the French wine sale after all!) but it’s accessible enough to appeal to fans of the grape grown in other countries.

La Vigne Des Sablons Vouvray 2015 (12.0%, €14.99 down to €12.00 at SuperValu)

Vouvray

Third Loire wine, third grape! Vouvray is Chenin Blanc country, and is one of the best places for the grape. Always with Chenin’s intrinsic acidity, it can be still or sparkling and range from austerely dry to very sweet. This version is just off dry – there’s a little residual sugar on the finish if you really look for it, but it’s more about apple fruitiness and balancing the fresh acidity than adding sweetness. At 12.0% the alcohol is fairly modest, which is probably no bad thing when it’s so damned drinkable!

Hommage Du Rhône Vinosobres 2015 (15.0%, €15.99 down to €12.00 at SuperValu)

Vinsobres

Vinsobres is a little known name which is not surprising as it has only existed as an appellation in its own right since 2006. Before that it was part of the second tier of the Rhône wine pyramid as Côtes du Rhône Villages-Vinsobres which gives more of a clue as to its contents – mainly Grenache with support from Syrah and other local grapes.

Black fruit are to the fore: black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant. While the southern Rhône is much more consistent from year to year than, say, Bordeaux or Burgundy, this is from the excellent 2015 vintage and it packs a punch at 15.0%! This is something to buy in the sale and drink on dark winter nights with a hearty stew.

Single Bottle Review

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2004 [Frankie’s Single Bottle Review #13]

September 10, 2017 admin

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2004 (14.5%, €20.00 at Sweeney’s – current vintages c. €35.00)

Bin 28

Like many large producers, Penfolds has distinct ranges of wine so that some sort of hierarchy can be recognised, especially when a handful of grape varieties are used for the majority of their best red wines. Bin 28 is part of the Penfolds Collection which includes the flagship Grange, Bin 707 and Yattarna wines.

Kalimna comes from the prestigious Barossa Valley Kalimna Vineyard which Penfolds bought in 1945 and was the original sole source of the grapes for this wine. Like the majority of Penfolds wines, it is now a multi-region, multi-vineyard blend, with that blend changing from year to year depending on the characteristics of the vintage and the fruit available to the winemakers.

Bin 28 was simply the name of the huge container that the wine was made in.

Although these wines are often drunk soon after release, the peak drinking window extends 15 to 20 years after vintage, so 2017 is a pretty good time to be drinking the 2004. Two rounds of duty increases plus a big swing in the AUD/EUR exchange rate mean that the €20 I paid for the 2004 some years ago looks like an incredible bargain!

The nose is full of fresh black fruit with a twist of spice, plus a slightly meaty edge. This follows through to the palate which shows blackberries and blueberries, lots of meat and black olive notes (umami heaven!) – though the fruit is still fresh rather than stewed or dried. There are still vanilla echoes from the American oak, though they are very much in the background rather than being dominant. There’s a little fine tannin remaining on the finish, but this adds to the savoury side rather than grippy.

This is a spectacular wine which is maturing but still has plenty of powerful fruit and could easily have lasted another five years.